Chapter 8: Kobolds
It took him 15 minutes to get from his shelter to his newfound perch. He was lying on top of a small hill overlooking the kobold encampment. Around a hundred metres away he could see the three tents.
The encampment was nothing like he expected. There were three tents placed in a triangle formation surrounding what seemed to be a campfire. Put up seemingly lopsided, two of the tents were barely standing and all of them were mottled with holes. The area that the tents were located in was in a wide-open space, so there was no chance for him to sneak closer either.
Deryn decided to wait. He hadn't seen a kobold yet and wanted to at least get a good look at one before he proceeded with trying to take them out.
That's right, on the way here he had decided to wipe out the encampment. This was because of two reasons. Firstly, although a slightly intelligent species, the stories he read on earth showed kobolds to be fond of killing humans and he didn't want to take any chances with that. But secondly, he wanted the rewards that could potentially drop from killing them; the rewards he was aiming for were chests.
After waiting 10 more minutes Deryn didn't want to waste any more time. He sneaked closer to the encampment. As he was around 30 or so metres away, a tent flap flew open and two kobolds walked out. Deryn froze, before dropping to the floor, trying to make himself as small as possible, he watched the two creatures.
They stood at around 1.2 metres tall and walked upright with a reddish tint to their matted brown fur. The leading kobold had what looked to be a short knife in his hand but the second one had a familiar-looking spear.
"Isn't that a regular stone spear from the < BLUEPRINT > screen" Deryn wondered. "Does that mean they also have access to the system or have they killed another survivor and looted them..." he continued to think.
He continued to wait to see what the kobolds were going to do. They seemed to be talking to each other as he saw their mouths moving but due to the distance, he couldn't hear anything. It did have him wondering whether they could talk in English, which was his mother tongue, yet that seemed a far fetched thought as although they had basic intelligence to use tools they didn't seem intelligent enough to speak the language of another race.
The two other tent flaps opened while he was observing the two kobolds for a few more minutes. This time three kobolds were leaving. One from the second tent and two from the third. All three of them stood at a similar height and wielded similar weapons; all except for the kobold who seemed to have a tent on its own.
This particular kobold was smaller than the other three standing at around a metre and its fur was a bit cleaner than its counterparts.
The strange thing was this one had a short bow on its back with a quiver in its right hand. Deryn got the impression from the melee kobolds that they with subservient to the one holding the bow.
Deryn was confident he could take down a melee kobold in a 1 on 1 if he had the chance, but he wasn't too sure about taking down the archer, especially since there was nowhere to hide the closer he got to the encampment.
The archer kobold pointed at the first two melee kobolds Deryn saw. The spear and knife-wielding kobold nodded towards the archer kobold before heading off opposite Deryn's direction. As he realised that he might be too close towards the camp, the archer kobold directed the other two melee kobolds and they left, walking in Deryns direction.
He started to crawl backwards slowly as he observed the two walking in his direction.
The first of the two held a small axe in his hand and was naked beside a loincloth covering its modesty. The second was slightly taller than the first, this one held a sword in its right hand and had a loincloth and a leather chest plate on from what Deryn could tell.
As they weren't walking fast the distance slowly decreased between them and Deryn who was still slowly crawling backwards. He realised that this wasn't going to work as they would catch up and notice him eventually and there was no place to hide.
A few ideas flashed in his mind before one stood out in particular. He had raw meat in his inventory. If he pulled it out and tossed it in front of him it may allow him to finish one of them off quickly. Or it could alert them and they both rush him together. But Deryn was banking on the first option as they must be going out to hunt.
Deryn's mind worked overtime, before his eyes turned firm, he would kill the axe holder first as it seemed to be the weaker of the two before fighting the one holding a sword. With his plan formed and his will now firmed he decided it was time to take action. He got into a low crouch position before summoning two pieces of raw meat.
Tossing the first one out to his right, he waited a few seconds before tossing the second one to his left. This instantly caught the attention of the kobolds, who seemed to be slightly stunned at the sight of meat falling from the sky before they both started running for the meat on the left. The axe wielder was slightly faster, and upon seeing this the one holding the sword stopped and chased after the meat on the right.
They both reached the meat before beginning to eat it right away, tearing apart the meat quickly as they wolfed it down. Deryn ready for this was already charging to the left side to take on the axe wielder. It wasn't until he was around 5 metres away did the axe wielder notice him, low muffled growls came from its muzzle, not loud enough to alert the other kobold as it had its mouth full of meat.
Deryn pulled his spear from his < INVENTORY > with a quick thought and used a regular thrust attack on the kobold. It dodged to the right getting out of the way of the attack. Deryn not losing his composure followed this up with a sweeping attack, using the jagged teeth to rip the flesh from the kobold's face.
A painful shriek left the kobolds mouth along with bits of flesh, both it's own and the raw meat Deryn tossed out.
The other kobold definitely heard this and is rushing here Deryn thought to himself. While being aware of this his attack didn't stop, and he carried on his attack on the enemy in front of him. Bringing the spear back to his waist he lunged forward, stabbing into the guts of the kobold before pulling the spear out in a rough manner, opening the wound even further.
The kobold dropped the floor with gut and intestine pieces flowing out of the gaping wound. Aware of the threat to his back Deryn rushed around the other side of the axe kobold in time to see the Sword kobold a few metres away from him. Without minding it Deryn stabbed down with the spear and pierced the downed kobolds neck ending its life.
Pulling the spear from the body of the kobold and jumping backwards in one smooth motion Deryn watched the red-eyed kobold charge at him. As the kobold swung forward with its sword Deryn held the spear horizontally and blocked it, a metallic ring echoed from the contact.
An uncommon weapon is really hardy he thought before flinging off the kobolds weapon and arm further away from him. "Phantom Lunge" he muttered aloud as he lunged forward. The kobold already recovered seemed ready for this before a look of confusion passed on its face from the number of spears coming it's way.
It tried to block the first few thrusts but its weapon went through the illusion and before it knew it, it was pierced in the throat by Deryn's spear. Gargling blood as it fell down to the floor the look of confusion and pain on its face didn't leave even after it died.
Deryn panted. Although the battle seemed simple, he was under huge pressure. Not only did he need the plan of the meat being used as bait but he also had to kill the first kobold quickly or a two on one situation wouldn't be in his favour. Everything worked out in the end but Deryn didn't seem all that happy.
"System, although I have knowledge about the spear and my body was adapted accordingly why do I still feel a bit awkward with the movements," he asked.
< SIMPLE HOST. YOU HAVE NEXT TO NO BATTLE EXPERIENCE. AS YOU FIGHT MORE YOU WILL GET MORE COMFORTABLE WITH FIGHTING AND LOSE THAT SENSE OF AWKWARDNESS >
He nodded to himself. It made sense as while he had killed around 20 monsters and animals since being in this world the majority were just boars and rabbits so even with acquiring the spearman class (trainee) and the knowledge he still hasn't had enough battles to form his own way of combat.
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< DING >
< WORLDS FIRST KOBOLD KILL + 10 POINTS >
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< WORLDS FIRST REWARDS >
Name: The worlds first blueprint / Reward: Advent survival system (CLAIMED) / (5) WORLD LEADERBOARD POINTS
Name: Worlds first level 2 shelter / Reward: Random shelter defence blueprint (CLAIM) / (20) WORLD LEADERBOARD POINTS
Name: Worlds first kobold kill / Reward: Kobold Slave Contract Level 1 / (10) WORLD LEADERBOARD POINTS
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< KOBOLD SLAVE CONTRACT LEVEL 1 (UPGRADABLE) >
DESCRIPTION: Use this on a defeated kobold to make it your slave. Slave kobolds will listen to the orders of whoever owns this scroll. This scroll is upgradable and to upgrade the scroll the user has to kill kobolds to gather their souls.
Kobold souls gathered for upgrade: 0/100
Kobold slaves: 0/1
RARITY: Uncommon (Green)
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Deryn found that this was a decent reward. He had many ways to take advantage of this, especially since there were three kobolds left in this encampment. Harvesting the two bodies on the ground he waited for the familiar ding.
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< DING >
RECEIVED: 4x Hides / 40x 100g Raw meat / 2x Kobold souls / 2x Wooden chest
< DING >
< 2x SYSTEM REWARD ACTIVATED >
RECEIVED: 8x Hides / 80x 100g Raw meat / 4x Kobold souls / 4x Wooden chest
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Deryn noticed the scroll went up to 4/100. Even with the double system reward, he would have to kill 50 kobolds to upgrade the scroll to level 2. He would also open the chests when he was back at the shelter as he still had three kobolds that must be dealt with. Picking up the leather armour Deryn tried it on. It was slightly too tight but it would do and upon picking up the two weapons to put in his inventory he started the walk back.
A few minutes later and Deryn was once again 30m from the encampment. He could only see the archer, the two melee kobolds were still hunting somewhere. Deryn was tempted to try the same meat strategy again but was unsure how close he could get before the archer would spot him.
An idea sprung to his mind. He would cut down a tree and section it so he could have a makeshift shield. If he then used it and ran towards the archer, it would only be able to fire a few shots before he got into close combat range.
*aiy* he sighed.
This idea wouldn't work. The last time he tried to cut down a full tree it took him an hour and he gave up in the end. So he usually stuck to chopping down branches as it was a lot easier and quicker. He was also unsure of when the melee kobolds would come back, so if he spent hours cutting down a tree for his plan and they returned in the meantime it would be a waste of time.
A multitude more ideas came to his mind. The most plausible was to toss his spear and kill the kobold in a single hit. Yet he didn't know how to throw his spear accurately and if he did it now it surely would not hit and he would be weaponless. So that idea was only plausible if he knew how to throw.
A few more minutes went by and Deryn had no good ideas. He decided to just risk it. To charge forward using the tents as cover for as much distance as possible before trying to dodge the arrows and kill the kobold.
Deryn took a sip of water before getting ready. He has the route he was going to take planned in his head and the only thing left to do was carry out his plan now. Psyching himself up he started to move.
Slowly at first before getting to the 20m mark where he started to sprint. Upon reaching the 10m mark the kobold archer noticed him running forwards from a hole in the tent which was blocking his view of Deryn. It wasn't until 10m that the hole allowed for Deryn to be seen.
The kobold was clearly slightly flustered but managed to pull its bow around and nock it before shooting an arrow at Deryn. The arrow was nowhere near hitting Deryn as he had already moved to the right as he saw the kobold shoot the arrow. The kobold knocked another arrow before shooting it at Deryn who was only 3m away, almost in range of his lunge attack.
The kobold was now shouting and barking madly at the top of its lungs before trying to run away, but Deryn was faster and closed the distance. As the arrow left the bow Deryn slightly closed his eyes as he continued charging forwards waiting for the impact. It never came and Deryn now within 1.5m took the chance and pierced forwards and stabbed it in its neck. He looked down at himself but didn't find any arrow wounds.
The arrow he found went into one of the tents completely missing him. By his lucky stars, the kobold was too panicked and fumbled his shot. Deryn knew he got lucky but it didn't stop the smirk which was spreading on his face. His plan worked and now there were only two melee kobolds left to deal with.
Walking forwards a few meters from the tent Deryn decided to rest and eat before harvesting the corpse and killing the remaining two kobolds. Reaching in his inventory he pulled out the rations and started to eat.
"System what time I...."
*swoosh*
*Squelch*
"ARGHHHHHH" Deryn screamed in agony.
An arrow had pierced his shoulder.