[You have suffered 1 damage.]

"..."

Sometimes he felt he could do without the realism. Rust's complaining got put on hold by the tiny creature squirming its way towards him.

It was Blue.

The goblin didn't notice. It was just enoying watching him bleed to death.

Rust discretely picked up Blue and whispered.

"You crazy thing. I almost died."

Blue seemed to sink together and become even smaller. Was it apologizing?

"Just give me a warning next time." Rust gently tapped Blue.

Blue shivered. It was an affirmative.

"Good."

Rust placed Blue on his head once again, and slowly stood up.

He stared at the goblin.

'Slow, deep breaths.'

Rust swallowed a large mouthful of air and released it.

'Now focus. This is the only thing that matters right now.'

Rust kept his focus on the goblin chief's murky eyes.

Unnecessary noise faded with every breath. Soon all he could hear was the beating of his own heart.

'Yes. This is what matters. As long as my heart is beating, I can win.'

Rust wasn't quite sure himself where the deep desire for victory had sprung from.

His focus eventually reached the peak.

He didn't even read the notifications that appeared as he swiftly removed them.

It was at this moment Rust's many years of battle experience truly began cumulating into something greater.

It was the beginning of his true blossoming.

'What is this half-dead human doing?' The goblin became confused.

Why did the human keep staring at him? It was uncomfortable.

The longer the human stared, the more unbearable it became.

In the end, the goblin folded.

'Die human!'

"Kii!"

The goblin released a battle shriek as it sprang forwards.

'Huh?'

As soon as the goblin moved its sword, Rust vanished.

Rust had of course not become invisible or anything. He had slipped into one of the goblin's dead zones.

The brief lull in the goblin's concentration gave him time to strike.

Rust planted his elbow in the side of the goblin chief.

[You have dealt 52 damage.]

The goblin swung its sword in desperation. But it was too slow.

"Heavy Punch."

A powerful surge traveled from his feet and into hist fist.

[You have dealt 89 damage.]

[Goblin Chief' has been dizzied for 0,25 seconds.]

[You have struck a weak point.]

[Goblin Chief will be confused for 2 seconds.]

The powerful blow connected with the goblin's jaw and sent it stumbling.

Rust stepped closer, folded his hands and slammed them against the back of the goblin's head.

Wham!

The goblin fell over and crashed to the ground.

"Hah."

Rust let out the breath he had been holding in. His stamina was rapidly depleting because of his bleeding and intense focus.

But the goblin still wasn't dead.

Yet there was no doubt. In his current state, there was no room for doubt.

This was a fight Rust would win.

The goblin chief that got pounded into the ground felt a shiver up his spine.

Every time he had seen the human's face, it had been staring into his eyes. Even now he could feel the human looking at him.

The goblin shot up. His entire body hurt, but resting wasn't an option. Not moving would mean death.

He couldn't die.

He was going to use the sword he found to become goblin king!

A single human wouldn't stop him! Much less a human's eyes!

[The 'Goblin Chief's' Battleheart beats. All the 'Goblin Chief's' stats are temporarily increased by 20%]

Like the previous ones, this was another notification which got ignored by Rust.

But that didn't stop him from noticing the goblin's increased power.

Its slash was more fierce and quick than ever. The time Rust had to react was shortened even more by the chief's power up.

The width at which he managed to dodge the strike allowed it to cut his shirt.

Rust moved close and sent a quick jab against the goblin.

The goblin twisted it's body and managed to avoid. The buff had done more than increase it's attack speed and power. It's battle capabilities increased all-around.

The health potion's cooldown had ended, so Rust swallowed another one.

It was the start of the true battle.

"Hah, hah, hah."

Rust's vision was blurry as he sucked down deep gulps of air.

It was no longer about Rust's capabilities or will. In the end, Battleheart was a game, and in the game, he had a stamina pool.

It was close to empty. If he reached 0 stamina, he would receive a huge debuff called 'Exhausted'. All his stats would be reduced by 50%. He had believed that he wouldn't need many stamina potions in such a low level zone, so he had only brought a single one. And he had already used it.

There also existed a second problem. As Rust had run out of steam, he got inflicted by a series of small cuts and his health potions could no longer keep up with the bleeding.

The goblin looked no better. Actually, it looked worse. It's already ugly face was bruised and beaten enough to make its own mother scared.

It was too bad for Rust that their biggest difference laid in their remaining amount of stamina. The battered goblin chief was slowly moving towards Rust while dragging its sword along the ground.

Rust had to finish this right now.

But would he be able to? His body was shaking so much he had trouble even standing.

The goblin chief was like a death reaper's scythe slowly inching closer.

'Even after all this, I'm going to fail.'

The goblin was soon close enough to have Rust within its strike zone.

Rust felt extremely bitter. Never had he put so much effort into something. But it seems that even his best wasn't good enough.

The goblin chief hoisted it's sword high and stared deeply into Rust's eyes.

Rust could see it. It's pride. 'I'm strong' it seemed to be saying. But there was also respect. Respect for Rust. Respect for the human who pushed it to the brink and allowed it to grow stronger.

Maybe being killed by a strong goblin wasn't that bad. Who knew, this goblin might grow to be someone big in the future.

Rust lowered his head.

That's when he felt it. The slight tugging in his hair. Rust wasn't sure how he knew what it meant, but he did.

'Move. Move. Move.'

He screamed within for his body to squeeze out it's remaining power.

Blue jumped from Rust's hair and struck.

[Blue has dealt 1 damage.]

[Goblin Chief has been blinded for 2 seconds.]

The goblin chief shrieked and grabbed its eye.

'Move. Move. Move.'

It was at a stage where it couldn't be called conscious thought anymore. It was closer to a form of auto-hypnosis.

'Move. Move. Move.'

"Move!"

Rust released what sounded more like a roar than a human voice as his fist moved.

"Heavy Punch!"

The game's autocorrect function stabilized his fist.

It connected.

[Critical Strike!]

[You have dealt 163 damage.]

['Goblin Chief' will be dizzied for 0,5 seconds.]

By the time the notifications appeared, the goblin chief was turning into light.

An explosion of text appeared in Rust's vision.