Bhirl heard the scream of his teammate but what was happening didn't register in his mind. He opened his mouth to asked what she meant but the sound of a projectile hitting a tree close by made him snap out of it.
Rahz stepped out of his hiding place and asked " What is going on?"
RUN!!!
It was Bhirl this time. All he saw were the approaching shadows following Blaire from a distance and they were a lot more than the 4 they were expecting. Without thinking twice, Bhirl turned around and joined Blaire in escaping from what it looked like a train of Kobolds coming their way.
Seeing his teammates leave without looking back woke Rahz up. Rocks were hitting the trees like thunder and he heard the sound of a lot of creatures. Rahz swung Mr Choppy over his back and ran after them.
After about 5 minutes, the Elite Team stop hearing the loud explosions produced by the rocks smashing against the trees and started to slow down. Rahz was in the rear and the first one to look back.
"Guys is OK now. There is nobody chasing us anymore"
Pant... Pant
"Ooof I thought I was a goner" said Blaire while casting cure on her hand.
" That was Scary. What happened?".
"There was a second group of Kobolds that came to steal the ore from our target. When I casted Icy Winds on the Range ones, they both saw me and came after me. One of the Rocks manage to grace my hand as I tried to escape. I could do nothing else but run. I am sorry".
"I am just glad you are OK. It was a very risky plan". Said Bhirl trying to comfort his teammate.
The group took a breather before slowly heading back to the Kobold camp. It was a learning experience for all of them and all that was left to do was to revise the plan. In order to do that, it was natural for them to go back to the territory of their target and do new reconnaissance.
Halfway through their journey back, Bhirl saw something interesting. Kobolds were pretty social creatures meaning they lived in little groups as oppose to hunting alone. As such, they help each other in their own way. What Bhirl saw was the close combat Kobolds Collecting the rocks scattered about the forest to returned them to their friends.
Bhirl stop his teammates and with finger over his mouth he signal them to be quite. Bhirl then move his chin in the direction of the scattered Kobolds to make his team aware of their surroundings.
There were a total of 5 Kobolds looking around the trees a fair distance from each other.
It was very unexpected but it was the perfect opportunity to thin their numbers. It seemed that in their Hierarchy Rock Thrower held a higher position. The Team looked around and spotted one of the Kobolds pretty far away from the others.
The smile between them said it all. The made their way to him and when they were about 15 feet away both Bhirl and Rahz charged at it. Blaire casted her Icy winds with great timing. When the spell hit his target, Bhirl was already within distance for his Bash skill. The Bash connected and the Kobold was knocked on his back and disoriented. Before it could blink, a shining object came directly between his eyebrows.
SPLAT!!
The top of Its skull was split in 2 and gray matter flew everywhere. Rahz approached the corpse of the Kobold and to his surprise there seem to be a faint smile on its deformed face. Rahz shook his head and dismissed this weird thought.
Bhirl made quite a bit of noise with his Shield Bash and the closest Kobold was made aware. They repeated the strategy a second time and then a third time very successfully. The last of the 5 Kobolds finally heard the noise and came together but it was too late. They were now the ones with a number disadvantage. The last 2 Kobolds were only LVL 5 and were no challenge at all.
The group started to rummage through the corpses an manage to collect a couple pieces of copper ore the size of a baby's fist. Bhirl was responsible for looting the first 2 Corpses and also noticed the same peculiarity Rahz saw before. He quickly went to the third corpse and it also had a faint smiled on his face.
Hmm...
Oddly enough the last 2 that came together showed no expression. Bhirl founded strange and quickly called the rest of the team. "Whats up?" said Rahz.
"Come look at this 3 corpses and tell me what you see". Rahz quickly came over but he couldn't see anything particular interesting.
"Aren't they smiling? ".
Rahz eyes opened wide and it dawn on him that what he saw before was in fact true. Rahz ran to the other 2 but couldn't see the peculiarity. Blaire came over and was perplex as well.
"Why do you think that is?" asked Rahz full of curiosity.
The Elite Team stood around looking at the Corpses and thinking about the the differences or similarities about the deaths of the particular Kobolds when all of sudden Rahz slapped his tight and said " HA!!".
HA HA HA...
"THEY DO LOVE SHINNIES."
"What do you mean?" said Blaire.
"If you say that I am the best damage dealer in the world, I will tell you".
Blaire refused to concede and just ignore him. The team put all 5 corpses together in one spot and left them to the beast in the area to dispose off. They kept moving further along the road back to the mines and looking for more stragglers.
One of the Rock Throwers belonging to the now deceased group was standing around seemingly waiting for the others to arrived with his rocks. Unaware of the danger lurking around he was just walking around a tree aimlessly.
A Rock Thrower without rocks was like a tiger without his teeth and claws. As soon as he felt a indescribable cold invade his bones, pain came from his chest and a moment later he saw a magnificent glow coming his way that made him smile. Then endless darkness.
When Blaire saw the smiling face on the corpse, she furrowed her eyebrows. Her curiosity started to itch but she refused to give. Bhirl on the other hand was the one searching through the Kobold's belongings. "Not bad, another two pieces of ore. "
The team cheered and continue on their way hoping for more Isolated targets but they were disappointed. Once they arrived at the previous scouting spot, what they saw was their first target already mining about and the Thrower collecting rocks.
It appeared that the big piece of ore from before had already been distributed and they were already looking for more. This time, the Elite Team inspected the surrounding area as well to avoid the same mistakes and determined that they were safe to implement their previous plan.
There were no surprises and Blaire was able to lead the 4 close combat Kobolds to Bhirl's position. Once Blaire passed by him, Bhirl stepped forward and confronted the 4 creatures. The Kobold Warriors activated their own Strengthen Defense and attack in unison with their mining tools. Bhirl received their blow with his shield and counter-attacked with Shield Bash.
Rahz had been waiting for the right moment to join in the fight, and when he saw them landing blows on the shield it was his cue. He quickly got into striking distance and activated Cyclone. This time he fed the energy equivalent to 3 Devastating blows into the skill.
Rahz lower his center of gravity and the skill went off. The energy supplied allow the cyclone to spin 5 times and each time with increased momentum. The moment the Kobolds got knock back by the bash a very sharp edge received them.
RAWR!!!!
The Kobolds felt pain but they were of balance and couldn't evade. Very quickly, another round of pain came. The second spin cut deeper than the first. Even though the wounds from each spin were not right on top of each other, the increased momentum made sure that the skill did increased damage. By the time the 4 spin came, the Kobolds spines were severed and blood blossoms were in the air.
When the fifth spin was done and the cyclone finished, the bodies were badly mutilated. Not only was Mr. Choppy covered in blood but even Bhirl's shield had pieces of meat on it.
There was no time to admire the carnage as the Range Creatures were on their way. They were pretty easy considering that the trees provided a natural barrier for their Team. Rahz and the others made sure to hug the trees as they quickly advance towards the Throwers. Once they got close it was all over. Bhirl took care of one and Rahz the other.
After looting the corpses they discovered that the big size ore was given to the higher LVL Rock Thrower that arrived last. This group was intermediate in terms of strength ranging from a couple LVL 4 all the way to the LVL 6. All things considered, the first day of hunting was a huge success. Bhirl and the rest had acquired 7 pieces of ore and 15% Energy experience towards their next level.
Now all they need it to do was to wait until another group took the area as their territory. Kobolds had a high birthrate so they were truly endless. If the Barbarians didn't hunt them regularly it was very possible for Helgahvall village to get overrun.
A week passed by and all the members of the team had reach LVL 6. After a week of eating BBQ they were ready for some home cooking. They had kill a few hundred Kobolds and they had gather about 60 pieces of copper of different sizes. However, the mystery from those four smiling Kobolds kept hunting Blaire's curiosity.
On their way back to the village, Blaire finally cave in and said " Alright Rahz you win, you are the greatest damage dealer in the world. Now tell me why were those 4 Kobolds smiling?".
"Hu Hu Hu I am glad you noticed my greatness" Rahz then showed her Mr. Choppy and said how can they not smile when this is the biggest shiny in the world.