Matt knew that the goblin was going to launch itself at him, but for the moment it held its place, glaring at him. The goblin’s severed arm twitched as jagged bone splintered outward, knitting together like vines under tension. New muscles slithered over the exposed frame, pulsating as dark, mottled flesh oozed to seal the wound. The sickening crackle of growing sinew filled the air, a reminder that this creature was not bound by natural limits. It was like the two of them were playing a game of chicken and it didn’t matter who was the first to move. Matt would likely be the loser and the longer he stayed in place the longer he got to live.

  The possibilities flowed through Matt’s head. He calculated what he should do to ensure his survival and reprocessed everything again. Matt’s chest heaved, each breath like dragging air through a narrow straw. Sweat trickled into his eyes, stinging and blurring his vision, but he didn’t dare look away from the goblin for too long. The system notification blinked in the corner of his eye, a silent taunt amidst the chaos. How am I supposed to focus on that when death’s staring me in the face? he thought, jaw clenched.

  Achievement: “First Strike”

  The moment his eyes moved from the green beast it leapt from above the door frame, launching itself at Matt. He twisted his body and took a step back without thinking, bringing his arm up to protect his face, but he misplaced his foot on the edge of the step causing him to slip and fall down the steps. The goblin flew by, missing Matt with his claws. It tumbled and twisted mid air, flipping itself around to land on its feet facing him. Matt came down on his knees, rolled, coming to a stop on his knees, just barely able to bring the blades up to block the goblin’s claws slashing down at his face, chipping the edge of the blade.

  Matt’s knees stung as they started to swell as he tried to hold the goblin off. It kept swinging at him, trying to get through his swords and gauntlets until in frustration the creature grabbed the blades, wrapping its taloned fingers around them, and ripped them out of Matt’s hands, tossing them away. That was long enough to push himself away and struggle to his feet, his knees wanting to buckle under his weight. Every breath burned like fire in his chest, his limbs leaden from the blood seeping from countless gashes. His knees wobbled, threatening to give out. “This isn’t even the real fight,” he thought, teeth grinding as a surge of bitter frustration boiled up. “If I’m already like this, how am I supposed to survive what comes next?” In the past, he’d never relied on his speed to fight, but his size and the power that came with it. This thing matched that power with equal speed and this was just the beginning.

  “[Boost]. [Focus],” Matt meant to think it, but his lips moved and he was shouting them out as he charged forward. “[Dash]!” Matt’s body surged forward like a coiled spring unleashed. Before the goblin could react, his fists rained down, each blow a savage eruption of flesh against bone. Knuckles split open on jagged teeth, but he kept swinging, driven by pure survival instinct. The first punch cracked like thunder, but the rest became a frantic blur, his breath mingling with the goblin’s snarls as he hammered away with raw, unyielding desperation. In the end though, the flesh of his hands were torn apart by the shattered fangs of the goblin and it wasn’t enough to put it in the ground. With a final blow that knocked the creature back the skills’ timers reached 0 and the buffs deactivated.

  “Now what?” Matt huffed trying to keep his guard up, trying to think of what else he could do to win this fight. Matt thought quickly, his mind rushing through the options he had.

  “[Curse]!”

  Matt’s hand automatically raised up and held itself at shoulder height toward the goblin. Veins throughout his body seemed to take on a dark purple tinge just slightly as it flowed towards the palm of his hand and a stream of glowing dark purple energy flowed from it into an translucent orb of energy, gathering for several moments before it exploded into nothingness. By that time the goblin was back on Matt, attacking, scratching, and tearing him from every angle, forcing him to put up his guard and block as much as possible. He could feel that the attacks were weaker, but it didn’t keep the monster from slashing his flesh and clothes apart as his guard failed. If he didn’t act it was only a matter of time before he was dead. The [Curse] spell had made the goblin slower and weaker, but his exhaustion and blood loss had made him lose just as much effectiveness.

  Matt activated several skills in conjunction; [Dodge] which increased his ability to dodge and get away from the goblin for a few moments, [Mana Wrap] focused on his fist, creating an aura of mana around it, [Mana Pack] jamming as much mana into the aura, and lastly, [Poison] using the last of his mana to convert all of what he packed into his fist’s aura into Poison Fist attack that he hoped would poison the goblin that would bring it down quickly.

  As he was doing this, the goblin kept swinging and slashing, with every miss filling the little creature with rage. Every time it succeeded in making contact it dug in deeper, ripping more into Matt’s body. A normal person would have felt dizzy with the amount of blood loss he endured, but years of having an illness that caused him to have his blood drained regularly had left him used to the sensation of losing large amounts of blood. The goblin on the other hand, had lost pools of blood, but it just didn’t care. All it wanted was to kill and its target was Matt.

  The [Dodge] skill was about to run out as Matt looked for an opening. It never came, leaving him with one option; to go do it and be damned the consequences. In one swift motion his right fist shot up in an uppercut to its stomach, driving it as hard and as deep as he could, knowing he wasn’t going to get another shot if this didn’t work. Its body seemed to crumple into the blow, but it didn’t stop it at all. The goblin was phased for an instant, but recovered and continued as if nothing had happened. Matt attempted to dodge from its attacks. It barely worked as the timer for his skill ran out.

  With no more mana or clever skills left there was nothing more he could do but to go brawl with the goblin, hoping that it would drop before him. He made the decision to take the initiative, closing the distance with a heavy punch from above the goblin, leaving his abdomen open to attack by it. His other arm dropped defensively to block its talons from digging in too deep into his guts at the same time bringing his knee up to its face, not having to lift his leg up very high to accomplish his maneuver, but he hadn’t considered it would open its maw and at the same time try to rip his leg from his body, causing him to drop to the ground, luckily smacking his head on the soft lawn.

  He was free for a second, but the goblin was back on his leg before he could react. It sunk its teeth into his knee, drawing more blood with its most ineffective bite. Matt kicked at the goblin with his other leg, trying to free himself, but that only got the beast to give up chewing on him. It gripped his leg and attempted to rip it apart. Matt grimaced, trying to hold back from screaming out in pain as his foot flailed. He felt the sinews of his muscles coming apart beneath his skin. He had no other option left and triggered his final useful skill he had held in reserve in case something extreme came up. “[Invincible]!” The word ripped from his throat like a desperate prayer, and in an instant, the searing pain vanished. His shredded body felt like it belonged to someone else, immune to agony and fatigue. It was as if a heavy fog lifted, sharpening his senses to a razor’s edge. For the first time in the fight, Matt felt a flicker of control, but he knew it wouldn’t last. “Make it count,” he thought, muscles tightening as he prepared to strike. Taking the opportunity, Matt used all his strength to free himself from its grip and get back to his only to be attacked over and over again, not allowing him to catch a breath or get his balance. And while no more damage was being dealt nor was there any pain, his body was still mangled. Blood still poured from his open wounds and he still moved carefully, not knowing how the skill worked or if anything he did would cause harm when the skill wore off.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  With each attack the goblin delivered, Matt tried to counter and return it, or at the very least get closer to his wakizashis that it had stolen from him. He couldn’t give up attacking when he had the chance from his invincibility, but at the same time, those blades had proven to be able to hurt the bastard. When they were finally in reach Matt leapt on top of them, compelling it to follow after him just like he planned, just as the timer of invincible gave out. He grabbed the sword, rolled to his knees, and thrust it towards the monster as it rushed in, aiming for its head.

  Matt missed. His life flashed before his eyes. That was it. That’s all the life he got. He even got to fight for it and it only came to being a newbie character in a video game. Nothing more, just a pawn, a bit of data, that would now be deleted and no one would remember. That is, if he hadn’t increased his luck stat up so high. While it was technically D-rank, which would affect its growth over time, presently, it was equivalent to an SS-Rank and the goblin fell over, foaming at the mouth and its eyes rolling back into its skull. The earlier Poison Fist attack that Matt had thought to be ineffective had landed, poisoning it and had been slowly draining away the goblin’s health.

  “Level 2 Achieved!”

  [Brawling (F)] Ability unlocked

  +2 (Rogue) Weapon Points

  +4 (Rogue) Armor Points

  +2 (Rogue) Skill Points

  +2 (Rogue) Ability Points

  +5 (Rogue) Trait Points

  “[Inventory (F)] awarded.”

  “Character already has [Inventory (F)] - 10 Ability points awarded as compensation.”

  “Rogue Archetype converts all points into Free Use Points.”

  “You now have 26 Free Use Points”

  “Berzerk Goblin can be dismantled or placed in inventory.”

  “Many materials can be obtained from defeated entities. Some materials take higher ranked abilities to obtain, however there is limited inventory space. It may not be efficient to place corpses in your inventory.”

  “Corpses will degenerate over time outside spaces that put them in stasis like an inventory.”

  “All invaders not inventoried during the tutorial will be removed at the end of tutorial.”

  Matt dropped his arm holding the sword before collapsing to the ground himself. Hearing the system, he began to chuckle, “Right… I survived.” As the adrenaline ebbed, Matt collapsed onto the blood-soaked ground, laughter bubbling from his lips in uneven gasps. He couldn’t tell if it was relief, hysteria, or some strange mix of both. “I survived,” he thought, but the words felt hollow. His body was whole, but his spirit felt cracked, teetering on the edge of breaking. Fear, relief, and guilt warred inside him, each emotion clawing for dominance. “How many more of these fights can I survive before something gives?” He felt exhausted but his entire body had healed itself and his vitals had returned to 100%. In other words, he was in perfect health, as if that battle happened, but at the same time, it was like he just ran a marathon. He wanted to lay there forever, but he knew he couldn’t and didn’t need to, at least, he didn’t think so. He was unsure exactly how this all worked together. After all, you could need sleep and still be perfectly healthy otherwise.

  Before long, Matt pushed himself up to his feet and opened up the system menu, then map, and then tried to use [Detect]. He felt a similar sensation to earlier indicating the skill activated, but nothing appeared on the map, nor did he sense anything. He sighed knowing that meant his mother was gone, but he took a look around his house, looking for any signs of her. All the houses around him looked empty as well. They must have fled while he was working on his equipment. After he’d made a full circle around the property not finding anything, he went back inside and searched for anything he could use. Turns out that most everything was useless other than minor metal and wood bits and a few pieces of jewelry which he put in his inventory along with any food he had in the refrigerator.

  With everything in order, he left the house and started walking away from the epicenter of the invasion. He took a few steps, but then he stopped and turned. Looking back, his mind weighed his options. He could walk away like he’d planned, but with every line or action he thought through he kept coming to the same conclusion. Walking away would let him live safely for a while longer, but if everyone did that and numbers kept falling, he’d have to fight eventually and if he waited, it was a lower likelihood of survival. Matt stood at the edge of his battered home, the weight of his choices pressing down on him. Every rational thought screamed for him to flee, to find safety and live another day. Yet, an image of his mother’s empty house and the faces of those who’d already fallen burned in his mind. “If I run now, I’ll just be prolonging the inevitable.” His fists clenched, knuckles white against his blood-streaked skin. With each step toward the portal, his resolve solidified. “If I die, at least it’ll be on my terms.”