I Have a Task Log

"Fire!!"

The Half-Elf Ranger’s angry roar echoed.

In an instant, hundreds of arrows sailed over the wall.

As residents of the Supreme Forest, nearly every soldier here was skilled in Archery.

However, the weather was not on their side.

The torrential downpour gathered into even larger streams among the treetops. As the arrows flew through a curtain of rain, their accuracy was severely limited. Most of them went astray, landing harmlessly.

The Kobolds, holding small shields, shrieked as they advanced rapidly.

Most of the soldiers’ arrows were blocked by the tattered shields they held up. Only the Half-Elf Rangers’ shots found their mark.

Standing beside Colin, Ale immediately began chanting a Spell.

Her clear voice and the elegant Spell blended, making it sound almost like a beautiful song.

She raised her Magic Staff. A point of light landed among the Kobolds and erupted into a fireball that consumed everything in its path, tearing a huge hole in their battle line.

The Kobolds within the spell’s radius were instantly burned to a crisp. Even the survivors collapsed, groaning and wailing, having completely lost their will to fight.

However, even after enduring a Fireball Technique, the other Kobolds remained unfazed.

They raised their Shields, advancing without a word.

They were less like Warriors and more like a band of fanatics on a pilgrimage.

Ale continued chanting, unleashing another Frost Ray.

Without slowing down, she continuously harvested the lives of the Kobolds with her Cantrips.

Watching the situation below, Colin—who had been planning to conserve his energy for a protracted battle—also threw a Flaming Arrow at the Kobolds below.

At the same time, the old Priest on the wall began chanting, attacking the enemy with his Divine Arts.

Despite the barrage of Magic and Arrows, the Kobolds slowly closed in on the wall.

Before them stood a towering wall covered in sharp thorns. Even with ladders, it would be impossible to bypass the dense, spiky brambles.

Anyone pierced by these Magic Plants was doomed to have their skin flayed and their flesh torn.

’So how do they plan on getting past the thorns on the wall?’

As he wondered this, Colin casually flung another Flaming Arrow.

The next moment, several fist-sized objects flew from the Kobold ranks, landing among the thorns on the wall.

BOOM! BOOM!

A series of deafening explosions rang out. Expanding fireballs instantly engulfed the earthen wall. The soldiers on the wall were thrown to the ground by the violent shockwave, and the magical thorns were torn to shreds by the immense force.

The other soldiers on the wall were stunned. No one had expected this turn of events.

’Smoke Bombs!’

Colin froze for a moment at the sight.

’The Cultists from Three Bays City were known to mess with Smoke Powder. This stuff is absolutely potent, and judging by the power of that blast, it’s definitely not cheap.’

’Why use something so valuable on this village?’

Below, the Kobolds scrambled to climb up the breach torn open by the Bombs. Their sharp claws easily dug into the cracks between the bricks. With their light bodies and lives spent Underground, they were quite adept at scaling walls.

Before long, the small creatures were leaping onto the battlements, engaging the defending soldiers in close-quarters combat.

Colin quickly began Casting, using his Fireball Technique to support the soldiers on the wall.

Beside him, Ale switched to attacking with the Frost Ray from her Magic Staff, aiming to inflict steady Damage on the enemy.

Under the bombardment of Arrows and Magic, Kobolds fell one after another, yet their morale remained high. Not a single one retreated even half a step.

Countless Kobolds scrambled up the wall, and the battle quickly descended into a stalemate.

The Half-Elf Rangers retreated to the watchtowers or the middle of the streets, while the human soldiers, less skilled in Archery, plugged the breach in the defenses, fighting for their lives against the swarming Kobolds.

Colin and Ale cast spell after spell.

Though many Kobold slingers and archers fired at them, the two were relatively safe behind cover.

Time ticked by, second by second.

The Kobolds kept charging out of the woods in a seemingly endless stream. No one knew just how many of them there were.

Meanwhile, the battle was spreading to other sections of the wall, and many soldiers and Warriors began moving to reinforce other parts of the village.

After an unknown amount of time, a flash of white light once again lit up the sky.

BOOM!

As the thunder rolled in, several dark figures shot out from the forest.

A dozen or so winged, humanoid creatures in Black Robes flew out. They headed for the area above the main gate and began fighting the Half-Elf Rangers on the gatehouse, attempting to seize control.

’They could use some support...’

Colin took a glass rod and a piece of Beast Hide from his component pouch.

Before he could even begin Casting, a massive white shadow burst from the treetops overhead.

Suddenly, a gust of wind ten times more bone-chilling than a winter rain blasted him. Even while wearing the Winter Wolf Necklace, Colin could feel his fingers going numb from the cold.

He snapped his head up.

’A White Dragon... It’s really a White Dragon!’

The Giant Dragon opened its maw in mid-flight, and the surrounding air rushed in with a bizarre sound like a woman’s scream.

"DRAGON’S BREATH!" Colin yelled toward the wall.

The White Dragon dove from above.

Raindrops froze to its pale Scale Armor. Wherever its wings passed, the rain turned to pellets of ice that pattered to the ground.

A low growl rumbled in its throat as its head shot forward.

Its maw opened, and a torrent of white mist spewed forth.

Raindrops touching the white mist instantly turned into needles of ice. Puddles on the wall froze solid in a heartbeat. Water in the wall’s cracks exploded into splintering icicles. For a moment, it looked like a collapsing icefall from an arctic glacier.

The figures grappling atop the wall were instantly engulfed by the frigid blast.

The screams stopped abruptly. When the icy mist cleared, the Kobolds and soldiers who had been locked in combat were still in their original poses, frozen into solid ice sculptures.

Those nearby, heedless of the height, leaped from the wall and crashed into the filthy mud and water below.

The White Dragon adjusted the angle of its breath in mid-flight, continuing to unleash it on the mortals below the wall and creating more screams and ice sculptures.

Just as Colin was preparing to use Magic to stop this, the White Dragon’s pale blue eyes snapped over to him, locking onto his position. Its massive body then changed course, flying right for them.

The icy mist followed close behind. Seeing the White Dragon’s breath about to blast them, Colin quickly grabbed Ale, leaped onto the railing, and jumped from the tower.

With a CRACK of shattering tiles, Colin crashed to the ground, still holding Ale.

He looked around; they had apparently crashed into a house.

Colin quickly said, "That White Dragon might be the same one we ran into last time. They’re extremely vengeful. If we show ourselves again, we’ll be its main target."

"Then what do we do? I’m almost out of spells," Ale asked.

"The enemy is too strong. This village can’t be held. The walls will fall any minute... We have to go, now." Colin got up and led Ale out of the small house.

A sheet of ice coated the ground outside the small house. Several soldiers who hadn’t escaped in time stood frozen into ice sculptures, their faces preserving expressions of terror and despair.

The cold rain pattered against the ice sculptures, sending an involuntary shiver down the spine of anyone who saw it.

Clearly, with the Giant Dragon’s arrival, the fall of the wall was only a matter of time.

Screams and cries echoed from other parts of the village.

The villagers had clearly seen the great beast in the sky and the about-to-fall wall. Even without a dragon’s terrifying aura, sheer fear had overwhelmed most of them.

Colin glanced up.

The White Dragon was nowhere to be seen. The section of the wall it had attacked was now just a stretch of frozen silence.

The two of them hurried toward the Church, sticking close to the buildings under the cover of the eaves.

Halfway there, they heard a WHOOSH of wind overhead, and Colin pulled Ale under the eaves of another building.

THUD!

After the dull thud, tiles slid from the roof’s edge, clattering and shattering on the ground.

’Something landed on the roof beams...’ Colin stared at the shattered tiles on the ground. It felt like a summons from the Death Deity.