The kobold warrior breathed a sigh of relief.
Safe?
He glanced down inadvertently, in the warm yellow glow emitted by the candle.
The patch of bright red on the ground was so glaring.
Oh no!
He wasn’t the only one who saw this streak of red.
All the kobolds present looked up.
In the darkness before them, a tall figure swiftly swooped like a ghost.
The kobold instinctively wanted to lift his weapon to resist.
But...
"Swish, swish, swish!"
From the blood-soaked soil, the vines that absorbed the blood burst forth, instantly binding their limbs.
In the next moment, that shadowy figure quickly enlarged before their eyes.
"Slash!"
A crisp sound of flesh being pierced echoed in their ears.
The kobolds lost their consciousness.
Gauss stood firm, flicking the blood off his hands.
An elite kobold warrior, roughly level 2 challenge rating.
A kobold shaman, with a challenge rating around level 1.
The remaining six were ordinary kobolds but were also among the best of the lower-tier monsters.
In such terrain as the mine tunnel, this kobold unit would be a formidable enemy for many low-level teams, but now facing them, they were almost defeated without a fight.
Too weak.
Like an appetizer.
Aaliyah and the others began searching and scavenging valuable trophies and organs from them.
As for the bodies, Gauss and the others were too lazy to clean up, intending to leave them in the mine tunnel.
Anyway, their tracks should be impossible to hide.
He believed that the "wise one" in the kobold’s lair didn’t expect such a kobold squad to defeat them either.
In other words, this squad was originally just sacrificial pieces, its only purpose to use their lives to verify whether there was any anomaly in this passage.
To confirm that he, the enemy, hadn’t left yet.
Sure enough, after this kobold squad was taken out, no new units appeared at the end of the mine tunnel.
Without further intelligence, the kobolds evidently won’t dispatch forces to serve themselves up one by one.
In the lair.
Several kobold mages dressed in exquisite robes were gathered together.
Looking towards one of the passages leading to the outside world.
As one kobold lightly pointed its magic staff to the ground.
The once ordinary ground began to show footprints.
After a moment.
Two illusory figures began to materialize in the air.
If Gauss were here, he would notice that the physiques of these two matched him and Ying’s.
"Human mage, released a fireball."
"Then retreated from here."
"They are hunting our kin in the tunnel!"
The eyes of the kobold mages turned dark.
Under the King’s protection.
The kobold tribe quickly grew, continuously producing new elite individuals.
With this, they swiftly cleared the once complex mining area.
Those adversarial monsters either turned into their vassals or died under their conquest, becoming trophies for the King.
Even human teams occasionally exploring were deceived by illusions they created.
Clearly, if things continued developing like this.
The tribe could grow larger like a snowball.
Once the King further grasped power, they could set foot on the ground, sweep through Gold and Silver Town, and then flee to the vast wilderness.
But, where did these two humans come from?
Moreover, despite having only a few numbers, boldly hunt their lair.
Thinking about the tribe dispatched in the passage who never returned.
Bad thoughts rose in their hearts.
At the end of the passage, it seemed like a cold serpent was slowly coiling around the entire lair.
"The King cannot enter the mine tunnel."
An elderly kobold mage said hoarsely.
The recent fireball technique seemed still vivid.
Though its power was still deemed inferior to the King’s dragon breath in their minds, it posed an insurmountable threat to ordinary kobolds.
Fortunately, they knew the King feared no fire.
This considerably reduced the enemy’s threat.
But the most challenging problem was, the enemy turtled within the tunnel, and the King, restricted by size, couldn’t enter.
If they kept sending kobolds, it evidently wouldn’t trouble the opponent.
Several kobold mages quickly discussed and made a decision.
"Send some pups out from other passages first to assess the situation."
"Also, awaken the red dog."
"This enemy is very dangerous."
"The red dog? Really going to unleash that guy?"
In this kobold lair, a strong entity was born.
It possessed the strongest talent among them.
Successfully received the King’s baptism, becoming a noble dragon-descendant kobold.
But the King’s bloodline also swallowed its sanity, turning it into a madman consumed by a desire for slaughter.
After it devoured the blood and flesh of many of its kin, the kobold mages had to jointly put it to sleep.
The kobold mages’ faces turned ashen but eventually made the decision.
They called an elite squad, the kobolds transported a coffin from the deep cellar.
Then, walked along another wider passage outward.
...
Gauss led Aaliyah and others back from the mining area to the surface.
Seeing sunlight again felt very good.
Raven Aik ascended to the skies.
"Unable to find our tracks, those kobolds surely won’t give up. They will definitely come out to search for us."
Gauss said confidently.
They are in the light; we are in the dark.
He planned to replicate the pattern of clearing the goblin lair, continuing to harass this kobold lair.
Attempting to exhaust the enemy’s living strength as much as possible.
Aside from that red dragon beast, this kobold lair shouldn’t have any individuals capable of threatening them, right?
"No matter what, first prepare for combat."
Gauss didn’t really want to fight kobolds underground either; it was too dangerous.
Gauss’s team began setting up around the surrounding grounds.
"Ka! Ka!"
Suddenly, a shriveled voice rang overhead.
"Enemies have appeared." Aaliyah first captured Raven Aik’s intelligence and, acting as the translator, conveyed it to the others.
Gauss’s gaze followed the direction where Aik was.
In the vast yellow sands, the figures of an elite kobold squad began appearing.
So fast?
Gauss slightly narrowed his eyes.
And... what kind of peculiar combination is this?
Kobolds carrying a coffin?
His forehead furrowed slightly.
Several tall and sturdy kobolds were carrying a huge black coffin towards him.
In the back of the team, several kobold mages followed.
What are they doing? Some ritual?
He couldn’t comprehend.
But he silently gauged the distance in his heart.
He planned to cast a fireball without hesitation once the enemy entered the casting range.
Perhaps the kobolds collected enough intelligence from the previous explosion in the lair; they stopped far away.
"Creak, creak!"
The black coffin was placed upright, and the other kobolds spread out.
Kobold mages waved their magic wands, chanting.
"Boom—"
The coffin lid fell, revealing a colossal kobold within.
Its height was nearly two and a half meters.
With crimson scales flowing like flames.
Muscles dense and robust perfectly fit around its body.
Most striking was the head; it seemed like a miniature version of the dragon beast Gauss saw before, fierce, wicked, beautiful, with sharp little horns on top.
Dragon descendant?
Gauss realized something.
The next moment, the sleeping kobold in the black coffin opened its eyes.
A strange red glow flashed.
Across a vast distance, Gauss locked eyes with it.
Immediately, they both fixed on each other.