Chapter 164: Second Battle (1)

Red took the risk to go down to the lowest branch. With the distraction provided by the Chief, they seemed to focus on what came from the village. He finally got to see the clear look of the aftermath.

He made the right decision to shoot the fireball at the group in the middle. That split the kobold force into two, left and right. Meanwhile, his fire left a scorched mark between the two split groups. The fire spread out and was still burning.

He looked for the Elite Kobold Archers. They were his target. There were supposed to be two teams left, and they were his target. It didn’t take long to find them.

The Elite Kobold Archers were still positioned at the rearmost, but there was an additional group. The normal Kobold Archers. They were tasked with watching the Elite Kobold Archers’ backs. It was apparent because they were keeping watch behind. However, those kobold archers didn’t look up at the tree, meaning they didn’t yet know the fire came from above. They seemed to be expecting the attack coming from the ground.

Now that Red thought about it. He quickly ran away after firing his fireball. They were all focused on the fireball, and no one spotted him.

He focused on the kobold group on the left, the closest one to him. He counted the number, and there were only twelve Elite Kobold Archers. That was a surprise, a pleasant one, as he expected a few Elite Kobold Archers to survive.

"Or maybe the survivors are on the other side." He muttered while looking at the right group.

His guess was right; there was one survivor. There were supposed to be eleven Elite Kobold Archers in that group, but there were twelve in total. That meant one survived his fireball.

’Charge the fire and shoot it right away! Then I will start hunting the last group one by one!’

He planned the next move already and quickly executed his plan before the Chief arrived. If the goblins were around, he would be forced not to use his fireball anymore. Unless he planned to wipe the goblins as well.

Red quickly acted on his move, directing his right hand at the group of Elite Kobold Archers. He drew another 210 mana from his body, guiding it to his palm. The bright fire swirled in his palm, forming the fireball.

The normal kobold archers were on alert, and they immediately found the fire. They made hissing noises, notifying the others. The fireball didn’t stay long in his hand as it flew toward the Elite Kobold Archers.

Red immediately ran after firing the fireball. He moved to the next tree and started to climb to the higher branch. He reminded himself to move to the higher branch, ensuring he remained unnoticed.

[Fireball has reached level 7!]

Then he heard the explosion of his fireball behind him at the same time as his notification. He swatted the notification and kept going, holding his bow in his left hand. That was when he saw the healed pink scar on his left forearm.

That was the wound he received two days ago when he tried to lure the kobolds in the village to the ambush. He would forget that he received a wound if he didn’t accidentally see the scar. He was surprised by how quick the wound healed. Especially when he didn’t even give the wound proper care.

Red went to the other side of the group and slowly made his way to the lower branch. The explosion at the left side group created chaos in the right side group. That caused confusion among the kobolds. Especially when they didn’t have a proper leader with absolute authority like the Chief. No one could control the chaos.

Even the Elite Kobold Fighter panicked because they could not see their enemy. The fireball caused devastating damage, and they didn’t know where it came from or who caused it.

With his current Dexterity and the blessing bonus, he quickly arrived at the other side. He quickly positioned himself with a line of sight on two Elite Kobold Archers. The vision was limited; all he could see was their dark cloak because he was on the third-lowest branch.

He took a deep breath and drew his first arrow. This time he didn’t coat his arrow with mana. He used up 420 mana within a minute, and he felt like he should reserve the mana. The battle just started, and there might be more kobolds showing up later on.

On top of that, his target didn’t wear a helmet, just like the Elite Kobold Fighter. The cloak was all they had. His upgraded version of the arrow should be able to pierce that cloak. That was how he came to the decision not to coat his arrow with mana.

The Chief and his army were drawing closer to the jungle. He could hear their battle cries approaching. The kobolds forced themselves to be more organized to welcome the enemy, and the Elite Kobold Archers stopped moving around. They were an easy target because they stood on top of the root as a platform.

He understood why they did so. They wanted to stand on higher ground so they could shoot the incoming army.

Red could only see the dark cloak, but he could not tell whether it was the head or the body. He could only guess where the head was. The first arrow shot and hit. There was no way he was going to miss a stationary target.

The kobold fell from the root face first. The second arrow was ready in his bow, but he saw his first target getting back up. That meant he aimed too low. He could still see his second target, and he aimed a little bit higher this time.

His second shot was also a hit, but this time he didn’t check whether his target was getting up again. He was already looking for another position while maintaining the height on the third branch.

The moment he got a vision of the Elite Kobold Archer, he started to shoot them again. Even if it meant just one Elite Kobold Archer, he kept moving afterward, whether it was a kill or just a hit. His job was to make the Elite Kobold Archers busy while the Chief struck the kobolds from the front.

By the time of his sixth shot, he was on the second branch. He managed to hit six Elite Kobold Archers. Death or not, they were wounded. That was when the Chief clashed with the kobold frontline. What surprised him was the fact that the Chief led the assault.

The Chief leaped, covering a massive distance, and entered the jungle, landing among the Elite Kobold Fighters. That was the start of the clash.