Chapter 4: Self-immolation

  I awoke to the sound of birds chirping, the sun hitting my facing made me scrunch my eyes in discomfort.

  Yawning, I slowy climb down the tree, or at least I tried.

  I fell down and broke my nose.

  "Ow.....damn it"

  I got up slowly, still feeling sluggish.

  My nose started to bleed. But I decided to ignore it.

  'I need to find someone else today, or at least find some monster that's weak so I can level up'

  *

  Notification: Wash that dirty nose you disgusting fuck. Do you really want other humans seeing you like this. Your already ugly to begin with, no need to make things worse for yourself by looking crazy too.

  *

  'Ow, that's just mean. It wouldn't kill you to be a bit nicer'

  What he said was uncalled for, but he was right. NO I NOT UGLY. I meant that if someone saw me I would probably scare them away. I don't exactly look friendly right now.

  I washed the blood from my face until I stopped bleeding from my nose.

  'Alright, let's look for other people.'

  I never thought I would ever have to be the one trying to find other people. I've always avoided human interaction as much as possible. Getting mixed into other people's drama has always been emotional draining.

  'But here I am, doing exactly what I hate'

  I looked up at the waterfall.

  'I should go up the side of the waterfall, it's a bit steep but from above I'll at least get a better view of where I am and where I should go. Heck, if I'm lucky I might spot someone from a distance'

  Before I left to walk the side of the waterfall, I grab a rock and put it in my pocket, then grabbed a stick.

  'This will probably Break in one hit, but it's better than nothing'

  I walk up the side of the waterfall, looking down as I walked I could see all the trees and birds flying In the air.

  'Damn it!' My body feels like lead. My legs move slowly as I walk.

  'This is going to take more time then I thought'

  The waterfall was extremely tall so I thought going to the top will be a little Trouble. Unfortunately It proved to be a much bigger challenge.

  As I walked up the waterfall, which was more of a mountain then a hill. I saw three green creatures below where the pond is.

  'Goblins, good thing I left when I did. Had I stayed there longer I would of been in trouble'

  Suddenly an idea popped into my head. ' I can level up if I kill them, I don't even have to risk my Life! If I can just throw a rock far enough to hit them, the velocity of the rock will kill the goblins because of how high I am right now!'

  I pulled out the rock i stuffed in my pocket and got ready to throw as hard as I can.

  Whessssh......plop

  I missed miserable, it landed in the pond instead, startling the goblins. The goblins huddled up and stared at the ripples in the water created by rock.

  'Shit, I missed' I scan my surroundings, looking for anything I could throw.

  *

  Message: Your wasting your time, even if you were to get lucky and kill one, it wouldn't be enough to level up. You would have to go down there yourself and slauther all three to level up once, and even then it might not be enough. You don't think much do you. What if they realized the rocks are coming from above, what then? Your screwed if they find you. Please think more thoroughly of your actions. It's hard to insult you when your actively fucking up.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  *

  I lower my arm, deciding that what it said was true, I continued to walk forward.

  Unbeknownst to me however, I already messed up. The goblins figured out where the rock came from and climbed up the mountain side behind me.

  As I walked, I had an idea that could possibly help me in a way.

  'Maybe if I circulate my Mana around my body it can reinforce my body'

  *

  Message: Smart, but unfortunately I would advise against it. If you use your Mana like that you'll exhaust yourself. Considering that were already being watched, you should conserve your Mana.

  *

  I ground to a halt. I frantically looked around seeing if I could see who was stalking me.

  'What do you mean, WACTHED! Who's watching me, why didn't you tell me sooner!'

  *

  Message: I'm under no obligation to help you, just watching you being reckless is making me cringe. At least now you'll understand that THIS WORLD IS NOTHING LIKE WHAT YOU THINK! Pull your head out of your ass and focus, think ahead! Do something besides just reacting to the things around you. Since your naive, I'll tell you something that will help you, the monsters her-

  *

  I stopped reading the message and looked behind me.

  Standing there was three goblins. Now that I had a better look at them, all three of them had strange black engravings that circled around their stomach. The goblin to the left had and axe. The one in the middle had a worn out sword and the one to the right had a large branch that looked more like a bat.

  I gripped the stick I had with both hands and got ready to fight.

  'Shit, how am I gonna fight them. Think think, what can I do that can give me the advantage'

  Suddenly a painfully idea entered my head

  'If I light the stick on fire I can do more damage, but It will only last me one attack. If I'm lucky I'll at least take down one of them in one blow. But what about the other 2? Damn it! There's only two ways I could beat them. I could somehow find a way to push them off the cliff or'

  just thinking about it made my already weaken body shake.

  'I could burn them alive along with me, and then jump off the cliff into the pond to put myself out. If I jump without killing them, they'll just follow me down the cliff.'

  "Damn it" I said, clenching my teeth

  Unfortunately for me, what I was expecting was normal goblins that were from anime. Goblins are supposedly as strong as childern. But what made them deadly was the weapons they had.

  The engravings of the goblin in the middle started to glow red. The goblin in the middle crouched slightly and propelled himself off the ground, leaving a small crater where he was standing.

  All of a sudden he was already in front of me. The only thing I could do was watch as the goblin stabed my stomach.

  Coughing up blood I scream

  "AAhh" it hurt. It hurt alot.

  The pain was making me remember a previous horrible experience I had recently despite pushing it to the back of my mind.

  'No. NO!'

  In a panic, i droped my stick and bear hugged the goblin and used my skill, Self immolation.

  My enitre body burst into flames, but unlike last time, the flames weren't as powerful or damaging.

  Regardless, the goblin screamed in agony trying to escape me. It fought hard to break free, flailing and thrashing.

  I felt as the skin on my body started to melt like wax. My nerves were on fire, LITERALLY.

  I turned off the skill, the fire was melting the skin of my eye lids. Unfortunately the skin on my right eye melted so bad it covered my eye. I was blind on my right eye, while my left eye was still somewhat fine.

  The goblin brought its hands to its face, his entire body shaking.

  The goblin that was burning alive started running, then it tripped and rolled in anguish.

  To my surprise, the goblin rolled right off the cliff.

  "AAAAAaaaaaahh" the goblin scream as it fell.

  Thud, CRACK!

  I heard the sound of the goblin hit the ground. It was horrible hearing how it's bones broke on impact.

  Though I didn't have much time to think about the sound.

  The other two goblins seem to stare at me with animosity, gripping their weapons and clenching their teeth.

  "AAAARHH" screaming in rage, both of the goblins charged at me, their engravings also glowing red.

  'Damn. I can't beat them!!' I couldn't react fast enough to attack.

  The goblin with the bat brought its hand up and then with lightning speed hit me on right side of my body, crushing my arm and sending me flying.

  I was dazed, my entire body felt like I could no longer move despite fighting to get up. I could barely breath now, much less fight back.

  'Shit. Not like this, I can't end like this, I refuse to'

  But even with my determination to fight, I could no longer stand, I didn't have the strength left to stand up and fight

  As the saying goes, 'desperate times calls for desperate measures' even of I could no longer stand, I can still drag myself.

  "Hahahahahahaha" the goblins laugh at my pathetic state. Now feeling like they have won, they slowly walked towards me, grinning with their eyes as they swing their weapons in ecstasys. Their engravings also turned black again.

  Because the goblin sent me flying, I was now close to the edge of the cliff.

  Slowy I made my way to the edge of the cliff.

  Looking down, I saw that the pond was barely out of my reach. If I fall. I won't make it. I'll hit the ground.

  *

  Message: Just fall, you don't have a choice. Pick you poison, be tortured by goblins and suffer for the rest of your life. Or fall off the cliff and live the rest of your immortal life in agony.

  *

  I made my decision. I dragged myself over to the edge until I fell. I hit the side of the mountain as I descended, knocking me out.