A Kobold.
I turned my gaze to what was in front of him, and my heart froze.
There lay a young Kobold, merely a child. His hands and legs were bound around a single pillar of rock, his body squirming in horror and pain, blood flowing out of the deep gashes in his chest. The older Kobold stood before him holding an axe of sharp steel over the young one, teasing its life with the weapon’s edges.
I immediately recognized the scene.
This wasn’t a murder.
It was a sacrifice.
***
CHAPTER SEVEN
My movements were instinctive and instant. My feet pushed ahead, my hand already reaching for the sword at my side.
I felt the blade vibrate as I slid it out of the sheath, letting it slice into the air before me. My fingers gripped the hilt, and in the blink of an eye, I’d sunk the end into the Kobold before me. The creature gasped and collapsed immediately, the axe in its hand dropping to the floor with a thud. Blood dripped from the sharp edge of my weapon as I slid it out of the creature’s tough hide.
I walked up to the young child tethered to the pillar of rock. It was a little more than half my height and was covered in its own blood. I looked into its eyes and used my Analyze skill on it.
DING!
Race
Earthen Kobold
Level
61
The small creature winced as I neared it, clenching its eyes shut, turning its face away from me. I ignored its restraint and slashed, sending my blade through the chains and slicing them clean. The little one dropped from the pillar, collapsing to the ground in a jumble.
Nyx, can you—
“Already on it,” Nyx said.
A glow emerged over my hand, and a vial of red liquid formed within it. I uncorked the potion and handed it to the young Kobold. The creature looked up at me, astonishment on its face.
“What are you doing?” it asked.
A boy, I realized. His voice was high-pitched and still childish in tone.
“It’s a potion,” I said, pushing the vial closer to him. “Drink. You need it.”
He stared at my hand for a few seconds and then grabbed the vial from me. The little one quickly downed it and let out a gasp when he had finished. I looked to his health bar and saw it move from the dangerous red zone all the way back to a full solid green.
His hands nervously touched his chest, his breathing ragged, his fingers gently sliding across the skin that was no longer cut open. “That was a health potion?” He looked up at me, a sparkle of curiosity within his eyes.
Has he not heard of one before? I wondered.
“Seems like it,” Nyx said.
“Yeah, that was a health potion,” I said to the young Kobold. “A Warrior’s Restoration Potion, to be specific.”
“Oh,” he said, looking at the vial, rubbing the glass with his fingers.
“What happened to you?” I asked, kneeling down next to him. “Why was that older Kobold attacking you?”
The boy flinched for a second, and I realized it might not be something he wanted to talk about openly.
“I…I’m not sure,” he said, his voice a bit shaken, his fingers sliding across his chest. “The Kobolds attacked me all of a sudden, and everything went black. When I woke up, I was tied up here, and that Kobold was wounding me over and again. I don’t really understand what happened. He’s one of our most respected teachers.”
“Wait, who is ‘our’?” I asked.
“The underground Kobold colony.”
I paused. “Is your colony linked to this chamber?”
“Mmm.” He nodded.
“We should probably leave this place soon, then,” Freya said, already glancing through the chamber. I could only see rocks around us, but I knew it was entirely possible the colony might come up through the small tunnels in the walls.
A loud rumble rang through the chamber, rocks and dust sprinkling down from the ceiling. The young Kobold froze up. “They’re here.” His eyes widened.
“What?” I asked.
Kobold warriors poured out of the tunnels, all of them clad in iron armor and carrying sharp weapons. One Kobold wore a headdress made of some black metal; I inferred this one was some kind of leader.
“Nazu,” the Kobold said as he looked at the young one.
“Rosiah, why is this happening?” he asked, shaken once again. “Why are you doing this to me?”
The older Kobold shot to the young one, his sword ready to strike. I surged ahead, bringing my weapon up and smacking him with the flat of my blade. The Kobold smashed into the wall and passed right through it, the rock crunching as he crashed through.
The rest of his cohort surged at me, weapons high in the air, a war cry on their lips. I turned to Freya, who had drawn her longsword as well. We both shifted into position, standing on either side of the young boy.
Flurries of strikes came my way, and my hand flew through the air, trying to block every single one. I was tempted to use one of my Magical Arts skills, but I knew they were explosive enough to bring this whole place down, and I’d prefer not to do that.
I watched the walls out of the corners of my eyes, and I saw more and more Kobolds entering the chamber. It was almost too much for me to handle without using my powers.
I gritted my teeth. “These things are pushing my buttons,” I grumbled.
“If you don’t want to use your powers to take them on, running away is the only other alternative,” Nyx said.
Run where? I asked. There isn’t an escape route in here.
“Get down the tunnel,” Nyx said.
What I fended off a few strikes that came at me.
“Zoran, we can’t hold on for too long,” Freya said, defending attacks and piercing through the Kobolds ahead. But for every Kobold that she’d struck, many more took their place, quickly putting us in an overwhelming situation.
In the span of about thirty seconds, we’d been compromised.
Ugh, I have no other choice, I realized.
“Nope, you don’t,” Nyx said, a tone of amusement in his voice.
Let’s hope I don’t bring this entire chamber down, I thought. “Freya, Nazu! Duck!” I yelled. The two looked at me in confusion and dropped to the floor instantly. I forced my inner power into my blade, and it flashed a deep blue just as I swung it in the air, creating a neat circle of light. A pressure wave blasted forth, passing over their heads and surging into every Kobold standing. They all flew back, crunching through the walls like meteors piercing a wooden roof.
DING!
Congratulations! You have defeated:
Kobold Squadron (Lv 121).
That’s a long way to go for just one Kobold. This better be worth it. Reward: 1,300,000 XP. Reward: Arm Wraps of the Kobold Warrior (x5). Reward: Stone Gauntlets of the Kobold Warrior (x7). Reward: Warriors’ Restoration Potion (x16). Reward: Wooden Arrows of the Kobold Archer (x30).
The chamber rumbled on cue, and rocks fell to the ground as everything began to destabilize around us. We needed to leave, and fast.
A massive chunk of the roof suddenly broke off, flying down onto us in half a second. Freya instantly threw her hand up, summoning a shield of misty white light, but that wasn’t enough. The ground beneath her buckled under the force and gave way immediately.
We dropped fast, falling through the rupturing surface and into a wind tunnel that pushed us deep down. Freya quickly summoned a spell from the Wind Arts, breaking our fall just as we approached the surface beneath us.
“Ugh, that was rougher than I expected,” I mumbled as our feet touched the ground. Freya had Nazu in her arms, cushioning the young one from the fall. She put a hand in the air and summoned an orb of bright light that illuminated the sight before us.
Oddly enough, where I had expected brown sand and featureless surfaces, I found fresh green grass adorned with flowering shrubs. There was more life down here than had been in the chamber I had fought the Kobolds in.
&nb
sp; “What the heck is this?” Nyx asked, voicing exactly what I was going to ask him.
“Oh dear,” Nazu whispered, looking at the grass and the flowers. “This must be the forbidden chambers.”
“What?” I blinked. “What is that?”
“The Kobold elders talked of this place,” he said. “It is said to be the resting place of our colony’s greatest Shaman. He was said to—”
A howl erupted in the darkness, interrupting his words and all of our thoughts. I immediately looked into the black, turning on my Night Vision skill and trying to see what was causing the sounds. It definitely wasn’t anything good.
All of a sudden, a spirit of phantasmic white shot towards us, its form that of a Kobold. I sensed its intent was to attack, and I immediately put my hand out, forcing my powers into it.
The spirit stopped cold even before I attacked, freezing up like it had seen a…ghost.
“Oh, you’re so proud of that pun, aren’t you?” Nyx sighed.
Shut up, I grinned.
“You.” The spirit pointed at me. “What are you doing here?”
“What?” The young Kobold blinked.
“Why are you here, Phantom Lord?”
“Phantom Lord?” Nazu looked at me.
I, however, focused on the spirit. Though his words seemed indifferent, his tone suggested that he cared a lot. And that’s what I’d expected. My Spirit King special ability gave me control over every single spirit in existence, so it wasn’t a surprise these after-death creatures knew to behave in front of me.
“Who are you, spirit?” I asked.
It stayed silent.
“Who are you?” I asked once again, putting power into my words, compelling him to answer.
“A Kobold Shaman,” he said, restraint in his voice.
Those words validated what Nazu had told me, and that was enough for me to stay calm about this situation. I knew this creature was not going to attack us, at least not when I was still around, and so I thought of the next logical step to take.
“Do you know of a route that leads out of this place?” I asked him, speaking more forcefully this time.
His face twisted a bit as he tried to fight my power over him, but he succumbed to it quickly. “There is a route, Diablo,” he said. “Further down from here is a stream that leads to the upper chambers.”
“Very well,” I said, relaxing my mind and, in doing so, my hold on the spirit. It shook itself a bit, as though to rid itself of my dominion. I smiled to myself. That had been the first time I’d actually taken control of a spirit like that, and I had to say, it was definitely a nifty skill to have. Especially for someone who saw as much death as I had.
“Go back to where you came from,” I said, “and we will not have to cross paths as enemies.”
The spirit looked at me for a moment. “I understand,” he said and moved away, quickly fading into the darkness.
“You could have taken him out easily if you’d wanted to,” Freya said. “He was like a quarter of your level.”
“Yeah, but it was unnecessary.” I turned to Nazu, who was still looking at me wide-eyed.
“You’re the Phantom Lord?”
I chuckled. “Yes, I’m a Phantom Lord.”
“What’s a Phantom Lord?” he asked.
“That is a question for another time.” Freya held his hand and led him forward. The little one walked between us and we set off across the grassy lawns. We’d merely walked for a few minutes when I heard the sound of burbling water. A few more steps and I saw a clear stream sprouting from the ground. It appeared it had been running under us all along and decided to make its appearance from this spot.
I knelt close to it and put my hand in its water, feeling the chill on my skin. It was refreshing, and I found that odd. I’d certainly not expected to see something like this deep in a Kobold colony. Then again, it did seem like this place was abandoned, so it wasn’t like anyone had had the opportunity to shape it to their vision.
“It’s growing steeper,” Freya said, looking ahead. The pathway arched onto a hill that stood in front of us. The orb of light we were using didn’t illuminate too far into the darkness, so I couldn’t tell how far up the hill went, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this took us all the way back to the surface, or at least to the level of the chamber we’d been in before.
“Wait.” Nazu pointed to the water. “Why is the water flowing up?” he asked.
And that’s when I realized that the stream was pushing water up the hill instead of down.
“You’re right,” I said, staring at the flow of water. “That’s weird.”
“Hardly,” Nyx chuckled. “When you finally start remembering everything you’ve seen in your life, I doubt water flowing upwards is going to pose much of a problem.”
“That’s true,” I chuckled.
Nonetheless, I knelt down, putting my hand in the water once more and feeling its flow push upwards. The young Kobold knelt beside me, putting his hand in the water as well.
“Cold,” he giggled, splashing it onto the grass on the other side.
I smiled. “Come along,” I said. “We need to head back up as fast as we can.”
Freya walked beside me as we headed back up. “What are you planning on doing with this child?” she asked, her voice low.
“Well,” I said, “we can discuss that once we’re back on the surface.”
She sighed. “You don’t have a plan, do you?”
“Absolutely none.” I smiled.
“Ugh.”
“Honestly, though,” I said. “Would it be wrong to take him back to Ikarius?”
“To your village? Why?”
“I mean, it’s pretty clear his colony is out to get him, based on what he said about the elder who tried to kill him and the Kobold cohort that came after him.”
“That’s true,” she said. “But I would argue it makes him more suspicious of a target.”
“Really?” I asked. “Look at him.” I pointed at Nazu, watching as he scuttled up the hill ahead of us and stumbled to the ground. “I don’t see any threats here.”
Freya sighed. “That’s true,” she said. “Fine, we can take him back to Ikarius, but I’m keeping a close watch on him just in case.”
“That’s fine.” I smiled.
We had walked up the hill for another few minutes when I saw a small speck of light shine from above, and I could instantly tell this was the light from the outside. We charged up with a renewed energy, breaking into a run as we neared the light. The hill led right up to the entrance the light was coming from, and we wasted no time heading right out of it. In seconds, we were out of the darkness and back on the desert surface.
“There’s the end of that.” Freya smiled, dusting stray sand from her shins.
“That was less intense than I expected.” I chuckled as I turned around.
But the entrance we’d just used had disappeared. I looked around for Nazu and saw him a few feet away from us, playing around in the sand. I sighed in relief and looked back at the ground where the entrance had been, confused about where the hole had gone.
“What just happened?” I mumbled.
“I’m as clueless as you are,” Nyx said. “Entrances are not supposed to disappear like that.”
Well, I guess it’s just a mystery for another day.
“We’ve got a ton like those,” he chuckled.
That we do. I rounded up Freya and Nazu and started back to the village. I opened my map to gauge where we were, and it took me a moment to realize we had ended up somewhere far north of where the Lumina Knights’ tower had been. I was tempted to go back there and see what exactly was going on, but I rejected that idea. Scouting had not worked the first time, and I definitely needed more information about that tower before we went back.
“So, you’re going to ask Ijyela?” Freya asked when I told her the plan. “I mean, it’s possible she might know something about it.”
“Yeah,” I said. “We need m
ore information before we do anything.”
“I can just message her over the Ga’em if you want.”
“Nah,” I said. “We need to head back to the village anyway, and I’d rather talk to her in person.”
“Fine,” she said.
And so we headed back, traveling the hot path that we’d taken to reach here in the first place. Along the way, I remembered the Black Guardians I’d fought just a few hours ago and wondered what their purpose was. I’d faced a lot of enemies in the past few hours, but they were the most mysterious. I had no clue what their motivation was, whether they were part of any of the Alliances, or, most importantly, what they were capable of.
The sun set nearly as soon as we’d walked back to the surface, and we spent a while walking under the stars, managing to gain some ground through it. I could tell we weren’t more than half an hour away from Ikarius now, and that made me happy. I’d been super excited about getting my own village, and I was a little sulky that I hadn’t had a good opportunity to play around with it yet.
“Well, you seem happy we’re back.” Freya smiled, noticing my expression.
“You bet,” I chuckled. “Village building sounds exciting.”
“Ha-ha. It’s not as easy as it seems.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” I laughed.
DING!
Warning!
Ikarius is under attack! Visit the village immediately in order to stem damage and provide reinforcements!
A blast sounded in the distance, and beams of black energy shot into the sky, staying there for a second and then dissipating. With one look, I could tell the beams were coming from my village, and that only annoyed me more, because I knew exactly who had attacked Ikarius.
I clenched my teeth, anger coursing through my veins.
The Dark Alliance had made its appearance.
***
CHAPTER EIGHT
What the hell?
That was the only thought in my mind as the shades of death shot into the sky, a little more than a second between blasts. One glance and I could tell exactly where they were coming from.
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