S23, The Raid of The Kobold Settlement (Part 1)

“Do you all have blood potions?” Instructor Remme asked and everyone nodded. “Good, once we are inside don’t bother with baits or repellents, they will have almost no effect on the kobolds and their tamed dogs.” He added as the four of us finished spreading the black powder in one of the lateral cave entrances.

We were securing the area around the kobold settlement while the rest of the raid team made the last preparations before starting the assault. I couldn’t believe the day of the mission had already arrived. After deciding we would participate, we had been training hard every afternoon.

With our job done, we returned to the big cave where the participants of the raid were gathered. Most of the adventurers here were instructors of the Calpavaros’ Bears Guild and members of the Grey Hounds Guild. Other than us, there was only another group of trainees that had been deemed good enough for the assault. Our main task would be to protect the rear and finish the monsters after the vanguard groups and the Grey Hound adventurers passed through the enemy lines.

Around a big rock that was being used as an improvised table, Uncle was discussing the last details of the plan with the other instructors. Besides him, a sword with a bluish blade was resting against a backpack. Uncle had been making some maintenance on it when we departed to secure the other caves.

It was a mana blade, the weapon of choice for knights and experienced adventurers. With one in hand, a skilled warrior could split almost any monster in half without feeling any resistance. Uncle was brandishing one in almost all the stories he had told me, but I had never seen his weapon in person until now.

“Doesn’t Marcus have a mana sword?” Falnid asked while I was admiring the blue hue of the blade. Instructor Marcus was also standing around the improvised table and listening to Uncle's words. On his back there was an enormous war hammer, it looked so heavy that at first, I doubted a single human could lift it. Yet the instructor hadn’t shown any kind of fatigue while he carried it all the way here through the dark tunnels.

“Not to my knowledge,” Instructor Remme replied to Falnid’s question. “Well, I’m sure he at least knows the basics and could use one, but it’s really expensive to maintain a mana blade. The guildmaster sends that sword of his to Mesdale thrice a year to keep it sharp, and all that blade normally does is stay in its sheath.”

“Oh!” Hearing Instructor Remme’s answer, I couldn’t suppress an exclamation. I knew mana blades needed a lot of maintenance to remain sharp, but I didn’t know it was to that point.

“Yup, it is recommended that you have them serviced once or twice a month,” Terence added. “In some cases, you will need to send them for repairs after every mission, and only expert blacksmiths can get the job done, so you can expect to expend at least a few tiny silvers every time.”

Terence surely knew a lot about mana blades. Well, his father had been a guard of the king, so I was sure he owned at least one mana sword.

“Oh, you seem to know a lot about that!” Falnid exclaimed. “Where did you learn all of that?”

“Well, y-you know…” Being caught off guard by the question, Terence stuttered and scratched his chin while avoiding Falnid’s gaze. “There was this blacksmith in Flodbred that took care of the knight’s blades. Since I was an apprentice in the city guard for some time, I went there regularly. That old man surely was talkative.” He laughed as he recovered his composure.

Terence still hadn’t told Falnid about his background. He feared the little Vesturke would blurt his secret in a moment of carelessness.

“Oh, I see! That sounds interesting. Tell me more about it! Was the blacksmith really old? Like those old men from the stories? And how many mana blades did he have in his smithy?” Falnid assailed Terence with a volley of questions. I could almost see Terence’s brain fuming in an effort to elaborate his cover story.

“Umm, Falnid. I think you shouldn’t be bothering Terence. We have to prepare for the assault.” Bolton interjected, saving Terence from the awkward situation.

While we were in the middle of our banter, Uncle Ather straightened his back as he took his eyes from the map unfolded over the rock. “Alright.” He murmured. “The other two teams should be in position by now.”

Other than the main force that we were a part of, two smaller teams had been given the mission to block the other entrances of the kobold settlement. These two groups were composed of trainees led by a few veteran adventurers. Most of the apprentices from our guild who volunteered for this mission had ended there, among them, Stroud and his companions. They would be securing the west entrance while the bulk of our forces irrupted through the middle one. They had transported heavy wooden barricades all the way here to make sure no monster would be able to escape once the raid started.

“Everyone, pay attention!” Uncle Ather’s deep voice echoed inside the cave, quieting the little chatter of the other members of the expedition. “Now we will raid the nest of those insolent kobolds that dared make a lair in our part of the dungeon. I know this mission won’t be an easy one, but the future of Algus depends on us. We can’t let them continue to build up their forces. If we don’t get rid of those despicable monsters today we will regret it in the future!”

Everyone listened to Uncle’s words in silence and one at a time he looked at all the adventurers present. Then he continued his speech with a resume of our strategy.

“As we discussed beforehand I will personally lead a team to the hill on the western side of their den. Their leaders will be there, so all you need to do is to eliminate the other kobolds before they can gather their forces. If too many of them are able to retreat into the hill we will face a difficult battle.”

Everyone had serious faces, we had heard there might be two hundred kobolds waiting for us, while our little army of adventurers didn’t reach fifty.

“Don’t give me those somber expressions! They may outnumber us four to one, but most of their troops are puny kobold scouts! Tell me, aren’t you all veteran adventurers that have survived hundreds of fights? Haven’t you all overcome difficult trials before!” Uncle asked with a domineering tone. His encouraging words lifted the spirits of everyone present and they replied with loud affirmations.

“Are you ready!” Uncle shouted, and a resounding clamor of voices and the clatter of weapons and armor answered his question. “Then, everyone… Advance!” He roared, raising his spear.

The time had come. We were about to raid the kobold settlement. In a column formation with Uncle and the instructors at the front, everyone marched quietly in the direction of the large cavern that the kobolds had occupied. Along the way, we spotted some lookouts that were patrolling near their den. As soon as they sensed us, the monsters tried to flee, hiding in the darkness of the dungeon, but Instructor Barrick and some other scouts used swift strikes to make sure none of them would live to alert their comrades.

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“That’s the cave that leads into their lair.” Instructor Remme said after a bit. He would be the one leading us and the other group of trainees during the assault.

Ahead of us, there was a narrow cave barely high enough for an adult human to pass through. “Now, raise your shields and keep close to me. Protect your heads!” Following his instructions, we held our bucklers in front of our faces and increased our pace.

At the front of the column, the adventurers organized themselves in lines of three men. They entered the tunnel with their spears ready and soon the sounds of battle started. The shouts of adventurers, the roars of kobolds, and an almost rhythmical clatter of metal against stone, and stone against wood, filled the narrow passageway.

“It seems we didn’t catch all of their scouts.” Instructor Remme muttered with a dissatisfied tone.

The cunning monsters had positioned themselves on top of a dry stone wall at the end of the small cave that led into their lair and were throwing a barrage of rocks at the men in the front. It was difficult for the vanguard to protect themselves and strike back at the evil monsters in the tight space left at the end of the tunnel and for a moment we had to halt our advance.

I could hear the sound of the hurled rocks and the groans of adventurers that were hit by them, as well as the dying yells of the rat-faced monsters. Once the column started to move once again, I saw a few kobolds fall after being struck by a spear, but soon another one would take their place after climbing the rocks from the other side. Then, Instructor Marcus brandished his hammer and blew half of them off the wall alongside some of the stones on the top. I witnessed all of it from the border of my raised shield, by the time we reached the fortification at the back of the column, the evil monsters had already abandoned it.

The shower of projectiles had been intense and quite a few adventurers had lost their lanterns to the relentless barrage. While walking I stumbled over one of them that hadn’t been hurled at the opponents and kicked it in annoyance.

“Damn!” Terence exclaimed beside me after slipping on a puddle of oil seeping out of another one. I looked at his face and saw that his expression was tense. Although we hadn't fought, all of us were on edge.

My heart was pounding. I had never been in such a big battle, just the skirmish at the entrance had been thrilling, but I didn’t realize the true scale of the battlefield until we crossed the defensive structure of the kobolds.

A vast cavern appeared on the other side, it was by far the biggest one I had seen until now. Our lamps felt like little candles trying to light a vast chamber and its edges remained shrouded in darkness. Inside the illuminated circle around us, there were scattered tents and piles of rocks, and from the darkness beyond it, I could hear all kinds of sounds.

The other adventurer positioned themselves to fight the kobolds that had started making barricades with anything they could find. Then a group led by Uncle broke through the monster’s ranks and marched towards the west side of the lair. Their target was a hill that barely peeked out of the darkness. From my location, I could barely see some packed tents draped in shadow and surrounded by a low wall that protected the base of the incline.

‘Good luck, Uncle.’ I thought as I watched the shine of their lanterns vanish behind some tents. I knew he was a silver-plated adventurer that had fought monsters that were incomparably more dangerous than the kobolds here. Even so, I couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous. After all, it had been almost ten years since he officially retired. He wasn’t so young anymore and I had heard him complain about his age and aches a few times when he visited us in the mountains.

Not far after Uncle’s group left, another team with Instructor Marcus at the helm also succeeded in breaking the kobold’s lines and headed towards a long dry stone wall that occupied a large area of the cavern.

Once there I thought they would walk through a small opening, but to my surprise Instructor Marcus brandished his enormous war hammer against the wall. With a loud bang and a cloud of dust, a big section of the structure was blown up. Then Marcus kicked the few remaining debris out of the way before disappearing through the hole alongside his team.

“Marcus always says that hammer of his is as deadly as a blue iron blade, and every time I see him in action I can’t help but agree with him.” Instructor Remme commented. “Anyway, get ready, we should start helping the others clean these monsters.”

After the two teams left most of the remaining adventurers were members of the Grey Hounds guild. They were fighting against several kobold hunters and their tamed dogs, while kobold scouts threw rocks at them from behind the tents.

It was my first time seeing the promoted form of kobolds. The monsters were a taller and scrawny-looking version of the kobold scouts. The rat-faced beasts wore crude leather armors and were armed with bone spikes and primitive stone axes. They were a couple of heads shorter than a human, so iron plate adventurers were normally more than capable of fending them off. The problem was that under the incessant rain of rocks this task what a lot more difficult. With most of our copper plates gone the battle was currently at a stalemate.

Suddenly a blood-curdling howl resounded inside the cavern. It came from the direction Uncle had gone earlier. From the top of the hill covered in darkness. I turned towards the source of the bellow, but I was unable to discern the monster who emitted the sound.

“The dungeon wolf!”

“They might be fighting already.”

Around me, some adventurers got distracted by the unnerving howl. The dungeon wolf was one of the main targets of this raid and also one of the most powerful monsters in the kobold forces. If everything went well Uncle would take care of it before long.

It took a few moments for the frightening echoes to dissipate. During that short amount of time, the expressions of all the adventurers fighting the kobolds grew restless. Meanwhile, the kobolds seemed to grow bolder and some even cheered as they excitedly pushed our forces back.

“Damn rootspawn!” I heard one of the Grey Hound adventurers curse as he retreated a couple of steps back. The evil humanoid monsters were gaining momentum and the morale of our troops was starting to waver.

“I guess it’s my turn.” Alchemist Luelle said, appearing from behind us. She rummaged through her pouch and took out a bright yellowish-orange sphere the size of a slightly big marble. With the ball in the palm of her hand, she focused for a moment before throwing the sphere toward the lines of the kobolds. The orange ball caught fire in the middle of the air and after hitting a tent it exploded in flames that brightly illuminated the surroundings.

“Oh!” I exclaimed. That had to be a catalyst made from the mana organs of a fire lizard! This was my first time seeing a magician in action! Alchemist Luelle was far from done after the first strike and started throwing flame balls at all the tents that the kobolds scouts were using as shelter. The monsters yelled and covered their eyes from the brightness. This was the opportunity we needed to push them back.

With many scouts fleeing from the flames our side started to take the initiative and our battle line started to expand.

“Get ready to fight!” Instructor Remme warned us. It looked like we were finally going into action. He guided our group and the other trainees towards a few kobold scouts and a lone dog that had fled into our lines during the panic spurred by Alchemist Luelle’s barrage.

I readied my spear and pierced a wounded kobold that fell lifeless on the ground. Then I helped Terence and Bolton deal with the tamed dog before turning to help Falnid with his opponent, but before I could join him he also finished his fight. The little Vesturke didn’t really need assistance to deal with such weak monsters. All of us had grown a lot stronger since the beginning of the spring when we met for the first time. And it was not only our individual strength that had improved, our teamwork had also soared to new heights. Maybe I was getting ahead of myself, but looking at the other adventurers around us I was sure we were far better than the average iron plate.

I took a look at the other group of trainees that had come with us. In my eyes, they weren’t much more competent than Stroud’s group. They had some problems hitting the kobold scouts and Instructor Remme had to step in to help them.

They had just finished the last monster when I heard a commotion coming from my left. I turned my head and saw a big dungeon wolf emerging from the shadows. This was the promoted form of a dungeon dog. With the size of a small horse, incredibly strong muscles, and a mane of thick dark-brown fur that protected it against most attacks, it wasn’t an easy opponent. It had a strength comparable to a dungeon varan and all the agility of a dungeon dog. Normally a copper-plated adventurer would be required to deal with one, but I didn’t know if any other than Instructor Remme was around. In the worst-case scenario, a few iron plate adventurers would have to fight against it at the cost of their lives.