The Best Defense…

In the dark and damp cavern tunnels just below the room where the group met Hahzi, the somewhat friendly kobold, Leona, Charlotte and Phoebe were in the front following their guide Zerm, another amiable kobold in the nest that served as a sort of bodyguard heavily armored with different bits and pieces from leather to plate mail forming a cornucopia of defense, was leading the group deeper into the cave.

Subtly, Phoebe gently hit her shoulder against Leona's, who turned her head ever so slightly towards her ear as she whispered.

"I don't fully trust them. Do you know what these rocks do?"

She showed the greenish blue porous rocks she had inside a piece of cloth.

"These do as he explained, it actually allows you to breathe easier underground. As for how it works I have no idea."

Leona nodded slightly and glanced at Zerm who didn't seem to notice her whispering.

"I want both you and Khalid to stay behind, if they decide to betray us there is little to nothing that we'll be able to do if everybody is in there."

Phoebe nodded as she subtly slowed down her pace to meet with the rest of the group behind. Her steps were almost impossible to hear, with grace, she was able to effortlessly reach the Aradian warrior in the back of the group without looking suspicious.

"Psst." He didn't even reply and instead only briefly glanced at her to acknowledge her. "Leona said that we should stay behind in case they betray us."

"And how exactly does she intend us to deal with all of them?"

"Are those two scimitars just for show?" She mocked him while also being kind of annoyed herself. "If you don't slow me down I'm sure I can handle at least half of them."

"Tsk. Fine, but be warned, if things go south I'll be running back to my team."

"Hmph."

She discreetly pulled two round bottles that were left in her pouch and kept holding onto them between the index, middle and ring finger. The dark green liquid sloshed inside of it with a certain level of viscosity, slightly adhering to the glass before returning to the bottom of the flask.

In the front of the group both Leona and Charlotte were flanked by Krieg and Luka respectively, each armed and ready to fight, a few more minutes of walking passed before they reached a curve that sharply turned to the left. At that point Zerm pointed forward and looked at Leona who responded with a nod.

"Come, let's go." She led the group past the armored kobold. "I'll try to keep large area spells to a minimum to avoid both collateral damage to the cave while also to prevent injuring the prisoners. The rest of you should focus on killing as many kobolds as possible from this point onwards."

"Yes ma'am!"

The soldiers replied. Krieg held his longsword close to his body as Leona looked at him.

"Stay close, I don't know if I'll have to use blade energy and if I do, I want you to protect me." He nodded without hesitation. "Very well, myself, Krieg and Luka should go in first. The rest of you keep your sight to our flanks and if anything tries to attack us from behind, you shoot them on sight."

After carefully planning everything out. Leona discreetly peeked the corner and noticed there were sources of light deeper into the big excavation area. Much like the bandit cave in Londria, this cavern had a dome structure with crude wooden beams supporting the roof from collapsing, it was possible to hear the rhythmic sound of pickaxes digging through rocks from deep within.

'There are still prisoners. Good.'

Charlotte thought while she was kneeling behind Leona. She checked the revolver one last time to check if it was properly loaded before she noticed the tactician signaling the rest of them to follow. The passage was somewhat narrow and allowed only two people to pass through at a time, three if they squeezed side to side.

Leona noticed the faint shadow of something standing right beside the exit as if someone, or something was standing beside a low lit torch. She turned to Krieg who, in a silent agreement through a nod, followed her closely.

She carefully approached the entrance to the mining site with her left hand slightly glowing from the ice aspected spell she was charging. The moment she noticed it was a kobold that stood watch over the vicinity, she brought her left arm in an arc towards its throat.

"Piercing Ice!"

An ice spear suddenly erupted from the palm of her hand piercing through its thick neck preventing it from emitting any sounds.

"Hm!"

Before it could fall on the ground, Krieg swiftly caught on his arms before dragging the lifeless body back into the narrow passage. Luka had his saber ready in the right hand while holding the torch above his shoulders with the other, Leona once again peeked around the entrance but didn't see anyone in the vicinity so she decided to take a few steps in while holding her left hand open towards her back signaling Luka to stay in place while Krieg followed closely behind her.

The first thing she noticed while inside was the faint smell of rot, not unlike how the bandit cave was like.

'I hope I don't see more bodies…'

Her wishful thinking was soon crushed as she took another step in the darkness when something was caught beneath her boot. Upon gently lifting her right foot she noticed a thin long hollow bone stuck between loose rocks, there was no marrow inside of it showing that whatever or whoever ate it made sure to eat every last bit it had to offer. Thankfully she didn't study much about anatomy to be able to discern what bone of the human body that was, but that didn't make her feel any less queasy.

"Hurry up!" Her body instinctively froze up with her right hand clenching on the handle of her weapon as she heard the heavy tone of the male voice echo from within the dig site. "We don't have all day!"

A few seconds after that she heard it for the first time, the crackling sound of a whip snapping the air.

"Tsk." Charlotte knew very well what that was as she approached Luka near the entrance. She turned around but noticed only Percival, Gregor and Cecile were behind her. "Where did Khalid go?"

"He's staying behind with Miss Phoebe." Percival answered. "I believe Miss Leona thought we might get ambushed."

Charlotte nodded and returned her gaze towards the dig site where she noticed Krieg sneaking behind the tactician.

Upon reaching her he whispered.

"I saw two more on the far right side just beyond a mound of rocks."

"I'll go around this way." She whispered while pointing to the left. "I want to make sure we can't be surprised as we go deeper in."

He nodded and they slowly continued forward circling through the mound of rocks that was just tall enough to cover them if they crouched. In the dig site it was possible to see a few lit torches with most of them being around the prisoners who worked without rest hitting their pickaxes against the rocks in unison.

There were different elevations and the deeper they went the gentle slope became more apparent with the makeshift stone staircase that led downwards. With her eyes slowly adjusting to the low light, Leona noticed there were around ten guards stationed in the various levels spread out in a semi circle. They were armed with polearms, axes, swords, but none of them seemed to have bows or pouches.

"Those halberds will be troublesome…" She looked over her shoulder and asked him. "Krieg, do you see prisoners near those three over there?"

His gaze quickly followed where she was pointing and thanks to his good sight he noticed a trio of kobolds seemingly talking to each other, they had a similar build to Zerm, but they were far less armored.

"No, just kobolds."

"Do you think you can make a distraction so I can hit all of them with one spell?"

He glanced a bit further from where they were and noticed a kobold guard a bit on the smaller side, judging how thin it was he could possibly lift it up and throw it. He turned to Leona.

"I can."

"Very well, wait for my signal."

She turned to the entrance where Charlotte was peeking from and once Leona noticed she was looking directly at her, she motioned with her hand that she would head in.

Charlotte then lifted her closed left fist which prompted all soldiers to be ready.

"We'll go in guns blazing. Get ready…" The moment she noticed Krieg dash in and Leona halfway standing up with a spell being chanted she opened her hand and motioned it forward. "CHARGE!"