Bhirl stood inside the ring and asked the referee to help the injured scout while he explained the specifics of the task to all the trainees present at the arena.
The first condition to join the task team was to be between levels 8 and 9. The team was supposed to clean part of the mine and there were a few First Evolution Kobolds that they need it to take care off, Level 7 warriors would become just cannon fodder at that point. The level requirement disqualified more than half the people present around the arena and made it much easier to choose the members of the team.
Not counting the spots taken by the Elite Team, there were only 7 other spots left. The team need it one more shield warrior and 2 more healers in order to have enough protection in a highly dangerous situation.
The real difficulty came when picking the damage dealers. There were so many people available that it was overwhelming to make a choice. Rahz had been competing in the arena the last few days and decided to step in and help Bhirl make a choice.
From all the people present, only the team of 4 that were sparring with him had shown the guts to go against him in the arena. This showed that they were pretty confident on their on abilities and it looked like their teamwork was at a high level as well.
Rahz was actually quite happy with Bhirl stepping in when he did before they were injured more severely.
The final damage dealer was one of the few people to beat Rahz back in the day, Arne. Arne was easily the best up and coming scout and in Rahz's opinion if it wasn't for the fact that he chose to go with a good alignment God he would be an excellent assassin.
Once the team was assembled, Bhirl called them to the side and started to explain the logistics of the task. The task consisted in an expedition and elimination of the Kobolds inside the first 20 rooms of the copper mine. According to the data collected by Aya, every 3 to 4 rooms there would be an Elite Kobold responsible for the area which they had to face. The expedition team was responsible for the elimination of all the Kobolds except for the leader of the region responsible for all 20 rooms, this particular Kobold was too high a level for the trainees.
Bhirl assured every body that it was a controlled exercise and that any ore or trinkets acquired by the team would be split evenly among them. Every one in the Task Team was completely stoke about being chosen and left the training grounds in high spirits.
"Ooooh Yeah!!! The Elite Team together once more. Those Kobolds are toast but the Elites are pretty tough, their skin is hard as metal, and I can't even imagine those Evolved ones. My Blood is boiling just thinking about it...It is going to be awesome"
Unlike Bhirl, Blaire didn't have access to the story behind the mine expedition and for that reason she found it hard to believe that Rahz knew so much about the Kobold Elites.
"How come you know so much about the Elites?"
"Huhuhu!! If you say that I am the best Damage Dealer in the world, I'll tell you".
Blaire sneered at the comment and Bhirl face palm himself thinking 'Four years later and Rahz is still Rahz'.
"Let's go Rahz, we need to plan the expedition and your experienced inside the mine is invaluable to its success"
Rahz nodded and left alongside Bhirl and Blaire to prepare for the task.
The Task Team assemble on the Westside of the village 2 days after its conception, and headed for the mines. There was a lot of excitement among the members and much pride since they were chosen from a big pool of trainees to participate on the expedition.
" We need to set a couple of rules before we go:
1st - Do not be in front of your shield warriors unless told to do so. Nobody wants a lost rock to take them out.
2nd - Make sure you listen to instructions at all times. That goes for you Rahz don't be a hero just because you were there before. "
Rahz put on an innocent face and acted like he was harmless to people and animals while the rest of the group that knew better just rolled their Eyes.
After checking their consumables, the whole task team made their way to the entrance of the mine. The journey there was relatively peaceful, there were very few animals a long the way and since Rhaz had cleaned up the area around the entrance a few days before it was still devoid of Kobolds.
Bhirl decided to rest an hour before heading down the tunnels and in the meantime he sent Arne and another scout to investigate the situation inside.
Since the last time Rahz was inside, there had been alot more patrols around the tunnel. The fact that one of the Elites responsible for 3 rooms was killed didn't go unnoticed by the Higher ups of the Kobold community.
The 2 rooms were now re-supplied with personnel and the jurisdiction fell on the shoulders of the Elite closer to the area that now managed a total of 6 rooms.
The scouts came back after 30 minutes and let Bhirl know about the patrol teams and the amount of Kobolds in each room. The farther they went in, the bigger the spaces being mined but it was very difficult to fight in the narrow tunnels.
Bhirl thought about the information and split the team into 2 groups of 5 at least for the first 5 rooms they would move as a cell and take out 1 room at a time. The scouts in each team were responsible to clean up the patrol Kobolds inside the tunnels as quietly as possible.
After the 5 rooms were cleaned up, the team would meet before the 6th room in order to take on the Elite Kobold together.
With a plan set up the Task Team started to make their way inside the tunnels as quickly as possible. Arne and the others scouts were always ahead doing reconnaissance and disposing of the patrols fairly quickly.
The first 2 rooms did not give the team any problems whatsoever. All the workers present in the rooms were Level 5 Kobolds and for a Task Team composed of high level trainees it was quite easy to clean up.
Rooms 3 and 4 were a little more challenging for the team, there were about 20 Kobolds in each room with three Rock Throwers supervising the work and the others working on mining with what it looked to be a rough version of a Pickaxe.
Bhirl and the rest decided to call the attention of the Rock Throwers using the Bread Crumbs strategy in order to not alert the others. Once they were out of the room Arne and Rahz disposed of them.
With no more Rock Throwers in the room the team followed Bhirl inside and attack one side of the room. The Closest Kobold to the door didn't even get to react in the time, Bhirl Shield Bashed him while Rahz was leaping through the air chopping down.
Bhirl instructed the healers to start using Icy winds on the Kobolds to slow down their movement speed while the rest made quick work of the ones closest to them.
Arne was extremely surprise at how efficient Rahz and Bhirl were at disposing of their opponents. Sometimes he couldn't even get a hit in before the Kobolds were divided in 2 or stab in the throat by a sword. Bhirl's group move very quickly and even the 5th room with level 8 Kobolds didn't stand a chance.
The other group started a little bit slow but once they were told how to get the Rock Throwers out of the room, it made everything a lot easier. The sixth room didn't have many Kobolds in it, there were only 3 and 2 of them were Level 8. The Leader of the group was an 8 feet tall Kobold with a big basket on his back but instead of Rocks there was copper ore in it.
It was clearly a First Evolution Rock Thrower. It had Metallic looking fur all around his body and very long arms that reached almost to its knees. If it didn't have a long snout on its face, it could be easily confuse with a Metallic sheen Gorilla.