Limitless Path

Higher level enemies seemed more aware and alert in several ways, as most if not all beasts below level twenty would basically ignore every indicator of enemies or battle unless it was close enough to be within their limited sphere of perception. Enemies over level twenty had started to be more aware of sounds and visual cues, as demonstrated by the fumbling rush of the entire room towards the two girls. Beth clicked her sword out of its clasps, the motion becoming smoother and more natural as she performed it more, while Blood circled to the right, looking for a flanking opportunity for the upcoming fight. Beth used Identify as the nearest enemy closed with them to check just what they were up against.

Level 23 Kobold Warrior

Warrior was a new appellation, Beth more used to seeing a few of the tougher enemies designated as fighters, but she was eager to see if this classification was any more powerful than what she had been up against. Even if they were, the level gap was a little too much for them to be actually challenging opponents, not to mention the absolute chasm separating their relative combat skills. The first kobold reached her just as she finished her musings, swinging a dull, slightly chipped single-hand long sword at her head.

The slash was fairly pathetic, all things considered, the kobold treating the weapon it wielded more as a club than anything else. It also wound up for the swing, only neon lights indicating a swing about to happen able to provide any greater warning, before clumsily mashing directly for Beth's head. She took half a step back in response, tapping the underside of the opponent's blade as it approached to push it up and throw the kobold off-balance. She stepped in with her right leg as she finished the tapping motion, the kobold's blade still going through the backswing. Beth brought her sword down and to her left as soon as she tapped the enemy's blade, and with the step she slashed from bottom left to high right, her blade carving a channel through the kobold's leather jerkin and torso from its right hip to left shoulder.

The heavy wound opened the kobold up to a sharp follow up swing from Beth, finishing what she started with a welter of blood. The two cleaned up the area immediately surrounding them, taking out several more kobolds before looking around the immediate area. The homes all had similar layouts, and it was rather tedious going through all the rooms, but she didn't want to miss out on any of that sweet loot.

She and Blood eventually completed the whole section of homes, killing a couple dozen kobolds in the early twenties and gaining no levels. Punching down in levels really didn't give any overall level experience, and what few of Beth's current skills weren't at the top of copper hadn't budged a millimeter. She thumped Blood's neck and side heavily a few times as she sighed, resurfacing from her little bout of moping and focusing on the loot.

They saw a little more success here than in the chambers leading down to the end section of the tunnel, gaining a handful of silver coins, a few mana steel bars, and two small gems. The gems looked nice, but Beth didn't think they were anything like the star sapphire she had sold to Jaq for her huge injection of wealth. Both the gems were a very bright green color, which shouted emerald to Beth, but she was still basically entirely unfamiliar with gems. She would have to have Jaq or Elana have a look at them, and maybe Elana could teach her about gems. Dwarves were supposed to know about not just metals but gems and jewels as well, but maybe that was making too many assumptions based on games and books.

Beth decided to do a quick check of the other four doors before continuing throughout the area. She led Blood to the third door overall, looking in to find an area of housing that seemed very similar to the area she had just cleared. Moving on, she stuck her head in the fourth door, directly across the empty room from the entrance tunnel, finding a more complex series of rooms and hallways. That wasn’t the only thing that was different, as she noticed there were kobolds out and about walking around in the large hallways between the suites.

None of the kobolds noticed her sticking her head just barely in the first hallway, and she quickly moved on to the fifth door. They found another section like the first two, and Beth gave a slight sigh as she stepped back and went over to the sixth and last door. She found the same as the other three general living areas.

"What do you say, girl? The small areas first?" Beth asked, turning to Blood as they stepped back into the large central room. The wolf gave her version of a shrug and chuffed in response, a very 'sure, why not?' kind of answer.

The next couple hours were a long grind of working through the three other main residential areas, clearing out all the kobolds and searching for all the loot that wasn't fully nailed down. The money and items continued to be fairly disappointing, as least to Beth, as they found a handful of silvers worth of coins as well as a few mana steel bars. The only other interesting thing the two managed to find was a small lump of something that looked like grey clay, with a smell like salty pond water. Beth rather carefully wrapped the fist-sized lump in one of the handful of spare cloths she carried around for cleaning her equipment, thankful that she carried extras of such random items, before dropping it in her pouch.

With everything else they could find down in this section taken care of, Beth and Blood headed to the last and largest living quarters area. Beth rolled her shoulders and flexed her arms before tilting her head back and forth, cracking her neck with several satisfying snapping *pop* noises. She observed the start of the last area, noting that the decoration was more complex around the doorways, several of the rooms had what could only be windows facing the main hall, and all the suites had stone doors in the door frames.

The fancier presentation of the various rooms wasn’t the only difference in this section, as she had noted earlier, there were also kobolds out and about wandering around. She wasn't too hopeful about encountering an actual challenge in this area, but she remained cautious, rubbing the area at the top of her stomach where the wolf's teeth had sunk in what seemed like years ago. Dismissing the thoughts of her nearly fatal second boss fight, she used Identify on the nearest kobold, the range of her skill being more than enough at its current level to reach from within the large doorway.

Level 26 Kobold Guard

Well, she hadn't seen guard before, but she assumed it was some kind of warrior type that fought defensively. This particular specimen had a spear instead of a sword, though it was more a long stick that had been made a little sharp rather than an actual quality weapon. It had a type of leather armor made of loose sections of what appeared to be boiled leather stitched together a little haphazardly, similar to a number of the fighter class kobolds she had dispatched already. She noted it didn't have a shield, nor helmet, nor really much else in the way of armor or equipment.

The level being a little higher than what she had encountered so far didn't cause her any concern, as she was more excited by the prospect of actually getting to some challenging foes for a change. She made sure the pack was settled on her back firmly before gripping the hilt of her blade with both hands and starting toward the beast. It noticed her surprisingly early, perhaps some function of it having a guard class giving it greater detection. Despite the new class, the performance was the same, a screech followed by a charge and a wild attack, this time a straight stab with the sharpened stick it wielded.

Beth stepped forward into the attack and to the side almost contemptuously, throwing the attack off with a slap to the haft of the spear from the side of her sword. She slashed forward as she took another step, this time using her left leg to step forward and back into the opponent, trying to separate its head from its body in a single strike. The beast backpedaled and attempted to raise its arms to block the swing, but only managed to get its right shoulder into the path of her blade. The sword tore through the armor protecting the shoulder and ripped at the flesh, but it was enough of a hindrance that her blade only lightly scored the neck of the beast.

Beth didn't let up, allowing no time for the kobold to recover, she stepped forward into it with her right leg, twisting her hips slightly as she slammed her left elbow into the beast's face. It staggered back a step from the blow, Beth hearing the grinding *crunch* emitting from its nose when her elbow smashed into it. She didn't let it recover even a little, continuing her own momentum by stepping with her left leg again and bringing her blade around from right to left, slamming it into and through the creature's neck.

Bits of flesh were torn out as blood spumed into the air, the kobold staggering to its right and sagging as it reeled from the damage. Beth knew well enough to finish an opponent for good, and pressed her advantage, taking another step as she brought her blade back around yet again, empowering it during the arc of its swing before it slashed into and through the neck of the beast, putting it down for good as its head soared into the air. She danced back to avoid the even greater spray of arterial blood, shaking her blade to clear it of some of the gore before looking for Blood.

She found the giant wolf had engaged with a second kobold, having been attracted either by the scream of the first or by the noise and disturbance of her battle with the first, though calling it a battle was stretching the point more than a little. She looked further down the hall to see more kobolds charging at the two, sighing as she rolled her shoulders before striding forward, ready to deal with some grisly work. She noted as she strode towards the kobolds, holding her sword up and to her left in a moderately high neutral guard, that despite being some type of guard, there was still no coordination in their movements. It seemed like all of these enemies were still dumb beasts, charging into any creature that wasn't of their own type full of crazy rage.

Beth stepped forward into the first of the pack of enemies strung out along the hall heading towards her, empowering her sword with her only relevant skill as she slid around the spear thrust of the kobold and lashed out with the blade, twisting her hips, her shoulders, and putting all the strength of the corded muscles in her arms into the swing. The center of the blade tore into the kobold, tearing apart the leather armor with a rending rip and smashing apart the left side of the rib cage. The blade punched apart the sternum of the beast with a snap before getting imbedded in the torso. Beth lifted her left leg and kicked with a massive force, hauling back on her blade at the same time, the sword ripped free from the corpse's torso with a squelching, grinding noise.

She moved on, throwing herself into the next enemy sprinting wildly towards her. The fight dragged on for several minutes, Beth methodically tearing through the group of enemies alerted by the fighting. She had Blood's assistance with the fight, but it was hardly necessary, as the kobolds in this area were still no match for either of the girls solo, let alone the two of them working together. Twenty minutes of efficient but brutal combat later, Beth shook her head as she cleaned her blade, just giving it a quick wipe to keep it from getting too crusty.

She was definitely in the doldrums now, thinking about how some people spent years killing same or lower-level beasts to progress, yet she was feeling like tearing her hair out after half a day or so. Luckily for her, she had her little special inheritance skill stashed away in her back pocket, so at least once per week she could guaranteed find a challenge. She gave a brief sigh as she inspected some of the surrounding dwellings, not looking forward to more urban combat training as she cleared room-by-room for the next couple hours.

And a couple hours it was, as she and Blood fought plenty of level twenty-six and twenty-seven kobolds as they swept all the domiciles clean. It took nearly three hours to get everything cleared, and that was still not counting any time for looting. The two sat and meditated for a little while, topping up on mana and very slightly refreshing their stamina as they took a little time to renew themselves mentally as well.

When they were rested, they proceeded to rob the place blind, grabbing everything that wasn't nailed down. It took an hour for them to clear each side of the main hallway, as well as the two wings they had found branching out from that hallway. The final section was an area that Beth had had to fight multiple level twenty-sevens and a twenty-eight in. It was larger and rather fancier than the surrounding dwellings, which made her think of it as the chief's or mayor's house. She hoped that they could find something rather nice within, maybe a hefty little bag of gems or a little trinket that would be worth a few golds from Jaq.

They moved through the main room, a large area with two separate seating areas and an area that looked like it was meant for some type of game, such as poker or something tabletop related. Blood moved into what looked like the bathroom, at least, the first bathroom of the sets of rooms. Beth continued on into an area that had a short hallway with three separate rooms branching off that were all offices, opposite to the bathing area. The area further back from the large common room was where the bedrooms and further bathrooms were situated.