The chase

Not gonna lie, I'm pumped to finally go for a hunt. It doesn't come as a surprise, to be honest.

yes, I did just say two phases with the same meaning.

And you can't stop me.

"Lime, you didn't forget the shield, did you?" After all this hustle, forgetting the shield would be really dumb.

"No, master, it's in my [inventory]." Oh yeah, it does make sense.

She's level 24, in other words, her inventory can hold up to 2.4kg of weight. And that shows just how light the shield really is. but it doesn't need to be good, nor does it need to be heavy. It just has to be strong enough to endure a few attacks from kobolds.

"You do realize that you don't have to call me master every time, right?" Its not annoying or anything like that, but it doesn't feel quite right to have someone older that you call you master.

On the note of age, even though she's older, as an elf, she would still be considered a kid.

but she's only a half elf, so I'd like to think that we're the same, for ease of talking more than anything.

~~~

After an hour of walking and a one-sided conversation, we've finally reached the place where the road splits up. You can go to the right to get to another City, I think, and if you go to the left, the road just ends with a dead end. Or so it seems.

But what looks like a forest so dense and tall that you can't get through it, is actually more like a dense line of trees, surrounding an open field, some of which is covered in tall grass.

That's another one of the many dangers of cobolts.

They hide in the tall grass, waiting for someone to walk through, and then they ambush you when you least expect it. But I want to use their strategy against them.

With the help of Lime, we dug up a few small holes, about the size of a wrist.

Remember how I bout a bunch of old daggers from that blacksmith? Well that's exactly what I'm planning to use them to set a few super basic traps.

But instead of explaining the idea, let's see it in action.

"Lime, you ready?" A double check can never hurt.

"Yes, master." She said in a very neutral tone. Could she at least pretend to sound more, you know, lively.

Oh well.

~~~

I started walking towards the bushes at a pace, which was slightly faster than relaxed, to make the cobolds feel like we're being very careful. The whole thing excites me, and I'm starting to get a little impatient. Every time my heart beats, I hear it stronger than before, its a truly amazing state, a combination of excitement and concentration.

I hear something like the wind in the bushes, but of course, that's exactly what the cobolts want us to think. Also, the look like if a human and a small breed of dog had a baby, and then add a bit of demonic power into it an you got yourself a cobolt.

A sudden noise!

As I hear it, I reflectively jump back, and just in time. As the dog-like creature stared at me, slightly surprised that i managed to dodge it's attack, I took that opportunity to start running at full speed.

even thought kobolts are bipedal, if they need to run away or chase something, they can run way faster by running on all fours.

I run full speed ahead, not turning back for one second, thinking of my one and only objective - to reach Lime.

I nearly tripped on a root, and after regaining my balance, the gap between us grew even smaller, and now I only have a lead of 1 and a half meters.

All my senses are going numb, and the only thing I can still hear is my evergrowing heartbeat.

That's the result of the oxygen shortage that I'm currently experiencing, but that is not something to care about. I looked down for a second and see something. A chunk of my leg the size of a bite is missing, of course I'm having trouble running. It's where some of the muscle is located, the back side of the leg, lower than the kneecap.

Panic started slowly but surely creeping in, what if I don't make out of the tall grass? Maybe the whole idea was stupid to begin with. Why did i decide to have a go at against a monster that can run on all fours?

How much longer do I have to run to reach the end of the grass? I'm slowly starting to faint, and the pain of the bite is the only thing that's keeping me conscious.

Today's no the right day for me to die yet, I gotta keep running, step by step, step by s----

"[Taunt!]" I heard the ability cast.

"SUCK ASS YA COBOLTS!!!" I scream and turn around.

"Ah. Haha. Ahahahaahah!" I really did make it out of the tall grass, the rest is on Lime and the trap I setup beforehand. It won't kill them, but will do enough to immobilize them.

Then I just use my dagger and-----

Everything went white and i felt my head thump on the ground before completely losing my senses.

Ahh. I blanked out again. It was expected, there's nothing to worry about anyways. The trap will hold them.