The second floor was more heavily guarded than the first. Well, it used to be. Its inhabitants lay dead on the floor, stab marks on their necks and the charr-marks of spells on their bodies. Some of the corpses held spears in their hands, but several appeared unarmed. By searching through their clothes I managed to secure several copper coins. Unlike mindless undead, these creatures did seem to use the same currency as humans.

If they used the same currency, it made me wonder just how similar to humans they were. If this was a human fortress instead of a kobold one, would I still confidently rush ahead and defeat everyone in my path? I wasn't sure. I haven't had to face a real human yet, and these kobolds were monstrous looking enough that it hasn't proven to be a problem. Doing so in a game and in real life are entirely different experiences. For now, I hoped I would never need to come across such a scenario.

This floor contained the living quarters. The side rooms contained many communal beds, and the grand hall prominently featured a dining table. As I explored one of the rooms, a hidden kobold jumped out from the shadows and ambushed me.

It snarled and roared unintelligibly, flying at me with blind rage. Unlike the guard, this one only brandished a dagger, and easily fell to my spear. Why would it launch such a suicidal attack? It seemed the soldiers were growing desperate at this point. The room he hid in looked different from the others, so I was driven by curiosity to explore it.

The space held a large enclosed pen made of wood. Along the walls were many wooden ornaments of unknown nature. I peeked into the pen, and couldn't help but be astonished at the sight.

“Yikes...”

This pen appeared to be a hatchery where young kobolds were held. Inter-kobold warfare must be a brutal affair, as even they were not spared in this fight. That explained the large amount of wisps I absorbed earlier when I advanced up the stairs.

Speaking of the stairs, I could hear somebody coming down from the floor above. I was prepared to a fight, but was pleasantly surprised to see it was Lacerta. She has spotted me as well.

“Good to see you made it, brave knight. I already took care of most of the troops, so you needn't worry about that. Alas, we're almost done. The next floor is the final one. For this fight I'll truly require your assistance.”

This unusual lizard left me curious.

“Lacerta, did you take on all these troops by yourself? I don't doubt your skills, but this being the handiwork of one person looks quite odd to me. Judging by the stab marks, most of them were taken down by surprise attacks. However, this place is brightly lit and does not have many hiding places. Even with a stealth spell, sneaking around these soldiers would be a difficult task. And if taken in a direct fight, even I would have trouble with these kind of numbers. Am I correct in assuming you used some sort of trick?”

The lizard timidly wagged her tail.

“You are very perceptive, brave knight. Indeed there is a reason I could take advantage of these soldiers, but it's not something relevant outside of this scenario. We could sit here all day and discuss strategy, but I would much prefer we head forward and take on the final foe.”

The final foe? Did we reach the dungeon boss already? I was surprised at the quick pace, but followed her upstairs nonetheless.

Unlike the other floors, the 3rd floor hall was grossly opulent. It was definitely something fitting for a leader or someone of high rank. If I had to guess, this was also where the treasury and armory was kept.

Before stood an intimidating figure. It was no taller than Lacerta, around half my height. Anyone could tell it was a kobold. Unlike the others, however, it donned a set of full plate-mail armor. The weapon it wielded was equally intimidating – a well-crafted halberd which looked far too large for someone of such a small stature.

I had never seen an armored kobold before. Kobolds already had tough scales, so stacking armor on top of that seemed excessive. Instead of a common enemy, it would instead be something incredibly difficult to take down. That's probably why they never wore it in SoD. Judging by the heftiness of the weapon, it must also have an offensive power to match its defense. This enemy was likely the reason Lacerta required my help in taking down this fort. Even if she could partially mitigate the effectiveness of the armor using magic, it it would still be a tricky fight.

The armored opponent snarled at us in its foreign tongue. This time, however, Lacerta was with me, and she snarled back. They were obviously arguing about something, but I couldn't tell what.

“Lacerta, do you know this opponent?”

Lacerta stopped shouting and gave me a response.

“It's the fort Matriarch. Don't mind me, we were just exchanging some insults. Brave knight, I would request you to take her on while I provide magical support. Unlike you, I am unarmored, and would fare poorly in a head-on confrontation.”

I could sense the determination in Lacerta's eyes as she dashed away to the sidelines. The armored kobold, the Matriarch, let out a deafening roar. The shelves lining the walls shook from the impact. She turned her head and focused on a single target, which was me.

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Before she had an opportunity to move, I fired a mana bolt at my opponent. The Matriarch, however, was entirely unbothered, and she swatted it away with her halberd as if it was a fly. This might prove troublesome.

She dashed towards me with surprising speed. I reacted and managed to block the strike, locking our weapons in a struggle. The amount of strength this small creature possessed was frightening. Despite my increased strength, repelling her was a difficult task.

As we were locked, a bolt of magic approached from the sidelines and hit the Matriarch square on the back. I knew this projectile: it was a Mana Missile. This spell was an enhanced version of Mana Bolt, dealing more damage and having much stronger penetrative effects. It's a perfect choice for a heavily armored opponent such as this, and good thinking on Lacerta's part.

The Matriarch collapsed onto her knees. I took this opportunity to attempt a stab, but it only hit armor and was brushed aside. This made the kobold regain her composure and jump backwards. To my surprise, she was no longer interested in me. She now set eyes upon a much softer target, Lacerta.

Of course, this was the logical choice to make. In group fight you'd always want to take care of the wizard or the healer first. If I was in her place, that's what I would do. However, that is not something I could allow to happen. I couldn't allow someone as valuable as Lacerta to get hurt.

As the Matriarch made her to Lacerta, I ran right afterward. She swung a large strike, but I reached at the last second and put myself between the blade and its target.

Shockwaves rung out from the force of the impact. Luckily, I manged to block the attack with the shaft of my weapon. Unluckily, the brunt was so strong it was nearly cleaved in two. This is not something I could do a second time.

“Lacerta, get away!” I yelled.

The Matriarch wasted no time and prepared a second attack. Damn it, I needed to think of something quick.

As the strike came down, I had no choice but to attempt a second block. However, my spear could not bear the impact and cleanly snapped in two. The weight of the enemy weapon lead to their blade hitting the floor. This was my chance. Broken spear-end in hand, I thrust forward in between the cracks of the armor near the neck. I still missed the flesh. However, that was not what I aimed for. I kept thrusting until the force achieved my goal. The lizard's helmet flew off her head.

The Matriarch's face was now clearly visible. To my surprise, it looked no different from that of the other kobolds, or even Lacerta. If it wasn't for their clothes, I would never be able to tell any of them apart. I expected to see an imposing face fitting of an enemy of this caliber, but its mundanity caught me completely off-guard.

Lacerta noticed this development and wasted no time in launching her own counter-attack. A mana missile was now flying directly at the Matriach's face. She attempted to pull back her halberd to form a defense, but I made sure that wasn't happening. As the projectile was a split second away from hitting its target, I swore I heard the enemy mutter out intelligible words.

“Lacerta-”

The mana missile hit its mark. The Matriarch was finished. After all, the enemy was a normal kobold. No matter how tough it was, it wouldn't survive the impact of a mana missile straight to the face. A imposing wisp of aether escaped its now lifeless body.

Lacerta realized the fight was over and cheered in joy. She ran off into one of the side rooms and grabbed an object. I wondered what it was. She came back carrying it like a Christmas present.

“My spellbook! I finally got my spellbook back! Oh, what a wondrous day!” she cheered.

Her spellbook? Why would it be here, of all places? Her identity now utterly puzzled me.

Lacerta approached the lifeless armored body. She gave it a look of scorn, and began kicking it.

“Not so tough now, are you? Hope you rot in peace, dear mother.”

I had a hard time believing what I was hearing.

“Lacerta, this Matriarch was your mother? So the reason why you knew this place so well, is because it was your home?”

The lizard wagged tail in joy.

“Yes, precisely! Isn't this straight out of a fairy tale? The poor princess, after years of abuse by her evil stepmother, runs away from home. There she encounters a brave and chivalrous knight, and together they slay the evil stepmother! Oh, how long I've dreamed for this day. It's so incredibly romantic! Don't you agree?”

I couldn't understand her logic at all. Neither did Calvar, it seemed.

“See? I told you, Eren, I told this was a wacko. I told you, man!” said the skull.

While the lizard was lucid over the triumph of her accomplishment, I rummaged through the room and thought of what to do next. This might truly be troublesome.