First kill

"Are you guys ready?"

We were standing in front of one of the portals in the academy, this one leading to "The Dark Woods", the one-star dungeon we were about to dive into.

*"Yes!"*

A collective answer, coming from me, Sarah, and Brad.

"Then let's go!"

It had to be said that not a lot of students would try a dive without their teacher during their first term, but my group wasn't normal.

Sarah with her rare rize element, Brad having an amazing combination of rank V strength and stamina, and James being pretty much a wonder child.

I also thought I had some strengths as well. No matter how weak I felt I was, there were undeniably things I could do, like before when I stepped into the air.

The biggest driving force, though, was my economy.

[Kirkegaard Student ID]

[Current Balance: 340 crowns]

Just buying a few coffees had managed to reduce my savings a lot. Getting the opportunity to sell a few goblin knives or staves could probably net me a couple of thousand at least.

Dungeon diving was a dangerous job, and the adventurers or heroes who did it often got handsomely rewarded. It was often the case that certain monsters only existed in dungeons, and some of their hides could be used as valuable material.

Equipped with the same leather armor as before, borrowed from the academy, I walked with my party through the portal.

*Shhrp*

We had arrived at another forest, but this one wasn't a jungle. Instead, it was more like western forests, looking like a place where bears and deers would reside.

James occupied his natural spot as the leader and walked beside our tanker while giving directions. After a bit of time, we stumbled upon our first encounter.

A green group of five, three ordinary goblins holding daggers, one goblin warrior wielding a sword, and a mage, holding a staff.

Lying in ambush, covered by a couple of bushes, James spoke, "Brad will tank the normal goblins, I will take on the knight... Miren can you assassinate the mage? If not I think we have to charge at him first, otherwise, we might be in trouble."

My heart started to beat faster. This was it, my first, honest to God, combat experience. Not a spar, not standing around watching Bayyan slaughter everything. This time I had to fight, and this time, I had to kill.

"I will do it..."

We all prepared for battle, with me slowly starting to try and walk around the pack as stealthily as possible.

Then, Brad and James engaged in the fight, with Brad smoothly getting the attention from the normal goblins and James starting up a duel with the knight.

Meanwhile, I dashed towards the mage who was currently charging up mana, most likely about to cast a fireball. When I got in range, I activated my [Lightning Step] and managed to get behind the creature of equal height.

Completely caught off guard, it canceled its spell and tried to hit me with its staff, but I was a lot faster. Without thinking I lunged Khanda right into its throat... Or at least that was the plan.

Instead of the goblin falling, asphyxiating, and dying from blood loss, my hand stopped.

*Crack*

The still-moving staff hit me straight on my head with a cracking sound, making me fall unconscious.

A loud voice rang out before my body reached the ground,

"MIREN!"

****

"[Healing Gust]!"

I woke up, accompanied by the warmth of Sarah's healing. When I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by my three classmates, all watching me intently.

'I'm pathetic, aren't I? Even these kids half my age are fine with killing, but I can't do it even when it is a matter of safety. Fuck... I need to change...'

"Are you alright?"

A worried James asked, looking absolutely distraught. It was genuinely not that bad, comparing it to the pain I had experienced before, this was nothing.

"I'm fine... Did you guys wipe the pack?"

Their worried faces slowly changed to anger, with the girl looking completely furious,

"What do you mean you are fine?! You could have died back there! If not for the fact that James managed to get by your side, you would have been roasted by the mage!"

"Sarah, calm down..."

James stepped in, trying to diffuse the situation a bit, "We should be happy that he is fine. But Miren, what happened back there? I saw that you were just about to kill the mage, but then you suddenly stopped. Are there other things wrong with your constitution more than just the issue with mana?"

He wore a stern expression, but spoke with logic, trying to find the cause of the incident. As I couldn't tell them the truth, that my mentality was probably distorted because of the fusion of souls and did not view killing as something natural, I chose another path,

"It's nothing like that. It was just a blunder, it won't happen again. Now, let's continue our dive."

I stood up, feeling my body a bit. Although they looked a bit hesitant, in the end, we proceeded with our hunts.

'I can't let this happen again... Next time I will do it...'

With James casting his detection spell, we quickly found a new pack. This time there were eight goblins. Two knights, two mages, and four normal goblins.

My party members seemed to be acting with apprehensiveness because of the prior incident, as James spoke, "Maybe we should find a smaller pack. Two mages are a bit..."

Knowing the reason for his caution, I spoke up, "No, we can do this. I'll take care of the mages."

Making sure to permeate my words with confidence, I managed to convince him.

"Fine. But let's run away if it gets dangerous. Brad, do you think you can tank them? I'll try to finish off one knight at a time as fast as possible."

Our manly man chuckled a bit, "Haha, don't worry. I could take their hits for days! Just make sure to help me, Sarah!"

"Yes!"

We were once again prepared for battle, with me holding the biggest responsibility. Mages were easy to kill if you managed to reach them, but they could unleash devastating attacks if left alone. Thus I had to try and finish both of them off before they could cast a spell.

Thankfully, I had a way of doing it instantly.

Brad charged forward, revealing our presence, and James followed closely behind.

I once again moved in a circle, trying to get as close as possible to the mages.

*Kiirk! Kirk!*

The goblins saw us and started to scream in order to hype themselves up for battle.

Brad slammed his hammer into one of the goblins and managed to get their full attention, while James started to attack one of the knights with his glowing sword.

"[Double Strike]!"

His sword flashed, and he released two powerful cuts at the knight, one diagonally up to the right then instantly followed by an overhead strike.

The knight fell down in pieces, barely breathing.

During this time, the mages had started to accumulate mana, and I found my opening.

*Crrzzt*

Instantly stepping to the first one, I opened up its throat with Nandaka before he could react. Then, doing a consecutive step to the next one, which I stabbed in its heart with Khanda. It didn't take more than five seconds for me to kill both of them, but because of the recoil from my skill, I stopped for a bit.

Suddenly, an extreme nausea emerged.

'I killed them...'

*Blarrrgh*

My stomach started to expulse everything inside it, and after having been emptied, it stopped.

'I killed them... I killed them... I killed... killed!'

Having finished the fight, while I was busy trying to not scream out loud in angst, my friends approached me.

"Miren! What's wrong?!"

Tears were running down my face, and I felt such incredible guilt that I couldn't answer. When I looked up at my friends I couldn't help but feel helpless. This world was insane, and I had now truly become part of it.

"Is it because you used your skill?!", Sarah asked, knowing my skill carried a recoil.

Hearing her words, James tried to find out more, "His skill? Was that how you killed them so fast? I have never seen anyone move like that, so is this the price you have to pay for it?"

As they were half right, I steeled my mind and played along a bit, "Yes, I think I overdid it a bit. I'll be fine, just give me a moment..."

With my thoughts still running wild, I pretended and stood up after some time.

After a bit of explaining how my skill worked, they accepted my explanation and we soon continued our hunt.

'If this world is insane, then I just have to become insane as well.'