“ATTACK!” Xilbit cried.

It would have been perfect… If Dale and the rest of the kobolds weren’t already fighting for their lives. What was a single wheeled gremlin was now twenty gremlins bristling with blades growing from their bodies.

“Come together!” Dale called out, motioning for the kobolds to clump up. The size difference was notable, but so far hadn’t caused any issues due to the gremlins being even smaller than the kobolds.

Ichnick stayed in the center of the small hub of crowding kobolds. The spells he’d been casting thus far were minor to conserve mana due to how slow regeneration was. Small bolts of electricity connected through the press and sent wheeled and motorized gremlins stumbling away from the group.

Footing was becoming a problem. Xilbit’s foot shot out from under him and it was only coincidence that Dale’s spear was close enough to offer a handhold. The gremlins weren’t doing much better, but they could simply run into the kobolds and do damage.

A gremlin came trundling from down the corridor. Wheels underneath the monster slipped out, but it didn’t matter. There were enough fluids on the ground that it slid straight into Xilbit.

Blood blossomed from the multiple wounds. Dale managed to find a part of the gremlin not bristling with blades and kicked it away. He used his spear to keep another gremlin at bay while the kobolds shuffled their injured leader into the center of the group. Ichnick was now out of the fight while he tended to wounds.

Dale was too late to ensure that they had a full backup healer. He’d made Xilbit swear on his tail, that being a very strong promise among the tribe, that one of the tribe that didn’t have points that they helped get points would take healing.

At this point, the spears weren’t doing much but keeping the gremlins far enough away that the blades weren’t biting into the kobolds. Dale used his spear to stab into a bold gremlin’s eye, and was sprayed by something that was thinner than transmission fluid but still viscous. The fluid coated his spear handle.

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Dale tightened his grip to prevent the handle from slipping out of his hands.

“Burn!” cried a high-pitched voice.

Dale felt his stomach do flip flops. He screamed out, “No!” but it was too late. The spell had lit up the fluids leaking from the gremlins and flames shot up like a bonfire. Every point of mana Dale could muster went into a shield.

“Ichnick! Reinforce!” Dale cried out.

Luckily the little shaman hadn’t burned all of his points healing the chief. The extra weight of will came in and kept the flames away from the literal pool of fluids the kobolds and Dale were standing in.

Anna had achieved her goal. The gremlins were so much burnt toast and lay around haphazardly twitching and moaning in pain from the fire.

Dale kept the irritation from his voice. He could see Anna was worried she’d done something wrong, and her parents were pressed in close to her.

Dale forced out a smile. “Well done, Anna. Thank you.” Ichnick shot a confused look his way, but Dale made a gesture to keep Ichnick from saying anything. The shaman’s snout dipped a hair in acknowledgement.

“You were mad.” Anna stated.

Dale frowned. “I was worried. We’d been using a lot of magic and if we didn’t have enough to stop the flames, they would have burned all of us because we are covered in oil.” He wiped away a glob of fluid and tossed it on the wall. It caught fire soon after.

Anna reached out to tame the flames, but Dale shook his head. “No, let them burn. We aren’t in danger, so the flames are fine for now.”

They moved away from the flames and burning gremlins so they could clean themselves up as much as possible. Which turned out to be not that much at all.

Dale walked over and checked on Xilbit. He wasn’t doing all that well. He would make it, but it looked like it had been close. Then he headed over to Steven, Mary, and Anna.

“What made you come in?” Dale asked. “You didn’t have to.”

Steven shrugged.

Mary explained, “Anna wouldn’t let us stay out. She said you guys needed her. Turns out she may have been right.”

Dale smirked. “Oh, she was right. We were scraping the bottom of the barrel by the time you guys made it to us. I was conserving my mana the best I could while fighting. The problem was the ‘blood’ of the gremlins. It’s all hydraulic fluids and oils.”

Dale waved his hand at the giant puddle. “Get enough of it on the ground and it makes fighting damn near impossible.” He walked over to his cart and pulled out a towel. It was the only towel he’d brought and now he was kicking himself. He used it to clean off the bottom of his shoes.

The kobolds used each other to wipe off their clawed, leathery feet. It took a few minutes but they were all soon cleaned up and ready for the next insanity this dungeon had to throw at them.