Chương 23: [BL] 23. Dream of Dragon [1]

After a tight squeeze through a narrow passageway the horse struggled with, they finally made it out into the cave end, where a humongous chamber opened. Willow could see the chamber end; there was no further path into the cave any longer. This was the end of the rift, and fittingly, there was a village, or perhaps 'encampment' was more accurate.

The Kobolds' homes were made of stacked stones combined with a mound of earth they somehow used as a roof; some even hollowed out part of the cave to create a hole for their homes. Now the Kobolds left those holes empty. Every single kobold stood behind rows of sharpened bone stakes protruding from the cave ground, surrounding their homes. They even had two makeshift stone towers where archers aimed at the large open spot, daring the humans to come through.

Above them hung an aurora of blue, emanating from a dreamlike cobalt stalagmite that watched over them—each crystal jutting out like a thick, shimmering star to Willow's eyes. Those crystals were something precious. She was sure of that, especially since the others craned their necks up to stare at them.

"The bastard lives like a king," Josha said the moment he led Enzo out of the tight squeeze.

"What are those?"

"Mana Crystal."

"Mana? I thought Mana was the world the spirits live in?"

"A rift like this is a pocket dimension of it," Josha explained.

"You can find traces of Mana inside a rift like those crystals. Any Mage's institution would pay a lot for that, and we can make a lot of mana-enriched items as well, and even assign some to our class."

"Wait. You mean the Class outfit? You can upgrade it?"

"Of course. Your Guard class outfit is Sheran's guard outfit, right? Mera has adorned it to her class in exchange for the starting Guard outfit. Although you need a good crafter and Mana source to briefly access the world of Spirit, and those crystals? They can power maybe fifty adornments."

"Weird shit happens to you, though, if you get exposed to too much of them," Shera added as behind them Habel began arranging the horsemen. I'm sure that Kobold's bat wings are the result of it being exposed." Josha called alongside every horseman, about fifteen including Habel. After a brief strategy meeting with the old man who had guarded Willow earlier, they cut down the horsemen to merely five. Willow tried to count the Kobolds awaiting them behind those stakes. There have got to be about forty.

That was a staggering number.

"Habel! Have you considered the Kobold Bone Warrior?"

"We do, my lady," Habel said, turning his head to Willow, and the man gave a brief wry smile, displeased to have his conversation cut short. A man called Erick—who was assigned as the vice infantry commander, continued.

"That is why we hesitate to deploy many horsemen. They might get bogged down inside the kobolds' crowd, and those level eleven will take advantage of that." Habel turned to address everyone. The horsemen who dropped on foot gave their reins to a newly awakened [Spearman] named Wes, who was in charge of protecting the horses alongside the unclassed four.

"We approached them now! This kind of monster settlement will have resources to heal their king, so we will do this quickly. March!" The [Legionary] commanded, and with his bronze armour, he raised his bronze shield and led the front. Willow followed, and beside her was Bronson—the old [Guard] who was in charge of protecting her. The others marched behind with horses' hooves clacking further behind them.

"My lady, and you, girl." Shera shot an unimpressed stare at Habel.

"Roll out the mist when we're within their archer range, and everyone will stop until my further command. Horsemen! Don't enter the fog. Choose your leader and leave the charge decision to him." After the command, Habel ordered a shield wall. The [Guard]s clearly had trained in this, forming two walls of shields with Habel's smaller shield sticking out. Shera and Willow were shoulder to shoulder, and the other girl huffed a nervous breath until everyone stopped in unison.

Willow chewed the Rune flower, and even though her Rune had not been full, she decided it should be more than enough. She did one last check and focused her eyes on a new spell. [Predator Step] [4] Bloody expensive! That was what Willow had thought at first. But with her Mage Outfit, it would be reduced to two, and this spell also allowed her to disappear and reappear in a spot where she could send out her spell against her opponent's weak point. This goes well with Ravenous Eyes.

Of course, that only works if her opponent had lower Arcanic than her. She'd told Habel about this new spell. At first, he did not like it as it exposed her to danger, but this opened up a whole new tactic that Habel made for her, and he had reminded her three times only to do it if it was necessary.

"This is the spot," Habel said. Arrows whistled through, ten of them. The [Guard]s did not flinch and just stayed still, trusting their shield, or rather the distance. Every arrow dug into the ground, a meter away from every single guard, and one guy even hooted, taunting the Kobold. Habel did not seem to mind the taunt. He gave Shera the command. Shera closed her eyes, breathed deep, and the cold mist rolled out of her.

When Willow's vision was about to turn into a hazy, cold mist—through the shield, she saw a Kobold that stood like a human, similar in size to that of the kobold half-dragon. Bones tightly strapped around its torso, fastened with something she could not see, even their helmet made of skulls that made Willow wonder if those skulls were from other Kobolds. An oversized two-handed bone greatblade dragged across the cave ground, and then Shera's mist covered her sight. Stolen novel; please report.

[Kobold Bone Warrior—Level 11]"That might be a problem," Willow whispered to Habel.

"It might," the commander merely said.

"Now!" The shield formation split into two, giving space to Willow. Between her palms, she conjured Dark wind, banishing Shera's fog around her and a space born just for her and the dark spear she formed. Willow fed it more runes. More. She fed not two or four but ten runes, and it answered in more swirling rotation that extended past her shoulders in violent furling. The propulsion sped up, and Shera's mist repulsed away from the Ravenous Spear.

Sensing it should be more than enough, Willow lifted her left arm, and the spear answered her, pointing toward the target that she had memorised. That archer tower might be their undoing. Willow swept her hand forward, and the spear rippled outward, blowing apart the mist in its path, rocketing like an unstoppable disaster and ripping apart five of the bone stakes upon contact, drilling into them and bursting through them.

The Kobolds let out feral cry before the dark tornado of the spear silenced them in a gust and lanced forward straight into the stone archer tower. The slam battered the weak foundation tower, and it craned backward after air pressure crushed in, collapsing it backward, and it crashed straight onto ten homes in an explosion of debris.

[You grow stronger] [You recover fifteen Dark Wind Runes] The guards around her shuddered at the impact as the cave ground sent a slight tremor, and that broke the shield formation for a moment before Habel snapped.

"Reform!" Willow did not pay attention as she bit her lips and caressed her chin. Even after she put ten runes into the spear, it could not blast the stones apart. Sure, she had taken down the tower and completed the plan, but she expected better from the spell… There's still room to get stronger.

"Now, they will have no choice but to come! Get ready!" Habel commanded, and some guards flinched at the sound of the charging kobolds. Their screams rattled the very air, a sound of desperation for their survival. Willow stayed calm as much as she could. Shera's mist shifted. Figures of kobolds entered the mist with their shovels and short swords raised high. They charged with no semblance of formation, but that made it worse as their fury was bare to see.

"Hold!" Habel called, even raising a fist. When the Kobolds were about to cross the last meters between them and the human army, Habel issued his command.

"Now!" Blue aegis of the [Guard]s materialised in brilliant blue, brimming with intense sapphire inside the mist. The world turned blue, as the kobolds in their blind rage smashed their faces and soon bunched against the spell-shields. They kept going, and pressure bore down on the spell shields, their light beginning to flicker. In perfect timing, hooves thundered against the ground, and the horseman descended upon the Kobolds with their horses crashing the creatures with their muscular legs.

Blade and spear flashed, bringing death upon the riftborns.

"Charge!" Habel screamed. The [Legionary] threw his spear forward, and it took three kobolds through their heads, all the while unsheathing a sword and holding it high. He began his run slowly, making sure everyone followed and went into a sprint straight at the shaken kobold army, ramming his shield first onto one and slit his sword across a throat in quick succession.

He followed with a scream that even shook Willow's body, and the kobolds took a step back from his shout alone, and that was a mistake, for the rest of the guards joined the fight, bashing their shields first and smashing their maces and slicing their swords. Willow watched carefully. Beside her were Shera and the old man who had been in charge of her, named Bronson. The kobold's army needed to be destroyed fast, for their numbers might be whittled down, but they still held the advantage.

So in this space where their morale was low, and they were surprised by the cavalry and the human fury, Willow had to contribute. She drew her short sword with her right hand and conjured Sever with her left. As planned, Willow and her small party of three ran to the left, skipping the line of guards who fought their hardest against multiple kobolds. The left had been the spot where the cavalry had charged, so that meant it was a spot where she would have space and could affect the battlefield to her liking.

This was Habel's plan. Instead of putting Willow behind and holding her spell back in fear of friendly fire, she would go on the offensive in the safest area. In front of her, Shera made a turn, and some scattered kobolds found them. She thrust her hand forward, and wispy mist shot at one Kobold, choking it while Shera charged at the other one, who thrust her spear, forcing Shera to keep her distance. But it could not fend off two people.

Bronson ran past its spear and, in one stroke of his sword, carved into its neck, killing it, and continued their charge. Bodies of kobolds littered the ground. Their scales caved in, and blood marred the edge of their snout. Some were still alive.

"Ignore them," Willow said. They turned right toward where the kobolds swarmed over the human with their backs and sides opened. The leftmost guard naturally struggled as he had to deal with getting attacked from both sides, but no longer now that Willow was here. She sent Sever forward, and a dark slice of wind whistled onward, cleaving through two Kobolds in quick succession. The creature almost climbed atop the human shield. She then opened her palm and built the Ravenous Spear.

Standing at the horizontal edge of the Kobold army meant she could end this battle in one swoop. Some Kobolds noticed the Ravenous Spear dispersed the surrounding mist, revealing Shera and Bronson. Willow kept building her spear, adding more and more runes to it, and the restless dark wind danced like a storm beyond her. They did not hesitate to change target towards her. Shera and Bronson moved forward to counter them, but at this point Willow was done.

"Move away!" Willow shouted. Shera and Bronson parted, and the Dark Wind swept between them toward the kobolds, lancing through them like a battering ram, accelerating forward through their scales and shields. The Dark Wind carved through most of them without them even realising they were dead. [You recover 10 Dark Wind Runes] One more. One more Ravenous spear and surely that would tip the battle over. Willow took a step forward.

Shera and Bronson looked at her, and fear etched on their faces, but Shera shook her head and gave her a thumbs up, although it was shaky.

"Jensen, Flores! Both of you follow us; we will take the rest of these bastards on their backs!" Having been freed of their kobolds, the guards cheered and were about to move until creatures clad in bone armor entered the mist. Bronson noticed them first and screamed in order.

"Shields! Shield on me!" Shera, who had discarded her shield so she could use her magic and sword, took a step back and let the three guards hastily form a shield wall. The bigger kobolds ran forward, growling under their breath and lifting their cruel bone greatsword. In one swing, he banished the aegis the guard had summoned and slammed into the shield formation that made the guards strain their legs and arms.

Then two more appeared, running to the sides to flank the guard, and behind them, another two bone-clad kobolds emerged. It looked like the kobold half-dragon reserved its special force to take her out first.