Insomniac Player

The final day was here, final moments. It was evening, exactly 6.00 pm of human world.

Damien’s head started to ache, he has been awake for two hundred twenty-seven hours.

Yet, Damien’s eyes never left the Chief. "He’s looking."

John, standing below, frowned. "At what?"

Damien hesitated before he uttered. "Me."

"You sure?"

"No but he is looking at my way... I hope I’m wrong."

The Chief lowered his weapon; the goblins began advancing.

Slowly and methodically, they kept the pressure on.

Exactly what Damien had feared. He turned toward everyone.

This is important: if the line breaks, run. Don’t enter the cave.

Nobody spoke. "If I tell you to retreat... you retreat."

John frowned. "What about you?"

"I’ll leave last," Damien said.

John immediately shook his head. "Not happening, I’m bigger, I stay."

Damien looked at him. "We’re not arguing over heroic sacrifices."

John dropped his hammer. "Fine. But if you die... Don’t haunt me."

Damien laughed. "I’ll be respawned within seconds. I just wish they’d give a painless death."

The first goblins entered the trapped area; one stepped onto hidden branches.

The ground sunk beneath it; a scream erupted.

One after another, three more stumbled into tripwires.

Wooden stakes pierced legs. Chaos spread through the front ranks of goblins.

For a brief moment, their advance stopped.

Rahul stared in hope. "Yes, yes, keep falling like that..."

John rolled his moustache and took a gander at Damien who was descending from the hill. "Our chief is more terrifying than theirs."

Damien listened quietly and gave no remarks to John’s words, his eyes fixed on the forest. He only guided the already intelligent humans.

But the goblin chief kept vicious goblins in line. He not only possessed intelligence but also strength.

The goblin chief was like John with Damien’s mind: a monstrous combination.

The Chief moved; he pointed toward the pitfall.

Several goblins immediately began filling it with logs.

Another group cut the tripwires; others advanced around the sides.

Damien’s heartbeat sped up.

’They’re familiarised with our traps.’

The realisation hit everyone at once: traps would buy time, not victory.

The Chief had learned, just as Damien had. The final battle for survival was minutes away.

◇◇◇

The next horns sounded at last; six hours remained.

Three long blasts rolled across the forest, each louder than the last.

BWOOOOOOOM!

BWOOOOOOOM!

BWOOOOOOOM!

Damien closed his eyes as he inhaled a deep breath.

After three seconds he slowly lifted his eyelids and exhaled; the waiting hours had ended.

John stretched beside the cave entrance, yawning loudly. "You alright, Damien?"

Damien stood, his hand holding the first blood dagger. "No, I think I’ll throw up."

The System chimed.

---

➤[Final Wave Initiated]

Survive Until Tutorial Completion.

Remaining Time: 06:00:00

---

Everyone read those letters for six hours.

John scratched his cheek. "Still six?"

Damien smiled weakly. "The longest six hours of our lives."

Imran climbed the rocky hill, and his expression changed instantly. "They’re coming."

Rahul hurried beside him, his face turned pale. "...Bloody hell."

Damien joined them, thousands of goblins in tow. Not hundreds but thousands of goblins poured through the forest in disciplined ranks.

Carrying spears, clubs, and machetes. Some took the role of archers and carried crude bows.

Behind them stalked packs of wolves, the scarred veterans from before. Several larger alpha wolves.

And the ogre. One giant ugly creature, carrying an uprooted tree trunk as a club.

At the very back... walking slowly, watching calmly, was the Goblin Chief. He wasn’t rushing; he knew time favored him.

John quietly whistled. "That’s... a lot."

Rahul swallowed. "I vote we surrender."

Imran shook his head. "They’d eat us."

"Fuck my life," Rahul cursed.

Damien took one deep breath, then another. His hands trembled, not from fear but from responsibility.

Everyone was looking at him, waiting. He hated that feeling. He wasn’t a leader; he was just... the least stupid person in the group. That’s what he believed.

"...Positions," Damien ordered.

Immediately, everyone moved, no hesitation.

John stood at the cave entrance. Imran is beside him. Rahul is slightly behind with spear.

The others spread exactly where Damien had instructed them earlier.

Nobody questioned anything; there wasn’t time.

Soon, the enemies appeared at engaging distance. And within a few breaths of time, the first wave charged.

Not wildly but methodically. The front ranks carried wooden shields above their heads, protecting the archers behind.

The youngest teenager, Mark, frowned. "When the hell did they get archers? Goblins are not supposed to be archers."

Damien turned. "What did you say?"

Mark stuttered. "I-I read a myriad of manga and manhua; goblins are shown there; they are not supposed to be archers and smart."

Damien walked towards Mark. "Those goblins, are they the same in appearance as these ones?"

Mark nodded. "M-mostly."

Damien’s face turned red in fury. "Such crucial information... and you are telling me that now."

Before Damien could ask more, he heard cries of goblins.

John cracked his neck. "Save me from arrows; I am big and slow."

As John spoke, arrows filled the sky.

"Down!" Damien yelled, and everyone dropped.

Several arrows shattered harmlessly against the rocks protecting the cave entrance.

One struck the office worker’s shoulder; he cried out.

The teenage girl immediately dragged him behind cover.

Her hands shook violently as she packed herbs against the wound.

Damien noticed. He was pleased that everyone remembered their jobs.

---

The goblins reached the first defensive line. Tripwire.

*SNAP*

Five goblins crashed forward, and John’s mace welcomed them.

BOOOOM!

Bodies flew. Rahul’s spear pierced another.

Imran buried his axe into a goblin trying to climb over the rocks.

The narrow entrance became a slaughterhouse.

"Don’t chase!" Damien shouted. "No one leaves the entrance!"

One old player nearly rushed forward after a retreating goblin; he was in his early sixties.

Damien grabbed his shirt. "Look there, goblin-slayer grandpa."

The player followed Damien’s finger. Beyond the bushes, twenty more goblins waited. His eyes widened.

"They wanted you to chase," Damien warned.

Minutes became an hour, an hour became two.

The defenders were exhausted, and water was passed between rotations.

Weapons changed hands as shafts splintered. John had already broken two maces looted from goblins.

Only his original weapon remained; he laughed despite the purple blood covering his mustache. "I liked those maces."

Rahul gasped between breaths. "Fuck... I’m tired.

Then, to answer Rahul, the Goblin Chief moved.

Each heavy footstep crushed leaves and snapped roots beneath his iron boots. The goblins instinctively stepped aside, lowering their heads as he passed.

The forest itself seemed to fear him.

John rested his battered mace across his shoulder and let out a slow whistle. "Ugliest thing I’ve seen all week."

Rahul glanced sideways. "You looked in the stream yesterday."

John looked offended. "...Low blow, lad."

"Couldn’t resist." Replied Rahul.

Despite the situation, Imran snorted. The laughter lasted barely a second.

Then the chief stopped thirty meters from the cave, his yellow eyes settled on Damien.

Not John or others. Only the mind of the group, Damien.

"He knows; Damien is our leader," Imran frowned.

The Goblin Chief raised his cleaver, and one sharp command left his mouth.

The gigantic monster moved, Ogre. Each step trembled the forest, heavy and sluggish.

Pebbles bounced in fear as the giant monster closed the distance. He raised his club and swung at the entrance.

John looked at the thing and muttered in disbelief. "Sweet the merciful baby Jesus..."

*BHAAAM*

The boulder was shoved inside the tiny cave, and the tiny cave became tinier.

And to humans’ misfortune, the ogre didn’t stop; his tree-made club was already in the air, prepared for another strike.

And so it landed.

*BHAAAM*

The club was destroyed, torn into pieces from the impact. But the attempt was not in vain. The cave entrance widened, twice as big as before.

That was all the goblins needed; the chief commanded with an ear-piercing cry, and all hell broke loose.

The goblins charged. The wave was different, as if the zombies and the military discipline had vanished, as if they had never existed.

No formation, no patience, no testing. Everything came at once.

Goblins climbed over their own dead; wolves darted between them.

The entire forest seemed to surge toward the tiny cave.

"DON’T LET THEM COME INSIDE!" Damien shouted, and everyone braced themselves for the impact.

Any goblins that came were killed; the clubless ogre saw it and picked up a large boulder. Even larger than the one that no human could pick up.

The ogre reached the throwing distance. With one enormous swing, it hurled a boulder slightly bigger than a carriage.

Everyone hit the ground. The boulder smashed into the cave entrance.

Stone exploded everywhere as dust filled the air.

Damien gulped and looked at the screen that appeared in his thoughts.

...

➤[Final Wave Initiated]

Survive Until Tutorial Completion.

Remaining Time: 03:52:19.

...

His heart beat like ritual drums inside his sweat-drenched body; there were still four hours remaining.