The Fall out of Playing it Safe

Reed suddenly pushed like that, fell on the ground, his mind in disbelief as his thoughts raced, "What just happened? Why did he push me? I thought we were allies."

Simon rushed back to the rest of his party members. "Come on, guys, let's get out of here. He is completely useless."

Blaze and Dawn nodded in agreement, and the three of them hurried back outside, leaving Reed with the monster alone in the darkness.

Reed's eyes still in shock, his thoughts still couldn't fathom what had just happened. Why did they abandon him the moment he tried to help? The bitterness weighed heavily in his heart like a grudge.

But now was not the time to groan. He immediately picked up the sword Simon had left behind as he was depetrified.

Like a beast of his own, he held his ground, not wanting to die a meaningless death. The goblin assassin found his challenge quite amusing, though he couldn't clearly see him in the darkness, he still tried to defend himself, knowing it was pointless.

The goblin assassin grinned, licking the edge of his dagger. He planned to make Reed's death suffer a slow and miserable death. The thought of watching him scream in agony brought excitement to its heart.

Reed held the sword, rushing towards the monster with all his might. When he believed he got close, he swung the sword, creating a vertical slash.

The goblin assassin simply took a single step to the side, dodging the attack. Reed's movements were weak and sloppy, but that was all he could muster for the time being.

The goblin countered, swinging his blade upwards. Before Reed knew it, his left arm fell to the ground, completely severed from his body.

[Warning: Player has sustained significant damage, HP lower than 35%]

Reed fell to his knees, a red glowing cut mark appearing in place of the severed limb. This was supposed to be a team effort, but now he had to fight this monster alone, he thought.

Shortly after, he was paralyzed. The goblin assassin walked up to him, staring directly into his eyes, its expression cold and devoid of any pity.

But as it saw the despair in Reed's eyes, fear of coming across something there was no chance of winning from, Volken grinned. It was sure to make this man suffer in unimaginable pain.

Suddenly the goblin kicked Reed in his chest. Reed couldn't move but he felt the pain, tumbled, and fell on the ground. As the monster strode closer, the paralysis effect wore off and Reed was finally able to move.

Swinging his sword, he demanded the creature stay back. The goblin, toying with him, dodged the swing with a few simple movements of its head.

Reed, not wanting to go down without a single hit, gave it his all on the next strike, managing to land a simple cut on the monster's face, only dealing 4 damage points.

Suddenly something unexpected happened. Reed's HP suddenly went up by 4 points. Confused, Reed paused, trying to understand what had just happened. He tried again, swinging his sword at the goblin assassin.

But the green monster caught the blade with its bare hands, breaking it in half, then using the broken shard to stab Reed on his chest and he died, his avatar disintegrated.

The others managed to escape, running out of the cave when they received a system message,that a party member has died.

Dawn turned to Simon, questioning his sudden change of heart. "Hey, what's your deal Simon? Why did you tell us to escape when we were so close to defeating that thing?"

"Don't be naive, Dawn," Simon said, looking at Dawn with a serious expression. Simon was far more relaxed now that Reed wasn't here, so he no longer had to continue with the kind older brother act.

"We just barely escaped with our lives. That monster was still too fast for us to handle, and that newbie was just too weak. He couldn't even lift the debuff with his healing magic."

Blaze sighed, hitting Simon on his back with her staff. "Well, next time you won't be too nice and let me at least know their level first."

"Well, it's over now. It's time we get going," Simon muttered, starting to make his way back.

"This time you better get a healer that is more capable," Dawn muttered before following the rest from behind.

And so the party of rogue players made their way out of the forest, hoping to find a healer more capable for their next trip back to the cave.

Meanwhile, Noah back in the real world pulled the headgear. It was already evening; the sun shone its orange hues, casting shadows across the floor.

Noah, placing his hand on his chest, clenched it tightly, the pain he felt during his battle all gone as if it never happened.

He placed his hand on his forehead and began to laugh. It intensified, becoming louder and more sinister. After a short while, he calmed down.

He had remembered the betrayal of the past that led to him staying in the hospital at this very moment, and he pledged never to trust anyone and place his fate solely in his hands.

Indeed, it all felt too amusing. Finally, the old him was back. You would think it was completely the work of Ken and his group that made him end up in the hospital, but no, you'd be completely wrong.

Ken bullied Noah, but Noah was a genius. He had taken steps to make sure Ken was on edge that day, and all that remained was for Noah to say a single word to Ken's face, which led Ken to push him.

As a result, Ken was expelled from middle school and had to serve a year in juvenile prison. Afterward, he went to study abroad. Although Noah was seriously injured, just seeing the look on Ken's face when he was sent to prison made everything with it.

Here's a revised version with the grammatical errors removed:

"For this world was cruel, and wicked people needed a taste of their own medicine.

'I thought they would accept me if I was friendly. I guess I was wrong. It's time for Plan B. I've played it safe long enough,'

Noah mutters, standing up from his bed, ready to begin the necessary preparations."