Chapter 8. The Knight Who Protects Her
“How… how did you get here so quickly?!”
Hephae could not hide his shock as he watched the monster with a bull’s head and a horse’s body breathe heavily through its nose and rest the enormous club it had swung once on its shoulder.
Hephae was trembling so badly that it was a wonder he had not collapsed from his weakened legs.
Protect this person, who looked like he could faint at any moment, from a monster?
Before that, could I even do anything to help in this situation?
The only things I have are those strange, rusty weapons the goblins used.
‘…The moon is bright… There’s no roof.’
‘Heh heh.’
Of course, I was going to do it.
It was only a secondary objective, after all.
What I actually wanted was to kill this crazy monster that had blown away my roof.
Still, the result would be that I protected her, right?
Yeah.
The things living in this world must have been born specifically to destroy the things I make.
Unforgivable.
Except goblins.
“Haah… damn it.”
The monster was looking at Hephae, who was trembling behind me, instead of me.
What kind of manners was that?
It destroyed someone's house and then stared at the guest instead of the owner.
I picked up one of the goblin weapons that had fallen to the floor after the wall collapsed.
It was a sword with a short length but a wide blade, looking somewhat like a washboard with a handle attached.
Well, it had various stats attached to it, but it would probably break soon anyway, so there was no point worrying about them.
“And this damn quest is ridiculous too… Hey.”
Hephae's terrified eyes were fixed on the monster, whose eyes were filled with an intense feeling of contempt.
He seemed completely out of his mind.
Even after I called him several times, he stared blankly ahead as if he could not hear me at all.
His fear had probably changed into resignation.
“Hey!!”
I wasn't very used to shouting, so it felt a little awkward.
Still, I succeeded in getting Hephae's attention.
“Purrgh.”
Unfortunately, I also got the monster's full attention.
That was definitely a problem.
I was actually proud of myself for not trembling in front of such a terrifying monster after spending the past few days killing goblins.
No.
Actually, I was a little scared of myself for still being angry about my destroyed house even in front of this monster.
Was I really this kind of person?
Whoosh!
The monster effortlessly lifted a pillar that I couldn't possibly hold with one hand and looked at me as if I were some kind of insect.
Just by looking at it, I could tell that it was much higher level than me and incredibly strong.
Look at those muscles twitching.
It could probably lift a 500-kilogram total in the three major lifts without even breaking a sweat.
“Don't just stand there staring stupidly and run away.”
“…What?”
“If you're going to live anyway, you should live even one second longer than necessary. Okay?”
“…”
I picked up a piece of the broken wall with my other hand and raised it above my head as if I could block the pillar.
Then I placed the washboard-like sword against it as well.
I didn't think I could block it.
But if I gave up here, I'd lose one count toward the Indomitable Spirit title.
That would be such a waste.
The bull-headed horse's eyes seemed to shine for a moment.
Then the pillar I had been waiting for finally came crashing down toward my head.
BANG!!!!
[An impact beyond your imagination spreads throughout your entire body! Status Effects — Paralysis, Fracture, Internal Organ Rupture, Visual Disturbance, Mental Confusion, Bleeding!]
“Puh!!!”
The moment the impact reached me, it felt as if blood was exploding from every opening in my body.
It felt as if every bit of air inside my lungs had been blasted out.
Right now, I was experiencing the feeling of stepping on an air-filled tube until all the air escaped.
The damage was horrifying.
It couldn't even be compared to the damage I had received while fighting the goblins.
My vision was so messed up that I could barely see anything.
If this had been reality, my insides would have been turned upside down, my entire body would have been crushed, and I probably would have died from shock before I even had the chance to feel the pain.
And what the hell were these crazy status effects?
It looked like I had gotten everything except poison.
[You have obtained the title — Indomitable Spirit!]
Title — Indomitable Spirit: Once every hour, you can endure an extreme situation.
The condition for Indomitable Spirit had not even reached half of its required 100 times.
Yet that one attack alone had filled the condition.
Apparently, enduring that attack was considered worth more than 50 times.
How flexible.
And the reason I was still alive instead of dead was probably because of the effect of Indomitable Spirit.
Once its effect ended, I would probably be finished.
But there was no indication of how much time remained.
[A will harder than steel that never gives in! The conditions for the title ‘Unyielding Will’ have been unlocked!]
[Do not surrender! 1/300]
“Cough! Cough!”
I had always thought spitting blood was an absurd scene that only happened in movies.
But right.
This was a game.
The effects were incredible!
“You endured it.”
Even though my blurry vision was filled with red and every part of my body was sending warning signals, the deep voice entered my ears clearly without being filtered out.
“For a weak human, you are quite impressive.”
The bull-headed horse was speaking.
Considering that even the goblins rarely showed signs that they understood my words, I could tell for certain that this monster was on a completely different level from them.
If that was the case, wouldn't it also be difficult for Hephae to escape?
I had finally gotten a decent-looking quest, and I was about to fail it completely.
Was there some way out of this?
‘Think.’
