Three days after planting his first landmine, Ebony felt a tinge of sleepiness hit him.
‘Alright, I think I adjusted. Seven hours of sleep every ten days. That’s pretty reasonable. It feels better than to sleep an hour or two a day. The Kobolds are busy guarding their camps, we shouldn’t receive any attacks from them for now.’ Ebony prepared to sleep after bathing even though he'd just come back from a swim.
His student finally got the Swimming skill but her base effect seemed to be 60% +1.0% instead. He didn’t really care about that as long as she got the hang of swimming. When they got out and found an actual lake, he could start underwater combat training.
He fell asleep wondering if he would feel like time had passed again.
‘It really did feel like I fell asleep and not just opening my eyes after closing them.’ He pulled the warm covers to the side and looked down.
‘Again?’
His door was knocked on after he stood up.
“I’m making pancakes and the last of the eggs, how many pancakes do you want?”
“Three.” Pancakes were definitely one of many items on the breakfast menu so he didn’t need that much.
He prepared to get changed into gear to prepare for conditioning and another day of training Kobolds against ambushes but was forced to stop.
‘Do people just wait it out?’ A casual flex body muscle redirected his blood with ease but he noticed it took a second more than before. He climbed down the short stairway and got to setting the dishes.
“I think the boar meat has marinated for long enough.” He had almost forgotten about his experimental plum wine-marinated meat.
“Hmm…just let it rest in the ice box. I have a feeling we’ll have some visitors.”
“I see.” He didn’t say anything more about her ridiculous Intuition that was starting to feel like foresight.
“Get those hands moving and stop staring. It feels weird.”
“Why are you still in swimwear? And you smell like barbeque.”
“I was watching the roast the entire night and didn’t have time to change.”
“Roast?”
“I set it up outside. Don’t worry there’s no smoke escaping. Smells great!”
“Yeah…you should rest soon. I’ll patrol.”
“No! I have to watch the roast.”
“How much meat and vegetables do we have left?” He was sure they had at least a year's worth of frozen meat and properly preserved vegetables. From the recent meals, he might have to start eating rations in another two or three months. ‘Maybe we should keep a greater percentage of fresh foodstuff to ration from now.’
“W-we can just hunt for more. There’s plenty of food outside, I caught all the birds so far and there are a few of those poisonous toads that Clovis used for his poisons. Toads taste like poultry. They are more potent than I thought so I guess we can take diluted doses for now.”
“I saw you taking a bite of the poison sac already.”
“It was sour and a little spicy but numbing. I got poisoned but it washed out so quickly I only got a single level.”
‘I read about a few types of toads in his book collection but aren't most poisonous creatures here supposed to incapacitate monsters with relative effectiveness? My own poison resistance isn’t rising and she seems to have a hard time levelling it up.’ Ebony surmised that their natural resistance to poison was just really high. She could just burn it off and he would just restore all physical damage over time.
At least she could be inflicted with poison, he hadn’t gotten poisoned for quite some time as nothing was potent enough to harm and elicit a healing response from him. He found the sacs she stored and snacked on them to check out their toxicity but it just felt like chewing on ice cubes.
‘I guess it takes some kind of magical poison rather than a physical one to actually cause me harm and the ice mana in this is too thin.’
The pancakes for breakfast were thick and he savoured the last eggs he would have for some time.
Ton chauffeured him up and he saw a pair of sparrows near a tree. His Models were banged up and the sparrows were bloody. Numerous cuts and missing wings showed how hard it was for his Models to beat the sparrows. The chef would surely scowl at the poor quality and missing flesh.
‘Deer? Are there any species strong enough for this region?’ He touched the deer corpse that had been handled better. Either a decapitation or a stab to the heart. From the flesh's toughness and elasticity, he could tell that it was just a Master ranked deer. Seemed like even weaker creatures found a way to survive the region. That, or the monsters nearby left them alone.
Regardless, he packed them up on Ton and had the turtle drive it back. The additional hunt would help their food stocks from dropping as fast.
Ebony patrolled and checked the damage the forest sustained. It wasn’t too bad but there was damage all the same. The sky was clear and the weather was pretty good so it was a good walk to digest the heavy meal.
His knees bent and he fell flat on his back when a flash of white swept over where his body had been. The awkward limbo position had been an evasive move that few would attempt.
‘What? My Models didn’t sense anything. My models? Gone.’ Ebony didn’t hold back any longer. He could only hope he saved and prepared enough mana so far.
“Ful, I need backup.”
“Already on the way.”
He was near the centre of the maple forest and was surrounded by Uncommon trees. His attacker didn’t slow down its ambush and unleashed wide swings without hitting a single tree.
‘Great, maximum output and I'm about as fast as this guy who can also use some kind of reinforcement..’ Ebony felt good that he wasn’t at a disadvantage when it came to speed. His ambusher appeared to be an [Alpha Hoarfrost Kobold Lvl 350].
‘Lower level but stronger. The Imperials will classify it as an elite or noble monster. How about grades? 3? 4?’
Without a weapon, multiple figures of him were flitting about the slightly bulkier opponent. A flurry of kicks struck the Kobold’s joints and temple while the aggressive sharpened bone cleaver was smashed against fists. Almost as if they were attracted to his fist. The Kobold pulled off an impressive reaction to readjust its swings but it didn’t work and it continued to look as if it was aiming to slice Ebony’s fists.
Sweeping the Kobold off its feet and a Firm Path coming to life sent it flying back out to where hundreds of Kobold were waiting. The small forest that didn’t stretch ten kilometres in any direction was almost fully surrounded.
‘7 alphas. So seven camps teamed up. Hot damn, it's my fault. They’re the ones I trained the most. So they found out it was me or at least, the only other invader in their territory.’ Behind each alpha were hundreds of Kobolds, basically the entire camp was sent out.
“Greetings. If this is about our intrusion into your territory, I apologise but we’ll be moving soon enough. If this is about disturbing your sleep, no need to thank me for the training.” Afloat, he could see all Alphas and they could see him from a distance too. It was nice of them to keep some distance so he could see they weren’t considering destroying the maple forest.
The one he tossed back was the representative as it grumbled in anger before it threw something at him.
He caught the grey projectile before it smashed his face. It was a flat rock.
“Oh uh…about these bombs. Sur-surely it didn’t kill any of you.” Ebony was already surprised at the Kobold’s intelligence but the alpha took it a step further and yelled again.
The Kobolds in all camps spread out and carried some of their breathens to lay out in the open. He saw some of them with missing legs and had their wounds frozen shut. All the injured had terrible burns.
They didn’t wait for his response anymore and each camp took out dozens of similar flat rocks from their leafy loincloths.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Without hesitation, those chosen to hold a runic rock bomb hurled them at the trees in the outskirts.
Other than the 3 Models that disappeared, the rest rushed out to tackle the bomb after he Flickered closer to them and gave his orders. There was a bit of lag as he crossed the distance to give out a command. The models didn’t know the rocks were bombs after all.
He wasn’t able to reach the area furthest from him but a red flash did and sliced the rocks apart. The vibrational bombs weren’t that strong and her own fire couldn’t hurt her that easily but he found out they didn’t explode when she sliced it. A quick check on his Models told him that each bomb took away around 5% of the mana within them. Those that managed to take on multiple bombs were almost shattered but they decompressed their mana and got back into shape.
Decompressing to heal back to shape was one of the functions he gave as he couldn’t tell them anything too complicated like gauging what injury was urgently detrimental and what wasn’t. It made them less durable as time passed and their energy decreased but they kept all the battle functions at peak state. Losing a leg or arm might make the whole model dumb as he didn’t input such a Will into them. Hence, his best option was to make sure they healed up to the original shape at the cost of weakening over time.
“Wait.” He Flickered and held the swordswomen back but she never even moved to counterattack which was out of his expectations.
Just as he noticed, she also saw that the Kobolds didn’t continue attacking them. They stood before the Alpha in charge but he got his Models to keep up their guard at their positions.
The Alpha gestured and did a weird dance while speaking in their language. Every word that came out sounded like a grumble but he was nodding his head to see civilised monsters deciding to converse. Unlike the misty silhouette people who could clearly speak the same language but didn’t even bother conversing.
“What did they say?” The swordswoman asked.
“How would I know?”
“You were nodding your head.”
“Sorry, I was distracted by the fact that they are so intelligent. Who knows, maybe they have a Class and are not a race of monsters.”
“They don’t. You can tell so don’t come up with weird theories to trick yourself.”
“Fine. Yes, I can sense and differentiate ambient essence from monsters and non-monsters to some extent but where does the line of intelligence and sapience meet?”
“Please don’t use confusing words on me.”
“...”
“I have a pretty good guess about what they are saying.” The masked lady pointed to herself and then to the Alpha. She then pointed to him and the forest behind them. “cross blades with me”
Ebony obliged and pulled Icicle out to ‘cross blades’ with her.
“Lie down.” She asked.
‘Oh, I remember watching a play like this.’
“Ahhh, you got me!” He lay down on the cold hard ground while shouting emotionlessly.
Ning Xin walked to the nearest maple tree, patted it and patted herself. She then got him to cross blades with her again but she fell onto the ground instead. She picked herself up and ran away.
They had a gesturing battle with the Kobolds that took half an hour. Many of the Kobolds yawned and some fiddled with their feet while they sat. They did get a scolding from their Alpha for making them look bad.
“Yeah, I think they got it.” Ning Xin had ice in her hair. She must have been annoyed to be rushed out of her shower. ‘Did she slice the rock bombs unenhanced?’
“Got what?” He didn’t understand the gesturing battle.
“A duel. If we win, they’ll leave us alone.”
“If they win-”
“They won’t.”
The Alpha Kobold growled and pointed to the Maple forest.
“You want the Rare sap.” Ebony guessed. Even if the Kobold drank a tree’s worth of Rare sap, they wouldn’t improve their bodies. Unless they survived and took it long-term like the younger turtles. It was really weird that Gen and his younger relatives couldn’t conjure freezing flames when they descended from the original. Gen also drank Ful’s sap in the past but it did nothing to improve him any further. Past a certain point, it was just a drink and more energy.
The Kobold nodded.
‘Is this a battle to the death kind of thing?’ Ebony wondered and decided to ask in the most straightforward way. He gestured throat slitting which seemed kind of universal.
It was hard to say who the invaders were. The Alpha’s expression hardened before nodding.
‘Oh…did that look like I was challenging them?’ He realised that the message might not have come across correctly but it was far too late. The Kobold Army ushered them away to another large clearing within their territory.
“Cool place.” He saw that they were stacked logs for seats and surrounded the centre like an arena.
“Maybe it’s an evolutionary requirement to be an Alpha. I read that some smarter pack monsters have these…rituals to determine the strongest.” Ning Xin said constructively.
Monsters simply level as time passes and ambient essence enters their bodies until they reach their race’s limit. Those in the Glades do not follow this logic completely or people’s understanding of how monsters level and evolve is inaccurate.
‘A duel is good, I don’t have to waste too much mana on suppressing hundreds of them. I doubt I can handle more than five at the same time since they can destroy my Models within a minute.’
Mr Alpha pointed to Ebony.
“Me?”
Ultimately, they perceived him as the lesser threat and they were right.
The clearing was only 2 kilometres in radius but that was more than enough if the battle was going to be close combat. Even at their level and speed. It wasn’t as if either of them were going to run around much.
He wanted to learn from them but it really wasn’t a good time to waste mana and drag the battle. Before they began fighting, even more Alphas and normal Kobolds arrived to watch the battle. The male and female Kobolds looked exactly the same except for their privates.
As he readied his weaved mana, Mr Alpha never stepped up to the centre.
‘Crap. They have a stronger leader don’t they?’ Ebony recalled the fact that Ning Xin sensed some danger from them. Mentally relieved when he saw someone new step up. It was almost impossible to tell them apart but he was able to see minute differences in the way they move and their auras.
Thankfully, no King appeared. Just another Alpha but at level 399 instead.
It was a white-furred Kobold and was clearly older than the majority. On its body were scars that told tales.
‘Old guy in a monster-infested forest supposedly surrounded by greater predators. Xin’s fingers are twitching. His or her aura doesn’t feel too different but more abundant. Very abundant.’ Ebony quickly threw away the thought that he had a strength and speed advantage.
The white-furred Kobold didn’t wield a large bone sword or axe. It held a straightened and hardened spine in one hand. It was the size of a one-handed sword and the humanoid monster had a similar frame to him albeit skinnier. One of the main reasons for the small weapon might have been due to the fact that the Kobold only had one arm. The other arm was cut off at its elbow.
‘It's in a stance…’ Without any further delay, the moment both fighters stood in front of each other the Kobold lunged with an overhead slash.
Ebony already prepared for his Augmentation to flare up and reacted in time. His opponent was almost as fast as his daily sparring partner. The spine ground down against Icicle and attempted to freeze his greatsword. A futile attempt that only helped to feed Icicle.
The Kobold moved with agility withdrew its blade and thrust it dozens of times in a second like a rapier. Blasts of sharpened mana shot out along with its stabs. Ebony guarded half of it and weaved his head and body between the other half. The thrusts weren’t nearly as sharp as Xin’s. Lunges and sword thrusts were her speciality and it appeared to be the same for this old monster.
The thrusts didn’t stop but Kobold's feet danced as its hip rotated and a heel flew towards his face. Amongst the thrusts that had mana blasts that were slightly delayed, the back hook to the head was undodgeable unless he took the mana blasts. He freed one of his hands and blocked the back hook. The Kobold reacted and pulled its leg back before he could grab onto its ankle.
Colour him impressed.
Despite the limited magical means, the Kobold was a great fighter. More importantly, it could almost land a blow on him in close combat. Such chances were not common so he took the opportunity to increase his proficiency with a Greatsword. No matter how seriously he took his sparring with Ning Xin, there was something lacking compared to a real battle. Perhaps it was missing the looming threat of death.
The initial exchange stopped them in place for a fraction of a second.
Similar to Athena and most warriors adept in body enhancement magic, a dense concentration of mana flowed within the Kobold’s leg and a small amount burst under their feet. Far more mana-efficient than a full-body version like his.
At the same time, his faulty domain came alive to smother out the Kobold’s feral charge. It summoned a thin layer of ice over its skin that had cracks form and disappeared a few times before it no longer broke under the vibrational reflection. The halted charge shocked it but it managed to raise its weapon and use its half arm to form a cross guard against Ebony's speedy Flicker and Stalactite Sunder.
The spinal weapon cracked but the warrior managed to push back and allow Icicle to skid to the ground. He didn’t cause a tremor to save the mana. The old Kobold noticed the flames on its weapon but only started to panic when it couldn’t put out the flames no matter what it tried.
Experienced, it used it as an additional benefit and hastened its offence. The old warrior latched onto Ebony, crushing past his flimsy repulsion membrane and didn’t notice that it only managed to warp its leg around him because Ebony allowed it to. To its credit, if it was slightly faster it might be able to catch him even if he was on guard.
The feral weaponry of bites and punching with its elbow-only arm raged on after its weapon shattered on the second strike. It was this sudden ferality and desperation that disappointed him and the watching swordswoman.
‘Yeah, this might be tough if it was before my skill evolutions.’ Ebony needed the data of how tough his body was after roughly gauging that the Kobold had lower strength than Gao’larg. In terms of both physical ability and technique, the Trolls were superior. His flames dug bone deep but he tried not to kill the old Kobold.
Thanks to the interesting mix of vitality and mana augmentation, he was able to pull the legs around him apart without shattering them. As expected from creatures of the Glades, their cold resistance was amazing.
‘My skull cracked and it broke my nose. That should be enough data, it has the ability to kill me and the strength to redirect a domain and Firm Path assisted Stalactite Sunder.’ Suffice to say, the old monster was strong. It didn’t explode from the Sonic Intrusion upon contact with Statactite Sunder. A skill that couldn’t hit Ning Xin because it was easy to see coming and too slow to catch her but it wasn’t an attack she would parry or counter.
“You made that look easy. Very frustrating.” Ning Xin commented.
“It wasn’t easy but it became desperate after seeing my freezing flames catch on.” He wanted to add on that it was after its sword broke but he didn’t say that to her. He wasn’t capable of breaking her swords or ripping them out of her hands so it was not his place to train her but he was going to prepare her in some manner in case she lost her swords again.