This time with essence flowing throughout his body Jacobs’ movement was swift and confident with each step he bounded forward further and further he did not charge with a shout as the kobolds attention was currently fixated on Riley chanting as they did, a torch could be seen on one of the kobolds the sacrifice ceremony was about to begin anew. One would think the kobolds would learn to put more manpower to protect the sacrifices this time but Jacob guessed he expected too much even if the Suzerain said they were more powerful than the giant tiger but it had more to do with their numbers and not their intelligence or personal prowess. Jacob made swift work of the 7 kobold in front of him not a single gasp managed to alert the kobolds nearer to the pyrefire, letting Jacob work on another 4 in front of him a lazy smile appeared on his face as he did.
As Flowing Water quickly sliced through the 4 as if they were tofu Jacob thought to himself maybe if he was an accomplished Adept 1 or 2 spells would have made even shorter work of the kobolds if he was in place for an ambush, but even now Jacob realised the kobolds were not scary at all even before he reached level 10 or it could be 11 now after the bear. If he had enough confidence the 30 before would have been nearly as easy as the 30 now, the momentary thoughts however caused Jacob to flag on the fourth kobold allowing the kobold to let out a short gasp. Alerting both the kobolds and the duo that were still tied up of Jacobs’ presence amongst them, the eyes of the duo lighted up while in constrast the kobolds stopped their chantings eyes glinting in the soft cave light without any communication they charged at once weapons waving wildy and screeches echoed throughout the cave. However the kobold holding the torch casually threw it into the pyrefire before joining the others in the rush, Rileys’ delight instantly turned into horror and screams
Jacob now had a time limit so he swung again at the charging kobolds the lazy smile on his face turned into one of concentration as he flitted backwards as he did so with the mindless charge from the kobolds and his new increased speed, The kobolds were easily kept at bay as Jacob continually moved backwards not letting the kobolds catch even a smidge of his flesh. All the kobolds managed this time was made Jacob sweat a little during the clean up of the remaining 19 kobolds. Their screeches however presented another problem it would seem that was how they managed to call reinforcements from the depths, Jacob was blind to the happenings during the first rush he did with the fiends. But he knew better now to only concentrate on one aspect even now Jacob felt like he could feel the incoming kobold hordes again so without dragging on after he finished the kobolds, Jacob rushed to the duo letting Flowing Water cut down the burning pyre with the fire already tickling the edges of Rileys’ shoes.
Flowing Water met the fire with the water within turning up to a boil as it met the fire easily performing two functions, putting out the fire as if it reacted with the water within and breaking through the piled pyrefire as if it was brittle bone. The sight immediately set Riley at ease and with the surroundings cleared Jacob easily got her out of her bindings and proceeded to do the same for Brian this time not wanting a repeat of the previous situation for various reasons he quickly got them to move towards the cave entrance. This time trusting them to catch up Jacob sped ahead letting them muck about in the dark only occasionally calling out to let them know the general direction they should head in, with a general map in his mind Jacob got out of the cave in record time. Letting the duo slowly feel the wind and his occasional calls as a guide, they got out of the cave. Already panting hard for the duo but Jacob did not let them rest and guided them into the opposite direction of the setting suns. Before moving off Jacob motivated them by telling them if they get caught this time he would not bother to rescue them again giving them increased motivation. Not a whiff of the kobold horde could be heard this time it seems they need a considerable amount of time to even reach their outpost giving Jacob an idea for later, he would spend the last few days with the kobolds if all goes well.
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The group made considerable progress this time before the horrid screeches could be heard this time from a far, Jacob snickered at the differences this time and also glad he did not get caught with his pants down a second time. The group made it back to the dry and decrepit area of the forest before Jacob allowed them to stop and catch their breath. Amidst the dry heaving of the duo, a stark difference to Jacob somewhat steady breathing Riley and Brian both spoke out in unison.
“We were caught around here last time. Let the both of us catch a few moments of rest and we should hurry on.”
“Those filthy animals grabbed us here, Turner and Alexander did not even look back and ran off those heartless pricks.” Both sentences cut each other off but Jacob managed to parse them.
“I suspect one of them grabbed me and pulled me back when I was running with you guys too, they must have invested into dexterity mid flight. Do you guys recall who told you all to keep running? I wanna give one of them the benefit of the doubt but it seems likely that they colluded. But lets take a 5 minutes break too for your rest.” Jacob sat down as he replied. Riley gave an answer to Jacobs’ question.
“It was Alexander who shouted that but afterwards Turner encouraged us to slow down and catch our breath saying that while it was unintended you would be serving as distraction to the kobolds. So your theory that they are colluding is very likely.” Riley and Brian both sat down as the word rest left Jacobs’ mouth and Jacob merely nodded at Rileys’ answer as hatred once again boiled in his heart, he even helped and guide them the thanks he got was a betrayal by both of them. Jacob merely expected Turner to feel slightly slighted or indignant but somehow the two of them got together to take Jacob out. The world was even deadlier than he thought but he managed to survive that so he could consider it as a learning lesson, if the plan for the duo worked out there would be three burning corpses in the kobold outpost now.
After the quick rest the new trio quickly moved back to the outskirts of the city, it was a lot quieter than the first day of the week. No more screams could be heard and no movement could be seen, even the giant tiger heads could not be seen bobbing up and down anymore only deathly silence greeted the trio. A lot had happened during the three days they were in the forest with 4 days and some hours left Jacob had somethings he wanted to accomplish but he would see the two of them set up first before he left. But if something or someone could kill the giant tigers it might be too dangerous for the two to move around left to their own devices.