Ashley

Both of the kobold knights are wearing sets of armor covered in those same glowing crimson cracks, with the armor itself being pitch black in color. They have swords that they both draw the moment they see me, and are bigger in size than the other kobolds, with glowing crimson claws as well, and slit crimson eyes. Albeit non-glowing ones. Rather than the regular slit green eyes the other kobolds have had.

To my surprise, the kobold knights don’t make a single sound as they approach me. As if they don’t care about the other knights across the fortress no doubt hunting for me.

That, along with the wary looks these knights are sending each other, makes me wonder just how independent they are.

Then they surprise me as they instantly move straight towards me, appearing where I am in a flash and just barely missing me with their swords thanks to me teleporting back into my shadow. Swords that also have glowing crimson cracks running through them, just like damn near everything else in this Domain.

But they don’t stop with a single swing. Both of them instantly change directions and swing their swords towards me again without even so much as a single pause between my teleportation and their movements.

Thanks to this I end up letting out a pained grunt when I’m forced to push my wings forwards in order to block the blades from piercing my chest. Making said blades pierce into and through my wings in the process, splashing my blood from my wings out and spraying the kobold knights.

The creatures finally let out grunts of their own as bits of them begin to mutate, but not as much as I would’ve hoped. In fact, it’s little enough that they still ignore it and try to change the directions of their swings again to hit me.

I teleport further away this time. Inside of the shed.

And once more, their blades follow me, destroying the wall of the shed and sending rubble flying everywhere.

But it slows them down enough that I can make it out of the way of their hits while my wings droop at my sides with blood dripping out of them. The crimson, purple, and black liquid just oozing out more like oil than blood.

I grit my teeth, but I don’t let the pain stop me from moving over towards the gunpowder kegs.

Because by now I’ve realized something.

Even with my jump in levels, I am no match for these knights.

At most I might have the slightest hint of a chance if I took one on alone after ambushing it and weakening it.

But fighting two at once? And with me being the one ambushed?

No chance in hell.

Literally, considering the long name of this Unique Domain.

The kobold knights aren’t stupid, though, and they quickly halt their attacks when they see me standing near the gunpowder. Clearly showing that they aren’t going to attack me while I’m standing here. Not with their swords, at least.

Instead, they step back and summon multiple orbs of destruction mana in the air that has me gritting my teeth even harder.

Then they begin sending lasers made of destruction mana straight at me, the first of which tears a chunk out of my left arm.

I let out a cry of pain as I lose my grip on my left blade, but I manage to dodge several of the other shots. Until another one hits my left shoulder, pretty much rendering my left arm useless at this point.

Fuck it.

I activate Assimilate before ripping open the crate of gunpowder and just dipping my hand inside, shocking the hell out of the kobold knights enough that they stop attacking.

And just like that, the gunpowder directly touching my hand begins to explode, sending more of the gunpowder flying through the air and exploding as well. All of it just sending glowing crimson cracks flooding absolutely everything that the crimson explosion makes contact with.

Even the air itself.

But I just get a flood of System Messages covering part of my vision instead of any pain.

{You have used up one charge of Chaotic Source! The True Damage has now been redirected! 29/30 charges remaining.}

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{You have used up one charge of Chaotic Source! The True Damage has now been redirected! 28/30 charges remaining.}

{You have used up one charge of Chaotic Source! The True Damage has now been redirected! 27/30 charges remaining.}

{You have used up one charge of Chaotic Source! The True Damage has now been redirected! 26/30 charges remaining.}

…

{You have used up one charge of Chaotic Source! The True Damage has now been redirected! 1/30 charges remaining.}

{You have used up one charge of Chaotic Source! The True Damage has now been redirected! 0/30 charges remaining.}

{You have used up one charge of- Warning. User has no charges remaining. One unit of Chaos Energy has been expended to refill 10 charges. You have used up one charge of Chaotic Source! The True Damage has now been redirected! 9/30 charges remaining.}

Over, and over, and over again. The charges just keep getting used up and replaced and used up and replaced.

Meanwhile the entire shed at this point is just nonexistent, and the kobold knights… well, they stopped screaming a few seconds ago. I can’t tell if I got a kill message for them or not though. Because these charge messages are too numerous and are covering everything.

I also can’t see anything other than crimson cracks in everything.

So I try to teleport away multiple times, only to finally get away from the largest source of the crimson cracks.

To find a rather large hole in the wall. A wall I’m now standing outside of.

And a wall that is currently still being blown up by the gunpowder.

Hmm.

I stare at the continuous explosions from that gunpowder for several seconds until it finally begins to die down, leaving my charges to finally stop being used up.

Then I find the System Messages for kills credited to me flooding my vision.

{You have been granted 3 Skill Points for killing a monster within a Unique Domain.} x71

{You have slain a being while Assimilate is active. You have now unlocked the Skill Tree: Destruction-Touched Kobold} x24

{You have slain a being while Assimilate is active. You have now unlocked the Skill Tree: Destruction-Touched Kobold Guardsmen} x21

{You have slain a being while Assimilate is active. You have now unlocked the Skill Tree: Destruction-Touched Kobold Knight} x26

{You have unlocked a new Skill Tree, therefore the root skill of the Skill Tree, Minor Destruction Resistance, is now unlocked for your usage.} – [ERROR – Minor Destruction Resistance is already unlocked. No skills are unlocked. Skills will now be added to the preexisting Skill Tree: Destruction-Touched Kobold.] x24

{You have unlocked a new Skill Tree, therefore the root skill of the Skill Tree, Moderate Destruction Resistance, is now unlocked for your usage.} – [ERROR – Moderate Destruction Resistance is already unlocked. No skills are unlocked. Skills will now be added to the preexisting Skill Tree: Destruction-Touched Kobold Guardsmen.] x21

{You have unlocked a new Skill Tree, therefore the root skill of the Skill Tree, High Stage Destruction Mana Manipulation, is now unlocked for your usage.}

{You have unlocked a new Skill Tree, therefore the root skill of the Skill Tree, High Stage Destruction Mana Manipulation, is now unlocked for your usage.} – [ERROR – High Stage Destruction Mana Manipulation is already unlocked. No skills are unlocked. Skills will now be added to the preexisting Skill Tree: Destruction-Touched Kobold Knight.] x26

{Congratulations, you have now reached level 63. Your PHY and MEN have increased by 1 point, and your MAG by 2 points. Please choose where you wish your 1 Free Point to be allocated.}

{Congratulations, you have now reached level 64. Your PHY and MEN have increased by 1 point, and your MAG by 2 points. Please choose where you wish your 1 Free Point to be allocated.}

{Congratulations, you have now reached level 65. Your PHY and MEN have increased by 1 point, and your MAG by 2 points. Please choose where you wish your 1 Free Point to be allocated.}

{Congratulations, you have now reached level 66. Your PHY and MEN have increased by 1 point, and your MAG by 2 points. Please choose where you wish your 1 Free Point to be allocated.}

{Congratulations, you have now reached level 67. Your PHY and MEN have increased by 1 point, and your MAG by 2 points. Please choose where you wish your 1 Free Point to be allocated.}

{Congratulations, you have now reached level 68. Your PHY and MEN have increased by 1 point, and your MAG by 2 points. Please choose where you wish your 1 Free Point to be allocated.}

{Congratulations, you have now reached level 69. Your PHY and MEN have increased by 1 point, and your MAG by 2 points. Please choose where you wish your 1 Free Point to be allocated.}

After all of the messages finally go silent, I find myself blankly staring at the fortress. Just plain shocked by everything that just happened.

Then I remember the fact that every last instance of True Damage I took was reflected at an enemy. So not just the damage that would’ve already hit the enemies from the explosions, but the redirected damage as well.

So many messages.

So many levels.

So many Skill Points.

But before I can feel even the slightest hint of joy for it all, I hear roars and screeches beginning to come from inside of the fortress. And not even seconds later, monsters begin appearing through the holes in the walls.

Every last one being kobold knights who survived the gunpowder.

Except for a single one that steps out from the same area I came out here through. The same hole in the wall.

And this kobold sends a chill down my spine when I identify the creature.

♢ Level 80 Kobold Lord – 561 Potential Skills – X ♢

Because it’s a mini boss.

Just like the goliath.

The kobold lord of this fortress.