The Survival of an Inferior

Both the commander and I were pushed back from the clash. 

With gritted teeth, I glance at my hands. They are trembling. 

Fuck, what the hell was that? 

Between us, there is a huge crater. That was our point of contact. I am farther away than the goblin commander. This bastard is stronger than me.

The other goblins pay no attention to our fight and avoid us. The commander walks slowly toward me.

"Who are you? How can there still be humans here?" the commander asks.

!!!!

"What?"

He raises his sword. "Answer me, and I might give you a painless death." Intense bloodthirst pours out from the goblin.

A slight grin widens on my face. "Can you not see the others?"

"Others?"

...

He can't see those with the "Tower" status.

"Then, do you even know what is attacking your army now?" I ask.

He throws his sword down, splitting the sand beyond into two. I sidestep to dodge his attack.

"How would I know?" the commander replies.

"Tch..."

I don't need to use the Eyes of Analysis to know his strength. He is stronger than me in all aspects.

Swinging that giant sword with ease, I might be able to match his dexterity, but that's all.

...

The air is heavy with anxiety and tension. Moonlight graces the battlefield of death.

I leap forward and launch a thrust, but the commander easily parries it, only to be met with the barrel of my gun.

*BANG!*

My bullet scrapes the gorget and bounces off.

In the blink of an eye, I catch sight of a thin, sharp edge of a large blade in the corner of my eye, and I instinctively flip my torso backwards.

*WHOOOSHH!!!!*

A simple slash of the sword cuts through the air and wind, creating exploding crescent waves of sand behind me.

With the force of a kangaroo, my legs propel me to deliver two kicks at the commander, sending both of us flying apart. I end up rolling across the sand and getting some in my mouth.

H-Holy shit, I almost died.

The commander's gorget bears a slight scratch, seemingly unfazed from a distance. But there is hope.

Feeble, tired, and trembling, all odds are stacked against me. The goblin commander knows that.

Explosive mana swirls around my body, concentrated specifically at my legs. I lunge forward, mustering every ounce of strength, and unleash another flurry of strikes.

My bullets zoom towards the commander. He blocks them. At the moment of his block, I throw a slash with my sword, narrowly missing as he rotates his body to evade it.

I continue to alternate between my gun and sword, targeting the same spot in his armour, the gorget. Sparks and mana discharge and splash around us in our battle.

The commander's nimble and agile movements contradict his physique. He swings his sword down, and I crouch to dodge it, immediately following up with a slash to the gorget, creating a small dent.

However, the commander plunges his sword into the sand, lifting clouds of dust that obstruct my vision. I attempt to jump out of the cloud, but something grabs my coat from within.

?!!

My body spins through the sky and slams into the sand with a bone-jarring impact.

*BOOOOOOOOOOM!*

"ARGHHH!!!" I cry out in pain.

As the sand settles, my body aches with agony, my bones protesting against the relentless impact. My vision blurs, stars dancing before my eyes, as a deep, throbbing pain surges.

The commander slammed me into his sharp sabaton.

--------------- 

-80000 hp 

"Ribcage Fracture" Body status has been applied.

-50% Dex 

-20% Atk 

"Bruise on Back" Body status has been applied.

-10% Dex 

-5% Atk 

"Spinal Fracture" Body status has been applied. 

-30% Dex 

-30% Def 

"Punctured Lungs" Body status has been applied. 

-5% Dex 

Status Ailment "Internal Bleeding" is applied. 

--------------- 

Something uncomfortable shoots up my oesophagus, erupting from my mouth. It's blood.

But my focus did not falter. My feet firmly rooted to the ground, I flip and somersault away. 

"Huff...ugh...ngh..." I mumble, on the ground supporting myself with my sword. 

The world around me spins and diverges. I can see two of the goblin commander fading in and out of existence. Eyes half-closed and dazed mind, I force my shivering body up into a stance. 

The commander chuckles. "Amusing." He says. 

Every movement screams a defiant pain as if someone is eating me alive. My head is flooded with a relentless barrage of flight instincts. My veins bulge and burst with surging mana circulation. 

It was a fruitless struggle from the start. It merely took one move to flip the tides. 

With every last ounce of my strength, I trudge slowly towards the commander.  

The distant cries of Audrey echo. Piercing arrows clash and thunderous explosions roar. I can hear many remnants of death and pain and struggle. 

The goblin commander appears right before me, grasping my shoulder and placing the tip of his blade against my abdomen. 

"What's your name?" He asks. 

I grab his wrist. 

"Sa...muel..." 

The sword slowly pierces through my body. Suffocating foreign warmth slits my organs as blood pools and spews out of the wound, flowing down the blade. 

"ARSTO!!" Audrey screams. She has the front seat to the show as a vanguard in the battle. 

--------------- 

-19999 hp

Due to the effect of your bloodline, instant death is prevented.

As long as the player does not take any extra damage for the next 5 minutes, the player's life is protected from "Internal Bleeding" status ailment.

--------------- 

My frail arms shoot a very weak punch to the gorget of the commander's armour as a final struggle. 

I look at the commander's helmet with a slight grin, his crimson eyes shine through the gaps. 

With my fist still on the gorget, the storage ring on my index finger glows. 

A colossal red blade materializes, easily shredding through the dent in the gorget and decapitating the commander. 

It is my final trump card, the Dragon Slayer Greatsword I obtained from my gear chest in the orphanage. (Refer to chapter 60, "Heavy Heart")

Together with the corpse of the commander, the red behemoth descends into the stale sandy ground, unleashing a symphony of eruption and chaos with a deafening thud. 

--------------- 

The Commander has been defeated! 

All goblins are now disorganised and weakened. 

--------------- 

Melissa spends her coins and activates the turret's special ability. The arrows' aura abruptly changes to red and now tears apart the goblins. In addition, the firerate spurs when the tower now shoots six arrows at once. The remnants of the goblin army fall from heaven's wrath. 

Blood drips from my mouth. It feels like time stopped within my body. 

Healing Pills appear on my shaky hands and I try to consume them, spilling some. 

"Huff huff huff huff..."

I can't pull out the blade, it will damage me... 

The only thing I can do is to walk... 

Walk slowly to the fortress...

"Arsto!" Audrey exclaims and helps me up.