'This is one bad joke...'
---
*New information has been provided*
[Mock Situation: Protect the King!]
Difficulty: B
Your Trainer has put you in a Mock Situation!
The King(Trainer) is retreating from the battlefield! Secure his return by fighting off the enemy battalion(Hobgoblins), ensuring his safety.
Sacrifice may be necessary.
Quest Acceptance Reward: Full health bar; Clear all status conditions
Quest Clear Condition: Defeat all enemies currently in pursuit before leaving the Oasis(0/22)
Quest Rewards: Level +2; Next Quest in Line
Quest Failure: Quest Line halted; Different Quest must be given for evaluation
'....'
'Honestly, it seems quite appealing. Only problem is...'
I looked behind myself.
"Graahah!"
Rugh!"
"Gahahah!"
'...How am I supposed to take care of over 20 enemies?!'
The quest was Insane. One person against twenty. Even if their intelligence was lower than mine, a horde can always overcome the sole person! This isn't the movies!!!
'And look at that... now I'm using contractions. The frustration is really coming on strong, now.'
Desperation couldn't help but bubble up. It was all a daunting task, not to forget that I was still disorientated with earlier events.
And what was even more confusing was that the system considered what Godspeed did as a part of an official quest. Only now did I realize how free this system of Satisfy was.
'...And of course, I realize when I'm one step from death.'
But, putting all that on the backburner, I am not sure what to do in the current situation. If I run into the desert, there's a higher chance that I run into more Hobgoblins than players hunting.
But then what?
...Fight the mob?
' Fucking Insane.' I couldn't help but let those two words ring in my head, over and over like the noon bell.
----------------------
'Well, at least I'm making a gap.'
It's been some minutes since I've begun my run for life. I have separated myself from the crowd of monsters, and only those especially tenacious and eager I could still see some distance behind.
I said that to make myself feel better, but nothing could really make this situation better.
Even if I escape the Hobgoblins, I could still get attacked outside as soon as I run into the dunes, and if I get held up there, than I may get caught by those behind me.
Also, the system would consider the quest a failure right then and there.
Then again, even if I fail the quest I can still get a chance at another quest.
But then that would be waste of taking a chance at free levels.
And that would also offset the timing for the Black Knight Class Change Quest.
So if I didn't want to sacrifice all of that...
'...I will need to kill twenty-two enemies...'
Once again, it was an Insane judgement. I do not know how to act in the situation at all. Its an impossible task to ask from someone like me, who just came into the game. It was a story out of the Epics; 1 vs 100 and the lot.
This was a world reserved for those at the top of life here, at the top of the Rankings, and the ones that could fight one on one with the World's Forces.
'What am I compared to them----!'
"Oh shit!" I blurted out loud.
I was less than 20 feet from the border between the Hobgoblin Oasis and the Dunes. I quickly put myself to a halt, skidding along until I stopped.
All I could see was sand, sand, and more sand; I was standing on the last piece of green in the Oasis.
'It seems my internal rambling left me running on auto,' I thought to myself.
I checked my stamina bar.
I had about a third.
'Haaah... insane, insane, Insane.'
'I can't keep going like this. My mind is much too clouded at the moment, and soon enough I'll end up freezing and breaking down like a computer with a virus. I need to centralize my mind on one objective----
So, do I sink, or swim?
Do I fight, or flight?'
I try to listen to my mind, and all it says is the same thing: Run. Escape. Abandon the quest. Be logical.
And I want to be logical. I want to leave; I want to leave these problems to another person.
But its all fallen on me.
And what kind of person am I?
----!
"GUUUURAH!!!"
'Damn!'
It was another lapse in judgement. A Hobgoblin was able to sneak up behind behind me--- no scratch that. It didn't sneak up behind me. I was too caught up in my world, the world inside my head that revolves around me, that I forgot that this one existed as well.
The world that's actually important, at least at this moment.
Thankfully, the monster gave itself away with its 'battlecry' or whatever.
Hearing the noise I immediately side-rolled out of instinct, when right where I was before, a crude sword fell. I pulled out my sword from my inventory and jumped out of the roll with an uppercut, dismembering the Hobgoblin.
"RAAAAK!!!" the Hobgoblin yelled from its pain, grabbing onto its armless shoulder with his other arm.
Still dealing with the pain, I plunged my sword right into the stomach of the monster, and slashed up, splitting it in half.
*Ping!*
[1/22]
...
The kill took me less than ten seconds.
Maybe it was because I was the one that caught it by surprise that I got my strikes in so effortlessly.
Or maybe it was my training that gave me the strength to act upon the chance given to me.
Or maybe it was my will that refused to let me give up in such circumstances.
Yes, maybe it was my will.
My indomitable will that pushed me far enough in this Insanity of a world. In my insane quest, full of absurdity.
And its this same will that keeps me fighting.
My mind tells me to abandon the chance, but my will tells me to grasp it and hold on tightly. But all I need to do to leave this absurdity is to take one step forward. Maybe then I can give up.
And so I take my step.
Towards the enemies that await behind my back.
----
[!!!]
[Persistence stat has been opened.]