The bard fantasized again.

Chapter 13 Dog-headed Man

"Could it be a goblin's cave?"

Tang Qi asked instinctively.

Generally speaking, the most common and weakest monster group in the wild is the yellow-green-skinned goblin, which some people also call 'goblin'.

In some works, they are often depicted as a despicable species that abducts women of other races to reproduce.

But in fact, they are used to distinguish between males and females.

The more intelligent goblin race even has a unique set of tribal rules and ecology, as well as its own beliefs.

Even a professional adventure team can easily be caught off guard and fail if they encounter an organized goblin tribe.

"Goblin caves are rarely carved out to be this spacious."

Shattered Stone shook his head, stood on tiptoe, raised his hand to compare his own height, and judged based on experience.

"To be honest, this actually sounds a bit like something we dwarves would do—"

When we mine, we usually don't build the entrance very high, but it's always quite spacious.

"why?"

"That's because it's a rare opportunity to make those tall guys bow down to us!"

The stone shards laughed with a hint of smugness, but then turned to look at the black snake.

"Go in?"

“You go first. Jackal, you stay with me on either side of the poet.”

Black Snake gave the order almost without hesitation.

They also had no intention of calling for reinforcements.

We don't know the situation inside the cave yet, and if there are too many people, it's easy to alert them.

Moreover, given Xingmei Town's poor military strength, the only purpose of taking them down into the cave was to make the scene look more intimidating.

Shattered Stones handed the torch to Tang Qi so that the firelight could illuminate the area around the squad.

However, as they delved deeper, they soon realized that this seemed to be a drop in the ocean.

The cave entrance leads directly into the mountains, and the deeper you go, the wider the passage becomes.

Even at the very end, Tang Qi had to stand on tiptoe to hold the torch higher so that it could illuminate more areas—

"Wait, put out the fire."

Even if they lose an eye, the ability to see in the dark still flows in the blood of dwarves.

He saw far more than the firelight touched.

Alarm bells rang in Tang Qi's mind, cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his tension intensified.

The torch was extinguished silently, and everything went dark in an instant.

But they don't need to worry about being blind.

Before their eyes could even adjust to the darkness, they could already see a glimmer of light in the distance.

"There are people here, so keep it down."

The gravel gave a soft reminder, but his plate armor inevitably made a rustling sound as he moved forward.

The noise seemed even more intense in the distance, and no one noticed their direction.

As they drew closer, Tang Qi's field of vision widened.

Then he discovered that there was an open space in front of him.

It resembles a naturally formed grotto, supported by a massive stone pillar.

Not far from the stone pillar, a campfire flickered brightly, its glow unable to reach the ceiling.

Only a few stalagmites hanging upside down can be vaguely seen, their tips like cones, formed by the sedimentation of minerals over a long period of time.

The cave was so damp that water droplets from the stalagmites dripped into puddles at our feet, often creating a "tinkling" echo...

And around the firelight, the owner of this open space was gathered—

Several short-bodied, reddish-brown scales covering their skin, heads resembling lizards, and tails as long and thin as rodents, upright-shaped monsters.

I sat on a bone chair made of bones from some kind of small, thin creature.

Staring longingly at the meat skewers in his hand, with a few small, golden-brown worms stuck on the finely ground bone skewers, he then began to gesticulate excitedly:
"Rua!"

"what is that?"

Compared to the two former adventurers, Black Serpent and Shattered Stone, Jackal was practically a greenhorn.

Tang Qi then realized that he and the other two mercenaries might not be on the same side:

"Kobold".

A group of humanoid creatures that live in caves and underground.

Although their individual strength is weak, they are inherently cunning.

They never fight unprepared battles, habitually use numbers to overwhelm the weak, and are almost never seen acting alone.

Tang Qi gathered his memories of the kobolds and concluded:
"When you want to denounce the world for being all about bloodlines, you'd better think about them. After all, they really do have the blood of dragons flowing through their veins."

"Really?" Black Snake and Shattered Stone turned their heads at the same time, their faces full of suspicion.

Tang Qi blinked.

Although through his predecessor's memories, he was able to understand that the history of this world had faded, and even the records of these creatures were fragmented.

But I never expected that it had reached the point where I 'know what it is, but not why it is so'.

But I can't exactly say that as a tabletop RPG enthusiast, I have a fantasy database in my head.

It's not even certain whether his database can be applied to the world.

I can only say it half-heartedly:

"Poets' textbooks always contain some strange knowledge."

"It seems that going to school isn't entirely useless."

The stone-wielder assumed this was some kind of saying unique to bards and turned to look at the black snake.
"Do it?"

Black Serpent's commands were simple and easy to understand:
"Raid."

……

They're all done killing.

Tang Qi couldn't tell what level of adventurers Black Serpent and Shattered Stone were in the past.

But their alcoholism did not make them forget their former skills.

Even if they spot the intruder immediately, ring the warning bell, and prepare a defense in time.

Even a simple bone hammer and wooden shield were no match for the Black Serpent's blade.

Tang Qi only saw the black scimitar seem to lurk in the shadows, and within a few breaths, flesh and blood were neatly scattered on the ground—

Like a highly skilled chef cutting a chopping board, the blade is remarkably smooth.

The blade is spotless.

The stone-breaking man on the other side lives up to his name.

But in the instant that crimson flesh and grayish-white brain matter were 'fried' in the fire like crushed tofu, Tang Qi felt that he should perhaps be renamed "Skull Crusher".

As for the jackals... they're like people.

It's such a shame they didn't get ambushed by the kobolds.

Tang Qi, who harbored ill will towards him, was unwilling to offer much comment.

The jackals, with their senses identical, stared at Tang Qi, the only one on the field who was completely ineffective, and couldn't help but sneer:
"What, are you hiding behind the pillar, trembling with fear?"
What use are you, anyway?

This is why bards can't integrate into an adventure party and can only sing in taverns—

Can he cower in a corner and sing battle songs to cheer others on when he's fighting?
Or will someone sing a dirge and collect their bodies after they die in battle?
Tang Qi verbally refused to back down, but just as he was about to speak, he heard the dwarf roar, the echo reverberating throughout the cave:

"besides!"

Tang Qi, who was furthest from the campfire, noticed that the rubble was fixed on the air.

He quickly threw the torch high into the air, and only then could the others, by the light of the torch, glimpse a reddish-brown figure on the right, running upwards—

The cave was so spacious that darkness obscured the two high walls adjacent to it.

Upon hearing the alarm, the kobold, who had been lurking in the shadows, reached the top of the hill, a slender knife in hand, ready to cut the ropes binding it.

Its destination is a huge rock suspended from the ceiling, also lurking in the shadows!
No one knows how that massive boulder, spanning thirty feet in diameter, was hoisted up.

All we know is that it landed near the mercenaries by the campfire!

Black Serpent and Shattered Stone reacted quickly, throwing their weapons almost simultaneously to hinder the kobold's advance.

The scimitar grazed the neck of the lowly life, and the hammer shattered its ribs.

They succeeded.

But there's more than one rope that can lift a giant rock!
"There's another one on the left!"

The jackal was the slowest to react. When it saw a dog-headed man about to make the same move on the high slope to its left, it almost screamed in alarm.

"Depend on!"

He was so frightened that his legs went weak, and he desperately tried to escape outside the trap's range.

But they were powerless to escape!

"puff--"

The kobold's dagger veered off course when it was just inches from the rope.

Along with its owner, it fell down the slope and lay on the ground, barely alive.

The crowd had various expressions as they stepped forward, only to see a crossbow bolt stuck straight into the dog-headed man's head.

They couldn't help but look back at Tang Qi, who was reloading his crossbow.

The latter, seeing the jackal's legs trembling, couldn't help but mock:

"What, are you standing here trembling with fear?"

(End of this chapter)