The system stayed silent.
Then.
He slapped himself, "Get it together Han.. What have you done all day?" He asked himself, turning his head to see Maria listened to him.
"You got fired, then by luck the dungeon's boss's daughter saw you, pitied and somehow a system awakened. Then what? You got excited, drank and then fell asleep? Congratulations han.. The award for the shittiest person of the year goes to you!"
He stood. He straightened himself, now with a clear head his smirk grew. "Take responsibility for what you did, you fucking dip-shit. System? Money? Love? Hah. Like it matters if I die. Or if Mari dies..."
The goblin paused. Not out of convenience or pity, they were forced to by his determined look.
"Come at me, you fucking goblins." At his lips, a small smirk formed.
The goblins moved. Not charging.
Circling. One stepped closer, blade tilted, testing the distance.
Han's hands shook, but his mind didn't.
'They're waiting.'
Waiting for him to break. To run. To scream. Mirai and Maria were still in the room.
That mattered. If he died like this, kneeling, useless, the system would record it as failure. If he ran, he'd be erased.
Han straightened slowly, deliberately, wiping blood from his slipper against the floor like it offended him. Mirai saw it. Not the blood. The posture.
"What an idiot, goblins are B rank…" Anne started.
Han took one step forward.
The goblin shrieked, lunging.
Han didn't dodge.
He grabbed a fallen chair instead, swinging it with everything he had. Wood shattered against green flesh. The goblin flew sideways, crashing into a table hard enough to snap its spine with a wet crack.
The restaurant froze.
The guards froze. "What in the? There are no doors here…?" They looked at the musicians hiding behind the stage's wall, Mirai took Maria by hand, as they climbed on the stage.
Mirai's eyes widened, not in fear, but calculation.
Han heard that, so he didn't stop.
He kicked the broken chair away, seized a fallen knife from the floor, and held it wrong, clumsy, untrained, but steady.
'If there's no escape behind.. Then forward.'
He burst right, as he thought, the goblin's eyes didn't leave him.
His objective was the doors, "Come on," he muttered. "You wanted me right? You shitty goblins. No, rather. You shitty system!"
The second goblin charged. Han dodged below him, his back facing the doors he kicked the goblin straight into the wall.
One was left, Han knew he couldn't beat him. No way in hell, he took careful steps back.
Then the goblin shrieked, he charged his sword aimed towards Han's forehead, dodging was unavoidable. He was too fast, too big, too much room to swing. While Han was the opposite, too slow.
He gritted his teeth, and raised the knife to deflect the sword, it missed it by a thin hair. Han braced for impact, "ARGHHH!" His left palm stuck the knife instead, avoiding death.
Despite the pain, his smirk didn't drop. "Got you." He whispered to the goblin.
Han grabbed its collar and head-butted it, teeth biting down, skull slamming against skull. CRACK! The goblin's head snapped back violently, eyes rolling, a high-pitched screech escaping its throat.
Before it could recover, Han slammed the blunt end of his broken knife into its skull. CRUNCH! Sparks of pain and blood flew from the impact.
The creature staggered, dazed and reeling. Han kicked it with everything he had. THUD! It flew across the restaurant, crashing into a table.
The goblin lay twitching for a moment, face bloodied, claws scraping at the floor, before finally rolling to a stop. Silence fell, punctuated only by the faint ringing in Han's ears, his ragged breathing, and the distant, horrified gasps of the crowd. "Are we saved..?"
"Who is that?"
"A hunter-adventurer? No..."
Han stood over the wreckage, he threw away the back-end of the knife, chest heaving. His eyes were wild, struck by adrenaline.
Mirai grew a grin, muttering "Just who in the world is he...?" Then her eyes twitched, Before she could, Maria did. "HAN! BEHIND YOU!"
Han felt a surge of air pass by his left ear, a shiver passed through his spine. He wanted to cut the goblin's head off first.
At that moment, he felt it. He needed to dodge, no matter what. He kicked him away, tried to dodge as he turned his head he saw a shadow.
A shadow of death, through his eyes blood already surged, in his ears screams already pressed, "Fuck."
and the world paused. A familiar pressure crushed down on his skull.
Cold. Mechanical.
Unavoidable.
[ Condition met. ]
[ Observer: Mirai Nikki. ]
'Time.. Stopped?'
[ Emotional impact detected: Surprise → Interest → Fear → Valuation. ]
Han's eyes flicked unfocused for half a second.
Then the system spoke.
[ Impression achieved. ]
Han didn't want to waste the chance, but he couldn't move either.
[ Reward granted.]
Something burned into existence in Han's right hand.
Not light. Not magic. Weight.
A short, matte-black weapon formed, angular, ugly, industrial. No ornamentation. No blade glow.
A crowbar-like tool, edges reinforced, humming faintly like restrained violence.
[Item acquired: Breach Tool – Prototype rank A.]
'A rank?'
[ Classification: Non-lethal (conditional). ]
[Note: "Make yourself useful"]
The pause ended. His body which was trying to turn with all it's stength, rotated instantly.
The sword was already mid-air. Inches from his head.
Han swung the centre of his weapon forward.
The impact detonated like a gunshot.
KRAAANG—!
The monster's cutlass slammed straight into the forked split of the crowbar, the blade wedging hard between the reinforced prongs.
Han couldn't believe the weapon didn't break.
'Impressive.. this is an A rank weapon huh.'
Sparks exploded, bursting outward as metal bit into metal, skittering across the floor in violent orange streaks.
The shock tore through Han's arms
Silence followed.
Mirai stared. Not at the goblins.
At him, then at the monster. "Impossible. That's.. That's.. Minotaur!?"
Han stood there, the crowbar barely holding back the sword, chest heaving, holding a weapon that should not exist, He didn't look heroic. He didn't need to. All he wanted was to run away.
'If I run.. It will follow me, the question is… Will I survive the moment I turn my back to him?'
His slippers shrieked against the floor as his feet slid backward, rubber burning, scraping uselessly as he staggered under the weight.
The sound was unbearable. Metal screaming, steel grinding, a high-pitched ring tearing through the room.
The crowd, what was left of it, was mostly silent as sidelines. Watching with fear in their eyes, while some youngsters recorded it with their phone. Someone prayed out loud. "Please.. Please. God, Buddha.."
A man in a dark suit stumbled back, hands shaking as he fumbled with his phone.
"Pick up… pick up already," he hissed under his breath, panic cracking through his forced calm.
His eyes flicked between the screen and the clash ahead, sparks, blood, the towering shadow.
"Answer the damn phone," he whispered, thumb pressing harder as if that would make it ring faster.
Sweat rolled down his temple.
"If you don't pick it now…"
His voice died as another screech of metal tore through the room.
Han barely heard any of it. His eyes were focused on the threat ahead.
The crowbar locked around the blade.
The Minotaur loomed into view. Towering. Pitch-black hide stretched over corded muscle. Veins bulged beneath its skin like coiled rope.
Its head lowered slowly.
Two red eyes burned in the dim light, fixed on Han with cruel, predatory focus. Hot breath blasted from its nostrils, each snort thick and wet, shaking the air between them.
It pushed harder.
Han's arms screamed as the crowbar vibrated violently in his grip, the prongs digging deeper into the sword.
More sparks burst as the blade scraped and twisted inside the split.
Han gasped, breath punched from his lungs, knees buckling for half a second.
But he didn't fall.
The Minotaur snorted, hooves grinding into the floor, cracks spiderwebbing outward as it leaned its full weight into the clash.
Han's slippers gave away again, slid back another inch. Then another.