They quickly went back around the corner and snuffed their lights out with a few quick stomps after throwing the torches down.
“We should get out of here 30 kobolds are 20 too many for the 3 of us to take on, unless Jacob can handle a majority of them yourself we would get run down by sheer numbers. We are not obligated to help when it is so obviously stacked against us.” Turner voiced out his concerns immediately. Alexander reply came just as swift.
“If we do this to the 2 of them we could do this to anyone else even each other, I do not want to move forward on such shaky grounds we might as well have split up from the start if that was the direction we wanted to go in. There is safety in numbers as said before if we intentionally leave people high and dry when the difficulty rises, we are just reducing our chances of survival. I believe that we can get through it with clever thinking. These are clearly unintelligent monsters even if we cannot use light against them we are definitely capable of outsmarting them.” Jacob agreed with what Alexander said not to mention he needed as many allies as possible to unlock his skills as soon as possible. After Alexander small speech, a pregnant pause was left. Jacobs’ mind ran through the various scenarios. Smoking out the kobolds was not possible,by the time they managed to kill the kobolds in the confusion, the duo trapped inside would have died by smoke inhalation. There must be someway to attract the kobolds outside without endangering the duo inside. Jacobs’ eyes lit up as he thought of something and told the other two present about it
“Alexander the idea is abit basic but it should have a high chance of success, it would be the same as what we did with the deer but instead of pushing we would be pulling them outside. You would have to be the bait so that we could strike the unsuspecting kobolds a deadly blow, Me and Turner will cover the entrance of the cave with some oil lined up. I will wait just outside of the entrance while Turner can fight or hide, you have the most important job. Find the right time to lure the kobolds over, it seems that they are looking for sacrifices, if one deliver themselves right to their doorstep they would definitely be consumed by the sight of you and rush headlong to try and capture you. Becareful though we do not know how they managed to slip pass our watch, if our timing is right half the kobolds will be taken out by the fire.” Alexander followed up with a quick question.
“Would the burning not cause smoke?”
“It would but not long enough to cause any harm minor nor major, it took us a relatively long time to even walk in here by the time we finished the kobolds the oil would have ran its course if its burn hot enough no smoke would be created too.” Jacob replied
With a plan worked out Jacob and Turner began their way back to the cave entrance following the direction where the wind is blowing in faintly feeling their way back. The duo left a little bit of oil for alexander to reignite one of the torches so that he could run fast without any drawbacks due to lack of sight. However that left the duo with only the darkness and the wind. During the walk back Turner spoke up
“It’s not that I really wanted them to die i-I was just overwhelmed by the situation is all, seeing all those monsters really scared me. The way everything was set up reminded me of what happened yesterday...I just didnt want to go through that again.” Jacob gave a curt reply in return.
“Alexander did not react in the same way you did and you guys went through the same thing, instead of making excuses you should be reflecting on what you said, it does not matter to me what you have said. But if your actions ever reflect your previous thoughts I will personally make sure you experience a living hell, we are thrown into this hellhole together we should aim to survive together too.” While Jacob would prioritise his own survival too he would not give up on the chance to save other people if he could. 30 kobolds would be a challenge for sure but he going by gaming conventions it would only get tougher from here on out, if they do not even try harder now and only kept avoiding battles they might as well have signed their death warrant themselves.
Silence ensued throughout the entire walk back, Jacob had enough on his plate worrying about how to kill the remaining kobold that would not get burned to death by the line of fire and Turner was an adult even older than him if he could not understand that its humanity versus the rest of the hostile world than there was no hope for him. After reaching the cave entrance the duo started laying down the line of oil for the fire, it did not take long allowing the both of them a brief respite.
They breathed the fresh air with long breaths, the air inside the cave was stale and rotten but they managed to push through using the determination to save the duo that was abducted, Jacob found the chance to condense his core again during this moment of respite. Meanwhile Turner stared dead into Jacob it was unknown what he was thinking while the both of them was waiting for Alexander to lead the kobolds over, but Jacob could feel the death stare on him most probably due to his enhanced stats. The constant attention from Turner stopped Jacob from ever entering a calm enough state to condense the essence swirling around his core, he sighed and asked Turner.
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“What do you want now?” Turner continued his stare without replying acting much like a child throwing a temper tantrum, it seemed that Jacobs’ initial thoughts on Turner was wrong he thought the Turner was a calm and collected man with deep insights. If 30 kobolds managed to scare him that much he would not be much help in the days to come even for the current situation, Jacob do not know if he could trust Turner to react appropriately when the time came. As Turner did not want to voice out his obvious disatisfaction, Jacob could only look around his surroundings whilst he waited as the death stare continued even now.
Thankfully Jacob did not have to wait long Alexanders’ shout along with screeches from the Kobold could be heard from far into the cave most likely caused by the echoes. Jacob stood up readied one of the floater claw on his right hand to ignite a spark across the cave rock to start the fire, Turner too stood up and held some of the floater claws Jacob passed to him seemingly ready to fight. A silhouette carrying a glowing torch rushed out of the cave shadow, Jacob grip tightened on both Flowing Water and the claw a tight bundle could be seen slinged across the front of his shoulder. Numerous kobold screeches followed shortly after as the first kobold ran over the line of oil prepared it managed to slip on the oil much to the trios’ surprise causing some of the kobold right behind it to tumbled over the lead kobold. Suppressing his surprised as other kobold managed to cross the line successfully, Jacob quickly sparked the line of oil causing the fire to spread along the line and over the kobold. It screeches became even more shrill and louder.
Jacob saw Turner starting to move towards the first kobold within his reach and Alexander turning back with his flaming torch in hand and also 3 of the floater claws in his hands, the kobolds were carrying a motley assortment of weapons from wooden clubs to rusted dull gray weapons. Luckily none of them seem to be wearing any armour of sorts, not that it would matter to the sharp and furiously flowing sword on Jacobs’ hand. Jacob released the claw on his right hand with an overhand throw, the claw cut through the air slicing through the nose of a kobold and the entire length managed to bury itself into the kobolds’ head causing it to fall forward its breath ceased at the same moment. Holding Flowing Water in a 2 hand grip as the kobold also noticed him hiding to the left of the cave entrance and came running towards him in groups of 3s and 2s. Jacob quickly counted 8 of the kobold running at him, with no time left to think he sliced the first two kobold coming at him. Flowing Water separated the first kobold shoulders from its head while the second kobold had its head cut in half not even gasps escaped the kobolds their blood answered for their deaths in spurts colouring Jacob shirt and face with fresh red, Jacob brought Flowing Water back into stance and did the same for the next 3. This time the cut was much messier for the last kobold to be cut as the first 2 absorbed much of Flowing Waters’ furious momemtum, however even that did not stop the last kobold from dying as the sword was embeded into half of its chest at an awkward angle. As Jacob was sliding Flowing Water out of the kobold infront of him, the last three arrived. A small axe parting the air as it moved horizontally towards Jacobs’ midriff, Jacob quickly let go of Flowing Water and pushed himself back with his legs the small axe just passing by his stomach as he did so.
Without another thought Jacob jumped to his left as he saw another dull gray colour streaked in from his right, he caught multiple cuts as he rolled to safety. Even as he got up more kobolds appeared infront of him not giving him the time to catch his breath, after 5 out of the 8 kobolds was killed by him it caught the attention of more. Thus Jacob now had a total of 7 more to face, he took up 4 floater claws from the bundle holding each of them in between each fingers and threw them out in a fan shape, 2 of the floater claws caught one of the kobold in its shoulder causing it to fall onto its back one flew wide of any mark the last one managed to catch a kobold in the head. Two down 5 more to go, atleast no more kobolds were left unburned and screaming. Jacob ran backwards to catch his breath and also to check up on Alexander and Turner, to his surprise Turner was fighting bravely with one of the kobolds weapon, a rusty old sword and apart from some tears and cut on his pants and shirt no major injuries could be seen. Alexander somewhat blood soaked and still managing to look as dashing as he always was could be seen moving to help Turner with one of the floater claw in his left hand and a small axe on his right as he already done with his share of the kobolds that ran after him
With a wildly thumping heart and a smile Jacob led the mindless rage filled kobolds in a circle back to his sword as that granted him the best chance to remove the kobolds without further injuries. The sword lay ontop of the fallen kobold still stuck onto its chest water still furiously churning as if it was trying to cleanse the kobold, with a swift tug and the momentum of his run Jacob cleanly pulled Flowing Water out of its temporary meat sheathe. Once again Jacob readied Flowing Water with both hands and immediately turned around and ran after the chasing kobolds, the fire line around the group already dying down as it ran out of oil to burn. Jacob once again repeated the same thing he did for the first 2 kobold that met their end, 2 kobold was eviscerated as Flowing Water was churning at maximum speed causing the damage it caused to be particularly explosive as if the blood in the kobold was being exploded as it met Flowing Water. The last 3 kobold heedless of the danger Jacob brought, ran headlong into another swing of Flowing Water meeting the same explosion filled end as the first two kobold. Checking to see no kobolds were in his immediate vicinity he moved towards where he last saw Turner.
This time Jacob remembered to bring his smile into a neutral expression before moving to meet Alexander and Turner, however they were already finished and stared at him in puzzlement not too far away from where Jacob stood amidst the bodies of 10 odd kobolds with body parts strewn everywhere.