The students were frozen in pure animal terror. Not a scream came out of their mouths as the goblin horde poured forth, crying out their ear-piercing war cry.
It was only when the front line of students were bludgeoned and ripped to broken meat chunks that the screaming began. And even then, most ended in abhorrent gurgles as goblins tore cartilage from throat.
"T-Traits! Use your traits!" Han shouted.
It was the only thing that made sense right now. The only thing that their captors had given them.
"He’s right! Stop running!" someone else shouted, only to have a goblin pull her down by the hair, and...
Han scrambled back, joining into the horde of students that had begun running away from the swarm of violence.
It wasn’t the optimal decision, but he hadn’t taken a look at his trait yet. He needed to have an idea of how it worked in order to do anything.
Just then...
"Execution!"
A blast of black smoke engulfed the room, spreading like a tidal wave.
Han looked back as he ran. It was coming from Nari. A massive guillotine floated above her head, a sort of ethereal projection created by the smoke.
She pointed at a goblin, and it was flung towards her as if sucked in by a black hole.
In an instant, it was positioned under the guillotine, and its head was sliced clean through.
『Player: ’Nari’ has unlocked achievement: "First Blood’.』
"Please run in an orderly fashion," she announced, pointing at yet another goblin. "I’ve seen enough blood as is," she added, blood dripping on her face as the goblin she targetted was sliced in two.
’Fuck this.’
"Beekeeper!" Han shouted, still running away from the oncoming horde.
『Trait Screen Loading...』
┏━━━━━━━━━━━┓
─Trait skills─
〖꧁Queen’s Gaze꧂〗
〖Next Unlock: Level 2〗
┗━━━━━━━━━━━┛
Han scanned through the screen frantically. ’Queen’s Gaze? What’s that supposed to be? Can I attack with it?’ he thought, trying to catch a glimpse of Nari through the horde of students surrounding him. If the goblins had any sort of intelligence, they would gang up on her before coming to the rest of them.
And if someone as powerful as her died so early, their chances would be cut in half.
"Fuck it. Queen’s Gaze!"
Golden smoke shot out of Han’s eyes.
And in that instant, time seemed to slow down.
The world was now covered in a golden tint, the colour of honey.
’I can slow down time?’ Han thought.
Though he quickly realised that his body was also moving in slow motion. It seemed only his visual perception of time was enhanced.
’No, it’s not just that,’ he realised, focusing on a goblin that had its eyes locked on him.
『Level 2 Goblin {Common}』
’So I can also see the names of things...’
’Still, knowing its name doesn’t help me much.’
The goblin had strayed far from the main group. It was alone in a crowd of students. Why exactly it was ignoring everyone else and targeting him alone was a mystery. Regardless, it had made a grievous mistake.
An idea quickly popped into Han’s mind. Now all he needed was the courage to see it through.
"Queen’s gaze!" he shouted, returning time to its normal flow.
His mind fogged for an instant, disoriented by the sudden shift in perception.
By the time he fully recovered, the goblin was already right in front of him, club swinging.
"Queen’s Gaze!" he shouted again, already dodging back.
Golden smoke shot out of his eyes once again, blinding the creature.
Time slowed, and the club was just mere inches away from his face.
’Okay. Good, I have it close enough. Now it’s a matter of chess.’
Han’s plan was simple. The goblins, although small, were not things they could take out in a fair fight. The creatures could rip limbs off with their bare hands after all. But if he slowed time and decided on the best move before starting it again, he could hypothetically beat it.
And so it began.
He already sent his body the instructions to duck under the goblin’s attack. Simultaneously, he gave his hand the instruction to grab the club.
It was risky. But Han had never been the type to shy away from it.
He returned time to its normal flow again.
The club brushed over his head, smashing into a student running beside him. Bone shattered, and blood splattered. But Han didn’t have time to panick.
He grabbed the goblin’s hand before shouting, "Queen’s Gaze", once again.
This time, he focused on the grip the goblin had on the club, and where its eyes were positioned.
From the looks of it, it didn’t yet understand what was going on. It was still staring at the space Han had been in a second ago, confused at what was going on.
’Its grip isn’t that good either,’ he thought to himself, already sending the instructions to twist the goblin’s finger and sweep it to the floor.
When time returned to its normal flow, Han broke the goblin’s fingers and pinned it to the ground.
How foolish the goblin looked, face twisted in surprise.
It was enough to put a smile on Han’s face.
With the club in his hand, he took a deep breath.
"Fuck. You."
Splash.
Green blood sprayed everywhere. Into his nose, mouth, eyes. But he didn’t care. For the first time since he woke up... since forever, he finally held real power.
And it felt... good. Too good.
『A higher-level creature has been slain!』
『+ 5XP』
『Level 2!』
Han felt nauseous.
Thirsty.
It was as if he hadn’t drunk water in days.
’Is this because of using Queen’s Gaze?’ he thought.
『New Skill unlocked!』
He took a moment to rest.
In the time he had taken to defeat the goblin, the tides of war had turned. He watched as others activated their abilities, pushing the horde back.
Some were successful, like a girl who could call forth balls of fire, burning a group of goblins to a crisp. While others, like a boy who could shoot bubbles, were killed in their mistaken bravery.
Regardless, the students weren’t just sitting ducks anymore.
Of course, there were the few who just stood frozen, minds broken. But there were at least 100 students in this room... the fight was theirs now.
’Still, Queen’s gaze, huh? What does that have to do with being a beekeeper?’ he thought. In the end, he decided that perhaps it was in reference to a bee’s superhuman eyesight.
Which made him wonder what other bee-like powers he would get. ’Flight, perhaps? That would be good.’
He opened up his traits screen again to take a look at the new skill he had unlocked.
┏━━━━━━━━━━━┓
─Trait skills─
〖꧁Queen’s Gaze꧂〗
〖꧁Scent of the Sun꧂〗
〖Next Unlock: Level 5〗
┗━━━━━━━━━━━┛
’Scent of the sun, huh? So what, superpowered smel-’
Before he could finish the thought, a system notification chimed.
『An imbalance has been detected.』
『Generating countermeasures...』
’What the hell is it this time?’
『A boss creature has been spawned.』
Just then, the ground shook, and a shadow was cast from the door.
『Special Quest.』
『Defeat Goblin Warrior.』
"You’ve got to be kidding me."
Han stared in disbelief as a colossal goblin, the size of a bear, tore through the door frame. This one carried a sword, instead of a club, and was draped in tattered leather armour.
『Level 5 Goblin {Warrior-Class}』