My reckless taunt had worked. Maybe a bit more effectively than I had thought it would. The little green fuckers went into a complete frenzy when they saw me. The closest one threw itself at the window, glass shattering and leaving deep gashes on its body. Dark blue blood flowed from its wounds. Considering their sizes, I want to say that it looked pretty fatal, but what did I know of their biology? For all I know their wounds would heal and they would be immortals. It didn't heal. It slipped on its own blood after a few feeble steps, while the others kept jumping through the broken window like wild animals.

The first ones finally crashed against the barricade. They climbed it clumsily, trying to bite and tear me with their claws. When the first one finally made it over the barricade, it slipped when trying to regain its footing. It fell from the top of the barricade with a wet thud on the ground. Undisturbed by his own lack of balance, it kept its beady eyes on me. Unluckily for him, it was the perfect opportunity for me to swing my sledge hammer.

I moved the head of the heavy tool over my shoulder and sent it crashing down with all my might. With a resounding boom the head of the creature was completely annihilated. Chunks of blue flesh and bone flying everywhere.

[You have slain a Plagued Goblin.]

A translucent hovering window appeared at the bottom of my vision. I immediately dismissed it. Another two of the fuckers were already over the barricade while more flooded in through the window. I dispatched the other two as quickly as possible. They were too clumsy for their own good. But their numbers were preoccupying. They kept climbing and I kept bashing their heads in.

The message kept popping up and I had to do my best to ignore it. I didn't have time to dismiss it every time a new one popped up. But they didn't stack, instead, they replaced the last one. It would be a real problem if my vision was flooded with messages.

When their numbers were too great I started to retreat towards the stairs. The tight space provided cover at my flanks. I didn't have much space to swing it sideways, so I had to resort to swinging it over my shoulder everytime. Thankfully, the first part of the skirmish had been a valuable lesson. I had learned two important things. First, their names. Second and more importantly, their heads were surprisingly soft. I didn't have to use all my might to crush it. That proved to be helpful. I don't know if I could swing for long if I had to use all my strength everytime.

They bumped into each other and climbed over their living and dead like they were nothing. I kept bashing their skulls on the floor, but it seems there was no end to them. By the time I was reaching the end of the stairs I could still count a dozen or more of the fuckers coming at me. I kicked the closest one and it tumbled down taking every other green cunt in the stairs down to the ground floor with it.

It wasn't enough to kill any of them, but it would buy me time. I didn't want to fight them in the open space of the rooftop. They were easy to kill, but their numbers were a real problem. I jogged to the fire ladder leading to the back of the building, it was a few meters from where I had emerged.

My arms were burning something fierce after all that swinging and I was happy to drag the sledgehammer's head on the floor. Without thinking much I let my weapon fall to the ground. There was no way I was going to be able to go down those stairs while holding that thing. Hopefully it would be sturdy enough to not break with the fall.

I turned and started to climb down, but as I was about to get my head under the roof line I saw them coming. As if they were more furious than before, they snarled and clicked  their jagged teeth, spittle flying everywhere. Disgusting little cunts. I hurried myself down the stairs and when I was halfway down something amazing happened.

Amazingly stupid.

They just jumped.

They fucking jumped out of the rooftop and into the ground. Enthralled so deep in their frenzy, they couldn't even discern the obvious danger when it was right in front of them. I shouldn't be surprised, but I was. I stopped to admire the sight as a dozen or so of the cunts fell straight to their deaths. Their soft skulls and brittle bones would break as they crashed on the ground at odd angles. Not all of them died instantly, most of them just crippled themselves, but that was enough. A few messages popped on the bottom of my sight

[You have slain a Plagued Goblin.]

[You have slain a Plagued Goblin.]

[You have slain a Plagued Goblin.]

[You have slain a Plagued Goblin.]

Interesting.

Coming down from the stairs I looked at the broken bodies of the little horrors. A couple of them were even trying to crawl their way to me. Relentless fuckers. My arms were super tired after all that exertion, but when I looked at their disgusting skin and face I thought better than to use my knife to finish them off.

I made my way to the sledgehammer standing upright above a small deformation on the paved floor. Since the fuckers were already so debilitated I chose to kill them only using the weight of the sledge hammer. I lifted the head a little above their heads and let gravity do the rest.

[You have slain a Plagued Goblin.]

[You have slain a Plagued Goblin.]

...

[You have slain a Plagued Goblin.]

I had to do it twice on one of them. Nasty shit. Blood leaked through the ears and one of his eyes popped out, but the fucking thing kept snarling at me, so I did it again. With a nice pop, his skull cracked open and their pointless brain matter splattered on the ground.

Feeling exhausted, I let my back slide on the wall of the building and sat down. I was a little away from the corpses, but whenever I breathed the foul smell of their innards assaulted my senses like a punch to the gut.

When the adrenaline finally subsided, and I stared at the dead creatures lying a few meters away, it finally dawned on me what had happened. A strong impulse from my stomach made me double over and wretch its contents. It was only water and stomach acid. It tasted horrible. After spitting some more bile for good measure, I felt like it was finally over. I don't know how my mind was taking all of this, I didn't feel particularly any different at the moment. But if my body was any sign of it, the outlook wasn't good.

The red hue from the dome still washed over everything. The ominous pyramid and its powerful red beam painting the sky blood red. This was probably not over yet. I started worrying about Mrs Aya again. Now that I wasn't fighting for my life anymore, I had the luxury to do so. I decided to make my way to the auditorium.

I couldn't hear the creatures anymore. It was eerily quiet. Moving through the alleyway I peeked onto the road. Nothing. I made my way out of my semi hiding place and in front of the building when the sound of breaking glass and the faint snarl caught my attention.

I moved to the window where the suicidal fucker had jumped through to get me and saw the first of the cunts laying on the pool of its own blood. He was almost dead, bleeding out profusely, but still trying to get to me. His claw outstretched in my direction. I obviously didn't feel any measure of empathy towards it, even though it looked quite pitiful. But If the system is like a game, and it is looking more and more like one, then probably there is some reward at the end of this. Killing more of these fuckers is likely to get me more of whatever the system plans to give us.

I raised my sledgehammer and let it fall on the head of the little green horror. The wet thud of its death accompanied the scattering of its futile brain matter. I dragged the hammer's head across its loincloth. I at least got to try and clean some of the flesh and blood stuck in it. Fucking disgusting.

I left the building and started making my way to the auditorium. I walked on the edge of the road, trying my best to conceal myself as I tried to listen to anything. They had been quite loud since this started.

I moved a couple blocks in total silence when I finally started to pick up some noise coming from the direction of the auditorium. The same snarling, high pitched scream and shuffling of feet as before, but much lower in volume now. I neared a corner that gave way to the street in front of the auditorium. The sounds were a bit louder now, but nothing like they had been when that horde passed by my location. I hesitated for a moment. No point in coming here if I won't at least look at what is happening. I steeled myself and took a peek.