As they came into view of the house, the first thing Tarni noticed was his bike—his beautiful HOG—lying on its side. His breath caught in his throat. He wanted to leap from the ute and sprint to it. His hands even reached for the door handle.

  But before he could act, he noticed the ute speeding up instead of slowing down.

  “What the hell, Zane?” he barked.

  In the back seat, Kai was shouting, “Dad! Don’t hit them!” But Zane wasn’t listening.

  That’s when Tarni saw them.

  Goblins. Eight of them. Green-skinned little pricks swarming around the yard, some near the porch, others around the bike. Most turned toward the sound of the ute, wide-eyed as they tried to scatter.

  THUNK. THUNK.

  Zane plowed through two of them before slamming the ute to a halt.

  Tarni threw open his door, only to get yanked back by his seatbelt. “Son of a—” He fumbled it free, then turned to Zane, eyes blazing. “They touched my Harley. Let’s fuck them up!”

  Zane gave him a quick once-over and nodded, then turned to Kai. “Stay in the car. We’ll be right back.”

  By the time Zane got out, Tarni was already on his feet, wearing his new black-on-black riding jacket—reinforced shoulders, elbow pads, spine plate, and just enough flexibility to swing a machete. He looked like something out of a biker-apocalypse movie.

  “Your jacket’s in the tray!” Tarni shouted, tossing one of the new machetes to Zane before sprinting toward his downed bike.

  Two goblins blocked his path, wielding rusty swords and makeshift wooden shields.

  They didn’t last long.

  Tarni’s machete swung with wild fury, cleaving through shield and bone alike. He dropped them both with brutal efficiency, then dropped to one knee beside his bike like it was a wounded animal.

  Zane glanced at his interface. Notifications popped up in the corner of his vision, but he minimized them—no time. He checked the ute. Kai was still inside, wide-eyed but safe.

  Zane grabbed his own jacket from the back tray, pulling it on over his shirt. He didn’t bother fastening it properly. Three goblins were already charging.

  Two had spears, but the third—bigger, meaner—held a sword that looked better than the others. Sharper. Cleaner. More dangerous.

  Zane made a split-second decision and stepped forward, taking the fight to the leader.

  A spear jabbed into his left shoulder—hard—but the jacket absorbed most of it. Felt more like a punch than a stab.

  Zane’s machete met the goblin’s sword with a loud CLANG. The goblin wasn’t ready for the force behind it; the blade went flying. Zane followed through, and his backswing took the creature’s head clean off.

  The other two lunged again, but now Zane was ready. A quick sidestep and a downward slash put one down. The last tried to flee, but Zane slashed it across the back, dropping it mid-stride.

  He turned, breathing hard, scanning for more enemies.

  Only to find Tarni sprinting across the grass after the last two goblins.

  Zane grinned. There was no cover out here—just open lawn. The green bastards didn’t stand a chance.

  Tarni caught them both before they made it twenty meters and brought them down with a fury born of rage and biker pride.

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  The yard went quiet.

  In the light of the full moon and the headlight of the ute, Goblins lay scattered across the lawn, broken and bleeding. Tarni stood panting over the last one, his machete dripping green ichor, eyes scanning the horizon for more.

  Zane walked toward him, blood on his hands and a grin spreading across his face.

  “You alright?”

  Tarni gave a sharp nod, still breathing heavily. “They touched my bike.”

  Zane clapped him on the shoulder, smearing a bit of goblin blood across the leather. “I get it, mate.”

  After catching their breath, they made their way back to the ute where Kai was still inside, staring at them with wide, shocked eyes.

  “You two are crazy,” Kai muttered through the window as they approached. He hadn’t moved an inch. His knuckles were white where he gripped the seatbelt.

  Just as they reached the vehicle, Tarni slowed and frowned, glancing back toward the lawn. “Oi, Zane—you get any level-up messages from that?”

  Zane raised an eyebrow. “Huh. No, not yet.” He checked on Kai quickly, then called up his system interface. Notifications flooded the edge of his vision, but none of them were the bright, satisfying level-up alerts he was expecting.

  “Got a lot of messages,” he muttered, scrolling. “But nothing about levelling.”

  Tarni rubbed his jaw, thinking. “Yeah, that tracks... And the bodies haven’t dissolved either.”

  Zane looked around. Sure enough, the goblins were still sprawled across the lawn in various states of dead, not fading into that weird blue shimmer like they had in earlier fights.

  “I reckon we don’t get the XP—or the cleanup—until all the defenders are dead,” Tarni added. “System calls them ‘Dungeon Defenders’ or something like that.”

  Zane’s eyes shifted to the front door of the house. It was slightly ajar.

  “I think you’re right,” he said grimly. “If there’s more inside...”

  He tightened his grip on the machete.

  “We’ve gotta clean them out.”

  As Zane and Tarni made there way to the stairs that led up to the front door of his house Zane stopped and looked down at his undone jacket and jeans he was wearing.

  “Didn’t you say you got us full sets of gear?” Zane asked Tarni

  “Yep, I sure did” and with a wicked smiles they both turned back to the Ute.

  Within two minutes, they both had on a black-on-black riding jacket with reinforced shoulders and elbow padding, a hardened spine plate and matching riding pants, lightweight but lined with impact foam, and some steel-capped boots

  Zipping up his Jacket Zane said “I'm getting some interesting messages from the system as I put this stuff on Tarn”

  “really im not getting anything, whats it say?” Tarni replied after checking his own system interface

  “I will tell you later after we finish up the remaining Goblins”

  “ok lets do it” Tarni said as he swung his machete

  As they walk with confidence towards the house, Kai called out, "What don’t leave me here alone."

  After some thought Zane said “Kai get in the driver's seat and that way you can honk the horn and drive over the little Basterds if any come for you. If we hear the horn we will come running right out, I promise” Kai could not think of anything better so he agreed and climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine.

  “be safe and don’t take too long, guys”, Kai called out as they were climbing the stairs to the front door.

  The hallway stank of rot and something wet and earthy—like a compost bin left out in the rain for a week. Zane wrinkled his nose as he crept forward, machete raised and ready.

  Tarni was already ahead, boots thudding softly against the hardwood floor. His eyes scanned every corner, every shadow.

  The first goblin lunged out of the laundry room with a squeal, swinging a broken frying pan like a club. Tarni met it head-on, dropping low and swinging in a vicious upward arc. The blade connected just beneath the goblin’s chin and split its face clean in two. The creature crumpled to the tiles with a wet slap.

  "That's five for me," Tarni muttered, wiping his blade on a curtain as he stepped over the corpse.

  “Not keeping score,” Zane said, stepping past him—just as a second goblin burst out of the bathroom with a chipped spear.

  Zane reacted on instinct. He sidestepped the wild jab, pivoted, and drove the machete into the goblin’s ribs. It shrieked and tried to claw at him, but Zane twisted the blade free and kicked the goblin back into the bathtub, where it slid down in a heap.

  “Six,” he muttered.

  Tarni grinned. “Now we’re keeping score.”

  They cleared room after room—living room, dining room, even the back hallway that led to the laundry and guest bedroom. More signs of goblin presence: trash scattered everywhere, claw marks on furniture, and muddy footprints up and down the walls. But no more attackers.

  Just as they reached the kitchen, Bing!

  “That’s it,” Zane said. “System just gave me the level-up message”

  Tarni let out a long breath. “Thank bloody hell. I was starting to think one of the little creeps was hiding in the pantry.”

  Just then, around the house and the yard, the goblin corpses began to dissolve—slowly turning to ash and mist. Zane walked to one of the faded leather dining chairs and sat down heavily. “We need to get this place cleaned up before Lily and James show up. with Bell.”

  Tarni’s face sobered. “Yeah. That potion… and getting her into the System.”

  Zane nodded slowly. “One step at a time. Let's spend these points before anything else happens, I'm going to add 1 point each to Strength, Dex, and Constitution”

  Tarni did not think long before making his selection, “I'm going to go with 2 to strength and 1 to Wisdom”