Chương 10: Zoya's New Plan

The kobold warlock felt a little dazed.

Why is this happening?

That human was unmoved by the open door, yet he went out of his way to kill them where they were sleeping?

What's he after?

"Guga (You guys, search the surrounding area and take stock of the damage)..."

The warlock sighed in frustration, then ordered the other kobolds to clean up the scene.

Soon, the kobolds reported their findings:

"Giggle! (There's a lot less beef jerky left!)"

"Gaga (The lizards and mushrooms are fewer, but the fish are all fine)!"

"Gurgle (my usual dishcloth is gone too)..."

Don't make your chief laugh. Why would anyone deliberately come to steal a rag? You must have lost it yourself, right?

You're trying to use humans to settle the score, huh!

There's something to say about the food... That's right, that must be it, that guy came looking for food!

Instead of hoping to escape quickly, he tried to gather food and stayed in this dark and sunless underground for a long time!

What were you thinking?!

After some babbling, the kobold warlock roughly understood the situation.

He braced himself and returned to the temple, relaying everything to Zoya. Then he knelt on the ground, ready to receive the scolding of the red dragon master.

But to his dismay, Zoya remained silent for a long time this time, without even opening her mouth.

This left him somewhat confused.

However, at this moment, it wasn't just him who was confused, but also Grace, the bronze dragon inside Zoya.

"Why aren't you yelling and shouting anymore? This isn't like you! Did you not eat enough yesterday? You've only just turned 18, you absolutely can't be a picky eater!"

Faced with Grace's unusually gentle question, which sounded like that of a loving older sister, Zoya only responded with a cold snort.

You despicable bastard, you're clearly just waiting to see me make a fool of myself, aren't you?

Then I'm not going to lose my temper today!

The great Zoya possesses an iron will, enough to calmly deal with any problem!

Zoya took a deep breath, ignored Grace, and lowered her head to think.

Although she didn't want to, really didn't want to, and desperately didn't want to admit it, that human had indeed exceeded her expectations once again.

I don't know what's going on in that guy's head, his thinking is so strange. Instead of thinking about escaping, he seems determined to tough it out with her underground.

Honestly, whatever your lifespan, mine is the same. Do you think you can outlive me?

In any case, it's unlikely that we'll achieve anything with these useless kobolds.

perhaps……

She should learn shapeshifting and transform into a human to deal with that guy herself.

Originally, Zoya knew nothing about Transfiguration.

But Grace was very skilled at disguise and transformation, to the point that she could extend the duration of spells many times over—she was so proficient in magic that Zoya sometimes suspected she wasn't a copper dragon, but a corrupted blue dragon.

After Grace's soul was placed into Zoya's body, the souls of the two dragons inevitably merged, which allowed Zoya to also gain some knowledge about shapeshifting magic.

In the past, she had no interest in this kind of knowledge.

After all, in her opinion, the dragon's natural appearance is the most perfect and noble, and she has no need to wrong herself by becoming a tiny insect.

But now, her attitude has changed somewhat.

Ok……

With Grace's knowledge as a foundation, she figured she could learn the spell in just seven or eight days.

At that time, unless the gods descend to earth, no one will be able to stop her from destroying that despicable human!

Okay, that's the decision.

But during these seven or eight days, we can't let that human be too comfortable.

Let's give the kobolds another try.

It would be great if it succeeded, but it doesn't matter if it doesn't.

Zoya raised her dragon head and glared down at the kobold warlock.

"You just said that guy stole some food?"

"Yes, that's right..."

"Ha, it seems that although he doesn't crave the light, he at least doesn't want to go hungry."

Zoya grinned, revealing her sharp white teeth.

"In that case, let's change our plans."

"We will no longer use exports as bait, but food."

"You move to a new place, then gather all the food in a conspicuous spot, and secretly smear it with snake venom or mushroom poison."

"There's not much food in the dungeon. That human will come looking for you again sooner or later. When he does, just let him eat the poisoned food, and then you can easily catch him."

"Did you understand? If you understand, then you can leave. This is the last chance I'm giving you, so don't waste it..."

After saying that, Zoya closed her eyes and curled up in her pile of treasures.

She no longer wanted to deal with the kobolds; she only wanted to focus on exploring the mysteries of magic.

"Gah!" (I understand, Master! You are so wise, Master!) The kobold warlock kowtowed several times and scrambled away from the temple.

Although he hadn't served the Red Dragon for very long, he believed he had a basic understanding of Zoya's temperament, and therefore, he could hear the disappointment hidden behind Zoya's words just now.

Clearly, his owner no longer had any expectations of him.

If this situation continues to worsen, he might be captured by Zoya and eaten as a snack at any time.

No, no, no, we absolutely cannot let that happen!

The warlock shuddered, then took it all in and began directing the other kobolds.

He vowed to seize this crucial opportunity to regain his master's trust!

With this drive, the new kobold lair was quickly set up.

It is located not far from its old lair and appears to be heavily guarded, but in fact it is open to the elements on all sides, and the surrounding traps are quite crude and easy for anyone to spot.

The food that the kobolds had stored up for the winter was also poisoned and placed in a conspicuous spot on the ground at the edge of their nest.

Ah, no, that's not quite right.

Not all food was used as bait; for example, no fish was used. The sorcerer, through observation, determined that Richard likely did not like to eat fish, so he left all the fish for the kobolds to enjoy themselves.

After doing all this, the warlock had the kobolds outwardly return to their daily lives, but in reality, they were on high alert, awaiting Richard's visit.

As he chewed on the fish, he fantasized that this plan would be a great success and end this nightmare forever!

That being said...

Why does this fish taste so strange?

On the other side of the underground city.

After escaping the sorcerer's pursuit, Richard wandered through the dungeon, making many twists and turns, before finally returning to the blacksmith's shop.

After resting for a while, he summarized what he had learned that day.

Although it was a bit embarrassing to be caught spying on someone, it also allowed him to obtain a lot of extra information.

For example, Beast Intuition and Verbal Harassment are really useful; for example, that warlock had a long casting range, but his speed wasn't particularly fast; and for example, perhaps because he was a bit old, that warlock's physique was worse than that of an average kobold...

In general, he believed that although he was a level below his opponent, he was not without a chance to kill him.

The idea of killing warlocks, gaining experience, and then increasing intelligence is entirely feasible!

The prerequisite is that he has to find a way to separate the warlock from the rest of the kobolds.

This requires thorough planning and preparation...

Richard lay down on the floor and pondered all night.

The next day, he left the blacksmith shop again and secretly observed the kobolds' movements. He then discovered the newly built nest and the food piled up inside.

Without a word, Richard gave a poet's gaze—no, an eye of insight…

Name: Poisonous Jerky (Cannot be charmed) Level: Common Evaluation: The effect is similar to drinking three cups of Ganges water.

Oh open!

So that's what they wanted to do—poison me!

In an instant, Richard understood the kobolds' intentions, and then the plan, which had only just begun to take shape, became complete in his mind.

In short, he's got another idea!

This time, however, he did not immediately implement the idea. Instead, he took advantage of the moment when the kobolds were trying to poison him and were relaxing their patrols to thoroughly search the areas on the edge of the dungeon that he had not been to much.

He wanted to see if there was anything else that could be alluring.

After all, we'll eventually have to face the warlock, so we should get as strong as possible before that happens.

Two more days passed.

Through Richard's relentless efforts, he found two more things he could use to seduce...