Day VIII - IX: Turmoil

The sphere appeared in front of me again. It pulsed… only… once…

[100]

I just stood there in front of it, and started to cry. No tears came out while in this dream-like state, but I knew I was crying in my sleep.

I took me a moment.

[Basic Nutrition 100 points]

[Essential Nutrition 200 points]

[Good Nutrition 500 points]

[Complete Nutrition 1000 points]

I only had enough for Basic Nutrition, which was essentially like eating a bun with no amino acids and a cup of water.

"Why did the forest change!" I yelled, with snot probably dangling out my nose.

[1 000 000 points]The stupid tome shone in front of me.

If I could punch the sphere, then I would.

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I woke up to the ray of sunlight. The sun shone from directly above, which meant that I slept till noon.

I groaned and really, really struggled to get up. My body was in a worse state than my mind. I eventually got on all fours, and finally were able to stand. I was still very tired, and my entire body was completely sore. The accumulative exhaustion, coupled with yesterday's running, left even my tendons searing in pain.

"Get up Marcus"

He was awake with open eyes, but still lied in the same fetus position with is cheek in the slime of his puke.

I groaned again as I took my first few steps to reach him. I pulled on his arm.

"Get up. We need to find the rest."

He didn't respond, nor did he looked at me. His eyes remained fixed open and straight, as if he couldn't move his eyeballs. Eventually he also got up, but he was clearly in a worse physical state. Even though he somehow afforded to heal his spine and torso with the sphere when he was knocked unconscious, he still had a broken elbow. Luckily it wasn't the one I pulled on.

I put my arm around his shoulders and pushed him to walk with me.

I was sure at this point, that if it wasn't for my stats then I wouldn't have a shred of stamina left after yesterday. It was also obvious that my higher dexterity was the reason I survived.

I had no idea where north was, so we walked a few hours in one direction until I could see the sun moving in a direction and assume where west is. Which is where we went, West, opposite the far east where our expedition went.

While walking those few hours to find west, goblins showed up pretty soon. It was only two, but I was in no condition to fight confidently. 

I let go of Marcus when they began their charge from a short 60 meters. It was at this moment when I realised that I lost my sword.

And I had no recollection of when.

"That damn beast…" I muttered just as the two greenskins came.

One jumped, the other went for a tackle.

I dashed to the left, which took more effort than I liked.

I kicked at the bastard that tried to tackle me, landing a hit—but it was way weaker than I expected. Before I could react, the other goblin jumped at me again.

I ducked to the side, grabbed the jumpy one's arm and shoulder, and slammed him down on top of the other one, who was already trying to get up.

The one laid over the other in a heap. I only had one line of thinking. To kill with as much efficiency as possible, because my muscles were really sore.

It didn't take a even a split second for me to just jump on top of them. I just jumped like I was on some trampoline.

Usually, someone should loose their balance while jumping on squishy bags of flesh, but my dexterity was obviously showing off.

Eventually they were gnarling in spit and pain and stopped trying to fight back. They wouldn't die fast enough.

I started stomping on their heads, repeatedly. Grunting and screaming and I stomped down, hard.

It was like a certain protagonist from a space horror game I used to play.

Only sounds of crunches and my grunts echoed in the forest.

Not gonna lie, my foot hurt like hell. The skin on my hilt also tore open and was bleeding.

I took Marcus, and I started limping like I used to the day before yesterday.

After another hour, I spotted goblins in front of us. They didn't see us, yet. There were three. I ducked down behind a tree with Marcus. I waited for the goblins to move far enough in the direction that they headed for, which was north.

I continued West, avoided another group of goblins, and stopped early in the afternoon. Marcus and I laid down, but I didn't see Marcus closing his eyes before I fell asleep.

—————————————————

I didn't spend long at the sphere, only purchasing [Essential Nutrients] because my mouth was unbearably dry before I slept. I focused my attention to my right foot.

[200]

'Not bad' I thought it costed little. I felt like I could probably gather that much while traveling to the clearing where the rest of the group was.

I took my mind away from the sphere, ending the dream-like state.

—————————————————

This time, I woke up early in the morning. The sun was low, and the rays between the trees hit my face.

The day started precisely the same as yesterday.

Marcus was completely mindless, like he'd suffered a head injury. His eyes were pink, wide open, unblinking. His eyeballs never moved—only his head shifted when he looked around.

My right foot and heel was unbelievably sore. The skin was open, so every step felt like walking on fire. No doubt I will get an infection if this continues.

The first group of goblins showed up early. I decided to fight in the first encounter with two goblins. It was an immense struggle because my body was still unbelievably sore. I won, obviously. Lucked out for not getting any injuries, because I'm not stomping with a foot that is reeling in pain.

After another hour of walking, I led Marcus as we hid from a larger group of four goblins. We then continued West. I also made an effort to search for a rock or something, finally finding one hard enough that fits in my palm.

More goblins, three, and I engaged.

It was easier to knock the first one out with the rock, but my angle on the wide swing was awkward for me.

This created an opening for the second one, who had a thick branch, to hit my side while I was dealing with the first one.

I saw the third one fighting Marcus, but he seemed in control.

I grunted and clenched my teeth as I just rammed into the goblin in front of me, making him fall to the ground mid-swing. I did it despite the agony in my foot.

I threw the rock down at my feet where he fell. It hit, and I quickly grabbed the branch in his hand, tore it away, and hit him back with it. It was a wide swing on my part, and the goblin blocked with his arms.

It wasn't helping him, since his arms were barely holding on.

A few more wide swings broke his arms and eventually killed him. The branch also wasn't looking so great either.

I really missed my sword then.

I saw the third goblin dead, with Marcus just looking at me, waiting to finish. This time he followed me without me needing to lead him by the shoulder.

"Are you okay if we could fight the goblins on our way to the clearing?"

He nodded without looking at me. I sigh, and we kept moving.

We fought more goblins during the day. Marcus killed half of the group each time. I don't know how he managed with only one arm, but he pulled through.

Every hour or so, we fought two, three or four. Once there was only one goblin.

Eventually night closed in. We laid down between a few trees that brushed against each other.

I lied on my back, thinking about the expedition that went wrong. My heart twisted and my stomach turn. The only thing that came up in my mind were flashes of Dan's corpse, or what was left of it. At that time, I had a hard time recollecting anything that happened on day seven.

I wondered if anyone else escaped. Were Travis, Hannah, Victor, and all the rest safe? Is Marcus and I the only ones left?

I had no clue nor idea of the circumstances of the expedition group. I also wondered what is going on at the bigger group at the clearing.

If that same beast were to appear there, everyone would die. I still didn't know how I escaped alive.

I looked to my side at Marcus, he was fast asleep. The man lost his younger brother, and probably felt responsible.

I knew it also wasn't my fault. How could I have known? I still felt guilty, and I knew that if anyone else survived, they would blame me.

A part of me hoped that they didn't survive, that the monster killed them. That way, I didn't need to be confronted or blamed. In that way, I wouldn't blame myself when I see their faces.

It was hard for me to sleep, with all my feelings, but eventually it did. Ending the day with 16 goblin kills for myself.