Mutated Kobold

"Bang!"

With a muffled thud, John's iron sword came crashing down onto the Blood Scale Kobold's shoulder.

However, the anticipated sound of flesh being torn never came. Instead, a dazzling shower of sparks burst forth.

The iron blade scraped against the scales with a piercing screech, leaving behind only a shallow white mark.

John's palm went numb, and he staggered back two steps, shock flashing through his eyes.

As a battle-hardened veteran, he had fought low-level monsters like kobolds more than once.

At least dozens of kobolds had fallen beneath his sword, but he had never seen a monster like the one before him.

"Damn it, this monster's hide is harder than iron!"

Red-nosed Tom cursed and charged in from the side, his sword aimed straight at the throat.

But the Blood Scale Kobold merely tilted its head slightly, letting the iron sword scrape past its neck.

Scales grated against steel, sending sparks flying, yet the creature remained completely unharmed.

"Roar!"

The Blood Scale Kobold let out a low growl and suddenly swept its thick arm sideways. Tom hastily raised his shield to block.

But the force behind the blow was far beyond imagination. The oak shield exploded on the spot.

Tom's entire body was sent flying and slammed heavily into the wall of a burning thatched hut. A mouthful of blood burst from him.

"Ryan! Get behind it!"

With no time to check Tom's injuries, John roared. His only remaining subordinate understood immediately and darted behind the Blood Scale Kobold.

"You bastard! Look over here!"

John pretended to launch a frontal assault, while his left hand silently reached for the short bow at his waist.

Just as he drew its attention, the rust-covered great axe came crashing down from above with a shrill whistle.

At the critical moment, John rolled with the blow, his right hand reaching for the short bow at his waist.

Before he had even fully steadied himself, he had nocked an arrow and drawn the bow, the entire sequence flowing as smoothly as water.

"Whoosh!"

The arrow tore through the air, flying straight for the monster's left eye.

But the Blood Scale Kobold merely tilted its head aside. The arrowhead grazed its eyelid, struck a spark against the hard scales, and finally bounced away feebly.

"It even has scales on its eyes?"

John's heart sank.

His strongest archery could not even injure this monster's vital points!

"Got you!"

Seeing that the monster had not noticed him, Ryan roared and launched his attack after successfully circling behind it.

But just as the tip of his sword touched the scales, the Blood Scale Kobold suddenly spun around as if it had eyes in the back of its head, sweeping its great axe sideways.

"Crack!"

Ryan's chainmail was no thicker than paper before the axe blade. His breastbone caved in, and his entire body was chopped into the air, blood tracing an arc behind him.

John's pupils shrank sharply.

Ryan was the most skilled fighter among them. During the melee just now, he had cut down three kobolds without suffering a scratch. Yet before the Blood Scale Kobold, he could not even withstand a single blow!

"John! Let's retreat! We can't hurt it at all!"

Tom struggled to his feet, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, his voice filled with fear.

John clenched his teeth and swept his gaze around.

Burning houses, bodies strewn everywhere, and ordinary kobolds gradually closing in from the distance.

They were already surrounded.

"We can't get away."

John tightened his grip on his iron sword, his voice low and resolute.

"If we don't kill it, none of us will survive."

At the same time, in the ruins on the other side, Gary spoke the exact same words in despair.

"Let's escape in the chaos!"

Looking at the Blood Scale Kobold standing a full head and a half taller than an adult some distance away, Gary continued in a trembling voice.

"Even fully equipped regular soldiers aren't a match for it. We—"

"We can't get away."

Roland stared at the Blood Scale Kobold in the distance, which looked like a demon god, and gripped his sword hilt tightly with his right hand.

Beside him, Peyton also nodded heavily.

"Gary, you saw it when we were fleeing earlier. There are too many kobolds to count in the south—at least dozens of them. This route has the fewest kobolds, and besides..."

"And besides, the kobolds in the south are already gradually converging on this direction!"

Roland picked up the thread, taking several deep breaths to quickly recover the strength he had expended earlier.

Then he swiftly rose, surveying the kobolds' positions around them as he spoke softly.

"There's only one escape route, and it's right in front of us. If we want to get out alive, we have no choice but to try to defeat this mutated Kobold blocking the way."

"Then do you have a plan?"

Along the way, Peyton had long since developed immense respect for Roland's keen battle instincts.

There were many details that even he, a veteran mercenary with countless battles under his belt, had failed to notice, yet Roland could always perceive and use them skillfully in advance.

It was precisely because of this extraordinary ability that they had repeatedly escaped danger and withdrawn safely to this point.

On top of that, he was injured and had difficulty moving, so naturally, he followed Roland's orders without question.

"I noticed earlier that although this mutated Kobold has astonishing strength, its movements are even slower and clumsier than those of an ordinary kobold. And..."

In the open ground ahead, John was relying on his agility to circle around the Blood Scale Kobold.

Roland endured the dizziness constantly assaulting his mind and gritted his teeth as he activated the [Focus] trait.

Several seconds later, when he opened his eyes again, his gaze was crystal clear, and his voice steady and firm.

"There's a small patch on the left side of that mutated Kobold's back that isn't covered by scales."

"As long as we seize the opening and deliver a lethal strike, even if we can't kill it on the spot, we can at least grievously injure it. By then, whether it's dead or alive, we can take the opportunity to escape."

"Good!"

Enduring the dizziness brought on by excessive blood loss, Peyton rose somewhat unsteadily and spoke with a pale face.

"I'll create the opportunity for you. As for the rest, I'll leave it to you."

Peyton let out a low growl and charged out from behind the cover, dragging his injured body along.

The eyes of this usually life-preserving old mercenary now shone with determination.

"Bang!"

With a muffled impact, Peyton's iron sword became lodged in the gap between the scales at the kobold's knee joint, producing a grating sound that made one's teeth ache.

But the Blood Scale Kobold showed no reaction. It merely rotated its bloodshot eyes to lock onto this foolhardy human, then spread its mouth in a grin, revealing uneven fangs.

The expression was unmistakably a smile.

Seeing that Peyton had drawn the Blood Scale Kobold's attention, Roland did not hesitate either. He strode forward.

At the same time, he roared at the somewhat dazed John.

"Fire!"

Although he still did not quite understand what was happening, John instinctively rolled to one side at the shout and dropped to one knee.

The fully drawn short bow gave a strained groan.

"You bastard! Look over here!"

Peyton suddenly erupted.

This experienced mercenary precisely found the gap where the scales joined.

As he twisted the sword hilt, the sharp blade actually drove half an inch into the gap.

Struck by the blow, the Blood Scale Kobold let out a pained howl and swept its thick tail sideways.

Seeing this, Peyton hurriedly ducked his head and bent down, narrowly avoiding the vicious strike.

At the same time, the sound of something tearing through the air rang out.

"Whoosh!"

The arrow shot toward the monster's right eye with lightning speed.

But the Blood Scale Kobold swung the weapon in its hand again, completely ignoring the arrow. Just as before, it closed its eyes,

trying to use its scales to protect its weak point once more.

"Now!"

The [Focus] trait reached its utmost limit at this moment.

The world suddenly slowed in Roland's eyes.

He could clearly see the arrow spinning through the air, the tremors in the monster's muscles as it raised its arm, and even the path of distant sparks drifting down.

His right hand automatically closed around his sword hilt, and the opening stance of Lion Swordplay emerged as naturally as breathing.

"Roar!"

The instant the arrow grazed the Blood Scale Kobold's eyelid, Roland moved.

Within three steps, his sword had already left its sheath.

The sharp blade shimmered with cold glints beneath the bright moonlight.

The killing techniques of Lion Swordplay displayed their full magnificence at this moment.

By the time the Blood Scale Kobold sensed the danger, it was already too late.

Roland's sword tip pierced precisely into the patch of pink soft flesh on its back.

"Splurt!"

After a muffled sound, bright red blood gushed out like a spring.

"Wuuagh!"

The kobold let out a shrill howl and wildly swung the great axe in its hands.

Roland knew clearly that such an injury was nowhere near enough to be fatal, so he immediately retreated several steps to widen the distance.

"Let's get out of here. Hm?"

He was just about to call for Peyton and the others to retreat when the sight before him forced the rest of his sentence back down his throat.

The blood spraying from the Blood Scale Kobold's back had not even reached the ground before transforming into blazing flames in midair.

Accompanied by a pungent smell of burning, the flames swept inward from the outside, instantly engulfing the kobold's body.

In the blink of an eye, the Blood Scale Kobold, which had been so ferocious moments ago, was howling amid the raging flames before turning to ash.

Just as the flames were about to die out, Roland narrowed his eyes.

Something in the ashes seemed to be glinting faintly.

It was a tiny crystal radiating an eerie red glow. It appeared and disappeared among the embers, throbbing dimly and brightly like a living heart.