The store stayed risky as new ogres wandered into it from the tunnels every day. And the ogres had started wandering into the forest in search of a meal. The whole place was becoming more and more dangerous. The monsters that had initially stuck to their spawn areas now regularly wandered into the forest for food.

Gaining access to the bookstore had been a boon in dealing with boredom. As Alex was far too afraid to venture far into the unfamiliar, now those bare essentials were kind of covered for a bit. The deep dark tunnels that were between some of the stores in the giant wall were far from inviting, and the few stores spread in the area that he had not entered yet were death traps.

New ogres had replaced the ones that Alex had managed to bait to be fed to the centipede. And somehow they seem to have figured out what happened to their brethren as they would not enter the gym anymore. Being trapped in the gym for a full day as the ogres guarded the exit had been nerve-wracking, unsure if they would move or if he was trapped in there forever. Luckily eventually they gave up and headed back to the store they considered home.

Eventually the boring routine Alex had developed had to come to an end the his food supplies were nearly out again. Carefully and regularly he checked if the ogres left their new home unguarded. And eventually he got lucky the shop was empty the menacing tunnel still in the back but no monsters inside. Hastily and nervously Alex headed through the store.

Many of the isles were demolished with all the things easy enough for ogres to recognize as food gone. But the cans were safe the ogres did not consider them food unaware of the bounty hidden in each one. But the cans were also quite far from the entrance.

Slowly Alex snuck through the isles listening for the heavy footsteps of the ogres. It was eerily quiet as he finally made it to where the cans were. Slowly he started filling his backpack stacking the cans in.

The silence was interrupted by stomping footsteps. Backpack quickly grabbed Alex tried to head for the entrance to get out. But that plan was quickly foiled by the pack of ogres walking in each of them covered in blood from the creatures they had hunted down in the forest. And all of them were dragging more crushed and mangled corpses with themselves.

I can't get past, i can outrun them but not if i have to run right past them! Slowly the nearly blind ogres came closer and closer with alex hiding just up ahead. Panicked looks around was all he had for a period till he saw a chance there was enough space on one of the bottom shelves between the cans for him to crawl into. Filled with terror at the monsters approaching he quickly crawled into the tight space while trying to be as quiet as he could manage.

The ogres walked past none of them noticing the terrified person squished between the tomato cans and the pasta and meatballs cans. Just past where Alex was one of the ogres stopped. Has it noticed something?!? Despite the terrified worry that he had the ogre had not noticed him, and for the first time Alex heard ogres speak deep and harsh voices shouted out, reverberating through the room.

And then to make matters worse Alex felt the ground shake as massive footsteps could be heard from the tunnel at the back. Slowly he twisted himself as much as he could to see between the shelves peeking through the tiny gap in the back. Only able to see the bottom of the tunnel entrance, he saw gigantic feet approach, the rest of the monster out of his sight. The ogres had brought back food for their leader. The biggest one of them. And it greedily took the offerings from the other ogres.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The whole time the gigantic creature feasted on the meal its minions had brought, Alex just shivered and hid feeling too terrified to move. Eventually the ogres wandering paths inside the shop allowed for a clear route to the exit. One the terrified man took as fast as he could.

Back in his hiding spot he was happy to have more food. But he would need to scout further the shop no longer feeling like a valid option for food. He wanted to stay alive and that thing in there was at least three to four times bigger than the already monstrous ogres.

Each time he scouted a bit further trying to find more but the wall itself was blank and except the small section where he had started out with a gym, three stores and two tunnels there were no further entrances in sight. And the tunnels were pitch dark and he did not even have a flashlight. And he was nowhere near brave enough or suicidal enough to wander dark tunnels without light.

The goblins also started making regular appearances as Alex saw them avoiding the stores but heading off into the tunnels in small groups as if searching for something.

One day Alex’s luck ran out and as he exited the gym he ran face to face with a group of goblins. And they were very much not happy to see him.

Alex managed to by sheer luck dodge an arrow as he ducked back inside the gym and quickly climbed up. But the goblins were not as dumb as the ogres they had no trouble figuring out where he went. Alex huddled in his little hiding spot as goblins tried to get a clear shot at him. Seeing as they could not get a good angle to shoot up into his platform two of them, covered by their allies who shot at Alex whenever he tried see over the edge of his base, started climbing up.

Slowly as they balanced on the rafters holding their swords in one arm and using the other using the nearby wall for balance they made their way towards him.

Alex could see them, Angry snarls on their faces, their armor damaged and covered in bloodstains, and very determined to get to him and kill him. He could not stand up as then he would quickly gain a few arrows so he was forced to crouch down and watch as his death slowly approached him. I can't hide, i need to fight them! Alex was terrified but he did not want to die and slowly resolve replaced fear. Carefully he reached over to the only things usable as weapons he had.

Once he had hold of the can of beans he took aim from his awkward position and threw the can with all his might at the closest goblin. Who almost lost his balance before shouting some angry sounding phrases at Alex and continuing on. Now on the lookout for any more improvised projectiles.

Slowly his supply of cans was diminishing, the goblins were slowed but not stopped by the cans.

Slowly the racket from the goblins down below ,cheering at their braver members, gained an added note, as rhythmic clanking noise joined the chorus.

The centipede, I never thought i'd be so happy for a monster showing up. The first goblin finally made it to the platform but he made a crucial mistake as he took the time to look down as he heard the centipede engage his allies. A backpack with a few cans in it was swung at full force and met the goblins face. This time his balance was not enough as he tumbled down, joining the rest of the centipedes meal.

The second goblin was enraged at the deaths of his allies and charged at Alex. Swung bag was deftly dodged and Alex found himself frantically dodging the sword swings avoiding any major hits yet not fast enough to completely escape several shallow cuts now on his body.

The goblin was determined but its anger ended up being its undoing in its haste to kill Alex, it forgot to pay attention to its footing and stumbled for just a moment. Alex capitalized on that one stumble and punched the goblin in the face, followed by grabbing its sword arm twisting and trying to disarm the goblin. And to his own surprise he succeeded.

Their fight turned from sword fight into desperate hand to hand melee, the goblin proved to be far stronger than it looked and slowly bruises accumulated on Alex. Eventually he fell backwards landing right next to the goblins sword. As the goblin jumped at him intending to pummel him to death Alex managed to grab the sword and moments later the goblin ended up impaled on its own sword. Slowly the goblins flailing slowed down as it slowly succumbed to its injuries and died.

Alex bruised and hurt was victorious. He had taken the life of a goblin. And for that he was rewarded. As a screen popped up in front of him.

You have reached level 1. Additional features unlocked.