[You can only leave after meeting the conditions]
[Mission begins: 'Goblin Extermination']
When I finally could open my eyes, I found myself in an unknown place I had never seen before.
An intense glare pierced my eyes, making me instinctively frown. I felt a tingling in my eyes and my vision was trembling rapidly, as if I were making a high-altitude flight.
Fortunately, the motion sickness soon disappeared, allowing me to observe my surroundings with greater clarity.
The humid air felt heavy in my lungs, thickened by the smell of wet earth and dust, and my mouth was full of the taste of iron.
I found myself in a corridor running in a straight line. The walls, built with hard stone, extended on both sides.
The corridor stretched into darkness both left and right, decorated with lit torches placed sporadically in metal sconces. The flames seemed to be constantly on the verge of extinction, but remained lit, providing a dim but constant level of light in all directions.
The lighting was so scarce that I could barely distinguish objects a meter away. Beyond that point, everything merged into darkness.
How many people would have been deceived by this fantastic appearance, not knowing that it would lead them to death.
The Tower of Paradise was a place where everything could happen: trust, deception, faith, desire, desperation, joy, love, hate, fear... All of that converged here.
People had always gathered or united to climb it, since attempting it alone was, frankly, an exceptionally stupid and painful form of suicide.
My heart was beating rapidly, betraying my nervousness.
—It's just the first floor.
I muttered to myself, although I knew that courage was irrelevant in this place. Only someone completely unhinged, someone who didn't care about living or dying, would dare to enter alone and without skills into the Tower.
The trials varied from the second floor, but the first level's test was determined by its difficulty.
I had to acknowledge my fear of dying in vain, driven by my own greed. The darkness terrified me, and my mind was plagued with fragmented memories of my past.
Despite everything I had lived through until that moment, I still didn't feel mentally prepared. A bitter smile drew on my lips; I knew that more time would not have solved anything.
Entering the Tower alone and without skills... my fear was completely natural. I had no other option, I was a greedy bastard after all.
Reason and logic were screaming that this was suicide, but I had to believe in my survival skills.
This is the only way to strengthen myself quickly.
Everything would begin in this entrance room, where monsters, traps, and Pandora's boxes awaited me. Surviving even that would be a matter of luck.
The darkness prevented me from seeing the room well, forcing me to guess the presence of walls and doors that would lead to other places.
I advanced through the dark and empty corridor, keeping a hand against the wall to maximize my defense as much as possible.
Each step was slow and calculated, while keeping the spear in front of me. I moved as if dragging my feet across the earth and rock floor.
Am I wasting this valuable time? Is this some kind of timed mission?
Anxiety and horror grew inside me.
My body was beginning to show signs of fatigue; my right arm and shoulder felt stiff from holding the spear.
My back, arms, and shoulders were trembling uncontrollably, and I could swear I heard my muscles cracking with each movement. Sweat was dripping everywhere, and the smell of alcohol on my breath reminded me of my nervousness.
I kept my legs squatting, my back bent forward, shoulders and neck curled inward, clinging to the spear as much as I could.
I felt I would die if I continued walking in that position, I was just a ten-year-old child, but I had to endure it as much as I could.
Suddenly, a sound paralyzed me. Something was approaching.
A growl was my only warning before something attacked me. I felt a sharp pain as its claws dug into my arm, and fresh blood began to flow from the wound.
If I hadn't reacted instinctively, they probably would have torn off my arm.
—Arrrgh!
The pain was unbearable, but I managed to violently move my other arm forward in a desperate attempt to defend myself. Fortunately, my elbow hit my attacker's head.
The flame light revealed a figure covered in dark green skin, with a repulsive face, possessing a deformed body that vaguely resembled those of children. I immediately recognized they looked like the goblins hidden in caves in fantasy games.
It clung desperately to its bones, since its emaciated body, which obviously had suffered from extreme malnutrition, didn't have many muscles. Not only was it green and skinny, but it was also bald.
Goblin.
Besides their massive numbers, they were the simplest and weakest among monsters. They only had the size, strength, and intelligence of a small human child.
Their only strength was the ability to see in the darkness and the difference between what I had seen in video games and this reality was as large as the distance between heaven and earth.
The goblin staggered and retreated from the force of the blow, trying to regain balance. Its defense was much more solid than mine, making it impossible to achieve a truly decisive attack.
—Rrrrrrr......
The guttural sound it emitted made my blood run cold.
—Oh...
I mumbled while dragging myself across the floor, trying to quickly wrap my wounded arm to stop the bleeding.
The goblin didn't give me time to recover; it launched itself at me again, who was still in shock.
Its speed was impressive, nothing like what I had imagined.
I nervously swallowed saliva while rolling on the floor, knowing that at this rate, I would definitely end up dead.
By a stroke of luck, I tripped on a rock while rolling. My survival instinct activated, lifting my body and moving my hands to grab that rock firmly. I ran towards the goblin, letting out a desperate howl.
I threw the stone with all my strength, making the goblin's head bleed with a repugnant crunch.
The impact made it stagger when it screamed and fell to the ground, creating a perfect opportunity to finish it off.
—Die, die, die!
I desperately hit it with the same rock, thinking only of surviving.
Humans had always depended on tools.
—Die... bastard...
The monster continued fighting, making noises and trying to get up.
The more the goblin screamed, the more anxious I was to hit it with the stone.
Sweat and blood ran down my face while I hit, and hit, with all the strength I could gather.
The hardness of the rock overcame the resistance of its head, crushing it forcefully with blunt trauma. Blood gushed out, and with a slight growl, the goblin finally died.
A moment later, a vaguely familiar voice resonated in the air.
It was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard.
[You have killed a goblin (G)]