The tentacle's strike came incredibly fast, but the creature was striking blindly and Mike twisted sideways, only just quickly enough to avoid it. The hooked, clublike head missed him and smashed into the ceramic urinal, which clattered to the floor in pieces and sent water spraying all around the bathroom.
Mike leapt towards the door, throwing all his weight against it with his shoulder, ramming it hard against the tentacle. The tentacle shuddered and stiffened. It tried to turn its clublike head around but it couldn't move in the tight confines of the bathroom now that it was pinned by the door.
[G: CHOP DOWN MIKE. CHOP. CHOP. SEVER THIS TENTACLE OF DOOM.
Mike brought Goblin up above his head as best he could without letting the pressure off the door. With a cry he brought the sword down in his hardest overhead chop. It lodged deep within the tentacle, but not even close to through it. A shower of sparks flew out from Goblin where the steel glanced off the subway tiles. A shower of blood spurted from the tentacle. A great gurgling bellow reached them from outside the bathroom.
[M/+1POWER
[M/ENERGY 6:30
[G/+1FORCE
[G/STATE 14:15
[G: AGAIN MIKE. AGAIN. AND AGAIN.
The tentacle was thrashing wildly now. It was pulling back, trying to get out of the bathroom. Mike kept his full weight on the door. He chopped again. More sparks flew. More blood spurted.
[M/+1POWER
[M/ENERGY 5:30
[G/+1FORCE
[G/LEVEL UP. GOBLIN IS NOW LEVEL 3.
[G/STATE 13:20
And again.
[M/+1POWER
[M/ENERGY 4:30
[G/+1FORCE
[G/STATE 12:20
And again.
The tentacle finally severed, and the clublike head flopped lifelessly to the floor. The rest of the tentacle yanked back through the door with a wet, bloody slurping sound, and the door shut with a click. Mike slumped down, his back against the door. Water was still spraying everywhere, mixing with the pool of blood and mucus on the floor.
[M/+1READ
[M/+1FIGHT
[M/+1POWER
[M/ENERGY 3:30
[M/LEVEL UP. MIKE IS NOW LEVEL 3.
[G/+1FORCE
[G/STATE 11:20
[G: Mike, get me a kraken hook. Break one off.
[M: In a sec.
[G: Now, Mike. This is not a rest time. Good people may be dying out there.
Mike groaned and pushed himself up. He sloshed over to the tentacle head. The hooks were too large to fit wholly into a slot. Using Goblin's point he cut a sliver off one, turned Goblin's hilt up and fed the slice in.
[G/SLOT POPULATED KRAKEN HOOK SLIVER
[G/+5GRADE
[M/SLOT POPULATED RAZOR SHARPNESS 5
[M/SLOT UPGRADED SPEED DEMON 7
[M/SLOT UPGRADED FEAR 10
[M/NEW STAT: MAGIC SAVE
[M/+2MAGIC SAVE
[GOBLIN | LEVEL 3 | STATE 11:20
[SOULBOUND SWORD | ARMING SWORD
[FORCE 5:8 | GRADE 17:8
[WORMWOOD SPRIG | SPORTS CAR TIRE SHRED | KRAKEN HOOK SLIVER | SLOT | SLOT
[MIKE | LEVEL 3 | HEALTH 14:180 | ENERGY 3:40
[SOULBOUND SWORD WIELDER | FIRST INHERITOR | LEATHER JERKIN CLAD
[READ 12:20 | FIGHT 13:20 | POWER 17:20 | SPEED 12:20
[FEAR 10 | SPEED DEMON 7 | RAZOR SHARPNESS 5 | SLOT | SLOT
[SAVE 2 | MAGIC SAVE 2
[INVENTORY[-]
[G: Excellent. Now we are both level three. The kraken hook has greatly improved my sharpness. We will deal more damage. Now get out there and find us another appendage to hack off.
Mike felt like hiding in the bathroom.
[G: ARE WE HIDING IN THE BATHROOM? IS THAT HOW WE LEVEL, MIKE?
Ugh. thought Mike. Now Goblin was asking rhetorical questions. It was like having the most frustrating motivational coach permanently in his head. At least he wasn’t making him do pushups.
[G: We will do pushups. When there aren't any krakens attacking the world. Go now, Mike.
Mike reluctantly pulled the bathroom door open enough to look out. The gurgling bellow of the kraken hit him like a wave. The subway platform was in chaos. The monster was all the way out of the rift now. It had destroyed the perimeter fence and the flashing red lights, and had moved partway down the platform in pursuit of the other Divers. It was obviously hurt; both of its tentacles had been severed and blood and mucus were all over the ground. Another four of its sucker arms had been lopped off, however it still seemed quite able to move and it certainly wasn’t looking very close to being dead.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The Guardian from the upper platform had come down and was attacking the main body of the thing from behind with powerful barrages of blue energy. A lot of their force seemed to dissipate or deflect, but he was starting to cause some noticeable damage to the back of the creature’s body in the form of blisters that were welling up where his repeated bolts were slamming into it.
He saw Mike as he emerged from the bathroom. He yelled at him as he cast another blue bolt, “HEY MAN, D’YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED TO JAY?” he was pointing at the watchtower. Jay must have been the other Guardian.
Mike pointed to the rift. “THAT THING SLASHED HIM UP AND PULLED HIM IN THERE. IT HAPPENED SO FAST…”
The Guardian nodded and cast another bolt. “I NEED YOU TO GO AND FIND HIM.” A small white pill appeared in his hand. He held it out towards Mike. “QUICK, I CAN’T GET THIS THING ALONE, BUT TOGETHER WITH JAY WE’LL BE ABLE TO. WHEREVER HE IS, THIS WILL GET HIM UP.”
Mike ran to him and took the pill, adding it to his inventory.
INVENTORY[-]
[HEALTH PILL MINOR 3
[HEALTH PILL EPIC 2
[LETTER FROM GRANDMA 1
[OLD BEER COASTER 1
[WHETSTONE&OIL
“GO!” the Guardian pointed to the rift. Mike hesitated. The rift looked dangerous. He wasn’t sure he was strong enough to be running into interdimensional rifts. Especially rifts that spawned level thirty monsters. Especially with low health.
[G: GO, MIKE.
“GO!” the Guardian shouted again.
Mike yelled, and went.
He ran across the blood smeared platform, jumping over broken panels of the perimeter fence and severed chunks of suckered kraken arms. The kraken roared behind him. The Divers shouted to each other as they heroically attacked and withdrew, working together on the massive beast.
He grabbed the steel rail that led down the checkerplate steps and vanished into the dimensional darkness of the rift in front of him. From this close, a dark energy seemed to pulse out of it. He hesitated. It was like the rift was trying to repulse him. Like it didn’t want him to enter.
[G: Your Grandpa was the first human ever to willingly enter this rift. Before I was even crafted. He stood right here, where you are now, no assurances, no idea what was on the other side. He was a serviceman. So was your Grandma. She was snatched away from their unit by a dungeon creature the likes of which had never been seen in the world before. It dragged her in, screaming, right here. He paused where you've paused. He didn't know if he faced death, annihilation, or worse. He went in after her anyway. Go, Mike. You've got this. Whatever's on the other side, you can take it.
Mike took a minor health pill, just in case.
[M/HEALTH 104:180
He jumped into the rift.
----------------------------------------
Dark. Light. Dark. A tunnel. A void. Time. Twisting, pulling, stretching, wringing. Infinity. And nothing. Freezing cold. Burning. Evil cackling laughter. The giant silhouette of a bloated fat creature, reaching for him. Its hand glowing, whisps of eerie green radiance swirling around it. The massive hand grasped his head, locking it in a vice-like grip. His mind started to scream, like something was shredding it. Pain. PAIN. PAIN.
----------------------------------------
Mike screamed.
[G: MIKE STOP SCREAMING... you made it.
He opened his eyes. He was collapsed on the floor, sitting on something very uncomfortable, back leaning against a cold stone wall. Not a wall like a cave, a wall like a… dungeon. The stones were large blocks, carefully laid. Ancient stones. Weathered and aged. Lit by the flickering flames of torches burning in sconces on the walls. The rift was on the ceiling. The checkerplate stairs descended to the dungeon floor but he couldn't remember walking down them. His back hurt, and he felt… exhausted. Maybe drained was a better word.
He looked down. He was sitting on… a dead goblin!? He knew it must be a goblin, or something like one, even though he'd never seen one before. It was like a shrunken, emaciated version of the Orcs who had attacked him, but this creature wasn't in a business suit, it was dressed in rags, and it stank.
[M/+1POWER
[M/HEALTH 63:180
[M/WARNING ENERGY LESS THAN 1:40
[G: Why the heck did you jump in? Didn't you see the stairs?
[M: Is that why I feel so... drained?
[G: No. That's why you lost your health and hurt your butt by landing on a hobgoblin shaman. Actually, that's probably a good thing. The energy drain is from temporal displacement. That's perfectly normal during rift transfer. You'll get used to it, and when you level up some more, you won't even feel it.
[M: Why was there a giant, fat monster trying to grab my head during the transfer? Is that normal? Is that something to do with this guy I just landed on?
[G:...
[G: No, Mike. That is of great concern.
The passage they were in was big and square. It seemed like it was an underground crossroads of sorts, with multiple passages and doorways leading off it, away into the darkness. Some were lit by flaming torches, some weren’t. It stank like old urine in an alley.
Mike got up and looked around. He couldn’t see Jay. Come to think of it he couldn’t see any sign that he’d even been here… surely there would be blood or a body or… something. He took a few careful steps. There was an open doorway next to the staircase. It was dark.
[G: Drag the shaman's body in there, Mike.
Mike grabbed the body of the dead hobgoblin with disgust, and with difficulty, dragged it through the doorway. His whole body ached, and he was nearly spent. He felt like he was about to collapse.
“Jay?” he called tentatively into the dark room.
[G: He may not be right here. The rift is... unpredictable. But he won't be far. I'm concerned about your fat monster comment. Did it look like a bigger version of this dead guy?
Mike looked at the body of the shaman. It had a distinctive, almost beaky, hooked nose. The fat creature who'd grabbed his head had the same sort of nose. It was ugly as sin, and hard to miss.
[M: Yeah, kinda.
[G: QUICKLY, CHECK WHERE WE ARE ON YOUR COASTER.
Mike pulled the old beer coaster out of inventory and took a few steps towards the light of a flaming wall torch to read it. It showed a hand drawn map, still with 42nd/portbus scrawled on it, but this time instead of blocks representing city streets there were a series of crisscrossing lines that looked more like a network of… passageways. It was far more confusing. Or maybe he was just more accustomed to city streets. As far as he could remember he’d never even been actually underground before… except for the subway.
“What am I looking for? All I can see are squiggly lines and red dots. And a square room in the middle that says… Throneroom of the Hobgoblin King … um, Goblin, I don't think we should be–”
[G: RUN BACK UP THE STAIRS, MIKE. NOW. SOMETHING HAS GONE WRONG. YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO COME HERE. NOW, MIKE.
Mike turned to run back out onto the main corridor, but his eyes went wide, and he threw himself back into the doorway he had been about to dash out of. He pressed his back against the wall in terror. There were more monsters out there. Marching up the passage. They were more of the same short, green, hook-nosed hobgoblin creatures in rusty, beaten up, mismatched armor. Some had chainmail over leather. Some had random pieces of plate armor. They all had long spears, twice their own height, and small, round wooden shields rimmed with metal. There had to be hundreds of them. Maybe more than hundreds.
Scattered amongst the marching hobgoblins were large wolf creatures, snapping and snarling, with bloodshot eyes and foaming, bloody maws. Every wolf thing was ridden by a big hobgoblin, bigger than the creatures on foot. And then there were the spiders. Mike nearly vomited. The gigantic spiders were also being ridden by big hobgoblins. That's how big they were. They were black and furry, and their pincers seemed to crackle with some sort of yellow energy.
Absolutely fucking terrifying, thought Mike.
The whole army was headed for the stairs.
[M: GOBLIN, THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF… HOBGOBLINS... AND WOLVES... AND… AND… FUCKING SPIDERS THE SIZE OF WOLVES. THEY ARE ABOUT TO CLIMB THE STAIRS TO THE RIFT.
[G: MIKE, THE KRAKEN MUST HAVE JUST BEEN AN OPENING SALVO. THIS IS AN INVASION.
Mike peered around the doorway out into the corridor.
At the end of the hobgoblin line, far down in the dim hallway beyond the wolves and spiders, was the same great hulking shape that had grabbed at Mike as he fell through the rift.
It was the gargantuan, fat, hook-nosed, lumbering form of the Hobgoblin King himself.