The Hidden Enemy

Press on, or turn back?

That was the choice before them.

After all, they had recovered the missing team's belongings and killed three Winged Kobolds. As far as the Association's mission was concerned, they had more than enough to show for it.

Rain suddenly stood and walked to the entrance of the passage leading deeper underground. He stared silently into the darkness ahead.

But soon, his brow began to furrow.

Leia noticed Rain's strange behavior and came over. She peered into the pitch-black passage, saw that she couldn't make out a thing, and asked, "Are they down there, Rain?"

"If you want to avenge your friend, we could..."

Rain raised a hand. After hesitating a moment, as though searching for the right words, he said, "I don't think the other Kobolds are in this passage."

With Keen Scent Lv. 2, Rain had caught almost no trace of Kobolds coming from the passage. Instead, it smelled musty, as though no one had entered it for years.

He had even used Sonic Location just now, with equally little to show for it.

That was strange.

If they were right that there were more mutated Kobolds, where were they?

Could there be a hidden passage here?

Another detail had led Rain to that suspicion.

He had taken a close look at the damaged shield's thickness. Even with his pointed hammer, he couldn't have done that much damage without using Armor-Breaking Strike.

That baffled Rain.

Were mutated Kobolds really that strong?

Surely not...

"No Kobolds down there?" Leia's eyes widened as she looked at Rain.

"Why do you think that?" she asked.

"Instinct," Rain said.

He couldn't exactly tell them about Sonic Location, so instinct would have to do.

The others exchanged glances, unsure how to respond.

Leia, however, nodded slightly.

If anyone else in the party had said that, Leia probably would have rolled her eyes. But coming from Rain, she believed it.

Mostly, at least.

Rain's judgment hadn't failed them once on the way here. That was proof enough.

As for how Rain could be so sure, of course they were curious. But there was no time to dwell on it or ask.

A more pressing question faced them: if Rain was right, then their earlier conclusion was wrong.

Where had the mutated Kobolds gone?

"Check the walls," Rain said.

He went to one wall of the cavern chamber and held his torch close to its uneven surface, examining it carefully.

The others, all more experienced adventurers than Rain, immediately understood what he meant.

They took up their torches and began tapping along the walls of the underground chamber.

Less than half a minute later, Fabian called out behind Rain.

"There's a gap here. Wait, this stone moves!" Fabian's eyes widened as he tapped the wall in front of him.

"There really is a hidden passage?" Chris hurried over, his eyes wide too.

"Are the Kobolds hiding something?" Leia wondered aloud.

They had all heard that Kobolds liked to hide things, but this seemed more complicated than that.

"No point guessing. Open it and we'll find out," Grand said.

Chris, Grand, and the others worked together to slowly shift the huge stone blocking the passage. Stale, slightly damp air rushed out to meet them.

"I'll scout ahead," Fabian said, twirling his dagger lightly between his fingers.

"Wait. Something's wrong." Rain reached out to stop him.

Everyone tensed at his words, their guard rising on instinct.

"I think I smell another creature," Rain said quietly. "Not a Kobold or a Winged Kobold."

He left something else unsaid: he could smell dampness coming from below.

But beside the other scent, which stirred an instinctive wariness in him, that hardly seemed important.

"Is it sulfur?"

"I've heard some unusual Kobolds can breathe fire, whether it's due to mutation or crossbreeding," Leia said after a moment's thought.

"Sulfur?" Rain paused.

If it was a mutated Kobold like Leia suggested, he would be very interested. Killing it would probably let him gain that ability.

After all, his Freezing Ray spell had come from a Mutant Goblin.

But the problem was, this didn't smell like sulfur...

"I don't think so. It's... how do I put it? Something subtle and cold. Like a cold-blooded killer." Rain struggled to describe what he had smelled.

He had considered the possibility of mutated Kobolds.

But though he couldn't tell what they were, the lingering scent clearly came from more than one creature.

That made mutation seem unlikely.

A clan would be lucky to have even one mutant. Two at the absolute most!

But three...

"So... are we going down or not?" Chris asked.

"Give me a moment. I'll take a look." Rain stepped to the center of the entrance.

He wasn't going to look. He was going to use Sonic Location to probe ahead.

He had warned the others because of one concern: humans couldn't hear a bat's high-frequency calls, but that didn't mean whatever was in the cave couldn't.

Using it might provoke an unexpected reaction.

In a fraction of a second, Rain's expression changed sharply.

The returning echoes told him three humanoid creatures were hiding roughly thirty meters down the passage.

He was certain they weren't Kobolds. The outlines revealed by the echoes were more than twice as broad as a Kobold's.

He discovered something else, too. Farther in, an unknown number of Kobolds swarmed back and forth, apparently busy with something.

Rain's heart beat faster, and sweat beaded in his palms.

A flood of possibilities crossed his mind.

It felt as though...

As though the Kobolds and Winged Kobolds they had killed in the underground chamber had been deliberately stationed there for them to slaughter.