Chapter 7 - The Kobold Attack

I'm up early the next morning. I just cant shake this anxious feeling that something bad is going to happen soon. I quickly scan my map to see if Blue has wandered into any of the areas I've been to.

I don't spot him.

With a heavy sigh I nudge Brutus awake.

He groans lazily and turns over on his other side. I sigh again and walk out of our room. Seems I'll be doing patrol on my own.

It's even hotter today, and the sun isn't even really up yet. I feel like I'm melting. At least when you're too cold you can snuggle up to a fellow goblin, when it's hot you can't really do anything...

I take a lap around the cave before heading towards the river. Suddenly, I hear rustling from the bushes to the left of me.

Before I can react, a large Kobold jumps out at me, followed by four or five smaller ones.

Oh shit!

Did they plan an ambush? I though they weren't particularly smart? Or did they see or hear me before I spotted them and they hid?

I take a face-full of needle-sharp claws. Staggering backwards, I quickly cast Shield (Lesser) and Shell (Lesser) on myself. My face stings, but it seems the big kobold didn't manage to inflict much damage.

Once I regain my senses, I start backpedaling. Equipping the Tear of Ashala and the poisoned spear, I quickly sidestep a jet of fire. Bastards can breathe fire too!

The smaller Kobolds are moving to surround me, seems they have a decent strategy going for teamwork. I risk a glance at the stats of the big Kobold.

Unnamed

Species: Kobold General (Pseudo-Dragonoid) (Rare)

Gender: Female

HP: 125 (100%)

MP: 50 (100%)

SP: 75 (95%)

Attack: 75

Armor: 50

M.Attack: 30

M.Armor: 45

Speed: 55

STR: 75

CON: 60

INT: 30

WIL: 30

DEX: 45

Skills:

Language Comprehension: Kobold (Great)  -  Gliding (Great)

Fire Breath (Normal)  -  Sharp Claws (Great)

Damage Resistance: Fire (Normal)  -  Damage Resistance: Heat (Normal)

Condition Resistance: Overheat (Great)  -  Condition Resistance: Burn (Great)

Elemental Affinity: Fire (Lesser)

Spells:

Fireball (Lesser)  -  Red Hot Claw (Normal)

Social Titles:

Leader  -  Ruthless

Kin Killer

As I keep retreating, the General issues some commands with a few bark-like sounds. The smaller kobolds speed up their attempts at surrounding me. Judging by her titles, they know better than to disobey.

As they are now catching up to me, I am forced to turn around if I want to keep retreating. But just turning my back would be a fools move. Instead I rush the closest Kobold, aiming for its torso. It tries to dodge, but it misjudges the reach of my spear. The tip sinks into its softer belly skin.

I quickly store the spear, so as not to lose it when I make my retreat. I then turn around and start sprinting towards the cave. Angry barks and the thrashing of a bush being caught up in the spasms of the poisoned kobold are heard behind me. I have to get to the cave and warn the others!

Though I could probably take them on my own, I'm not that brave. I like to play things safe, and that is best done by evening out the numbers. When I can no longer hear the Kobolds, I dare to stop to take a breather. Running in this heat is killing me, literally.

My health is slowly decreasing when I run due to the Overheat status. I hold my hand over my head and douse myself in water retrieved from the Hidden Space.

Using cure to get rid of the status is useless as it would just pop up again when I started running, and I'd just end up wasting MP.

Just a few hundred meters until the cave.

I steel myself for more dreadful running, when a familiar heat surges through me. Seems the kobold I hit died to the poison, and its friends didn't bother putting it out of its misery. Which means they abandoned it to run after me.

Lets see what I gained later, for now I need to run.

Running was much easier for some reason. Maybe its because of the resistances I got from the kobold? Regardless, I was able to speed up my approach to the cave.

Once I arrived, I yelled for everyone to gather up. I supplied them with spears, most of them just regular sharpened sticks. The shaman then ordered formations. The scouts and the rogue from the hunter team hides in the brush on either side of the path towards the river, with the aim to cut off the kobolds retreat.

The maintainers and gatherers are stationed in a half circle around the cave, facing the path to the river.

Finally, me, Brutus, the shaman and the four warriors take up central position.

Once we hear the Kobolds approaching, me and the shaman start fortifying as many goblins as we could, focusing mainly on the hunters and the scouts, as they would be seeing the most action.

Our defenses were ready, lets hope well be able to win without any casualties.

The war-party, now consisting of just four regular Kobolds and the General, come crashing through the brush. They make an abrupt stop once they register the gathering around them.

The four kobolds start to back up, wanting to get away.

Angry barks from the General halt their retreat. Seems she's still more scary than thirty odd goblins with spears.

With more barks, she seems to be ordering targets, but they're all going for me? Did me killing one of their own and getting away really piss her off that much?

*Most likely, the General is after the Tear of Ashala you are currently wearing. It is said that by consuming something from a Dragon, a Psuedo-Dragonoid can ascend to the same rank as the dragon whose part it ate. Seeing as the Tear originates from one of the most powerful dragons in existence, the acquisition of it trumps all other concerns*

Oh.

I call for the others to get away from me and provide support from the sides. As they were all targeting me, lets make the most of it by wearing them down with numbers. The warriors step back and start moving to the sides and hind of the enemy.

Meanwhile I have my hands full dodging claw-strikes and fire breaths.

The Shaman provides heals and cures as needed, but there's a limit to the amount of health he can restore before running out of MP.

Once they're in position, the warriors each pierce one Kobold from the side, aiming for the weaker belly scales. Giving me a moment of respite, I fire off a few Dark Beads towards them.

As I step back to catch my breath, my fur singed and stained by blood, the kobolds still standing start backing up also.

Angry barks from the General, who up until now hasn't actually fought, seems to restore some morale to them.

That morale is quickly lost, however, when upon the Shamans order, all the gatherers and maintainers rush in to finish the job.

The healthiest Kobold turns and runs, but once it gets to the bushes where the scouts and rogue is hiding, it is quickly finished off as they descend upon it; daggers drawn.

This leaves just the General. She roars in anger, but is fully aware of her situation. Her greed got her subordinates killed, and now there is around thirty very angry goblins slowly advancing upon her, bloodied (and some splintered) weapons at the ready. Taking a hesitant step backwards, before a pause.

She grins with mad conviction. I guess she is planning to take as many with her as possible. Her hand glows a whitish red, the air shimmering around it. Shes casting Red Hot Claw!

With a cry, I halt the advance, no goblin was close enough for her to strike, but my cry disrupted their concentration.

Did I fuck up? Is someone going to die because I distracted them?

She spreads her wings and charges at me.

Oh, she still wants me dead.

I'm still hurt after the onslaught of kobolds, if she hits me, I might die.

Reacting instinctively, I put my spear out in front of me, hopefully she will get stuck on it and not be able to hit me?

With a simple flap of her wings she changes the path of her approach, and rushes past my spear. She hits me square in the chest with the Red Hot Claw spell, knocking me to the ground.

*-///-///-Warning-///-///-*

*User HP Dangerously Low*

*Enabling Hysterical Strength*

*Stat Limitation Unlocked*

A surge of power rushes through me. I feel so strong! As the General stands above me, readying the final blow, I raise a foot and kick her in the chest, sending her flying.

I can feel my joints compressing and my bones twisting, unless I finish this quickly, I'll die, or at the very least inflict permanent damage upon myself.

The Kobold General rolls to a stop a good ten meters (~32.8 feet~) away from me. As she struggles to her feet, blood seeps from her mouth.

Even if she managed to run away, she'd die to the internal injuries I inflicted upon her. I slowly rise, trying to control my every move as not to damage myself unnecessarily.

The other goblins watch in awe, unsure if they should interfere.

I raise my hand, and fire off a few Dark Beads. She dodges the first, but gets hit by the second and third.

She still lives, her legs shaking and her breath ragged, but she lives.

Since my INT hasn't been raised to the same degree as my other stats, I shouldn't be disappointed at the low damage my spells do.

Melee it is then.

In as few steps as possible, I get right in her face. She is too weakened to react.

Quickly, I grapple her, and force her head backwards, exposing her throat. I'm unsure if I got the Sharp Claws skill from the kobold I killed earlier, but I know for a fact I do extra damage with my jaws.

I open my mouth wide, and tear into her throat.

My teeth connect with each other, and I tear my head back, taking a good chunk of the Generals neck with me.

With a last hateful look in her eyes, she quivers, before dying.

*Power Osmosis Activated*

*Osmosis Successful, Displaying Stats, Including Previous Osmosis*

*+125 STR (75+50), +100 CON (60+40), +45 INT (30+15), +50 WIL (30+20), +75 DEX (45+30)*

*Skills Acquired:

- Language Comprehension: Kobold (Great) - Allows the user to read, write, understand and speak Kobold.

- Gliding (Great)(Incompatible with current form) - Enables gliding or short bursts of speed using the users wings.

- Fire Breath (Great) (Incompatible with current form) - A jet of fire is emitted from the users mouth. Deals Physical Fire damage.

- Sharp Claws (Great) - Increases the Attack power of claws or nails by 15% before Attack Vs Armor calculation.

- Damage Resistance: Fire (Great) - Reduces damage from Fire elemental attacks by 37.5% after Atc. Vs Arm./M.Atc. Vs M.Arm. calculation.

- Damage Resistance: Heat (Great) - Reduces damage from Heat elemental attacks by 37.5% after Atc. Vs Arm./M.Atc. Vs M.Arm. calculation. Also greatly increases tolerance for high temperatures.

- Condition Resistance: Overheat (Great) - Prevents Overheat (Normal) or less, reduces higher tier Overheat by two tiers.

- Condition Resistance: Burn (Great) - Prevents Burn (Normal) or less, reduces higher tier Burn by two tiers.

- Elemental Affinity: Fire (Lesser) - Lets the user cast spells of the Fire element.*

*Spells Obtained:

- Fireball (Lesser) - Hurls a small ball of Fire at the target, the projectile travels in an arc. Higher tiers increases the area of effect of the projectile.

- Red Hot Claw (Normal) - Coats the users hand in searing Fire. The next melee attack made within 30 seconds also deals its entire attack damage in magical fire damage. (~so if an attack would deal 25 physical damage, it now deals 25 physical damage PLUS 25 magical fire damage!~AN~)*

*Updating stats. Successful.*

*Hysterical Strength Deactivated*

I collapse on the ground.

When I next wake up, several days have passed since our fight with the Kobolds. The shaman spent the whole first night casting great heal and recover on me.

After that they could just hope I'd wake up. Seems I worried a lot of the tribe.

Brutus even kept watch over me, not letting anyone near. He seems to have really taken to me...

It's currently pouring outside.

According to my weather forecast, it will keep raining for another day or so. then it will get hot again, but nothing near what we've already faced.

I stretch and bend, checking that all my joints work as intended. Other than some stiffness in the foot I used to kick the Kobold General, I'm all okay it seems. I also take care to store the Tear of Ashala. Luckily no-one took it off me when I was unconscious.

Most of the maintainers and gatherers are sitting inside the main hall. It's too wet outside to really do anything there, so they sit inside, filling the earthen floor with doodles.

They seem to be using the remains of the spears that broke during the fight as pencils.

The hunters are outside, hunting. Some monsters only come out when it's raining, so its as good a time as any to hunt.

I scan my map, no Blue. Its been well over a week since he vanished, and I'm starting to doubt hes even alive at this point.

I've mapped out most of the area between the cave and the river, as well as the boundary of the tribes territory. unless he went across where I've been whilst I was unconscious, he would probably be somewhere I haven't been within the territory itself?

Of course that all depends on whether or not hes alive at all...

I sigh an join the others.

They cheerfully greet me, chattering about how cool I was in the fight with the General and how amazing it was that no-one got killed.

Seems even a small war-band like the one we faced can cause serious losses to a tribe, if not outright wipe it out.

I guess my weapons really evened it out.

I bring out a stick and start doodling as well. Once the rain stops, I'm going exploring.