I didn’t even know why I chose to chase after Fink and the boss of the goblins - he was a dick to me most of the time I knew him, and usually only listened to Bryga. A thought of just leaving him to get abducted, or whatever was the goal of the armored goblin did occur to me. But I knew that I just wouldn’t do that, at least not to a fellow player that was doing his best to survive, like I was.

  Maybe I could also coerce him for a share of any gold he’d make in the future.

  The damn Wurm never ceased running, however. It wasn’t particularly fast, not compared to my [Dash] or Crudia’s full-on sprint, but it had enough speed and enough of a head-start so that I just couldn’t catch up. I was already running for three minutes now, the battlefield slowly disappearing behind me, yet I was as close to the damn creature as I was at the start.

  I decided to text the others so they wouldn’t look for me.

  Shrimpie: A weird armored goblin grabbed Fink and is running east. Fink’s unconscious. I’m on his heels, but I don’t know how long until I catch up. Stay safe.

  Bryga: Fink is WHAT?

  Dusk: No time. But roger.

  Talisha: Crudia and Dusk are surrounded. I’ll remind them to text you if you don’t return until the fight is over.

  Bryga: Again, Fink is what now? He was just here moments ago!

  Mark: We’ll bring him back. Shrimpie will catch up and get Fink.

  Hopefully I would, but I still had no clue for how long this idiot duo planned on running. Why leave his friends behind just for one player? These things just never made sense.

  I looked back a few times, but decided not to after a while. The battlefield soon became too small to see, my party members invisible on my minimap. I’ve never gone east from the city, and it was interesting to see that, although the black grass remained, the plants changed a little - the grass riddled by small, knee-height bushes with some weird, prolonged blue berries. I itched to [Analyze] them, but that would mean risking my prey.

  “Any chance you can catch up? We’ve been losing him for about three minutes now!” Mark’s voice broke my huffing as I grasped for more air.

  “Easy for you to say! I can’t just levitate!” Every word felt like a struggle to say. I haven’t run for this long, ever. These human feet were weirdly bad for that.

  “Skill issue.” Mark laughed, as if there was anything funny about all of this.

  I continued running, my head forcing all thoughts out, all ideas, all possibilities of what could happen to my team back in the city. My only thought was aimed at putting one food in front of the other, and a fist into the goddamned duo. Breathing was hard, and my muscles burned, but I still kept running.

  At one point, I registered a new skill notification, the text rolling out without me even prompting it.

  [Sprinter]

  Skill - passive

  Type: Movement

  Do you know how humans became the apex predators on Earth? It’s quite simple, really! The-

  I swiped the notification off, trying my best to remain in the headspace I was in before, but it’s already done its job.

  Suddenly, I realized that I was not walking on the hardy black grass anymore, but instead, I could see violet sand all around me. I didn’t slow down, but for the first time since I began running, I took a good look around. I didn’t even realize that I was in a new biome until now. Getting too focused on the Wurm ahead had its disadvantages.

  The violet sand biome was as empty as the black grass plains, yet it had a whole different feel to it. While the black grass made the region seem desolate and functionally dead, this one was just so… sparkly. The sand reflected the sunlight in all flavors of pink, amethyst colored cacti and puddles of water making it seem more alive. It looked ethereal, in a way.

  It was then that I noticed the Wurm suddenly sinking into the ground in front of one big boulder, the rock so out of place in the sea of sand that it was comical.

  A groan escaped me as I looked over the hole through which the Wurm escaped. I just could not physically force myself to run anymore, so I put a hand over the rock, panting. “Not another cave. What is it with the gods and caves?! Can’t they be more original?”

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  “What did you expect? A castle?” Mark chuckled.

  “No. Maybe…? Shit, what do I do now?” I peered into the hole. It wasn’t a sudden drop - no, in front of me was a gradual descent into complete darkness, the tunnel wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

  “I guess we follow. What else can you do?” Mark scratched his head.

  I sighed, finally regaining some manner of control of my breathing. “Screw that guy. First he’s rude to us all the whole time, going against us on almost everything, and then he goes and gets abducted. I don’t even know how he got there!”

  Mark looked at me with a worried expression. “Let’s cool our heads. I think he’s just a bit over-protective, you know? I don’t know how he got there, but we either go in and save him, or we don’t and let him die. I’m not sure if Bryga will stay, in that case.”

  I sighed, prolonging it on purpose. “I even considered leaving him for a second, at the beginning of the run, you know? He better be grateful. I’m never doing this again.” I looked at the sun, already somehow falling on the horizon. I didn’t tell Mark about the feeling of being watched whenever I was in the city and outside of it, and so I didn’t tell him how it disappeared now. “How long have I been running for?”

  Mark scratched his chin, thinking. “About five hours, I think? You sprinted a damn marathon somehow. I envy your stats sometimes, really. I used to get winded if I tried catching up to a bus.”

  “Five hours already? God, how far am I?”

  “Far. We won’t be getting back until tomorrow, at best.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Eat something first. You didn’t get to do so earlier today. After that, we go inside.”

  I sat on the ground, waiting for anything to emerge, and when nothing did, I pulled out one of the remaining crabs and shoved it into my mouth. I could barely feel any taste on my tongue as I ate them raw, but I didn’t care. Not now. I felt tired and cranky, with the prospect of entering another cave just making my head spin.

  Another thought came up suddenly. “How are the others doing? Have you been texting them?”

  Mark shook his head. “They said they’d text when all was done, so I didn’t. Though, now that you mention it, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?

  Shrimpie: Hey, are you guys okay?

  Bryga: Yes. How is Fink?

  Shrimpie: Haven’t caught up to him. Entering a cave which the goblin rider entered. How about the city? Casualties?

  Dusk: Crudia got hurt bad. Had her whole arm cut off. The HP potion barely saved her in time.

  I felt my chest tighten and my head fill with worried thoughts. I just talked to her last night. The thought of losing her now filled me with such dread, like nothing else did. The thought felt so surreal that I just zoned out, unable to even type.

  Mark: Jesus. Are you okay Crudia?

  …

  Crudia: Yes. It… wasn’t pleasant. At least I have my arm back, though.

  Talisha: WASN’T PLEASANT? That’s an understatement. I was so scared for her! I pronounce any goblins and disgusting worms to be slaughtered on sight! It’s a declaration of war!

  Bryga: Save Fink. Please. I’ll be on my way in an hour.

  Shrimpie: I will.

  Mark sighed. “This is a stupid idea. They can’t leave.”

  I waited for him to explain more, but instead he began writing in the chat with renewed vigor, and I left him to it.

  Mark: Stay in the city. We need to prepare for the quest. Shrimpie will get Fink back. You focus on getting the city back together and on building those traps.

  Bryga: What?

  Mark: We’re several hours away from the city. Almost a whole day of walking, though Shrimpie sprinted the whole time. It would be too late if you all were to join us anyway.

  Bryga: I… I don’t know.

  Dusk: We’ll do it. I’ll talk more to the other two. Stay safe.

  Mark shook his head. “Good riddance. Bryga is almost as hotheaded as you are. Or, well, maybe it’s understandable, but she’s really all about the action, huh.”

  I chuckled, picking up the crab that I left uneaten, and gnawing at the last few pieces.

  Five minutes passed before I stood up, dusted off my pants, and jumped in. The tunnel stretched into nothingness, a pure void in front of me, the light from the afternoon sun only shining so far. With a sigh, I cracked my shoulder, and went forward.

  Even if all the caves here were really similar in their structure, I did have to admit that not a single one of them was like the other as far as it came to their vibe. The Carp-men cave was full of wet stone and gloom, the ant nest was full of life and gorgeous colors. This one? It was a weird combination of the two. While dead, made of pink-ish rocks, it still looked to be somewhat nice and lively.

  There were footprints in the ground, showing the path that I’d need to take, going further in. My steps, soft on the sand, made a pleasing sound as I quickly strode on. The map even continued filling in, but it showed no red dots still.

  A short while later, after not even five minutes of walking, the cave suddenly widened, stretching into a giant cavern. I stood on top of the opening, watching the movement below, all easily visible because of the dim orange torch lights that shone on everything around.

  There were cages that hung on chains below, attached to giant wooden beams. There must have been tens, no, hundreds of the cages. I could see figures filling most of them, surrounded by even more, smaller figures. The goblins. There must have been thousands.

  Whispering, I turned to Mark. “Can you check what’s in the cages?”

  He met my eyes, nodded, and proceeded to get as far as he possibly could, which was close enough to hopefully see into the closest cage.

  When he returned, he looked conflicted, scared even. His eyes had a weird sheen to them, his eyebrows furrowed to an expression I haven’t seen him express before.

  “There are players in the cages, Shrimpie... Players.”