Ron barely took his eyes off the fight to see the fourth kobold biting down his waist. The other two kobolds, although bruised and a lot of broken bones, roared and swung once more trying to impale Ron. Ron twisted his waist with everything he got and managed to lift the kobold that was biting down off the ground and into the incoming pickaxes.
The kobold that bit him roared in pain and let go only to fall onto the other 2 kobolds. Ron quickly grabbed a rock and smashed it into their skulls like a madman. He smashed countless times until they no longer moved. Ron walked towards the first kobold and smashed down just for good measure; he didn't want a repeat from the hyenas.
After finishing off the final kobold Ron slumped a little and checked out the wound. It was bleeding heavily and looked really bad, some ribs were cracked but overall no damage to organs at least Ron hoped so. Spraying some medicinal powder on the wounds and bandaging up was the best Ron could do now.
After 2 fights Ron was getting really tired. He had no clue how long this dungeon was but was ready for the long haul. There had to be other kobolds here right? Especially seeing how the cave continued deeper. Ron retreated a bit into the darkness before stringing his whip like a snare in the darkness.
Ron was going to nap for a little while to recover some strength. He didn't want a kobold to sneak up to him and kill him in his sleep. So he prepared a simple tripping trap with his whip, they would trip and fall, waking Ron up from his nap if they did come.
Retreating back further into the dungeon Ron extinguished the torch and sat down, he prepared a pickaxe just in case they did come. After setting everything up Ron let exhaustion take him over falling into sleep.
Back at the waterfall Scarlett was deep in training, it was as if she was trying to punch through the waterfall upward. After 30 minutes of trying to break through she stopped and jumped out of the waterfall back on land. She shook herself dry and got dressed.
('Damn I couldn't do it, what am I missing') She thought about her training, she was currently trying to break through a bottleneck that's been bothering her before she even entered the tower. She didn't know if progress stayed once she exited the tower but from what Ron had told her the memories will stay, that alone is enough.
('I wonder how he's doing in there') She thought as she was checking her pockets for the piece of paper Ron had given her. Scarlett still found it a little hard to believe that a piece of paper could tell her where he was and how he's doing.
Pulling out the piece of paper Scarlett could see it was burned slightly, this meant he got injured somewhat but the burning seems to have stopped for now. ('Looks like this really does work') She could even see the paper slowly inching over her palm pointing towards the south.
('At least he's stable for now') Scarlett concluded after seeing the paper, she put the paper away and was going to meditate on what her bottleneck could be. She couldn't help him even if she wanted to since she couldn't enter the dungeon. Speaking of dungeons, maybe there will be one she can enter and break through her bottleneck in one of them.
As she was meditating on the ground her ears suddenly picked up footsteps, were these the villagers out for a fishing trip? Slowly the footsteps got closer and closer before stopping. Scarlett grew a little suspicious and focused on her hearing, she could hear crawling now getting closer to her soon that also stopped around 50 meters away from her.
"Who goes there!?" Scarlett yelled out, yet nothing seemed to be coming out. Getting a little impatient Scarlett moved towards where the sounds last were. "Don't you know it's rude to try and sneak up on people" Scarlett said out loud once more and whoever was hiding got spooked and stood straight up. "What are you doing here?" Scarlett asked the person.
Back at the dungeon Ron just woke up from his nap, he didn't know how long he was out for. He didn't see any kobold gnawing at him or even in sight so that was good. He checked his injury and although it still hurt it wasn't debilitating with more days of rest he would be back at a 100, but Ron didn't plan on resting for days.
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The kobolds were here mining for warm rocks, maybe it was just part of the setting but on the off chance it wasn't and things could change speed was off the essence, especially because he already slept. After eating some food and water Ron set out once more deeper in the mines.
After walking back he retrieved his whip and looked at the kobold bodies nothing seemed to be wrong yet on closer inspection something was missing, their backpacks. Someone or something had gone and collected their backpacks with stones. ('Why go through all that trouble?') Ron was a little miffed.
('Only one way to find out') Ron thought before walking into unexplored territory. This time the path forked out into the left and right. Ron could hear mining in the left path but nothing in the right path. Ron decided to go left where mining was, there would be kobolds there.
('Seems like they got tired of waiting for me and continued mining') Ron concluded hearing the mining sounds once more. He didn't encounter mining sounds in the second room because they waited for him. Getting close enough Ron could see it was another open room this time with only 2 kobolds mining, it was also a dead end with no more tunnels.
Ron snuck up to one of the kobolds and used his whip to strangle the kobold. It dropped the pickaxe but the other kobold didn't seem to hear it as Ron was slowly choking it. Holding it for a couple of minutes even after the kobold went limp Ron didn't feel a heartbeat confirming it was dead.
Suddenly the other kobold turned and roared at Ron as it was about to unload its backpack only to see its comrade dead on the floor. Ron whipped the incoming kobold and managed to inflict some wounds on it as it came closer. Dodging its swings and punching when it was open Ron slowly pummeled the kobold to death. It wasn't fancy and it took a while but eventually it died.
Taking a deep breath Ron concluded he really needed to speed up his killing potential. This was getting too tiring if he had to take ages to kill one opponent. ('I just hope the right path is the end.')
Backtracking to the right path Ron didn't hear anything crept slowly inching forward, eventually it also opened up but not like Ron was expecting. There were 2 kobolds in the room, one of them was a hunchback with a big staff and the other one was bigger than the miners and was wielding a spear. Clearly a spellcaster and warrior kobold. ('Seems like magic is a thing in this tower.') Ron thought.
Ron just hoped it wasn't a healer that would make this a lot harder than it already would be. Looking around the room there was more of note, a big pile of rocks is where they unloaded all the mined rocks at. There also seemed to be a mural on the wall with something painted on there. Ron couldn't quite make it out from where he was.
Focusing on the battle at hand Ron dived deep into the meditative state, as deep as he could. This would be his toughest fight yet. Slowly he walked out into the room. There was no point in hiding as they seemed to be waiting for him.
The big kobold roared and charged at Ron while the caster seemed to be reaching for a rock. ('What's he going to do with the rock?') Ron thought as he noticed the casters actions. Tripping the incoming big kobold Ron focused on the caster, something was off. Suddenly Ron saw the stone shine and disappear before a fireball manifested on the casters hand.
It was like the pieces fell into place the stones had magic power or mana inside them and the caster could use them to cast spells. Once it shot the fireball it reached into the pile to grab another one. Doding the fireball Ron noticed the big kobold already up and ready to stab him.
The big kobold was a lot faster than the miners and was thrusting quickly, Ron couldn't dodge them all and was slowly getting clipped, suddenly the back of the spear came in and flung Ron across the room. Getting his guard up barely in time Ron blocked the attack but soon another fireball came flying at him.
Seems like this was their game plan: quick thrusts followed by a swing to fling him away directly into a fireball from the caster. Ron was forced to dodge the fireball again and saw the big kobold charging in again. He needed a plan and he needed it now or else he would die quickly.
The caster wouldn't cast once it was a one on one from the big kobold, it looks like it didn't want to hit the big kobold. Ron's thoughts were going so fast his brain might overheat. A crazy idea that could work came into his brain but he only had one shot to make it work.
Going into another dodging match with the big kobold the caster once more prepared a spell in its hand ready to throw it. The swipe came as predicted yet Ron didn't block it this time he let the full weight of the swipe fling him across the room. Time seemed to slow down in Ron's eyes as his concentration reached a peak and he swung his whip at the big kobold. He didn't plan on just hitting it, the whip coiled around its neck and was also flung with Ron.
Using the momentum of the initial swipe Ron twisted his body as hard as he could to fling the big kobold into the wall. Snaps and cracks could be heard as the kobold hit the wall. Ron could feel his old wound on his waist reopening up.
The caster hastily fired the fireball at Ron, trying to dodge it; the fireball still clipped his side a little as it singed part of his skin and burned part of his whip to ash. The big kobold was bleeding from its head and was coughing up some blood but seemed ready for round three. It charged once more at Ron but was clearly slower.
Having lost the whip Ron got ready to rumble with the kobold, the spear was already a lot slower than before but so was Ron himself as he had trouble moving his body with the wounds and burns. Ron dodged the thrusts waiting for the inevitable swing that was coming.
Sure enough soon the swing was there but this time Ron was ready to dodge it, dodging the swipe Ron kicked the kobolds legs to stumble and mounted it on the ground. Once Ron was on top he started pummeling like there was no tomorrow, a bright light suddenly came. It was a fireball.
Ron smiled and lifted the big kobold into the air and into the path of the fireball hitting the big kobold Ron's hands burnt as the heat spread yet the big kobold became limp soon after. Picking up the spear Ron ran towards the caster body full of adrenaline ready to skewer it.
The caster tried to launch a fireball once more but it was too slow and got skewered multiple times by the spear. Ron breathing heavily and with his vision blurring had barely won. Tearing off the bandages Ron saw his wound had indeed opened back up and needed new medicine.
Having barely enough medicine for his major wounds: the waist, and his hands Ron bandaged them up before going unconscious, he stabilized his major wounds and hoped his smaller cuts wouldn't be the death of him.