Chapter 170: Ceaseless Battle (2)

The four Goblin Champions followed his advice, and in fact, they did the work. They destroyed the houses, taking the big chunk of beam that supported the house and piling it up on the missing wall.

The Chief told him to leave the work to them, ordering him to leave to kill those Kobold Scouts. Red didn’t plan to do the labor work with them anyway. He immediately left the village, entering the jungle from the right side.

He took the detour not because he was afraid of meeting the Kobold Scouts that might be close to the village. He took the detour so he could eat his blessing food in peace. After two days of eating that salty and hard meat, he finally got to taste real food again.

The only unfortunate thing was that he didn’t have enough time to truly enjoy the food. He finished them as fast as he could. With this, he was left with five portions, still half of what he brought. But that should be enough to last for another three to five battles.

After filling his stomach, he started to make his move. He climbed up to the highest branch. That was to avoid the Kobold Scouts, as they only stay at the first or second branch most of the time. That was what he learned after an earlier encounter.

To his relief, the Kobold Scouts hadn’t reached the village perimeter yet. He figured out that they might be following the kobold army’s pace. His sword was in his Storage Pouch and his new bow was in his hand. Instead of looking for them, he was waiting for them.

After getting far enough from the village, after around half an hour of running, Red camped on the second-highest branch. He squatted on one knee, a bow in his left hand with an arrow ready on the bow. He closed his eyes, focusing on his hearing. The Kobold Scouts had to pass this path to reach the village.

The jungle was quiet, quiet as usual. That helped his case, and his patience paid off after fifteen minutes of waiting. He heard the rustling noises, the movement that ran through the thick canopy. It was faint at first, and it got clearer.

That was when he opened his eyes and dropped down one more branch. It was hard to see from where he was when the Kobold Scout was in the lowest or second-lowest branch.

"Tch."

He clicked his tongue because it was still hard for him to see from here. He decided to go down one more branch. Each tree usually had seven to nine levels of branches. The tree he was on had eight levels of branches, and he was on the fifth highest branch. For the first time, the thick canopy worked against him.

The rustling noise got clearer, indicating they were getting closer. He started to see their silhouette, but that was not enough for him to shoot. That forced him to go down one more branch, getting down the fourth branch. That was when he saw them, the Kobold Scouts.

Red could only see five of them, but there should be more based on the noise, maybe seven or even eight Kobold Scouts. He drew the bow, pulling it to the maximum stretch. He got a clear sight of one of them and predicted their movement.

He fired the first shot, and he finally got to see his new bow’s performance. His new bow was so powerful that he miscalculated his first shot. Instead of hitting the head, his bow hit the Kobold Scout’s thigh. The shooting speed was incredibly fast.

The arrow went through the thigh and struck the branch. While it didn’t instantly kill the kobold, that shot caused it to fall. It fell forward, falling headfirst. The arrow was not going to kill it, but the fall would.

Red drew his second arrow already, moving to the second target. The falling kobold caused the other to halt their movement, which worked in his favor. He released his second shot with his maximum draw.

The arrow pierced the cloak, went through the head, and struck the thick branch. He was still using his old arrow, the smaller one. Yet it became more destructive than he expected with his new bow. His arrow never went through the skull like that before.

The second kobold fell to the side, falling down. That was when the Kobold Scouts realized that their falling comrades were not a slip; they were being attacked. By the time they realized, Red had already shot his third arrow and taken down one more of their comrades.

The hissing sound resounded in the quiet jungle, warning the other Kobold Scouts they were under attack.

Red already put his bow on his back and moved to change his position. They still didn’t know his position. He moved four trees away from his original position and stood above two Kobold Scouts. After that hissing noise, the Kobold Scouts seemed to regroup.

He stood two branches above them, and these Kobold Scouts were looking around, looking for him. He pulled one spear from his back and took a deep breath.

Red jumped off, landing right between the two kobolds. He held his spear backward and swung it to the neck of the kobold in front of him. He pushed it through until the spear struck the trunk, nailing that one kobold to the trunk. The kobold was trying to scream, but only a gurgling noise could be heard from its mouth.

Red then turned around, kicking the kobold behind him on the calf. That kick brought the last kobold down. His hand already moved, pulling a spear from his back and stabbing the Kobold Scout in the Chest.

The Kobold opened its mouth, about to scream or maybe warn the others. But he didn’t give it the chance to do so as he stomped the kobold in the mouth. Then he pulled the spear and struck the kobold in the head. That killed the kobold right away.

Red then pulled the spear again and stabbed the Kobold Scout that stuck to the trunk. The spear pierced the head, finishing the last kobold.