“Everything ready?” asked Artyom in a whisper. “It took you quite a while.”
The kobold nodded but looked irritated. “Did you have to convince the ones guarding that chunk of metal not to move from their place? That’s why it took so long!”
Artyom just gave him an apologetic smile, but turned back towards the entrance into the boss’ room. “So the plan is for you to send everyone in to ‘talk’ to him, and once he’s distracted, I’ll hit him with a coup de grace.”
“And if that fails-”
“When that fails,” said one of the kobolds standing in the back.
Artyom and the lead kobold looked back at them with a glare, causing the diminutive creature to step into the rest of the crowd.
“And if that fails,” their leader continued, “we’ll start fighting.”
Artyom tried to smile, but wasn’t able to put his heart into it. He’s the one who needed to escape, but he was dragging all of these kobolds into a battle of life or death just for himself. No, that wasn’t right; they were fighting for their own freedom, and both him and them happened to share a common roadblock in each of their goals.
Maybe he was just growing a soft spot for these goofs?
Before Artyom could think about it more, the mass of kobolds began to rush into the room as a single massive throng. The cacophony of their stomps and the dust they kicked up prevented him from hearing or seeing into the boss’ chamber.
A mass of chattering and frantic waves of scales that followed didn’t help either.
“Now’s your chance, the boss is distracted and his back is turned,” said the kobold’s leader, nudging Artyom with their elbow before walking in themselves.
The man from Earth nodded before making his way into the room as well. When he first came in, the boss thought he was a random peasant despite his magical equipment and active spells. That meant whatever senses he had didn’t extend to sensing magic.
With that in mind, Artyom activated his stealth and armor spells and casually walked in, pretending to be a kobold who had nothing to fear.
The first thing he saw was a group of kobolds amongst the many more cowering in the corner in fear. Artyom recognized them as his jailers whom he’d convinced to head outside to gather herbs and firewood to make him taste better. The rest of the creatures were gathered around them, hesitant to say or do anything.
“What do you take me for?!” shouted the boss in a deep voice. His belly seemed to jiggle as he screamed, and spittle flew out of his mouth and over the five ex-captors who shook with every word. “You obviously just want to escape, am I right? Don’t answer that, of course I am! I’m the boss!”
Artyom tried rolling his eyes at the trite statements right out of a sitcom, but a familiar sensation made him freeze up. A wave of fear ran down his spine, and the man from Earth was ready to start shaking before he came to his senses and let his own magic flow through him.
It was as if the waterfall of external emotion was cut by a knife, the magic splitting to either side of Artyom with not even a single drop touching him. Yet the magical pressure was immense, and Artyom had to actually pay attention to prevent the magic from affecting him.
“That kobold was right, he really is strong,” thought Artyom with a frown. “But now to finish him off-”
The man from Earth paused mid-thought as he caught another sight; the exit.Stolen novel; please report.
The boss was distracted, in fact all the other kobolds were distracted as well, including their actual leader. If he tried, he might be able to sneak out or at least get close enough to make a break for it without getting caught.
Artyom had the armor piece, after all. He could hand it to the hero and join his team. Finally get back to his actual mission!
It would be easy.
But the man from Earth was snapped out of his thoughts once more by the continued screaming of the boss monster.
The words coming out of his mouth were just nonsense, something that anyone would be able to tune out after enough exposure. But these kobolds had been exposed to it for years, yet they were all still scared.
“They’re innocent like little kids, of course they’d be scared… but even little kids would outgrow this kind of shallow fear.”
The boss reached a crescendo that shook the walls of the cavern with his voice, and sent all of the kobolds, including the ones who’d just entered the cavern, reeling back. Artyom found himself taking a step back as his aura defense was caught off guard and almost overpowered.
“Their fear isn’t shallow, though. It’s magical,” thought Artyom to himself, feeling a different familiar emotion begin to well up.
Memories of decadent throne rooms with fat kings and scared Earthers came to mind. Kids, innocent, and taken from their homes. Some barely eight or nine years old, dressed in torn rags and covered in blood and bruises.
Imposing guards standing over them, angry monarchs and nobles screaming curses, demanding fealty and violence done in their names with threats of torture and execution. Imposing inhumane burdens on… children.
A cold focus overtook Artyom as he channeled as much magical might into his hand. He grasped a chaotic maelstrom of gravity magic that demanded to be let loose to tear something or someone asunder. The man from Earth slowly walked towards the dungeon boss, ready to grant his magic’s wish, having selected the perfect target; the kind of thing he’d dedicated his life to eradicating.
Artyom worked his way through the group of kobolds standing in the way. Most of them were thankfully gathered up by the sides, but it still took a moment to get to the front.
The man from Earth raised his hand towards the boss’ back, just behind his heart, and-
“Gotcha,” said the boss in a low whisper as he turned around and caught Artyom’s entire arm sans-hand in a vice-like grip. “No living being has the guts to walk right up to me, especially when I don’t want it, and to think it was the dumb peasant all along!”
Artyom could see a wry grin beginning to form on the monster’s face, as if he’d planned this all along, and Artyom was the one dumb enough to fall into his trap.
The boss licked his lips. “And all this screaming has got me working up an appetite, I think I’ll enjoy some human now!”
Artyom didn’t give the monster a chance to act. “Lion’s Strength,” he thought to himself, casting the spell as he kicked off the ground and hugged the boss’ arm as he spun it around.
Being caught by surprise, the monster wasn’t able to resist the sudden force twisting his wrist in an impossibly painful angle. But instead of letting go, he began to squeeze.
Artyom was the one to let out a scream as he felt the force beginning to overpower his armor spell, yet in a desperate bit, he slapped his palm down on the monster’s exposed wrist.
Gravity Blender immediately detonated as soon as its magic made contact with the boss’ flesh. His hand seized and began to contort as muscle and bone beneath the surface was torn to shreds while the skin remained intact. At least, for a moment.
The monster let go of Artyom with a hellish scream just as his own scales tore apart and spewed out a volcano of crimson.
The man from Earth took the opportunity to get to his feet and gather some distance.
The boss on the other hand picked up his own severed hand with an unsteady grip and placed it on the bleeding stump. “So you’re not just some dumb peasant after all, huh?” A wave of aura began to radiate from him, making the kobolds stand straight in attention. “I hope the taste will be worth the hassle.”
Artyom couldn’t help but see the flesh between the severed hand and the stump begin to flow as bone and sinew began to reknit itself. Within seconds, the two pieces were once again connected, and fully working.
The boss stomped a foot on the ground and a solid mass of Earth rose in front of the two paths out of the cavern. “Alright you worthless maggots,” he said, addressing the kobolds. “Attack!”
“So it’s this kind of boss, huh?” mumbled Artyom to himself. “I don’t know if I have enough magic to last the entire fight, so it’s a good thing I got help.”
The man from Earth took a deep breath and bathed the room in his own aura.
The boss looked with shock. “What the-”