Second Genesis

"Come on, you overgrown piece of shit," Grey growled between his teeth.

He held the longsword with both hands, circling a familiar large goblin with slow steps. Not too far away, the second of the two goblin guards was gurgling up its own blood, slowly dying on the ground. It had almost dodged Grey’s attack earlier, but almost wasn’t enough.

The large goblin suddenly lunged, and Grey reacted swiftly, raising his longsword and cutting down.

Crossing its twin axes above its head, the large goblin met the attack head-on, sparks flying as it rushed to close the distance.

’Shit.’

Grey hadn’t run into any goblins strong enough to do that. But by this point, his shoulder was being more than just a small nagging problem, and he was tired from swinging this thing around everywhere. The power he had used just now was probably not as much as usual.

The large goblin quickly closed the distance.

Grey suddenly kicked out, but the large goblin was ready. A pulsing light Grey had never seen came from its leather armor, and Grey’s heel felt like it was slamming against a steel wall. If not for the feet of the Nexis Suit on his sole, he might have even broken his ankle.

He stumbled back, losing his balance. The action weakened his downward pressure, and suddenly the large goblin was free to release one of its axes, swinging down at Grey’s leg.

’There’s no way. Not like this.’

How ironic. He had made it the furthest in his first life. He got two more chances after that and somehow managed to perform worse every time.

’No.’

Grey didn’t make a sound, but it practically felt to him like his heart was growling.

He let go of his longsword entirely. That weapon wasn’t doing anything but getting in his way. His arms unfurled and Ray’s Nexis Suit flashed, expanding.

Chi.

The blade of the axe cut into it first and then slammed against the side of Grey’s thigh.

Pain was little more than a tonic to Grey. It flooded his veins, and his brown eyes practically glowed in response.

With the buffer of the Nexis Suit between the axe and his leg, his flesh didn’t suffer more than a shallow cut.

He caught the blunt end of the axe in a palm, yanking it forward.

The large goblin had been about to swing its second axe, but now it was suddenly lifted off its feet, its balance thrown completely off.

It was turned to the side and crashed along the ground, skidding to a stop quickly as it tried to hop back up to its feet. But that was when it found a wall of black headed right for its face.

The Nexis Suit.

Grey had given up on it, throwing it at the large goblin’s face for cover.

The large goblin quickly smacked it to the side with one of its axes, only to find the glittering tip of a longsword thrusting right at it.

It tried to block, but sprawled onto the ground, it didn’t have the leverage to use its second axe. It tried to use the first, but as large as it was for a goblin, how could it block an attack Grey had put his full body weight behind?

Grey roared, thrusting with all his might. It almost looked to an outside observer like he was falling forward, and that was exactly what he was doing.

All or nothing. He bet everything he had on this attack.

PUCHI.

The longsword broke through the large goblin’s block, so much power charged behind it that it hardly diverted at all, running right through the center of its chest.

Grey stumbled back, huffing for breath.

"COME ON!"

He roared, clenching his fists. Sweat beaded down his face, hardly distinguishable from his blood. It matted his hair much the same, but this time, he didn’t take a break, looking toward the wiry gates.

He had more to do.

...

BOOM.

Grey dove for cover, the clanging of the wiry gates nearly clipping him on the way out.

He rolled to disperse the impact, having long abandoned the longsword before he rushed in.

Gasping for breath, he ground to a stop. He looked up at the ceiling, an odd light in his eyes.

’Get up. We don’t have time.’

He rolled to his side, then up to his feet. Blood leaked from his arm, tears and rips all too obvious through his floral suit. Somehow, he had ended up more injured this time than the first, despite having a real weapon for once.

Well, he knew the reason. That longsword sucked. It was unwieldy, heavy, and hard to control. He didn’t have any skill with it, so he had suffered more than once whenever he failed to kill with a single strike.

He didn’t even consider taking it into the boss room, choosing to steal the double axes of the large goblin instead. But when Grey finally got to the door, he stared blankly at it.

This time, he had aimed for the door on purpose, hoping that the blast would be more concentrated and open the door enough that he could slide through a crack or something.

But the door was perfectly smooth. There wasn’t even a hairline crack on it, let alone the crack that had been there before.

"What the hell..."

He had been so sure. But this didn’t make any sense at all.

Before, the blast had been scattered and unconcentrated. How could that blast cause a crack, but this one not even leave a dent?

’No, this doesn’t make any sense. Something is wrong. No. There has to be either a specific vulnerability in the door. Or... There’s something in here that was able to harm the door.’

Grey turned around. Looking for a vulnerability in the door wouldn’t get him anywhere. If there was one, it was small, and he wouldn’t find it by running his fingers over the wood like an idiot.

But, if there was an object that had been sent flying during the last explosion that was capable of causing that damage...

It would be somewhere in this room.