As Rex and lightning Sparrow walked towards their destination, there where few words exchanged, Rex's temporary companions spending most it it with their senses trained on their surroundings,avary of any possible ambushes that might occur. The probability of a rather large goblin infestation, a raiding warband, or possibly even a village having formed in the vicinity of the town, had already been spread around the town, as well as nearby villages, making any smaller party or merchant growing much more cautious with their travels. And while notably less alarmed than his current companions, Rex too did his part in scouting their surroundings, every now and then chosing a single dirrection in which he used his mana sonar, ensuring that for almost a kilometer away there were no danger to them forming, or sneaking closer for that matter.

Every hour os so the group stopped, to take a break for a few minutes, Derek reasoned that it was much safer to just a bit slower with their traveling to ensure that they were fresh and rested enough to respond to any possible agression they could encounter on their way towards the village where their quest was posted. At these moments of respite, some random question were dirrected towards Rex, mostly centered around his aquintance with Light's oak. Thruth be told, Rex did expect questions of that kind, thruthfully answering and chalking it up to chance, nothing more, since the only reason he had even noticed the party was that both he and Samanta had reached for the same contract, him being the first to do so, consequently taking it.

"And you did not offer it to the girls? Uff, cold man, cold." Smirked Nila at Rex's recount of the situation, causing a slightly akward chuckle from the remaining trio.

"And why would that be? I think what I did was the correct choice. I regarded them as adventurers, first and foremost, not some eye candy or weaklings who should be pittied because of whats not between their legs. How is that cold?" His response took the party by suprise, causing a thoughtfull silence overtake their resting spot.

"That actually makes a frightening amount of sense." Nila commented a moment later, looking at Rex with different expression now. It was one of slighty more respect than before.

"Soo, no breaks or special treatment for beauties?" asked Derek with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Never said that either. For example, that blonde priest of theirs would get a lot more leeway in her actions than the annoying pipsqueek. It all boils down to each and every individual situation, but women are more than just pretty, or not so much faces. Not that being pretty does not go a long way, but their personality and character is an important detail to pay attention to. Like Samanta for example. While I dont doubt for a second that she has had to endure enough brute monkeys with their 'Come and entertain me, thats all you are good for' or 'I am the party leader, and the only reason we invited you is because of that pretty face and bla bla bla', she treated me with respect one we reached for the same, not assigning me the blame for things I did not do. Thus, it is only fair that I do not jugle her based on her looks alone, for there is so much more to her. The annoying pipsqueek is the exact opposite case. Whatever insecurities and other garbage she has lived through, she tosses it toward whoever falls in her crosshairs. You get what you sow and all that."

"But what is Alurial," Rudy asked, and seeing Rex questioningly tilt of his head to the side with his brows furrowed, quickly added "the pipsqueek," before continiuing "has gone through enough trauma that she simply does not trust anyone to begin with?"

"Just keep your mouth shut and stay away, untill you either dont have to interract with said person, or you have learned enough to make a judgement. I dont have to solve your baggage that you carry around."

"Damn man, that is harsh, but fair I suppose." Nila commented once again, with another moment of silence setting over the resting spot.

"Well, lets get going again." Derek spoke up a moment later, and with another four nods agreeing with him, they set out once again. Another break, and two hours later, the group finally reached the village in question. And as soon as they arrived, they found the nearest villager, asked for dirrections toward the chiefs location. Then, once in the presence of the man, and with all the information he could provide about the sightings and actions of any kobolds in their vicinity that had caused them to suspect the presence of a nest, they departed the village once again, heading towards what was most likely the general area of at least one entrance to said nest.

With two archers amidst the group, both having some general skills regarding tracking and scouting, it took them a single hour to find what they were looking for. Near one of the small dirt mounds that existed around the area, hidden behind some bushes and guarded by a couple of kobolds, they noticed what looked like an entrance. Their suspicions were confirmed even more so when, upon noticing their presence, one of the kobolds rushed inside as it howled and yelped, clearly calling for backup, while the other one snarled and growled at them. Clearly wanting to charge, butwell aware that alone it stood no chance.

A few minutes later, a group of seven kobolds emerged from the entrance, extremely primitive clubs in hand of some of them, while other remained empty handed. With a few more growls and howls, the kobolds rushed at Rex and Rudy, who where standing out in the open, their swords and shields drawn and raised the moment the charge started. Both Derek an Nila, the archers, were hidden frther back, ready to pepper the incoming creatures with arrows, while Alex was hidden close to the archers, even more hidden from the kobolds.

With the swords feeling like and extension of his body, no matter how poor quality it was, Rex felf a slight smile creeping up his face, the sensation of an imminent battle stoking his inner fire and desire to grind and grow. As the group of eight kobolds rushed them, the cover fire was provided, wounding two of the charging creatures. With the spacing between them, due to some charging at Rex's group on all for, while others, the ones with the clubs, rushed forward with only their back legs on the ground.

Rex used the lunge dirrection to redirect the nearest kobold with minimal effort, while sliding his swords hand under his elevated shield hand, slicing open the lunging kobolds bely, eliciting a pitifull howl upon contact, that changed into weak whelping one the crazed creature laned on the ground behind him and its guts started to spill on the ground.

"Killshot!" Rex exclaimed as he moved forward, making short work of the next kobold in a similar fashion, and then the next and the next. His moves were extremely precise and with zero wasted movement, seeming as an expert with years and years of gruesome battles behind his back.

"Sheesh! Fucking prodigies!" Enviously exclaimed Nila, well aware of the age of the youngster that had joined them for the quest, as her arrow ended the gutted kobolds life. Both her and Derek noticed how Rex was moving with them in mind, pulling most of the kobolds to himself, while creating perfect opportunities for both archers to cripple the kobolds that were still alive after his debilitating cuts and moves. Wisely utilising the trees and his cover fire, Rex had managed to draw seven of them while Rudy dealt with the eight. Once the last kobold was skevered by Rex sword, he looked back at Nila and Derek, raising his eyebrow as he asked a question.

"You guys sure you are F ranks? That was some impeccable flow reading and adjusting, as well as precise cover fire."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"You are one to talk." helplessly laughed Derek "There aint no way an F rank can move like that."

"Nonesense. As you saw, I have a single F rank quest under my belt, one I completed yesterday in fact, and registered as an adventurer a day before that. So, I am as F rank as one can be." And seeing the deadpan stares he recieved, he just shrugged and added "might have had some training in combat and weapon arts before that though, but thats a secret thats mine to bear."

"You are not some wanted criminal hiding in an outskirts of a small nation?" Suspiciously at him looked Nila, as she asked, barely containing laughter. Rex squinted his eyes, not minding the chance to fool around before they entered the burrow, where theserious part would start.

"Damn, I hoped you would not notice. I will have to silence you all now." he replied, light laughter escaping his mouth moments later, quickly followed by Nilas own, and a light chuckle from teh rest of the group.

"A-any injurues?" timidly asked Alex, one the laughter died down.

"All good." Replied rudy, the only other front liner when he noticed Rex hold thubs up sign, indicating his own condition as fine.

"All right team, time to get serious. Burrows are much more dangerous than dealing with kobolds outside." Derek warned, and nodded apreciatively when he saw the game-on faces of his entire group.

"Great." he nodded and got into position behind Rex and Rudy, as the two front liners took point and entered the tunnel, closely followd by the archers and their healer.

What followed was slow grind through the tunnels, every now and then a group of four to five kobolds emerging and clashing with their group, being intercepted by both Rex and Rudy, and due to the limitations of the tunnels, making their ability to defend their back line much more efficient and stable. It was so efficient in fact, mostly due to Rex playing along with Rudy's movements, moving in when rudy was being pushed back, stepping back when Rudy pushed forward, just enough to give his co-front liner the space he needed to perform his intended moves and moving back in when something did not go according to plan.

And while Nila had somewhat playfully cursed Rex expert action, neither she nor the rest of her group were actually unhappy with his presence. The precise and expert action of their temporary helper had saved them a ton of resourses, limiting Alex's necesity to spend mana to heal and recover Rudy, with only constant ned to cast Replenish energy, exchaning his mana to relieve fatigue from the front line, and an extremely minor healing every now and then for Rudy.

Another couple hours later, they reached an expansion of the tunnel, having slain no less than fourty kobolds, with a small sack loaded with a certain and specific claw from each one of the felled ones.

"What the hell is wrong with this burrow? There was supposed to be no more than twenty of so of them. Isnt that what the almanac of monsters say?" complained Derek, clearly not happy with their current circumstances.

"More money for us, I suppose. But yes, something seems off." Rex added, having learned a thing or two about the kobolds by now. "And we have yet to see their 'treasury', or the females." The main two reasons they were getting more and more wary by the second, indicated by the equally worried faces of his companions.

Having a rather bad feeling about the place, Rex decided to do the obvious, and used his mana sonar, after signaling his group to stop for a moment. What he sensed caued even his eyes to widen, not nearly ready to deal with what came up.

"Time to get the fuck out of here! NOW!" He spoke as he turned around and picked up his pace.

"Em, whats..." Derek started, but was interrupted by Rex's, his words steely and final.

"LATER! WE LEAVE NOW!"

Understanding that something was wrong here, the group did not question Rex anymore right now, only quickly turned and followed after him, trusting in his senses since he had thoroughly impressed them with his skills during their combat phases. Lucklaly, since they did not have to grind through monsters, or check them for any loot on their way back, it only took them a dozen or so minutes to exit the burrow, with Rex leading them back to the village. It was on their way that Derek asked the question that was on all their minds.

"Why did we leave the burrow, without finishing the extermination?"

"Name the clasification monster groups, living as a single community or herd, based on their sizes."

"Huh? Sure. There are nests, that usually have around twenty or so individuals. Exiles forming a new herd mostly. Next comes village. Expected numbers of up to hundred individuals. Then come cities, with up to five thousand individuals expected. With multiple cities, next come nations, containing anywhere from ten to fifty thousand entities. And last, but not least, comes the empires, having anything above fifty thousand entities. There are a few known monster empires on the continent, creating large forbidden zones that only the most powerfull and foolish adventurer parties dare to delve into."

"Good, Now, all I can say is that I sensed more than a few hundred individuals deeper inside. Dont ask how, but thats a fact. Now, do you thing we stand a chance against a city of kobolds with just our party?"

"SHIT!" at the same time exclaimed the members of Lightning Sparrow. "W-we need to report it right away!" with a slight panic in his voice spoke Alex.

"And that is why we bolted as soon as I sensed it." Rex explained, as they noticed the village in the distance.

As soon as they entered the village, they moved straight to the village chief, who seemed rather happy with their return, asuming that their little kobold problem has been solved. The elder mans facial expression quickly changed from contentment to one of horror, as Derek mentioned what they had uncovered in the burrow. And due to the emergency nature of their information, the chief was more than willing to have one of the only two carriages that their vilage have to ferry this party back to the town, to quickly inform the guild.

While monster villages would simply demand a higher ranked quest to be posted, unless said monsters were of a high tier themselves, anything starting from a city needed the intervention of the local army, often working in conjunction with high ranked guild adventurers. Cities were quite the lucrative locations of wealth and natural treasures, with monsters having both nose and something of a sixth sense in locating them, causing countless powerfull people to desire trying their luck in such places. And while kobolds were the bottom of the barrel in terms of might or intelect, they still always managed to hoard quite the amount of precious metals, gems magical plants and other treausres. And a city, well, that would bring in a decent amount of wealth for sure.

With the carriage prepeared, Rex's and his colleagues for the moment left the village, the horse galloping with quite the speed towards the town. What had taken them several hours of walking, took only thirty minutes or so for the horse drawn carriage, soon enough bringing them to Valrun's gate. before the guards could start their ussual bullshit with what seemed like rural visitors, Rex popped his head out, waving his guild card, and near shouting at the guards.

"GUILD EMERGENCY! MONSTER CITY FOUND!"

With those words alone, the guards scrambled to let them through, well aware that no sane adventurer would joke about the matter, especially not in front of any city guards. With their path quickly cleared, one of the guards even mounting the sole horse stationed nearby, and riding in front of them, a unique ringing sounding out as said horse lead the way, opening a free path forwards for both the guard and the carriage that followed.

Just a few minutes later, Rex and the party jumped out of the carriage right in front of the guild, rushing into the building and storming straight towards the counter.

"Sorry fellas! emergency." They somewhat rudely jumped in front of a couple guys standing and waiting their turn to finish their own things, but before anyone, including the guild attendant could cite the rules and how rude their action was, Dereks words silenced any and all possible complaints.

"We found a monster city. Call the guildmaster." A serious expression apeared on the attendants face, but seeing the rather flustered, yet dead serious and not at all drunk Derek, the attendant nodded and ordered the group to follow him upstairs.

They were lead to the third floor, that had a single door, leading to a rather spacious and cozy waiting room, with yet another door, with plaque 'Guild master' hung on it. The attendant knocked on the door, a rather annoyed and rough voice, half shouting, sounding from the other side after the fourth try, when said attendand started to bang his hand quite agressively.

"PIPE IT DOWN. TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!"

"Monster city!" the attendant spoke back, his voice slightly elevated, yet it had the desired effect, as just a moment later the door swung open, a messy head and haggard face shooting out?

"What did you say?"

"We found a location of a kobold city, some four hour walk from Volrun." Rex spoke, earning the full attention of the guild master.

"I need every detail, and you better pray that what you say is true. With things like this, people dont joke around."

"i sensed several hundreds of kobold life signatures deeper in a supposed Nest. What else can it be called than a city?"