127 Arad Vs the Kobolds
Arad rushed across the caves, not giving a bit of care to all the traps laid in front of him.
“Sir! It’s a dragon. He’s bursting through all of our traps without slowing down!” One of the kobolds responsible for monitoring the traps cried.
“Stop him no matter what! Don’t let him reach the main room!” The kobold king growled.
“I’m trying!” The kobold cried, “He’s bursting through walls and walking on the pitfalls like they aren’t there! He even decimated the scorpion bath!”
BAM! BAM! The cave started shaking, and gravel began to fall from the ceiling. “Damn it!” The kobold king fell from his throne, rolling on the ground. “Collapse the cave between him and us. Bury him alive!” The king cried, and the kobolds nodded.
“Releasing traps from 26 to 47. Initiating the fungus beams’ fall, the emergency collapse has started. All kobolds in the area, evacuate in less than a quarter of a minute!” The kobold shouted, pulling several ropes from above his head.
The fungus wood beams that held the tunnels together started to shift, weakening the structure.
“Your majesty, he isn’t slowing down!” The kobold cried.
“Let him be! He will die when the cave collapses on his head. What of the other two?” The king replied.
“They are still at the start of the cave,” the kobold replied, “They aren’t as much of a threat as the dragon,”
“Then leave them be. What is the dragon’s color?” The king asked.
“Obsidian black! We aren’t sure, as our scouts got eaten before submitting the full report,” The kobold replied.
“With how dark the cave. The dragon can only be a black or a purple dragon.” The king scratched his chin, “But neither of those two should be able to walk on air, let alone be unaffected by our traps,”
“Your majesty, the tunnels are collapsing!” The kobold shouted with a smile. The cave started to shake violently. “Do it!” The king smiled.
***
Arad was running across the tunnels as fast as he could when the ground beneath him started to quake. ^This isn’t a normal trap,^ Arad quickly realized.
[The cave is collapsing. They want to bury us alive.]
^Let them try,^ Arad growled inside, shifting back into his humanoid form to get smaller. “AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” With a bone-chilling howl, his body hair grew longer, and his claws extended. The wyrmwolf blood in him got stronger.
[Wyrmwolf’s uncanny physique] Thud! Arad jumped, clinging to the ceiling with his claws and swinging from one corner to the other like an ape. It didn’t matter how small the tunnels became. He always found a way to slip and crawl through.
“Your majesty! He’s moving faster than the cave could collapse behind him!” The kobold cried, “He’s will be here at any moment!” The kobold left his station and ran to the back, crying his eyes out.
“You coward! Get back to your station!” The king screamed, standing up with rage.
Arad ran and could see a spec of light in front of him, “I can smell them,” He growled.
[Be careful. They might have a deadly trap as a last resort.]
“It doesn’t matter as long as I kill their king first,” Arad opened his mouth, unleashing a void breath.
BOOM! The stone door the kobolds used to block the path to the tunnels exploded, and Arad jumped into their throne room, engulfed with a dark mist of dust and void.𝘰𝑣𝘭.𝗇𝓔t
Thud! Arad rolled inside the room and transformed into his draconic form without stopping. His eyes fixated on the kobold with the most clothes. ROAR! He rushed, running with his jaw open.
“The monster!” The kobold king cried, taking a few steps back and pulling a wizard’s staff from behind his throne.
“Protect the king!” The kobolds rushed between the king and Arad, climbing on top of each other and lifting shields. The king knocked on the ground with his staff, and ten metal spikes appeared, pointing at Arad.
ZON! Arad used [Void walk] to avoid the spears and swung his claw the kobolds’ shield wall.
BAM! The kobolds scattered like gravel as Arad rushed toward the king.
The king lifted his staff, “You’re aiming for me? I see. All dragons are the same!” [Wind Blast]
A burst of compressed air blasted Arad back several meters, smacking him on the wall with extreme force, “Don’t underestimate me,” the kobolds rushed around, picking crossbows and aiming at Arad.
BAM! Arad hung from the wall with one arm, glaring at the kobolds with glowing purple eyes.
“I’ve never seen a black dragon with fur before. What are you?” The king growled, pointing his staff at Arad.
“Your majesty, he seems to be a wyrmling. He cannot speak!” One of the kobolds spoke.
The king glared at the kobold that spoke, “Who asked you?” He then swung his staff, causing spikes to emerge from below Arad.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Arad ran on the wall like a lizard, going around the kobolds and opening his jaw, unleashing another void breath. CLAP! The kobolds got sucked in and then scattered with the shockwave.
The king growled, swinging his staff, “What a monster! Even as a wyrmling!” [Magic missile]
From the king’s staff, several dots of light rushed toward Arad at a blinding speed.
ZON! Arad teleported directly behind the king, opening his jaw.
“I knew you would do that!” The king said, smiling. A stone pillar emerged from the ground and jammed into Arad’s jaw, blocking the bite.
CRACK! Arad clenched his jaw, shattering the pillar and swinging his claw at the king.
“What an incredible strength!” The king jumped away, dodging the strike, and swung his staff, [kobold’s bind] Five ropes of golden light blasted Arad away, tying him to the wall.
Arad growled, trying to break free, but the robes were unaffected by his void. “It’s no use!” the king walked forward, smiling. “Do you think we kobolds never try to protect ourselves from your kind?”
The king waved his staff, [kobold’s bind] [kobold’s bind] He cast the spell twice. Making sure Arad was tied nicely.
“This is a spell we made specially to keep dragons at bay. Each one can keep a very young dragon tied for a month, and I cast three at you!” The king started laughing, “Don’t even bother transforming into your humanoid form! The spell will morph and keep you tied until we skin you alive!”
Arad shifted back to his humanoid form, falling to the ground and leaving the ropes behind like they were nothing.
“Heh?” The kobold king gasped, staring at Arad.
Arad lifted his eyes, glaring at the king’s eyes.
[Blood magic: Eyes Burst] The kobold king saw Arad’s eyes flashing red. And then his eyes exploded with a POP!
“GRWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” The king screamed, flailing his staff around.
Arad rushed forward, using his foot claws to keep traction with the ground as he accelerated past what the human body could do. [Bestial aspect] [Wyrmwolf’s uncanny physique] Thud! Thud! Thud! He ran forward.
The kobolds gathered to block his path, but Arad didn’t slow down.
[Void walk] Arad teleported right past them, swinging both his hands at the king.
SLASH! Blood splashed as the king’s thin body got severed in half.
“Sorry, but you have to bring a priest to stop me,” Arad said in draconic, referring to his vampiric bloodline.
Thud! The king’s two halves fell to the ground. Ding! Ding! A large crystal chunk fell from the corpse, rolling toward Arad as the other kobolds crawled away in fear.
Arad bent down and lifted the crystal, “What is this?” He asked.
[That’s the dungeon core. As long as it is still intact, the dungeon won’t disappear.]
^Wait? Did we clear the dungeon?^ Arad gasped. ^I thought this place would have more than ten layers!^
[That was the average. It can be more or less. Kobolds are a dangerous monster type to face, so I guess have them, but only four layers explain why this place is a C-rank dungeon.]
“I see,” Arad sighed, looking at the kobolds, “Do you understand my words?”
The kobolds rushed to bow before him, “Your eminence, please spare our pity lives!” They cried.
Arad scratched his head. ^You said I could get them to work for me as minions, but aren’t they bound to this dungeon?^
[You can move the dungeon if you took the crystal out.] Mom said, [But I doubt the guild will like that. They want to use the dungeon as a training ground for the adventurers,]
“ARAD!” Jack shouted from the room entrance, Aella behind him, “What happened?”
Arad looked at them with a smile, “I killed their king and got the dungeon crystal thingy.”
Jack and Aella rushed toward Arad, jumping above the kneeling kobolds.
Arad showed the crystal to them, and Jack smiled, “What a shame,” He punched Arad’s shoulder, “You dumb bastard. I told you to not use big attacks!”
Arad glared at Jack, “It’s isn’t broken,”
Jack laughed, “You’re really dense,” Jack pointed at the crystal, “You want that? We’re telling the guild it broke when you attacked the king with a big fireball. No one expected a C-rank dungeon to end at the fourth layer.”
Arad smiled, remembering when Alcott told him rogues are good to have, “Thanks,”