Ashes of the Fallen

As I landed my blow, at the edge of my peripheral vision I could see that the archer and mage had finished off the last of the remaining [Outcast Goblins] as it fell to the floor. The side-swing found its mark in the ribs of the goblin guard that was completely unaware of my presence but it quickly turned and threw its shield back in reaction to my attack, knocking me onto the flat of my back.

The sudden unexpected impact with the hard ground caused me to lose my wind as I gasped for breath, struggling to breathe for a moment. In that instant of struggle, the guard launched a [Heavy Thrust] at me that I barely managed to avoid as I kicked out at the dirt and rolled to my side. The spear lodged deep into the mossy ground and as he violently pulled his spear back, loose clumps of dirt were flung over me just a foot or two away, falling onto my face and getting into my eyes.

In a precarious position, I was afraid of the next attack.

But then a frost bolt hit the goblin from behind and as it turned its head to glance back, I used that momentary distraction to leap onto my feet and prepared for a second attack. As I raised my axe and pulled down with all of the muscles in my core, back and shoulders fully engaged, the guard raised its shield to meet me halfway.

The sudden thud of the axe head clashing with the wooden shield reverberated through my hands as the shaft of the axe splintered and snapped in two, sending shards of wood flying into my face.

Instinctively squinting my eyes so as not to be blinded by loose wood, I lost sight of the spear that was being thrust in my general direction. Pain instantly registered in my abdomen as I turned to look at the goblin guard in front of me.

As the guard pulled the spear out and attempted a second thrust, a sword found itself lodged deeply in the back of its skull, to the point where part of the sword blade was no longer visible on the surface, and was coming out the front of the goblin's head. It was a fatal blow to the goblin and a sigh escaped my lips as the second thrust pierced through my chest.

"What," I muttered as I reactively coughed out some blood.

Collapsing to the floor, I couldn't help but wonder what had just happened.

The fatal blow, wasn't fatal?

Its brain was split in two… yet it was still moving, still fighting with barely any health remaining. A quick glance at my own health told me my fate was sealed, as the 2% remaining ticked down to 1%. The dwarf with his sword stuck in the skull of the goblin guard looked as if he was playing ring around the rosy with the goblin as they circled each other in an attempt to dislodge the weapon.

The last thing I saw was a frost bolt exploding into a shower of frosty mist as my vision went black. In a moment I found myself in that gray-blue world with haze surrounding me. I could barely make out what appeared to be a graveyard from where I  was standing, somewhere out in the middle of the forest.

I had no clue as to where I had been transported to, but a glance at the flowing river in the sky told me all I needed to know. Following that intersecting river of blue and gray, I eventually made my way back to the entrance of the dungeon. Going through the portal as a ghost didn't have the same feeling… in fact, it was an empty feeling void of any of the normal senses.

It was a creepy feeling.

Returning to my body was the same as before, and as soon as I accepted the resurrection I found myself being sucked back in. My vision went black one last time and then, I opened my eyes to find myself staring at the dark domed ceiling of the abandoned mining complex. Watching the light flicker about as shadows cascaded and danced above me, I couldn't hear any sounds of battle.

Sitting up, I saw that the group was relaxing as well as they sorted through the equipment from the fight. It appeared the boss fight was largely a success. Minus my stupid mistake, all was well.

Somehow in the midst of the hysteria, I had lost track of the dwarf and the guard's last movement. I partially wanted to blame the shattering of my axe as the main culprit but I knew that wasn't true. I let my guard down thinking the goblin had died from the blow to the head. Not in my wildest of dreams would I expect a creature with a sword split down the middle of its skull and coming out of its forehead to still continue to fight.

Yeah, that just didn't happen every day.

Oh well.

I lost a lot of experience from that mistake, to the tune of 25% of my current level's maximum total. Well, at least I didn't have to worry about losing any items or a time restriction on resurrecting. Though there was a time restriction of fifteen minutes if you died from PvP, but the penalty there was only a 10% loss of experience and a 5% drop in money. You could actually earn a living if you were good enough at Player Killing, farming players as if they were creatures.

"Always someone dying with this guy," the dwarf finally said to break the silence.