The cloaked woman stood there looking at the kobold, confuzzled. It was a strange situation. The kobold wore a militia-like attire instead of the common white ragged shorts all kobold slaves seemt to had.Harle went to check, only to stand in the same confusion with the woman.

“Why is there a kobold here?”

Uttered the woman, since she and the others know that the kobolds are already a ‘slave race’, and none should be away from any kingdoms. So why is a kobold here?

“If a kobold’s here, then he should have a master nearby.” whispered the man

With a pat at the woman’s shoulder, he slowly approached the kobold with caution. The kobold then spoke as he stepped closer.

“My name is Barnon, and I humbly welcome you to my village.”

Harle stopped on his tracks. He thinks that the master may be hiding somewhere out of reach of the woman’s [Detect] and is using the kobold as proxy. His soldiers should be investigating the area, so it’s only a matter of time till they find the master.

“I am Harle . I believe you may have something rightfully ours.”

Harle decided it would be best to stall for time. The woman on the other hand disappeared and is currently finding the master too. The initiative of this group made him glad that he wasn’t lumped into a bunch of idiots.

“Ah well, you see, I believe that this ‘thing’ does not want to go to you.”

“Then how much money do you want?”

Barnon was clearly displeased. Harle was being blunt and obvious about their motives. Trying to bribe him only shows how despicable he is, but he has orders.

“I do not want your riches.”

“Then you are making this hard for you, buddy. Tell your master he made a mistake.”

Harle unsheathed his sword and ran towards Barnon, intending to cut this pathetic kobold.

“Oh, trust me. My lord did make a mistake.”

Harle sliced first with an overhead strike, but it was instantly parried by Barnon, hitting the side of his blade with the back of his bare hand. Harle was taken aback.

“What the-”

But his jaw was met with a right hook before he could utter another word. He stumbled back, grunting from the pain.

“The mistake of overestimating you.”

Barnon then assumed a fighting stance. He already had some experience sparring with Veni, who preferred using long weapons, or sticks, which allowed him to easily read the man’s attack. Barnon and Veni had equal scores, their spars always ending on a draw. Barnon’s cleverness and all-arounder was in balance with Veni’s elegance and finesse.

The other party was at fault here, since he didn’t think the kobold would fight back. The man’s ignorance boosted his confidence to danger levels and caused him a tooth, which fell out from his mouth by the way.

“You trash!” barked the man

Barnon only continued his stance, while mocking Harle with his smug face. Harle was angered, but kept his rationality and reassessed the kobold. His parry didn’t look like it was a lucky hit, nor was his punch, so it’s safe to assume this kobold had some training or fighting experience. This assumption forced Harle to take another approach.

Barnon saw Harle running at him with his sword drawn to his right side. Barnon instinctively changed his stance to allow easier blocking on his left side. Harle saw his change however, and quickly turned around to do a left slash instead. This caught Barnon off-guard and made him barely evade the slash by backstepping a huge distance.

Harle didn’t allow the kobold breathing room and quickly ran up to him and did a rising strike, making the kobold backstep again. Harle then did an overhead strike while Barnon was still recovering. Knowing that Barnon cannot dodge anymore from the close range and the speed of the attack, he immediately clapped the sword between his hands mid slash, forcing him to semi- kneel from the force.

Harle was surprised with the kobold’s quick reflexes for a moment, but then immediately kicked the kobold to his right side, making the kobold fly to the left for a few meters.

Barnon landed on all fours and bare his fangs in pain. The kick was surprisingly powerful, but the arcus protecting his body lessened the impact. It did not mean the pain was any less though. Barnon stood up and sprinted towards the man.

Harle sees the incoming kobold and prepared himself. The kobold winded up a punch while letting himself slide on the ground. Harle shifted his sword stance to try and intercept the punch, but was denied of his tactic when the kobold actually threw the punch to the ground.

Barnon has used a large amount of arcus and focused it on his hand to create a shockwave with a punch to the ground to try and shake off the man’s balance, which he did successfully. The punch shook the earth in a small radius and formed a crack, which made Harle momentarily lose his balance before he was hit in the gut.

Harle quickly slashed in front of him, forcing the kobold to back away. He held his stomach while struggling to breathe properly. That punch had knocked the wind off him. His breathing room did not last long when the kobold started to run up to him.

“Damn it…”

Harle never knew that a kobold would be such a pain in the ass to deal with. After all, it has been many years since the fall of the kobolds, after which no one ever saw how a kobold fought anymore. This is his first time experiencing hardship on trying to fight a kobold, who is much more capable than the previous kobolds. Those were more of an execution though, rather than an actual fight. Still, he still can’t believe how capable fighters kobolds were.

Barnon high kicked Harle when he was close enough, which made Harle jump back and slash forward. Barnon side stepped and ran a few steps before doing a roundhouse kick. Harle blocked with his sword, but the kick was surprisingly powerful enough to knock him off his feet.

Seeing an opportunity, Barnon hopped and twisted, doing another roundhouse kick. Harle who still hadn’t recovered, tried to block the kick again with his sword, and was then sent flying a few meters away from Barnon, before hitting the giant tree.

Harle stabbed his sword on the ground, and used it to help lift him off the ground. He looked at the kobold with fierce and raging eyes, his anger clearly showing from his expression and gritted teeth.

“Damn you…”

Barnon just grinned and did his stance again. Harle took his sword off, and started walking towards the kobold. His action seems to be more calm than his current mood would suggest. Barnon held his guard up, but was still caught off-guard when a quick slash rised up in front of him. His quick reflexes thankfully allowed him to barely get out of harm’s way by just a strand of fur.

“I’ll kill you!” roared Harle as he gripped his sword with two hands.

His demeanor and tone of voice indicate that he is dead serious in his threat. The look in his eyes tells the kobold that he’ll have his head, no matter what costs him.

Harle then continued on with a barrage of slices and strikes, which Barnon struggled to dodge against. His speed suddenly increased, probably due to rage. The continued onslaught caused the kobold to gain cuts and wounds, and his right arm having the brunt of it. Realizing that he can’t let this continue on, Barnon jumped a good distance away.

His arcus skin protection allowed him to lessen the impacts of attacks by spreading them evenly to other body parts. It does not protect well against sharp objects however, since these objects’ impact is much more focused and pinpointed causing it to break the protective arcus covering.

Harle just continued to rush at Barnon, who is now strengthening his body more with arcus, which is an Arc called [Enhance].

This is what allowed Barnon to pull off those powerful punches and kicks, and allowed him increased body efficiency like stamina and reflexes. Barnon has been actively using [Enhance] in a lesser degree since the beginning of their fight, the use if this gone unnoticed by Harle.

Barnon’s aura started to faintly glow. Harle saw this, but were too into his rage that he kept rushing Barnon. The kobold was met with multiple slashes, but he managed to dodge more successfully this time. He still sustained damage, but not as much as he had before.

Harle thrusted his sword towards Barnon’s stomach, but the kobold caught his sword mid-thrust with his two hands, which caused it to bleed. Harle went stiff for a while, as he didn’t expect the kobold to be willing catch it and injure himself, so he was immediately disarmed when the kobold kicked the sword on the side and made Harle release it from the force.

Harle, now disarmed, was relentlessly greeted with punches. He could only cover his face as the kobold continued barraging him with punches. As a last ditch effort, he took a wide right hook targeted towards the kobold’s face, but was easily evaded by ducking.

Realizing he screwed up, he could only watch as the kobold’s fist start to glow, and be thrust up to the bottom of his jaw. The kobold did an uppercut with significant force that Harle was sent flying to the sky for a few meters before falling on the ground unconscious.

Barnon deactivated [Enhance] while panting. Despite the usefulness of the Arc, [Enhance] was limited to the body’s threshold and so therefore cannot exceed beyond two times the power of the body or else the user risks increased shortening of breath and rapidly deteriorating strength, or worse, rupture.

Barnon looked at the unconscious man, feeling relief in his body now that the assumed leader of the group is down. Now he only had to wait for the others. He went to the altar and sat next to it to relax, smiling after he heard his god say:

“Good job!”

Meanwhile, the group of soldiers were investigating the area when a group of kobolds decided it was fun to throw rocks at them. They took cover in the huts as the were being suppressed. They were separated into two groups when the rocks came flying to them, significantly lessening their power as a whole.

“Damn it! We can’t get out unless these rocks stop- argh!”

One of the soldiers in a particular group got hit in the head from a stray rock that flew into a window, making him stumble to the ground and grunt in pain. Another soldier rushed to his companion’s aid and treated his now bleeding head.

“Where’s that woman? Where is she when we need her?!”

Unknown to the others, Sera has another problem to deal with. She went inside a hut after the rocks started raining, but was immediately come face-to-face with a wolf kobold, which made her let out a scream.

Back at the supressed soldiers, who was now down to 4 healthy soldiers and the rest injured, they unmistakenly heard the scream of the arcusian they failed to find.

“There she was. Damn it! Looks like we’ll have to be on our own now!”

“Like that wasn’t obvious a long time ago!” A soldier sarcasticly said.

“Keep the sarcasm to yourself until we’re out, Jim.”

The soldier named Jim then looked around the hut, his companions down on the ground and trying to treat their bruises and wounds, along with a lot of stones flying inside and lying on the ground. He looked back at the soldier he was talking to with a troubled expression.

“And how do you expect us to get out from this mess?”

The soldier was silent. He had actually no idea. They had nothing to defend theirselves from the rocks. They either run and risk dying, or stay and risk capture. The soldiers could only hope the kobolds would run out of rocks to throw before they ran out of soldiers to spare.

Sera, on the other hand, was busy fighting Khrus, who despite the simple patterns, had immensely strong attacks that Sera herself can’t endure. She got hit once, never does she want to get hit again.

Khrus punched towards the woman, but Sera dodged and Khrus instead hit the wall behind her, creating a hole. Sera widened her eyes after seeing the hole the kobold created, and saw the kobold immediately started going at her again, making her feel chills in her spine. The kobold was like a juggernaut of fury and anger, since his face looks like of that a wolf chasing its prey and his attacks were relentless and powerful.

In truth, Khrus was having a hard time maintaining his facade in front of the arcusian. He’s scared to fight, but had no choice since this woman is part of the group of that man, who attacked his best friend first. He was ordered by Barnon to hide in a hut and come out if he hears a fight break out. After he felt the earth vibrate, he wanted to get out and help his friend, but his fear got the best of him.

Eventually, he gulped down his fesr and donned his game face. He was about to leave the hut, when a woman entered.

“Hi.”

Needless to say, the woman screamed.

Now they’re here, fighting like it’s nobody’s business. Khrus kept going at the woman while she kept evading. Although not obvious, Khrus is intentionally holding back because he’s afraid that he might give her a critical injury, or worse, kill her. Though it’s not necessary, because Khrus does aim for Sera, but she easily avoids his simple attacks.

And so they were stuck in a stalemate, the winner going to the one who would knock the other one out first. Both had high stamina, but their respective strengths and weaknesses cancel out each other.

Sera, not wanting to take this any longer than she should, decided to use her arc [Fire], and flung a small fireball at Khrus. The kobold then stopped on his tracks and tried to block. The small fireball made contact and exploded on Khrus’ arms, but wasn’t powerful enough to nudge the big kobold down. Khrus’ arcus covering thankfully protected him from the relatively weak fire.

Sera tried to make another small fireball, but was interrupted when she saw Khrus going low. Sera instinctively moved away by sidestepping before Khrus pounced and missed her, going through the hut and roughly landing outside. Wind seemed to have made way for Khrus’ pounce, and blew off the hood of Sera.

The woman named Sera had a beautiful face, soft red lips, glimmering eyes, and a fair complexion. Her straight hair was brown like hazelnuts, and so was her eyes. Her hair swayed from the gentle wind that blew over Nemeran.

Opportunity has come to her, so she quickly tried to go for the exit, but Khrus unexpectedly burst out from the wall and caught Sera. They both rolled and went through the other side of the hut. The damage the hut has taken made it crumble and turn it into just a pile of materials.

They stopped, and Khrus had the woman pinned down under him. He grabbed her arms and sat on top of her, making sure she’ll have no chance to escape.

“Let me go you monster!”

Sera struggled desperately, but this kobold’s strength was too much for her. She tried to conjure another fireball, but immediately stopped when the kobold covered her neck with his jaws. She could feel his fangs touch her skin, shaking from the hunger, his breath rapid and humid as if he has been waiting for this for a long time. Sera could not resist any longer, and just waited for her death as her eyes started to swell up.

In truth, Khrus was shaking from nervousness as he didn't think that he’ll go this far to keep her locked. In turn, his breath became rapid as his heart beats faster than an engine in full gear. In fact, his eyes is wide and going wild, trying to look for something that would ease him down. Unfortunately, the flying rocks didn’t do much for him.

The rocks then finally stopped, and the kobolds that has been hiding in the woods came out and went inside the huts where the soldiers were hiding. There were a series of grunts and screams, before the area went silent. The short battle has finally ended.

Khrus sighed and loosened his grasp on the woman, but realized that she has her eyes closed and panting heavily, sweat bathing her in every part of her body.

The cloak gave way to her clothes below, which are also drenched in sweat. Apparently, this woman sweats absurdly everytime she gets nervous or gets scared. She wore a long sleeved white shirt, which clung to her bra covered modest chest, and a navy blue skirt that went down just above her knee, with leather fingerless gloves on her hand. Her boots were leather with heels, making it surprising that she was able to keep dodging last time. She had a sling bag on her, probably carrying some necessity like food or water, but Khrus wasn’t sure about that.

Sera then opened her eyes, but keeping her head turned away, gave a look at the kobold that pinned her down. Her face turned from fearful to confused and surprised since what she was seeing was quite a sight.

The kobold in question was frantically looking around, as if it was trying to scan his sorrounding for any onlookers. He was still on top of the woman, but his naturally worrying mind made him forget about that.

“Umm…”

Khrus immediately stood up and got some distance after realizing that he has been on top of her this whole time. He’s face turned from a vicious looking werewolf to a flustered and panicking kobold. He held his hands, or paws rather, up to the woman and tried to needlessly defend himself.

“I-i.. Uhhh… I'm sorry! I swear! Please don’t bear a grudge against me, it would certainly help me sleep at night if I knew you forgave me!”

Sera just sat up, and chuckled. Her mind is now focused on this interesting kobold she has encountered. This kobold felt friendly, and she can't feel any malice coming out from him. In fact, she only realized now that she didn't feel any bloodlust from the kobold at all when they were still fighting. She then deemed the kobold harmless from the look of the currently panicking kobold. Somehow, the recent battle temporarily became a forgotten memory for her, which was reinforced by the fact her [Detect] tells her that her companions are still alive.

The kobold also didn't gave her much injuries, since the hit she took was more of a powerful push rather than a punch, so she is very certain this kobold won't lay a finger on her as long as she didn't do anything hostile. As if she would need to, she is completely enthralled by the gentle-maybe-not-so-gentle wolf kobold.

The show of lightheartedness was not taken in good light by Khrus however, since his paranoia says that the chuckle meant ‘as if I’m going to do that’ which made the poor kobold explain more needless stuff. Sera so far just looked at him with a smile and gave chuckles, which didn’t put much ease to the kobold.

One thing that gave Khrus the worst, however, was when he spotted Veni look out from one of the huts behind the woman, only his head sticking out from the window. Veni kept a straight face for a while, before smiling and giving a thumbs up, then slowly retracting back to the hut. Khrus took it as a mocking encouragement than an acceptance.

The kobold’s mind could only take so much stress, before he howled in disbelief in the events that had happened while trying to pull his fur out, startling Sera.

Nemer watched his kobolds in action, observing them attentively to try and get a better grasp on how they react and counter react. This battle helped very much on that regard.

As for the battle itself, Nemer has mostly not taken part in it. The plan was cooked up and laid out on the spot by Barnon, which all the other kobolds did their best to follow. The orange, adorable kobold had once again proved his right as the leader of Nemeran.

Plus, this battle has not only gave the kobolds experience, but they also did not receive any casualties from both sides. Even though these suspicious group were definitely up to no good, Nemer is not the type to kill without good reason and evidence. Thus, his only meddling was that he asked the kobolds to not kill them and just capture them.

And so the day ended with 0 casualties on kobolds and humans, 1 casualty for the huts. It went smoothly, just how Nemer hoped it would be.