Several others murmured their consent.
“Have you tried to escape?” I asked.
“It’s no use, Chief.” Malkyr shook his head. “The hole you came from is the only way out, and it’s too narrow to move out in force. We tried it a few times, but their damn assassins keep one-shotting our guys. Well, except for this guy.” He pointed at a dark-skinned player who was quietly standing apart from the others. I recognized the player. Half of his long hair was tied in a topknot with the rest falling over his shoulders, and delicate black scales covered every patch of visible skin.
“Nero.” I nodded in greeting at the half-dragon player.
He bowed his head. Scars covered his arms and upper torso. It seemed that despite the heightened pain levels, Nero had seen his share of combat.
“Yeah, Nero’s level 6 – the highest one here,” Malkyr said.
Nero shot him a disapproving look.
The large man seemed unfazed by it. “So, what’s the plan, Chief? You’re going to bust us out of here, or what?”
I mulled over my options. By the sounds coming from above, the kobolds were still going strong against my soldiers. That meant they were distracted. There was no way I could bring everyone up and sneak out unnoticed, but maybe there was another way. A plan started to form in my mind, one that would assure both the players’ freedom and my clan’s safety.
“I am going to help you out,” I confirmed. “But that might not be easy; we need to find and kill the kobold chief.”
“What?” Sullivan’s eyes widened. “Hell, no – that guy’s a monster. And I’m not just talking about his race. He’s a boss! We’re having enough of a hard time fighting against the low-level fodder.”
“Well, now there’s a boss monster fighting on your side,” I said, looking him straight in the eyes.
“I knew it!” Hoshisu exclaimed, giving her brother a triumphant look.
“Why do we have to fight him at all?” Sullivan said defensively. “With your help, we can just fight our way out of here.”
Tika moved to stand next to me. “He has our daughter,” she said plainly.
I felt myself freeze at being outed like this, but I braced myself and met the other players’ eyes daringly. They would have found out eventually, anyway. It was better to deal with it now and get it over with.
To my surprise, it was Nero who came to my rescue. “A man must protect his family – children especially,” he said in a grave tone. “I will stand by your side.”
The weird-looking goblin player nodded. “I will help. Anything I can do to help these youngsters.”
“Us too,” Malkyr declared, not bothering to consult with his sister who turned to glare at him.
Several other players stepped forward, but half of them shook their heads.
“Why the hell do we have to kill the chief?” Sullivan asked again. “He’ll just respawn and come after us.”
“Because we’ll never be able to fight our way out of here,” I said. “They’ll just overwhelm us with superior numbers as we try to retreat. Even if we make it outside, they’ll keep raiding us. But if I kill the chief now, he’ll stay dead, and …” I took a step forward. “I’ll claim his clan for my own.”
There was a long silence.
The other players exchanged nervous glances. Everyone turned to look at Nero who nodded back at me. ”Okay, what do we have to do?”
***
With Mana Infusion filling my body with strength, I easily climbed up the rope. Tika followed nimbly behind me.
I crouched as I exited the shaft and took in my surroundings. The immediate area was mostly deserted, but I noticed a large group of kobolds casually walking toward us from the direction of the exit. It looked like my soldiers had been defeated, and the kobold defenders were returning to their normal positions.
“Hurry up,” I whispered into the hole as loudly as I dared.
Hoshisu climbed out next, almost as agilely as I did. Nero followed her, and he also seemed to have no trouble doing the climb. The rest of the players took longer, and not all of them had Physical-oriented characters.
“This is taking too long,” I hissed.
A muscular half-goblin climbed up next. “It’s not easy, you know. It’s going to be a real pain for some of us to squeeze through.”
A shout pierced the air. We’d been spotted by one of the nearby kobolds who noticed the players coming out of the hole. The little critter was jumping and shouting, pointing in our direction.
The large kobold attack group was still half a cave away, but there were others nearby. Lone soldiers started charging us from every direction.
I drew my blades, reached out with my mind, and froze the nearest attacker. A follow-up slash took its head off, and then I was surrounded by three other kobolds. Tika and Hoshisu stood at our center and started sniping at the farthest creatures in an attempt to reduce the pressure on us melee fighters. Nero was a whirling tornado of sharp claws as he faced off against four spear-wielding kobolds. We were holding our own, but more and more enemies were pouring into the clearing to join the battle. The large force of soldiers in the distance picked up their pace.
A half-snake player slithered out of the hole and jumped at one of the kobolds. His lower body coiled around the creature and started to choke the life out of him. A dagger slashed his side in response, but to his credit, the player only winced and doubled down on his captive.
I froze one of my attackers, but the other two were putting too much pressure on me to finish him off. My Pyrolith Gambeson was holding well against their spears, but the occasional stab still went through. It was starting to piss me off.
Behind me, Tika and Hoshisu kept sniping the kobolds. Together, the two women had already killed twice the number of enemies than us four melee fighters combined.
The burly half-goblin beside me was alternating between swearing and crying out in pain as he barely held his own against a single kobold soldier. I sensed Nero dispatching one of his attackers then rending another’s stomach with his clawed hands.
Two more players climbed out. One of them was the weird grandfatherly goblin. He pointed a hand at one of the charging kobolds, and a bolt of frost shot out, encasing the creature’s legs in ice and causing him to tumble.
Malkyr’s head was sticking out of the hole as he slowly wriggled his large frame out.
The stream of incoming kobolds seemed to thin a little, but the large group was nearly halfway to us. They were slowed by the egg clusters, advancing carefully, as if through a minefield.
The half-snake player had finished choking the kobold to death, but he looked nearly dead, bleeding from his wounds. The half-dwarf also seemed to be in bad shape, and the next spear thrust impaled his torso, killing him on the spot.
I had to remind myself that all the players were low-level now. Probably around level 3 or 4 at most. They couldn’t handle prolonged fights.
Tika and Hoshisu finished cleaning up the kobolds outside of melee range and started helping us, taking their time to aim to make sure they didn’t hit an ally.
The two kobolds I was facing were still keeping me on the defensive. They had decent quality gear, suggesting they were probably lieutenants.
Then Nero was next to me. He pounced at the one on my left, his claws flashing in the light of a nearby campfire. That freed me up. I swung both of my oversized falchions at the other one. He brought up his spear in a desperate attempt to block, but my blades cut through the weapon as well as his upper body, ending his life. Another flick of my wrist sent a blade to decapitate the one who was still frozen.
“Yes, minion. Reap their souls for me …”
I ignored the ominous voice and turned to look around me.
The other players had also downed their opponents. We were momentarily clear, but my allies were all looking the worse for wear. Almost everyone was wounded, some pretty heavily, and two had fallen. I felt the rush of adrenaline and heat of the battle still raging through my b
ody, and I reached inside.
A burst of energy erupted out of me, washing over my allies, instantly healing their injuries.
I grinned. Well hello, Heal Followers, how nice of you to drop by. The healing effects seemed even stronger than I remembered.
My mirth was short-lived, though.
“They’re coming!” Malkyr cried. The big man had emerged from the hole and was reaching down to pull out another player.
I looked up and saw the main attack force – nearly 200 kobolds, with several assassins leading the charge. They were almost at the clearing. Our time had run out.
“Everyone, stay as one unit – protect the archers. Charge at that building!” I commanded, pointing at the chief’s house.
There were nine of us now. We quickly formed a ring around the two archers and dashed toward the building. Nearby kobolds were still trying to rush at us, but Tika and Hoshisu kept putting them down before they could reach us.
The two assassins standing guard at the chief house entrance finally turned to face us. Tika shot an arrow at one, but the damn kobold blurred and disappeared. He reappeared an instant later, having closed half the distance to our group. The other one had completely disappeared.
Behind us, two more players were out of the hole, but they were cut off from the rest of us as more kobolds ran to engage us. They stayed beside the hole, apparently having decided to secure the exit for the rest of their friends.
I ran at the kobold assassin with my falchions raised high, intending to cut him apart with a crossed double slash. The little bastard jumped and rolled, evading both blades mid-air, and his own twin daggers found the small gaps in my armor and stabbed, drawing blood.
The other assassin suddenly reappeared, standing on another player’s shoulders and plunging both daggers deeply into the side of his neck. The player fell down, dead. As the assassin rolled away, he flung a bag at another player, engulfing him in a familiar cloud of white dust. The player instantly started to cough, and blood started coming out of his mouth and eyes.
With a cry of fury, Malkyr reached out. He held no weapon, but his arms were clad with familiar steel gauntlets. My large friend grabbed the assassin on the side of his body, pinning his arms, and started squeezing. The kobold struggled helplessly and tried to bite, but he was out of reach. Nero pounced on the assassin in front of me, forcing him to tumble away from the attack. The maneuver put the kobold behind me, and he used the opportunity to attack, his blades biting deeply into my back.
I yelled in outrage. The attack was painful. I could feel some sort of poison searing my veins, but I was too angry to care. I called for the shadows to assist me. And there were plenty of shadows around. Thick ropes of black matter rose and snaked over the kobold’s body, holding him tight. The assassin struggled and almost slipped away, but I commanded the tendrils to clamp down around the creature, forcing him to his knees. I clenched my will, and the ropes started squeezing the life out of him. I flashed him a feral, toothy grin as he died. I was able to cast Shadow Web again.
We reached the chief’s unguarded house just as the throng of kobolds did. Lucky for us, the horde had divided itself in two. The other half charged the players who were still coming out of the hole. That meant we still had over a hundred critters to handle.
I felt a clawed palm touch my shoulder. “Get the chief,” Nero said. “The rest of us will buy you the time you need.”
I looked around at the determined faces. They’d been wounded, but they weren’t giving up. They’d put their faith in me. Now it was my turn to prove them right. I sent out a wave of healing energy, bringing them to full health. “Good luck,” I said, meeting Nero’s calm gaze.
Then I yanked the door open and dashed inside.
***
Kobold females.
They were everywhere, covering the floor with their scantily clothed bodies in what Kaedric would probably have dubbed an ‘optimal breeding arrangement.’
The crude building was just one big room. Two low steps led up to a platform on the far side where a primitive wooden throne stood with a leather screen hanging behind it.
A kobold sat atop the throne, easily the largest of its kind I’d seen.
He was as big as me. His snout was narrower and longer than the others I’d seen, and his scales looked more like plates, covering his body in thick armor. His fingers ended in sharp claws, even longer than Nero’s, and a dangerous glint was in his reptilian eyes as he studied me.
“The goblin chief at lassst,” he hissed at me. “I’ve been sssearching for you.”
“So I’ve heard,” I said, sizing up my opponent, looking for any weakness. I could almost feel the strength exuding out of him. A burst of glyphs streamed over my view as I studied him.
Cries of pain and the sounds of combat behind me reminded me of the urgency of my task. My friends were bleeding and hurting every second I delayed. There was no time for chit chat.
I pointed my bloody blades at the kobold chief and advanced to attack.
“Ssstop!” the chief commanded. He reached back, grabbed the leather screen, and pulled it down, revealing a young girl hanging in the air behind him.
She was pretty in a way that most humans would find appealing, though she was, of course, smaller and had pale green skin. She was hanging by two glowing shackles that were locked around her wrists. Despite her dire predicament, her face showed no fear.
I felt my body go numb all at once at the sight. I knew who she was. How could I not? The shape of those eyes … the lines of her cheeks … she looked a lot like me. The real me.
“Father,” the girl greeted me gravely. It almost looked like she was unaware of our surroundings. “What is my name?”
I gaped at her, still in shock.
That feeling dissipated to be replaced by an all-consuming rage as the wretched chief held a knife to her throat. Suddenly, the world around me shimmered and shifted. I blinked in surprise as I realized everything looked more real and vivid than before.
Then a thundering voice spoke in my mind. “An unrequited vow you have made in my name, my minion. On my power, let not your enemies harm that whelp, or all that you are, all that you were or will be, will come to a permanent and explosive end.”
A thin ring of spinning darkness erupted around me, sending tendrils of darkness up my body. I could feel the craving of those tendrils, a manifestation of Nihilator’s unending hunger. I knew that even a small scratch from the kobold’s knife would be enough for my vow to be broken, putting an end to my existence.
For good.
I couldn’t care less.
The sight of the helpless girl who looked so much like me at the mercy of that monster drove me over the edge. Rage swelled up inside me like tidal waves intent on destroying everything in their path.
“Pathetic,” the kobold chief hissed, dropping his arm. “You are just another goblin coward; you can’t even act when your own blood isss in danger. You jussst stand and tremble in fear.”
The ring of shadow around me disappeared as he moved away from the helpless goblinette and started advancing on me. “I, Chief Hesstiag, will kill you myself.”
“Father.” The young goblinette looked at me. “What is my name?’
I couldn't answer her. The chief lowered his head and charged at me with two claw swipes. I hastily raised my falchions, and the force behind those claws nearly caused my knees to buckle. Even with my mana-enhanced strength, it was still a far cry from the kobold’s power. The blades didn’t even seem to nick his long reptilian claws.
I nearly stumbled on a naked kobold female as I moved backward. I quickly regained my balance and tried using my power to freeze the chief. He paused for a brief moment then shook his head and came at me again.
He was a much better melee fighter than me. I parried a few more claw swipes, but then another one caught me on the side, somehow finding a vulnerable spot in my armor. My own attacks glanced off his thick scales.
The rage I felt sti
ll burned hot inside of me, but I couldn’t find a way to muster all that pent-up energy and was slowly being pushed back.
The battle outside seemed to be reaching a conclusion as the sounds of fighting subsided.
This was not going well.
Apparently, the kobold chief agreed. “Pitiful,” he spat as he swiped at me again and again, his claws finding more and more vulnerable spots, making me bleed.
The damage accumulated, and I felt a familiar ‘click’ inside me. Acting on instinct, I sent a blast of concussive force straight at my foe. The attack took him by surprise, and he was sent hurtling back, crashing against the wall. I realized what it was the instant it happened. My Blood Wrath boss ability had activated. It also meant I’d just lost 20 percent of my health; the amount required for the ability activation.
The kobold shoved himself off the wall. “That hurtsss,” he hissed. “But not good enough. Sssiezzze him!”
As if waiting for that command, all the half-naked females around me lurched forward and reached for me. Each of my legs was caught by at least five different hands holding me in place. I raised my falchions and looked down at my new assailants. The sight of vacant-eyed females caused me to hesitate for a second.
The kobold chief didn’t.
He pounced at me again. Taking advantage of my unbalanced state, he started pummeling me with renewed vigor. Claws raked my chest, my shoulders, and an especially vicious one caught the side of my face, nearly taking out an eye.
I felt Blood Wrath trigger two more times, meaning my health was down to 40 percent, but I resisted activating it on instinct. The pain and beatings drew out the feral side of me. I could feel the goblin in me growl in anger, striving to let loose. The sense of rage built up once again, reaching new heights, but this time, I didn’t let it all out. It was not enough. Not yet.
Instead, I let out the doubly charged Blood Wrath as a ring of pushing force. A blast of concussive energy shot out in all directions, flinging away the females as if they were nothing more than leaves in the wind. It would have been more powerful had I focused the energy on one target, but now I was free.
Life Reset: Human Resource (New Era Online Book 4) Page 8
