Chapter 38: The Corpse-Run Advance

The kobold chief was a kobold born and raised in the Spider Nest.

He'd crawled out of his egg a whole size bigger than your average kobold, kept growing as he aged, and eventually became the tribe's new chief.

He'd inherited the tribe's finest iron hammer and suit of armor from the old chief, and led his people in a peaceful life in the Spider Nest. The subterranean spiders did the hunting; the kobolds ate what the spiders left over, or ate the old and sick spiders — perfectly standard kobold living.

Until one day, a pack of lunatic goblins arrived in the Spider Nest.

At first, these lunatic goblins killed themselves like it was a competitive sport, nourishing the entire Spider Nest with their own flesh. Even the kobold tribe — normally strict about population control — wound up with an embarrassment of food, and the kobold chief personally laid two whole clutches of kobold eggs.

But just as they were ready to welcome the tribe's newest members, a problem surfaced.

At some point — nobody knew exactly when — the goblins had started slaughtering subterranean spiders en masse. They killed spiders by day, killed spiders by night, killed spiders in their sleep. And as the spiders grew fewer and fewer, the goblins pushed deeper and deeper into the Spider Nest. The kobold chief's instincts told him this could not go on. At this rate the subterranean spiders would be hunted clean out of existence, and then the tribe would have no stable food source.

He mustered his tribe's most elite warriors and charged out.

And the spider-slaughtering lunatic goblins formed up a legion of their own, meeting them head-on at the Spider Nest entrance.

This was a warrior's honor. The glory of the tribe!

The kobold chief charged without a heartbeat's hesitation, and with his warriors behind him he hammered those goblins into the dirt like dry kindling. They collected the goblins' weapons and armor as trophies. Victory belonged to the kobolds!

If he hadn't sensed some powerful creature lurking nearby, the kobold chief would've marched his warriors straight to the goblins' home base and torn the whole thing down!

After the win, the tribe's most knowledgeable member — the only old kobold who could understand the Underworld common tongue — held a victory sacrifice ceremony for them. Mid-ceremony, the goblins came AGAIN. Bare-chested this time, charging in like rabid dogs to throw their lives away.

The kobold chief took it for tribute. The goblins had finally known fear! They were begging forgiveness with their very lives, so their lowly tribe might be permitted to scrape on!

Hah, goblins.

After these several great battles, the tribe's most knowledgeable member — the only old kobold who understood the Underworld common tongue — made a solemn proclamation:

"The goblins have submitted! They fear you, and they name you — KRAMO!"

Per the old kobold, "Kramo" meant "the most terrifying existence in the Underworld."

Believe it or not — Kobold Chief Kramo sure did.

From that day on, the whole tribe hailed him by his new name: Kramo! His name would be carved into kobold history forever — Kramo, the brave warrior!

Then the goblins came back yet again, and the one out front bellowed: "BASTARDS!"

This displayed chapter came from where the author publishes the story, but the copying was not approved.

Kobold Chief Kramo, who understood not one word of the Underworld common tongue, turned a questioning look on the old kobold beside him. What were these goblins here for this time? More self-sacrifice?

The old kobold deliberated a moment, then pronounced:

"It is praise. He is exalting the chief in words of tribute. Though judging by how armed to the teeth they appear, they likely wish for a decisive battle."

Kobold Chief Kramo was honestly starting to like these goblins. A call to battle was one thing the chief never refused — he hefted his iron hammer and charged bravely out.

His opening swing hammered the goblin who'd been praising him flat into the ground, and his backswing launched the goblin beside him into the air — that one's breastplate caved in from the blow, and he went flying, coughing blood and howling:

"Damn it! My armor's busted AGAIN. More money down the drain on repairs!"

Kobold Chief Kramo couldn't understand it, but he could probably guess — more praise for him.

After the chief felled enemy after enemy, the goblins began to withdraw, dragging their companions' corpses off, not daring to linger a single second. Kramo wanted to give chase, but sensing that powerful presence in the distance, he stopped himself.

When Kramo turned round to lead his tribe home, he found they'd taken losses — some warriors downed by arrows, some cut down dead. The battle between kobold and goblin had gone to the kobolds, but it hadn't come free.

But Kramo knew these were glorious sacrifices. Their souls would be received by the ancestors, and their flesh, after a baptism of holy fire, would be barbecued and eaten.

And then, the very next day — the goblins came rolling back in.

This time, too, Kramo fought with peerless valor, but his warriors took further losses, and the goblins, after losing half their number, pulled back once more.

Kramo sensed something was off. These goblins simply would not run out. Who WAS their mother, and how was she this fertile?

The situation was looking dicey for the kobolds. Surveying the single-digit headcount left around him, Kramo consulted the old kobold, who deliberated a moment and pronounced:

"We have achieved a great victory. Now is the moment to ride our momentum and strategically advance deeper into the Spider Nest."

It sounded perfectly reasonable to Kramo. He marshaled his surviving warriors to head back into the nest's depths — but the moment they reached the entrance, they found it sealed behind a magic barrier. There was no getting through.

And while Kramo was searching for a way to breach the magic barrier, those goblins — those goblins who seemed to multiply without limit — came AGAIN!

Kramo gripped his iron hammer tight. No fear in him whatsoever. Look — another batch of opponents worth killing had arrived!

——————————————

Sharlock found the never-say-die fighting will these goblins had displayed thoroughly entertaining. Whether he'd use them later to make money, to conquer dungeons, or simply to get them through the main quest he'd posted, there was no reason to let those kobolds back into the depths of the Spider Nest.

Sharlock had laid a magic barrier over the Spider Nest entrance, leaving the kobolds no way back inside — nothing to do but pace around out front.

The players' operation was a resounding success. The forums christened this style of push — the Corpse-Run Advance.

In three short days, they ran four waves of near-suicidal combat, grinding the kobold warriors down piece by piece. Now, at the Spider Nest entrance, there stood exactly one lonely figure: Kobold Chief Kramo.

They even mounted a dedicated operation just to recover the weapons and gear scattered across the ground.

On the forums, 【xX_ShadowBlade_Xx】 tallied up in exacting detail what the Corpse-Run Advance against the kobold tribe had cost the players over those three days — deaths per battle, armor and weapon repair bills, gear wrecked mid-fight, gear wrecked beyond repair and rebought, the works. The grand total: nearly fifty thousand copper coins torched in three days, just about wiping out the collective life savings of all hundred beta testers.

The immediate knock-on effect was the currency rate going vertical — even the whales quit buying up coppers.

Sharlock even caught the players who basically NEVER ground coins — 【Arthur】, 【BurningChestHair】, 【Sylvana】 and their ilk — grinding away like model employees, and the whole dungeon's development hit a growth spurt.

Watching the players grind day and night without letup, Sharlock felt a warm glow of pride.

While the players were hard at it grinding, the carpentry workshop Sharlock had ordered broke ground too. The "Only Pricier" carpenter's house of Frostlake City moved fast — inside a single day they'd thrown up a full woodworking shop, and threw in a whole cartload of short-bow arrows while they were at it, stacked at the core hall's door.

The workshop came out great — fully kitted with everything a workshop needs: a cooking hearth, big stockpots, crucibles, ladles, stirring sticks, spatulas, the works. They even tossed in a complimentary full spice set.

The carpenter himself hadn't arrived yet, though. They'd specifically headhunted the carpenter with the best cooking skills, so he needed some travel time — per the construction stonefolk the "Only Pricier" carpenter's house had sent, about a week till he reported for duty.

Sharlock wasn't sweating it. It was only about a week anyway. Blacksmith Goldmane's workload was brutal, sure — but just for that one week. Somebody was coming to shoulder part of that burden soon enough.

And the beta testers had begun sounding the horns of the final all-out assault on BOSS Kramo.

First, on the forums: speaking for the beta testers, 【xX_ShadowBlade_Xx】 posted a thread titled 【The Kobold Chief Kramo Battle Plan】.

Within a single hour of going up, it had racked up a mountain of clicks and replies. Sharlock clicked in for a look — it opened with a photo of Kobold Chief Kramo mid-hammer-swing, plus one long-distance shot.

Gotta say, purely on photo evidence, the guy had presence.

Then came the body of the post. Sharlock read it through — thorough stuff, honestly.