Azaan had been in complete darkness for some time now. He had tried to move his body but he could not sense it and even his thoughts were sluggish. It remained so for a while but as time passed, his thoughts began to speed up. He had just started feeling his body again when something appeared in his mind.

Mission Type: Extermination

Minimum Requirements: 100 Kills

Payment: 2 Contribution Points

He had just completed his transaction and was still sluggish. The sluggishness quickly disappeared and he quickly moved his head to examine the surroundings, due to this he was blinded by the soft light and confused by the trees that were all around him. Because the trees acted as a filter, the soft light was easily adjusted. He looks around, still in his nightwear, clearly in a forest.

He blinked and looked around dumbly at what had happened for a while. This was supposed to be a normal day and it had almost ended like a normal one. Except he had been abducted by something, something that even though looked harmless, beautiful even but made him unable to walk straight. And now he was in a damned forest.

Still, he thought, better this than being in that room. He did not know why he had been so fearful but now that he was here and nowhere near that thing he felt as if a heavy burden had been removed. So much so that he wanted to cry aloud, though he still had enough sense not to do so in a completely unknown environment.

He looked around and found the trees were as green as they should be, the color of the sky and sun was also familiar. The sounds of birds that were resounding were calming. Everything looked bright and inviting. He took a step to explore his surroundings while thinking about the message that was still in his head. He had just placed his foot down when he found another problem, he did not have any shoes and the ground was anything but clean and even.

He looked around to see if there was anything that could be used to secure his feet but there was nothing so he slowly started walking around. He took in a deep breath and was overwhelmed by the scent of greenery. It was refreshing and addicting. Still, he refocused himself upon his objective because he had to get back home. He would let some dungeon thingy come in between him and his dreams.

With renewed conviction, he started exploring the area. The sword's scabbard sometimes got caught in the bushes that caused some problems, otherwise though he did not see anything except some small critters and bugs. As he had been exploring the forest, the excretion made him require multiple breaks.

He had just finished another break and started walking towards the direction that he had picked at the start. The rays of the sun kept hitting him in the face, they were comfortable though. As he kept walking, he started hearing low noises and as he went nearer they increased and he could finally identify what it was. It was the sound of water and he quickly started increasing his speed. Because he had not thought about it till now, he was suddenly forced to consider that he had not bought any water or food with him. And he was feeling thirsty.

As he kept increasing his speed, he saw the clearing in front of him and quickly tried to slow himself down. Because he was not at full speed due to being barefooted he was successful. Then he walked towards the edge of the clearing and looked around to see whether the area was clear. He was just going to enter when suddenly figures burst from the opposite side of the clearing.

There were five of them. Small heights, big ears and noses, and green skin from what he could see from the other side of the river. As he kept coming closer words appeared above their heads.

Target

Target

Target

Target

Target

He kept observing them as they went on the edge of the river and started drinking. He thought about what he would do. He certainly could not just rush them. He was very weak and even though they were small, they looked even more muscular because of it.

He thought of a method and took out the sword from the scabbard. Its blade was almost black except for the silver edge and the flowing pattern upon the blade. It did not feel heavy, not for now at least, he thought. He used the sword to cut a twig from a bush and opened the poison jar. Using the twig, he applied the poison upon the blade. By the end of it, the edge was shining even more while the twig had started breaking apart. Seeing that made him even more careful about the jar.

“Huaaaa...Huuuuuu. God help me.”

He whispered and took a pebble and threw it towards the creatures. It captured their attention despite not hitting them. They argued among themselves and two of them crossed the river, leaping upon the stones. Now on his side, they started scanning the forest while slowly inching closer.

He was hiding in the bushes, taking a peak while he could. As one of them entered the forest near his location he looked towards the other, it was still a bit far but was coming towards him so he kept waiting. As the second creature entered the forest, Azaan looked towards the others across the river. They were still there not paying attention towards his side of the river.

He stalked towards the smaller creature. Slowly nearing it. He readied his blade to stab it in its neck. As he did so, his foot slipped over the moss-covered roots which caused the sword’s aim to miss, causing it to cut into the right shoulder instead.

“Heck!”

“Aaaaaaaa!!”

He used the sword to balance himself, causing the creature to fall to the ground. Quickly, he placed his foot on its head and stabbed it again on the neck.

Rustle Rustle

The disturbance stopped him from finishing off the creature. He quickly turned to see the other one rushing towards him. Keeping his foot on the head, he readied himself. As it came closer, he pointed the sword and lunged towards it. Striking the creature and using his weight to push it to the ground. He kept the sword embedded in it and turned towards the first one.

It was struggling to get up but that quickly turned into coughing and in no time it fell to the ground, dead. Looks like the poison worked, he thought.

He surveyed the riverside and saw the remaining three were crossing the river, with what looked like daggers in their hands. He looked around at the ground around him and gathered the stones that were relatively bigger than the rest. Most of them were around the size of his fist, others smaller.

The remaining three creatures moved toward the location which the previous two had entered. They stood with just a bit of distance from the forest and started sniffing the air, then they entered and headed straight towards the location where their companions had died.

Azaan kept observing them, situated behind a tree. As they stopped near the corpses, he took two of the stones and threw them at the creatures. Unfortunately, only one of them hit, and even then only on the shoulder. They had not let their awareness slip. They started moving and took cover behind the bushes and the trees whenever the stones were thrown at them.

The stones that were coming gradually became smaller and smaller. At that moment, the three ran towards Azaan. They were just upon him when the big stones, the ones the size of a fist, were launched upon them. They tried to evade but due to proximity, the stones hit.

Azaan jumped from behind the tree and stabbed the sword at the creature at the front and the two behind it were crying from the stones that had hit them. He also finished them quickly.

“Haaaaaaa”

He let out a deep breath and sat down on the ground. All strength leaving him. He sat there for a while and as he felt somewhat better, he started inspecting one of the corpses. Now that he could look closely, he found that they looked very similar to goblins.

They had big pointed teeth, very long ears, and a relatively big nose. Their eyes were the only feature that matched the size of their bodies as their hands and feet also seemed to be a bit bigger relative to their bodies.

The goblins were wearing sandals, he took a pair from one of the bodies. They were a bit tight but it was a lot better than walking barefooted. He then took one of the daggers and went to the river. There he drank water and tried to clean off some of the blood from his clothes. The blood did not come off and instead just made the clothes even dirtier.

Now that his thirst was satiated and his clothes even dirtier, he considered where to go. Not like I found anything while wandering all over, he thought and started crossing the river using the stones. As he crossed the river, he looked upon the sky and found that there was a second sun that was just coming out.

“It's getting hot, better be quick.”

He whispered and started walking into the forest. The forest was the same as before. He kept wandering. When he came to a quiet place, he came across another party of five. He observed them from afar and collected stones while at it. He tried to attack them with stones but they were quick to evade and ran towards his location. Like the last time, he had prepared the best gift for the last and sent the bigger stones hurling upon them. This time the clearing allowed them to evade all of the stone and he had to fight all five of them at the same time.

He had coated both of his weapons with poison. When they were nearly upon him, he hurled the dagger at the front-most goblin. In the time it took for it to reach him, it was already coughing blood and it did not take long from there. Others, seeing this hesitated but he could not allow them to run away. He jumped towards them, swinging his sword wildly. He just needed to give them a cut, a task that he readily accomplished.

The last one tried to run but he quickly picked up a dagger from the ground and threw it at it. The goblin evaded it again. Because of the height difference, he was quickly able to catch up to it while it jumped aside to dodge the dagger. The sword cut into the back. He then went back to the clearing and sat down again.

Mission Type: Extermination

Minimum Requirements: 100 Kills

Payment: 2 Contribution Points

Remaining: 90 Kills

He had noticed the change when he was wandering through the forest. It only showed the kills though, and nothing else.

After resting and regaining some of his strength, he started to look around to see if there was any food around here. He had been on the lookout for any fruits that he could eat but did not find any. After looking throughout the clearing, he found nothing. Thankfully I overate at the party, he thought. He was now starting to feel hungry.

Again he started to wander, this time actively looking for anything to eat. During this, he came across other parties, all were going somewhere further into the forest. He made his assaults quick, not giving them any time to react, dismantling them quickly with the poisoned blade. After every fight he took a break. These breaks were starting to become longer and longer as he started becoming more and more tired. The rising temperature made it even worse.

As he kept wandering, he came across a fruit bearing tree. The fruits were big and yellow in color. He took one from one of the lower branches. The outer cover was very thick, he got rid of it with much difficulty and started eating the pinkish material inside. It was very sweet and he finished it quickly. He ate three more and stored five inside the inventory, the max it could hold.

He started going towards the direction he had seen some of the goblin parties go to. In that direction, he encountered more parties. He fought those that he could without alerting others, earning some wounds in the process.

As he kept walking in that direction, he started hearing noises which caused him to be more cautious. Slowly he approached closer and saw a big group of goblins. They were building what seemed like walls. Even further behind them he could see even bigger buildings, though they seemed to be far away.

Mission Type: Extermination

Minimum Requirements: 100 Kills

Payment: 2 Contribution Points

Remaining: 75 Kills