After gathering all the food and drink that I could carry, I made my way toward Chuck Norris Bridge. I was worried since I didn’t know when the adventurers would arrive. I needed someone that I could trust, namely, Alsvartr. I could count on her to watch out for invaders without creating false alarms.

If adventurers were going to come through the tunnels, they would have to cross the bridge. Because of this, I sent a mental command to my familiar to join me. Unfortunately, she was quite far away. I also had Alsvartr search for any signs of the adventurers who might have already made their way toward the city.

My senses were on high alert, attuned to every sound and every movement around me. As I waited, I reached out with my mind, trying to sense Alsvartr’s presence. She was still far off, but I could feel her drawing closer.

Suddenly, a sound reached my ears. It was faint, but distinct. I froze. I tried to pinpoint the source. It wasn’t the usual drip of water or the rustle of small creatures. The sound was something different, and obviously didn’t belong. I strained my ears as my heart began to race.

I crouched lower, pressing myself against a cool stone column. My black scales blended into the shadows, making me nearly invisible in the dim light. I couldn’t afford to be seen, not yet. I needed to get more information before I made my next move. I wasn’t sure whether I could fight them off or if I needed to run for my life while screaming for help.

It was at that moment that I realized how smart I was to have chosen stealth as one of my skills. I also realized how stupid I was since I was about to confront seasoned adventurers. Despite this, I knew I had to do it.

While I doubted it would help, I went ahead and cast the Guidance cantrip. I concentrated on my attempt at hiding in the shadows. I might have been wasting my time, but it was certainly worth trying. I knew whoever was approaching wasn’t coming to make friends with the kobolds.

“At least I can count on Chuck Norris Bridge,” I thought. The deathtrap named a bridge was suddenly very comforting to me. I was sure there had to be an alarm spell that had been cast on the bridge that would warn the kobolds if someone tried to cross it.

“Please let it be something I can handle,” I thought as I remained hiding. Of course, the moment I had that thought, I saw numerous large shadows moving. Although I couldn’t tell what race they were due to their distance away, I could tell they were much bigger than me.

At the same time, I could sense Alsvartr drawing near, her presence growing stronger in my mind. She was close now, almost at the cave’s entrance. I sent her a mental command to approach cautiously but to stay hidden until I knew more. A moment later, a shadow moved at the far end of the cave, near the entrance. I held my breath, watching intently as the figures began to emerge from the tunnel.

I pressed myself even further into the shadows, my mind racing. If they found me, I would be at a severe disadvantage. I had some magic at my disposal, but I wasn’t ready to take on a group of adventurers. My best chance was to remain hidden, to wait for Alsvartr to arrive and help me assess the situation.

As if in answer to my thoughts, I felt a sudden rush of warmth in my mind, a familiar presence that filled me with confidence. Alsvartr had arrived. She was near, lurking in the shadows of the cave. She was invisible in the darkness. Even I couldn’t see her in the darkness.

A few seconds later, they moved closer and I realized it was a group of human adventurers. “Oh fudge,” I thought. “I’ve played enough games to know that when adventurers show up, kobolds die. Come on. I’m only a few days old and I might lose my life here. What did I do to deserve this?”

Frowning, I cocked my head to the side and listened to see if they were going to say anything. Faint sounds of the approaching enemy became clearer. I could almost make out their form when they stopped just before reaching the bridge. Sighing, I resisted the impulse to shake my head as I hunkered down in the shadows hiding like a gnome from a debtor.

I wasn’t cowering in fear. Nope. I was strategically preparing for a time-honored tradition of surprise attack. Of course, I wasn’t sure exactly how I would do that. Using Alsvartr’s Sleep spell was certainly a possibility. I could then sneak in and kill them one by one without waking anyone up.

If one of them did wake up, I could always run and hide. If that didn’t work, I could always use Shape Magic to heal myself. At this thought, a new window popped up.

SHAPE MAGIC. Do you wish to meditate for ten minutes to learn the Cure Wounds spell?

I almost got up and yelled in outrage. Earlier, the system didn’t mention any wait time when it asked about using Shape Magic to heal myself. That would have been a good thing to know earlier. I couldn’t believe the stupid system hadn’t told me before that I needed to meditate before being able to cast a spell. As for all my other spells, they weren’t that helpful.

My only means of attacking, other than my weak claws, teeth, and tail, were two cantrips and a sleep spell. One of the cantrips I hadn’t even tried to use yet. Now I really had to count on Alsvartr. Our sleep spells were probably going to be my only chance of surviving. And from what I remembered, there were a lot of races, such as elves, that weren’t affected by the spell. It would be really bad if every member of the adventuring party was an elf.

“Dang,” I thought, annoyed that even with darkvision, I couldn’t see the invaders enough except to know they were humanoids, and not kobolds, at least judging by their size. Not sure what else to do, I watched as one of the figures moved slightly closer to the bridge. “Finally, some luck,” I thought as I was able to make out that the humanoid figure that had stepped forward was a human.

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In fact, the young human was dressed in a well-worn black robe and was holding a staff. After a moment, he set the staff down and reached into a bag at his waist. A moment later, a small leather-bound book was withdrawn. That was when I realized what he was going to do. The man had to be a magic user and was going to cast a ritual. More than likely, it would probably be the Detect Magic spell.

Realizing I could meditate while the magic user was casting the ritual, I stayed in hiding and started to meditate. While I wasn’t sure what the best spell to choose would be, being able to heal myself seemed the best option at the moment. Fortunately, I finished around the same time as the magic user, which was a huge relief.

Peeking at what was happening, I watched as the magic user motioned for one of the others to join him. He then proceeded to point out different parts of the bridge, as if saying what type of spell trap might be located on each part of the bridge. Considering I had done this myself, I doubted it was very helpful.

The magic user probably wanted to show off how smart he was decided to pontificate. The other person was a grizzled older man with a short thin build wearing leather armor. With a short sword at his side and daggers strapped to his wrists, the man was obviously a rogue, and a veteran rogue at that.

While I was tempted to use telepathy and ask them why they were here, deep down, I already knew the answer. They obviously weren’t here for peaceful reasons. Otherwise, they would not have been sneaking around in the dark. They weren’t even using torches. Either they had magic items that allowed them to see in the dark, or the magic user had cast a spell that enabled them to see.

That actually worried me. From what I remembered from ancestral memories, Darkvision was a second level spell. That meant the caster had to be at least third level. Even if there were several magic users in the party, being able to provide Darkvision to all five individuals indicated they used all their magic on being able to see in the dark, which was highly unlikely, or the party level was much higher than third level.

Although the magic user did appear young, probably in his thirties, that was definitely enough time to become powerful. Also, since there were only five of them, either they were a scouting party, or they were confident that they could deal with an army of kobolds. Neither option was particularly good for me.

After a few minutes, the rogue took out a grappling hook from a backpack, covered the metal with a cloth bag, and started twirling the hook before tossing it toward my location. I almost peed myself thinking they had discovered me until I realized the adventurers didn’t want to risk the bridge and were going to cross the chasm by using a rope. While they could have climbed down the chasm and then climb back up, that would have taken a long time.

The rogue tugged the grappling hook until the prongs dug into the rock tightly. After giving it a few more tugs, he started tying off the other end of the rope to a column. Using the chance, I touched the rope to see how tightly it was wedged in and how durable the rope was. Unfortunately, with my weak strength, dislodging it would be difficult. As for cutting it, I suppose I could try my claws or my teeth, but they might take a while.

Slowly, so as not to alert the rogue, I slowly started chewing on the rope, which actually proved to be quite unpleasant as well as painful. In fact, it was quite awkward. It looked like I was kissing a rock. Considering my pitiful strength, I wasn’t doing much damage to the rope at first. Suddenly, the rope jerked as the rogue climbed onto it, his body hanging as she started to quickly shimmy across the gorge.

Panicked, I bit more deeply, ignoring my bleeding gums or the scratches on my face. Finally, when the rogue was halfway across, I was able to bite through a strand, causing the rope to untwine and come apart under the weight of the rogue. I almost popped my head up when I heard a scream as the rogue plummeted into the darkness. A few seconds later, his screaming abruptly stopped.

Unable to resist, I peeked over the edge of the rock to see what was happening. All five of the rogue's companions had rushed to the edge of the gorge. They stared intently at the fallen rogue. Each of them had even given up on all pretense of stealth as they yelled, asking if he was okay.

Realizing I had a wonderful opportunity, I decided to risk using my telekinetic gift to push them over the edge. They were already leaning over the edge looking down. It would be extremely easy to just tip them over. However, I was a little worried how I could hit them all at the same time. I figured I could hit two of them before they noticed. I might even be able to get an extra second or two by having Alsvartr do a flyby and cast the Sleep spell on anyone I missed.

Nodding to myself, I relayed my plans to my familiar and telekinetically pulled the two who weren’t wearing heavy armor toward me. Alsvartr targeted the magic user since I was worried, he might have a spell to save himself. That left a heavily armored older woman who was holding a shining holy symbol.

The man with a bow and a young woman wearing leather armor didn’t have a chance. Their balance was already off, and a simple telekinetic tug pulled them over the edge. Their screams lasted a few seconds before they too abruptly stopped.

Alsvartr did her job. She hit the spellcaster in the back of the head, stunning him and knocking him over the edge. That left the woman, whose reaction was quite impressive. She spun around, but almost immediately fell as Alsvartr hit her with the Sleep spell she had already prepared. The woman lay there, sound asleep while I had Alsvartr roll her off the edge as well.

Looking through her eyes, I commanded Alsvartr to fly down to check on their condition. Each of the fallen adventurers had fallen unconscious. One even died as I watched. As soon as he died, I felt a wave of healing warmth wash over me. It had to be from the Death Bringer class feature. I muttered, “What an evil class,” I thought with a shudder, wondering what further levels in the class would give me.

I sent a mental command for Alsvartr to finish them off with the Sonic Blast cantrip. Sure enough, after the second adventurer died, I regained the last health point I was missing. When a new pop-up appeared, I ordered Alsvartr to start going through the loot left over by the adventuring party. I was pretty sure something good would be in their backpacks. While I waited for Alsvartr to bring everything up, I satisfied my curiosity and looked at the new notifications.

ACHIEVEMENT - TITLE UNLOCKED: SHADOW OF DEATH. You are less than a day old and have already ambushed sentient creatures whose intentions were unknown. You have gained additional Evil Favor.

YOU HAVE COLLECTED FIVE SOUL FRAGMENTS. However, because of your low proficiency level, three of these soul fragments will not be able to be retained. Since you are currently at full health, the Cure Wounds spell cannot be cast using these soul fragments. THE SOUL FRAGMENTS ARE LOST.

Curious about any experience I might have gained as well, I decided to pull up my information screen and see if it had changed. I was surprised to see that I had gained over a thousand experience. I was now sitting at 1276/300 experience. Something bothered me though.