Chapter 34: Floor 9 and Trashing the Blind! (1/2)
Before long the lady had come back. Josh could see her unwillingness. He was expecting her hands to be full but surprisingly she was only bringing a small bag with her.
"What's that?"
"C-clothes. Here's the shower." She then made a small rectangular cabin appear out of nowhere. "C-can I go now?"
Josh simply nodded as both interrogators hurriedly left afraid that Josh would order them around some more. Josh couldn't help but wonder how she had done that.
Ronan chuckled: "Later on in the Tower, you can acquire inventory space that can be used for anything. While it's nothing big it's pretty useful in modern society."
"Wait, can't people easily steal with that then?"
"Yes, there are anti-theft systems installed in most shops for that very reason. As for individuals...well try not to lose sight of your own things."
After a quick shower, Josh wore his new clothes, black ones that gave him a cool albeit slightly evil look. In a typical movie, he would have clearly been the antagonist haha. Then they exited the premises with people respectfully nodding to Ronan.
"How are you so popular in this place? Isn't this a government building?"
"Here is the thing, S-Rank guilds have close ties to the government. For instance, becoming an S-ranker is one way to board <Arcadia> and-"
"Wait a second! What exactly is this <Arcadia>?"
"Ah, you may have noticed but there is a flying ship right above the center of the Metropolis. It hosts some of the most important people there are. Lots of decisions are made onboard. It is also one of the greatest honors to have access to it."
"Hmm, so do I have permission to go then?" after all Josh had the highest internal guild rank in <Draconic>.
"Yes, but I suggest you don't. People would be jealous and possibly try to kidnap you."
"Makes sense, not that I intended to anyway. I was simply curious."
"So, what do you plan on doing now?", Ronan inquired.
"Climb." Josh simply answered. He had already wasted enough time with this little interlude.
"Haha, the right attitude to expect from someone in <Draconic>. Well then, good luck and try not to murder anyone."
"Any advice on Floor 9?"
"Same as all the other ones haha, don't die."
Josh simply nodded before sending a message to Dale telling him he was alright. Then he stopped in front of the Tower, somehow he already had been missing it haha. The usual red glow later, Josh was in.
[Mission: Capture Blind Kobold! Enjoy!]
Talking about a blind kobold, it wouldn't be missing much since the environment was extremely dark. Josh could barely see a meter in front of him. It seemed to be a small tunnel. Not only was there the challenge to fight with low visibility but the cramped space may potentially be an issue too for many.
Now, where would the target possibly be? Was it a named NPC? Why was it needed to capture him? Either way, Josh simply followed the tunnel.
On the sides, Josh could see seemingly empty ore deposits. There were marks of the rock having been dug. This place was most likely a mine. Just as Josh was calmly walking a creature sneaked out from behind a rock. It advanced slowly with a pickaxe in hand. A few moments later it swung it heavily in order to crack the human's skull open.
Still, that darkness wasn't enough to hide its presence. Josh took a step backward with the weapon missing him entirely. Josh then drove his sword in the creature's throat making it die in incomprehension. Even at death's door it never understood how it had been noticed.
The creature was smaller than a human. About 3/4 the size of one, but very lean too. It had a reptilian face, scales across its humanoid body, claws at its feet and hands, with a tail completing its look. Its entire body was a reddish-brown. It wore some kind of rough cloth, nothing else. Its pickaxe had clearly been used for mining. Josh simply left the body there on the side.
Heading deeper Josh came to a fork. There were a plethora of tunnels to possibly explore. He slowly started scouting. After a few rounds, he had seen or heard more kobolds. There were two types of kobolds. The guards that were watching the surroundings and the miners that were simply digging. The miners always had grey names and were weaker.
There were three types of tunnels. There were some active tunnels with lots of kobold miners and a few guards. Some were semi-active with a few miners and almost no guards. Finally, some were abandoned. Josh had spawned in one such tunnel, with as straggler being there by chance...or as a tutorial for the Floor.
Both miners and guards only had one pickaxe. The difference was how well-maintained the tools were. The ones of the guards for instance seemed sharp and had for purpose to kill.
The kobolds were working mostly in darkness, with some lighting from green glowing mushrooms from time to time. The mission was one well suited for sneaking around in the darkness. Good thing there were nameplates because all the kobolds looked the exact same.
The creatures themselves were numerous, but they were pretty weak individually. Most kobolds had grey names and were level 9, some green level 10, and one blue so far lv 11. Josh tried throwing a rock to see their reaction. They all jumped out surprised while being on high alert. Before long they resumed their mining activities.
Now this place was obviously very disadvantageous to humans. Low visibility and outnumbered in unknown territory. Getting spotted would clearly mean having to fight countless of them, to the death. Yet Josh didn't feel like it and shouted instead: "Hey guys, wanna play fill the tunnel? It's an easy game really. You check how many kobold corpses it takes to block it completely. You guys down?"
Following Josh's voice, many kobolds came on the assault. Actually, only six kept going, the others aborted thinking it would already be overkill. The miners kept peacefully doing their job. Except that they would soon change their opinion.
A few stabs later, 6 kobolds laid unmoving on the cold hard rocky ground. That's the moment the others finally turned their attention to Josh. Seeing the downfall of their brethren the miners started screaming at the top of their lungs. It sounded something like REEEEEEE, reminding Josh of some kids on Earth.
After a while an adult …eh mining supervisor finally came to check on them. Noticing Josh it too started screeching for reinforcements. Until finally there were about 3 dozen kobolds assembling. With low grunts, they charged toward Josh.
Unsurprisingly the result was as expected. They had the advantage in numbers…in a small tunnel. This seemed like a chain meat processing plant. "One kobold comes in, gets turned into meat then it's the turn of the next one!" As more died the corpses started piling up. "Behold the great kobold wall of ….whatever this place is.", Josh proclaimed.
Before long, they retreated. Then the miners stopped for a few instants, looked at Josh, at the pile of cadavers, then at their fleeing protectors. That's when they started running too, some even dropping their pickaxes in the confusion. Was it possible to simply grab all these tools and sell them to a blacksmith so he could smelt it all? Probably not.
The rocks they had been hitting looked to be containing iron, albeit with small red lines in it. Was it some kind of magical iron? Perhaps an entirely new resource? Josh wouldn't bother too much with it. He simply kept progressing. He was expecting reinforcements to come any second now, but the tunnels were quiet. No sign of any hostiles whatsoever.
It is only after a good 10 minutes of walking that he finally managed to see something special. In front of him stood a blockade made of…barrels? These monsters were clearly special. They were not especially bloodthirsty, they were careful and knew how to assume a defensive position.
Now that Josh thought about it, the goblins too had resided in villages. It's just that he had invaded them directly in their home. They had nowhere to retreat back then. It was either killing him or dying.
How would one go about destroying a blockade? Josh simply went around exploring more tunnels. He went around for probably a few days. It was hard to tell in the complete darkness. Still, soon he was done mapping it all. By now he had understood the system.
There were writings on the walls indicating where every branch led to exactly. It described the quantity of mineral left, the number of troops assigned, and all. Of course, Josh wouldn't pretend to understand it all. But at least he was able to recognize a few symbols determining roughly where everything led.
There was also a specific symbol pointing to their headquarters. It turned out that there were countless tunnels heading in there. There were probably a few hundred kobolds inhabiting the place.
Soon the kobolds started sending guards to patrol the area. They were trying to find Josh. Josh simply hid. As best as they tried they were making too much noise to avoid his detection. Whenever one was coming he simply hid behind a rock for a little while.
Soon enough, the miners came out too again. It seemed like they were not aware of the nature of this place. If they knew how the Tower worked they would have known for sure that Josh was still lurking.
Now he needed to somehow enter their bastion. It seemed to be guarded by a few kobold guards at every tunnel. The difficulty was to infiltrate unseen. They had a better vision than him so the darkness wouldn't help much.
Still, Josh figured something out. Not all entrances were carved equally. There were a few that were linked to tunnels that were spiraling. Meaning that behind the corner it wasn't possible to see what was happening. There was an issue of course.
The more at-risk tunnels had more guards. Instead of one or two kobolds, there were about 5. That is when Josh formulated a plan, one that would most likely fail, but that was worth a try. He waited until the start of a new day. That was when the kobold miners ventured outside to mine…