This Bard Is Too Cautious

"Huu... huu..."

The tunnel was surprisingly quiet. Tang Qi, dragging the jackal's corpse, could barely hear his own frantic heartbeat.

The taste of killing for the first time wasn't good.

He had already thrown up.

But with the jackal repeatedly causing trouble, he absolutely wouldn't allow himself to be in danger.

So after the jackal fell, Tang Qi, enduring the nausea, stabbed it a few more times with his longsword, only daring to relax after confirming it was dead...

The prerequisite for adventuring was to minimize all risks.

Otherwise, it was called throwing your life away.

Tang Qi wasn't afraid of death, but he still wanted to live spectacularly.

"Take his sword, it can still be used for self-defense... Forget the armor, don't want Black Snake to get suspicious."

Tang Qi pondered his next plan, and before he knew it, he had already reached the entrance of the tunnel.

Just as he had thought on the way, he hadn't encountered any other kobolds.

This was, of course, not because Tang Qi had the ability to predict the future.

But from the cave's environment and the clues he found along the way, he had deduced a possibility.

Now, using the darkness that the campfire couldn't reach in that campsite, Tang Qi crept forward as quietly as possible.

He painstakingly removed the jackal's chainmail.

If he didn't, he wouldn't be able to move the corpse.

As he forcefully threw it towards the campfire, he also got a clear look at everything around the fire--

Most of the kobold corpses scattered on the open ground were gone.

Only scattered small skeletons, the size of bone chairs, remained, as if they had fallen beside the campfire.

Beside the skeletons, a pool of yellowish-green liquid was slowly crawling by the firelight.

It was like old phlegm accumulated in the throat for years, or snot—or rather, a massive combination of both.

When the corpse was thrown, the pool of liquid seemed to react urgently, retracting the slime spread on the ground and coalescing into an irregular, trembling sphere.

The edges then stretched, extending a slender tentacle that whipped at the jackal's corpse flying through the air--

"Slap!"

The jackal was whipped back to the ground. Two or three ribs were likely broken, but he couldn't feel it anymore.

The pool of liquid paused for a moment, seemingly realizing this wasn't a surprise attack, but... a gift from nature, and then slowly rolled towards the corpse.

As it approached, the sphere opened like a viscous giant mouth and swallowed the corpse cleanly.

Dense milky-white bubbles secreted from the yellowish-green, translucent pus.

The "gurgling" sound gradually replaced Tang Qi's heartbeat in his ears.

Only when he saw the jackal's skin begin to dissolve, revealing its scarlet flesh and bones, did Tang Qi finally breathe a sigh of relief:

"It really is an Ochre Jelly monster."

Ochre Jelly monsters were mud monsters that lurked in the dungeons.

They could be roughly classified as one of the [slimes].

But they were not weak.

Due to their fluidity, they were immune to all slashing attacks.

In the temporary team, perhaps only Gravel's flail could have a negligible effect on it.

And they were composed of tiny, animated protoplasm.

Shattering a detached part could even lead to it being attracted and forming a small Ochre Jelly monster.

If there were no spellcasters present, dealing with an Ochre Jelly monster using non-physical means would be quite tricky.

But this was precisely why Tang Qi could determine its presence in this cave--

Kobolds were natural digging experts.

The tunnels they dug were narrow and cramped, often leaving medium to large intruders with nowhere to use their strength.

For example, swinging the jackal's standard three-foot longsword would often scrape against the dirt walls, restricting movement, making it far less efficient than a short sword or a thrusting short spear.

If the temporary team had no Gravel, the kobolds would only need to line up in the tunnels, use long spears for ranged thrusts, and harass from a distance with arrows.

Even a powerful fighter like Black Snake would find it difficult to cope.

But the weapons they often carried were crude bone hammers, simple blunt weapons obtained from dismantling beast skeletons.

This clearly didn't make logical sense.

After all, their trap-making skills meant that shaping bone skeletons into bone spears wouldn't be difficult.

Moreover, above this stone cave, there were clearly many natural conical stalactites.

Why go to the trouble of hanging a giant rock when a closer option was available?

It could only mean "they need blunt weapons."

And considering the jackal at the rear of the group hadn't been ambushed despite the kobolds sounding the alarm before their deaths, it could be deduced that "something exists that they fear enough to refrain from blind attacks."

After that came the small, corroded skeletons, which were visible everywhere along the way.

All signs pointed to only one possibility for Tang Qi—

As hunters in dungeons and caves, ochre jelly monsters feed on the flesh and blood of living beings.

In fact, they often digest the unattended corpses after adventurers clear out a nest.

Their soft, mutable bodies also allow them to seep into narrow crevices to lie in wait.

Perhaps the kobolds, knowing it might devour their fallen comrades, hesitated to poke their heads out of the cave.

Tang Qi didn't want to tempt fate.

Judging by the force with which that ochre jelly monster whipped the corpse with its pseudopod just now, he would have ended up in the afterlife alongside the jackal if he took even two hits.

Considering that ochre jelly monsters act entirely on biological instinct and possess little intelligence, they generally don't attack proactively while feeding.

Unable to stay put, he quickly grabbed his longsword and ducked into another nearby tunnel.

"It's a shame about that chainmail, I really am lacking armor right now..."

Feeding the jackal to the ochre jelly monster was primarily to cover up his own killing.

Although Black Snake knew about the conflict between them, Tang Qi couldn't figure out the jackal's standing among the mercenaries.

What if they only pretended to dislike each other but were actually close brothers?

At that point, a defense like "he started it" would be too weak.

The excuse of "they were attacked by an ochre jelly monster, the jackal was completely digested, and I barely survived" would be safer by comparison.

The chainmail left behind could also serve as proof of the jackal's "digestion."

Moreover, the chainmail was somewhat restrictive to his movements.

"Still need to watch out for ambushes from those kobolds."

Tang Qi held his torch high and slowly explored with his longsword.

Yet, he couldn't help but wonder if his skills were enough to escape a kobold encirclement.

So, in the sprawling tunnels, besides confirming there were no more traps blocking the path, Tang Qi cautiously peeked around every corner—

The ends of narrow passages, connecting side paths, behind walls, and even overhead in the darkness... any of these could hide a sneaky kobold waiting to ambush him.

The cautious Tang Qi wouldn't give them the slightest chance.

Unfortunately, after a battle of wits with the air all the way, he only found a few simple traps.

Such as bear traps hidden in the dirt, tripwires meant to make Tang Qi stumble, and repeating nail traps embedded in the earthen walls...

He bypassed them all without spotting a single kobold.

It wasn't until Black Snake's shouts echoed from the end of the tunnel that Tang Qi finally confirmed his location.

The shouts sounded extremely anxious, making one suspect Black Snake had run into trouble.

Tang Qi took a deep breath, gripped his longsword, suppressed his restless thoughts, and slowly moved towards the exit.

He found himself in a cavern more spacious than their previous campsite.

By the torchlight, he saw Black Snake sitting on a stone step, fiddling with his scimitar and bossing around a kobold in a robe:

"Get your tribesmen to move faster, I need to get back before dark. If you delay, I'll kill you first!"

The kobold seemed terrified, waving its staff and shouting frantically at its kin:

"Quick, quick!"

Tang Qi blinked.

Wait.

This kobold...

was speaking Common?