Chapter 9 – The Monster Horde

“Hey Max, you going to join in on this?” Tom climbed up alongside Sarah onto the city walls.

“Oh, hello, you two. Yes, I’ll be going. Looks like we can level up here nicely.” He nodded.

“Don’t go expecting too much, lad. They’re barely level five, most of ’em. But kill enough of the buggers, and you should bag a few levels at least,” the spear-wielding man grunted.

He activated a skill, his skin flushing a deep crimson, before vaulting over the wall with a manic laugh.

“Some people are just crazy like that.” Tom shook his head. “Sarah, stay in the back, or even here. I’ll be going as well.” Tom added before heading down the ladder and running out toward the battlefield.

Maximus gave Sarah a brief smile before pulling off his boots and activating Minor Shapeshift, transforming his legs. With a burst of speed, he dashed forward and leapt over the wall, following the spearman with his sword in hand.

Sarah sighed and raised her staff, already forming a Fireball.

***

As dozens of participants spread across the fields, swinging weapons, casting spells, or even summoning beasts and other entities to fight at their side, Maximus, armed with his enhanced legs and a simple blade, began targeting the weaker Kobolds. He used his speed to slash their limbs while keeping just out of reach of their wild, erratic swings.

As one of the creatures lunged at him, he lashed out with his Thorn Whip, slamming the kobold into the dirt with a burst of poison from the detached thorns.

I could use this more effectively. He thought as the monster collapsed.

You have defeated: [Crimson Kobold Lv. 5]

He ignored the notification and wrapped the whip around his blade, rubbing the blade against the vines, coating it with poison.

As he did, he dashed back into the skirmish, lunging toward two Kobolds that had cornered a lone archer.

“Hello, I’ll take the one to your left!” Maximus shouted as he slid in beside the man, parrying the kobold’s clumsy downward slash.

“Oh, thank you, I went in too deep.” The man panted heavily.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got your back.” Maximus ducked beneath another wild swing and drove his blade straight into the kobold’s chest.

The green-skinned reptile shrieked before collapsing, spasming, while Maximus followed through and stabbed it once more in the chest to make sure it was dead.

You have defeated: [Emerald Kobold Lv. 6]

The man beside him responded with a blazing red arrow, which tore through the second kobold’s head and exploded on impact.

“Thanks, man!” the archer called out as he retreated further back, leaving Maximus alone once more.

Maximus gave a brief nod before sprinting toward another group, three fighters surrounded by five Kobolds, one of which rode a silver wolf, circling them while firing arrows.

Seeing an opportunity, Maximus summoned his Thorn Whip and snapped it forward. The whip coiled around the rider’s neck, yanking the reptile violently off its mount.

Maximus lunged forward, driving his blade repeatedly into the fallen Kobold’s back, just as the wolf leapt at him in a desperate attempt to protect his rider.

Barkskin shimmered across his body as he raised his blade, the only thing between the wolf’s fangs and his throat.

He dug his feet into the dirt and pushed off, forcing the beast back, which had furiously clawed through his defenses, cutting shallow wounds across his arms, just when someone landed behind it and drove a weapon into its flank.

The wolf shrieked and tried to retreat, but Maximus lashed out again, binding it mid-motion with his whip, holding it in place long enough for the large man to finish it off.

He ignored the incoming notifications and took a quick sip of his potion.

“You are doing well. Come with me, let’s take down the riders,” the man said.

“Elder Edgar? Is that, you?” Maximus asked, surprised as he finally recognized him. He had seen the transformation but hadn’t caught his face clearly under the moonlight.

“Yes, yes, it’s me. Now follow me.” Edgar tightened his grip on the greatsword and charged toward another mounted kobold.

Maximus took another sip of his potion, stored it away, and followed.

***

Edgar used the sheer power of his enlarged body to mow down the wolf, forcing the kobold rider to leap off, only to be whipped down by Maximus and paralyzed by the poison. Maximus quickly ended its life and then turned, helping Edgar finish off the wolf by lashing at it with his already active whip, each strike poisoning the beast further.

Just as they finished it, a roar shook the entire region as the staff-wielding lizardman summoned a large, transparent serpent. It hissed violently and began spitting crimson-red beams that scorched the land, setting everything ablaze and taking a few fighters down wherever they passed.

“This is not looking good. This one must be an area boss; they rarely appear,” Edgar cursed, before turning to the nearby participants. “Ranged fighters, focus on the snake! The rest, with me, we take down the summoner!” he ordered, and the others shouted in agreement.

As the ranged fighters unleashed everything they had left, the melee group charged with Edgar toward the lizardman, who raised walls of burning fire around himself while his ethereal serpent continued its relentless assault.

Maximus, however, remained where he stood, channeling Nature’s Wrath. Thanks to the newly formed seed within him, it drew in even more spirit energy, growing noticeably stronger.

He paused the spell’s release as the green sigil spun within his palm, then grabbed his blade with his left hand and reactivated his shapeshift, sprinting toward the lizardman, searching for the perfect moment to strike.

A blonde man in a blue shirt appeared beside Edgar and thrust his blade forward, releasing a wave of ice that exploded outward, extinguishing part of the flame barrier. Taking the chance, Edgar surged inside, spinning like a storm, his greatsword cleaving through the lizardman’s left arm and ribs in a brutal arc, while the other fighter followed with an arc of freezing ice.

The creature roared in pain and, with an explosion of fire beneath its feet, blinked backward dozens of meters. Its summoned serpent slammed its now-burning body into the group, detonating in a wave of flames. Some participants died instantly, others desperately used everything they had to survive; Edgar’s fate remained unclear as the serpent ignited in the burst of sky-high flames that spread outward like a plague.

Maximus watched the explosion and shivered. It was lucky that I held back…

Trusting his instincts, he rushed after the retreating, clearly exhausted lizardman, who screamed and ordered the remaining kobolds to defend it.

Before they could respond, Maximus appeared before it, his face cold as ice, and released a concentrated beam of star-like emerald fire. It struck the lizardman across the face and neck, erupting into a violent bloom of green flames.

The creature dropped to its knees, its head barely hanging on, and Maximus stepped forward, cleanly severing it with a precise slash.

As the lizardman’s body collapsed, the remaining kobolds broke into terrified screams and scattered, fleeing as the surviving participants chased them down.

Maximus drove his blade into the corpse and extracted a bird-egg-sized core, glowing crimson like the flames the creature wielded. He then grabbed the staff and stored both items as the corpse dissolved into motes of blue mana.

Maximus stared at the phenomenon and crouched beside the fading remains. Suddenly, the motes gathered, condensing into a small red runestone that dropped into the dirt before him.

He picked it up and muttered, “A skill stone? It looks similar to what those two were fighting over. I’d better hide it before someone decides it’s worth killing for.” He glanced around before storing it.

In the distance, the screams of participants and dying kobolds still echoed, but Maximus was exhausted, and even if he wanted to help, he simply couldn’t.

He tried to block out the noise and opened his notifications, skipping past the kobold kills and focusing on the important ones.

Skill Unlocked: [Basic Swordsmanship (F) Lv. 2]

Skill Leveled Up: [Thorn Whip (F) Lv. 10]

Skill Leveled Up: [Nature’s Wrath (E) Lv. 5]

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

…

You have defeated: [Alpha Pyromancer Kobold Lv. 13]

Alert: You have defeated a monster much stronger than you are. Extra experience awarded.

Class Leveled Up: [Druid Lv. 5 > Lv. 10]

Alert: You have reached Level 10. A new Class Trait has been unlocked.