Eventually, they came to where the first Kobold was. They could hear it in the distance.

  “Alright, it's all you guys now, get in there,” Alex told them, as they started moving towards the sound.

  Feels almost nostalgic being back in here, to where my first fight happened. Damn, I nearly died a lot here. Alex thought.

  Turning the corner of the tunnel, they spotted the Kobold Miner; it was the same as last time.

  Kobold Miner (Level 3)

  Kobolds are a race of lizard-like monsters that prefer to live underground. They're aggressive and devious, known for traps and ambushing unsuspecting adventurers who stumble into their territory. This Kobold variant is among the weakest, focusing solely on mining.

  This was the asshole that bit me last time. I’m half tempted to kill it right now, just for revenge. Alex balled his fist and resisted the urge to shoot magic at it.

  While Alex was lost in thought, the other three had begun moving toward it. The plan was simple. Sarah and Sam would attack it from range with their magic, drawing its attention. When it started moving forward, Derek would use [Charge] to close the distance, then finish it with [Power Strike].

  It was a simple plan. Nothing could go wrong, right?

  None of that worked as they thought. Immediately when they rounded the corner, the Kobold heard them, looked over, and took off running up the tunnel. The creature was shouting barks and hisses, issuing a warning. Panicking, the group followed, while Alex quietly laughed to himself.

  Sam and Sarah quickly started launching their spells at it. [Fireball]s and [Mana Bolt]s soared at the Kobold, slowing its movements from their impacts when it stumbled. They didn’t do much damage to the Kobold, its scales protecting it, but they slowed it enough for Derek to catch up. In range, he used his [Charge] skill. With the distance between them gone, he followed up with a [Power Strike], cutting deeply into the monster.

  They finished the fight quickly after. The level 3 Miner hadn’t been much of a challenge to three people who were similarly leveled.

  When they came up on the next Kobold, they wanted to do the same, but they moved much faster, leaving the Kobold no time to run or react. They killed the small creature with ease.

  Same with the next Kobold Miner. They posed little threat to the group. But Alex knew the next fight would be more challenging for them. It would be against two warriors.

  No one had gained any levels yet, but he knew they would soon. The dungeon monsters would be harder, more numerous, and higher-level from here on.

  Soon, the group saw the two warriors standing guard up ahead.

  Kobold Warrior (Level 4)

  Kobold Warrior (Level 4)

  They followed the same plan as before. Since Derek didn’t have a shield, he couldn’t just walk up and tank them both. Immediately, Sarah and Sam started to throw spells at the warrior on the right. They needed to weaken it as much as possible, while Derek ran to the left one.

  The Kobolds seemed to have a partial resistance to Sam’s fire magic, only leaving a slight singe on their scales. But the force of the fireballs and mana bolts were still harming it.

  Derek engaged the left Kobold, he was slightly faster than the warrior, but not by much. Strength wise they were similar. He was able to keep the creature from landing any blows on him, but he was having trouble finding time to counterattack. They exchanged strike after strike, neither able to hit the other.

  While the tank was busy, the two casters kept peppering the other kobold with magic. When it got close enough to engage them in melee, Sam stepped up with his [Fire Nova], and then immediately activated his [Mage Barrier] to absorb its follow-up attack. The shield looked cracked and was damaged from taking the blow, but it held.

  Hearing a grunt of pain, Alex looked away from the casters, towards Derek. Their stalemate had ended and Derek took a hit to the shoulder, knocking him off balance. It gave the kobold time to stab him in the leg, bringing him to his knees. Before the Kobold could attack him again, he retaliated with his sword, bringing it in a sideways slash towards the warrior's chest, while also activating his [Power Strike]. The blow cut deep into the creature's chest, killing it.

  The casters were still engaged with the other warrior, and it had broken Sam’s Mage Barrier. He was now dancing around, trying to dodge the monster’s axe. Sarah backed away and ran over to check on Derek’s wounds, while Sam kept the Kobold distracted.

  “Bring it here!” Derek called out to him. Sam turned and tried to run over to Derek, but the Kobold was too quick for the mage's low physical stats.

  Alex secretly used his earth magic to raise a small stone, tripping the Kobold. This gave Sam the time to reach his friends. He then removed the stone, so the others didn’t notice. He wasn’t above helping them; he just didn’t want them to rely on him or expect him to rescue them. He needed them to stand on their own feet, confident in their own strength. It was something Alex had to learn inside this same dungeon.

  Once all together, they quickly took it down. With Derek holding off its attacks, it posed minimal threat to them. After it was killed, Sarah focused on healing him, and they all rested, recovered Mana, and checked notifications.

  “Good job, guys. With some equipment and if we can get Derek a shield, you three will be the perfect team,” Alex commented. “Did anyone level up?”

  “Hell yeah,” Sam cheered. “Level three!”

  Sarah smiled, “I did as well!”

  Oh? That’s the first time in a while that she’s smiled. Good, I hope she can get some confidence and enjoy leveling up. I know I do, it's incredible.

  “So I’m not sure what we will do in the next room. It has an outpost in the middle, with fifteen to twenty Kobolds camped out, representing several classes. I was able to slip past without a fight, but I don’t think you all will be able to do that. Any ideas?” he asked them, not sure what they were going to do.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “You’ll need to help us with that, then. But we should do it smartly, not just run into their encampment. You can create some earth walls or pits right here in this tunnel, and we lure them back here, funneling them in.” Derek said, coming up with a plan.

  “Thats a solid plan actually, and I think it would work as long as we are careful about the ranged kobolds,” Alex replied.

  Sam nodded, “Agreed, dude, sounds good to me.”

  “I’m fine with the plan also,” Sarah added.

  Alex stood up. “Alright then, you guys rest for a few. It’ll take me a bit to set up everything, plus I might need to wait on mana.” Alex pulled Zhiva’s staff off his back, planning to take advantage of the slightly reduced mana cost for earth magic spells.

  He walked up the tunnel a bit, towards where he knew the kobolds would be, and started channeling his [Earth Magic] skill. He raised a bunch of walls in random places, all around 4 feet tall, since he knew the Kobolds were shorter than that. He needed to make sure the ranged ones didn't have a clear line of sight on his team.

  He dug several pits, too, hoping some would fall into them, thinning their numbers. On the walk back, he kept throwing up random walls. Some in the middle, some left, some right. Alex also had the forethought to create some stalactites up on the tunnel ceiling. He figured he could easily drop them on top of the Kobolds later if needed.

  He had to rest a few times, waiting for his mana to recover, but after thirty minutes he had it all done.

  Walking back to the team, Alex let them know he was all finished. “Good to go guys, lets go piss off some kobolds.”

  On the way up to the camp, they discussed a bit more of their plan. When they reached the cavern with the Kobolds, they gathered together and all launched a few attacks. They hoped to weaken some, or maybe even kill a few.

  They focused their assault primarily on support classes, trying to take out a healer or two before the fight began.

  Alex killed a support and a scout quickly by using his magic to create and launch earth spikes into the group. Sarah and Sam were able to kill one of the lower level supports by focusing on it together. Then their group retreated behind their walls, ready for the main fight to begin.

  The large group of Kobolds came running at them in a stampede, footsteps causing a drumming roar. They were hissing, barking, and clapping their jaws open and closed to make more noise. The sounds were deafening, echoing off the tunnel walls.

  The warriors came first, funneling into the narrow pathways Alex had created. The kobolds were only able to stand two or three wide shoulder-to-shoulder, the rest of them were behind the group, trying to push forward.

  Sam immediately started shooting off fire novas into the group, but quickly had to stop in fear of hitting Derek. Then he backed up and focused on throwing his fireballs instead.

  Sarah only used her mana bolt sparingly, trying to conserve mana for healing.

  Derek was the real MVP, though. He held the frontline and didn’t let any Kobolds get past him. Being larger, he had a more extended reach with his sword, so he was able to harass them if they tried to move up. He did get grazed by an occasional arrow from a scout, or earth spikes and fireballs from mages, but none hit him straight on.

  Alex kept his Eyes of the Cosmos on full blast. He kept an eye out for stealthed scouts while also blocking ranged attacks as best he could, minimizing the damage to Derek. This wasn’t the time to let them fight alone. There were simply too many Kobolds.

  He would raise more walls, use spikes or big rocks to stop arrows and spells from hitting them. Staying close to Derek, he kept his sword in his right hand and staff in his left. If a Kobold pressured Derek too much, he would stab it with his blade or send a spike at it. But he let them do most of the fighting while he focused on defense.

  The first problem came when a sneaky asshole got behind them. He wasn’t sure how the scout had gotten back there, but it did.

  Alex heard Sarah cry out and turned to see that a scout had stabbed her in the back. Sam had quickly helped her by flinging one of his fireballs at the scout before it could attack again.

  How?! He quickly thought, having no time for any more.

  Alex immediately helped by channeling earth magic under its feet and covering its legs in stone so it couldn't move. He didn’t want to kill it; he wanted them to do it themselves and feel more confident.

  God damnit. How did that thing get past me? I was watching with my [Eyes of the Cosmos] ability. How did I miss it?

  Focusing back on the front when he saw Sarah healing herself, Alex decided to take out some of the backline. Before he could, though, he skewered another stealthed scout with a large earth spike he had spotted trying to sneak up on them.

  Stupid rogues, he thought. Still seething at his mistake.

  Reaching for the stalactites he had created, he began dropping them onto a group. Followed by him, throwing a bunch of premade earth spikes into the air, and launching them into the backline of Kobolds.

  It took them another ten minutes to finish off all of the creatures. The scout had stabbed Sarah, and Derek had taken a beating on the frontline. He had some cuts, burns, and bruises, plus an arrow or two stuck in him, but they didn't hit anything vital. Sarah had patched everyone up easily enough, herself included.

  The walls and pits had done amazing for them. It made the ranged classes mostly useless, and the narrow passageway made the warrior and scout numbers just as pointless. It all went extremely well.

  Derek had even leveled up to 4, while Sarah and Sam were close behind.

  Alex knew he would be lucky even to get one level from the whole dungeon, but he was okay with that. He figured if he did level, it wouldn’t happen until the boss fight.

  Between them being in a 4-person party, Alex being higher leveled than the dungeon’s recommended level, and also not actively helping much, he knew his contribution would be low.

  They quickly looted all the coins and cores. Most of the weapons were useless for the team, but they each made sure they at least had a dagger for backup.

  Quickly checking his notifications, Alex didn't see anything unexpected.

  You have slain Kobold Support(Level 5)

  Experience and SP gained

  You have slain Kobold Scout(Level 6)

  Experience and SP gained

  You have slain Kobold Miner(Level 3)

  Experience and SP gained

  You have slain Kobold Warrior(Level 5)

  Experience and SP gained

  You have slain Kobold Mage(Level 4)

  Experience and SP gained

  …

  …

  ..

  ..

  ..

  .

  After resting for a bit to recover mana, they kept moving through the dungeon with relative ease. Next they moved to where Alex fought the cooks, and easily dispatched them and a patrol group.

  In the next tunnel they went to the sleep area. They followed the same plan as Alex did last time. They tried to quickly kill most while they were asleep. During this time, Sarah and Sam both reached level 4.

  They had no problems taking them all out.

  Man, this is way easier with a group. We’re also going way quicker, and the kobolds are dying fast, even without me helping. Alex thought.

  “You guys are getting spoiled. I almost died 10 times before this point in the dungeon. Actually, this is the spot where I almost died, because I passed out from my injuries, was caught, and thrown into a cage.”

  “We’re just better than you, man. Don’t be jealous,” Sam said, walking over towards him.

  Alex raised a small rock, causing Sam to trip and fall flat on his face. “Oh, I'm definitely not jealous,” he said with a smile.

  “Bro, that's cold. Even in this lava dungeon, that’s cold,” he said getting up off the ground and wiping the dirt off.

  Alex just flashed him a grin and then walked away. “Let’s get going. The longer we’re in this dungeon, the less sleep we’re getting tonight before visiting Chad.”