The second Oliver heard Gabrok’s gravelly voice he sprung forward, yelling at the 3 bewildered residents as he sprinted back out of the dorm and down the hallway.

“FUCKING RUN!”

This seemed to work as the three jumped up and sprinted after him, the guy surprised Oliver by picking up one of the girls and putting on an incredible burst of speed, surpassing even Oliver. The other girl kept pace with Oliver for a moment, she looked at Oliver and jerked her head towards the other two.

“Follow us!” She shouted as she put on a burst of speed, catching up with the man. Oliver stared in amazement at them for a second before pumping his legs even harder after hearing Gabrok scream in fury behind him. Oliver barely managed to keep sight of the three as they twisted and turned through the maze like structure that was the apartment complex.

Soon he saw them pull into an open elevator, the second the three of them got in, the doors began closing, Oliver was beginning to despair, he just wasn’t fast enough to get to the doors in time, the footsteps behind him were getting closer and closer, Oliver could imagine Gabrok already breathing down his neck, ready to slide his cruel clade between his ribs. Oliver couldn’t blame the other three, it was only natural to take your own life precedent over others. That didn’t make it any less painful, he was so close to salvation, so close it hurt. A thought continuously pounded Oliver’s head as he ran.

I don’t want to die.

Then a hand shot out of the closing elevator doors.

Jake was hiding in another room. Despite his knew found abilities it seemed that was all he could do. As the pounding footsteps drew closer the hands gripping his arms became tighter.

“It’s okay, we’re going to be fine. The chances of them choosing this dorm is tiny” He whispered gently to the girls.

“I’d prefer for there to be no chance.” Blake grunted as her grip tightened.

“It- it sounds re-really big.” Sonya whispered. That it did, thought Jake. But what scared the three of them even more was the volatile screams of their hunter, Gabrok.

Soon the Footsteps got remarkably close, so close in fact, it sounded like they were about to pass their dor-BANG.

The three of them raised their arms to block the shower of splinters from the destroyed door, what was beyond the splinters surprised them even more though. Jake looked up to see a 7 and a half foot tall monster, it had to duck under the door frame to get inside! What surprised Jake however was the mixture of terror and relief on his face. Jake then mirrored the monster’s expression of terror when he heard Gabrok snarl behind him. The monster seemed as scared of Gabrok as him because the next thing he knew it roared at him to run then dashed out of the room, Jake didn’t need any convincing, picking up Sonya he yelled at Blake to run then sprinted after the Green man/monster. His enhanced speed rocketed him forward, he quickly surpassed the green monster and began sprinting for the elevator, Blake would know where to go. They had been planning an escape from the first floor for a while, now seemed like a good time.

Soon enough he found the elevator, he jumped in, pressed the button for the roof and placed Sonya back on her feet, almost as soon as he pressed the button Blake burst into the elevator. As the door closed he saw the green monster desperately sprinting for their elevator, Gabrok rapidly gaining on him from behind. He was about to let the doors close, but he saw the look on the monster’s face. It was terrified, which was natural, then when it met his eyes, it suddenly looked… Resigned?

Jake couldn’t help himself, he shot out an arm and stopped the doors.

The second that hand stopped those doors Oliver began pumping his legs harder than ever before. He heard a grunt behind him then a searing pain across his back, he ignored this however and the second he reached the elevator he threw himself forward, slamming into the back wall of the elevator, causing the small box to shake from the sudden impact. He quickly turned around and saw Gabrok throw himself forward. With growing dread Oliver realised he was going to make it. Then Oliver did something he himself barely remembered doing, He pushed himself off the back of the elevator, pushing aside the other three inhabitants and laid a haymaker with the entirety of his weight behind it. As if by some miracle his heavy fist landed square in the surprised face of Gabrok who was still mid leap.

With the entirety of Oliver’s considerable mass behind it, the punch stopped Gabrok in his tracks, his head snapped across whilst his body followed suit in an a gruesome fashion, yet Gabrok still managed to land unsteadily on his feet, though his long, hooked nose was crumpled up against his face. In the brief second before the elevator doors closed, they all saw Gabrok glare hatefully at Oliver with his mangled face twisted into an expression of overflowing violent fury.

*clink*

The doors finally closed, and the elevator began ascending. Oliver meanwhile crumpled against the wall, holding his bleeding bicep in his hand. His back felt a little wet aswell, he patted a hand to his back and hissed in pain when he withdrew his now bloody hand.

“So, um, my names Jake?”

Oliver looked up at the others in the elevator, he’d completely forgotten about them. He considered getting on his feet but ultimately decided to sit on the floor for now.

“Y-yeah, my name’s Oliver.”

“That’s a weird name for a monster” The blonde girl innocently remarked, the guy-Jake scolded her for being rude.

“O-oh, I’m not a monster, I used to be human, then I became this.” Oliver replied, the Sonya girl had the decency to look a bit sheepish.

“So you used to be human? How did you turn into this?” The other girl said, gesturing to Oliver’s body.

“I killed something, then a got a message saying I was the 7th to do something, I don’t really recall it that well, I kind of crashed before I could read it all.

“Crashed?”

“Wait, you’re saying you’re race changed for being the 7th to kill a monster?” Jake said anxiously.

“That doesn’t matter right now, he’s injured!” Jake was quickly cowed by the surprising fierceness of Sonya, then Oliver was surprised once again when she gently placed her hands his wounds, and before his very eyes a soft glow started emanating from Sonya’s hands. She continued this action until the elevator reached the roof, when she pulled her hands away, Oliver’s wound had healed over, only a dark scar and a dull throb remained.

Before Sonya healed Oliver’s back, the four of them carefully left the elevator and scanned the roof. It appeared to be clear of hostiles, but they scanned over it several more times, couldn’t be too careful. The stairwell doors were padlocked from inside too, which was a comforting thought as that was one way Gabrok couldn’t get to them through, now they just had to hope he didn’t know how to use an elevator.

Once they were all satisfied with the safety of the roof Sonya had Oliver lay down so she could heal the cut on his back. However, before Sonya could get started on Oliver’s wound, a message interrupted Oliver.

New Quest: Kill Gabrok

Quest Information: Gabrok, the hobgoblin Captain thirsts for your blood. Kill him before he gathers his goblin hunting party. Quest can be shared between maximum party of 4.

Quest difficulty: E

Quest Reward: Unknown skill

Quest failure: Gabrok’s hunting party will be formed.

“fuck.”