Voro blinked extensively ; the smell hit him even before he could see anything properly. Instead of the sterile butcher shop`s metallic sCent or the city`s smoke and dust, it was damp stone, urine and old, very old scent.
He stood up in a tall stone corridor, with walls cracked and covered in mold and vines, and above him a dark ceiling barely visible from the floor. Remains of what appeared to be flags and paintings were mere shreds with color long gone from them.
And the dark, but now also foreign environment , was once again lit up by the blue light from the system window.
[Initialization complete]
[Welcome challenger Voro Vane to the Sundered Hold, the tutorial for the ]
[Survive]
[Kill]
[Grow]
[Defeat the boss at the end of the stronghold to clear the floor]
[The Tower of ??????? wishes you luck]
And then it disappeared the moment he read the last word, leaving him to slowly adjust to the darkness again. But when the vision returned and he got somewhat used to the smell, something else hit his nerves.
Gurkling and scrambling somewhere in the dark in front of him, muddy footsteps and some faint metal clangs. Something was coming to him. And it brought some familiar scent to Voro.
Blood.
It reminded him of the slaughterhouse. Peace and quiet of his home.
He slowly backed to the wall and pulled out the chef`s knife- good size and enough weight to break the limbs of smaller creatures.
The gurkling sounds of t he creature came right to the edge of the hall, turning to towards Voro slowly. A green head turned towards him, eyes filled with yellow manic light pinned at the man`s location.
Not a second later, they collapsed into micro points and the creature made a shriieeeeeek noise from the top of its lungs and charged forward with piece of wood as a shield and maybe a broken gate pole as its weapon.
Voro stood calmly and held up his knife forward, watching the thing come towards him and analyzing it.
'Green skin covered in dirt and mud, clothes made of random fabric or leather'
'Sloppy movements, it can`t even walk properly. Perhaps malnutrition'
And when it came closer he could see it even better
Joints bones and muscles. That what he could see now clearly. Just as all the other things he butchered, it wouldn`t be any different.
SKRUAAAAGHAAA
the thing screamed as it make-shift spear lunged forward and missed the target, as Voro was already on its side ready to strike himself, arm armed with the armament pulled back.
But green monster wasn`t only small and weak, it was also surprisingly smart and sharp. The plank shield swosshed through the air and smacked the knife out of his hands.
"Shit" The metal pike whipped around quickly and hit his other arm, causing Voro to fall back 3 steps " Little goblin shit " when he had room to breathe, he re-sweared at the monster, now designated as goblin in his mind.
At his leather belt there were 3 more tools, and among them a very good, trusty all-rounded utility knife. Smaller but better for stabbing.
Goblin muttered something under his nose, or just loudly swallowed, hard to say. Previous noises were really similar, gargling or saying "words" didn`t matter. Not that that thing was important since the goblin charged again at him, this time with the shield promptly at the front.
No movement from Voro again, except better gripping the knife. No mistake now. Watch the shield, watch the spear, watch the goblin. It`s faster than anticipated. But still....
The goblin crashed into Voro, but the weight difference was too much. It was stopped by a counter-charge from the bigger man.
And in the time the goblin tried to attack with its other arm, the knife found the perfect spot to strike - straight through the neck, one simple move.
Full force of the knife, arm and the added twist of the body , the tip of the blade met the atlas joint. Where once skull meets the spine, now they both met a cold iron blade. It stopped being cold quickly as blood warmed it up.
Pop
Voro pulled it out, and the tiny yellow specks in the goblin`s head turned off as the body fell to the stone floor, but caught during it to make as little noise as possible.
When the goblin made a slight noise, Voro couldn`t hesistate. The blade once more touched the neck and sliced it properly, severing the head in one clean cut.
He kneeled down at the goblin
'Child size human. Olive, maybe moss green. Dark eyes and yellow pupils' Examining begun.
'Note : quite light, perhaps lower bone density. Muscles seem similar but.....stringy'
Knife went back into action, slicing hair and cutting the skin.
'Lack of general body hair and skin is surprisingly resistant to cutting. Will have to keep punctures as main tactic'
And well other minor details of smell and body fluids, but his work got interrupted by the now slightly less blinding blue-system window.
[Skill acquired]
[Basic Dagger Arts - LVL 1 ]
[Description : Increases proficiency with short blades]
[The tower recognizes your talent and clinical approach. Keep dissecting, oh challenger]
His eyes kept lingering on the word "dissecting", and well it was a bit wrong it didn`t feel like it. Clearly someone was watching him. And liked it.
Voro stood up, cleaned the knife and picked up the bigger one, as it seemed like the better choice still based on weight.
'Forward'
Very slowly, very carefully. If there was one, there are bound to be more of those "goblins" around. And if one was annoying enough, 2 or 3 at once can be deadly.
Moving across the wall from one patch of moss to another was slow, but safe. Until bigger rooms started to appear, with wooden doors and what remained of them.
Through cracks in one in front of him some light was flickering. His eyes could peek through the holes and see 2 goblins, one with a torch and some weird metal scrap, the other one with a rusty cleaver. It may be garbage now, but if it was once a weapon it can still kill.
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Goblin stopped scratching his hip-cloth and turned his head sideways.
Knock knock noises were coming from the corridor.
He looked at his pal with the torch and after some gurgling grunts they went towards them. In front of them they tried to look through but saw nothing.
Knock knock
He grunted at his companion, the one holding the flickering torch. They moved together, annoyed and curious. They expected a prankster from another bunch, or perhaps a stray rat to club and eat. They pushed the door ajar.
The room was....empty. Goblin looked left, then right. And still nothing.
Some shcicks and squels appeared behind him, sounded like his scout buddy was choking. But he wasn`t choking.
A dark figure was on top of him, holding his head and some shiny scrap in his throat. The creature turned it bright face towards the other goblin.
Dark hair was covering its eyes, but the reddish pupils were still visible.
The figure showed some teeth and jumped at him.
Meanwhile the torch rolled to the wall and the goblin who held it slowly collapsed to the ground. Cleaver-goblin swung his weapon blindly, but hit nothing. Instead a fist from the white-skinned figure hit his face.
And he swung again and hit something this time CLANG , but this something was metal instead of flesh. and when he opened his eyes again it was his friend`s weapon.
The creature made some noise, but he didn`t understand. Another sharp metal object appeared out of nowhere and struck his leg.
Whimpering slightly, the goblin backed to the wall and to the torch, which seemed like a great idea. Go to the light source and see the enemy better.
Oh the goblin was wrong.
Contrast between the dark and the light grew bigger and when his eyes re-adjusted, he realized - the shadow wasn`t hiding form the flame. It was using the flame to hide from the goblin.
And wait to cut exactly where it wanted to.
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