...

Over ten green-eyed beasts charged forward— none of which bothered to evade.

Bang!

System Notification: [Chaos Bolt] deals 32 electric damage to [Razor Terror].

[Bearing Water] proccs, dealing an additional 8 water damage.

Target suffers from [Electric Shock] and will not be able to move for 5 seconds.

“Razor Terror?”

Apparently the green-eyed beasts were razor terrors, but their names were hardly as important as the fact that their sharp jaws could shred Capra to pieces. They had a strong momentum, but their gigantic heads threatened to tip them over at anytime. Soon the beasts were within 30 meters of Capra, but he would make sure they wouldn’t get close without paying the price.

“Chaos Bolt!”

“Chaos Bolt!”

“Chaos Bolt!”

Three more razor terrors were sent flying back, lying limp on the ground in agony. It was at that point that Capra made a realization.

“They’re weak.”

Capra could only see their health bars when he struck them, but so far every hit had taken more than half their health.

“They must make up for their weakness with numbers.”

Capra was starting to see that maybe he had a chance – however slim – to fight them off. Razor terrors weren’t strong individually, instead they overwhelmed with numbers— and it seemed that the goblins knew that. Behind the barricades the goblins had formed long horizontal lines, and were chucking bomb after bomb towards the razor terrors, blasting them to smithereens. Several of the razor terrors Capra injured were killed in the explosion, giving him a little breathing room. But for how long?

System Notificat..

Capra swiped away the system notification before it could fully present itself. He had no time for it.

The closer the razor terrors got to Capra the closer the bombs would land, and it seemed that the goblins had no intention of sparing him.

“Come! Dance. Dance for Baba!”

Off in the distance Baba – the large yellow-green goblin guard – fought the razor terrors with savage ferocity. His voice boomed across the battlefield as he swung his axe with frightful delight.

“Ahahaha! Come! Come!”

As the razor terror corpses piled up around him, Baba grew increasingly fierce. His eyes began to glow red, and he lost himself to madness.

“Raaaah!”

It was obvious to Capra that Baba was a berserker, and an anomaly. Goblins were weak and timid creatures — or at least they were supposed to be. A berserker drew its power from madness and carnage, and that tended to result in an unprecedented accumulation of wounds on the battlefield, something a weak goblin frame wouldn’t be able to handle, but Baba proved to be an exception.

However, as fast as baba was killing them, there just didn’t seem to be any end to the terrors.

The bombs weren’t coming fast enough and more razor terrors surged forth from the forest, 15 became 20, and then 20 became 30. Their numbers multiplied with such fervor that they seemed to be endless.

“Shit.”

By this point Capra had blasted roughly 20 of the razor terrors back with chaos bolts and he was running out of mana. He had roughly three more spell casts before he would have to resort to using his axe.

“Chaos Bolt!”

Spell casting was fairly simple, using his axe would not be. Up till now the only close combat experience Capra had was when that one particularly rambunctious blue moon rabbit bit him. A blue moon rabbit bite with the game’s pain settings on max was enough for Capra to learn to keep his distance when fighting, plus he simply didn’t trust his close combat capabilities.

That was the major difference between professions and classes in Chaos and Fame. Both could fight, but classes had special masteries to help bring a player’s motor skills to a higher level. Classes were optimized for combat, but professions were optimized for item creation or modification.

Enchanters were something of a hybrid, but ultimately the archetype was labeled a profession because it offered no passive masteries to aid with combat. If Capra swung his axe it would be with all the skill and delicacy of a man who had spent three years working in a factory— ergo, not delicate or skilled at all.

Capra had two more chaos bolts he could cast, but there were razor terrors within a 10 meter range.

“Chaos Bolt!”

One of the terrors shot back, but the rest continued and were within eight meters.

“Chaos Bolt!”

Capra's mana depleted, and the razors sped up their advance. Six meters, five meters, four meters.

Swish!

Capra swung his axe in the widest arc he could, and a sharp arc of blue energy rippled forward.

System Notification: [Bearing Water] proccs, increasing attack damage by 25% (water damage), and extending basic attack range by 3 meters.

System Notification: [Stone Axe] deals deals 25 mixed damage to [Razor Terror](s).

The razors were knocked back. A few of them had their legs badly wounded, while others only received light forehead wounds. It seemed that the forehead of a razor terror was fairly robust, otherwise Capra was sure he would’ve gotten several crits.

The cooldown on bearing water was 7.5 seconds, but three razor terrors were already back on their feet and dashing towards him. Three meters. Two meters. One Meter.

Pa!

Capra’s axe collided with one of the razor terrors. It had gotten cheeky and tried to jump at him, only to be met with an axe strike to the side of its head.

System Notification: Critical. [Stone Axe] deals deals 30 damage to [Razor Terror].

The axe had dug deep into two of the terror’s eye sockets, causing it extreme pain. It fell to the ground howling and yelping miserably. Another terror went for Capra’s calf, its jaw stretching wide enough to snap Capra’s leg in two if the bite landed. Luckily Capra moved back fast enough to only be nipped, or so he thought.

System Notification: You have taken 15 damage. [HP: 185/200]

Although the terror hadn’t been able to take a complete bite out of Capra’s calf, it had still managed to bite down with tremendous force on the small portion of calf it had been able to reach.

“Graaah!”

Capra felt as if the front of his calf had been smashed between two jagged rocks. Fortunately his [Stone Forged Leaf Robe] had prevented the razor terror from ripping off his skin and the pain only served as a reminder that it was imperative to avoid their bites.

He had received 15 damage from a nip, but the robe negated 25% of it because it was piercing damage, which meant that the original damage should have been 20. Had the razor terror bit into a larger portion of his leg, he would’ve lost it, or at least suffered a severe bone injury.

After nipping him, the razor terror fell to the ground defenseless. It had overcommitted its head weight when it went in for the bite, and now it could only wiggle its legs and snap its jaws restlessly as it tried to get up.

Capra wanted to take the opportunity to kill it, but there was still a third razor terror, and it was mid lunge.

Swish!

Capra swung his axe, but the blade missed, however the axe shaft ended up right in front of the razor terror’s maw.

Snap! Clank!

System Notification:[Stone Axe] has suffered a large blow. Durability: 18/25

The razor terror chewed on the axe handle, drastically lowering its durability, but now Capra’s mana had regenerated enough to cast another chaos bolt. So he aimed it at the opening on the razor terror’s nose.

“Chaos Bolt!”

System Notification: Critical. [Chaos Bolt] deals deals 62 earth damage to [Razor Terror].

[Bearing Water] Proccs, dealing an additional 15.5 damage. You have defeated [Razor terror].

The bolt crashed into the razor terror’s nose, obliterating it and causing critical damage.

“Skrrrrreee!”

The razor terror howled in pain briefly, before succumbing to its wounds and dying.

System Notifica..

“Turn off system notifications!” Capra yelled.

He couldn’t have anymore notifications distract him mid combat, his situation was bad enough as it was.

The now six-eyed terror he’d injured overcame its pain only to glare and bear its teeth at Capra. The other razor terrors were starting to make their way to him, and the one that had fallen had managed to nudge its way back on to its two legs. Things were looking bad for Capra.

…

Unbeknownst to Capra, Baba had been watching him closely. Baba had only ever heard of humans, he’d never seen one before. The tribe’s elders had mentioned that humans were clever and dangerous creatures, but the human before him wore leaves as armor and couldn’t cleave a razor terror in two with a single axe swing.

Didn’t it know that razor terrors were squishy? Baba had stomped on a few of them with little difficulty, yet this supposedly clever and dangerous human was running from a small pack of razor terrors, and struggling to fight them off. The human was being swarmed, and a terror had managed to latch on to its arm.

“Aaaaaaah!”

The elders should have told Baba that humans were whiny babies. It was only a broken arm, why was the human crying?

“Bah!”

The human wasn’t a threat, so Baba would focus on the razor terrors. However, before he could return his gaze to the battle at hand, the human swung its axe — sending a radiant blue light crashing into a wave of razor terrors. For a second Baba froze.

“Good axe…” he muttered.

“Grah!”

While Baba had been distracted a razor terror bit into his big toe.

“Damn Thing! Baba thinking!”

Baba crushed the razor terror with his shield, and then dislodged its teeth from his boots. His black fur boots were now missing a large chunk at the front, and Baba’s toes could be seen. Surprisingly, he wasn’t the least bit injured.

“Aaaaaah! Aah!”

The human was screaming again.

“Damn.”

Baba noticed that the human was being overwhelmed, it had taken out a tiny red bottle and drank it. Its wounds healed, but it soon had to take out another little red bottle. Baba considered letting the human die, but Baba knew that if the human died it might not leave anything behind, and the human had something Baba wanted, so Baba ran.

“Raaaah!”

…

All Capra could feel now was pain, endless pain. The razor terrors had latched on to his arms, and to his legs. One almost bit into a rather sensitive area, but Capra had managed to evade somehow, although soon it wouldn’t matter— he was out of health potions.

System Notification: You have taken 40 damage. [HP: 145/200]

A razor terror chomped down on his right arm, and the pain told him that it severely fractured.

System Notification: You have taken 65 damage. [HP: 80/200]

Another razor terror dug its teeth into his calf, causing him to trip and fall onto his back.

System Notification: You have taken 45 damage. [HP: 35/200]

A third razor terror bit into his thigh, dangerously close to his family jewels, but Capra could only grit his teeth and bear with it. It would all be over soon.

“Raaaah!”

All of a sudden the hulking yellow-green goblin he’d seen before was roaring and rushing over.

“Baba, was it?”

Capra could only wonder why Baba was choosing such an odd time to attack him, but then again at least he’d be out of his misery sooner.

Baba was fast, and before Capra knew it Baba stood over him, his axe raised high.

“Finally.”

Capra closed his eyes and waited for death.

Pa! Clunk! Gurgle…

“Skhreeee!”

The razor terrors weren’t heavy, but their weight on his body had been noticeable, yet all of a sudden Capra's arms and legs felt light.

“Did I die?” He wondered. Everything seemed quieter now, with the exception of the pitter-pattering of quickly retreating feet, but he remained where he was. Soaking in his first death.

Snort.

A hot breath rushed over Capra’s face, startling him. He opened his eyes only to see a big ugly goblin face looking down at him.

“Why Human. Play Dead?” It asked.

“...”

“Razor terrors. Eat dead. Play dead. Not work.”

Baba stood over Capra, looking down at him with an eyebrow raised, and Capra was speechless. He had never expected to be looked down upon by a goblin.

“Human. Not. Can. Speak?”

“...”

“Bah! Human give. Axe. Baba save. Human.”

Quest Notification: NPC [Baba] would like your axe. If you give him your axe, he will protect you, but your axe may not be retrieved.

Give Baba [Stone Axe]? Y/N

“...”

Capra extended his right arm and offered Baba his axe while still laying on the ground.

Quest Notification: You have given Baba your axe. Baba’s affection towards you grows. Affection: +10.

“Ahaha!”

Baba grabbed the axe gleefully, and swung it. A massive blue arc of energy followed the trajectory of his swing.

“Ahaha! Good Axe! Good Axe!”

Baba dropped his shield and dual wielded the [Stone Axe] with his old axe, then he ran off like a mad man, frightening every razor terror within 40 meters.

“Ahahaaha!”

“...”