The Fool's Freedom

It was more than an hour before he heard noises from the tunnel leading to the kobold-infested cave. If he strained, he could hear them, despite the distance, not that it would do him any good.

Are they calling for the guards? Good luck with that.

He took a deep breath and gripped his daggers. He would not miss again.

There was some more shouting before he heard the sounds come closer and closer. The slightest of sounds carried far due to the acoustics of the cave.

Alan suddenly had a thought. He took out the cube and whispered.

“Hey, Xil, wake up. I need you.”

There was a pause before he felt the connection reach for his mind, and he allowed it.

“The FUCK do you want?!” The demon’s voice sounded as annoyed as ever. Someone’s grumpy.

“Calm down. I need you to be useful. Make me silent and when the kobolds die, make them silent, all right? I don’t need gurgling or clanking weapons or even screams. This goddamn cave is a megaphone.”

“For fuck’s sake, it’s just some kobolds. They are as low as worms, and you need MY help? Maybe it was better if I stayed with the freak… And the fuck is a megaphone?”

“I can still throw you back into the tunnels if you want.”

“Ugh, fine. [Soundless] works about a meter around my prison, so you need to get close.”

Well, that would be tricky. Alan had assumed the demon could just cast it wherever it wished.

“Start now,” Alan said and prepared his daggers, then left the right one on the ground before him, and took out the cube again.

“What are you doing?!” Xil raged.

Alan didn’t answer as he threw the demon straight at the kobolds who were just coming into view, then followed closely behind slashing with his daggers.

The kobolds were surprised to be under an assault of shadow blades. The first died instantly, while the second managed to dodge only to have his legs cut off by a low blade. The third and last one seemed like it was screaming as it turned to run, but not a sound came out.

Alan made it just in time and his daggers sank in the kobold’s back.

You have slain Lesser Kobold (14)

You have slain Lesser Kobold (14)

You have slain Lesser Kobold (12)

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” the demon screamed in his mind.

“Relax, it worked, didn’t it? I want to keep the ones up top guessing.” Alan replied and once again cleaned his daggers into the corpses’ clothes. “Besides, throwing you around does nothing to you. Stop being so dramatic.”

“I will show you dramatic, I swear one day I will claw your eyes out and shove them up your-,”

Alan interrupted the connection and got to work. He dragged the kobold bodies down until they were in the small cavern where he had killed the first two guards. He couldn’t do much about the blood traces, but hopefully, the next group wouldn’t be smart enough to see them in time. Fat chance.

Too bad these ones didn’t bring down any more food. The cheese was not so bad after all, even if it did create some discomfort in his belly which was gone by now. [Warlock’s Body Mastery] had many applications and the digestion one felt like it would shine in this new world. He could shelve one of his biggest fears – death by space diarrhea.

It took much less time before some more noises carried through the tunnel. There was no talking this time, but the clanking of weapons and the dull thuds of clawed limbs on stone were telling enough.

Alan stood up and prepared.

“Ready, Xil?”

“I swear to all the demonic lords, if you throw me among kobolds again I will kill us both when I get out of here.”

“You should look into some work on Broadway.”

“What-“

“Shh, here they come. Do your thing.”

In but a moment all sound around him disappeared. He hadn’t considered how suppressing true silence was until he met the demon.

As he stood still behind the corner, illuminated only by the soft blue light from the moon beetles, Alan felt excitement. He couldn’t hear the beats of his heart, but he could feel them and the silence only made them more noticeable. He loved this sense of danger and life and death. Spending too long clicking on a keyboard in an office with people you barely stand made psychopaths of the best of people. Not that Alan had ever been close to a ‘best’ person or even a decent one. He had tried to be fair but had his struggles. Being ‘nice’ was too much energy he couldn’t spare.

Alan watched with one eye from behind his cover. There was movement and one of the kobolds peeked making Alan grip his dagger, ready to throw a [Shadow Slash]. Alan stopped himself as what appeared was one of the staff-wielders. He quickly pulled back.

Fuck.

Risk it or not? Could [Shadow Slash] penetrate the barrier Ashlyn’s arrow had broken? It cut off limbs quite easily, so there would most likely be no issues there.

Alan decided to wait until they reached him and stuck close to the corner. His palms were sweaty now and the kobolds seemed to be taking their sweet time.

“They noticed the blood. Good job, asshole,” the demon whispered in his mind.

“Yeah, well, I couldn’t fucking scrub the tunnel floor now, could I?” Alan barked back.

He was too afraid to ask the demon to drop his skill so he could hear them approaching, so he just stared to his left, gripping his daggers, ready to kill the first kobold who made it through – which would hopefully be the magical one.

They seemed to have more brains than that though as two shield-wielding kobolds barreled into the small room, throwing Alan’s plan into chaos.

He reacted almost automatically before they saw him and before he had time to think things through, and threw two casts of [Shadow Slash] at their backs, hoping to get both, before turning and slashing out another two into the tunnel where the staff-wielding kobold was.

The demon’s spell didn’t do him any favors this time around as he had no idea if his skill had hit the shield kobolds left behind him.

You have slain Lesser Kobold (12)

Only one kill notification. Fuck. No time.

The [Shadow Slash] he had sent against the mage kobold hit the familiar brown-tinted barrier and dissipated without even breaking it. Alan cursed, where was the logic in that?! The mage seemed to bark something and one of the kobolds turned around and ran back up the tunnel, probably to call for backup.

This is going to shit.

“Stop the skill, I need sound.”

Alan and the mage kobold were staring down at each other as noise returned a moment later and he heard whimpering behind him. He turned sideways and threw a glance to see what was going on with the kobolds that had rushed in.

One looked very dead; its torso was almost split from the back. The other was whimpering and bleeding, its arm was gone a bit below the shoulder. It seemed to be in too much pain and shock to retaliate.

Alan slowly returned one of the daggers in its sheath on his belt and took his spear from where it was leaning on the wall. Taking a few steps back he jabbed it into the whimpering kobold, ending its life.

You have slain Lesser Kobold (10)

The rest were bundled up in the tunnel and didn’t react at all at the sight of the execution. There were six of them, with probably more on the way. It didn’t change the fact that they could come only two at a time due to the narrowness of the tunnel. Even that would be a challenge if they were bigger.

There seemed to be a stalemate. Alan considered rushing in and taking advantage of the length of his system-provided spear, but they also carried spears, even if theirs were shorter. Still, if he could hit the mage with [Synaptic Failure] and take it out he wouldn’t lose to the rest of them.

Alan grinned. He tried to put some mana into both his legs and arms, giving him speed to rush up and strength to crush the barrier. It didn’t work as the mana fizzled out when it had to boost more than one body part, leaving him tingling.

Should have tested that earlier. It was not a large loss of mana, but it was still a loss.

Alan boosted his legs and gripped his spear with one hand, putting it under his armpit. He rushed in, surprising the still-waiting kobolds, and swung the dagger in his other hand vertically, sending a vertical [Shadow Slash] in front of him. It hit the barrier of the mage. A second one shattered it.

He was close enough now and [Synaptic Failure] went out. He felt the skill connect and the mage dropped its staff, looking bewildered as the spear sank into its chest, sending the kobold back into the rest of the group.

You have slain Lesser Earth Kobold (16)

There was screaming and growling as the tight space made it difficult for them to respond to the attack.

Alan didn’t wait as he continued his charge, awkwardly moving around the dead body. His spear found another kobold and a [Shadow Slash] wounded a third. He threw more blades of shadow almost without reason or rhyme as aiming was not needed in the tight tunnel.

It was a slaughter.

You have slain Lesser Kobold (14)

You have slain Lesser Kobold (12)

You have slain Lesser Kobold (12)

You have slain Lesser Kobold (11)

Alan breathed heavily, his mana was running low now, but he heard the clamoring around the corner. They were coming. No going back now.

The bodies were making it difficult to move and he opted to jump over them and get it over with.

Another group of kobolds carrying bows was coming towards him and seemed startled to see him. They wanted to shoot at him, eh? A bit too late.

The other mage was not there. Alan didn’t have enough mana for a second [Synaptic Failure] as that would leave him dangerously close to running out and possibly fainting.

He rushed at the new group, deciding to just rely on his new stats and conserve mana. [Shadow Slash] was his best weapon, allowing him to surprise the monsters and kill some without them being able to get near him.

His spear stab met a shield, but he pulled it back and made a low swipe, tripping a few of the kobolds, before dropping the spear and pulling out his other dagger.

[Shadow Slash] rained upon the kobolds, leaving no chance for retaliation. Some dodged, others managed to hide or use the falling corpses of their comrades for cover.

Alan felt his mana get worryingly low, but he would rather do that than fight up close, even if he was currently superior to the kobolds. He had no idea how to fight, much less with two daggers.

The spear at least, was quite simple, but it was of no use here.

Alan stopped and took a breath. Another six kobolds lay dead at his feet, but there was even more clamoring up the tunnel. He was close to the exit now.

He picked up his spear and carefully dodged the corpses.

What should he do now? Mana was low, but he couldn’t fight them out in the wider cave, where they would be able to flank and beat him with numbers.

“Could really use some help here, Xil? I’m running low on mana and ideas.”

“You can always go back in the darkness, rest, try again. I’d love it if you died, but falling into kobold’s possession would be even worse than speaking to you,” the demon replied.

“They might barricade the tunnel if I do that. I don’t want to have to run around searching for another exit to the surface.”

“Would you rather waste a mana stone? Do you know how precious those things are?!”

Right! I have mana stones.

“Thanks, Xil,” Alan replied.

“Wait, no!”

Alan ignored the demon and picked one out of the bag. It took him only a few seconds to figure out how to pull the mana out and into himself. It was a refreshing stream of energy that made him feel amazing. He stopped just short of being full, as having too much mana would probably cause a different sort of problems.

The stone visibly dimmed, but there was still a lot left in it.

“This feels good,” Alan couldn’t help but say.

“Do you know what the fuck you just did?! Why do you never listen!”

“What’s the big deal?”

“Well, first of all, sucking mana into yourself from unknown sources is a great way to get mana poisoning. And mana poisoning is a death sentence.”

Alan felt a shiver run down his spine. Would [Mortal Peril] warn him if he was about to make such a fatal mistake? He hoped it would, otherwise, what was the point? It was probably fine this time, Ig had used them this way.

The demon continued, “Second, mana stones are one of the most universally precious things. It is condensed mana! And you wasted it as if it was water. Your human arrogance and stupidity know no bounds! No bounds!”

That was it? It was precious? The mana poisoning part did sound genuinely important.

I should stop eating and drinking the weird things I find.

“Oh, well, I will tell you if I feel mana sick. Now go to sleep.” Alan cut the connection and prepared for the big battle.

He considered asking the demon to make everything silent again, but there seemed to be little point. The kobolds were surely expecting him.

He reached the hole leading to the kobold cave and peeked carefully, ready to duck anytime. An arrow passed just above his head and stuck the rock wall behind him. He heard a few more hit the stone around the tunnel opening.

Yep. They were ready.

Alan took out his second and last Arzuan Field Healing Stimulant carefully unscrewed the vial and wedged it between his cheek and teeth.

He was ready too. He went back and took two of the circular wooden shields from the dead kobolds. With some struggle, he affixed one to his left arm with the leather strap attached to it, gripped his spear, and checked his daggers. He left his bag behind in the tunnel, it would only get in the way.

When all was ready, Alan threw the second shield as hard as he could to one side and almost instantly heard some screeching and the twanging sound of bowstrings.

That was his cue, as he rushed out.