The sky rumbled. A storm was approaching.

[ Wave Ongoing! ]

[ Title: Beginners’ Trial ( 3/3 ) ]

[ Challenge Rating: 1 ]

[ Active effects:­­ ––– ]

[ Enemies left: ‘Soup, Daughter of the Blue Minotaur’; Goblin (3/5) ]

When the goblins arrived on top of the hill, a strange sight greeted them. There were three tree trunks placed in the shape of a triangle. Around these were strawmen made out of sharp sticks, stones, and forest materials.

One of the goblins was about to rush one of these mannequins, thinking that it is Tanuki, but Soup quickly stopped him.

“You don’t get to die just yet.”

The goblin awkwardly recoiled while the other one laughed at him.

Soup observed the strangely placed wood. This felt like a trap, but she didn’t really understand what made it one.

Would she try to leave the road and go around this strange formation without a proper reason, by the laws of world invasion, she would suffer great disadvantages. That couldn’t be allowed.

“Alright! Maduka, do your job!”

The little goblin gazed at the formation before her. She didn’t understand it but decided to place her trust in Tanuki.

She closed her eyes and began approaching the structure.

“Wait!” Soup pulled her back. “How do I know this isn’t some kind of trick? Maybe he knew I’d send you ahead and this is just a distraction from the real trap!”

Maduka was thrown aside by Soup. She marched straight towards the weird construction with a satisfied smile.

“That’s right! You can’t outsmart me, pretty boy!” She said, yet stopped before entering the triangle and whispered. “Wait… what if he thought I’d try outsmarting him?”

The strawmen placed around the hill gave her suspicion. What was their purpose?

If she were to enter this triangle, would some kind of magical shield appear, that’d defend her from some kind of attacks? Would the strawmen come to life and slaughter everyone outside the triangle?

“Wait… what am I thinking?” She thought aloud. “How would a beginner have the tools to make something like that? Come on Soup, you fought plenty of beginners already! They always get a small shield, then some kind of weak weapon. I know his weapon is some kind of brush, but…”

Her thoughts raced.

“He had the Heifer’s Mask with him, despite the fact that I specifically asked its user to destroy it if she were to fall. Is he being assisted by someone? Just how lucky is this kid?”

She turned to Maduka and pulled her close.

“Alright! You’re going in.”

“W-What? Why Maduka?”

“I know what he wants! These weird dolls are all just to confuse me! The real trap is that weird triangle with the trees! Now, go ahead and step inside!”

“What? Why don’t ya just go around it?”

“Oh, silly Maduka! You’ve got much to learn.” She pushed her inside the triangle. “Now go!”

As she did, the trees around her collapsed into one another, trapping Maduka inside a large wooden cage.

She tried to escape it, but there weren’t any holes to crawl through. She could’ve climbed out, were it not for the surprisingly heavy leaf shield that appeared above her.

Desperate, she began to beg Soup.

“Help! Please help Maduka!”

“Calm down already!” Soup patted the side of her cage. “Why haven’t you died yet? What’s taking so long?”

Something changed. Something activated.

A whistling noise gained sound in the distance. It came from the nearby forest and grew louder with every second.

Soup raised her head and saw a horde of black creatures fly towards them from the dark.

“Are those… birds?”

Suddenly, something sharp flew beside her and before she could’ve known, the goblin spearman’s left arm disappeared. What remained was a perfect cut exposing his bones and a handmade axe stuck in the ground beside him.

“U-Ukee?” It took a moment for the pain to register, followed by painful screaming.

Those black things weren’t birds. They were axes made out of twigs, vines, and sharp rocks that Tanuki gathered.

And now, they were raining down upon the goblins.

“What the–– Gaah!” Soup cried out in pain as an axe hit her.

The goblin who lost his shoulder didn’t see the other incoming attacks that rained down upon his legs, chest, and finally his head. The last one pierced his skull and immediately killed him.

The shield-bearer goblin raised his defense, but due to the seemingly random angle of attacks, an axe managed to get around his defense. It split his feet into two, which caused the goblin to pull his shield aside while screaming in agony. At that moment, a lone axe managed to strike the goblin from just the perfect angle and decapitate him with a decisive swoop.

While all hell broke loose, Maduka was safe from the attacks. Her wooden cage was a safe zone, defending her from every attack.

She observed the others through a small hole and saw everything, including when one of the strawmen came to life and sneaked up behind Soup. It pulled a paintbrush from its pocket and spoke with a very familiar voice.

“Axe-slingshots. I invented them.”

Soup turned and swiftly summoned her attacks, but she was too late. Tanuki, who had previously disguised himself as a strawman, had already raised his brush and smeared paint across her body.

“Kurohyou! Detonate!”

It felt like time stopped for a moment, then skipped a second.

The feared and powerful Soup had blood shooting out of a clean wound, reaching from her left shoulder to her right thigh.

From Maduka’s perspective, it looked lethal. But as she had soon learned from Tanuki’s horrified expression, it wasn’t enough.

[ Soup, Daughter of the Blue Minotaur ]

[ HP: 5/15 ]

She took two damage from the surprise axe attack, then five from one paintbrush attack. She was still standing, her back arched towards the sky as she bathed in the slow falling rain.

Tanuki raised his brush for another attack. That’s when he realized, his brush was out of ink.

“W-What?” He tried to attack again, but nothing happened. “Is this because I used up all my ink on traps?”

It’s true, that every one of his traps involved a bit of ink, especially the axe-slingshot that he had set up in the nearby forest.

He had no way of knowing this would happen. No part of the weapon description told him anything about this.

“Hey… Tanuki…”

Soup gazed at the dark clouds. Lightning lit up the sky, dancing with deep rumbling steps. Cold rain poured from above.

Despite it not being lethal, Tanuki’s attack cut her deep. Her voice was weak and trembling.

“Do you… love rain?”

Tanuki was taken aback by her question.

“Excuse me?”

“So many… tiny… fragile… droplets… I want to marry them, Tanuki. Oh, how I want to marry the rain…”

She leaned forward and bathed her hand in the blood pouring from her stomach. Then, using her own blood, she drew a large heart on her chest.

“Yes… I want to marry the rain, then destroy it. The thought of… torturing all those weak little raindrops…”

Blood leaked from her smile. A sadistic dream clouded her eyes.

“It makes me so happy!”

Five equal horns appeared around her.

Tanuki acted quickly and put on the Heifer’s Mask. Even then, he was still too late to counter Soup’s attack, as the strawberry red horns came crashing down on him.

A dust cloud rose by her attack. Soup wasted no time and summoned five more horns. She sent two attacking from left, then two from right, then one from above.

“I’m… so… happy!”

Behind the dust cloud, Tanuki used his Beginners’ Shield to try and defend himself from the attacks.

“Shit! She’s attacking too fast!”

He didn’t see the horn that came from above and it hit him right above his chest. Just like that, the right side of his collarbone was shattered into pieces.

“Gaah!” Tanuki cried out in pain.

It was the worst pain he has experienced yet and it made him immediately fall apart. Tears formed in his eyes as he recoiled, only to get five more horns pummeled inside his core.

Tanuki’s body flew backward. He cried out in pain, but no sound left his mouth. Not only that, but he felt it was incredibly hard to breathe.

His body hit the ground and rolled across the mud. Tanuki curled up inside a ball and fought for air.

The heavy steps of his opponent drew closer. Soup’s smile looked painful. The side of his cheeks grinned up high above his nose, coating his green skin with warm red blood.

“What’s wrong, Tanuki? Didn’t you say you’d save Maduka?”

She summoned five horns but didn’t attack yet. She wanted to savor every last tear of the boy.

She kicked Tanuki in the back and continued taunting him.

“Are you in there, hero? Don’t tell me you don’t have any more traps left! Pathetic piece of shit! Look how much of a failure you are, crawling around the mud like some kind of worm! What would your parents think of you if they could see you now?”

Despite how much more she wanted to humiliate the boy, bloodlust clouded her eyes. She aimed her horns at Tanuki and mustered power for the final attack.

“Don’t worry, Tanuki! Once this is over, I’ll make sure to give Maduka the worst torture imaginable. Now die!”