Chapter 107: A Kobold Temple? 2

“A trick?”

Daphne stared at Kent in astonishment, repeating his words in a low voice.

“Alright, then. You stay here, little girl. I’ll go down and take a look myself.”

With that, Kent turned and started back toward the passage behind them.

Truthfully, he did not want to take Daphne with him.

But at the same time, he could not bring himself to leave her alone here.

After thinking it over, Kent decided that the safest option would be to temporarily seal the passage behind her with earth-element magic.

As for exactly how he was going to do that...

he had only the beginnings of an idea.

Daphne froze for a moment when she heard what he intended to do.

Then she hurried forward and threw her arms around him.

“No!”

Her voice had gone hoarse with emotion.

“You can’t leave me behind! I’m going with you!”

“Uh...”

Kent went completely still.

Daphne’s sudden reaction caught him so thoroughly off guard that, for the first time, he began to feel that the relationship between the two of them might not be quite as simple as he had assumed.

He let out an awkward sound and stared at her.

After all, Daphne was not even an adult yet.

And she was a dark elf at that—a race supposedly famous for elegance, pride, and aloofness.

At this moment, however, Kent suddenly felt like some suspicious middle-aged man being clung to by a young girl.

Except this was not a creepy uncle trying to lure a little girl away by promising to show her the goldfish.

It was the little girl herself crying and insisting that she wanted to come along.

“Alright, alright.”

Kent finally gave up trying to persuade her.

“But if we’re going together, we need to prepare properly first.”

In truth, he did not want to leave Daphne here by herself either.

If something happened to her while he was gone, regret would come far too late.

“Alright.”

A deep blush spread across Daphne’s cheeks.

She lowered her head shyly and answered in a tiny voice.

Looking at her embarrassed expression, Kent could only sigh inwardly.

The truth was, he was not entering the temple simply because of curiosity.

He was being forced into it by circumstance.

The passage they were in was effectively a dead end.

One route led back the way they had come.

Kent did not even need to consider that option.

Given how vindictive high-level magical beasts could be, the Hellhound was unlikely to leave the area for at least two or three months.

The other branch of the passage almost certainly led toward the Earth Lizard pack.

Kent had no desire whatsoever to face them again.

So entering the temple was not an impulsive decision.

He had chosen it only after observing the area for a long time and weighing the risks.

More importantly, Kent had noticed something extremely strange.

Even the kobold priests themselves either did not dare enter the temple—or simply could not.

And those priests possessed one particularly convenient weakness.

They wore no armor.

To Kent, that made them considerably easier opponents than something like the heavily scaled Earth Lizard leader.

“But... how are we supposed to get down there?”

Daphne walked to the edge and looked down.

The cavern floor lay nearly two hundred meters below them.

She stared at the enormous drop, then turned toward Kent with a puzzled expression.

No matter how hard she thought about it, she could not imagine any safe way for the two of them to descend.

Hearing Daphne’s question, Kent suddenly reached down toward his boots and waist as though performing a magic trick.

A moment later, several lengths of snow-white thread appeared in his hands.

He connected the three sections together, then removed several decorative metal rings from his boots. With a few quick movements, he fashioned them into a simple descending rig.

“Snow Spider silk?”

Daphne studied the white strands in his hands and asked uncertainly.

“Smart.”

Kent did not hold back his praise.

The smug expression on his face made it obvious how pleased he was with himself.

Snow Spiders were Level Five magical beasts.

They did not live in groups, and they were dangerous in nearly every respect. They possessed powerful venom, enormous bodies, and an uncanny ability to appear without warning.

Their favorite hunting method was to descend from above and kill their prey before it even realized what was happening.

Their bodies were covered in white, which was how they had earned the name Snow Spiders.

But their silk was even more valuable than the creatures themselves.

Snow Spider silk was extraordinarily tough and was considered one of the finest materials for weaving protective under-armor.

By sheer luck, Kent had managed to purchase three lengths of it before the Great Trial.

Each section was more than a hundred meters long.

He had folded two of them several times and used them as leg wraps, while the third had been wound around his waist.

Originally, Kent had intended to collect enough Snow Spider silk to make himself a mage’s robe.

Unfortunately, a proper robe would require at least ten full lengths of silk.

Since he had nowhere near enough, Kent had eventually started thinking of other possible uses for the material.

Rope was indispensable during exploration.

With that in mind, he had forged several refined-iron rings to go with the silk.

He had never expected that the improvised equipment would one day become so useful.

Kent secured one end of the Snow Spider silk around a protruding rock inside the passage.

Then he pulled on it several times with all his strength.

It held firm.

Satisfied, he explained to Daphne how to use the makeshift descent device.

Afterward, he tossed the remaining length of silk over the edge.

Kent carefully scanned the cavern floor once again.

There were still no kobolds anywhere nearby.

Only then did he begin sliding down.

The descent went far more smoothly than expected.

Daphne followed soon afterward.

Once both of them reached the bottom, Kent secured the lower end of the silk as well.

Then, without wasting another second, he took Daphne with him and hurried toward the temple.

“Woooooo—”

Kent had barely set foot on the outer edge of the temple grounds when a strange, mournful sound suddenly echoed through the cavern.

His expression changed instantly.

The next moment, kobolds all around the area seized their crude weapons and began charging toward them, shrieking at the tops of their lungs.

And they were frighteningly fast.

“Daphne, hurry! Into the temple!”

Kent cursed inwardly as he shouted.

Daphne hesitated for only a heartbeat before sprinting toward the temple entrance.

The only weapon she had now was Kent’s remaining refined-steel dagger.

Fortunately, Daphne was an Arcane Archer.

Her usual close-combat weapon was a slender sword, so although a dagger was far from ideal, she could still use it well enough.

Kent, meanwhile, was thoroughly frustrated.

The entire ground around the temple was paved with smooth stone slabs.

The instant he stepped onto them, he had felt that something was wrong.

But before he could react, an old piece of knowledge suddenly surfaced in his mind.

An alarm array.

This was one of the simplest warning systems used in the Underdark.

And he had walked straight onto it.

Dozens of kobolds stationed around the area were now pouring toward them from every direction.

Fortunately, none of them appeared to be carrying crossbows or other ranged weapons.

Unless, of course, one counted the elderly kobold mages who looked as though they could barely walk.

Kent made his decision almost immediately.

Their best chance of survival was inside the temple.

The last thing he wanted was to be chased through the Underdark by an entire horde of kobolds.

Strictly speaking, that was already happening.

But at least here, the cavern was brightly illuminated and he could clearly see his surroundings.

If they fled into one of the nearby tunnels instead, Kent had no idea how many more kobolds might be waiting in the darkness.

So there was only one reasonable choice.

Get inside the temple.

As fast as possible.

“Thud! Clang!”

“Damn it! You bastards—why are you throwing your weapons at us?!”

Kent cursed furiously as he ran.

In their desperation to stop Kent and Daphne from reaching the temple, the kobolds had begun hurling their weapons at them.

Clearly, most of them had little experience throwing weapons.

Blades, clubs, and other crude weapons flew through the air, but the majority missed their targets completely and clattered uselessly across the stone floor.

Unfortunately, Kent was not quite lucky enough to avoid all of them.

A dagger struck him squarely on the head.

“Ow!”

Kent reached up and quickly felt the spot.

No blood.

Good.

That did not stop him from cursing even more viciously, though his feet never slowed for an instant.

The problem was that they were still several hundred meters from the temple entrance.

And now angry kobold cries were echoing from the far side of the temple as well.

They were being surrounded.

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Kent raised a hand and fired two Wind Blades at a kobold blocking their path.

For some reason, ever since he had learned to compress his Wind Blades, every cast produced that same sharp whistling sound as the blades tore through the air.

“AOOOH—!”

The massive kobold warrior ahead let out a miserable howl.

A moment later—

“THUD!”

It crashed heavily onto the stone floor.

The kobold was at least a Level Five warrior.

Under ordinary circumstances, that would have made it a dangerous opponent.

But the kobold warriors gathered around the temple were not wearing armor.

And Kent had never aimed his Wind Blades at the warrior’s torso in the first place.

He had aimed for its bare feet.

“Heh. That’s what you get for standing in my way.”

Kent rushed past the fallen kobold and glanced down as he went.

Most of one foot had been sliced open by the Wind Blades, exposing pale bone beneath the wound.

For some reason, the sight sent a faint rush of excitement through Kent.

Along with it came a grim sense of satisfaction.

Served him right.