Chương 3: Is that helmet of yours even real?

Zoya's lair was built on an abandoned temple.

Over time, much of the temple's roof has collapsed, creating a natural depression that Zoya could easily pour into, creating a comfortable bed for the dragon.

However, she did not return to sleep.

She landed on the steps in front of the temple, spread her wings, and roared to the sky.

Soon, about twenty kobolds emerged from the surrounding houses and knelt before her.

Zoya looked down and glanced around, finally settling on the sorcerer in the tattered cloak holding a wooden staff—the latter being the chieftain of this group of kobolds.

She grinned, revealing fangs that were half her height, and said, "You've disappointed me."

The kobold warlock immediately began to kowtow repeatedly.

"Gaga gaga gaga (I'm sorry! Supreme Master! We were useless, we couldn't stop those humans who are even more despicable than maggots from the earth! But please, please give us another chance)!"

Zoya was very satisfied with the kobold's humble attitude.

This is how lower creatures should behave when facing dragons!

After listening to the kowtowing for a while, she slowly said:

"Want a second chance? Sure."

"I've trapped one of those humans in this underground city. Go and capture him, and bring him to me alive."

"If you can do it, I won't hold your previous mistakes against you. If you can't, well, don't blame me for burning you all to ashes!"

The kobold warlock quickly agreed:

"Guga Guga (No, no problem, Master, we'll go and bring him to you right away!)!"

After saying that, he led his men, his trembling little wooden legs, away from the red dragon's lair.

After the kobolds left, Zoya sat up and comfortably lay down on the pile of treasure.

Although these kobolds are pitifully weak, capturing that equally weak human shouldn't be a problem.

How should I torture that human who dared to insult her?

We need to come up with a novel way to make that human regret being born!

Just as Zoya was lost in her own fantasy.

Suddenly, a more mature female voice, different from her own, echoed in her mind...

"What a nasty and boring guy! That human was so interesting, why did you have to kill him?"

Zoya's eyes widened immediately, and she shook her head, banging it against the temple floor tiles.

"You persistent bronze dragon! Get out of my body! Get out!"

far away.

Hearing the dragon's roar, the kobolds assumed it was their master urging them on, so they quickened their pace and arrived at the edge of the underground ruins.

The leading sorcerer gathered his men around him and instructed them:

"Guga Guga (I spotted that human outside the main gate earlier. He's not a warrior or a mage; he's weak, and we can take him down easily)."

"Gaga (but we need to find him first)."

"Guguga (Humans can't see clearly in the dark, so they will definitely look for a light source or a torch. We should focus our search on places with light)."

After the warlock finished speaking, the kobolds scattered in groups of two or three.

Three of the kobolds chose to head northeast. After turning two corners in an alley made of stone and brick walls, they suddenly saw a faint light ahead.

"Gah!"

The first kobold shouted excitedly and led two of his companions to charge forward.

But when they got closer, they realized that they were just a few glowing mushrooms.

"Gurgle..."

The dog-headed people shook their heads in disappointment and turned to leave.

Behind the wall a few meters away.

Richard held his breath, secretly observing the actions of the dog-headed men.

Ok……

Not long after those dragon roars, the lizards' heads started darting around everywhere.

It seems they received orders from the Red Dragon and came looking for me in this area.

Then why make things difficult for a few mushrooms?

Yes, they didn't know I had enhanced dark vision and thought I still needed a light source!

Richard's lips curled slightly; he had an idea.

He pulled out the glowing mushrooms, then tore off two pieces of cloth, one large and one small, from his clothes. He first used the small piece of cloth to tie the mushrooms together tightly, and then wrapped them inside with the large piece of cloth until no light could be seen.

After doing all this, he quietly went to a small slope about a hundred meters away.

This is the highest point on the northeast side of the underground ruins. It seems to have originally been a watchtower. There is also a long staircase nearby that leads down to the temple in the central area.

Richard stood at the top of the steps, untied the cloth, kicked the bundle of glowing mushrooms down, and then quickly hid behind a broken wall.

Slurp!

The mushrooms tumbled down the steps, becoming the most conspicuous things in the dark underground ruins.

"Gah!"

"Gurgle!"

Soon, the kobolds searching for Richard noticed the mushroom.

Because most of them were too far away, they couldn't see what it was. They just assumed it was the humans they were looking for fleeing, so they all chased after it noisily.

Richard, however, had a panoramic view of everything from his vantage point.

"Team One, Team Two, Team Three..."

"There are eight squads in total. If each squad has two or three members, that's a maximum of around twenty kobolds, right?"

"Holy crap, there's a warlock too!"

After figuring out the approximate number of enemies, he quietly descended the slope from the other side, intending to take advantage of the moment when the kobolds were all drawn to one place to search the open area on the other side.

He had only gone halfway when he noticed two hurried kobolds appearing around the corner ahead, and he immediately stopped.

That was close, we almost crashed.

It seems the other person didn't notice him and was just passing by.

Wait, isn't that kobold at the very end wearing a bronze helmet?

Along the way from the cave to here, Richard actually tried to seduce the stones by the roadside or the pots and pans in the corners, but he was unsuccessful.

Therefore, he speculated that only specific items could be charmed.

Now, the moment he saw the bronze helmet, his intuition told him that it might be the specific item he was looking for!

Since that's the case, we can't let this opportunity slip by easily...

Richard held his breath and tapped the stone wall beside him twice with the hilt of his sword.

The noise it emitted was neither too loud nor too soft, just enough for the dog-headed people around the corner to hear.

"Gurgle?"

Although it was an old trick, it still successfully attracted the attention of the two kobolds.

They exchanged a glance, then slowly approached Richard's hiding place, one after the other.

Just before they were about to enter Richard's attack range, the lead kobold suddenly stopped, waved his paw at his companion, and mumbled something.

Have these guys realized something's wrong?

How cunning!

Richard, who was hiding behind the wall, raised an eyebrow. Knowing that the opportunity was fleeting, he did not wait any longer and took the initiative to jump out and swung his sword at the kobold in the lead!

"Gah!"

Because the distance wasn't close enough, the kobold had time to dodge, and Richard failed to strike its vital points.

But he managed to slash the kobold's right leg, leaving a deep, bone-revealing wound that caused it to howl in pain, collapse to the ground, and temporarily lose its ability to move.

Richard didn't waste time finishing off the enemy. Instead, he quickly bypassed the enemy and charged straight at the second kobold who was a little further away. He twisted his waist to charge up and unleashed his combat skill - Wild Dance Slash!

When the second kobold saw his companion fall to the ground, he instinctively tried to turn and run away. However, Richard arrived too quickly, forcing him to turn back and raise his scimitar to meet the attack.

After exchanging a few clinking blows, he suddenly felt a sense of relief.

He realized that the human opposite him didn't actually know how to use a sword; he was just swinging it around randomly. With his years of experience practicing his curved sword, he could easily defend against it.

On the ground, the first kobold, who had been injured, gradually felt his fear subside. He even tried to pick up his bone hammer that had fallen to the side, hoping to join his companion in taking down the human and share the credit.

Just moments before he was about to succeed...

Richard finished charging up, and the blade drew a strange arc in mid-air, bypassing the scimitar's parry, and from an unbelievable angle, precisely cut into the throat of the second kobold!

"Gurgle—woo woo!"

The second kobold groaned, then stared wide-eyed and collapsed to the ground.

The first kobold was immediately stunned.

How... how is that possible?

This human doesn't know how to use a sword!

Before he could react and struggle, Richard turned around and swung his sword at his neck.

Pfft!

Amidst the splatter of blood, Richard completed his second kill.

[Experience +4] call……

Although the attack animation for this Wild Dance Slash is a bit long, the effect is still very good.

Richard breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn't dare to delay and immediately began to search the corpse. He quickly found three tubers of an unknown plant that looked like potatoes, and took them along with the helmet he had his eye on. He then quickly ran further away.

Half a minute passed.

He hid in a two-story hut, and after confirming that the surroundings were safe, he placed the helmet in front of him and cast the charm spell!

You have successfully charmed the Bronze Guardian Helmet.

Ha, so this thing really can be bewitched...

[Bronze Guardian Helmet: Good heavens, what do I see? A head with hair! Great, finally a hairy one after all these years! Put me on quickly, get inside me!]... Uh, no.

Is there something off about the personality of this helmet?