[ Countdown: 0d 0h 0m 30s ]

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The sun slowly descended behind the forest. Tanuki sat on top of the hill, gazing at the yellow orb.

“After I’m done here, I should eat some hotdogs.”

Dark crept up the hill’s spine and slowly it engulfed him too.

The world went completely dark beside a single torch sitting by the end of the road.

A green portal appeared. Two pairs of small goblins ran onto the road, growling ferociously. Two had large wooden shields, while two others hid behind with long spears in hand.

Next came Maduka. She hasn’t changed a bit since Tanuki exited the goblin’s domain.

Her hands were bound by a rope that went around her torso multiple times. It was held by Soup, who followed her victim with a sadistic smile.

“Go on, don’t be afraid! We came to visit your friend, see?”

Soup grabbed Maduka by the cheek and looked her in the eyes. She found great pleasure in the young goblin’s fear.

For her, this was just a game.

[ Wave Ongoing! ]

[ Title: Beginners’ Trial ( 3/3 ) ]

[ Challenge Rating: 1 ]

[ Active effects:­­ ––– ]

[ Enemies left: ‘Soup, Daughter of the Blue Minotaur’; Goblin (5/5) ]

“Go on!” Soup pushed Maduka.

She looked back at her captor, confused. Soup grabbed the torch that was placed near the road and handed it to Maduka.

“Oh, can’t you see? Our friend has prepared gifts for our arrival! Am I not just the kindest for allowing you to experience those gifts before the rest of us? Now go!”

Maduka had no choice but to move. The two spearmen goblin held their weapons aimed at her, waiting for her smallest misstep.

“Keeheehee!” The monsters laughed in anticipation.

But what Soup and the other goblins failed to realize was the addition of a torch into the game.

Despite her strange behavior and accent, Maduka wasn’t all that stupid. She knew something was up when she noticed that her torch was the only light source on the road.

“Why would he want to give us a torch? We can see and avoid his traps with it!”

Just as she thought of that, she noticed that the other goblins were much farther behind than before.

Soup chuckled.

“Good work! You found the first gift!”

Maduka was confused for a second, then she looked under her feet and noticed a small pressure plate. As she raised her leg, something activated.

When she looked up, the outlines of a large tree appeared rolling downhill. It was too big to evade and too large for a small creature like her to survive.

Fear staggered her and she couldn’t move as the large mass charged towards her.

Snap!

A vine rope revealed itself before Maduka. It pulled a sharp stone out of the ground, which proved a curve for the tree, and shot it into the air.

Maduka was left speechless as the tree flew above her head. Not only because of how scared she was, but also because she noticed something far too familiar. There was a line of ink surrounding the trunk.

“Kurohyou, activate!”

Tanuki’s shout came from above. The ink detonated with a loud roar and cut the tree into two halves.

Soup’s sadistic smile disappeared as one half came flying towards her.

“What the…”

None of the goblins had time to defend themselves. The two trees hit everyone beside Maduka, who remained completely unharmed.

[ Soup, Daughter of the Blue Minotaur ]

[ HP: 12/15 ]

[ Goblin ]

[ HP: 3/5 ]

[ Goblin ]

[ HP: 4/5 ]

[ Goblin ]

[ HP: 2/5 ]

Maduka saw an opportunity to escape. She began a mad sprint uphill, but Soup quickly stopped her by holding back the rope.

She wasn’t as angry about the escape attempt as the body lying beside her. One of the goblins have already perished, as its head got crushed by the large tree.

Soup took a deep breath. The eyes of her minotaur headdress lit up with red light. Its blue fur sparkled brightly.

“Ancestor’s Path, Savage Horns!”

Five red horns appeared surrounding Soup. They were the same as the default horns of the Heifer’s Mask.

Soup swooped her arms towards the goblin’s corpse.

“Attack!”

Following one another, the horns attacked in a beautiful line, making the earth tremble five times as they destroyed the corpse.

What remained of the fallen was steaming blood in a circle of burnt grass. The sight made the other goblins recoil in fear.

“We can’t allow him any possible rewards. If any of you fall, I’m going to do the same. So, if you don’t want to end up as fried chicken, go!”

The goblins turned towards Maduka. She saw the anger they felt towards her, mainly because she remained unharmed, and decided it was best to comply. After all, it seemed like they were more dangerous than the traps Tanuki made.

He thought of Maduka when setting up hazards.

Even in this life-threatening situation, he somehow made her blush.

A few meters up the road Maduka stepped onto another pressure plate. This time she wasn’t scared, as she saw another sharp stone just a few meters ahead of her.

“Don’t even think of it!” Soup pushed her aside and stepped onto the pressure plate, followed by the other goblins.

“What are ya doing? That is a trap!”

“Oh, shut up, sweetie! I know he wants to outsmart me, but I’m one step ahead of him!”

The tree came from the dark, rushing towards them. Soup and the other goblins lowered their core to the ground so they will get under the flying mass.

Maduka looked at the sharp stone a few meters ahead. The rope attached to it lay on the ground, not held by anyone.

“Alright…” Soup ducked down. “Here it comes!”

The tree didn’t launch into the air. Instead, it came crushing the small group as if they were blood-filled bowling pins.

“Kaah!” Blood shot out of the tiny goblins’ mouths as their bodies got flattened under the heavy weight.

[ Soup, Daughter of the Blue Minotaur ]

[ HP: 8/15 ]

[ Goblin ]

[ HP: 2/5 ]

[ Goblin ]

[ HP: 2/5 ]

[ Goblin ]

[ HP: 1/5 ]

The goblins panted heavily. One of them had a bone sticking out of its arm, another’s jaw hung completely detached, while another had both of his knees destroyed and bent backward.

The latter one couldn’t get up. As much as he tried to force himself to stand, he fell to the ground while painfully screaming.

Soup was bleeding from the nose. Not only did her face get damaged, but also her right arm was hanging numb on her side.

She stood above the goblin whose legs faced the wrong way.

“Hey… can you get up?”

Tears flooded from the goblin’s eyes. He held onto Soup and pulled himself up to a standing position, only to fell a moment later.

“You know… if you can’t fight anymore… I have no use for you.”

The goblin screamed. The agony was unbearable. His twisted body was throbbing with incredible pain from all the shattered bone fragments. Every one of them was as sharp as broken glass, cutting into his flesh with every move.

Yet, he was strong. Or, to be more specific, his will to live was.

The goblin held onto Soup and began to pull himself up again. It was unbearably painful, but the monster bit down on his tongue and forced his way to a standing position.

“If you can still fight, then prove it.” Soup raised her hand. “I’m going to count down from five. If you are still standing after five seconds, I won’t kill you.”

Soup let go of the goblin and took a step back.

As she did, the goblin was stormed with even more pain. The bones in his legs were forced onto the shattered fragments, which cut deep into everything around them.

“Five…”

Yet the goblin remained standing. He extended his arms to the sides and tried to balance himself.

“Four…”

The other goblins gazed at him. They were a shield-bearer and a spearman.

The spearman had a smile on his face. He raised his weapon and pointed it towards his mate, waiting for his fall.

“Three…”

Warm blood leaked out of the monster’s mouth. Before he could’ve realized, he bit down on his tongue with such strength, such force, that he bit off half of it.

“Two…”

But he was almost there. The goblin found a way to balance himself and he needed to bear this pain for just one more second to survive.

“One…”

Suddenly, he felt two hands on his chest. Behind the tears, he saw Soup’s sadistic grin, then felt her hands push him.

Before he could’ve done anything, Soup pushed him to the ground.

“Zero.”

The other goblins laughed with the most heinous sound imaginable. Maduka has long covered her eyes, as she couldn’t bear the gruesome sight.

The goblin with the broken knees was left completely broken.

Soup stepped above him. Five horns surrounded her.

“Welp, good game, my guy! Unfortunately for you, I had the last laugh.” She said, before launching a devastating attack.