I'm not going to make it in time. Even though I've offered myself up to that demon that resides in my core, I'm not going to make it. Why? I can't move faster than I currently am. I can hardly hold this sword at my side.

…Despite this, I must continue moving. I'm going to die. I've accepted this fact. It's inevitable. So there's only one thing I can do. I must hold my head high and charge straight into the open arms of that reaper.

But, if there's one thing I can do, something that'll change the course of fate at least a little, I will do it.

With ragged breath, with burning lungs, with pain piercing my heart, I screamed as loud as I possibly could. My vocal folds were on the verge of tearing, but that's okay. I don't need to speak here. Silence is all I need to convey my feelings.

Did my scream reach anyone? The adventurers seem to have snapped out of their stupor as they began readying themselves for combat, one raising a sword and the other a staff, and a few kobolds glanced in my direction.

…This is good. I've altered the flow of fate just a little. Even if those adventurers were to die here alongside me, at least they died fighting. They wouldn't have been discarded by their own volition.

And that's all that matters in the end.

To be able to die with a smile, to laugh and tell yourself it's all alright…

I was instantly filled with regret. Fleeting memories of a distant past came back to me.

This wasn't the time for such recollections, but a part of me held onto these images and wouldn't let go.

They were nothing more than a burden now, nothing more than weighty baggage that has dragged me down in the name of my self-righteous humanity.

…If I could discard the memories and leave the feelings behind, I would have done so long ago. Maybe then, this life would have been fulfilling. Maybe then, I would be a normal goblin and would be happy.

Maybe then, I would have died all on my lonesome with nothing but the starry sky accompanying me.

I squeezed my eyes shut as hard as I could and bit down on my lip harder than I ever have. My fangs pierced the flesh, fresh blood pouring forth onto my tastebuds. My body quivered.

This wasn't the time for such a thing.

Right now, in this moonlit field, I was about to engage in battle. If I was to reflect on the past, my rage would evaporate and I would collapse. I would be nothing but a burden to those adventurers, not that they would care about me.

So, I must hold onto that fire that resides in my heart, even if it burns me, and once again scream out the agony in my soul.

…If it is the only thing I can do, so be it. If it is the only path I can take henceforth, so be it.

Life. Death. None of it matters to me anymore.

All that matters to me is the completion of my current desire and the inevitable end of my worthless life.

In the next instant, without knowing how it had happened, there was an explosion of fire and smoke. It engulfed a large portion of the kobold's vanguard and the cloaked girl, yet the boy gathered their collapsed companion in their arms and turned and ran away.

Was this a suicide attack? The one with the staff may have offered their own life up to the gods so their friends can live.

To this me, that is certainly an admirable act but it's not something I'm going to accept so easily. Not in this situation, at least, as that is more than reckless. I mean, the kobolds will certainly catch up to the fleeing adventurers and spear them in the back, so is it not a better idea to face the army as a group and die knowing you all did your best?

Even if it was a negligent amount, I could feel a little bit of strength gather in my legs as a bitter taste drowned out the metallic texture of blood, the scent of burning flesh and the sound of agonizing screams and groans being drowned out by the rapid thumping of blood in my skull.

I was getting closer now, being only a dozen or so steps away from the path, yet the kobolds began to break through the cloud of smoke and the smouldering corpses, trampling their kin to chase down the adventurers.

Compared to the kobolds, I was a few meters ahead of their most forward vanguard so I may be able to intercept some of them, but apart from my interference, the rest would be up to the other adventurers' luck.

…This time I won't fail.

A final roar left my throat as I felt the flesh inside of it tear apart, fresh blood pouring into my mouth as a distorted shriek attracted the attention of several kobolds. I burst out of the long grass and onto the path, quickly coming to a stop in the centre of it, and I pivoted on the balls of my feet to face my foe.

The first kobold continued to charge towards me, spear held out to its side as it seemed to grin. Did it sense my weakness? Or was it my lack of a proper stance? Knight's sword was resting on the floor to my right, after all, both of my hands wrapped around the handle with a tight grip, so it's easy to understand why the kobold is getting cocky.

Unfortunately for it, I'm not going to be too easy to take down.

Without losing any momentum, it thrust the spear towards my chest as it rapidly approached, the tip aiming straight for my heart. It was all I could do to twist to the right to avoid the strike, but with screaming biceps I swung my sword up into its armpit using the momentum of my movement, slicing straight through the flesh and into their chest.

The kobold stumbled past me, blood spurting all over my body as I had seemingly hit a major artery, and even though I was holding onto its handle as tightly as I could, the sword was ripped out of my grasp as the force of the kobold falling to the floor behind me threatened to force me onto my back.

One foot sliding to the side and into the earth was all I needed to stay upright, yet without a weapon I was powerless against the oncoming wave of kobolds.

It was all I could to slowly exhale through grit teeth, waiting for the second kobold to try its luck.

And then its spear flew, stealing flesh off my side as I narrowly dodged the attack, my jaw creaking and groaning as it clenched shut as tightly as it could, pain resonating throughout my entire mouth as my teeth threatened to crack under the pressure.

Following this, the kobold simply ran past me without losing much speed, leaving it up to the third kobold to deal with me.

Fortunately, it was only a few steps behind the second and wasn't in any position to attack me with the spear, but instead it tried to clobber me with an outstretched arm. I ducked to avoid the strike, crouching down low, and as the fourth quickly came to a stop, preparing to spear me from above, I pounced forward and rammed my head into its stomach, forcing it to stumble backwards.

As my body threatened to keel over, my legs unsteady and trembling as my eyes began to spin, the kobold fell onto its rump, becoming an obstacle to the wave of kobolds behind it. One rammed into the back of it, flipping over onto its face, and the rest quickly stormed past them.

…Watching this, I fell to one knee, panting heavily as nausea and vertigo quickly consumed me, but I slowly forced myself to stand as the kobolds ran past my figure, each fibre of my existence trembling from a grotesque concoction of determination and an incessant burning in my heart that screamed at me to stand my ground.

Even though I was trembling, even though my body wanted to give up and let itself die, even though I was ready to accept my death, my heart wouldn't let that reaper come. My heart was thrashing about in my chest, never stopping for rest, and it was moving my body without considering the consequences of its foolishness.

It forced me to collect the spear that was in front of me. It forced me to point the tip at the two enemies that were in front of me. It forced me to stay alive.

Was this my survival instinct kicking in? Despite the dangerous encounters I've been in, I haven't quite felt this way before. It was strange, yet pleasant. It gave me enough strength to stand and remain awake, but it reminded me that I could collapse at any moment.

At this point, every strike would matter and would be something I'll be unable to take back, so I must make every moment count, lest I keel over and die.

…It wasn't me who made the first move. One of the kobolds, now barehanded as I was wielding its spear, rushed me first, closing the distance between us in an instant. I thrust the spear forward, my strike slow and weak, so the kobold managed to dodge with a twist of its torso, however, as it crouched down low and attempted to pounce on me, obviously intending on knocking me to the ground, it was my turn to dodge.

I ducked low, almost laying down on the ground, and felt the wind warp as the kobold flew over me, landing somewhere behind me with a growl. I then sprung to the side as the second's spear entered my peripheral vision, the tip stabbing into the ground where I had been a moment prior.

…That was a close call. I certainly can't keep it up if the fight's going to be like this, so I need to put everything I have into my next movements.

Following this, I turned to face the spear kobold, my enemy mirroring my action, and as it stepped back to create some distance, I lunged forward with the spear held behind me, my arms suddenly shooting forth like a cannon to deliver a powerful strike that pierced the fleshy torso of my foe.

Not giving my enemy any room to escape backwards, I launched myself forward instead, pushing the spear in deeper as the kobold spat blood at me and shrieked. At this point, I felt a pair of scaly arms wrap themselves around my neck, so I thrust my head back into the kobold's chest, letting go of the spear, and kicked off the ground, jumping backwards into my enemy.

We fell back, the kobold letting go of me as it hit the ground first with a loud grunt. I took this chance to roll off it and jump to my feet, but the kobold quickly wrapped one of its hands around my ankle, pulling on my leg as it hissed at me.

It then rolled to the side, pulling me down to the floor where it tried to tangle me up in its flexible body. To resist this, I flailed about, punching the lizard in the jaw several times with both hands, but it didn't seem to want to let go. Quickly discovering my attacks were having no effect on the kobold, I tried to grab its face, attempting to find its eyes.

And then my fingers quickly found one, my index finger jabbing straight through it with its long and sharp fingernail, the kobold stopping to scream and writhe about in pain. It quickly let me go in favour of clawing at its face with its hands, giving me the chance to rise and face the other kobold.

Instead of moving to attack me, it was kneeling, panting as it gripped the shaft of the spear that was sticking through its stomach, and the only thing it could do was glare at me. It hissed and growled and roared, but it didn't attempt to attack me.

It stood and stared as blood ran down the dark shaft and onto its hand, leaving us in a deadlock as I panted and heaved and glared back.

I glanced down the path towards the outpost, having some leeway to do so, wanting to know what the situation was there.

…Everything seemed to be fine as the kobolds were stuck outside, screaming and roaring as they clawed at and attacked the walls. Even though it was quite far from this part of the road, I couldn't make out the form of any slouched or prone figures along the path or near the gate so those two adventurers must have made it inside safely.

A wide grin spread across my face as I began to stumble. The adrenaline was quickly fading away, leaving my muscles to crumble under their own weight and pain, but I forced myself to stand lest I keel over in a place I shouldn't.

It was more pain than I could describe and all I wanted to do was rest, but first, I had to rejoice and bathe in the fact I'd managed to successfully save those two adventurers. Even though it wasn't the trio I was looking for, I'd managed to accomplish some good with this life of mine, so I should be satisfied and rest, being content with this achievement.

But for some reason, I was unhappy. Was it the fact I was unable to save the mage? Or was the missing boy weighing down on my mind? Maybe I was depressed for no reason, yet as I stared up at the waning moons, a sigh escaping my mouth, I was unable to figure out what was wrong with my heart.

The almost silent footsteps of someone behind me forced me to precariously spin around on the balls of my feet, almost sending me sideways.

Standing there in the moonlight was my goblin companion, frowning with a murderous glare that revealed a great fire in his eyes. His furrowed brow deepened as he opened his mouth to speak, his voice naught but a whisper that contained the strength of many fierce gods as he mercilessly pierced the skull of the kobold with his spear, "What are you doing?"

"…" Even though I moved my mouth, no words came out.

This is to be expected considering the fact I ruined them earlier with all my screaming and shouting, but it hurts more than I want to acknowledge. The taste of blood was flooding my palate and I continuously had to swallow clumps of it as it gathered in my throat, so things weren't looking good for me.

…Even though I survived this encounter, the internal bleeding in my throat, combined with the wound on my side and the fact my muscles are essentially defunct, will probably kill me.

Suddenly, my vision began to turn dark as the feeling in my legs began to quickly vanish, and as I struggled to keep myself upright, my legs trembling and burning as if they were submerged in boiling water, there was a humane groan and mutter to my left.

That was probably the mage that had sacrificed themselves earlier with that explosion, so I'm surprised they managed to survive despite their foolishness, however, they mustn't be in good shape all things considered.

…I began to stumble towards them, carefully watching where I tread as one slipup would mean falling into darkness. I wanted to check on them and see if they were fine because I thought they had died. They were also someone I selfishly wanted to save, so as a sense of guilt and duty rushed my heart, I was hoping she was in a good enough condition to survive the night.

But before I reached her, she slowly pushed herself into a seated position with her right arm, her body smouldering as her clothing fell away into ash. Her flesh is a dark shade of red, some parts being a grievous black, and the bone on her left arm was visible in some areas, almost as if the muscle itself had been blown away.

Strangely, most of the skin above her neck was untouched, revealing the fact she was of a pale skin tone, a colour that is akin to a doll's. Her hair, a shocking shade of crimson, neatly fell on her charred shoulders, and as she tried to push herself onto her feet, failing to do so as she was visibly unable to support her own weight, our gazes met.

Narrow, yet devoid of any strength. A dark chocolate in colour.

There was no emotion on her face, bar the thin, pink lips that were frowning, her cheeks pale and her brow relaxed.

…Seeing her face, I felt pity for the briefest of moments, and as I continued towards her, a firm hand pushing down on my shoulder forced me to fall to my knees.

"…Why won't you tell me what you're doing?"

I did not respond. No, I was unable to respond. Even though my brain registered my companion's words and had created a response, instead of nothing coming out of my mouth as a result of my scarred throat, I began to wheeze and heave like a steaming kettle, my body rapidly trembling as I spat up a glob of blood that had formed in my mouth.

My body was surely failing now due to my foolishness, all my strength having faded in an instant upon me being forced to the ground, yet this was something I was expecting. I would most likely die here, yet this was okay. I wasn't afraid, unlike the last time I had died, and it would surely be less painful than a knife to the heart, yet I couldn't be too sure.

However, due to my destroyed body and defunct muscles, I wasn't given any leeway to move, despite the fact my instincts desperately wanted it to. My core quickly failed me, leaving me to fall flat onto my stomach, and as I began to cough up even more blood at an increased pace, my life force sticky and clumped together and black in colour, I forced myself to curl up into a ball where I would surely feel more comfortable.

…This is the end. My body is not responding to me and my mind is slowly becoming empty. I can barely groan as the feelings in all my limbs begin to fade, and as I desperately will my hands and feet to move, the pain in my body only increases, embracing me in a simultaneous stabbing, burning and numbing sensation that rattles even my soul.

It didn't take too long for me to begin to twitch and spasm wildly, either, starting with my hands and feet that flailed about without any restraint, and soon after that, there was a strong pain that surged throughout my chest, forcing me to gasp and choke with wide eyes. I desperately tried to scream, silently wishing for this hell to end, and as I managed to stare up at my companion, meeting his pitying stare, a great wall of darkness rapidly consumed everything.

My senses faded away in what was almost an instant, starting with my vision, and it wasn't soon after that the concept of being conscious quickly slipped out of my grasp.

Story isn't over yet, nor is it abandoned. Thank you for your continued support.