Wait, why is there a difficulty spike?

“So just so we’re clear, how many goblins are left in this little fort?”

“...”

“Maybe I should make a cult necklace? What appendages would look nice I wonder, what do you-”

“Eight, including me, there's eight more goblins inside our base.”

Now that's more like it, although Todd still looks ashamed of himself. If he does a good enough job I may consider letting him live. Which brings up the question, why the hell aren’t my numbers budging? Is it really a level discrepancy or maybe there’s something to this? I decided then that my next kill would take a different approach. As I moved towards the door, I looked both ways before exiting out. I looked back at Todd and motioned him to follow, he followed behind with his hands together and his gaze downcast. As we made our way through the quiet halls, a goblin appeared in the distance. He looked rather chipper, whistling as he carried a wooden pole. When he spotted us, he began waving. His greeting soon turned to panic as he noticed the bloodstains in my gown, and my sadistic grin. I pulled out my knife and rushed him from the front.

“Lenny, run!”

Todd tried to warn him, but it was too late. By the time Lenny dropped his pole, my knife penetrated his head. I looked at my status, so sneak attacks and frontal confrontations don’t give me exp. Maybe it is the difficulty then, as I thought that I pulled a crying Todd to his feet and told him to keep walking. There were supposed to be seven goblins left, two of those seven appeared in front of us. Todd looked hesitant, so I decided to do something different.

“Go.”

“What?”

“Go warn them, I want this hunt to be interesting.”

Todd trembled hearing my words, and ran towards his friends. They asked why he seemed panicked and that’s when he told them their friends had been killed. Then he pointed at me and said I was the witch who did it. I smirked at him and began my show.

“Oh, poor Todd, you forgot the curse I placed on you.”

“What?”

“Now that you've told someone of my actions, you’ll die within the next two minutes now. Unless you manage to kill me that is.”

Todd began pissing himself, he actually thought he was cursed. As for his friends, they immediately stepped in front of him.

“Todd, go see Doc. He’s smart, he might be able to remove the curse.”

“Steve, no I can’t-”

“Do as he says Todd!”

“Mike…”

So my next opponents are Steve and Mike, unlike my previous opponents they looked rather strong. They were wearing light steel armor and had proper weapons. Steve carried a scimitar, and Mike was armed with a spear. The air radiated with tension, the kind where you can tell things could get ugly real fast. I hope I get something out of this, otherwise I may start to regret this decision. Without hesitation, Steve rushed at me and prepped to stab. I sidestepped out the way, only for Steve to turn his blade and slash at me. I managed to barely dodge, and Steve followed up with another attack. It became a game of cat and mouse, but this time I was the mouse. I had basic self defense training, but only the basics. Everything I’m doing now is based on the alien knowledge I received from the mirror. Well that and dance class.

“Hey bitch, focus or else!”

“Crap-”

I narrowly stumbled back as the blade brushed against my throat. I felt the heat as liquid dripped down the wound I received. I licked my finger and brushed the mark, it shouldn’t leave a scar. At this point me and Steve were worn out, I need to end this fight soon. As I began to prep to attack, Steve started chuckling.

“Tell me, notice anyone missing?”

“Eh?”

What the hell was he talking about, Todd was there shaking in his boots. There’s no one-

“Wait, where’s your-”

A spear whirled past my head, grazing my cheek. Standing on a barrel, with a bundle of throwing spears tied to his back was Mike. When did he have time to arm himself? Scratch that, how did he arm himself? He only had a single spear before, now he had that and several small ones. I know that dingy thing isn’t enchanted. I blinked while pondering my predicament, big mistake. Steve appeared overhead, his scimitar ready to split my skull open. I fell on my butt trying to get out of the way. While dealing with him, I now had to dodge Mike’s spears. I tried backing out, but Mike blocked my escape. Steve kept me from aiming at Mike, all I could do was wait. Soon Steve went for a big swing, I took the opportunity and kicked him in the groin. Steve looked like he could barely breathe, this caught Mike’s attention.

“Steve hold-Oh S***!”

Mike realized too late, he ran out of spears. I began running at him, his eyes were trembling. Right as I was closing the distance, I heard the sound of something tipping over. I turned to see that Todd knocked over a barrel of sawdust, he began apologizing for his mistake. Taking advantage of Todd’s mistake, Steve regained composure and sliced my back with the scimitar. The cut was deep, but the burning sensation of metal against my flesh seared my mind. My nightmare was one thing, but this pain was real. I felt the urge to vomit, but Steve didn’t give me the chance. He pulled me back by my hair and threw me on the ground, I jolted upward due to the pain I felt.

“That’s what you get for threatening my partner, get ready for your just desserts bitch.”

Steve and Mike smirked as they raided their weapon, Todd was covering his face. I wasn’t dumb though, I could see the smile he was trying to hide. My mind immediately entered a state of high analysis, how the hell do I get out of this one? All I could see around me was barrels of sawdust, a wooden board, and torches lining the walls. That’s when I noticed it, there was a side room that was open. It looked like the storage room, so that’s where Mike picked up his spears. Wait, what else do they have in there? I began to laugh, catching the attention of my would-be attackers.

“What the hell is so funny?”

“Tell me, how long has it been?”

“Wait, it’s been more than two minutes hasn’t it? Crap, To-”

Mike and Steve tried to look back to make sure Todd was safe, I took advantage of that. I grabbed one of the barrels and threw it at them, covering them in sawdust and blinding them. They became disoriented and lost hold of their weapons, in that time I took the wooden board and slammed into them. They were sprawled out in the storage room, I then grabbed another barrel and tossed the contents inside. The two began coughing violently as the sawdust made breathing harder on them. While they were busy with that, I grabbed the last piece of the puzzle. Todd looked perplexed as I pulled the torch from the wall. I looked at him with a smirk and ventured a question.

“Hey buddy, have you ever heard of a soldier bomb?”

Todd froze as I tossed the torch into the room and slammed the door. It didn’t take long for the explosion to go off, the door blew off its hinges sending me and Todd flying back. I hazily opened my eyes, and smiled at the result of my experiment. Todd came to and realized what I just did.

“God…Oh dear god, you cooked them. They were two of the Five Hammers, this wasn’t supposed…”

“Otherworld science is a terrible thing.”

Todd dropped to his knees and began crying, I began to breathe now that the crisis was averted. Goblins, I almost lost my life fighting against goblins. I wanted to cry but I held it in, I don’t want Todd to see my weakness. Instead I channeled my fear into rage, and shouted at the burnt remains of Todd’s friends.

“You ruined my hair, you dumbasses, and you broke my bra strap too!”

I ran over and started kicking their remains, causing Todd to grab me and beg me to stop. I considered until I remembered him reveling at my pain. After that, the corpse kicking party continued, and Todd cried.