Fight or flight.

  The thought skimmed across his mind for a split-second but now that the kobold had spotted him, and called for its friends, Caleb didn’t have a choice. Adrenaline surged through him as he grabbed the dagger at his waist and leapt towards the creature without a second thought. His HUD revealed itself, as it would when he was engaged in combat—the setting he preferred.

  His name appeared above two bars that faintly emerged into view in the top left of his vision, a blue one beneath a green. They ended in a square to the left that had the number one in its centre. Another faint green bar appeared above the creature, a small square to the bar’s right with the number two and the words ‘Kobold Scout’ above it.

  Several dimmer bars appeared from inside the cabin—more of them scrambling towards the exit.

  As he swung his dagger overhead like he was using a sword, the kobold dropped the apple and put its own weapon up, stopping the blow. Caleb seized its wrist—the one holding the dagger—and held the kobold in place as he reversed his grip on his own blade. This wasn’t something he’d practiced. This wasn’t knowledge from the game. Heck, there was no changing his hold on a weapon in the game. This was pure adrenaline kicking in, his body responding automatically to what felt right in the moment.

  He stabbed down at the kobold’s head. It managed to squirm just enough so the blade only nicked its scaled shoulder, but the dagger drew blood nonetheless.

  The kobold tried to writhe from his grip, tugging its wrist away as it twisted its body to hit Caleb with its tail. He was too strong for it, turning with it so its tail flailed at nothing more than empty air. He stabbed again, not aiming for anything in particular. Just wild swings at the kobold’s arm, until he caught it just below the elbow of the arm he held. There was a slight resistance from the creature’s leathery skin, but Caleb leant into the dagger, forcing it in. Blood squirted as he drove the dagger through flesh, pulling it out and driving it into the creature’s bicep.

  The kobold screamed out as Caleb noticed its health bar dip into amber. Another kobold emerged from the cabin a few metres away, bow in hand, grabbing an arrow at its waist. Caleb deliberately held the kobold in front of him at a slight angle, waiting for the arrow to be loosed. When it came, Caleb spun and ducked, putting the kobold between himself and the arrow.

  The kobold squealed as the arrow wedged itself into its back. Caleb pulled his dagger out, reversed his grip again and thrust the dagger into the softer underbelly of the creature’s stomach. There was less resistance as he drove the blade ever further, the kobold’s health bar draining.

  The creature let out a pathetic snivel as Caleb ripped the life from it.

  The whimper caught him by surprise.

  In the game, creatures didn’t cry when they died.

  Its lifeless body hadn’t disappeared either.

  +73 XP

  The notification—in purple text—floated upwards at the bottom of his vision before quickly fading away.

  Caleb held on to the dead kobold as it went limp. His breaths came quickly, short and shallow, his heart hammering in his chest, his eyes on the archer. It had nocked another arrow to its bow.

  Caleb reminded himself that this wasn’t a game.

  It was life and death.

  You need to stay alive.

  He didn’t think. He didn’t calculate. This wasn’t boxing or MMA or fencing or archery. This was a brawl with his life at stake and that was something he understood. Something he had plenty of experience with.

  He let his survival instinct take over.

  Sheathing his dagger, he grabbed the dead kobold under the arms and lifted it off the ground. It must’ve weighed around a hundred pounds—still a bit of an effort. Caleb charged towards the kobold archer using the dead one as a makeshift shield.

  The archer’s eyes widened in alarm. It panicked and loosed another arrow that thudded into the dead kobold’s body. Before the archer could nock another arrow, Caleb flung the corpse at it. Two more kobolds emerged from the cabin, just as the corpse collided with a smack, pinning the archer beneath its dead weight.

  He veered towards the two that had appeared—one with a short sword, the other with a club. They both snarled as they ran to meet him, sword kobold a little ahead of the clubber. Swordy raised its weapon overhead and swung at him. He managed to squeeze past the swing, the tip of the sword striking the ground behind him, kicking up grass and dirt. The second kobold swung its club from the side. Caleb couldn’t avoid it, getting caught right in the hip. He grunted. The pain was sharp. Real. A heat spread through his side as his health bar dipped a little.

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  He gritted his teeth, steadied himself and unsheathed his dagger, driving it towards the head of the kobold that had managed to hit him. It ducked to all fours, scrambling away awkwardly with the club in its hand, but Caleb was already turning. Swordy was slow, still lifting its weapon from where it had struck the ground.

  Caleb crouched and slashed behind its knees.

  Blood spurted out as it was about to topple. Caleb moved behind it, stopping its fall and pushing the kobold’s head forward. He roared in primal fury, spittle flying from his mouth as he forced his dagger into the base of the kobold’s neck. It was flailing with the arm that held the sword, swinging it wildly behind its head but the blows were weak. Caleb took them on his padded arm, the hits barely registering.

  He glanced over his shoulder. The other one had returned hoping to catch Caleb off guard. It swung its club with both hands, right towards the small of Caleb’s back. He let go of the dying kobold in his arms, strafed to his right and turned, in time to see the club smack through the back of the head of the dying one. That one was already falling to the floor, its head snapping forwards with the blow before the back of its head smacked against the grass.

  He heard its dying gurgle as blood seeped out from the wound in its neck, forming a pool around its head.

  +75 XP

  Another kobold emerged from the cabin holding a short sword, and another archer right behind. He couldn’t see any more dim health bars from inside the cabin. That was the last of them.

  Caleb positioned himself so the club kobold was between him and the two that had just emerged. The earlier archer had finally managed to get out from under the corpse of the first kobold. It was on his left, on the edge of the clearing, nocking an arrow to its bow. He was vaguely aware that the open cellar door was a few metres behind him.

  He took a moment. Caught his breath as his heart hammered away in his chest. A dull ache still throbbed around his right hip.

  The kobolds looked nervous. He was confident he could finish the four in front of him. He felt about as strong as he did on the outside, with the kobolds being as strong as could be expected at half his size and only level two. It was no different to fighting humans on Earth that were half his size. Not that he’d ever found himself in that position but it would take several more than four of them to put him down.

  He sheathed his dagger and lunged forwards, feigning as if to punch the clubber. It swung, aiming for Caleb’s other hip.

  Caleb ducked under the blow, throwing his arms out and wrapping them around the kobold’s legs. He lifted it into the air, turned around and ran towards the open cellar door. The archer that stood alone loosed an arrow that missed Caleb by millimetres. He heard it whistle by behind him, as the clubber in his arms rained blows on his padded back.

  At the edge of the open cellar, Caleb flung the kobold inside. It crashed against the shelves and landed with a thud, but Caleb was already scrambling to the door. He slammed it shut as he heard another arrow whistle through the air. He turned, only to feel a sharp, stinging pain in his right bicep, the arrow punching through his tunic.

  No time to feel pain.

  He broke left, running towards the kobold archer that stood alone at the edge of the trees. The sword kobold was running towards him, its shorter legs pounding the grassy earth twice for every stride of his. He would be done before it reached him.

  The other archer was nocking another arrow to its bow. The one ahead of him already had one nocked, aiming at his head. It loosed, but Caleb flung himself to the ground, leaves and grass crunching under the weight of his body. The arrow flew overhead.

  He jumped up and charged, bundling into the archer as he grabbed his dagger. He thrust down as hard as he could, quickly, ferociously, the dagger jabbing at the kobold’s skin. It flailed, holding the bow in one hand as it tried to push Caleb off with the other but he straddled its waist, one hand pinning it down as he stabbed with the other. Its health bar flashed red and he plunged the dagger into the kobold’s chest. He quickly glanced around. The sword kobold was almost upon him as the other archer let loose another arrow.

  He stabbed down again into the kobold’s chest, leaning into the blow with all his body and forcing the blade into the kobold’s heart. As it whimpered, he heard a thud, another stinging pain in his right shoulder as the archer’s arrow struck.

  +72 XP

  He ducked and rolled and was on the move, charging at the one with the sword. He slammed into the kobold faster than it could swing at him, forcing it to the ground. He screamed like a cornered, rabid animal, stabbing it with his dagger in one hand, using the other to rain blows at its face. The dagger pierced the kobold’s arm, its chest, its thigh. Its eye ballooned under his fist. Its thrashing slowed, its fingers losing their grip on its sword until finally, the kobold ceased thrashing altogether.

  +72 XP

  Caleb stood and faced off against the kobold with the bow. It licked its snout, glanced towards the forest, before nocking another arrow. He ran towards the archer as it let the arrow loose. He strafed to the side, the arrow glancing off his shoulder with a dull throb. It was the last arrow the ranger would loose. It seemed to realise it too as it turned to run.

  Caleb wasn’t about to let it get away, catching up to it before it had even passed the first line of trees. He lunged on its back, forced it to the ground as it swung its tail from side to side, its high-pitched trilling whining in his ears. He slashed at the scaled skin on its back, pushing against the resistance, forcing his dagger into softer parts of the kobold’s flesh. It wasn’t long before its health was in the red and Caleb drove the blade into the side of its chest. He pulled the dagger out, jammed it in again, heard the tip strike a rib, a grating crunching sound as the bone gave way to the blade.

  He snarled at it as he pushed the blade in further. The kobold gurgled its last breath.

  +73 XP

  For the briefest of seconds, a brilliant burst of golden light enveloped him like a miniature supernova, before disintegrating in a flare of flickering sparks.

  [Level Up!]