Hunting Kobolds (1)

The dull days passed in the blink of an eye. On the morning of the fourth day, the dark clouds that had hung overhead for half a month finally dispersed, and sunlight once again shone down—scantily—upon the land of the Barren Land.

Saint Brieuc Fortress seemed to have come alive again. Long lines of carts and horses streamed out of the fortress, carrying tribute to the Duke. Just as many poured in: merchant caravans come to trade, and mercenary bands headed to the Ambrisset Mountains to seek adventure.

Though Saint Brieuc Fortress was merely the most inconspicuous little town on the wasteland, it still had its own special way of greeting every visitor: "Two copper coins for the head fee. If you don't want to pay, get lost. That's the order the lord just issued."

Renard knew nothing about this, because he had already reached his destination—the thirty-sixth kobold camp.

He had come up with the name himself. Based on their strength, he had divided the kobold bandit groups into thirty-eight ranks.

It wasn't hard to tell from the ranking that this group was relatively weak. Put simply, they were easy pickings.

When they arrived, the sky had just cleared. By human standards—or, more precisely, by commoners' standards—it was time to get up and eat breakfast.

Kobolds, however, had no such thing as breakfast. During the cold winter, they could barely manage a single full meal, so they had to sleep to conserve their strength, hoping hunger and death wouldn't come for them.

So when the group arrived, they saw kobolds sprawled all over the ground. Their breathing was faint, as if even snoring in their sleep would hasten the loss of their strength and attract the God of Death's attention.

The surroundings were utterly silent. Tracy lay prone beside Renard, eyes fixed on the kobold camp. In a hushed voice, he asked, "Young master, when should we attack?"

Renard had never seen such a strange creature before, and his mind was still reeling. It took him a good while to come around. Lowering his voice as well, he asked, "When do you think would be best?"

Tracy didn't answer. Instead, he let his actions speak for him. He stood, drew the sword at his waist, and shouted, "Wipe out the kobolds and restore peace to Saint Brieuc Fortress!"

As soon as the words left his mouth, several lithe figures darted past Renard, charging toward the targets they had chosen.

Blood sprayed as the kobolds, lost in their dreams, were subjected to a slaughter unlike anything they had ever known.

Renard stayed where he was, carefully watching the mission data change. Kill Quest: Kill one hundred goblins, reward: one potential point, progress: 28%.

Sure enough, it was just as he had suspected. His followers killing quest monsters counted toward the mission data too.

In less than five minutes, forty-eight kobold heads had been chopped off, and the number kept climbing. 56%, 62%, 77%...

Renard finally recovered from his shock and looked across the battlefield. The brutal scene nearly made him throw up.

The kobold camp was already littered with corpses. The nine henchmen were like tigers let loose among a flock of sheep; each swing of their swords claimed a life. Blood splattered their faces and bodies, but they had no time to wipe it away before rushing to the next target.

Raleigh, who had once looked so harmless and innocent, now seemed possessed. As he killed, he kept muttering, "Twenty-four copper coins, twenty-six copper coins, twenty-eight copper coins..."

Renard had promised them two copper coins for every kobold killed. That meant Raleigh had lopped off fourteen kobold heads in less than ten minutes.

The sight left Renard stunned. It was as if he didn't recognize these people anymore. He silently repeated to himself, Money is the root of all evil.

He took several deep breaths, trying to suppress the fear welling inside him, but he seemed to catch the fishy smell of the sea. He knew very well what it was: the scent of blood.

His head spun. "Damn, I'm squeamish at the sight of blood."

With that, he collapsed to the ground and lost consciousness.

Renard was, of course, faking it. He wanted to hide his trembling legs. After all, he was a fine young man from the twenty-first century and had never seen such a bloody scene. The fact that he hadn't fainted from fright on the spot was proof enough of his strong nerves.

But he couldn't show cowardice in front of his subordinates, so lying was the only way to get through it.

As he fell, he turned his face toward the battlefield. One eye remained half-open as he watched how the battle unfolded.

As it turned out, his worries had been entirely unnecessary. The more than three hundred kobolds had no choice but to be slaughtered. Faced with sharp swords, few dared to fight back; most could only run around wailing.

And even those who fought back were often cut down the moment they raised their clubs.

More than twenty minutes later, the kobolds had been killed, fled, or scattered, and the brutal slaughter finally came to an end.

The henchmen, drenched in blood, inspected the battlefield. Whenever they found one that was still alive, they finished it off with another couple of sword thrusts.

Renard watched and sighed to himself. "Why be so ruthless to your own kind?"

Even now, the henchmen still hadn't noticed Renard lying on the ground. They were busy tallying their kills and calculating how many copper coins they could get.

Renard gave an awkward couple of coughs, quickly scrambled to his feet, and struck what he considered a dashing pose with his sword.

Still, nobody noticed him. The awkwardness in the air reached its peak.

Luckily, he had no shame. When nobody paid him any attention, he simply checked his mission progress in the system. One glance was enough to make him jump.

Ding! Kill Quest completed: Kill one hundred kobolds. Reward: one potential point. Progress: 246%.

Ding! Quest completed beyond expectations. Reward: one random attribute.

Random attribute? Renard's heart leaped, and he hurriedly opened his attributes panel.

Host attributes: Strength: 7, Agility: 7, Intelligence: 5, Charisma: 5, Potential: 1, Unallocated Skill Points: 2.

Host's Strength-type skill levels: Iron Bones: 3, Strong Attack: 2, Precision: 2.

Host's Agility-type skill levels: Riding Skill: 0, Martial Arts: 3, Control: 3.

Host's Intelligence-type skill levels: Battle Qi Usage: 0, Eidetic Memory: 5, Tactical Command: 0.

Host's Charisma-type skill levels: Leadership: 2, Bravery: 2, Near Death: 1.

After checking carefully for a long while, he found that his Agility had indeed increased by one. It was the equivalent of completing two kill quests at once.

Renard pondered for a long time. It seemed he would have to take these bonus rewards seriously.

With that in mind, he put his potential point into Strength, then spent his skill points on Strong Attack in the Strength category and Control in the Agility category, before exiting the system.

He clenched his fists and jumped in place. He felt full of energy.

The henchmen finished tallying their kills and hurried over to Renard to claim their rewards.

Benjimin had the greatest strength and was the quickest to act. He ran up to Renard, drove his sword hard into the ground, and deliberately panted as he said, "Young master, I killed a full sixty-four kobolds."

The other henchmen promptly reported their tallies too. "I killed thirty-two."