I just rested there on the bench, idly watching everyone else doing their thing, when a sudden, violent tremor began shaking the whole damn subway station.
Everything from the iron rail bolted the hard ground, to the fuckin' pillars that held the ceil of the station from caving in shook like it was being rocked by a titan.
I struggled to quickly get back to my feet as everything around us shook and rumbled alarmingly.
Then, we all began to hear a continuous, heavy 'Boom… Boom… Boom' sound, seeming to come from the thick concrete wall on the opposite side of the main rail tracks.
The wall on that opposite side rapidly began to crack and bulge, and the insistent 'boom' sound became much louder, more immediate.
Then, large, thick, dark-green vines burst out with explosive force from that crumbling wall, rapidly creeping and spreading all over the damn place like monstrous life-devouring pit of snakes.
The tremor abruptly stopped then, and the now-stationary vines left a very large, pitch-black, gaping hole in the damaged wall.
The vines themselves continued their unnatural growth, creeping quickly around the jagged corners of the new hole and spreading out to cover almost half of the entire train station in a matter of seconds.
All the Mercenary-Guards and the remaining Private Contractors just stood there, frozen, looking at what had just fuckin' happened in complete, stunned shock.
The team leader, the PMC commander, finally snapped us all out of it with a harsh shout.
He then ordered three of his other contractors to follow him and cautiously inspect the newly formed gapping hole in the wall, giving an ominous feel like the devil's asshole.
They each switched on their flashlight attached to their gun, pointing both it and the muzzle of their arcane-assault rifle warily towards the dark hole as they slowly, carefully, walked towards it.
The invading vines seem to have also broken some of the old water pipes and severed some major electrical wires within the walls.
This was now causing murky water to gush out from several new cracks on the walls, and the already dim lights in the subway station to flicker erratically, plunging us into intermittent darkness.
As they reached the very entrance of the dark, vine-framed hole, the team leader gave a curt head gesture for one of the contractors beside him to actually climb into the hole and check it out properly.
We all watched in tense, dead silence, cold sweat dripping from our faces despite the cool air, as that designated contractor slowly, reluctantly, climbed up into the dark hole and then pointed his flashlight beam around the unseen space within.
When he was apparently done with his initial sweep, he turned his head back towards the team leader, who was waiting anxiously below, and clearly said, 'Clear.'
Then, in that exact same instant, a blinding flash of golden light erupted from within the hole, and the top half of that unfortunate contractor's body simply… splattered, exploding everywhere in a shower of gore and bone fragments.
The team leader quickly, instinctively, shouted, "Engage! Engage! Fire at will!"
Then he and his remaining men immediately started lighting up that dark hole with their arcane-assault rifles, pouring a hail of fire into the darkness, while the terrified, non-combatant cleaning crew ran away like the rat-scums that they are, scrambling towards the exits of the station.
Bright, deadly beams of golden light then began raining out from that huge, dark hole in the wall, hitting some of the fleeing Mercenary Guards, other contractors, and even some of the unfortunate crew members that were desperately running away.
The beams splattered the parts of their bodies that got hit all over the fuckin' place, turning people into instant, bloody puddles of human innards.
The light beams that missed their human targets went straight through solid concrete pillars and thick station walls as if they were made of hot knife going through soft plastic, leaving only glowing, molten, perfectly circular holes in whatever inanimate things they happened to hit.
There was basically nothing, absolutely nothing, anyone could effectively use to shield themselves from those devastating beams.
So, I immediately started running in desperate zigzags while keeping my head down as low as possible.
Then, I took a desperate dive from the edge of the main platform onto the hard, gravelly rail tracks ground below.
I quickly crawled forward on my belly, scrambling to reach the relative cover of the edge of the platform just in front of me.
I then slowly, cautiously, pulled up my head just a little bit, peeking just above the edge of that platform.
And that's when I saw them, the fuckin' creatures that were so dicing us all like fuckin' flies – fuckin' Hobgoblins.
But these Hobgoblins were different, much scarier.
They were all heavily covered in intricate, glowing tattoos, and their entire right arms looked like they were made of dry, gnarled plant roots, all tightly intertwined with each other.
And at the very end of it, where their hand should normally be, there was instead a strange, roundish, organic-looking hole, from which they were now shooting out those deadly, gold-coloured beams of energy at us.
They casually, almost arrogantly, walked out from that big, dark hole in the wall, systematically shooting at anything that fuckin' moved.
Some of the other Mercenaries, the ones that had tried to tactically retreat back through the dark subway tunnels, were now getting mercilessly shot at from behind, shredding 'em fucking paper.
I quickly, desperately, used this critical moment, when most of these new Hobgoblins were facing away from me, towards the fleeing Guards, to climb back up onto the station steps and then dashed with all my might towards one of the two root-armed Hobgoblins I could actually reach from my current position.
Then, I jumped high and kicked it hard with both my feet planted squarely in its chest, sending it flying backwards, clean off the platform and onto the other, lower rail tracks below.
The force of my own kick, however, also caused me to fall heavily to the ground, landing awkwardly.
The other Hobgoblin, the one that had been standing right beside the one I'd just kicked, immediately turned its head to see me now sprawled on the floor right beside it.
It then quickly turned its strange, wooden-looking arm towards me, preparing to shoot me at point-blank range.
But I reacted instantly, spinning my body around on the hard ground and lashing out with a desperate kick, managing to hit its wooden arm and knock it sideways, towards the other rail tracks just as it fired.
Its intended lethal shot thankfully, miraculously, hit the other Hobgoblin, the one I'd just kicked down onto the rail track below, killing that one instantly with a flash of golden light.
The Hobgoblin beside me immediately tried to reposition its dangerous arm to shoot me again, but I reacted just as quickly as before.
This time, by using the blunt, heavy part of my axe head, I managed to smack its wooden arm sharply upward, causing its next beam to harmlessly hit the high concrete ceiling of the station instead, showering us with dust and debris.
Then, I spun quickly to get to its back, grabbed its normal, fleshy left arm, and forcefully twisted it high up behind its back, causing it to groan loudly in pain and involuntarily bend to my will.
Before it could recover, I quickly grabbed its still-active wooden arm with my other hand, and then forcibly pointed it towards the other Hobgoblins that had now noticed me and were starting to shoot in my direction.
The Hobgoblin I held captive still released its deadly energy beam, unable to stop it.
So, I just used its own weapon against its comrades, aiming its wooden arm wildly towards the other Hobgoblins and systematically blasting new, smoking holes in them, one by one.
I then quickly noticed another Hobgoblin down on the rail tracks below, the one directly in front of me.
It had taken careful aim at my head and then shot.
I instinctively, desperately, lowered my head as far as I could.
The lethal shot narrowly missed me, zipping past my ear, but it blew up the entire head of the Hobgoblin I was currently holding hostage, splattering me with its gore.
I immediately released its now-limp, dead body and then, without hesitation, jumped down onto the Hobgoblin still on the tracks, the one that had just tried to kill me, landing directly on it with my remaining axe already driven deep into its surprised, tattooed head as we both fell heavily to the ground in a tangle of limbs.
Then, I quickly executed a forward dive-roll to get clear, and then dashed immediately towards another Hobgoblin that had also started to shoot at me right when I'd made that last jump.
I ran in sharp, unpredictable zigzag patterns, making it miss several of its deadly shots.
Then, I slid hard on the bare, blood-slick ground as I simultaneously threw my other axe horizontally, with all my strength, aiming for its exposed throat.
I hastily got back to my feet and then ran straight towards that Hobgoblin as it clutched instinctively at its now bleeding, gushing neck.
I roughly pulled out my embedded axe, then immediately threw it hard to my left, without even properly aiming, hitting the head of one of the other Hobgoblins I had previously shot but which hadn't quite died yet, finishing it off.
I looked around then, breathing heavily, my lungs burning, as I suddenly noticed the profound, almost deafening silence that had fallen over the station.
I seemed to have somehow, single-handedly, managed to kill all of the fuckin' Hobgoblins.
Thud!
I spun around instantly towards my back and looked intently at whatever had just made that sudden, heavy sound.
Several meters away behind me, there now stood a bizzare, even more imposing Hobgoblin, one that seemed to be made entirely out of dark, scaly rock surfing across its entire body covered with strange, faintly glowing arcane writings of unknown meaning.
This 'Rock-Hobgoblin' is definitely, undeniably, much stronger, much more dangerous, than any of the other Hobgoblins I had just somehow managed to bring down.
I could feel the aura of its Arcane.
As I slowly turned around to fully face this diabolical terrifying threat, another message, and that now-familiar, emotionless robot-like voice, popped up urgently in my vision.
[Arcane Energy is extremely low]
I quickly checked my ArcaneEnergy status, and it was, as I'd feared, now reading just 1 single point.
This Rock-Hobgoblin will definitely be extremely fuckin' difficult, maybe even impossible, to bring down with just my axes alone.
And, to make matters worse, my axes are currently not even with me; one was still embedded in that last goblin, and the other was somewhere on the ground nearby.
I had to somehow fight this monstrous thing without them.
So, I desperately tightened my fists, put every last ounce of my remaining will and energy into them, and consciously tried to steady, to reduce, my ragged, heavy panting.
I stared hard at the approaching Rock-Hobgoblin with complete, unwavering conviction, my only remaining weapon.
The Rock-Hobgoblin then started walking slowly, deliberately, towards me.
I tried to sink my feet firmly into the uneven, debris-strewn ground, bracing myself.
Then, with a silent scream of effort, I dashed forward with as much sudden, explosive force as I could possibly muster from my exhausted body.
The Rock-Hobgoblin simply continued on with its steady, unhurried pace, slowly raising up one massive, stone-like fist as I charged recklessly at it with all my remaining, desperate force, covering the rapidly shrinking distance between us in a matter of mere seconds.
I then landed the single most devastating, desperate blow of my entire miserable life right onto that Rock-Hobgoblin's stony, impassive face.
The impact, when it came, affected both of us tremendously, catastrophically.
Half of the Rock-Hobgoblin's craggy face was suddenly just… gone, shattered into a thousand pieces.
But it still somehow moved, swayed around on its thick legs like it was trying its best to stay on its feet, dazed but not yet defeated.
While I, on the other hand, could now clearly see my own shattered bone, sharp and white, gruesomely popping out from the skin of my destroyed right arm with blood spewing everywhere.
I immediately knelt down right there on the filthy ground, crying out loudly in unworldly pain, as the splintered bone of my right arm, just below my elbow, had indeed popped clean out through the mangled flesh.
The pain was too fuckin' much, too overwhelming, so much so that I then had to fall completely onto my left side, and just continued shouting, screaming in pure, unadulterated agony, in a rapidly increasing, warm pool of my own dark blood.
My eyes rapidly began to close then, and I could barely focus on anything anymore.
I was slowly, inevitably, losing consciousness.
Then, one final, ominous notification popped up in my fading vision, starkly backed by that detached, robotic voice.
[Critical damage sustained!]
[Hit Point is now decreasing by 1 point every 6 seconds!]
[Arcane Energy drops to 0]
The very last thing I vaguely saw, before my eyes finally, mercifully closed completely, was the towering Rock-Hobgoblin slowly, ponderously, falling to its own stony knees.
Then… Black Out!