Red Monster

Red was on the ground, leaning against the wall. His sword rested to his right as he looked down at his left shoulder. An arrow stuck in his left shoulder, but it was not that deep. The leather armor did the work, reducing the impact of the arrow.

The first thing he did was check how much health that arrow cost him.

[Health: 889]

He was relieved the arrow didn’t really take that much of his health. A little over sixty health. He could breathe out in relief, as it meant it would take more than ten arrows to drain his health. As long as he avoided the hit in the head, that should be fine.

Now it was time to address the issue: the arrow. He didn’t think he could move his left arm freely if the arrow remained inside.

His right hand was on the arrow; taking a deep breath, he pulled off the arrow. He quickly took off his armor, and the clothes that he used to cover the wound fell off. He quickly grabbed clothes, folded them, and used the clothes to cover the wound.

That was to stop the bleeding; then he put on the leather armor again. He used the leather armor to keep the clothes from the wound.

The wound was still throbbing, but it was something he could endure. He tried to move his left arm. The pain intensified, but he could still endure it. It might affect the fight, like a slight delay more than he wanted.

’I am being careless... This is a battlefield. My target is not the only enemy!’

Once he focused on his target, he ignored his surroundings. He was far from being sneaky, after all.

Red took a peek, discovering three kobolds were heading toward his direction. One archer and two warriors. The warrior had a round shield and a curved blade, raising their shield as they moved forward.

The archer had an arrow ready, and when he peeked out, he fired the arrow.

Red quickly pulled his head and readied his own bow. His left hand slightly trembled at first, but he quickly stabilized his grip. An arrow was ready on his bow.

He popped out of the door, on his knees with his string pulled. His target was the archer. He quickly aimed at the archer and fired. It lacked the power, as he was targeting a quick shot. It was slower than usual, but it was still on target.

Unfortunately, the Kobold Warrior reacted. One of them stood in front of the archer with his shield forward. The arrow was deflected by the shield, sliding through the smooth surface and missing.

Red quickly ducked back, dodging an incoming arrow in time.

"This is going to be hard. I guess there’s a limit for my archery too."

He felt like he was invincible with his bow, but the current circumstance proved him wrong. He put the bow back on his back, pulling a spear.

This was where his spear throwing would do its magic. That was why he brought the spear even with a bow. But first he needed to bait the archer’s shot. The throwing spear’s weakness was momentum. He needed momentum, or else it would lack the power. His throw would be weak.

Red peeked his head, and sure enough, the kobold archer fired out. He pulled off, leaping further inside the house. He was creating the distance from the door for his running. With the spear in his hand, he ran five steps forward and threw the spear, still aiming at the archer.

He needed to eliminate the ranged attacker first. The warrior wanted to step in front of the archer again, but he saw something bigger coming instead of an arrow. The kobold warrior stopped as the spear passed through between the two warriors.

The archer was expecting the warrior to block the spear, not expecting the warrior to let it through. He saw it coming, but it was too late to dodge.

Slurgh!

The spear hit the chest, flung backward from the impact. The archer fell on his back and no longer got up. He was on the ground, clutching his chest in pain, hissing loudly.

Red didn’t stop there as he directed his right palm to one of the kobold warriors. He no longer held back, activating his fireball with three times the mana. The blazing fire shot through and hit one of the warriors.

It went with a boom, engulfing one warrior with fire and sending the second one flying. He grabbed his sword, still hiding inside the house. He eliminated the immediate threat and observed the situation to see whether there would be more kobolds or not.

He would not repeat the same mistake where he hastily tried to exchange the bodies for loot. The wound on his left shoulder became his first lesson in this battle.

The explosion caught the two sides’ attention, but none of them could spare their attention too long or investigate what happened. Once he was sure that was all the kobolds close by, he came out, rushing toward the kobold that got blasted by the fireball.

The kobold was trying to stand, shaken from the blast. It was swaying around before getting a hold of itself.

Red was already in front of the kobold; his sword was up in the air, slashing down diagonally. The kobold reacted, raising the shield in front of it. The clanking sound resounded as the shield deflected the sword. However, Red overpowered the kobold, sending the kobold steps backward, unsteady.

Red spun around, bringing his sword down, slashing toward the kobold’s chest. The shield was still up, and the kobold’s footing was unsteady.

The Kobold Warrior didn’t have a choice but to meet the incoming sword with his own sword. The swords clashed with another clanking. The kobold’s sword slipped, flinging to the side.

Red took one step forward with his kick, kicking the kobold in the chest. It was on the ground, trying to get back on its feet, but a sword pierced its chest.

He twisted the sword, then he followed with another stomp to the head.

Being cautious, Red quickly looked at his surroundings. He didn’t want another arrow on his body. No one was looking at him; the battle was becoming even more chaotic. The goblin’s side was pushing into the village while the battle between the Chief was still going on. More and more bodies piled up, no one thinking of exchanging them for loot.

Red took the chance to exchange the loot. He exchanged the six kobolds he killed earlier. There was one kobold that was still alive with an arrow in the chest. He finished it off with a slice in the neck and absorbed the two cores it dropped.

He obtained fifteen cores from the six kobolds, and luck was on his side because he got more Magic Cores. There were nine Magic Cores and six Might Cores.

Instead of joining the chaotic fray, he decided to flank the kobolds. He moved deeper and plucked the kobolds one by one from the side. He seemed to underestimate the number of kobolds because there were more kobolds than he thought.

The moment the kobolds were getting pushed back by the goblin, the flow of battle turned in their favor. The battle was over after he killed twelve more kobolds above his level, getting thirty cores from them.

The battle was chaotic; the hissing from the kobolds and screams from the goblins filled the battlefield. However, his over two hundred Dexterity truly played a big part in the battle.

He killed one or two, dragging their bodies away for loot before joining in again. He was attacking the kobolds from there, harassing them from behind, distracting them from the goblin that came from the front.

The battle was over the moment the Kobold Chief was killed. As the number of kobolds was reduced, more and more hobgoblins joined the Chief. They outnumbered the Kobold Chief, yet the Kobold Chief still took down five hobgoblins with him before getting killed.

The hobgoblins and the goblins were scrambling around, trying to get their share of loot. The goblins even moved in groups, charging inside to kill the young kobolds.

Red didn’t join them, not joining to wipe out the remaining kobolds or even trying to steal the loot. He was standing on the roof of one of the houses, observing the aftermath.

He was surprised by how the battle went out. They came in a big number, yet only half of them survived. He was observing the scrambling goblins and hobgoblins, and he was confident their number was around half, maybe a little over half of them.

It was not supposed to end like this. They should have had a superior advantage and lost a little force. He recalled what happened in the fight early, how the hobgoblins used the goblins as the meat shield to get an easy hit and easy kill.