"GAH! Dammit, these bastards work together well."
As Romir was dealing with the arrow in his shoulder, Dronir finally finished casting
"Mana bend to my will and copy your properties [Twin Cast]. Mana be born with a fraternal twin [Twin Spell]. Surround my targets in a veil of protection [Mana shield]. Mana grant my targets protection from flame [Flame barrier]"
Once this happened, two magic circles appeared in front of Dridro. One was a deep Azure blue and the other was pale orange and out of the center two streams of a mist-like substance floated toward both of the other party members firstly making them shine in an azure light and then a pale orange one before disappearing. Above their heads, two symbols appeared, firstly a blue shield and then an orange shield with a red flame above it.
"Those must be buffs, it's a good thing I get this info when watching through this screen. It doesn't appear when I look at things without it. But this lets me plan accordingly."
"Axe wielder and daggers, make it hurt but not fatal"
The last two level-one kobold went forward one wielding a crude battle axe and the other a pair of small rusty daggers. When they reached the dwarf the axe wielder set out for one big heavy swing from the side while the dagger kobold made two shallow cuts in the side of the dwarf while he was distracted. However, the daggers barely made a scratch, which stunned the kobold who was trying to at least draw blood without fatally wounding them.
"THE PROTECTION MAGIC! I completely forgot, kobolds hit with far more force than you think you need to achieve the result you want, these guys aren't like the eagles they have access to numerous attacks and are far less predictab-"
With his sentence cut off, the human fighter hit daggers cutting straight through it leaving two halves of a corpse. Daggers then landed on the ground with two very distinct wet thumps. His insides spilled onto the floor and stained it purple with its blood. There was an eerie silence throughout the dungeon, an unnatural one, though sound was being made as axe and Romir fought but Smaug wasn't hearing it, his eyes were covered in shadow as he breathed heavily and with every breath, more and more dark energy formed inside of his mouth.
"Use skill [Dungeon Master Path] target right there"
[skill failed, can not be used within the range where you can be sensed by any intruders.]
"Fine then, first all kobolds come to this spot this is a direct order dash here with all of your might, don't stop running until you see the invaders, next bring me as close as you can so I can walk forward and be in front of them."
[request accepted initiating teleportation…]
In front of Smaug a doorway appeared and on the other side was a completely different part of the dungeon. walking forward he eventually heard the sounds of weapons colliding and winces of pain from both sides. Then the sound of skills went off.
"[Taunt]"
"[Slash]"
"[Wind cutter]"
"[Gryahhh!] (flame)"
Then in the dark, he saw the intruders who dared to kill his soldiers. They were yet to notice him as it was dark but Smaug could see them, and seeing them in person angered him even more.
'[Breath of Darkness Lvl 1]'
As Smaug activated his skill he took in a deep breath, and then a ball of purple and black appeared in his mouth before he let it all out. In doing so a cone of darkness lurched outwards consuming the entire group. damage numbers appeared over their heads. however no health bars appeared, nor could Smaug see their information and buffs above their heads
"- 150" for Dylan
"-100" for Romir
"-80" for Dridro
Dridro was the first to speak. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?"
In response, Dylan cried out through the pain "I don't know but it hurt like a fucking bitch, I think it was a dark type attack, we should be glad it didn't have additional effects."
"Dylan's right, this dungeon may be new but who knows if this dungeon has a master or not, if it does it's probably a wyvern or kobold who had some rapid and forced evolution after bonding with the dungeon's core. It must be mad that we killed one of its soldiers, dragons are prideful like that. But that just means we have to get out here sooner, if it is resulting to getting involved then it must feel like it is in danger with no options, and nothing is scarier than a dragon who feels it is out of options to survive."
"Dridro, Romir retreat, we probably have more than enough information, a dragon dungeon with a dark element dungeon master. We don't know what exactly but it comes out to fight intruders if sufficiently threatened. Grab the kobold corpse for materials and future investigation and let's get going."
Going back to Smaug we can see him staring and giving orders to his Kobolds to return to their positions and stay clear of the entrance.
* sigh * 'I want to kill them for some reason but I can't, they have to get out of here alive. I can kill them when they return.'
A few minutes later, a notification appeared
[You have fought off intruders and forced them to flee.
+ 300DP]
[you have lost units:
-1 kobold (G) (20 DP)]
"Yes, place this replacement in the same location as the lost kobold."
[-20 DP]
A few hours later the injured party is walking in a bustling city with slight scorch marks all over themselves. They come up to a building and walk in. inside there is a bar on one side and the other a counter with five lines with the opposite side wall having a quark board which has countless papers attached to it with graded letters on them. After waiting in the shortest line for a few minutes the party brought out a piece of paper with singed edges as well as their guild cards.
"We are here to report the findings of this quest," spoke Dylan with a serious tone
Immediately the receptionist who had floppy dog ears spoke, "right away, I will get the guild master for you. payment will be calculated based on standard information prices as always."
"Wait miss also tell him it's urgent, we know what might have delayed the surge, as well as a theory as to why this is happening everywhere."
The receptionist's eyes instantly narrowed as she gave a look of both skepticism and intrigue. "I see, you have found pricy information you can't risk having leaked, I'll set up a meeting within the hour as the guild master is currently busy working with the local guard to prepare for the surge."