Chapter 316 - Kobold Dungeon

Reivyn walked behind his Party members, alert for anything popping out at them with his Divine Sense. The interior of the first Dungeon reminded him of a mix of the cave system in Drallo and the Revenant Dungeon. It was a naturally formed cave with tunnels reminiscent of mines, but they weren’t uniform or orderly like one would expect. The reason was made apparent at their first encounter with the local monsters.

A short, reptilian humanoid came screeching out of the darkness ahead, a crude pickaxe raised above its head as a weapon. Kimberly danced up to it, provoking the creature to swing the pickaxe. It missed and completely lost its balance, obviously not used to fighting. Kimberly skewered it in the neck with a precise strike from her spear, ending the short fight.

More screeches echoed along the cavern walls from further in the tunnel. The sound of the first monster alerted its brethren to their presence. Half a dozen more little monsters came sprinting toward them, screaming at the top of their lungs. Not all of them were equipped with a weapon, and the only actual weapon Reivyn spied was a crude spear. It was more club than spear, but it could work as a thrusting weapon if the creature knew how to use it.

It didn’t.

The monsters had natural weapons in the form of their claws, and they were much more proficient using those, but they didn’t appear to be smart enough to drop their weak implements in favor of their natural weapons if they were holding something.

Kimberly danced among them, tripping them up, stabbing them in the legs, knocking them in the head with the butt of her spear. She kept the attention of all six of the creatures on her with little effort. Teilon used the confusion to swoop in from unexpected blind spots to deliver devastating strikes with his daggers, dropping any creature unluckily in his path.

There was pretty much nothing for anyone else to do, so Reivyn simply tossed an Identification at one of them.

[Kobold: Tier 4 (Miner) Lvl 20-30]
[No Threat]

Hmm, that’s the first time the System has said something above my Tier and/or Level is “No Threat,” Reivyn noticed. I guess the System is learning to gauge my actual abilities instead of the average for what my Tier and Level should be.

It’s also the first time I’m seeing some kind of Class or job type from my Skill. I wonder if these monsters actually have some sort of Class, or if it’s just a designation given by the System?

Kimberly and Teilon made short work of the little monsters. Reivyn was intrigued about their identity as Kobolds. These things were obviously reptilian, but he had heard of Kobolds being canine-like on the surface in other Regions. Maybe they just shared a similar name because of their behavior. Reivyn didn’t know.

The Party continued forward along the winding, curving tunnel. There were no straight lines anywhere, and the walls were inexpertly carved. It was like someone with zero Skills had done the work.

That begs another question: If these monsters do have Classes, do they have Skills, too? How does that work? Can they have Skills, even if very low, and that affects how the System designates them, and it’s not an actual Class?

Always the more Reivyn learned from the System, the more questions he had after. He didn’t really care about the answer, at least not right now, but it was an interesting thought.

They ran into several more groups of half a dozen kobolds at a time. Each time Kimberly and Teilon took care of them. They didn’t pose any kind of challenge, so none of the other Party members were eager to switch out with the duo. If they asked to switch out, obviously they would be accommodated, but they were perfectly fine with clearing the chaff.

Eventually the tunnel opened up into a larger cavern. There were kobolds all around swinging their pickaxes at the walls. Some were using shovels to move rocks and dirt away from the mining site. In the center of the room was a trio of kobolds standing to themselves. One had some sort of headdress on with a staff adorned with some sort of humanoid skull, and the two others had crude bone armor with actual swords.

I’m guessing a Shaman plus Bodyguard setup. Reivyn tossed an Identification at them.

[Kobold: Tier 4 (Shaman) Lvl 80-90]
[Miniscule Threat]

[Kobold: Tier 4 (Warrior) Lvl 60-70]
[No Threat]

As soon as the Party stepped into the cavern, all the kobolds seemed to instinctually sense their presence. They all stopped what they were doing and snapped their heads toward the Party. Screams filled the air, reverberating off of the walls, as the kobolds entered into a frenzy, charging the Party.

They simply stepped back to use the confines of the tunnel in their favor, funneling the kobolds in front of them and preventing any flanking maneuvers. It didn’t seem like they were smart enough to purposefully charge at them from the sides, but there were enough that it could accidentally happen if they weren’t careful.

Serilla stepped forward to join Kimberly on the vanguard as Teilon phased into the wall next to him. Refix stood just behind the vanguard, summoning his ethereal arsenal. Reivyn and Kefira stood side by side in the back.

Reivyn had his sword and shield available, but he didn’t even draw his weapon. Instead, he just channeled his Mana into his hands.

The Shaman was jumping up and down in the center of the room, pointing at the intruders as he screeched along with the rest of the reptilians. The bodyguards showed the first modicum of intelligence as they remained where they were to shield the shaman with their bodies instead of mindlessly charging like the other kobolds.

Reivyn could feel the Shaman start to gather its own Mana. It was too little too late, though, as Reivyn had already been building up his Mana for a while. A beam of superheated Plasma, charged with his Transcendent Ability, lanced through the room, striking the Shaman in the forehead between the two bodyguards. The Mana gathered by the Shaman to attack the dungeon delvers was siphoned by the beam to fuel itself.

The Transcendent Ability was a bit overkill, as the Plasma Beam completely destroyed the shaman’s head. The headless corpse stood in place for a moment, smoke drifting up from its shoulders where the heat of the Spell had melted the flesh and cauterized the wound, before it toppled backward.

The two bodyguards shared a look with each other before turning and charging at the Party with furious howls of rage. They raised their swords, but their little bit of intelligence apparently completely fled them. They didn’t even try to avoid any of their brethren at all. They simply ran into the backs of the other, slightly smaller, kobolds, knocking them aside in their haste to reach the Party.

Refix’s ethereal arsenal swooped in, hamstringing the two warriors, before many bladed weapons descended and chopped into their exposed backs. Teilon was popping in and out all over the place, seemingly moving through the shadows, as he stabbed kobolds with precision. Serilla and Kimberly held the disorganized horde at bay, and Kefira was tossing little hand-sized Space blades between her companions.

The kobolds stood no chance, and they were completely destroyed in less than a minute. Everyone just stood there and observed the destruction of the first “boss” room in silence.

“Well, after our trip to the Upper Regions, this was a bit anticlimactic,” Reivyn finally said.

“Yeah, I’d say it’s safe to say we’ve outgrown the Lower Region Dungeons,” Refix agreed.

“There’s still the bonus of completing a first clear,” Teilon pointed out. “Plus other challenges like doing it Solo and Hard Mode.”

“That’s true, but it’s starting to not really be worth it,” Reivyn answered. “I mean, we’re here, so it makes sense to take advantage of these Dungeons, but it’s not going to be worth seeking out a bunch of Dungeons to run just for the Achievements at this point. It’s all about opportunity cost. With the time it would take us to travel to a bunch of different Tier 4 Dungeons for marginal Stat gains and Achievements, we could be doing things more beneficial for our Class advancement.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Teilon nodded. “Well, since we’re here, we might as well blast through these Dungeons.”

“Sure.”

The Party looked around the first room for any indication of loot. Reivyn thought it might be a similar situation as the Revenant Dungeon with the walls containing valuable ores for them to mine, but there weren’t any. Instead, a small wooden chest had appeared out of nowhere in the center of the room.

Reivyn’s Divine Sense had given him an interesting view of the appearance of the reward chest. He saw the ambient Mana condense and swirl into corporeal existence in a fraction of a second. It was so fast that if he didn’t have Divine Sense, he wouldn’t have been able to notice anything at all. The ambient Mana was heavily fortified with Veridical Affinity.

Makes sense, Reivyn thought. The System is pretty much run on Veridical Affinity, so anything conjured by the System should be heavily influenced by the Affinity.

Teilon quickly hopped to the chest, bending over to flip it open. He pulled out a curved dagger that appeared to be made of bone. He held it up and Reivyn tossed an Identification at it.

[Dragon Claw Dagger]
[+10 All Stats]
[Miniscule Dragon Essence in each successful Critical Strike]
[The kobolds worship their draconic ancestors. They seek out any treasure associated with any kind of dragon they can find. This dagger may have once been a powerful artifact, but the eons have sapped the Dragon Essence from it.]

“Interesting,” Reivyn said, peering at the dagger. “It’s apparently a dragon claw. We seem to keep running into Dragons and Dragon related things lately. The System says this is too old for it to have kept the Dragon Essence, though. You want it, Teilon?”

“Meh, it’s neat, but it’s not really my style,” Teilon said. “Look, the edge is on the interior curve, making it like a hook. I could adapt my fighting style to it, but it’s not so great as to make it worth the effort. We should just sell it.”

Reivyn glanced at everyone else for their opinion. The only response he got was a shrug from Refix, so he just nodded. Teilon put it away in his storage pouch. Reivyn would ask the quartermaster of the fort if they would like to purchase it first, but they might have hundreds, if not thousands, of the weapons already. They might have to wait until they reach an entirely different Region on their way home to sell it off for any kind of profit worth it.

There was another tunnel leading down deeper into the caves at the far end of the open cavern room. The Party formed back up and made their way to the tunnel. They advanced at a quick pace, not too concerned with whatever monsters might show up.

More groups of kobold miners appeared in groups ranging from six to twelve, but even the larger groups didn’t pose any problems. Reivyn did note that their Levels were higher than the earlier kobolds, but not enough to make any kind of meaningful difference.

There were kobold warriors interspaced with the miners, but without a target to protect as bodyguards, they were just as feral as the rest of the kobolds. Refix chopped them down with his ethereal weapons as Kimberly, Teilon, and Serilla handled the rest of the packs.

Eight to twelve was just a bit too much for Kimberly to safely hold all of their attention, so Serilla stepped forward to keep her position with the vanguard. Kimberly could have done it, but she was likely to suffer some minor scrapes and bruises that could be easily avoided with just an additional person holding some of the attention.

The Party made its way down in a gradually sloping, curving manner, deeper and deeper into the mountain. By this time, Reivyn was sure that their position was even below the ground level below the ridge in the real world. They entered another open cavern, slightly larger than the first one.

Reivyn spied a large chunk of something ivory sticking out of the wall where the kobolds were mining much more carefully around. He had a suspicion as to what it was. The room was filled with even more kobold miners, with several warriors in bone armor and wielding swords supervising them. In the center of the room, like the last one, stood the obvious boss of the room.

Instead of a Shaman, though, the kobold appeared to be a melee combatant. It was much larger than even the warriors. It didn’t have any bone armor, but it had powerful muscles and a giant two-handed axe strapped to its back. Reivyn tossed an Identification.

[Kobold: Tier 5 (Warchief) Lvl 20-30]
[Minor Threat]

“My Identification says the boss is a Tier 5 Warchief,” Reivyn whispered just outside of the cavern.

“Good to know,” Refix replied.

The Party stepped forward in formation. A similar thing happened as the room above. All of the kobolds immediately stopped what they were doing and focused entirely on the Party.

Instead of screaming, though, the Warchief barked out some sort of orders. The kobold miners still rushed toward the Party in a disorganized mob, but the warriors ran to stand in front of the Warchief. They stood in two rows, readied their weapons, and then advanced on the Party behind the miners in a facsimile of a military formation.

Reivyn once again summoned his Mana into his hands. He tossed out another Plasma Beam toward the Warchief. There was no space between the warriors, though, so he simply punched through two of the warriors advancing on the Party as they handled the miners like they had above.

The two warriors struck by the Plasma Beam immediately crumpled to the ground, but the rest of the warriors didn’t break stride. They simply collapsed down to fill the gap and continued advancing toward the Party.

The Warchief bellowed and a red Aura sprung up around him. He quickly grabbed his greataxe and slashed it through the Plasma Beam. Reivyn noticed that the metal was melted along the edge, pretty much ruining it, but the Warchief managed to deflect his Spell completely unharmed.

Reivyn was actually a bit startled the Warchief had managed to defeat his Plasma Beam so thoroughly. It had empowered itself off of its aura a bit, but not as efficiently as if it had absorbed Mana. It was at least more proof that it could siphon other kinds of energy, though.

The Warchief spread it’s arms wide, threw it’s head back, and shouted toward the ceiling. A red aura slowly began encompassing the rest of the kobolds in the room, including the miners. Their speed and strength received a noticeably boost, but they weren’t smart enough to take advantage of the buff.

The Party made quick work of the miners, but the warriors were immediately upon them with the Warchief stomping toward them. The warriors maintained their ranks and fought with crude military discipline. They didn’t have any shields or use any kind of real tactics, but their coordination did have an effect on their fighting ability.

Too bad for them their Party was used to fighting against military formations, and ones that were more disciplined than this one. Kimberly and Serilla had to work up a sweat, and Refix had to step forward as well, but that was the extent of the pressure placed on the Party. Teilon continued to pop in and out, stabbing at exposed weaknesses where he could. Kefira kept slashing the enemy with her incredibly sharp Space blades.

Reivyn focused on the Warchief. The Warchief, in turn, was staring at Reivyn. It bellowed a challenge, and Reivyn simply threw more Spells at it.

He didn’t stick with Plasma. That was just a tried and true Spell to make short work of his opponents, but it wasn’t the extent of his abilities. Now that he was serious, he could really show some skill.

He tossed out an ethereal mass that the Warchief attempted to swipe, but that was what Reivyn was hoping for. It was a Spell infused with Gravity, and the Warchief’s axe crashed to the ground, suddenly many times heavier than it had expected.

A look of surprise flashed across its face, but before Reivyn could capitalize on the monster’s exposed stance, it dropped the axe and hopped over forward, bearing its claws and fangs. The next Spell was a Wind Blade infused with Sharpness Mana. The Warchief slashed its claws, coated int its aura, through the wind. Sparks flew as if it had struck metal.

The Warchief was almost to the back of the kobold warrior ranks, and if something wasn’t done, it would crash right through them and the Party line in its attempt to get to Reivyn. It had shown that it was strong enough to withstand simple attacks, so Reivyn didn’t want it slashing its deadly-looking claws at his friends and father.

Reivyn empowered himself with his Mana and leaped over the battle between the Party and the kobolds, dashing to the side where the Warchief could follow without interfering with the other fight.

Now that there was no obstacle between the two, the Warchief sprinted toward Reivyn in a mad dash. Reivyn turned and ran in circles around the room, tossing Spells back over his shoulder occasionally as he built another Mana construct with the help of Multi-Casting.

The Warchief leaped forward in a powerful pounce, slashing both of its claws overhead in an attempt to eviscerate Reivyn. Reivyn tossed up a Mana shield as he leaped to the side, rolling in a quick tumble and quickly recovering to his feet. The Mana Shield only managed to stall the Warchief for a brief second as it tore through the Mana with its Aura.

The battle and chase continued for several minutes, Reivyn having to leap out of the way several times. He could have turned and faced it with his Sword and Shield, and he believed he would have easily won the contest, but he was focusing on his Spells and didn’t want to “admit failure” unless he absolutely had to.

He knew he was hindering himself, but he also knew it was necessary to push himself to improve. He was not likely to find any kind of challenge without a self-imposed handicap, anyway.

Eventually, his other Spell was finally ready, and he directed it into the ground through his feet. He didn’t have to channel his Spells through his hands. The ground turned wet and soft, and a mist sprung up, enveloping his legs below the knees. The kobold stepped into softened ground and immediately frowned.

The Warchief didn’t stop it’s chase, but it slowed down considerably as it looked down at the mud-filled room. The Mana seeping into the ground from Reivyn’s feet spread out behind him, turning the whole ground into mud. The mud squelched between the Warchief’s clawed feet, and it sucked at his legs as he tried to power through it.

Reivyn kept running, slower now, as the Warchief followed. It continued to slow its pace, though, more than the obstruction of the mud accounted for. The Aura around the Warchief flickered and went out as it slowed to a walk, struggling to maintain a ferocious demeanor in its pursuit of Reivyn.

This is what Reivyn had been waiting for. He had used the Transcendent Ability of his Mud Affinity to sap the will out of the kobold. It had lost its ability to maintain its Aura, which Reivyn guessed was fueled by some sort of emotion like rage. The Ability had drained the will of the Warchief by putting it into a mental fog of exhaustion.

Reivyn stopped, turned, and unleashed his final barrage of Spells at the large kobold. It was struck, unprotected by its Aura, by Beams, Blades, Bolts, and other Spells of a wide variety of Affinities. Reivyn had poured everything into the final strike to take advantage of its loss of protective Aura. He didn’t know how long the effect of the Mud Ability would last, as it was ethereal and not real, and if given an opportunity, the Warchief could fight its way through it.

It wasn’t given the chance, though, and the Spells decimated the opponent. A smoking, melted, and frozen corpse was all that remained. Some parts were charred, some parts were smoking, some parts were sliced and pierced, and other parts were froze solid as Reivyn hit it with many different Spells infused with many different Affinities all at once.

After killing the Warchief, Reivyn scratched the back of his neck with a sheepish expression as the others gazed at his handiwork, their battle with the kobold warriors over. Once again his final Spell had been a bit of overkill. Without the Aura protecting the kobold, its defensive properties were exponentially less than anticipated.

“Well, that’s one way to do it, I guess,” Teilon quipped. “Did you leave enough of a corpse behind, you think?”

“Haha, woops,” Reivyn said.

Refix rolled his eyes at his son as Kefira walked up and patted him on the shoulder with a smile on her face. Teilon shook his head and headed to the new chest that appeared where the Warchief had once stood. The Mud solidified back into proper stone after Reivyn released his hold on the Mana.

Teilon popped the chest open and retrieved the item from within. He held it aloft, displaying a hauberk made of scales. Reivyn used his Skill once more to Identify it.

[Dragon Scale Hauberk]
[+20 All Stats]
[Miniscule Dragon Resilience]
[The kobolds knitted together their precious Dragon scale relics into this sacred (to them) ceremonial armor. Even though it was for ceremonies, only to be worn by the grandest of Kobold Champions, it still retains a hint of Dragon Resilience. It is a semi-Tier 5 material.]

“I think this item should go to Kimberly,” Reivyn stated after reading off the description.

“Give it to her,” Refix simply said to Teilon.

Teilon simply shrugged and gave it to his girlfriend. Kimberly held it up, admiring the armor. Even though it was made by kobolds from ancient Dragon scales that had almost lost all of the powers of a Dragon to the ravages of time, it was quite beautiful. It was better than Kimberly’s current armor set, so she would change into it for their next Delve.

“Alright, just one more boss room to go,” Reivyn said. “Let’s finish this.”