Skreee!
The sound wasn't a scream. It was a war cry.
Three Hobgoblins lunged from the shadows. They weren't the clumsy, toddler-sized goblins hunters practiced on. These were six feet of corded green muscle, wielding jagged iron scimitars.
[Target: Hobgoblin Scout][Agility: D-][Strength: D]
They were fast.
"Block them!" Kang-su roared, slamming his shield into the ground.
CLANG!
The first scimitar sparked against his shield. Kang-su grunted, his boots sliding backward in the mud.
"Shoot! Shoot them, you idiots!"
The Archer behind us fumbled with his bow, fingers trembling. He let loose an arrow. It whizzed past the Hobgoblin's ear and shattered against the cave wall.
"Useless!" Kang-su screamed.
He swung his greatsword, a wide, clumsy arc. The Hobgoblin ducked effortlessly, a mocking grin on its tusked face. It slashed low.
Riiip.
"Argh!"
Kang-su howled as the rusty blade bit into his thigh, bypassing his greaves. Blood sprayed onto the damp floor.
[Status Effect: Tetanus Poison (Low)][Status Effect: Bleeding]
"Healer! Heal me!" Kang-su shouted instinctively.
Then, his face went pale.
He remembered.
There was no Healer. He had fired the Healer to save money.
"Shit! Shit!"
The Thief, seeing the blood, didn't even try to fight. He activated [Stealth] and vanished into the shadows, leaving the Tank to die.
"You coward!" Kang-su yelled, swinging blindly.
A second Hobgoblin jumped onto his back, sinking its teeth into his shoulder pauldron. Metal crunched.
I stood five meters back, leaning against a stalagmite. My skeleton stood motionless beside me.
"Hey! Bone-boy!" Kang-su shrieked, his voice cracking with panic. "Do something! Send your pet in! Help me!"
I looked at him.
I looked at the health bar floating above his head.
[HP: 65%][HP: 58%]
"Not yet," I whispered.
"WHAT?!" Kang-su screamed, blocking another lethal strike with his forearm. His arm guard shattered. "I'm going to die! Help me!"
I checked the Ledger.
[Target: Kang-su][Current State: Panic.][Debt Value: Low.]
"If I help you now," I said calmly, my voice cutting through the chaos of battle, "it's just teamwork. It's just a party member doing his job."
The Hobgoblin kicked Kang-su in the chest. The big man flew backward, crashing into the rock wall. He coughed up blood.
[HP: 30%]
The three Hobgoblins advanced on him, drool dripping from their jaws. They knew they had won. They raised their blades for the execution.
Kang-su tried to lift his sword, but his arms were limp from the poison. He looked at me, eyes wide with terror. He was crying.
"Please..." he wheezed. "I don't want to die. Not here. Not like this."
[HP: 15%][Current State: Despair.][Debt Value: MAXIMUM.]
Ding.
The market was primed.
I stepped forward.
I didn't run. I walked. I stepped right into the kill zone, ignoring the Archer who was cowering in the corner.
The Hobgoblins paused, confused by the F-Rank trash walking toward them.
I stopped right next to Kang-su. I looked down at him.
"I can save you," I said.
My voice was soft, but in the silence of the cave, it sounded like a judge's gavel.
Kang-su looked up at me, hope warring with confusion. "W-what?"
"I can save you," I repeated, crouching down so our eyes met. "I can kill them all. I can get you out of here alive."
The lead Hobgoblin roared and raised its sword. I didn't flinch. I just held Kang-su's gaze.
"But you will owe me," I said. "Not gold. Not items."
I leaned closer.
"You will owe me your life. A Life Debt. Irrevocable."
The Hobgoblin's blade began to descend. Time seemed to slow down.
"DO YOU ACCEPT?" I demanded.
Kang-su didn't hesitate. He didn't read the fine print. He looked at the blade coming for his neck, and then at the hand I offered.
"YES!" he screamed, spraying blood. "YES! ANYTHING! SAVE ME!"
BOOOOOM.
The world turned grey.
[Condition Met.]
A heavy, spectral sound echoed through the dungeon—like a vault door slamming shut.
[Contract Finalized.][Debtor: Kang-su][Debt Class: High (Life Saved)][Collateral: Soul.]
A crimson chain exploded from my chest, shooting into Kang-su's heart. He gasped, his back arching, but the wound didn't bleed. The chain solidified, glowing with a sinister light, before fading into invisibility.
[Debt Secured.]
I stood up.
The Hobgoblin's blade was inches from my face.
I smiled.
"Transaction complete."
I turned to my brittle skeleton.
"Unit One," I commanded. "Execute [Overload]."
In my previous life, I was F-Rank because I couldn't maintain mana. My skeletons fell apart.
But I had learned a trick right before I died. If you can't maintain the mana... you detonate it.
My skeleton didn't attack. It leaped forward, hugging the lead Hobgoblin like a lover.
"Die."
CRACK-BOOM!
The skeleton didn't just break; it exploded. Shards of bone, sharpened by unstable mana, turned into a fragmentation grenade at point-blank range.
The lead Hobgoblin didn't even have time to scream. Its upper body misted into red vapor.
[Experience Gained.]
The other two Hobgoblins flinched, stunned by the sudden violence.
I drew the rusty dagger from my belt. My eyes flared with a cold, pale green light.
"One down," I said, stepping through the cloud of bone dust. "Two to go."
Kang-su watched from the ground, his eyes trembling. He wasn't looking at the monsters anymore.
He was looking at me. And for the first time, he realized he had made a deal with something much worse than a goblin.