"Hahaha, I knew you wouldn’t die that easily!" Pip swiftly leaped up from the ground.
The yelling and shouting Halfling before it shattered its illusions. The Dragon Shield Guard felt its vision go dark and nearly collapsed.
"%&￥#..."
He muttered something softly under his breath, still struggling to lift the scalding Shield, and charged toward Pip.
There was no helping it. Even though his leader was being completely unreasonable, as a subordinate, it wasn’t in a position to complain.
Having taken a direct hit from Burning Hand, it sprinted forward a few steps and knocked Pip away once more. However, its remaining stamina was only enough to raise its shield and hunker down under the beating.
"Hey! Hah! Hah!"
Pip, on the contrary, grew even more excited. The Warhammer in his hands forcefully smashed against the glowing red Shield. The heated Dragon Scale Shield visibly deformed under his attacks.
Taking advantage of the gap in the Scale Mage’s Magic, Lorin raised a hand to cover his left cheek. With a thought, the Ring of the Flame Speaker immediately emanated a gentle warmth.
The warmth seeped into his skin, and the burning pain receded like an ebbing tide. The tight skin on his face slowly relaxed.
He struggled to open his left eye.
His vision was somewhat blurry, as if his left eye were severely nearsighted, while his right eye was perfectly fine.
But he had regained his depth perception; at the very least, he wouldn’t have to stagger when he walked.
"Lorin! I’ll hold off this mole for you. Flank around and kill that son of a bitch Sorcerer!"
Pip hammered the Dragon Shield Guard blow after blow, occasionally shifting his position left and right to maintain a straight line with the two Kobolds.
Lorin’s brow twitched. He remembered blaming his newly acquired Magic on his Sorcerer bloodline—this shorty clearly knew about it.
The Scale Mage seemed to just now remember there was another person present. It turned around and began casting Magic again.
The Kobold’s incantation was in Draconic, making it difficult for Lorin to identify the Magic through the Spell alone. Fortunately, its body language couldn’t lie.
Flame rose from its fingertips... it was Flaming Arrow!
"BOOM—"
Lorin dove hard to the side. The Kobold seemed to have absolutely no concept of predicting movements, so dodging this kind of projectile wasn’t difficult for him now.
If he opened his interface now, he would find a new addition to his Skill Bar.
[Rolling Evasion → Beginner]
Lorin made a rough estimate. He was already very close to the Dogman Scale Sorcerer, likely within the range of his Lightning Traction.
He began channeling the Magic once more. Repeated casting had given him a throbbing headache, but fortunately, he could still squeeze out a bit of Magic Power.
[Lorin’s Lightning Traction]
Arcs of electricity shot fiercely through the air, heading straight for the Scale Mage, only to be intercepted mid-air by a Shield.
"Scaleless bald monkey!"
The Dragon Shield Guard let out a furious roar. Completely ignoring Pip’s swinging hammer, it hurled the Shield in its hand outward.
"BANG!"
The two sounds rang out almost simultaneously. Lorin and the Dragon Scale Shield collided, and he was knocked to the ground by the shockwave, feeling as though his very soul had been knocked out of his body.
The Dragon Shield Guard was in an even more miserable state. Without its Shield, it took a solid blow from Pip’s hammer. Under the Long-Handled Warhammer, its Hard Leather Armor was no different from paper, and its chest instantly caved in.
"COUGH..."
It spewed a mouthful of blood and flew backward toward the Scale Mage behind it, only to crash into a translucent shield.
[Shield Skill]
The Dragon Shield Guard cast a resentful glance at the Scale Mage, who stood frozen in place. Its lips moved faintly before it spat out a single word full of hatred: "Idiot..."
The Scale Mage reached out a hand, seemingly wanting to explain something, but it was already too late.
A cold flash of light glinted in the corner of its eye. It felt as though it were spinning in the sky for a few rotations, and then it became a bit shorter.
A headless corpse fell to the ground before its eyes. It looked closely and thought it seemed somewhat familiar.
The artistically stitched Beast skin robe, the handsome rust-red scales...
"So that’s me..."
The Dogman Scale Sorcerer’s consciousness plunged into oblivion.
[First time killing an enemy — Dogman Scale Sorcerer]
[Reward obtained: 200 Exploration Experience points]
Lorin planted Rusted Throat into the ground, leaning on it as he panted heavily.
The intense battle had exhausted his stamina and Magic Power. The fading Adrenaline brought more than just fatigue; the injuries he had inadvertently sustained during the fight were also sending warning signals.
He felt as though he was physically aching from head to toe.
Lorin looked around and saw that the Halfling had long since plopped down on the ground. Having exited his berserk state, he was now staring blankly at the floor.
His gaze then shifted to the collapsed Dragon Shield Guard. Blood was spilling from the corner of its mouth, and its chest heaved with incredibly faint breaths.
He thought, "Excellent..."
Lorin grinned.
He staggered a couple of steps to the Dragon Shield Guard. With great effort, he lifted Rusted Throat and forcefully pressed it down against its neck.
[First time killing an enemy — Kobold Dragon Shield Guard]
[Reward obtained: 200 Exploration Experience points]
[Current balance: 452 Exploration Experience points]
Seeing the balance displayed on the interface, Lorin chuckled happily. Unable to support his body any longer, he plopped down onto the ground.
Most of the tossed torches had already extinguished. Only the one Lorin had stuck into the wooden rack still flickered with a faint glow, stubbornly preserving a patch of light for them.
"Why do these Kobolds stink so much?" Lorin frowned.
"GRUMBLE—"
The Halfling patted his stomach and said, "Pip is a little hungry."
He thought, "This guy sure is in a good mood..."
Lorin’s lips twitched, and he began searching around for his backpack.
"Here." Pip tossed a greased paper packet to him.
Lorin clumsily caught it. Opening it up, he found a flaky pastry inside. Though it was a bit dry to eat, it could at least replenish some of his stamina.
But as he ate, that foul, musky stench kept drilling into his nose. After a while, he couldn’t stand it anymore.
He leaned over and sniffed the corpse of the Dragon Shield Guard on the ground. Aside from the metallic scent of blood, there was only the smell of burnt leather.
"This doesn’t make sense. This one doesn’t smell that bad," Lorin mumbled with a full mouth.
Pip paused his chewing and carefully sniffed the air, nearly throwing up as a result.
"Pip smells it too. It seems to be coming from inside." He pointed in the direction where the Dogman Scale Sorcerer had appeared.
Lorin pondered for a moment.
They had been sitting here for a while now, and there hadn’t been any movement from inside. Most likely, there were no enemies left.
Moreover, logically speaking, a Kobold scouting party couldn’t possibly have both a Sorcerer and a Dragon Shield Guard at the same time. They definitely came here with a specific purpose.
"HISS..."
He thought, "Could there be some kind of treasure inside? No, if there were any treasure, the former miners would have definitely found it. It wouldn’t have been left for them."
Lorin suddenly remembered something.
He struggled up from the ground, ran over to his backpack, and pulled out the Adventurer’s Handbook to flip through it.
He thought, "Kobolds... musky stench..."
He thought, "This is it!"
His gaze landed on a line of text.
[Kobold expeditionary outpost squads will set up external incubation chambers. These chambers are typically located in the deepest parts of the lair, utilizing geothermal heat or fire sources to maintain a constant temperature.]
[Because the chamber is piled with fermenting organic matter to generate heat, the air will be filled with a thick, musky stench.]
"So this is actually an expeditionary outpost squad?!"