Midnight hit the city like a hammer.
The scratching at the door stopped. Silence stretched out in the hallway, heavy and thick. It was the kind of silence that usually preceded a jump scare in a bad horror movie, but this was real life, and the monster behind the wood didn't care about cinematic timing.
The door didn't open. It exploded.
Splinters of cheap pine rained into the apartment as a Hobgoblin the size of a refrigerator smashed through the frame. It roared, a wet, guttural sound meant to paralyse its prey with fear. It took a heavy, confident step forward, eyes locked on Silas.
Then gravity did its job.
The floorboards I had removed earlier left a gaping five-foot maw right inside the entrance. The Hobgoblin's confident step landed on nothing but air. Its roar turned into a confused squeak as it plummeted into the apartment below.
Thud. Crunch.
The sound of three hundred pounds of monster meat landing on a bed of industrial nails was sickeningly satisfying.
"Now!" I barked.
Silas didn't hesitate. Panic had overridden his brain, leaving only instinct. He scrambled to the edge of the pit, his hands crackling with unstable violet energy. He didn't aim. He just shoved his hands downward and screamed.
"VOID BLAST!"
A beam of pure darkness erupted from his palms. It wasn't fire. It wasn't lightning. It was the absence of reality. The beam hit the screaming Hobgoblin in the chest, and the screaming stopped instantly. There was no blood. There was no gore. The monster's upper torso simply deleted itself from the universe.
[System Notification] [You have defeated: Hobgoblin Grunt (Lvl 4)] [Combat Contribution: 30%] [Experience Gained: 45 XP]
"Holy..." Silas stared at his hands, which were smoking slightly. "I did that?"
"We did that," I corrected, kicking a stray piece of door into the pit. "Welcome to the apocalypse, kid. Check the loot."