There wasn't only a single, sneaky attempt at the adventurers' necks made by the deceitful kobolds, leading to many such feeble fiends needing to be put down swiftly.
? Celly was careful in her choice of magecraft, considering the narrowness of the cavern and the questionability of its stability; with a light release, she conjured an arrow made of smooth stone that shot through the head of one of the kobolds. It was boosted with only enough velocity to pierce through the whiskered creature's skull, only lightly penetrating the wall behind it.
Emilio whistled, "That was a brutal one."
The kind half-elf never seemed to like using violence, though even she knew that it was necessary against such creatures, "Let's not linger on that, please. I'd like to just get this quest done."
"Yes, ma'am," Emilio playfully said, moving along.
The narrow lair led into a deeper section, having to be carefully traversed by sliding down a slope of mud, which was solidified into soil by Celly herself so that she didn't get mud all over her own cloak.
"You couldn't do that before I went down?" Emilio raised an eyebrow, having his boots now soaked in mud.
"Sorry, I didn't really consider it until just now," Celly smiled.
It was hard to be mad at that seraphic smile for him. As always, a cave occupied by kobolds remained quiet, though filled with light sounds that produced a tension-filled ambience; the creatures dwelled within the walls, picking at the stone and hunting gems.
"Even greedier than goblins–I doubt kobolds even have a use for gems, seeing as they don't use money or anything. They're just naturally drawn to shiny, pretty stones, I guess," he remarked.
"You're pretty knowledgeable about kobolds, Emilio," Celly said, noticing his reservoir of kobold facts.
He scratched his head, "It's good to know your enemy, right? Anyway, I've encountered them enough times–they're sneaky, but honestly, they're dumb so they stay predictable."
In truth, it wasn't as though he simply garnered all of this knowledge on the slippery creatures solely through experience, but after knowing what quest he'd be taking on the day before, he studied up on kobolds in one of the books he had.
'It's best to be prepared, that's all,' he thought.
Deep into the mountain-embedded cave was a vast, open area, kept dim, though lit as the lesser spirit of fire was sent in the center, flaring up to produce more light. There was a small pond of tainted water made from the drippage above; salt crystallizations formed as spikes, hanging from the ceiling and jutting up from the floor in various spots.
"Celly," he quietly said, "Flush them out and I'll handle the cleanup."
"Alright," she nodded, lifting her staff as the mystical orb at the end produced a verdant glow.
In the mind of the archmage, she couldn't help but feel she was already falling behind in experience as an adventurer to the Dragonheart; the initiative he took and calmness in which he read situations moment-by-moment was rivaled only by veterans.
'I'm happy to have met somebody as wonderful as you, Emilio,' she thought.
What was called upon by the half-elf was a veil of wind that stretched itself to every wall of the open area of the dank cave, producing vibrations against every miniscule point of, though not powerful enough to cause a collapse.
It was a wind spell normally utilized to drive soil-dwelling creatures like insects or moles out of their hiding spaces, though it found another use then: "Sifting Gale."
The continuous vibrations shook the walls, rumbling them lightly before the short, stumpy creatures living within them crawled out, seeming to be angrily awoken from their sleep.
"Emilio–they're coming," Celly warned calmly.
"Right," he nodded, drawing his sword again, "Leave it to me."
There was a large number of kobolds driven from the walls, some even falling from the ceiling; it seemed unmistakably to be a major hive of them, leading to numbers in the dozen, even with some much larger ones that surpassed the size of adult humans.
Such kobolds that possessed mighty builds achieved such through the jewels they consumed, presenting itself through the sapphire-like glow against their skin as the bulky, whiskered fiends growled and puffed their chests.
Without tapping into a draconic state itself, he solely called upon one of the skills of his system he had acquired throughout his year of slow, but continuous growth.
["Scales of The Swift"]
What manifested itself were sable-and-azure scales that were forged into armor in place of his boots, producing the glow of bright-blue flames. As the many kobolds yelled out in their unintelligible tongue, lashing out towards him and wildly stamping their feet his way–with a single step, he vanished.
'That speed…' Celly thought, off-guard even though she had kept her eyes on Emilio solely until that moment.
Like a blur through the corporeal world, he moved with swiftness that left the dense kobolds flabbergasted–missing their strikes and bumping into one another.
"Kre! Kre-kre?!" One kobold seemed angered at its kin.
"Kre–!" The other responded, mad as well.
Though in an instant, the Dragonheart, blessed by draconic swiftness, swept by, using his sword like the scissors that cut the thread of life itself as he cleaved through both of the creatures. It was a continuous offense; flowing through the room with speed that kept him impervious to the eyes of the cave-dwelling creatures, slicing through them quickly and efficiently.
"Raaagh!"
One of the whiskered brutes slammed its massive pickaxe down towards him, only to miss and have its neck split by the blurred man's passing slash. The same fate lied for another Kobold Champion who tried catching him in its arms, only for Emilio's sword to pierce through its chin and out of its skull.
'...He's…strong,' Celly thought.
"Scales of The Swift" was a skill that granted him scales that specifically honed in on the essence of speed; it was through the internal rotation of azure flames through the boots that swiftness was found, allowing for movement as graceful as a dragon through the sky.
Only a few seconds were needed before even the Kobold Champions were vanquished by the Dragonheart's silver-and-blade blade, leaving the splatter of the creatures painted across the ground.
As he finished off the last of the awakened kobolds, he returned from his amplification rush, relinquishing the scaled boots as he rested his sword on his shoulder, smiling at Celly.
"All handled," he said.
"...I see that. That dragon power of yours is quite something. It's one thing to hear you describe it, but witnessing it with my own eyes is different. It's entirely different from magecraft," Celly remarked.
"Did you like it that much?"
Celly looked hesitant for some reason, really taking a moment to process it; there wasn't any surprise there, coming from the woman who truly loved magecraft itself, "I'm just glad that sort of power is yours alone. I believe we'd live in a world of ash if it wasn't."
"--" He looked at her.
Those words spoken to him were the first he'd heard of it from somebody else, but it was a thought he held himself at times.
'The Dragonheart System is something amazing. But, at the same time, it is a terrifying amount of power. Especially with concepts like Draconis Monster…Even outside of that, I've lost it on occasion–like a wild beast that knew only destruction. I get why she seems apprehensive about it,' he thought.
He chose to smile and assure her, waving his hand, "Don't worry, I don't plan on using much of it here. It's not really necessary against creatures of this level, anyway."
"It's not that I don't trust you, Emilio. Really. It's just…I have a weird sense about that power. It's not mana, but something else I can feel–a devastating weapon of destruction exists at the palm of your hands," Celly said, "I'm happy a strength like that is in your hands, though."
"Thanks."
–
The lair of the kobolds was extensive, though it was hardly surprising considering this mountain abode seemed to be the singular location in which kobolds had infested Yullim. What made the claustrophobic journey worse were the bones of animals left behind by the kobolds, scattered around the cave messily.
"Uuugh…" Celly let out in disgust, stepping on the femur of a long-passed creature.
"Ha-ha," he laughed, glancing back.
"AAAAAH–!"
–The loud, jarring scream that resonated through the cave didn't belong to either of them, immediately catching their attention as they looked forward–the direction it came from. It sounded young, concerningly enough.
'A scream? That sounded like a kid. Kobolds usually aren't daring enough to venture out and capture humans…Did somebody stumble upon this cave? Up this high? This deep?' He questioned.
As he was breaking down the situation in his mind, he was caught off-guard as he watched the archmage run right past him, heading towards the source of the childlike scream.
"Celly!"
"--If it's a kid, they need our help!" Celly yelled back, not stopping.
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