The scream was so quiet that I had barely heard it, but that noise resonated within my soul. There was a living person nearby. Given how good the soundproofing was on these apartments, I couldn’t imagine the source was anywhere else but in the hallway, and if that scream was anything to go by, they were in serious trouble. I jumped to my feet, grabbed my knife, and slowly opened the door of the vacant apartment. I heard a man roar and goblins squeal, then a very human cry of pain followed by excited grunting and squeaking.

I hesitated for only a moment. I was still riddled with guilt, but I had to help if the goblins were attacking someone. I didn’t want to be alone.

I rushed out into the hallway as quietly as I could manage without slowing down too much. The noise seemed to be coming from a door near the corner that most of my goblin encounters had centered around. It was three doors down from my apartment. I saw four goblins… cheering? They were dancing strangely. Their arms were shaking in the air, and they were grunting and squealing happily. One was the hammer goblin from before, and the other three held sharpened wooden spears. I rushed towards them, and they were still completely oblivious. “Ding~!”

Skill Improved: Sneak Sneak has reached level 2

I heard another cry of pain from a man, and then the goblins erupted with cheers. I didn’t have time to debate what I was about to do. I had to either do it or be alone. The closest goblin to me was a few feet behind the others. I grabbed the filthy scraps of hair atop its head and slit its throat. As its corpse thudded to the floor, unheard over the cheering of its fellows, I grabbed the next goblin and slashed my dagger across its throat just like his comrade. The third one saw, but my fist collided with the side of its head, and it stumbled into the nearby wall in a daze before my knife pierced its temple. My hands knew the motions from years of using the gloves in VR, even if the rest of my body struggled to keep up. The final goblin screamed and dropped the hammer it was holding. The scent of piss and shit filled the air as I tackled the beast and stabbed its chest over and over again until it stopped struggling. I turned and saw six goblins staring at me in complete and utter horror.

They stood over the corpses of a man and a woman, both of which the goblins had mutilated. Based on the two goblin corpses nearby, I assumed they had put up a decent fight. From the countless holes stabbed in the people’s bodies, the blood pooled on the floor, and the spears four of the goblins held, it was clear that the goblins had surrounded them and kept out of their reach while stabbing them until they bled out. Even more horrible than their murder, one of the goblins had severed the woman’s leg at the knee and was mid-bite when they heard the scream behind them and turned to face me.

I grabbed the spears from my three kills while the goblins were still petrified and realized they were all sharpened broom handles. I hefted one over my shoulder and threw it like a javelin. My aim went wide, and I impaled a recliner chair instead. The goblins were startled into action. I breathed in and out, and I threw the second spear. It caught one of the spear goblins in the shoulder, and the beast went down whimpering. They were halfway to me, and the final improvised javelin caught the lead goblin square in the chest. I was left with three spear goblins and one with a knife. I shifted my knife to my left hand, grabbed the hammer from the ground, turned as if to run, and hid just beside the doorway.

The first goblin rushed out the door, and I greeted it with a hammer in the face. The goblin crumpled, and I tried to hit one of the remaining goblins, but they drove me off with a pair of spears. I slowly backed down the hallway and watched the third goblin bark and grunt orders at the two spearmen. I noticed that the “knife” in its hand was the broken Katana I had dropped. This was the closest thing I had seen to a hierarchy among the monsters, and goblins were commonly very tribal in their depictions in fantasy.

I took the hammer and threw it at the goblin that was giving orders. The blow failed to kill it, but it broke its nose, and it fell to the ground, moaning and crying. I was about to run and retreat to my apartment when I saw the spearmen begin to waver. Their eyes flitted between me and their wounded chief, and when one let its gaze linger on their chief for a moment too long, I threw myself at it. The goblin managed to raise its spear in time, and the spear pierced deeply into my shoulder. I stabbed the goblin a dozen times as I screamed in pain. I looked up just in time to see the final goblin bolt around the corner of the hallway.

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“Ding~! Ding~! Ding~! Ding~!“ I had another barrage of pop-ups, and while they were evidence of my growing strength, I didn’t have the energy to deal with them now. I swiped them all away after skimming through them.

Skill Improved: Sneak Attack Sneak Attack has reached level 4

Skill Unlocked: Chain Assassination (Speed Skill) Don’t waste the element of surprise. Delays enemy reactions by %1 per level after a successful sneak attack. Current level: (1)

Skill Improved: Critical Strike Sneak Attack has reached level 3

Skill Unlocked: Short Blades (Dexterity Skill) Outmaneuver your enemies and strike out at their weaknesses. Increases the damage of bladed weapons under 12 inches by %1 per level. Current level: (1)

Skill Improved: Pain Tolerance Pain Tolerance has reached level 2

Ability Unlocked: Intimidate Reduces the stats of enemies by %10 when intimidated.

I groaned at the broom shaft lodged in my shoulder and moved to what I assumed to be the chief that was sobbing on the ground. I didn’t hesitate when I slit its throat. I needed to treat my wound, but first, I had to see if either of the people had survived. I was sure they hadn’t, but if there was the slightest chance, I had to check.

I walked back to the room of carnage and noticed the goblin I had speared in the shoulder limping slowly down the hall. A small herd of goblins stood by the stairwell waiting for it, with a few small goblets and what could only be goblin females. The instant they saw me, they fled, and the limping goblin turned and caught sight of me as well. The wounded beast shrieked and scrambled for the stairwell door to follow them.

One look inside the room was all I needed, the woman had her leg severed, and if she wasn’t dead before they cut it off, she had to be after losing all that blood. As for the man, his cold dead eyes stared at me in the doorway. My knife slaughtering those goblins that were watching him die was likely the last thing he ever saw.

The man and woman had no weapons nearby. One glance in their kitchen showed a full set of kitchen knives, so it wasn’t because of a lack of choice. The goblins had started to attack the door, but before it had been broken through, it had been opened. Unless they left their door unlocked in the apocalypse, that meant it had been opened from the inside. Why would they open the door? Why were they still here? Those were two questions I would never have the answer to, as the dead couldn’t tell me their stories.

A new wave of self-loathing washed over me. I had spent the last two days mourning these monsters, believing them to be peaceful, thinking I was the monster. Here was my proof that I was wrong. Here were two people that had greeted them unarmed and opened their apartment door for them, and the goblins’ response was to butcher them and eat them. I was wrong. The goblins were the monsters. They would kill me and eat me if given a chance. If I had kept hunting them for the last two days, I could have saved these people. If I had kept fighting, I wouldn’t be alone.