Chapter 163: Miscount

Red arrived close to the kobold’s camp. He didn’t immediately get closer to launch his raid on them. He squatted and looked down, looking through the tiny gaps in the canopy.

’How should I do it?’ He thought to himself.

Without a doubt, he would start with the Fireball, but Fireball would immediately expose his position. That was what he needed to think about. What should he do after getting exposed?

The Elite Kobold Archer’s capability was still unknown. He was worried that they might be able to track him once his location was found. That was his concern about the Elite Kobold Archers.

’I am faster than the Elite Kobold Fighter, so maybe I should be fine.’

Red convinced himself so, and he was about to make his way on top of the kobolds, but he changed his mind. He moved around, making his way to the back of the kobolds. He was five trees away from the rearmost of the kobolds.

Then he climbed to the second-lowest branch and got a clear look at the enemy with little obstruction. That was when he realized that he made a mistake in the counting. There were thirty five Elite Kobold Archers instead of twenty-five, and there were around seventy Elite Kobold Fighters.

There were two possibilities. One, he miscounted their numbers because of his limited vision. That might happen even though he was pretty confident the number was right. Second, the additional elite kobolds might be the reinforcement that he was worried about.

He made a good choice to attack them from behind instead of from the top. This was because the Elite Kobold Archers were positioned at the rearmost. In front of the elite archers were the Elite Kobold Fighters, separating the archers and the normal kobolds.

The problem was that one fireball would be far from enough to wipe out the Elite Kobold Archers. That was because they were separated into three different groups instead of clustering together.

Two groups had twelve Elite Kobold Archers, and the last had eleven Elite Kobold Archers.

In the first place, his fireball might not be strong enough to kill them at once. It was worse, as they were split into three groups.

"Seven times mana... I have no choice but to try using seven times mana this time."

He told himself not to hold the fireball longer than three breaths. He should release it the moment the fire formed in his palm.

Red immediately executed his plan right away. He pushed his hand through the canopy and directed the group of twelve Elite Kobold Archers that was in the middle. He drew around 210 mana, and the fire blazed fiercely in his hand.

Initially, the kobolds didn’t notice the fire. They noticed three seconds later, but the Fireball was already fired. A fireball three times the size of a hobgoblin’s head flew toward the Elite Kobold Archer. They didn’t get to react as the fireball hit one of them and detonated.

Red was not going to stay in the same position after firing that fireball. He already moved, climbing up higher. He circled the kobold from the left. The only thing that he felt was the shock wave that shot upward, which was followed by the heat. Of course, he saw the orange explosion as well, a glimpse of it.

He could not tell how many died in that fire, but he wished that his fire left the bodies if the fire really killed the kobolds.

He stayed at the highest branch, completely obscured by several layers of canopy. Just as they could not find him, he also could not see what happened down there. He could imagine the chaotic situation down there, how the kobolds panicked.

’Ah, we forgot to discuss when they should attack the kobolds.’

Red was reminded that there was no conversation about when the Chief should attack the kobolds. Should they attack in the first explosion, or the second explosion, or even wait until his return? That was not discussed. His task was to kill the Elite Kobold Archer, but it was hard to kill them all at once.

’Whatever, that’s their problem, not mine. Just focus on your task!’

He told himself to keep things simple. It was their decision whether they wanted to attack now or wait for his report.

’What should I do now? Should I start hunting them down with my spear and arrow, or should I wait for the thirty-second cooldown?’

It would be safer to wait for the thirty-second cooldown. There were still twenty-three Elite Kobold Archers. On top of that, there might be Elite Kobold Archers who survived his fire as well. He really had no way of knowing what happened down there.

’Let’s wait thirty seconds. It’s not that long!’

Red closed his eyes, trying to focus on his hearing. He might not be able to see them, but he could hear. It couldn’t give him accurate information, but it could give him a picture of what happened down there.

A lot of footsteps and the kobolds’ hissing screams echoed. The crackling fire burned the tree’s roots. With no Kobold Chief around, no one could pacify the panicked kobolds quickly.

At the same time, he counted in his head for his fireball cooldown. He purposely counted up to thirty-two seconds just to be safe. Only then did he start to climb down.

He could tell the situation below was still chaotic, as he could still hear the kobolds’ loud voices echoing, to the point of screaming.

This time he stopped at the third lower branch, pushed the canopy to check the situation. He could only see glimpses of movement, chaotic movement as they kept moving around.

Red climbed down once more to the second lowest branch. Only then did he finally get a clear look at what happened. The Chief made his move, and they were already halfway to the jungle after taking advantage of the chaotic situation. The Chief decided to strike after the first fireball.

He could imagine what happened. It must be the Fool who instigated the attack now because of his deal with the Chief. The Fool would not want him to get a lot of loot.

That was a possibility, but it might be the Chief as well. The Fool might want him to fight alone, getting himself killed in the process. That was why the Fool proposed the idea to the Chief that he should kill the Elite Kobold Archer by himself.

Regardless of the reason, the Chief attacked now, actually helping him. The kobolds focused on the incoming enemy, and that gave him another opening.