Chương 7: Friday Night

After staring blankly into space for a solid half hour, Gray finally peeled himself off the floor and left the department store. At one point, he tried to indulge in a pretzel that had been sitting under the heating rack at the Uncle Unc's pretzel stand. But the instant he bit into the salty, doughy treat, it crumbled into brittle sand in his mouth, coating his tongue in grit. Then, a notification informed him that sustenance and sleep wouldn't be necessary for the duration of the race.

Who ate pretzels out of necessity? He wandered along the shattered street, venturing deeper into the abandoned entertainment district. Before long, a steady thumping pulsed through the pavement, the bass vibrating faintly through the soles of his shoes. Following the rhythm, he traced the noise to a massive nightclub glowing with neon farther down the block. Gray crept toward the double doors and peeked inside—then instantly jerked back, nearly yelping in surprise.

He pressed himself against the wall and drew a slow breath before risking another look, just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. At first glance, there had to be at least fifty goblins packed onto the dance floor below. They were actually dancing—though dancing was a generous term. The green-skinned monsters swayed erratically beneath the disco lights, stomping their bare feet and crashing into one another as they struggled to stay upright. Nearly every goblin clutched a glass bottle.

Some guzzled cheap soju straight from the neck, while others sloshed expensive champagne and whiskey over themselves without a care in the world. Gray slowly retreated from the entrance. Whatever the hell was happening in there, he wanted absolutely no part of it. He hurried down the block. He hadn't made it far when a translucent blue System window flashed directly into his vision. Quest: Hot Friday Night!

Objective: Slay the Goblins: 0/49 Objective: Slay the Goblin Commander: 0/1 Reward 10% EXP boost on all kills Four Loot Portals Gray stopped dead in his tracks as he read the surprise quest. His first instinct was to dismiss the prompt and keep walking. Taking on a horde that large was suicide. Someone who could rain blood needles from the sky could manage it. A flying sword could probably carve through them without breaking a sweat. But him? Wait. His thoughts snapped back to his recent conversation with Shota.

My smoke cloud… Gray spun on his heel and marched straight back toward the nightclub. He slipped inside unnoticed and crept along the upper balcony before crouching behind the railing. Below, the chaotic sea of green bodies continued its drunken rave. Then he spotted something that made his eyes narrow. Behind the DJ booth sat a massive heap of rusted swords, crude axes, and jagged daggers. The entire horde had abandoned its weapons to party. Instead, they held liquor bottles in one hand and, with the other…

each other. In the middle of the sweaty dance floor, Zorak—the squad commander of the horde—was having the time of his life. Sporting an enormous mohawk, cracked sunglasses, and a stolen leather jacket stretched far too tightly across his frame, Zorak aggressively ground his hips against a fellow goblin he had mentally dubbed Ms. Snaggletooth. In his own language, he was attempting to determine whether she was open-minded and, more importantly, whether she lived alone.

Before he could seal the deal, a dense, unnatural gray smog began spilling across the dance floor. Within seconds, it swallowed his romantic prospects entirely. Panic erupted. Heavy crashes and guttural screams tore through the nightclub. Glass shattered across the floor, and the uproar quickly grew loud enough to drown out even the pounding speakers. Zorak staggered backward, confused. He began shouting questions at anyone within earshot.

"Gobgobgobgob?" Zorak barked into the haze.

"Gobbobbobgobbob!" Panicked voices shrieked back from somewhere in the fog.

"Gooooooooob!" Zorak bellowed, trying to rally his drunken comrades. The dense smoke had robbed the horde of their sight. Blinded and drunk, the goblins scrambled in every direction, desperately searching for an escape. If not for the metal handrails corralling them in, they might have simply charged straight for the exit. Instead, terrified of whatever lurked inside the haze, they trampled and clawed over one another, each fighting to scale the barriers first.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Gray moved through the chaos like a ghost. He cut down the panicked monsters methodically as they stumbled through the smoke, swinging at empty air and crashing into one another. Unarmed, disoriented, and unable to see more than a few inches ahead, they posed almost no threat. He cleared nearly half the dance floor before the horde even realized they were being slaughtered.

As the gray haze finally began to thin, three hooded goblins spotted him from across the dance floor. Unlike the others flailing around unarmed, these three carried long wooden staffs. Their beady eyes locked onto Gray, and they released shrill battle cries before slamming the butts of their weapons against the sticky floor. Crackling spheres of flame formed at the tips of their staffs. The fireballs swelled rapidly, growing until each one was larger than the head of the goblin conjuring it.

Gray surged forward, desperate to reach the casters before they could finish channeling. He was too late. Barely two feet away when the spells fully formed, Gray ducked and threw both arms over his face, bracing for the blast of searing heat. Nothing happened. Gray cautiously lowered an arm and cracked one eye open. The massive fireballs were shrinking. Their blazing forms collapsed in on themselves, dwindling back into the tiny sparks they had started as before sputtering out completely.

Thin wisps of smoke curled from the ends of the staffs. The goblin mages stared at their weapons in baffled silence. Then all three erupted into frantic chatter. They inspected their staffs, smacking the wood against their palms and shaking them as though troubleshooting a faulty appliance. With irritated grunts, they finally planted their feet and attempted to channel the spell again. Gray didn't give them the chance.

He lunged forward, closed the remaining distance in a heartbeat, and carved through the confused mages before so much as another spark could form. You have slain [Goblin Archmage] +2% EXP | +15 CP You have slain [Goblin Archmage] +2% EXP | +15 CP You have slain [Goblin Archmage] +2% EXP | +15 CP Gray caught his breath, staring at the corpses. Huh. I guess blinding those peanut-brains with my smoke breaks their concentration when they cast spells.

He barely had time to process the discovery before movement flashed at the edge of his vision. A pack of goblins had scaled the metal handrails and were sprinting toward the elevated DJ booth at the rear of the nightclub. Gray's eyes snapped toward their destination. The weapon pile. He vaulted the barrier and landed hard on the floor before giving chase. There was no way he would close the distance before they reached the weapons. But his blade could. Gray gripped his dagger and hurled it.

The weapon spun through the pulsing strobe lights and buried itself deep in the nearest goblin's spine. The creature dropped forward with an ear-splitting shriek, and skidded across the liquor-slick floor. You have slain [Goblin] +1% EXP | +10 CP Gray sprinted to the corpse and ripped the bloodied dagger free. The moment he looked toward the stage, his stomach dropped. A goblin atop the DJ booth had already reached the weapon pile. It raised a crude wooden bow, aimed directly at him, and released the string.

The arrow flew true. It punched into the flesh just above Gray's right kneecap. His leg buckled instantly, dropping him to one knee—a sharp hiss escaping through his teeth as pain flared up his thigh. Across the room, the goblin archer met his glare and reached for another arrow. Gray forced himself upright. Ignoring the burning agony in his leg, he lunged onto the stage. The archer panicked as he closed the distance, fumbling with the bowstring before it could properly nock its next shot.

Desperate, the creature abandoned the arrow and raised the bow across its face, bracing for a killing blow to the head. Gray wasn't aiming for the head. He dropped his stance and swept the dagger just above the goblin's right kneecap—mirroring his injury with the beast. The blade tore through green flesh and brittle bone, nearly severing the leg outright. The archer shrieked and toppled backward off the DJ booth, hitting the floor hard.

It immediately grabbed at the mangled limb, clawing helplessly at the strip of flesh keeping it attached. Gray left the maimed creature where it fell. With its leg ruined, it wasn't going anywhere. He spun toward the rest of the pack. Three goblins blocked his path. Two carried chipped, rusted longswords, while the third clutched a wooden wand crowned with a small cross. A healer. Gray surged toward it. The goblin mage was already muttering a rapid chant, and verdant light gathered at the tip of its wand.

Gray ignored the throbbing in his knee and drove forward before the spell could finish. His dagger plunged into the center of the healer's chest. Gray twisted his grip and ripped the blade upward in one continuous motion. Steel split through sternum and throat, cutting the chant short. The goblin collapsed at his feet with a wet, bubbling gurgle. You have slain [Goblin] +1% EXP | +10 CP The two swordsmen seized the opening. They charged from either side, swinging their heavy blades in rapid succession.

Gray threw himself backward. But his injured leg buckled beneath him, robbing him of the burst he needed to clear their reach. Both rusted tips sliced across his torso. Pain flashed through his chest, but the cuts were shallow. The goblins had committed too much force to their attacks. Their oversized longswords scraped across the floorboards at the end of each swing, dragging their bodies forward and leaving them badly overextended. Gray pushed off his good foot and lunged.

His dagger buried itself in the side of the first swordsman's skull. The goblin convulsed once before going limp. You have slain [Goblin] +1% EXP | +10 CP Gray ripped the blade free and pivoted into a backhand slash. The dagger tore across the second goblin's eyes, spraying dark blood across the nearby wall. You have slain [Goblin] +1% EXP | +10 CP He crashed face-first onto the sticky dance floor, pain exploding through his spine. Something massive slammed into the center of Gray's back.

Survival instinct took over before his thoughts could catch up. Gray scrambled away on all fours, trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and whatever had struck him. Broken glass sliced into his palms and knees as he crawled blindly through spilled liquor. A dead end. Gray twisted around. Zorak stood over him. The goblin squad commander loomed above, a tusked grin stretching across his green face in absolute triumph. Both hands gripped a heavy iron mace. Fresh blood.

Gray's blood, dripped from its spiked head and pattered onto the floor. Zorak released a guttural laugh. Then he raised the mace high above his head, drew his shoulders back, and prepared to bring it down hard enough to crush Gray's skull.