124 The fourth Layer: Kobolds
Arad, Jack, and Aella walked down to the fourth layer of the dungeon. When they reached the fool, the scenery surprised them. Long, cylindrical tunnels enough to fit a cart, illuminated by blue-bioluminescent mushrooms spread on the walls.
“This is strange,” Aella mumbled, “I hear tapping in the distance as if someone is knocking.”
“Arad, we need to get out of here,” Jack inspected the walls.
The scratches on the walls indicated one thing, something made them, and it wasn’t nature. “Someone dug those tunnels,”
“I’m not an expert on mushrooms. But the way they spread. Someone planted them to illuminate the place,” Aella said, touching one of the mushrooms.
“What could we face?” Arad asked.
“Honesty, I don’t know.” Jack sighed, “It could be kobolds, duergar, the worst case, Arachnoids.”
“We have to push forward,” Arad said, “It’s not like we’re lacking in resources, are we?”
Aella smiled, “I don’t need to break my arrows, so we’re good,”
“Fine,” Jack sighed, standing and stretching his arms, “Stay behind me and don’t take any actions until we determine what we are fighting,”
Jack walked in the front, slowly inspecting the ground and searching for any tracks. Aella kept moving slowly. She glared at the darkness in the distance for movement, keeping her ears open and listening.
“I hear pickaxes. It can’t be Arachnoids.” Jack said with a smile.
“It can only be kobolds or duergar,” Aella looked back at Arad.
[Arachnoids are the most dangerous. Duergars are the smartest, and the kobolds are in the middle.] Mom explained.
^Do you know about them?^
[Yes, in both cases, expect traps.]
“I see one! A kobold!” Aella said with a smile, pointing in the distance.
A five-foot-tall, half-lizard-half-humanoid being swung a metallic axe at the stone wall. CRACK! CRACK! He only wore a skirt made of strange leather and carried a small lantern on his waist.
“Should we attack?” Arad asked, but Aella grabbed his shoulder, “Leave it to me. I can get him from here,” She walked forward, crouching and aiming at the poor kobold.
PEW! The arrow flew at an incredible speed.
CRACK! Everyone stared in shock as the arrow got stuck in the air, cracking it. The kobold turned his head, fear in his eyes. “GRWA?”
“Damn it. It was a mirror.” Jack pulled his dagger, rushing forward to kill the kobold before he could scream.
The kobolds have put a mirror in the corner, making people believe the tunnel kept going straight while it curved. It was almost impossible to realize how little light there was in the cave, to begin with.
The kobold jammed his hand under his skirt and pulled a small pouch, tossing it at the mirror to bounce toward Jack.
Jack swung his dagger, cutting the pouch in half, and spiders spilled on him.
“Damn it!” Jack stopped, flailing his arms to get the spiders away. “Get those off me!”
Arad rushed toward Jack and opened his mouth, breathing a small blast of fire enough to burn the tiny spiders but leave Jack with minor burns to his hair.
“What was that?” Arad looked at Jack panting on the ground. The kobold had already escaped.
Jack pulled his pouch, “Damn it! Damn, it! I should have known that” He pulled out a small white potion and drank it.
“Are you okay?” Aella asked.
“Yeah, I hope I’m okay.” Jack sighed, inspecting his clothes, “Those were black widows, a full pouch,”
“Black widows? Are they deadly?” Arad asked.
“Depends on the person. I doubt someone like you or Alcott would find them bothering, but for my fragile human flesh, they can put me in bed,” Jack stood, “Excuse me for a minute. I will make sure none stuck in my armor,”
After Jack cleaned his armor, he discovered five black widows who survived Arad’s flame. Of course, he stomped them.
“Let’s keep going,” Jack said, “I’m going to make a bag from that bastard’s scales,”
“He would have informed the others, but they aren’t attacking,” Arad said, commenting on the painful silence surrounding them. Even the sound of pickaxes in the distance has fallen silent..𝘯𝘵
“Kobolds won’t attack mindlessly,” Aella said. “I bet they are waiting for us with traps and tactics. If we kept going ahead, we would walk directly into their ambush,” Jack explained.
Arad approached the mirror, “What worries me? Where did they get this?”
“Made it. Kobolds are decent craftsmen,” Jack sighed, “But as monsters, they only talk with monsters. Do you see them trading?”
“What kind of monster do they talk with?” Arad asked.
“Lizardmen, devils, bugbears, and goblins. But they are mostly known to be suckers for dragons.” Jack sighed, “Not that we have one here too…” He glared at Arad.
“We have a dragon!” Jack gasped, “Can’t you tell them to stop attacking us?” Jack said with an excited voice.
^Mom?^
[Dragons rule with fear. Kobolds will only listen if they fear you. You can start by killing their leader. And then eating anyone who refuses to obey,]
^I doubt they can understand my speech,^
[They should understand draconic. Just order them around, and each now and then, kill one for fun, and they will start to get loyal and desperate.]
^That’s evil,^
[Dragons are never nice. Either the kobolds go above and beyond to please their master. Or they become the dragon’s dinner. Your mother once ruled a kobold den. She had the habit of walking between them, asking random kobolds to make her laugh. She would eat them if they failed.]
^I don’t like that,^
[The kobolds found that they could bribe her with gems. So they became hyper-mining focused. Even now, they should be a major contributor to her income.]
^I like that part,^ Arad smiled. ^As long as they make me enough money, I won’t mind,^
“I will walk in the front,” Arad said with a smile, “I’m more durable and should be able to tank the kobold traps. I will also try to speak with them,”
[Don’t speak. Find the leader and kill him, then start giving them orders. If you tried to reason with them, they would think of you as weak, stupid, and an easily manipulated dragon.]
Arad walked in the front, Jack and Aella behind him, keeping an eye on the walls, “It’s been a while. Where are they?” Jack mumbled.
“I can’t hear anything,” Aella said, looking around.
“I can’t see any traces of magic,” Arad mumbled, looking at the ground and walls, “I bet they ran to the back,”
Aella giggled, “I hope… KYA!” before she could finish speaking, the ground beneath her legs opened, and she fell into the darkness.
“The hell?” Arad turned around, shifting into his draconic form and jumping after her.
Jack looked around, “Damn it,” He tied a rope to a bit of stalactite and dangled it down.
“GOGA?” As Jack slowly dangled down, the kobold from earlier stared at him. “Don’t you dare!” Jack growled.
The kobold stared at the rope, tilting his head twice as his eyes darted around.
“GOGA?” The kobold pulled a knife from underneath his skirt and started cutting the rope.
“I will kill you! Listen, you bastard!” Jack shouted as the kobold slowly cut the rope. SNAP! The rope snapped, and Jack fell into the darkness, “FUCK YOU!” He yelled at the top of his lungs.
Jack turned around. Then he couldn’t see the ground, but he sure didn’t have time to think. Without a moment wasted, he pulled a hook from his waste and trusted it at the wall, slowly his fall and dislocating his shoulder.
“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Jack screamed as he slowed down, finally stopping Just a few meters from the ground. “GAH!” He wanted to cry. His left shoulder dislocated, and he still has to support his whole weight on it.
Since his left shoulder got dislocated, his left arm got a bit longer, and he can’t reach the hook with his right hand. He turned his head toward the ground, a water pool filled with metallic spikes and blood.
“Damn it!” Jack cried, pulling a small dagger from his waist with his right hand and stabbing the wall. He then slowly let go of the hook to relieve the stress on his left shoulder.
After relaxing a bit, he looked down, “ARAD! AELLA! Can you hear me?”
Aella crawled out of a small hole in the wall at the bottom. It was the hole the kobold used to exit after digging this hole.
Immediately, Jack could see that she had two holes in her left leg and one in her right one. “Take this!” Jack pulled his pouch and threw it at Aella, “Use the healing potions and get me down!”
“I need to give it to Arad!” Aella said, “He shielded me. And got stabbed all over his body!” She shouted back.
“Are you an idiot?” Jack yelled at her, “Drink the damned potion!” He glared at her, “He’s a vampire. Just give him your blood!”