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Kobold Chieftain – Light Fur – Level 13
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"It's level 13!" Hera gasped.
"Light it up!" Bonnie started throwing spell after spell at it.
Alex joined in, using the stronger version of her air cutters. Hera used a supercharged poison needle with over 100 mana on it. The spell seemed to hit. She even confirmed that the chieftain was, in fact, poisoned, but it didn't seem fazed. It evaded Bonnie's and Alex's spells, only being hit by a couple, but it kept walking towards Zudra.
Blue and Tom tried to pull the general away, but she was adamant against moving.
"If dumb light fur want fight, it will have one!"
"The thing can squash you with its foot. Why aren't you running?" Hera pleaded.
"This is not time to run. I have to fight. Hope great one won't be mad," Zudra smiled at Hera, turning back to Light Fur and getting into a fighting stance. Apparently, she was proficient in martial arts, moving her feet away from each other and crouching slightly.
The chieftain got even closer and swung its large club, which was basically a tree ripped from the forest, towards Zudra. Hera and the rest quickly moved away, but the general held her ground. As the blunt weapon was about to hit her, Zudra kicked up, doing a standing split and sending the club flying back. Light Fur almost lost its grip on the trunk and stumbled backward. Blue just stared at Zudra, amazed by the attack. It was much cleaner than she expected. Unlike what her build showed, her movements weren't wasteful or unnecessary. It was almost like seeing a machine practicing martial arts.
"I guess the system wouldn't make something that's not efficient," Blue mumbled to herself and tried to grab the Light Fur's. If she could make it topple, they would have an advantage in the fight. Even with the buffs, trying to move the giant kobold was like trying to push away a mountain. It didn't matter how much strength she put into it. It wouldn't budge. Even with Bonnie and Alex trying to help her using spells, it was to no avail. Their attacks seemed to be doing little more than bothering the kobold.
Zudra jumped to the side and used Light Fur's thighs as a stepping stone, going high into the air while doing a spinning kick aimed at the kobold's shoulder. With a loud bang, the attack pushed the chieftain a few steps back. Hera couldn't believe that the small kobold was strong enough to push a level 13 creature. She activated her [Observe] again.
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Zudra – Dragon Kin General – Level 16
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She remembered that on the day before, Zudra was only level 7. In just a day, her level increased too much.
"Tom, Blue, stay away from that fight! Alex, Bonnie use only spells to support, and Runir, focus on healing and buffing Zudra!"
"Why?" Blue was about to try to copy what Zudra had just done.
"Those two are ten levels above us. One wrong hit and we are toast!"
"But I can dodge any attack!" just as Blue finished the sentence, the primitive club slammed into the ground creating a 50-centimeter deep groove on the dirt. She stared at the impact and turned to Tom, "We should stay away!"
Hera wanted to help Zudra, but the rest of the Wolves' army was still charging towards the gate. Staying inside the 10-meter radius that would give her a buff, Hera kept using the new poison shower spell to keep the invaders at bay. It was a shame that the spell would last only a few seconds. It wasn't a continuous downpour of poison needles. Only a handful would be created and fall down in the area she targeted.
The two kobold leaders continued their fight. Zudra jumped around, hitting the giant canine at every chance she got. Light Fur kept trying to hit her, but the general was too fast. With a swing of its tree club, Blue, who was out of position, went flying to one of the tents.
"Blue!" Hera, Alex, and Runir called at the same time.
"I'm ok," Blue jumped up and dashed towards the group.
"How?" Bonnie asked.
"No clue. The club was just like a catapult. The landing hurt more than the attack," Blue shouted as she ran.
"Maybe it because of what the notification said, attacks will be less effective," Alex threw another spell.
"And your spells are not doing anything, right?" Hera asked.
"Barely anything. Why?" Bonnie turned to her.
"Switch with me. I can try to afflict it with some mental effects," Hera said, already heading towards Light Fur.
Alex and Bonnie took one look at the gate and understood what she meant. The invasion did not stop, and the Dragon Kin were outnumbered three to one. The two went back to their rotations, sending one spell at a time since it was all it took to kill the canine kobolds. Blue and Tom joined Hera in the attack. Since the trunk swings wouldn't hurt them so much, they could try to at least damage the chieftain.
Hera was aiming at the ankles of the canine kobold, trying to cut its tendons. However, its hide was extremely tough. Even when using all her strength, she could barely nick its legs. To deal any significant damage, she had to use mana reinforcement on her handaxe. She didn't even try using her chakram since the weapon would have less weight to its attacks.
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Tom understood what she was doing and tried the same thing. His attacks were stronger than Hera's, but even so, he barely dealt damage. Blue was running around Light Fur, trying to distract it with her lightning buff charging up. All the while, the three still had to make sure to avoid the chieftain's attacks and not to get in Zudra's way.
"Clear!" after about a minute, Blue jumped towards the giant kobold and punched its leg, unleashing the electricity created by her buff.
Light Fur was covered in blue lightning, but instead of shocking it, the blue sparks kept coursing through its body, slowly changing to yellow. With a howl that made the entire group hold their ears, the electricity changed. It was no longer an attack but now something that the chieftain seemed to be able to control. The trunk it was using as a club started to crackle, and from inside it, a yellow glow appeared, almost as if it was a reactor.
Blue took a step back, "This was a bad idea…"
Light Fur brought its club down, slamming the ground and calling a lightning bolt from the sky. The thunderbolt was pulled to Hera and Tom, the two who wore heavy metal armor and sent them flying. Even with the defense buff, Hera felt her entire body become numb. It wasn't a deadly dose of electricity, but it was more than enough to burn her skin. Runir quickly activated his battle heal on them. Hera could feel the burning sensation become more bearable but not go away.
The giant kobold seemed to be stunned for a moment. The electricity coursed through its body, making it shiver. Hera confirmed that the creature was paralyzed and rushed at it, slashing madly at any piece of flesh she could find. She didn't want to leave that attack unpunished. Tom tried to join in, but his armor was stuck to his body by the burnt flesh. Runir quickly went towards him and started to heal as much as he could.
Zudra turned to Hera, "Mighty one. Give me a boon!"
Hera snapped out of her frenzy and rushed towards Zudra.
"How?"
"Like you did with friend," she pointed at Bonnie.
Hera stopped. She didn't do a thing for Bonnie to get stronger. It was all the system and the dungeon. She looked around, trying to ask Runir, but he was focused on healing Tom, who seemed to be in bad shape. She turned to Bonnie and Alex, but the two didn't have any buffs that could help in that situation. Light Fur seemed to be recovering from its condition and started to get back on its feet. If she was going to do something, it had to be now. Looking back at Zudra, Hera noticed the rings on her hands. At that moment, a thought came to her. She could not have a buff, but she had a reinforcement. She never tried doing that for someone else, but in theory, it could work. There was nothing in the spell description saying that the mana had to be connected or had to be touching her. Even when using it on her chakram tied with Yarnball, she only reinforced the weapon, not the string.
She grabbed Zudra's hands and used the mana reinforcement spell. The idea was to do it only on the rings, but the mana covered the rest of the claws. Zudra's eyes sparkled as she felt the energy coat her hands.
"Mighty one too kind to Zudra," she said and turned towards Light Fur. The giant was trying to push the last bit of the paralysis away.
Zudra took a step and vanished. Her body turning into little more than a blur, leaving deep footprints on the ground. She jumped towards Light Fur with both claws out and dove into its chest. Hera swore that she vanished inside the creature's thick golden mane, but soon a river of blood came out of its midsection. Hera saw the giant kobold stumble forward and fall face-first on the ground. On the other side, Zudra held with both hands a heart about the size of a watermelon. She dug her claws inside the fleshy organ and ripped it to shreds, her necklaces and clothes now covered in blood.
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Zudra has defeated the Wolves of the Night Chieftain
Dragon Kin Kobolds will have their attributes tripled until the end of the war
Wolves of the Night Kobolds will have their attributes reduced by half until the end of the war
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The fight was already going in their favor. With that extra buff, killing the canine kobolds was just a matter of time. Each Dragon Kin kobold was almost five times stronger than normal after considering all the buffs, and that was if none of them would multiply each other. Hera shuddered to think how strong Zudra would be if this last notification meant the Dragon Kin's current attributes had tripled after applying all the buffs.
"Guys!" Runir shouted through the comms.
"What's wrong?" Alex rushed over.
"Tom is not doing well. We are going to use the letters," Runir said without stopping his healing.
"Can't he hold it? We are almost done," Blue asked.
"His skin is fused with the armor! No, he can't hold it!" Runir shouted.
"Shit. Fine, let's go," Blue said.
"No, you guys stay. We are just by the guild, and I can keep him stable."
Hera arrived where Runir was. Tom was unconscious, but he had a peaceful expression.
"I knocked him out with a sleep spell. It's just for situations like this," Runir explained.
“Oh… the smell," Bonnie had just arrived.
"I know. His skin is stuck to the armor. I told him we should have waited for a padded one, but nooo he wanted to feel the damn metal on his skin," Runir sighed while placing the letter on Tom's hands. He turned to Hera, "If I'm the one who teleports out, I'm letting go of the spell. Make him rip a letter! Don't let him stay here. The longer we take to fix this, the worse it will get."
Hera nodded, and Runir pulled the paper using Tom's hands. The knight in burnt armor vanished instantly, with the healer following right behind.
"We should go too, right?" Hera asked.
"I'm not sure. I mean, he told us to stay, and he has the final say in these emergency situations, right?" Bonnie said.
"Are they already gone?" Alex reached their position.
"Yeah," Hera nodded.
"Oh man, I wonder if I missed any clues about the lightning thing," Blue scratched her head.
"You missed the fucking compendium! Didn't you read that the chieftain got empowered by lightning?" Bonnie shouted.
"What? No, there wasn't anything like that," Blue took a step back.
"Yes, there was! I told you several times to read the entire thing. I don't care if you think it's boring," Bonnie started to stomp towards Blue, but Hera held her back.
"Calm down. I saw her doing the spell and forgot about that too. I honestly thought it would only work if it was another kobold's lightning," Hera said.
"Doesn't matter. You are not the one with a spell that can make our enemy stronger!" Bonnie kept shouting.
Blue drew her tablet and looked for the compendium. In a few moments, her face turned pale, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"Sorry won't make Tom better! You could have killed someone!" Bonnie yelled.
"That's enough!" Alex pulled her to the side, "This kind of thing happens. Today was Blue hurting Tom, yesterday was Hera hurting me, tomorrow might be you hurting Runir, or Mark, or someone else! Now we have to finish this dungeon. You said it yourself, Runir is the one with the final say, and he told us to stay and complete this."
"I agree," Hera turned to Blue, "Feel bad later, you will have plenty of time, and we will talk about this, but focus on the quest now," she looked back to the gate, seeing the Dragon Kin going on the offensive and rush outside to clear out the army. If they wanted to finish this quickly, they might as well help.