Seeking the Key

"No, Dylan, more allies might be good. Tell me, Nora, we just have to defeat the ruler and get the key to the second floor, right?"

"That is the gist, yes. My team defeated the ruler for this floor, and the kobold grunts immediately disappeared afterwards, followed by the ruler. The key would be dropped after the ruler disappears."

"So the grunts are basically there as a time waster and an annoyance? They don't give us points, and Charles' Dismantle skill gave nothing useful, anyway," Dylan piped up.

"Not really, it's more like... you will see when we defeat the floor ruler," Nora answered. "It'd be faster to see it on your own."

"Okay, the plan is, whatever it takes, get to the floor ruler, get the key, and go to the second floor by any means needed. Just for clarification, your friends are on the second floor, right?" Charles concluded

"That is right."

"Let's rest a bit here at least; I need to go through the skill cooldown."

From what they were able to glean while being hidden, the kobolds seemed to be neither very intelligent nor actively looking for them, and from the clanging, banging, and chewing noises the four could hear from this hiding place, the ones outside sounded like they were fooling around with some manner of objects.

Charles took a tentative peek from the small crack near the long-rusted door hinges and saw the creatures were laughing and smacking each other. Gradually, the slightly muffled noises became a nuisance.

"… Do we really have to waste time like this?"

"This is the only option, unless you want to go back to endless whack-a-kobold game, Dylan?"

"… I'll live with the wait, thanks, Charles."

--

[Time remaining: 11 day, 10 hours, 30 minutes]

After what felt like an eternity, the noises finally died down, right as the lights from outside started to darken into a more subdued glow. Henrietta even took the time to nap, awakening right as Charles spoke.

"Well, the ruckus has ended. Are you all ready?"

"Whenever you are," Dylan said, while Nora and Henrietta only nodded.

"Now…"

Charles trailed off, as he approached one of the stacked crates and flung it towards the wall with as much force as he could muster.

CRASH!

Inside the long rusted, rotted crate, there was an array of what once looked like silverware, now long destroyed and dirtied from lack of use and maintenance. The loud crashing sound were followed by other sounds of metal clashing on metal, glass breaking, and utensils rolling and flinging onto different directions from the sudden force.

Raa! Raa!

Growl! Growl! Raak!

Kaar!

The noise was enough to wake several of the kobolds up, although, from the looks of it, not all of them woke up. Footsteps leading to the door to their room could be heard, hurried and interspersed with animalistic noises.

Then, they started banging on the door, their punches strong enough to poke holes into the already rotting, fragile wood.

"Okay, don't worry," Charles said after taking a quick peek from the crack near the door, dodging right as a rusted shiv stabbed through it. "Nora, I want you to ready an attack. There are 10 of them. Make enough projectiles to kill 9, and leave one. Dylan, you get ready near the door-"

Crash!

Thud!

It was so long since the door's hinges rusted and the wood rotted away, and as such, the kobolds were able to bring it down within seconds. They came rushing in, and as Charles said, there were 10 of them.

"Now, Nora!"

[Icicle Spear]

As she had prepared herself, sharp points made of ice immediately materialized around the room, swiftly piercing most of the kobolds' head and causing them to fall to the ground with a thud. The three remaining kobolds attempted to flee right as Nora created two more icicles, piercing them straight in the middle of their brow.

Seemingly realizing its comrades were dead, the remaining kobold grunt pulled out its weapon, the broken tip of a rusted spear, before running towards Dylan. Dylan has his greatsword ready, as he prepared to swing.

"Stop! Under my authority as a beast tamer, I initiate a contract!" Charles said at the kobold.

As if it was being frozen by an unknown force, the creature stilled, unable to move even an inch. Its body seemed to be trembling from fear.

[Taming has been activated]

[Taming chance: 30%]

"Come," Charles decided to utter a test command.

[Taming contract successful!]

The moment said notification appeared in front of Charles, the creature turned around to look at him. Its eyes seemed glassy and empty, while the charm strapped on Charles' right hand glowed in a vivid white.

It walked slowly towards Charles, as if guided by the light of the charm, and the moment it stopped, the light dimmed away,

[As a Novice Beast Tamer, you are able to give commands in accordance to the intelligence of your targeted beast.]

[Kobold grunts possess a low intelligence level, just enough to understand simple spoken commands.]

"Take us to the strongest," Charles said, and the charm began to glow again. He attempted to give the simplest command he could while still fulfilling the objective.

Kraa! Growl!

The kobold answered, and light seemed to return to its gaze for a while. Soon after, it was back to a state similar to being hypnotized, and the kobold waved a claw at them, as if gesturing for them to follow.

They followed the kobold, passing an entire room full of snoring, slumbering hordes. There was almost nothing except their footsteps, the soft white glow of Charles' beast charm, and their voice.

"So that was your plan?" Dylan asked.

"It was worth a try; at least we don't have to fight waves after waves if I managed it,"

"That was a 30 percent chance, though," Henrietta piped in. "If you fail it, we'd all be in trouble. It's not easy to fight hordes in this kind of close quarter."

"Worst case scenario, we both run out and serve as live bait," Charles shrugged, "Don't tell me you can't deal with a horde yourself."

Henrietta clicked her tongue in disdain, "If an infinite amount of these mangy mutts were enough to bring me down, I would never have lived it down."

Then, they reached the end of a corridor, and the kobold opened the door leading to it.

The door led to a room filled with two rows of kobold grunts, each carrying weapons more elaborate than what Charles and his party have seen before. At the end of the room, a double door could be seen. Traces of tapestry, banners, and expensive artifacts could be seen, all littered by claw marks, stains, and dirt from mishandling and general disuse.

A cursory look was enough to tell them the room belonged to something that is at least stronger than the others.

Growl! Raak Zal, Raak!

One kobold from the two groups stopped the kobold leading them.

Raak Zal, Tar kol, Raa!

The kobold leading them answered in nonsensical words as well.

After a few minutes back and forth, the two kobold groups stepped aside, letting the kobold leading them go into the room. The two groups were acting as if the four of them were invisible, not even sparing a focused or curious glance at them.

Not long after, they reached the double doors, and a notification appeared the moment they stepped into the room.

[You have reached the room of Dhaz Raakzal, the Great Commander of the Kobold Grunts!]