God Agent: All Hail The Great Kobold

The same situation unfolded along the second, third and fifth tunnels. The goblins entered believing they were advancing toward the heart of the kobold colony, only to discover that the tunnels had been designed to punish anyone foolish enough to rush through them.

Some were filled with pits and crude wooden traps, others concealed dormant arrays that activated only when enough enemies had passed certain point.

Everyone of the dead ends contained hidden passages connecting directly to the colony’s living quarters. Those passages allowed the kobolds to move around the intruders without being seen, strike them from behind and retreat before the goblins could even understand where the attack had come from. The deeper the goblins went, the more difficult the tunnels became, and every scream echoing through the cave served as another warning that the kobolds had prepared for this exact situation.

The fourth tunnel was different.

This was the true route into the colony, and the kobolds had no intention of allowing the enemy to advance through it freely.

Ka’z behind thirty kobolds, his eyes fixed on the dark passage ahead. His small force consisted mostly of fighters and marksmen, but the arrangement he had created made their numbers far more valuable than they appeared.

The tunnel was wide enough for roughly five people to advance beside one another, which meant the goblins could not simply overwhelm them with their superior numbers. The first two lines of kobolds stood shoulder to shoulder with shields raised and spears thrust through the gaps between them, creating a compact wall of wood, metal and sharpened points.

Behind them stood the ranged fighters, each holding a sling in one hand while several sacks filled with carefully selected stones hung from their waists. More rocks had been piled behind the formation, ready to serve as ammunition if the battle lasted long enough to require them.

Ka’z had deliberately chosen rocks rather than relying entirely on arrows. They were cheap, plentiful and, inside a confined tunnel, surprisingly deadly.

More importantly, the kobolds did not have enough bows or trained archers to equip the entire force. Ka’z had to work with what they possessed, and he had learned long ago that a good commander did not complain about what his soldiers lacked. He found ways to make what they had useful.

The sounds coming from the other tunnels made that philosophy painfully relevant.

Screams occasionally tore through the stone passages, followed by the crashes of falling rocks, the activation of arrays or the frantic cries of goblins realizing too late that they had stepped into another trap. Some screams lasted only a few seconds before abruptly disappearing. Others continued long enough for the kobolds standing here to understand exactly what was happening to whoever had made them.

Ka’z’s claws tightened around the wooden shaft of his spear. He could not help wondering what was happening deeper inside the colony.

The youngest children were not even a year old, and many of them would never have experienced anything resembling a real battle. Their mothers were probably gathered together somewhere in the living quarters, holding their children close while listening to strangers screaming and dying only a few tunnels away. The thought made something uncomfortable twist inside Ka’z’s chest.

That was precisely why he had placed himself here. If this line broke, the enemy would have a direct route into the colony’s living quarters and honestly, apart from Kong’gong he truly believed he was the second strongest person in the cave due to his versitility of elements.

Ka’z forced his attention back toward the tunnel when the sound of approaching footsteps became noticeably louder. They were no longer distant echoes bouncing through the maze of stone. They were coming directly toward them, dozens of feet away at most.

The kobolds around him stiffened.

Some of the younger fighters swallowed nervously, while others tightened their grips around their spears. The shield bearers adjusted their footing, pressing their feet firmly against the ground as they prepared for impact. Ka’z could feel their anxiety spreading through the formation, but nobody abandoned their position.

That was good.

"Bigi... Bruk..." Ka’z called quietly.

Two enormous kobolds standing near the back of the formation immediately turned toward him. Bigi and Bruk were among the largest warriors Ka’z had available, and they looked even more intimidating than usual because they had equipped themselves with practically every piece of armor they could fit onto their bodies. Several layers overlapped awkwardly around their thick torsos, while each carried a massive stone club over one shoulder. The weapons were crude, but judging from the size of the two kobolds, Ka’z had little doubt that getting struck by one would be a deeply unpleasant experience.

"Boss?" they both asked.

"Don’t move until I give the cue, no matter what happens." Ka’z stared directly at them as he spoke, making certain there was no room for misunderstanding.

Both kobolds immediately nodded, their expressions becoming serious.

Ka’z had specifically kept them away from the shield wall because he had witnessed their impulsiveness during training. Bigi and Bruk were excellent when given a direct target, but neither possessed the patience required to maintain a formation when surrounded by enemies. If one of them abandoned his position, the other would almost certainly follow, and once that happened, the shield wall could begin collapsing from one side.

They were not weak. They were simply better suited to being unleashed at the right moment.

"Drak... I leave the command of the rest to you." Ka’z shifted his attention toward the second line.

"Understood!" Drak answered immediately.

The kobold’s voice carried through the formation, and several warriors glanced toward him before returning their attention to the tunnel. This was the first time they had ever fought using such an organized formation. Before Ka’z arrived, most kobolds had relied on instincts and numbers. They fought as groups, but not as a single body.

Ka’z intended to change that.

A shield wall was not impressive because each individual warrior was powerful. It was impressive because every warrior understood that his survival depended on the person standing beside him. The front line protected the second. The second protected the ranged fighters. The ranged fighters weakened anything that came close. Everyone had a role, and nobody was supposed to abandon it simply because they saw an opportunity to kill an enemy.

Thud.

The first footsteps entered the chamber.

Several goblins emerged from the darkness, their bodies filthy and covered in dust. Their expressions were twisted with irritation and exhaustion after crawling through the narrow passage and surviving the traps placed along the route.

Most had abandoned their armor earlier, unwilling to risk falling down the treacherous slopes while wearing equipment that made movement more difficult. Their shields had been left behind as well, and several had resorted to carrying their short spears in one hand while using the other to steady themselves against the walls.

They were tired and frustrated. But even worse they were completely unprepared for what waited ahead.

The lead goblin rounded the final corner with his team and immediately froze. His eyes widened as the frustration disappeared from his face.

Standing across the tunnel was a wall of kobolds, fully armed. The goblin’s stomach dropped.

"Retreat!" he screamed.

He turned around, but the goblins behind him had already filled the tunnel. There was nowhere to go. The ones at the rear had no idea what they had encountered and continued pushing forward, unknowingly trapping their own comrades between the narrow passage and the kobold formation.

Ka’z saw the realization spread across their faces. He didn’t give them time to recover.

"Looooose!!!!!" Ka’z roared.

Ten slings snapped almost simultaneously. The first volley of stones tore through the cramped passage like a swarm of missiles.

Pfft! Pfft!

The goblins barely had enough room to move, let alone evade projectiles coming from ten different directions. Several instinctively raised their spears to protect themselves, while others threw their arms over their faces. One goblin attempted to dive behind another, only to have a stone slam directly into his temple.

Crack!

He dropped instantly.

Another stone struck a goblin beneath the eye and sent him spinning backward into the soldier behind him. A third smashed into someone’s jaw, spraying blood across the tunnel wall. Several goblins collapsed without even understanding what had struck them.

Only then did they truly regret leaving their armor and shields behind.

Those pieces of equipment had seemed like burdens when they were crawling through the narrow passages. Now they understood that those same burdens could have meant the difference between life and death. But of course the route into the cave had been changed to make sure they drop them behind.

The goblins screamed and stumbled over one another, desperately attempting to retreat. But the tunnel worked against them. There was no space to spread out, no room to dodge and no way for the soldiers at the back to move past those in front. Every attempt to escape only created more congestion.

The final two goblins who had just entered the chamber saw the massacre ahead of them and immediately turned around.

They didn’t shout or warn anyone. They simply ran.

The moment they disappeared around the corner, Ka’z’s eyes narrowed. He allowed them to flee deliberately.

"Hold!" Ka’z ordered before any of his soldiers could move.

Several kobolds were already leaning forward, eager to chase the fleeing goblins, but Drak immediately repeated the command and forced them to remain in formation. Their discipline was still fragile, and Ka’z wasn’t going to let excitement ruin everything they had accomplished.

The remaining goblins were still scrambling when Ka’z made his move. He stomped his foot against the ground and several sharp spikes erupted beneath the fallen goblins, punching through bodies already weakened by the barrage of stones. The screams that followed were short and desperate, while the remaining soldiers were forced to watch their comrades die only a few steps away from them.

Then silence began settling over the chamber.

Even though the kobolds had just annihilated the first group that reached their position, Ka’z did not allow the soldiers to relax. His eyes remained fixed on the dark tunnel where the two surviving goblins had disappeared, and his expression contained none of the excitement that had begun spreading among some of the younger kobolds.

The first phase of their war had just completed and it was completely in the favor of Vaal’kor. But Ka’z knew the second won’t be that easy.