Alex stepped out of the room, knowing that if he were trapped here, his fate would mirror that of the beast they had just slain.
"I can't get cornered in this place… I have to move. Now."
He rushed into the corridor—a long, shadow-soaked passage where each of his desperate breaths echoed faintly, and his footsteps rang through the darkness as if the building itself was watching him. Sweat dripped down his forehead, mixing with the scent of dust and dampness, while the dim flicker of broken lights danced across the cracked walls like whispering ghosts urging him, Run… or die here.
The hallway seemed endless, its walls fractured and smeared with old blood. The rooms on either side resembled open tombs—some with shattered doors swaying slowly, creaking with an eerie warning, others sealed tight as though they hid something far worse than the monsters chasing him.
Alex knew the truth: if he stopped for even a heartbeat, he was finished.
Behind him, the ground trembled—heavy, rapid footsteps, followed by guttural snarls that clawed through the silence. Every second brought his death closer.
Gritting his teeth, he whispered to himself: "I have to keep moving… If they trap me here, I'm done. They won't hesitate to tear me apart."
His hidden tendrils unfurled—those translucent extensions of his shadow. They coiled around him, gliding smoothly through the air, brushing the walls and feeling the floor ahead, sensing every shift in the darkness. Invisible to normal sight, they were his silent eyes… and his most precise weapon.
Outside, at the base of the building, the evolved goblin stood tall amid shattered glass and twisted metal. Its muscled, armor-like body gleamed faintly under the moonlight, and its yellow eyes glowed with wicked intelligence as it scanned the windows.
It released a low hum.
The monsters moved instantly.
Two of them leapt onto the wall, clawed fingers sinking into the stone as they climbed like monstrous lizards. The rest surged through the shattered windows, their enraged shrieks splitting the night.
Alex felt disaster closing in—the walls shook with violent impacts, the very air vibrated with the creatures' bloodthirsty cries.
There was no time left for strategy. Only survival.
Reaching the main corridor, he spotted at its end a dual staircase—one leading up, the other plunging downward into deeper shadow.
His breath hammered in his chest.
"If I go up, I'm trapped… the rooftop is a deathtrap. Downward is my only chance."
He sprinted toward the stairs, barely touching the ground.
Behind him, goblins burst through the wall, their glowing eyes cutting through the darkness and their howls filling the corridor.
Alex rushed down the old stone steps, his shadowy tendrils swirling around him like living shields.
But a goblin dove from above, thrusting its metal spear straight toward his skull.
In the fraction of a second before impact, Alex's body reacted on instinct.
A tendril shot forward like a lance of dim light—piercing through the goblin's chest in a wet, tearing spray. The monster collapsed lifelessly.
But it wasn't over.
Another goblin lunged from the side, roaring loud enough to rattle Alex's skull. A tendril wrapped around its waist and hurled it against the wall with bone-shattering force. The stone cracked. Black blood gushed from its mouth as it slid down, dead.
Looking down the stairs, Alex saw three more charging up, their jagged teeth gleaming as they scrambled upward like ravenous beasts.
"If I fight them here… I'm dead."
He slammed his foot into the steps and launched upward, his tendrils anchoring themselves to the walls and ceiling. He ascended in a blur—more shadow than human.
To the goblins, he might as well have been flying.
One of them screamed and hurled a spear with monstrous strength. But it bounced back mid-air, caught by an unseen force.
The goblin froze in shock—just before a tendril drilled clean through its skull, emerging from the other side with chilling slowness.
Even with his swift kills, Alex felt no relief.
The monsters' screams filled the building. Doors shattered across distant halls. Dust rained from the ceiling.
Reaching the landing between floors, Alex paused, panting, listening.
A deceptive silence settled.
But he knew that silence well.
The breath before the storm.
He raised his eyes—another long corridor lay ahead, darker than the last. Broken furniture littered the floor; blood was smeared across the walls like fading warnings.
Before he could take a step, a sound rose from below…
Slow.
Heavy.
Rhythmic.
Not many creatures.
Just one.
Alex's veins froze.
He knew that sound.
That cold, deliberate cadence.
The evolved goblin had begun to move.
Larger, smarter, stronger—its fiery yellow eyes marked it as a predator among monsters. It did not rush or scream. It advanced with the calm certainty of a hunter who knew its prey had nowhere left to run.
A chill crawled through Alex's body—not only fear… but anticipation.
This clash was inevitable.
And it would be unlike any he had fought before.
He glanced ahead at the dark corridor… then behind him at the stairwell where shadows shifted with each approaching step.
In a low voice, he murmured:
"Fine… if it's coming for me, I won't die quietly."
His tendrils shimmered faintly, wavering between form and nothingness as he took his stance. The air thickened. The darkness crept closer.
And from below, a deep growl rose—part rage, part promise, part savage joy at finding its prey.
Alex lifted his head slowly, eyes sharp, muscles coiled, breath steady.
The floor trembled with each step of the evolved goblin.
The final light faded.
Only Alex's breath…
and the echo of approaching death…
remained.
Escape had been only the beginning.
The real battle was about to start
.