S23, The Raid of The Kobold Settlement (Part 2)
Breaking my expectations, the dungeon wolf didn’t charge into a fight immediately. Instead, it observed the battle with cold and calculative eyes. It seemed to be deciding on the best place to attack. The Grey Hound adventurers in the left flank grew restless under the piercing gaze of the monster. Its fierce pupils hovered over all the small fights taking place with unnatural calmness.
“What the hell is that monster doing here?”
“Didn’t the Calpavaros Bears’ guildmaster say he would take care of it?”
“What should we do?”
Some men voiced their worries. If everything had gone according to the plan, Uncle should have fought this monster at the same time as the kobold leaders, but now it was here, and we couldn’t let it escape! I gripped my spear and took a step toward the left flank when a hand gripped my shoulder.
“What do you think you are doing?” Instructor Remme asked me. “Leave that monster to the Grey Hounds. We have to take care of those,” He said pointing at a large group of kobold hunters and tamed dogs. I had been so focused on the wolf that I didn’t see them approaching.
The kobolds charged into our formation alongside their dogs. The ferocity of their assault forced some of the adventurer teams ahead of us to close their ranks and allowed the foul monsters to reach our position. Things were getting dire, but the more kobolds we defeated here the easier it would be for Uncle and the others to finish off their leaders.
“Straw Hair! You and your group will deal with the one on the right.” Instructor Remme ordered the other group of trainees. “Big One and Vesturke, distract the ones on the left! Blondie, Black Hair, you will help me with the one in the center!”
I had seen a lot of kobold hunters today, but the individual Instructor Remme had ordered us to fight looked a cut above the rest. The stone ax he was brandishing had an obsidian head and his armor was more elaborate than the others. He also wore several collars with all kinds of teeth and had a belt full of trinkets dangling from it.
The humanoid monster looked at us with eyes full of hatred before ordering his dogs to rush at us. “Grattack!” He loudly blurted a word that mocked the human language and three of the tamed monsters charged with almost flawless coordination.
With Instructor Remme on my right and Terence on my left I kept one of them at bay. These tamed dungeon dogs were even more cunning than the ones in the corridors. They advanced and retreated in unison as they swiftly evaded the strikes of our spears. I tried to hit the one in front of me but the tip of my spear seemed to always stay an inch away from my opponent. Even with my best efforts all I could do was graze the beast and I was becoming increasingly frustrated.
Meanwhile, to my right, Instructor Remme wasn’t only fighting one of the dogs. He also helped the other group of trainees and even threw some thrust in the direction of the kobold hunter.
After a few moments, a sudden move on Terence’s side managed to stagger the dog on my left. I pointed my spear toward the monster and gathered my strength to strike it. Seeing its companion in danger the dog I was fighting rushed forward and jumped at me with its jaws open. It was aiming for my right arm!
I smirked, it was just like I had expected. My earlier strike was a feint! Using the mana I had stored on my body I rotated my torso with incredible strength and bashed the monster with the rim of my shield. I felt its skull crack under the force of the clash and the dog fell motionless at my feet.
‘I did it!’ I had been able to use a mana-empowered movement in battle! I had wanted to block the monster and make it bounce back, so it hadn’t hit exactly where I had calculated, but given that the dog was lying knocked cold on the ground I thought the result wasn’t half bad.
I was rejoicing in my success when I heard Instructor’s Remme alarmed voice. “Simon! Evade!”
I quickly raised my eyes from the ground. It had been barely a fraction of a breath, but the kobold hunter was closing on me with a bone spike on his hand. “Shit!” I wouldn’t be able to stop the monster in time. The mana in my body had just dissipated and the kobold’s weapon was inches away from my neck. I started lifting my buckler and took a step back, but I knew it would be in vain.
‘Damn!’ At the last moment my heart plunged into fear. This was the closest I had ever come to death in my entire life and I could do nothing about it. At most I could pray that the injury I was about to receive wasn’t immediately fatal. ‘That way a blood potion may be able to save me.’
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With a twisted expression, the monster sneered at me. Time seemed to flow slower as the white tip of his weapon approached my throat. It was only thanks to my years of harsh swordsmanship lessons with Father that I managed to keep my eyes open and fixated on it.
I braced myself for the painful strike when a rock came flying from my left and hit the kobold’s face. The bone spike graced my shoulder and sank into my armor. I could feel its tip prickling my shoulder blade.
Not wasting a moment, I let go of my spear and grabbed my dagger. The monster also let go of his weapon and kicked my stomach in an attempt to put some distance between us. “Ugh!” I doubled over in pain but gritted my teeth, then stepped forward, and with both hands together I stabbed the retreating kobold in the gut.
The monster yelled in pain. It kicked me again and I fell backward. The monster looked at me with an enraged expression as he grabbed his belly. He tried to fall back but a heartbeat later Terence and Instructor Remme’s pears impaled him from both sides of his chest.
The monster staggered and his eyes widened in surprise. He directed a shocked glance toward his wounded body as if he couldn’t believe he had been struck. Then with a grunt he spitted a mouthful of blood and fell on its knees.
“Are you alright, Simon?” I heard Terence ask, but I couldn’t take my eyes away from the dying monster. My heart was pounding like crazy and despite my rapid breathing, I felt like I didn’t have enough air.
“Breathe slower, boy!” I also heard Remme’s voice. Around me, other people were still fighting, yet the instructor approached me and inspected the spike on my shoulder. “Good, you have been lucky today. It only grazed you.” He said as he took a blood potion from his pouch.
The instructor grabbed the bottle with his mouth. Then with both hands, he grasped the spike and pulled it out. I could feel it moving under my skin, and once it came out, warm blood flowed down my back. Instructor Remme opened the bottle with his teeth and sprinkled some of the scarlet liquid on my back before handing the rest to me.
“Can you move your arm?” He asked as I chugged down the potion.
I flexed my shoulder and didn’t feel as much pain as I was expecting. “Yes, I’m alright,” I replied. I was finally calming down.
“Nice” With that word, Instructor Remme grabbed his spear from the dead body of the kobold hunter and left to help the others.
Remembering we were still in the middle of a battle I stood up and took a last look at the monster. He had died on his knees and his lifeless eyes were still staring at the spot I had fallen.
‘This monster almost killed me.’
I felt a cold rage growing inside me. In a moment of carelessness, I had almost lost my life. I was angry at this monster, and also at myself. How many times had I told myself that I wouldn’t make the same mistake?
I grabbed my spear and turned around to help my companions, but they had just finished the last enemy. I joined them and patted Falnid on the shoulder. “Thanks, Falnid. That rock saved me.”
“I know.” He smiled at me. “Today I saved your ass! Now I don’t owe you for that time you helped me with that reptid, right?”
I chuckled. “Yes, we are even,” I said taking my hand off his shoulder.
The near fights had been settled, but when I turned around I saw the wolf running close to the stone wall in the middle of the cavern with two tamed dogs in tow.
‘So they weren’t able to kill it.’
That dangerous beast was heading towards the east side of the lair. I didn’t know what it was planning but it wasn’t a good sign that it was freely roaming around.
“Phew, we are lucky that thing is not coming here.” I heard one of the trainees sigh in relief.
“Yeah, we would be screwed if it decided to attack us.” Another one commented.
“Don’t get distracted. This battle isn’t over yet.” Instructor Remme scolded them. “Is everyone alright? Black Hair? If you can’t continue you can fall back towards the entrance. Gardner is there, he will tend to your wound.”
“I’m fine Instructor Remme, I can still fight. My injury isn’t that bad.” I told him.
The instructor looked me in the eye for a long moment, his serious gaze was intense, but I didn’t waver. “Alright then.” He finally conceded and turned around. “We will leave this place to the Grey Hounds and move towards the fortification on the west side.”
We assembled behind Instructor Remme and moved west. After circling some burned tents we saw a few human corpses on the ground. They were all adventurers of the Grey Hound Guild, some of them had stab and bite marks all over their bodies, while others had had their necks ripped out.
“Most of them have been killed by the dungeon wolf.” Instructor Remme commented as he looked for survivors.
By now the enormous cavern was brightly illuminated thanks to the burning kobold tents. Alchemist Luelle had been throwing her flaming balls at the dwellings on the incline of the west side. The fires there had grown quite tall thanks to some adventurers that had hurled their open oilskins near them.
‘There had to be a lot of things stored if the flames can reach so high.’ I thought looking at the scenery that seemed straight out of a dark fairy tale.
Among the raging fires, I spotted the advance group led by Uncle fighting the kobolds halfway up the slant. The road they were using was one of the few places that had been spared from the flames.
It didn’t take long for Instructor Remme to check that there were no survivors among the fallen adventurers. Once more, we formed behind him and kept moving west. Close to us a few groups of Grey Hound adventurers were also slowly heading towards the slope.
After killing the enemies near the entrance we hadn’t found any resistance. Most of the kobolds on this side had been wiped out or had retreated towards the incline. Before reaching the low wall surrounding the burning dwellings we passed by an area full of monster pelts. Some were piled in tall heaps while others rested on rocks or were stretched between bone stakes half buried in the ground. Here and there some half-finished items had been abandoned on the ground. This place had to be some kind of crafting area, but it had a very crude look to it. Just like I expected from these savage monsters. They even used bones instead of wood.
I was about to make a comment when I heard shouts coming from my left. It was the dungeon wolf that had returned and was wreaking havoc among the other adventurers.