The world had turned into thunder.
Screams, sparks, blood, all of it blurred into one noise as I spun the spear through the horde.
Red lightning crawled across my arms, wrapping the spear.
The first goblin that touched it didn't even get a scream out; it just split open, half-burnt, half-vaporized.
And before its body even fell, I was already moving.
The Paristian Spear wasn't just a large bladed precision weapon anymore. I was blind swinging it like a great sword covered in red lightning.
Every swing carved a red crescent through the air, sending arcs of red lightning two meters out, eviscerating everything ahead.
Flesh charred, bodies twisted, and the smell of iron and smoke filled everything.
And I was in the middle of it, surrounded, shaking, and somehow still alive.
The spear crashed through another cluster, cleaving ten of them in one swing before lightning split across the line and took the next five that hadn't even reached me yet.
Each movement tore through them like waves breaking on a rock, but I could feel it; my body wasn't keeping up with my own strength.
My bones ached. My skin tingled wrong. My lungs were on fire.
And it had been barely seconds since it all began.
All the while, goblins screamed from every direction, their claws scraping, their crude clubs whistling past my face.
Every time one got close enough to touch me, the lightning cooked it alive.
But I was burning through mana like it hated me.
"This was a stupid idea!" I hissed through my teeth, twisting, kicking one off my leg as two more leapt for my throat.
The spear came around in a blur, tearing both in half.
Precognition screamed before I could even see it, and I ducked left before feeling the air split as a rock missed my head by a hair.
Then I was up again, swinging, cutting through another wave.
Ding! {Goblin Slain. 100 EXP Received.}
Ding! {Goblin Slain. 100 EXP Received.}
Ding! {Goblin Slain. 100 EXP Received.}
"Shut… up…" I hissed between breaths, teeth gritted.
-Ding!
{Done.}
But this only intensified the madden shriek of the goblins.
I twisted out of another charge, planted the spear into the dirt, and kicked a goblin's jaw off, before breaking away from the swarm.
My boots slid through blood and mud till I got a few meters of distance, then I pulled the bottle from the inventory, and the next second, lightning finally fizzled out.
The half-full mana potion, still glowing faintly blue.
"Come on, come on…" I muttered, uncorking it with my teeth as the next wave screamed toward me before I gulped it down like my life depended on it… which it actually did.
The cold fire once again ran down my throat with a rush that hit like a punch.
And the next instant, lightning roared back to life, arcs bursting from the ground around me as the horde closed in again.
But I could already feel the drain creeping back in, that familiar emptiness clawing at my chest.
"Alright… Round 2 bitches!" I hissed as I slammed myself into the tide of teeth, clubs, and rocks for another five seconds.
And the next few seconds were just red and shrieks of both the goblins and me.
Every swing left afterimages. Every heartbeat felt stolen.
And I could feel it again, that hollow pull in my chest..
"Hey, system," I hissed, ducking under a club before slicing the bastard clean in half, "you execute simple scripts?"
-Ding!
{Yes.}
"Good…" I swung the spear sideways, frying eight more in one go, "then get me another Grade 9 mana potion!"
-Ding!
{Insufficient funds. Credits needed: 100. You have: 80.}
"Fuck me!" I spat as I twisted, dogging another rock, "Fine! Let's see if that works!"
The next swing tore through a wall of green flesh and bone.
Before the bodies even hit the ground, I reached out and brushed one with my hand.
A burst of blue sparkles later, the corpse vanished.
A touch and a thought… that's all it took.
And I began my loop.
Kill, touch, vanish. Kill, touch, vanish.
Just a few seconds and twelve goblins later, I hissed, "System, I wanna sell these goblins."
-Ding!
{24 Credits credited.}
"Two each, huh… cheap bastards," I muttered, slashing another one down. "Now buy me that MP potion!"
-Ding!
{Purchase complete. Item available in inventory.}
"Finally!" I shouted, breaking into a run, boots slipping through green blood as I tore away from the swarm.
And a flicker of blue later, the bottle materialized in my hand.
I fumbled with the cork, half tripping as a rock missed me by a breath, before popping it open and gulping half of it down.
And once again, cold fire slid down my throat like a blend of fire and ice, and the rush came just as hard.
Mana flooded back the next instant.
And I turned, grinning like a lunatic at the wall of claws, teeth, and clubs coming my way.
"Alright," I breathed, raising the spear, "round three."
And I threw myself back into hell.
But even with literal lightning crawling over me, some hits still got through.
A club smashed into my back, painting my vision white for a second.
A rock slammed into my chest hard enough to throw me to the ground..
And one of those green freaks even managed to sink its teeth into my shoulder before the lightning fried it alive and dropped it twitching.
Every swing hurt more than the last, every breath felt scraped.
The mana drain and the pain were catching up to my limits.
So I broke off again, boots sliding through blood and mud as the last flickers of red lightning faded off my skin.
Pulled the half-empty MP potion and a Healing Potion out of my inventory, popping them open with shaking hands before downing them both.
Both blending together into a blend of fire and frost as they slid down my throat.
[Two healing potions left.]
The thought hit as I once again slammed myself back into the swarm, touching every corpse I could reach, before sending them into the inventory.
"Sell them," I muttered, cutting through another one before its body even hit the ground.
-Ding!
{40 C credited.}
Not enough.
I kept killing, kept touching, kept selling, until I had enough for another little break.
"System, buy me another MP potion."
-Ding!
{Purchase complete. Item stored in inventory.}
"Good…" I muttered, yanking an incendiary from my inventory and tossing it straight into the swarm.
The sphere bounced once, then burst.
Fire bloomed into a raging blaze, twisting into a single roar as a dozen goblins turned into burning silhouettes.
I jumped back through the smoke, coughing, trying to make space to drink.
"Almost there…" I hissed, pulling the bottle out and fumbling with the cork.
But even with precognition, I couldn't keep up with all the chaos.
A club came flying from the side, smashing into my arm, and the bottle slipped from my hand.
The sheer panic overwrote the pain as I dove after it…
But it hit the ground and shattered.
Blue liquid soaked into the mud before I could even curse.
And the next moment, my world went quiet except for the sound of claws and shrieks closing in.
Color drained from my face as I stared up at the goblin in front of me, its mouth twisted into something like a grin.
It raised its club, shadows from the fire dancing across its face, while hundreds more rushed behind it.
And at the exact moment, my MP dropped to nothing as lightning around me flickered weakly before dying out.