Zoe looked back at the window once more and rubbed her temples, This is bull, I thought every fight was going to be one on one, I mean the Dullahan was pushing it. But this is definitely crossing a line.

  She looked over the swarm of goblins that were looking around. Zoe felt the world spin around her. Her eyes blinked rapidly as she tried to stand. She looked around the hills for a moment before her eyes found what they were looking for.

  Her spear lay on the ground halfway in the dirt. Quickly, she grabbed it and then turned back to the army of goblins that had begun to move, towering over her.

  OK, ok I need a plan. She thought, grabbing her head, feeling a ping of pain. I’m going to need more blood, so bite one of them to drain their blood, then what? I don’t think I can take all of them down. She glanced at her spear, the wood starting to fracture from everything she had put it through.

  If this thing could hold up, maybe, but it’s at its limit. Zoe rubbed the back of her head. Not wanting to think about the fact that it is most likely due to her using too much power in the swings.

  Fuck I should just quit while I’m ahead. I have almost lost my life so many times today.

  But do I really want regrets this time, too? Can I really just give up without even giving it a shot?

  Zoe just stood there for a moment, lost in her own mind, before speaking under her breath.

  “Fuck it.”

  Zoe called the window back, looking over it once more. Focusing on one line of it.

  [Completion condition: Kill the Goblin lord 0/1, or Kill Goblins 0/100]

  I’m sure there are better rewards for doing both, but that's protag level. Zoe looked back over the green horde. Her head still feeling light, just maybe I may be able to take him out. I can always exit if I have to.

  Zoe waited until the front lines of an army were close, then shot out of her hiding place and grabbed the first one in range and a bit down, draining their blood as all of the goblins around her began to surround her.

  But Zoe felt the rush as the blood flowed into her body, and she moved. Jumping into the air and over the goblins.

  She began to run full speed through the crowded, ducking, dodging, and jumping her way towered the litter carried by four goblins in side of which he could see a must larger goblin. This is easier than I expected! She thought as she drank some more blood of a goblin before moving again.

  Twenty feet.

  Zoe felt a hot ache as she fell to the ground. What? She glanced back and saw her leg lying on the ground a few feet from her knee, where it had been severed. As blood drained out of her body all over the ground, she felt the pain grow as she began to feel pain all over her body from the numerous wounds covering her body.

  Shit, I overdid it. Zoe realized in pain as a spear came down and stabbed through her long. The burning hot pain filled her mind as she tried to think about exiting, but every time she got close, she felt another blade sink into her flesh.

  Then she noticed it.

  The blood from her leg was reaching toward the blood from her upper thigh. As if it were sentient.

  It's moving? Zoe thought just before another spear stabbed into her flesh, coming far too close to her heart.

  If I’m not going insane, please just bring them a bit closer!

  Then the blood dripping from her leg moves, wrapping around the leg of a goblin like a cloth and pulling its leg out from under it.

  She limply raised her head and moved forward, biting into the fallen goblin's leg.

  Warmth filled her body once more, the warmth she had come to know meant she was drinking blood, rushing through her body.

  She rapidly began to heal, her mind clearing up.

  She felt her leg reconnect with a thump as it was pulled back on.

  Her hand grasped the handle of her spear.

  Then, with every bit of power she had, she forced herself to stand. Her spear cleaved through the air, slicing open the legs of any that did not step back.

  Zoe forced herself to stand and looked at her spear, it was snapped in half, only still held together by a thread. Her heart raced, her breathing was shallow, and she knew she should run, but something in her told her she just could not back down now. There is a fine line between bravery and idiocy, and I have always been an idiot.

  Zoe gripped the spear tightly, feeling the blood running down it. She could feel her legs shake, wanting to drop to the ground out from under her.

  Hold it together. The command rang out in her mind as she tightened her grip. At the same time, her blood began to move. The one slow drip of blood running down her spear changed into a waterfall, running around the shaft of the spear and pulling till the wood under it made a snapping sound.

  All but the tip of the spear was covered in a deep crimson that was the only thing holding the spear together.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  [Trait awakened: Blood Manipulation(Self) ]

  A white-hot pain ran through her back. She spun around with her spear, forcing them to step back or to get tossed through the air.

  Her body shot forward in a blur as she bit down and ripped open the goblin's throat. Its eyes widened with surprise, then its face contorted in pain as it fell to the ground, its hands wrapping around its own neck.

  Zoe quickly turned back to face her target. Just have to take him out. She moved once more. But how she moved had changed. Her approach was slower, much so. But she would not risk getting knocked down again.

  Her eye glanced around the war shouts of goblins filling the surrounding air, and she thrusted, swung, and thrusted one more time with the blood-covered spear. Carving her way through the foes before her.

  She felt another blade stab into her arm, cutting through the muscles and scratching the bone. Fuck, I can’t keep taking pointless damage like this. She thought as she bit into the goblin that had stabbed her neck, drinking its blood as she killed it.

  She could see the Goblin lord getting farther, and more of the goblins began to move to guard the litter in which he sat.

  At this rate, it's going to take all day. It would be so much faster if I could just - She felt a new sword stab in her left leg, and she spun around, ripped the sword out, and thrusted her spear through the goblin's head.

  Just stopped getting fucking stabbed! She was starting to realize what Leon had meant.

  She sharpened her mind and kept moving forward, moving even slower. But it was not because she was running out of energy, as long as there were blood bags around, she could get more. She was trying to reduce the damage she was taking by observing everything around her.

  Even with the slower speed, she kept finding herself sinking back into tunnel vision on one target. But every time, soon after, she would be snapped out of it as she got stabbed in the back or side.

  “Fuck!” She yelled out as she felt another sword stab into her gut. The pain had grown dull, but it still pissed her off. I know what I need to do now, but it's just so hard! It reminded her of something she had heard before. One must first be able to see before they can improve.

  I just need to keep trying. Not like I’m going to run out of test dummies. At this point, she had lost track of time and had basically stopped moving, towered the Goblin lord.

  It felt like hours or even days, but before she had even realized it, she had started to avoid attacks coming from anywhere she could see and had even begun to avoid attacks. That she could not see just based on the sounds of the world around her.

  Then it came to a stop as the last goblin fell.

  Huh? She looked around, realizing that somehow she had managed to take the whole army of goblins.

  All around her were bodies and bodies of the dead goblins, many missing chunks from their neck. The ground was covered in blood and body fluids.

  Only four goblins remained holding up the litter. Each looked horrified and did not move an inch. Then the wall of the litter shattered as if it had exploded. Would fragment, flying everywhere.

  Then he stepped out. He was far taller than any other goblin, standing at around six feet tall, Zoe guessed.

  Slowly, the goblin lord reached into the litter and pulled out a sword, almost as big as him. He began to approach Zoe, his sword leaning on his shoulder as he did so.

  Does he think he is intimidating? I just - Zoe blinked, then he was standing before her, his sword already raised up and beginning to swing down at her.

  She quickly jumped to the side, the sword falling past her face, missing by an inch. But the goblin lord did not let up, attacking again and again, but Zoe avoided every one of his attacks with ease.

  The hell? All of his moves are bad, I mean, he has so many openings. Zoe began to strike back, she was easily taking advantage of the openings.

  But with each thrust of her spear, the goblin lord's body slowly began to regenerate. It was as if he were a vampire like her. But his regeneration was far slower than hers. Actually, all of his movements felt like she had seen them before?

  They were completely aimed at hitting her, or blocking it was as if he could only focus on one thing at a time.

  Wait, wait a fucking secant. This is just basically my fighting style! I mean, was my fighting style, but still!

  As she kept fighting him, his regeneration slowed down way faster than hers was now, but about at the same rate as when she had started to use it. Holy shit, is this really how I was fighting before?

  Zoe thought as she cut the goblin lord's neck again. Not deep enough. The only difference is the weapon we are using.

  The goblin lord was weaker than her in every way now. But she was sure that if she had tried to fight it one-on-one before her battle with the goblin army, she would have lost or at least come close to it.

  Wait, why the hell am I not aiming for its heart? Zoe, realizing after another stab, thought the goblin lord's gut.

  She felt like a dumbass as her heart was preached to its heart the moment it showed another opening, which did not take long.

  She ripped her spear out of the goblin lord’s chest. Blood instantly shot out of the gaping hole where his heart should have been like a fire hydrant that had just been ripped out of the ground.

  [Tenth Trial: Ascent | Objective one: Kill the Goblin lord 1/1 Cleared]

  [Would you like to complete the trial? Or continue, extra rewards will be given for clearing the alternate clear condition. Objective two: Kill Goblins 96/100]

  Zoe closed the window. It's just four goblins, let's have a snake before I head back.

  She made quick work of the last four goblins, drinking their blood and ending their lives quickly. Then, before she returned to floor zero, she ran over to where she had dropped her bag at the start and quickly changed into the backup uniform she had brought with her.

  Then, just as she was about to exit, she realized that her blood wrapped around her spear would be a dead giveaway, so she slowly tried to get the blood to let go, but nothing happened.

  How did I get it to wrap around it before? She thought back, but it was hard to recall.

  She sighed and tried to get it to let go for a good few minutes before, at last she just yelled. “Just fucking return to my body, dammit!”

  The blood reacted to that, shooting up to her hand where a small cut opened, and the blood dived into it. Then she watched her spear fall to the ground, it was splintered into more pieces than she could count.

  I’m going to have to get a job, aren’t I? Zoe looked down at the fragments of wood covering the floor.

  She quickly grabbed the spear tip and put it in the sheath for it, then tossed it in her bag. Maybe I can get a replacement for cheaper, I mean, the tip is the most expensive part, right? She thought before she finally returned to the city.

  As she felt the sun hit her, she felt the familiar weakness hit her body, followed by the slight nausea.

  The once crowded space was almost empty. Then a voice called out, Ivan.

  “There you are, I was starting to get worried!” Zoe turned her head, then realized just how tired she was as the blood high she had been running on for what could have been hours came to an end, the sudden rush of weakness something she had gotten used to after feeling it over and over during the trial.

  Which was a saving grace, given that it meant she managed to stay standing upright even as she wanted to pass out on the spot.

  “Good to see you're alive, too,” Zoe said, her voice weaker than she would have liked.

  “You good? You look like you have not slept in days.” Ivan said as he looked over her.

  “No, I feel like I died and came back to life,” Zoe said as she rubbed her head. “I need some sleep before I do anything else,” Zoe said, stumbling forward.

  “Here, let me help.” Before Zoe could say anything, Ivan had wrapped his arm under Zoe’s and was helping her walk.

  I really should stop him, but I feel like I could pass out any moment. She thought as they walked along.

  “So, what happened to your spear?” Ivan asked.

  “Shut up.” That was all Zoe could muster at the mention of her biggest sore spot.