'It's the final wave.'
By this point, Soren was a complete mess.
"Huff…"
Minor wounds covered his body from the struggling goblins.
"Huff…"
Drenched from head to toe in a mixture of blood, sweat and mud, so much so that it was impossible to tell how much of it was Soren's blood and how much of it was from the goblins.
"Huff…"
His mana pool was almost entirely drained.
'If I had to guess, I can probably only cast another two or three times…'
Then there was his stamina.
Even before the fight began, his stamina had been almost completely depleted from the harsh walk through Rena Forest.
But Soren had endured.
He had forced himself to keep going.
And because of that, his current state is awful.
Every breath he takes burns his throat.
His legs were trembling, almost giving out under him with every step he took.
The dizziness from exhaustion is messing with his actions.
His grip on the dagger was unconsciously loosening.
'I can't give up, though.'
.
[10:07/13:00]
.
There wasn't much time left.
'I can do this.'
Even though Soren had long since hit his limit, the thought of injuring the hobgoblin had still not left his brain.
He was aware that if he just stalled, it was likely he could easily complete this quest, but his pride wouldn't allow him to do that.
Throughout all the waves of goblins, Soren had been thinking.
Thinking of any possible way to injure the demon that was playing with him.
In the end, even though he had thought of a plan, even Soren himself was aware of how awful it was.
It could hardly even be called a plan.
But it was all he could come up with.
Soren wasn't a schemer; while he wasn't stupid, he had hardly been in fights throughout his life, so it was hopeless even to think he could come up with anything better.
As the goblins closed in, Soren forced his grip on the dagger to tighten and began forming another magic circle in his other hand.
Wooooonggggg
"「Ear—!"
Shatter
"—Ugh!"
Wobble
A wave of dizziness fell over Soren, breaking his concentration and thus shattering his magic circle.
But because the goblins were still closing in, he didn't even have the opportunity to catch his breath, and so he began forming the magic circle once again.
'Please.. work..'
"「Gaia!」"
The spell was completed, and the ground once again changed beneath the goblins, trapping their movements, if even only for a few seconds.
Soren knew it wouldn't last long, so he made his move.
.
[10:37/13:00]
.
He ran as fast as he could, passing the goblins that were still struggling to escape the mud, running directly towards the hobgoblin.
For the first time since its appearance, the hobgoblin's expression shifted.
It seemed somewhat surprised by Soren's actions, but as if it were a lie, its expression quickly returned to the smug appearance it had maintained up until then.
From the perspective of the hobgoblin, it must have looked like the human in front of it was making a last-ditch effort to survive.
'That couldn't be further from the truth, though.'
'I'm just petty.'
Soren knew he was more likely to survive if he didn't do this, but he didn't stop his charge.
He had no noble thoughts, such as 'I need to win' or anything like that.
No.
He just wanted to land a blow.
To crush the pride of the demon that had looked down and played with him.
The hobgoblin still didn't react, seemingly out of curiosity for what the insignificant human was going to do, which annoyed Soren even more.
'I wish I could kill it.'
When considering a plan, he desperately tried to find a way to kill it, but no matter how much time passed, his mind remained blank, leading him to hastily put together a plan to simply injure it instead.
Due to its size, it was impossible to use the method he had used against the goblins.
Its vital points were also entirely out of reach for someone as short as Soren.
Even beyond that, Soren simply didn't have the skill to kill it.
As he finally reached the hobgoblin, he didn't stop his charge and instead leapt towards it.
He felt like the last remains of his stamina were used for that leap, but Soren paid no thought to it and refocused his mind.
'I can do it.'
Stab!
His dagger pierced the hobgoblin's belly, and dangling from that dagger was Soren.
[KEAAAAAAKKK—!]
The wound was relatively shallow given the demon's size, but Soren ignored it and started forming a magic circle in his hand.
The demon had finally begun taking action after receiving a wound, but it was already too late.
The orange magic circle had been completed.
It was a colour that Soren had never used before, a spell he had only seen used a single time.
He hadn't used it until now because he lacked the confidence to put it into practice, but right now, it was the only spell he had to complete his plan.
The light in Soren's hand glowed radiantly.
Without hesitation, Soren chanted the words to the spell.
"「IGNITION—!!!」"
.
[Congratulations, [Basic Magic: Ignition] has been acquired!]
.
'I did it.'
Flames burst forth from Soren's palm, burning through the cloth around the hobgoblin's waist, even reaching his junk underneath.
[KEEEERRAAAUEEEK—!!!!!!!!]
"Heh…"
'It sounds pissed.'
"Hehehehe… How does it… feel…heh.."
The hobgoblin's face contorted in rage as if he understood Soren's words.
Its pride has been broken.
It had let the pathetic human he was playing with land a blow.
The flames had long since disappeared, but it was already too late.
The human had already managed to completely disfigure something precious to the hobgoblin.
"Hehe.."
Seeing the result of his work, Soren giggled.
The grip on the dagger stuck in the hobgoblin's stomach loosened, and Soren's eyes began closing.
'Ah, I hit my limit.'
He had been pushing himself since the quest had first appeared, but now that he had achieved his goal, it seemed like his body was unable to go any further.
But…
.
[12:09/13:00]
.
'I can't pass out now.'
He desperately tried to hold on to his waning consciousness to no avail.
His vision darkened, and his grip had slipped entirely from the dagger, leaving him to fall to the ground.
Then…
THUD—!
Soren's body suddenly went flying.
There, where Soren had just been, stood the hobgoblin with its leg raised.
"KEUK!"
Soren's body slammed into a tree.
Thanks to the kick, he had regained consciousness, but he was in an awful state.
Drip drip
Blood trickled down his face.
He attempted to raise his body but…
"ACK–!"
The pain was so intense that he wasn't even able to move.
"Cough! Cough!"
He kept coughing up blood, but he didn't even have the time to focus on that at the moment.
STOMP–! STOMP–! STOMP–!
The hobgoblin was closing the distance, slowly but surely.
Its smug expression had long since vanished, leaving pure, unadulterated rage in its place.
It was precisely what Soren had been aiming for, but he couldn't even celebrate anymore with his life hanging so precariously.
He desperately tried to raise himself, but every time he moved, even slightly, unbearable pain shot through his entire body.
'I'm going to die.'
The moment he realised how close death was, his head was flooded with fear.
Up until this point, he had known there was a chance of death, but now that it was so close, he was terrified.
Tears welled up in his eyes, and his body trembled with every step the demon took.
Then he remembered the quest.
He hurriedly looked to the side.
.
[12:48/13:00]
.
'12 more seconds…'
If he could just survive 12, no, 11 seconds, he would survive.
He gritted his teeth and began crawling.
"Ugh…"
Every movement made him want to cry out in agony, but he didn't stop.
.
[12:52/13:00]
.
Even if he was unable to move far, so long as he bought even a single second longer, his chance of survival skyrocketed.
.
[12:55/13:00]
.
The hobgoblin stood over the human who had trampled on its pride.
[KERUUK!]
It let out a roar filled with anger and raised its greatsword into the air.
It had decided to kill the pathetic human as punishment for what it had done to such an extraordinary being.
Soren closed his eyes and prayed that he had bought enough time.
WHOOSH–
The greatsword cut through the air.
Then a familiar sound rang out.
Ting-♪
CLANG———!!
Soren cautiously opened his eyes upon noticing that the weapon had never reached him.
His vision was blurry, making it impossible to make out who had arrived; the only thing Soren could see was the colour pink.
Realising that he was now safe, the tension was released from his body as Soren's eyes closed once more and his consciousness faded.
————「❤︎」————