'What are they waiting for?' Ali narrowed his eyes from the heights of the tree branch, peering down at the Demi-humans. They stood clustered just outside the goblin stronghold, murmuring among themselves, their weapons ready but unmoving.
'It's time to get to work.'
Without hesitation, Ali extended his hand toward the fortified wall surrounding the hill. The Force gathered in his palm like a tightly coiled storm before erupting forward in an invisible blast.
BOOOOOOM
A massive section of the wall exploded outward in a rain of splinters and dust, the shockwave thundering through the trees like a war drum. The sound tore through the still air and echoed down into the heart of the stronghold. Every goblin within earshot froze, their bulging yellow eyes snapping toward the source of the devastation.
Dozens of goblins standing guard outside the hill blinked toward the newly opened gap in their defence—only to see the Demi-humans standing there, staring wide-eyed at the hole Ali had created, just as startled as the goblins.
GRRRRRAAAAA! GRRRRAAA!
The goblins shrieked—a high-pitched, guttural alarm cry that cut through the air like jagged glass. It was the universal call of war. Chaos erupted immediately after.
The wolf-men were the first to move. They launched themselves forward with savage precision, blurring through the battlefield with unnatural speed—faster than Ali had anticipated. One of them reached a goblin in less than a heartbeat and swung his clawed foot into its torso.
SPLAAAAT
The goblin's entire body erupted like a rotted fruit beneath the devastating blow, its bones pulverised and flesh liquefied, painting the dirt with gore.
It was the same across the front line. The Demi-humans tore through the goblins with horrifying efficiency. Their physical strength utterly dwarfed the primitive might of the goblin defenders.
'Wait… these ones are different,' Ali thought as he observed the slaughter unfold with surgical focus. 'They're much weaker… weaker than the ones I fought back in the Marvel world.'
Indeed, these goblins were nothing compared to those hyper-aggressive purple variants. Their movements were sluggish, their coordination sloppy. Most fell with a single blow.
'I don't have time to waste!' Ali realised as the battle escalated. The goblin ranks were thinning far too quickly—if he waited any longer, the Demi-humans might finish the job and turn their attention to him.
THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!
Ali's head snapped around as streaks of green light pierced the air—arrow trails glowing with magical energy. The Demi-human archers had unleashed their barrage. The arrows screamed through the sky, punching into the stone hill, igniting explosions, and obliterating clusters of goblins too slow to flee.
Ali inhaled deeply, grounding himself, and then—
CRACK
He launched forward like a missile, leaping from the tree branch with blistering speed. The moment his boots left the branch, every archer tracking the battlefield felt a surge of energy.
THWIP THWIP THWIP
They re-angled their bows and fired on instinct, launching enchanted arrows straight at the airborne blur now racing across the battlefield—a masked figure, with a lightsaber humming ominously in his hand.
Ali twisted and turned midair, dodging arrow after arrow. His Force Sense guided him like an internal compass—an invisible thread pulling him between the lines of fire.
Below him, goblins scrambled in disarray. They looked up, confused, at the masked intruder soaring above their heads.
Suddenly—CLANG
A growl erupted to his side. A wolf Demi-human lunged out of nowhere, slashing at Ali with a wide horizontal swing. Ali's instincts flared.
He ducked low, spinning midair to evade the blade by inches, and twisted once more, his body snapping into a second rotation. On the second spin, his foot came down hard—
BOOOOM
Ali's heel smashed into the back of the wolf-man's skull with the weight of a sledgehammer, sending the warrior crashing to the ground below in a cloud of dust and blood.
Ali didn't pause. He surged forward, landing cleanly among a cluster of goblins. His lightsaber flashed once—twice—three times in the blink of an eye.
SHING—SHING—SHING
Heads fell like apples from a shaken tree, green blood spraying the rocky ground in hot streams as Ali cut down everything in his path.
Behind him, the stunned goblins surrounding the unconscious Demi-human shook off their confusion. Seeing a rare chance, they turned their blades not toward Ali—but toward the wolf-man still groaning in the dirt.
STAB! STAB! STAB!
The frenzied goblins descended upon the fallen warrior, plunging crude daggers and bone knives into his back with maddening fervour.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
A trio of magical arrows whistled through the air and struck true—blasting the goblins away from their victim. A second wolf-man dashed in, grabbed his wounded comrade, and darted away into the brush with superhuman speed.
Meanwhile, Ali slipped into one of the many entrances leading into the hill, disappearing into the darkness just as—
ROOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!
A monstrous, ear-splitting roar reverberated through the battlefield. The ground quaked as the gargantuan goblin outside finally stirred. Its breath grew harsher, heavier, and with a grunt of effort, it rose to its feet.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM
The creature's footsteps thundered like falling meteors, each one crushing several goblins beneath its enormous weight as it stood tall—towering above all.
The red-skinned bull-man of the Demi-humans stepped forward in response. His hammer glowed crimson. The ground beneath his hooves cracked and splintered as he hoisted the weapon with a single hand, energy pulsing outward in shockwaves.
Their battle was imminent—a clash of titans.
But Ali didn't look back.
He sprinted deeper into the labyrinthine cave system, carving a path through the goblins that dared to block his path. His lightsaber became a blur of death, slicing through enemy ranks with merciless precision.
Then—his senses alerted him.
Ali immediately veered to the right, ducking into an adjoining tunnel. His footsteps fell silent as he suppressed his presence entirely, pressing his back to the damp rock wall.
He waited in the shadows, lightsaber humming quietly in his hand, his breath steady as stone.
STEP STEP STEP
The sound of heavy, rhythmic footfalls echoed through the stone tunnels like tribal drums signalling an oncoming charge. The cavern trembled faintly under the coordinated march of warriors.
Ali's sharp black eyes narrowed, and he remained still as a shadow against the jagged wall. His senses honed in on the new figures emerging from the dark corridor.
Larger goblins—much bigger than the ones outside—rushed past in tightly packed platoons, each one armoured and armed with weapons glowing faintly with the same sickly green energy Ali had seen earlier, radiating from the goblin shaman's staff.
'These are the enhanced ones,' Ali noted, watching their muscular frames and sharper movements. 'He's been boosting them. So then—'
His thoughts came to a sudden halt as the very goblin he'd expected appeared, walking slowly behind the armoured warriors. The shaman. Dressed in ritualistic beast-hide robes and clutching his glowing green staff like a holy relic, he moved with purpose—slow, deliberate, as if commanding the entire formation with his mere presence.
The goblin shaman's beady green eyes seemed to burn with a malevolent intelligence. But none of them—not even the shaman—detected Ali, who had completely suppressed his presence, hiding in plain sight with predatory precision.
He waited in silence for several seconds after they passed, only resuming movement when the last echo of their march faded from the tunnel. Then, with a subtle breath and a light step, Ali dropped his weight and stomped down on a particular slab of stone beneath him.
CRACK!
The brittle section collapsed instantly, revealing a hidden lower path. He fell through cleanly and landed with ease, sliding into the lower cavern system—his shortcut. Ali had memorised the layout perfectly from Miles' drone recording.
[Miles, come out now.]
He sent the message just before rounding the corner—and there he was.
"I'm here!" Miles' voice echoed through the gloom. Ali turned his head to see the younger player perched on the back of a compact quadruped mech, gripping its neck tightly. A cluster of drones fluttered around him like excited hornets, buzzing with readiness.
"I already torched the storage rooms and the breeding chamber," Miles said casually, his expression devoid of remorse or hesitation. "They're distracted down there. We should get out before the smoke forces more of them out of the lower tunnels."
Ali's eyes flicked over to Miles. 'He doesn't care that he burned all those girls with the rest of the nest… Good.' The approval was quiet, firm, and without sentiment. There was no room for mercy here.
"Follow me," Ali commanded curtly, already turning back toward the path upward.
Together, the two sprinted through the dark, unstable tunnel. The ground shook violently beneath them. Rocks fell from the ceiling in thick chunks, crashing onto the stone floor and forcing them to dodge and weave between falling debris.
"It's like the whole hill is caving in!" Miles shouted, ducking under a crumbling arch of jagged stone.
"The ogre's fighting the bull outside now. It looks like the bull's dominating the fight," Miles added as his cybernetic eyes flickered blue, accessing the live drone feed from outside.
"This world is way more dangerous than I expected," he muttered breathlessly.
Ali said nothing, focusing entirely on the path. A cluster of goblins appeared ahead, snarling and wielding chipped blades. But Ali didn't slow. His lightsaber came alive with a sharp VVVVMMMM, the blade spinning and cleaving through the goblins in a smooth, efficient arc.
They continued running—until Ali came to a sudden halt.
The exit.
Or what used to be the exit.
The massive ogre's body now lay slumped across the cave mouth, a mangled mountain of muscle, green flesh, and broken bone completely blocking their only way out. Rubble had been sent flying, and massive stones had collapsed with it, sealing the path in a suffocating blockade.
"We're cut off," Miles said grimly. He turned with his robot and issued a command. "We'll have to double back—there must be another route."
"Wait," Ali cut in, holding up a hand. "Put your robot in your inventory or whatever you use. I'm teleporting us out of here."
Miles blinked in shock, his mouth parting slightly. "You can do that?"
"Just do what I say," Ali replied with cold authority, his tone brooking no argument. "Now."
Miles nodded and immediately dismounted. He stumbled slightly as he landed—his lean body wasn't built for this kind of physical stress.
He opened his palm toward the robot, which responded instantly. Blue arcs of electricity sparked around it as its metallic frame folded in on itself. Plates collapsed, limbs retracted, and with a final flash of energy, it condensed into a compact blue cube that hovered into Miles' outstretched hand.
Ali's gaze shifted forward. With a thought, a ripple of darkness appeared in the air before them.
WHOOSH
A black portal opened—silent, swirling with faint whispers and the scent of cold space. Ali grabbed Miles by the waist like he weighed nothing and slung him over his shoulder. Without hesitating, he stepped into the abyss.
They emerged an instant later—one hundred meters away from where they'd been.
The sudden jolt of sunlight and open air met them as they materialized at the top of the wooden barricade surrounding the stronghold. Ali kept Miles on his shoulder and turned to face the clearing beyond—
SHING! THWIP!
Dozens of archers—Demi-humans from the treetop vantage points—spotted them immediately.
BANG! BANG!
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