Chapter 4: The Throwing Knife.
A sudden, sharp crack echoed through the sterile, blood-stained hallway as a projectile whistled through the air with frightening speed.
One of the two bickering goblins didn't even have time to shriek before the force of the impact struck it square in the throat, the momentum of the heavy kitchen knife throwing the small creature backward of it's feet as it hit the floor with a dull thud.
Its counterpart, who had been mid-snarl, froze in absolute shock as it watched the life-blood of its comrade begin to pool onto the cold grimy floor.
The blade had sunk deep into the soft tissue of the creature's neck, leaving only the handle protruding from the grisly wound, the once noisy area was instantly filled with silence.
But the silence was the. broken by the wet, gurgling sounds of the dying monster.
"Guarhh!" The injured goblin who had been struck, was still clinging to life as it began to thrash weakly on the floor in a desperate attempt to pull the steel from its throat.
However, the moment its clawed fingers wrapped around the handle and yanked, a violent spray of dark, turgid blood sputtered from the open wound, and the creature let out a final, hacking cough that painted the wall crimson.
Jacob, still pressed tightly against the corner of the wall with his heart hammering against his ribs, blinked in disbelief as a translucent blue screen flickered into his field of vision.
[Congratulations on killing a goblin]
[+ 1 magic stone]
'Holy shit! I can't believe that actually worked,' Jacob thought to himself, his breath hitching as he stared at the notification that hovered in the air.
While he had certainly intended to strike the creature, his primary goal had been to simply draw their attention or perhaps injure one to even the odds, but he hadn't actually expected a single throw to be fatal.
He remained hidden behind the safety of the wall for a few more seconds, his hands trembling slightly from the rush of adrenaline that was currently surging through his veins.
'Well, I guess this works out even better than I planned, right?' he muttered under his breath, trying to steady his nerves as he realized he had just taken his first step into this new, violent world.
As for the magic stone mentioned in the system prompt, he didn't see any shimmering gem nearby, which led him to assume that much like some of the RPGs he played for hours on end, the loot must still be contained within the monster's corpse, waiting to be harvested.
"Kee?!" The remaining goblin, seeing its partner's gruesome end, stiffened in a state of pure, unadulterated terror. Its large, yellow eyes darted from the corpse to the shadows where Jacob was hiding, and instead of lunging forward with a vengeful roar, it let out a pathetic whimper of panic.
Without a second thought, the creature spun on its heels and began to scramble toward the stairwell at the end of the long hallway, its small feet slapping frantically against the blood-slicked floor.
'It's running away?!' Jacob thought, his eyes widening as he watched the creature's retreat through the gap in the wall.
The goblin's sudden cowardice caught him completely off guard, as he had spent his entire life being told through media and games that these monsters were fearless, bloodthirsty killers that would fight to the bitter end.
He realized in a heartbeat that he had been wrong to assume their bravery, and that realization quickly shifted into a cold, prickling sense of dread that crawled up his spine.
'F*CK, if that thing gets away, won't it just run straight to its pack and call a whole horde of its friends up here?' The mental image of dozens, or even hundreds, of those green-skinned devils swarming his floor and tearing through his reinforced door caused his facial features to crease in a mask of genuine fright.
Driven by a sudden, desperate surge of survival instinct, Jacob didn't even stop to think about the danger as he reached down to his waist and retrieved another one of his kitchen knives.
He broke cover and rushed forward, his sneakers skidding slightly on the red-stained carpet as he closed the distance between him and the fleeing monster.
The goblin seemed to sense the looming threat behind it, and as it glanced over its shoulder to see the pale, determined human charging toward it, its heart began to palpitate with such force that it let out a high-pitched, piercing yelp of despair.
'Just die, you little devil!' Jacob cursed internally, his vision narrowing until the only thing in the world was the back of the goblin's head. He pulled his arm back and put every ounce of his remaining strength into the throw, flinging the heavy blade forward in a desperate attempt to end it's life.
SPLUTTER!
The sound of steel meeting flesh echoed through the corridor for the second time that day, and the result was even more devastating than the first.
The knife struck its mark with uncanny accuracy, piercing through the back of the creature's skull and jolting forward with enough force that the tip of the blade actually erupted through the goblin's agape, screaming mouth.
COUGH! COUGH!
The creature didn't even have time to make another sound before it coughed up a thick mouthful of gore, the light in its yellow eyes dimming instantly as its brain functions ceased.
Because of the sheer inertia of its frantic sprint, the goblin's body was pulled forward for another few feet, stumbling blindly before it finally collapsed face-first onto the floor with a heavy, wet thud.
[Congratulations on killing a goblin]
[+ 1 magic stone]
"Huah..." Jacob let out a long, ragged sigh of relief, his shoulders finally dropping from their hunched, defensive position.
"Good, I got the bastard before it could bring the whole building down on me," he whispered, feeling his frayed nerves finally begin to calm down now that the immediate threat was neutralized.
He hunched over with his hands on his knees, gasping for air as the physical and mental stress of the last few minutes finally caught up with him, leaving him feeling slightly lightheaded.
As he stood there in the silence of the hallway, surrounded by the stench of death and copper, he raised his right hand to his face and stared at it in a state of quiet amazement.
'I didn't know I actually had a knack for throwing things like this,' he thought, turning his palm over as if he were looking at a stranger's limb.
He vaguely recalled being decent at darts during a few casual outings with his classmates, but he had never imagined that his coordination would translate so perfectly into the lethal skill required to take down two monsters in rapid succession.
The reality of his new situation was finally beginning to sink in, and while he was stil
l terrified, a small, dark part of him felt a strange sense of accomplishment at having survived his first real test.