“In the year 442 of the New Star Calendar, adventurer Lynn unlocked a new entry in the monster encyclopedia—Kobold Sorcerer. Current unlocked entries: 25.”
“In the year 442 of the New Star Calendar, adventurer Lynn unlocked a new entry in the monster encyclopedia—Winged Kobold. Current unlocked entries: 26.”
Lynn's monster encyclopedia notifications arrived fashionably late after he spotted the monsters.
“How is this possible?!” Henry blurted out. “Aren't winged kobolds and ordinary kobolds supposed to be enemies?!”
Before he could even finish, the kobold sorcerers' spells came raining down in unison. Several freezing beams of light shot down from above.
Henry was the first to bear the brunt of the attack.
As a rookie adventurer, he had just parried a kobold's spear with his longsword and slain it. Before he could recover his strength, he was struck directly by one of the freezing beams.
White light flashed, and a chilling frost burst outward.
“Sss—”
Henry felt a sharp pain in his shoulder as frost crackled across his griffon leather armor, instantly numbing his sense of pain with the freezing cold.
Fortunately, this group of kobold spellcasters was only using cantrips, so the damage wasn't too severe.
Lynn's reaction was swift enough. The moment the winged kobolds appeared, he used Burst Step, activated by his Eldritch Blast, to flash behind Henry. Grabbing Henry by the collar, Lynn flung him back into the tunnel.
Inside the tunnel, Henry would at least be safe from further spells.
Hilda's situation wasn't much better either.
As an offensive-focused Fighter, she wielded a two-handed greatsword rather than a sword and shield, leaving her with no defensive means to block the kobolds' spells. Facing the freezing beams raining down from above, she rolled out of the way immediately, but a ray still grazed her waist, sending a sudden chill through her body. The fact that she was wearing chainmail only amplified the cold damage.
Fortunately, Hilda's Constitution was much higher than Henry's. Though she was hit by the spell, it wasn't enough to impair her combat ability.
However, Hilda had absolutely no way of dealing with the winged kobolds gliding back and forth.
The stone chamber had clearly been specially modified by the kobolds, with stone pillars standing six to seven meters tall erected at regular intervals.
While the winged kobolds couldn't fly indefinitely, they could glide back and forth between these pillars to stay off the ground.
In terms of intelligence, the kobolds held a crushing advantage over goblins.
The tide of battle had reversed in a matter of seconds, a turn of events that even Lynn hadn't anticipated.
While in the tunnel, he had used Echolocation to probe the stone chamber. However, due to the limited range, he hadn't detected these winged kobolds, which had been clinging to the stone pillars the entire time.
Furthermore, Lynn really hadn't expected the winged kobolds to cooperate with their ordinary brethren.
The relationship between the two might not be as hostile as that of duergar and surface dwarves, or high elves and drow, but they were definitely not supposed to cooperate this closely.
There was something fishy about this.
Some external force must have united them.
The thought crossed his mind and vanished. Lynn didn't dwell on it for long; the top priority right now was to kill these damn kobold sorcerers first.
Raising his staff and aiming at a kobold sorcerer atop a pillar, Lynn began to chant.
In this situation, the power of Eldritch Blast was clearly insufficient. Lynn had to resort to Magic Missile, even if it meant risking a cave-in.
Fortunately, unlike the narrow tunnels, the spacious stone chamber wouldn't collapse so easily.
Meanwhile, the kobold sorcerers had already prepared for their second round of attacks.
During the first round of the ambush, because the winged kobolds were scattered across different pillars, the kobold sorcerers couldn't focus their fire.
But for this second wave, the kobold sorcerers locked their sights onto Lynn.
Even though Lynn was just a mage apprentice, the kobold sorcerers did not take him lightly.
Five winged kobolds leaped from the stone pillars once more, gliding down and carrying their sorcerers toward Lynn in unison. Several freezing beams shot down again, converging on Lynn almost simultaneously.
“Lynn!” Hilda called out in panic, but Lynn acted as if he hadn't heard her, remaining in place to continue chanting Magic Missile.
Hilda's concern was justified.
Before Lynn could finish chanting Magic Missile, the kobolds' cantrips had already struck him.
Compared to First-Circle spells, the chanting time for cantrips was simply too short. Even with his various Feats, passives, and equipment that reduced casting time, Lynn still couldn't complete his chant before the kobolds' attacks landed.
Almost all of the freezing beams hit Lynn directly, with only one or two striking the ground where they had tried to predict his dodge.
Seeing their spells hit, the kobold sorcerers began gliding back toward the pillars.
But as they turned around to prepare another assault on the female warrior, they realized the battlefield didn't look the way they expected—
That mage apprentice had been hit by several freezing rays simultaneously, yet he stood there completely unscathed!
How was this possible?!
As spellcasters themselves, the kobold sorcerers knew exactly how powerful their cantrips were. Even a Tier 1 class-holder specializing in Constitution would not escape unharmed after taking several freezing rays head-on without any shields! Let alone a physically frail Mage!
The kobolds exchanged bewildered glances, unable to believe their eyes. The winged kobolds also shrank back in hesitation at the sight.
Meanwhile, Hilda, who was closest to Lynn, had witnessed the entire sequence of events.
She had watched with her own eyes as the freezing rays struck Lynn. Yet, the moment those freezing beams collided with Lynn's body, they simply dissipated into nothingness!
Lynn, however, remained entirely unaffected. His spell chanting hadn't even been interrupted.
Spells capable of freezing an ordinary person to death had hit Lynn as if someone were merely waving a folding fan to give him a light breeze!
The female warrior's jaw dropped, her mouth hanging open in sheer disbelief. Even with her extensive adventuring experience, she couldn't fathom what had just happened to Lynn.
Is he a dragon in human form?!
Hilda had only ever heard of such high Magic Resistance in legends about dragons.
On the other side, since Lynn hadn't had the chance to trigger Burst Step, he had been forced to take the spells head-on.
But relying on the dual protection of his leather armor and his magic immunity resistance, the cantrips had barely affected him, allowing him to smoothly complete the chant for Magic Missile.
Staring at the kobold sorcerers perched back on their stone pillars, his expression remained unchanged.
“Vas!”
With a soft cry, a blue-and-red magic light missile shot out.
Although the kobold sorcerers' spells had done absolutely nothing to Lynn, Lynn's Magic Missile wouldn't wait for the kobold sorcerers to recover before striking.
The light missile flew straight toward the monster on the pillar.
Before the winged kobold could even react, the Magic Missile struck its head.
This kind of monster wasn't particularly strong, only at Level 1/2.
A single missile blasted straight through its head. Bright red blood splattered all over the kobold sorcerer beneath it.
Before the kobold sorcerer could even show an expression of terror, the Magic Missile detonated.
Boom—
As the Magic Missile exploded, the stone pillar shook violently and began to collapse. The kobold sorcerer shrieked as it plummeted six to seven meters to the ground, only to be immediately buried by the collapsing stone pillar.
“Killed one winged kobold. Obtained Bloodline Points (Kobold) *20.”
“Killed one Kobold Sorcerer. Obtained Bloodline Points (Kobold) *100 (Over-level double multiplier x200%).”
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