The larger kobolt stared at the two for a few seconds. Even from here, I could hear him let out something that sounded somewhere between a dog's growl and a snake's hiss. He then lazily began to prepare his bow to attack.
And what was I doing while he was doing this?
I already had my bow ready, with two arrows for good luck, nocked and ready to fly.
I don't know how he didn't notice a black figure just a few meters away, but it worked in my favor.
I released the arrows almost immediately, and I could feel every moment, from the moment they left the bow to the moment they approached the kobolt, as if in slow motion.
But of course, a monster, obviously stronger than the base, would never be so easy to defeat. When they were inches from hitting him, he turned his head, dodging one, and caught the second with his tail.
"Now it was kind of impossible he hadn't seen me, right?" I thought as I jumped and rolled to the right, undoing the cloak of shadows.
At the same time, I heard and felt a *whoush* pass by my ear, and the base of an arrow appeared right where I was before.
Do you have any idea how much force someone would have to exert to make an arrow sink halfway? Let alone all the way to the base.
He then pointed at me and let out that growl/hiss. I could barely hear it, but I heard Lumi yelp behind me.
'Ultrasonic communication?!. It even makes sense, considering these creatures are almost a fusion of lizard and dog,' I thought, dodging two more arrows.
I quickly advanced and hid behind an overturned car just ahead, but that did little to stop more arrows. Those kobolts could make them pass through the metal of the car like paper.
'Yep, if one of them hits me anywhere, it's game over instantly,' I thought, crouching as low as possible to make it harder for him to hit me.
During this time, I checked my status quickley to get an idea of what I could still do.
[Name: Fernando Martins
Level: 6
Race: Dhampir (half-vampire)
Job: Fighter Lv. 4
SP: 0
AP: 10
HP: 55/65
MP: 26/50
Condition: Slightly tired.
Str: 12
Def: 10
Agi: 11
Int: 10
Mag: 8
Res: 7
.....]
'Tsk, only about 10 seconds and the [shadow cloak] has eaten up almost all my mana. I'll have to use attacks that consume less mana now.'
Attacks with less mana, equal to weaker attacks. And I doubt the friend up there would fall to the bleeding from a thousand cuts technique.
'Especially since I'll have to get past the armor first and then the scales. And I'm sure neither would be very easy.'
*Vush, tenk*
'Okay, let's move.'
I thought, seeing two arrows very close to where I was.
In mere seconds, the kobolt on top of the UPA must have already fired about 10 arrows at me, from where I had first attacked until I hid behind the car. I was only spared a hit by sheer luck and desperation.
But I didn't remain passive during this time either.
As bad as they were, they were still usable arrows that the kobolt fired; who am I to turn down a gift in a desperate situation? I fired my last two arrows, then returned the way I'd come, removing the looser arrows from the ground and sending them back at the kobolt.
Even though they did practically nothing to him other than embed some of them in his armor and slightly hinder his attack, at least he didn't completely control the pace of the fight. Yes, he was also smart enough to use the arrows stuck in his armor against me.
A rather irritating cat-and-mouse battle, to be honest—or mouse and lizard, in this case?
When even those ran out, of course I had to resort to magic. Focusing on speed and only a little on strength, I managed to cast one shadow ball per second, for 2 MP each. However, their power was laughable.
They did as much damage as tennis balls thrown at medium-low speed. Except the fact they haver the weight of billar balls.
But that still wasn't enough to inflict damage on the larger kobolt. At least they served to draw its attention and keep it focused on me, ignoring Lumi and Impeto.
For convenience's sake, I'll call the larger kobolt the kobolt captain, for obvious reasons.
What those two have been doing so far would be a fair question.
Answer: taking care of the other kobolts. That's why none of them attacked me from behind during the long-range fight with the kobolt captain.
But we were all at a stalemate. I wasn't fast enough for the kobolt captain's arrows to miss me, but I couldn't land a powerful enough attack to damage it.
The other kobolts, despite having the advantage in numbers, couldn't reach Impeto and Lumi because they were moving around as much as I was and using the little debris still standing as additional barriers. But soon something began to change.
[Your contracted animal Impetus eliminated an ambushing kobolt, shared experience gained.]
[Your contracted animal, Impeto, eliminated a kobolt ambusher, shared experience gained.]
[Your contracted animal, Impeto, eliminated a kobolt soldier, shared experience gained.]
[Your contracted animal, Impeto, eliminated a kobolt soldier, shared experience gained.]
...
These wonderful messages started appearing just before my slightly tired condition became effectively tired, and soon after.
[Congratulations on leveling up. Level 6–>7.]
[Skill gained, Dodge level 0.]
'Nice!'
I didn't count how many were killed, but if I were to guess, I'd say somewhere around 10 or 12. So there must be at least 17 left, 18 counting my new friend.
Speaking of him, he also stopped attacking me with arrows for a moment. It seems he felt or heard the number of kobolts dying.
This distracted him for a while. I even wanted to say I took advantage of it to attack, but I didn't. I used the time he didn't attack to check on Lumi and Impeto.
Taking a quick scan, I could tell they were doing very well. The first thing I saw when I turned around were several magic stones, sometimes containing some loot, both on the street and in the area of destroyed houses, and some in the wooded area of the park.
It was easy to find them both since Lumi was glowing golden yellow, sending golden balls at the kobolts. Meanwhile, Impeto was burning impressively, sending fireballs and occasional blasts at the kobolts distracted by Lumi's flashes of light.
It seems they copied my strategy of moving back and forth, attacking from afar to thin the enemy numbers, a basic but never-so-old strategy when fighting in a group.
Confirming that they were "fine," I turned my attention to the kobolt captain, but he continued to look at Lumi, Impeto, and his subordinates. He started making his hissing growls again and moving his arms as if he was ordering them around, or trying to at least.
With him still distracted, I took the opportunity to recover a bit. Near a swing, I saw a kobolt, injured but not dead.
Seeing him not far away and the distance between me and the rubble of the UPA where the captain was, I decided to make a slightly cruel bet (which at this point is practically my signature).
As I walked toward the captain, who was still ignoring me, I stretched one of my arms back and used the remaining mana I had to cast a spell.
[MP: 8/65]
"[Shadow Cord]"
One of the spells I use the least for obvious reasons, but which will be very useful now.
From the palm of my outstretched arm, a thread of shadows emerged and headed toward the fallen kobolt. With a little manipulation, I made the cord wrap around the kobolt's neck.
*Krriiusshhg*
He only realized when it was too late. Still moving forward, I grabbed the shadow cord like a rope and pulled him toward me.
*Kkrrrrriiiaaaaaa*
I have to admit, these kolts make a strange sound, but that's beside the point. The sound he made finally made the captain turn his attention to me, and when he saw me pulling one of the kobolts by the neck, I'm sure I saw a look of rage and hatred in his snake eyes.