Candlestick Cult?

Xia Lin stared intently at the scene before him, a spectacle that could only be called a religious marvel, yet also looked ridiculous and bizarre. His mind raced.

He tried hard to recall the scattered impressions he had picked up about kobolds from old soldiers bragging in taverns, shoddy adventure manuals from street stalls, and certain games from his previous life.

Kobolds were the standard weak evil creatures.

Cowardly, cunning, bullies of the weak and fearful of the strong, they loved digging holes and collecting every piece of shiny junk they could find.

In most adventure stories, they were either fodder the heroes casually swept aside or humble cannon fodder serving beneath some evil dragon.

Worshipping a massive Golden Candle? And holding such a large-scale, organized religious ceremony?

This scene... was more absurd than hearing that ogres had started studying astrophysics.

The absurd suspicion in his heart grew stronger. Unable to resist, he focused again and locked [Item Appraisal] onto the stable Golden Flame burning atop the altar.

[Item: Eternal Golden Flame Giant Candle (???)]

[Status: Energy active, burning]

[Effect: Continuously emits light and heat. The light seems to possess a weak purifying and calming effect on the mind.]

[Appraisal: Congratulations, you guessed right! This really is an absurdly huge candle made from some bizarre material and carrying magical effects! Perhaps some ancient dragon used it to light its toilet? Either way, these kobolds clearly regard it as the embodiment of their god.]

"So it really is a candle? My god..." Xia Lin felt his understanding of the world take a severe blow.

While he was still reeling from the kobolds' freedom of religion, Barrett beside him looked like a starving wolf that had spotted a fat herd of deer, his eyes practically spitting fire.

Barrett paid no attention at all to the strange candle or the kobolds' religious activities. His thick finger pointed straight at a pile of suspiciously shaped bundles behind the altar, wrapped in tattered burlap and animal hides, as though it could pierce the air.

"There!" Barrett kept his voice extremely low, as if a scorching stone were rolling through his throat, yet he could not suppress his excitement. "Those long-tailed maggots! They really dared hide my stuff in this damned place!"

He swiftly exchanged a glance with Kasimir, who stood silently beside him like a shadow. That glance was filled with unspoken understanding and cold killing intent.

"There are many of them." Kasimir's gaze swept over the dark mass of kobolds below, writhing like a nest of insects, like a cold ruler measuring them. His voice remained flat. "At least thirty. The shaman leading them looks strange. It may be a threat."

"So what? They're just trash holding sticks and rocks!" Barrett spat, though his gaze grew more serious. "If we charge in directly, they'll swarm us to death. Lila, where's that scroll of yours? Time to use it."

Lila's little face immediately scrunched up like a mandrake that had been stepped on. "Huh? Captain, you mean that [Wind of Slumber]? Th-that treasure cost me three months of apprentice wages..."

"Treasure? Once these crawling bastards tear you apart for dinner, it'll be worth jack shit!" Barrett rudely cut her off, his spit nearly reaching Lila's face. "If you want your share of the loot, stop dithering like some stingy goblin! Otherwise, stay here and be emergency rations for those long-tailed things! Understand? Hurry!"

"Th-then... all right..." Lila pouted, her eyes instantly reddening. She was clearly in such pain that her guts were twisting, but she still did not dare defy the fierce captain's order.

With extreme reluctance, she carefully took a yellowed parchment scroll from her stuffed backpack as though holding a fragile crystal. Faded golden threads still lingered around its edges.

The hand holding the scroll trembled slightly, as if it were not a magic scroll but her bread and butter for the next ten years.

"Kasimir." Barrett turned to the Duelist. "The moment the scroll takes effect, take down that shaman first. Don't give it a chance to cause trouble."

Kasimir nodded slightly to show that he understood.

"Newbie." Barrett turned to Xia Lin again. "Stay with me and hold the flank. Clear out any stragglers that wake up early. Don't let them interfere with us."

Xia Lin took a deep breath, tightened his grip on his sword hilt, and nodded firmly. "Understood."

"Good!" Barrett let out a low roar, his voice like a horn about to sound the charge, thick with bloodlust. "Lila, do it!"

Lila drew a deep breath and forced herself to focus, temporarily ignoring the blood dripping from her heart.

She unfurled the scroll and recited the twisted syllables that sounded like alien muttering to Xia Lin, but carried magic within them, in a somewhat unpracticed yet clear voice.

[Somnus infundam eis, mentes claudite, quietem adducam]

"I shall pour sleep into them, close their minds, and bring peace."

As the final syllable echoed through the cavern and faded, the ancient parchment abruptly erupted with a gentle, vast silver radiance. It flowed across the ground like spilled mercury, then transformed into magical motes resembling a sky full of stars and quietly vanished into the air.

An invisible, intangible wave of magic imbued with hypnotic power swept rapidly across the central area of the cavern like a gentle tide.

The kobolds around the altar, who had been immersed in primitive fervor, suddenly froze as if struck by a mass Hold Person spell.

Their eyes instantly became vacant and dull, stripped of all life. Then their bodies went limp, and like rows of shoddy puppets with their strings cut, they toppled over in droves without a sound.

Thump. Thump. The dull sounds of bodies hitting the ground came one after another, like a low prelude to the coming bloody slaughter.

"Kill!!!"

The instant the sleeping effect appeared, Barrett unleashed an earthshaking roar.

He flung out his arm. With a dull metallic scrape, he pulled a heavy round shield of ironwood composite from his back and strapped it firmly to his left arm. Its edges were covered in chop marks and dents, while a blurred boar-head emblem was carved into its center.

With the shield in hand, Barrett's entire presence changed, as though he had become an indestructible moving Bulwark.

His enormous body carried irresistible momentum and weight. A yellowish-brown glow suddenly lit up on the round shield on his left arm, solidifying into something tangible as though it had been covered in an unbreakable layer of stone.

[Bulwark]! Activated!

He made no fancy evasive movements at all. Like a moving wall forged from steel, muscle, and rage, he crashed viciously into the kobold crowd that had not yet been affected by the scroll and was panicking over their companions' sudden collapse.

"Bang! Crack!"

The heavy impact, the horrifying sounds of bones being brutally shattered, and the kobolds' brief, despairing screams before death instantly echoed through the cavern.

Crude Stone Spears and simple wooden clubs clanged against his shield and the Bulwark covering his body, managing only to throw up a few weak sparks. It was like scratching an itch through a boot. They could not stop his war-machine advance in the slightest.

His battle axe became a gray whirlwind bringing death and dismemberment. Every seemingly simple, brutal, unskilled swing effortlessly tore through fragile scales and warm flesh, splitting every creature in his path in two.

On the other side, Kasimir moved like a ghost, silent and unseen.

He practically glided along the rocky wall at the edge of the cavern. His steps were unbelievably light, producing not the slightest unnecessary sound, as if the shadows themselves were moving swiftly.

The chaos, howls, and death cries of the kobolds around him seemed separated from him by another plane.

His gaze was cold and focused, like a venomous snake fixed on its prey's heart. He crossed the chaotic battlefield and locked firmly onto the Kobold Shaman still in confusion before the altar.

Xia Lin's palms were drenched in sweat.

The hilt of his newly bought longsword had become somewhat slippery, forcing him to grip it even tighter until his knuckles turned pale.

Stay calm! Focus! Follow the plan! Don't hold them back! He gritted his teeth and gave himself the harshest order in his heart, then charged into the blood-soaked battlefield close behind Barrett.