Lucian felt like the thin rope would snap at any moment. He couldn’t fathom how it held, but as he stared down at the ground roughly 15 meters away, he couldn’t help but be thankful. A snap would be his death.

The goblins below spotted him instantly. They pointed at him, screeched, quickly spreading the fact that a human was spotted through the entire fort. Lucian felt silly taking their hate with the pose of a loose straw doll.

One particular goblin, who had watched the sun, wondering why his eyes hurt, lost his shit at the sight. He grabbed his friends shoulders, gaining weird stares, and rapidly fumbled out the words. Guys, guys, there’s a fucking human. Where? In the fucking sky! His finger shot out, pointing right at Lucian, making everyone else look and point and scream.

Lucian felt odd receiving so much attention as he posed like a loose straw doll. When he landed, he quickly got his bearings, and ran for the door. He passed by a few goblins.They looked at him, made eye contact, and abruptly looked away, and then they glanced at him from the border of their eyes, and when their brain caught up, they charged behind him.

“Get the human,” they yipped.

The door stood out from the walls, and the plank stood up leaning against the wall a bit away. The door opened, and a group of curious goblins stood outside. Lucian met their stares, kicked the door shut, and barred it with the plank. They banged their fists against the door, making it rattle.

He turned around to meet the group of goblins behind him. He didn't have to kill them, just last long enough for Scarface to come, and cut them into pieces.

They all rushed at him at once. Goblins had that tactic, and for beginners it would feel broken, but Lucian had learnt that there was a trick to make it easier. Keep them all coming from the same direction. That required elegant and smooth footwork.

He stepped through them, pushed them back, confused them. He moved through them ethereally like a shadow. Pushed them enough to make them trip, and moved back enough for the sword to graze the air on his cheek.

Scarface cut every single one up in the matter of three seconds.

“Great. Let’s go kill the chief,” he said.

The hallway was pitch black, but for the small light pushing in from the cracks and holes in the wall. Goblins could see better in the dark than humans, but not to the point of having night vision. The air felt cold, and the goblin blood smelled like rubber. He could hear the crackle of fire coming from further in.

They travelled further. Scarface naturally sticks to the shadows, moving in a way where he matched the steps of Lucian, giving the illusion that there was only one person. A lone goblin had been sent out to check up on what happened. Scarface had killed him before Lucian even recognized a new goblin.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

There was a door in the hallway. Scarface entered, and Lucian poked his head through first, to see what was on the other side. A large bonfire stood in the middle of the room, gray smoke rising up into the roof. To the side sat an orc that’s eyes jerked to him, his slitted eyes staring. He didn’t bother standing up, instead finishing the dry piece of meat in his hands, biting into it, pulling until it snapped.

“Goblin tastes good,” he burped. It wasn’t common, but very possible, for an orc to migrate here. Goblins would spot the orc and they’d worship the orc like a bigger brother. Orcs were bigger, stronger, smarter versions of the goblin. But there were more differences. Their nature was widely different. One was tricky, sly and dirty, whilst the other was barbaric, and filled with rage.

“I wonder how you will taste,” he stood up.

He finally stood up, and then fell down, this time with a dagger in his heart.

“That was easier then I thought it would be,” Scarface said. “Usually their not so stupid.”

“Ehh, what can you expect from orcs?” Lucian said.

The blue number slowly faded through the air. +234 XP. Lucian leveled up three times from that single kill. Risk did equal rewards, but he still felt that he was progressing slowly. He could imagine that some pros had already reached level ten. He needed to increase his risk taking.

“How are we getting out?” Lucian asked, his mind instantly jumping to the next thing on the agenda.

“Let’s take our treasure first,” Scarface said, and walked over to a wall. “There's coin and a treasure chest. I’ll grab them.”

He kicked the wall, and dust fell down. He kicked it again, and the crumbled, showing a small hole. He crawled in and returned with a chest in his hands. It was a golden chest, rare.

Scarface put it down and opened it. The chest would change its contents for whoever opened it, supporters always stood last on the prio list early into the game. It was better to increase the dps first because that would allow them to take on bigger enemies, gaining experience at a quicker speed.

Rare boots - Rogue

+3 agility

+2 stamina.

“That’s dogshit,” Scarface said with a sigh. “I swear my RNG is the worst to exist.”

“Yeah that’s pretty awful,” Lucian agreed. “It’s going to get dark soon, I think that we should head back to the town.”

“Yeah, let me cut off his head.”

Scarface cut off the orc’s head, and grabbed his dagger. The blood from the daggers had colored the top of his pants. He tossed the head over to Lucian, that caught it by the ponytail. He swung it around, blood splattering around, as they walked out.

They opened the barred door and walked out. The goblins instantly recognize their leader’s head. They kept around two meters away, sneering at them and cursing in goblinese. Lucian and Scarface walked out of the entrance.

The sun had gone down when they reached the town. Time to see what clans spawned here.