My inventory is full of monster materials.

Chapter 139 The mopping-up operation is complete.

The battlefield was deadlocked. Seeing that his army could not break through the enemy lines and was instead being slaughtered by a few humans on the other side, the kobold leader's eyes flashed with ferocity and he could no longer restrain himself.

The kobold leader suddenly stood up from his throne, raised his claws high, and chanted obscure incantations, while dense dark energy surged around him.

"Production Ls siil small—5y child>—"

(The Dark Dragon Devours the Light! Noctis Eitnum I)

The next second, thick, inky darkness gushed out from the cave entrance, sweeping across the front ranks of the battlefield like a tidal wave, submerging the knees of Killian, Eris, and others.

The front-line melee fighters' vision was completely blocked, and they could only rely on hearing and touch to determine the enemy's location.

On the other hand, the kobolds, with their innate "darksight," could move freely even in the thick darkness, roaring as they charged madly toward the squad's defensive line.

The battle, which was already going well, suddenly became even more dangerous.

The kobold leader rode his giant kobold beast, charging towards the front line of defense. The beast's limbs were as thick as pillars, and each step caused the ground to tremble violently, carrying a savage impact.

The giant beast swung its claws out, bringing a whistling wind as it struck Killian. Although Killian's vision was obstructed, he reacted quickly thanks to his rich combat experience, gripping his greatsword tightly to block the attack.

With a sharp clang, the immense impact forced Killian to stagger back several steps, his arm going numb.

Killian was forced back several meters, creating a gap in the battle line. The kobold leader pressed his advantage, riding his behemoth and whipping its thick tail like a steel whip at Eris beside him.

Eris, being agile, immediately dodged to the side, her tail grazing his hair.

Nolan, however, was not so lucky. He took a solid hit from the giant beast's tail, and the immense force sent him flying. He crashed heavily into the rock wall, spitting out a mouthful of blood. He leaned on his giant hammer, panting, and slowly got up.

At this critical moment, Theresa stepped forward, raised her paladin longsword, and silently chanted a holy incantation. Dazzling holy light poured into the longsword, and the pale golden holy light spread along the sword, instantly enveloping the blade in a brilliant light, making it scorching and majestic.

As the holy light burst forth, the thick darkness receded rapidly like melting ice and snow, and the battlefield, shrouded in darkness, was restored to light.

The kobolds who had been charging recklessly in the darkness were blinded by the sudden burst of light, letting out mournful howls, halting their advance, and spinning around in disarray.

Outside the cave entrance, Mark seized the opportunity and quickly took out the "Winter Horn" from his dimensional bag.

This rare magical weapon is fully charged. Its ivory-white body glows with a faint icy blue light, and the fine ice-type magic patterns engraved on its surface gleam brightly, radiating a chilling aura.

Even before receiving the horn, Mark had already grasped its basic function.

Simply inscribe your ice magic spirit onto the equipment, fill it with magic, and blow the horn to release the spell. Moreover, spells below the 5th level will have their power increased by 1-2 levels.

Mark locked his sights on the chaotic group of dog-headed figures overflowing from the cave entrance. His highly focused mental energy triggered the magical runes of the Winter Horn, and he puffed out his breath to blow the horn.

Buzz—

Accompanied by the deep and resonant sound of the horn, the ice patterns on the horn gradually faded, and more than a dozen ice arrows appeared out of thin air.

But that wasn't all. After exhausting the horn's magic, Mark continued to pump his magic, and a bright blue light emanated from his body, flowing into the horn through his mouth, instantly expanding the original ice arrows to nearly thirty.

Finally, Mark felt so suffocated that he had to stop blasting the horn.

In an instant, thirty ice arrows shot out like arrows released from a bow, whistling sharply as they hurtled through the air, towards the kobold leader at the cave entrance.

Ice arrows rained down, and the giant kobold beast, sensing the instinctive threat, immediately raised its two enormous claws to block them.

puff~

A dozen or so ice arrows struck the scales of the giant kobold beast one by one, splattering blood everywhere, causing it to howl in pain and sway from side to side.

The dozen or so kobolds around were also caught in the crossfire, frozen instantly by the frost upon being hit, and crashed heavily to the ground, shattering into ice shards.

The leader on its back had its number of ice arrows greatly reduced because the giant kobolds had blocked a wave in advance, but one ice arrow still accurately hit its shoulder blade.

The icy power swept over the leader's entire body, and he let out a mournful roar. The scales on his shoulder blades were shattered, and blood mixed with ice shards flowed down.

The kobold leader suddenly turned his head, his orange-yellow vertical pupils fixed on Mark, his eyes filled with boundless rage and murderous intent.

This round of ice arrow attacks hit the leader directly, causing confusion in command and halting the attack of the newly emerged kobold army for more than ten seconds, temporarily relieving the pressure on the squad.

With the blessing of the Horn of Winter, the level 1 "Frostbolt" is directly upgraded to the level 3 spell power "Frostbolt Volley"!

Gray, who was standing nearby, was shocked by what he saw and muttered to himself.

"A level 1 spell like 'Frostbolt'... even with the blessing of 'Horn of Winter,' it's impossible to achieve this level."

Mark stared at the dim, lifeless horn in his hand, his face filled with shock.

Mark could sense that the "Frostbolt" spell model had changed within the horn, gaining a "copy" effect and transforming into "Frostbolt Volley".

If Mark has enough magic reserves, he can even unleash a barrage of arrows.

However, after just one round of ice arrows, Mark now only has half of his magic power left. To prevent any accidents, he should be careful when casting spells.

With Mark's magical support, the kobold army had a break in the battle, giving their teammates time to breathe and regroup.

Just then, Theresa, with her calm and indifferent expression, unleashed her power once again, the residual force of the lightsaber in her hand, imbued with the power of a "divine weapon," still lingering.

Before the kobold could react, he pushed off the ground with both feet, leaped into the air, his body radiating holy light, and shouted as he unleashed the paladin's powerful skill, "Holy Slash".

Brilliant holy light condensed on the sword, forming a light blade several meters long, which slashed fiercely down at the giant kobold beast.

The giant kobold roared and tried to dodge, but due to its enormous size and slow movements, it was unable to avoid the fatal blow. The light blade accurately struck its neck, and with a "plop," its huge head was severed off, and blood gushed out like a fountain.

The headless kobold swayed, let out a muffled wail, and collapsed heavily to the ground. Its limbs twitched a few times before it fell completely still, utterly lifeless.

Theresa landed steadily, lightsaber in hand, her posture upright and imposing, like an invincible holy guardian, which inspired the team members.

At the same time, Killian quickly steadied himself, wielding his greatsword like a rampaging war chariot, charging towards the kobold leader without giving him any chance to breathe.

Having lost the giant kobolds, the kobold leader was dragged into close combat with Killian.

Seeing their leader in danger, the surrounding winged kobold warlocks frantically provided support with spells such as "Burning Hand" and "Acid Splash," and many kobold warriors even charged forward with their own flesh and blood.

But by this time, the other members of the elite squad had also arrived one after another.

Eris, with her agile movements, constantly weaved among the kobolds, each thrust of her rapier claiming a life.

Nolan rallied, wielding his hammer like a giant windmill, sweeping away a large group of approaching kobold minions.

As if spurred by the ice arrows, Adele stopped hiding and pulled out twenty crystalline, crimson-red bursting arrows from her dimensional bag.

Each time an arrow was drawn and fired, a kobold was blown to pieces, and the surrounding kobolds were also crippled by the splatter.

Gray and Mark at the back were relatively more composed, maintaining a certain frequency of spell output.

The spell struck Killian's runic armor, causing it to glow faintly, while the thick blood slowed the greatswordsman's progress.

Finally, the kobold leader realized what was happening, spread his wings, and flew back to the rear of the army, thus avoiding being beheaded.

The kobold leader watched as his tribe was gradually slaughtered, unable to break through the squad's encirclement. His wounds multiplied, blood stained his entire body, and his breath grew weaker and weaker.

Finally, the kobold leader roared in despair, using his last bit of strength to try and detonate his body to take everyone down with him, but he was interrupted by the holy light released by Theresa. The backlash of the spell caused the kobold leader to spit out a mouthful of blood and stagger back a few steps.

With their leader killed in battle, the remaining kobolds inside the cave lost their commander and descended into complete chaos.

Some of the kobolds were so terrified that they dropped their weapons and fled madly into the depths of the cave.

Some continued to resist, but they had lost their former ferocity and were easily killed by the team members.

Moments later, the battlefield was completely quiet. Inside and outside the cave, corpses lay strewn everywhere. Countless kobold corpses covered the ground, and the thick stench of blood mixed with burnt and cold air permeated the entire air.

The team members all looked a little tired at this point.

Killian's armor was stained with blood and dirt, his greatsword was stuck diagonally in the ground, and wisps of white mist were billowing from the gaps in his helmet.

Eris's hair was disheveled, and her face was stained with a few bloodstains, yet she still couldn't hide her arrogance as she slowly and meticulously wiped the bloodstains off her rapier with a silk handkerchief.

Nolan leaned against the rock wall, his face still pale. He held a healing potion in one hand and slowly drank it, while clutching his aching chest with the other.

In contrast, Adele leaped down from the griffin's back, her cheeks flushed from the recent battle, her eyes still brimming with lingering excitement.

Mark and Gray walked side by side toward the cave entrance, where they joined the other team members. They nodded to each other, indicating that everyone was alright.

Before everyone could rest for a moment, Eris spoke first.

"Most of the kobolds here are dead. Let's take advantage of this and hunt down the remaining kobolds in the cave, and loot the treasure of this stronghold while we're at it!"

After saying that, Eris couldn't help but lick his lips, his eyes revealing an undisguised greed.

Kobolds deeply worship dragons and learn their habits, including collecting shiny objects.

This large kobold tribe must contain a considerable amount of treasure.

Eris's words immediately piqued the interest of many people.

Adele's reaction was particularly strong; her eyes gleamed with the light of gold coins as she nodded repeatedly in approval.

Adele, as the daughter of the president of the United Chamber of Commerce, doesn't care about the amount of treasure, but opening the treasure chest is the most crucial part of the adventure, a ritual-like process that must be performed.

But Killian frowned and said in a serious tone.

"No, we still have a mission to complete. We need to open up the underground river as soon as possible. Time is of the essence, and we can't afford to waste too much time here."

"It won't take long!"

Eris immediately retorted, offering a reasoned and well-founded counter-argument.

"If we don't wipe out the remaining kobolds, they might take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack and cut off our retreat once we go deeper into the underground river."

"That would cause even more trouble and waste even more time!"

The others nodded in agreement, agreeing with Eris's point, since no one wanted to leave any potential problems unresolved.

Eris was overjoyed and immediately turned to look at Adele, who was still excitedly standing to the side. He smiled politely and extended his hand in invitation.

"Miss Adele, would you like to come with me on a treasure hunt in the caves? We might find some really good stuff."

Adventure and treasure hunt!

Upon hearing these words, Adele's face flushed even more, and her beautiful eyes frequently glanced at Killian.

The little girl's excitement was palpable, but having always been a good girl, she kept giving frantic hints to the squad leader.

Killian looked at the rest of the team members, his gaze landing on Nolan. Nolan was leaning against the rock wall, clearly still recovering from his internal injuries, but he did not object to the treasure hunt.

Killian then looked at Gray and Mark, who exchanged a glance and nodded slightly.

For adventurers, not looting the treasure chests after defeating monsters is something only a fool would do.

Finally, Killian looked at Theresa, but the paladin kept her eyes closed in prayer, her expression calm, clearly unconcerned about the treasure.

Seeing that no one had any objections, Killian sighed helplessly and had no choice but to give instructions.

"Eris, Adele, Nolan, the three of you go and wipe out the remaining kobolds in the cave."

"As for the treasure, bring it out if you can. Do what you can, don't force it. Meet here in two hours, no more."

"yes!"

The three of them accepted the order in unison and headed deeper into the cave.

Killian watched as the figures of the others disappeared into the darkness.

Killian wasn't worried about anything happening to these guys. Despite how hard they fought, none of them used their trump cards; they were just playing to their usual standard.

At the same time, Killian deliberately placed Nolan in the treasure-hunting team so that this believer in justice could monitor and check the other two, and prevent them from hiding all the treasure.

Killian then turned to Gray and gave him instructions.

"Grey, go contact Madeline and tell her that we have dealt with the kobold tribe and that they should send their logistics personnel to pick us up as soon as possible to prepare for the subsequent work of opening up the underground river."

"Okay, sure."

Gray nodded in agreement and immediately used his flight spell, taking off into the air and flying towards the distance, quickly disappearing into the dense forest.

Then, Killian looked at Mark and said in a deep voice.

"This kobold leader was killed by the three of us: you, Theresa, and me."

As he spoke, Kiri paused and looked at Theresa, who ignored him completely, so he could only shrug and say something.

"But now it seems that only you and I will be left to split it."

Just then, Mark pointed to the corpse of the kobold leader and made a suggestion.

"You can have everything on it, but I can have the body. What do you think?"

'

""

Killian paused for a moment before speaking.

"So you want to collect specimens again?"

Mark looked embarrassed and could only respond.

"Uh...that's right."