All the Dwarves that were part of the expedition swore an oath to the Earth Goddess, who they worshiped.

This was the greatest oath a Dwarf could make. Even the Dwarfs in Solais shared the same mentality. Once they made an oath, they had to do it no matter what. Failure to do so would weigh terribly in their conscience because it would mean that once they died, their souls would be cast away, forever banished from the Earth Mother’s embrace.

“Keep your word, Half-Elf, or I swear by the Earth Goddess that you will not keep your life,” Nevreal said in a threatening tone.

“We’ll see whose oath will be broken first,” Lux replied with a calm expression on his face. “Now, listen to me. Our first goal is to eliminate the guards as fast as we can and prevent alarming the kobolds inside the nest.”

“Of course, this will only work at the early stages of our rescue mission. The moment we encounter a single Kobold in the nest, we will be in for a tough battle. Our plan is simple, strike fast, and run fast. The sooner we rescue the hostages, the sooner we leave.”

“I will not interfere with the commands of the Dwarves. I also know that it is unrealistic to think that we will be able to rescue our targets all at once with the current manpower we have. Since your priority is to save Robin then you can go ahead and save him.”

“However, once he is safe and sound, you will then coordinate with the reinforcements coming from the Stronghold of Norria to raid the nest, and rescue my friends. Do we all have an understanding?”

Nevreal and Boreas nodded. Deep inside they felt relieved that Lux was still thinking logically. It was simply impossible for their current manpower to fight an entire Kobold Nest on their own.

“If you are all ready, we can begin the operation,” Lux stated. “Helen, stay close to me. No matter what happens, stay by my side.”

The little Dwarf nodded her head in understanding. Even if Lux didn’t remind her, she would still stick to him because the adult Dwarves scared her.

—–

The Kobold Warriors stood in their position in a carefree manner. For them, doing this was a boring job.

Although there were wandering beasts in the mountains that were stronger than them, none of the Kobolds were afraid of being attacked. They always had the mentality that nothing couldn’t be overcome by sheer numbers.

As one of the humanoid races that specialized in reproduction, the Kobolds were one of the most annoying monsters to fight due to their quantity vs quality mindset.

While the three guards were casually chatting with each other, several throwing axes flew in their direction. All three guards died almost at the same time as the axes embedded themselves on the kobold’s heads, back, necks, and chests.

As soon as the Kobolds collapsed on the ground, several Dwarves sprang up from their hiding places, and dragged the slain kobolds away to hide them.

Just for good measure, Boreas stabbed the chests of all three kobolds to make sure that all of them were really dead.

Once the deed was done, the Dwarf rescue party entered the nest to find Robin as soon as possible.

On the other hand, Lux summoned Diablo and his four Skeletal Fighters to guard the rear of the group to inform them if there were any Kobolds returning to the nest.

Nevreal and Boreas nodded their heads in appreciation because they couldn’t spare any of their men to do this job. Fortunately, Lux had enough manpower to do this important job, making the Dwarves’ anger from being blackmailed earlier to simmer down a bit.

Unknown to them, Lux had other reasons for letting Diablo and his Skeletal Fighters stay at the rear, aside from keeping a lookout for possible backstabbers that the Half-Elf had kept to himself.

Three minutes later, the rescue party encountered a group of kobolds patrolling the nest.

Immediately a scuffle broke out. Fortunately, the vanguard of the Dwarves, led by Nevreal and Boreas, were all Grade D and C Apostles, which were equivalent in stats to Rank 1 and 2 Monsters respectively.

Normal Kobold Warriors were not a match to them. The true problem happened when they neared the first spacious cavern in the underground pathways.

After checking the surroundings, Nevreal and Boreas knew that it would be impossible to proceed without the Kobolds raising the alarms.

Over a hundred Kobolds stayed in the cavern. Some of them were cooking, some were loafing around, while others were sharpening their weapons.

It was a communal area where some of the Kobold Warriors stayed, while waiting for their Chief to give them orders.

Near the back of the Cavern were three Black Kobolds that were larger than the others. These were the Kobold Leaders, who were tasked to lead their own troops to hunt or participate in banditry depending on the orders of the Kobold Chieftain.

Every Kobold Nest had these communal caverns near the entrance of the nest that served as the main line of defense in case they got invaded. Its main role was to alert the entire nest if there was a need for everyone to move into action, so they could repel the invaders together.

Lux frowned because just like Nevreal and Boreas, he knew that an all-out battle was inevitable.

Boreas raised his hand and made a gesture, signaling all the other Dwarves to get ready.

Half a minute later, the group charged inside and started to massacre the Kobolds that were in their way.

The two Kobold Leaders immediately sprang up in action in order to face them in battle. The other Kobolds then started to make noise, with some of them running deeper inside the nest to raise a ruckus and alarming their brethren that their home was being invaded.

The Dwarves worked quickly and efficiently, killing all of their enemies in less than five minutes.

Nevreal and Boreas didn’t hold back, using their Rank 3 prowess to overwhelm the Kobolds who were caught by surprise.

“Where next?” Nevreal asked Lux who had just killed two Kobolds that had tried to attack Helen beside him.

“We go straight and turn left at the third intersection on the way. From there, we just continue heading West until we arrive at the place where Robin and Andy are being held captive.”

Nevreal nodded and led the charge alongside Boreas. Lux, Helen, and the other Dwarves followed, leaving the scene of carnage behind them.

A minute later, Diablo, as well as three Skeletal Fighters arrived at the cavern.

Lux had tasked them with an important mission.

A mission that they would follow without fail.

Screams, and shrieks resounded inside the Nest as the Kobolds and the Dwarf Party clashed. Although the Kobolds were not a match for the Dwarves, the Riders of Norria still suffered several injuries to their bodies.

Some of them were unlucky and received serious injuries during the intense battle being fought at close range. Fortunately, Helen was a Cleric. The little Dwarf healed everyone to the best of her ability, while munching on the honey-flavored-candies that were being provided to her by Lux.

The Half-Elf made sure to visit his Grandma Annie back in Leaf Village to buy all the candies she had in stock for this mission. Naturally, the old lady was more than happy to sell all the candies she had to her regular customer, which helped both of them greatly.

Because of this, the Dwarves’ attitude towards Helen changed. Boreas even assigned two of his subordinates to guard the little girl and ensure that no Kobold would put her life in danger.

Lux was quite happy with this arrangement, because it gave an added layer to Helen’s security.

The pathway that led to the place where Robin and Andy were being held was drenched with blood.

This was the first time that Lux had witnessed such a bloody battle. His heightened senses, especially his sense of smell, made him feel very uncomfortable because of the heavy smell of blood in the surroundings.

He was also in awe of how the Kobolds fearlessly engaged them without care for their lives. They were like Kamikaze fighters whose only intention was to deal as much damage to their enemies as they could before they died.

When one Kobold died, another took its place.

They came with forty five members, and in that short amount of time, five dwarves had already died in battle, which showed that even if the warriors of Norria were stronger, they were still not a match against the overwhelming disparity in numbers.

Their only saving grace was that the Kobold Nest was large. Even if the Kobolds swarmed in droves, it would still take the rest of their brethren some time before they could reach their location.

“Robin and Andy are over there!” Lux shouted as he pointed at several cages in the distance that were made from wood.

Nevreal broke out of the scuffle, followed by four of his men, and ran towards the cages.

Boreas and his men held their ground and continued to fight against the Kobolds whose numbers kept on increasing.

Lux gritted his teeth as he stood in front of Helen and fought off any Kobolds that had managed to break through the vanguard’s defenses.

His arm was already aching from constantly swinging his sword without rest. It was at that moment when he knew that everyone in the rescue team was nearing their limits.

Even Helen who was constantly healing the Dwarves were starting to breathe heavily. Sweat streamed down her face, as she chanted without stopping, to prevent anyone from dying.

“Retreat!” Nevreal shouted as he carried an unconscious Robin on his shoulder like a sack of rice.

Andy was also safe and being carried by another one of Nevreal’s subordinates. The group hurriedly made their way back to the entrance with Boreas and the stronger warriors of Norria guarding the rear.

Unfortunately, they encountered a group of Kobolds in the intersection leading to the entrance, and another bloody battle took place.

This time, the Big Shots of the Kobold Race were present, which made the battle more difficult.

Four Rank 3 Kobold Mages cast fireball spells which severely injured four of the Dwarves.

Seeing that they were in a difficult situation, Nevreal no longer hesitated and ordered everyone to break through the encirclement.

Suddenly, one of the Kobold Mages unleashed the skill Earth Tremor. Which made the ground under everyone’s feet tremble.

Lux sensed that the ground under his and Helen’s feet was about to give way, so he decisively lifted the little girl and threw her towards Boreas with all of his might.

“Sir Boreas! Catch her!” Lux shouted as the ground under his feet collapsed.

Boreas heard Lux’s shout and hurriedly caught the little girl who was screaming her lungs out.

That was the last thing the Half-Elf saw before he fell into the deepest part of the Kobold’s Nest.

The Dwarves knew that Lux was a goner, and there was nothing they could do to save him.

Right now, even their own lives were in danger. The Dwarves hurriedly retreated with everything they had, while an angry mob of Kobolds ran after them with only one thought in mind, and that was to hunt them down before they managed to escape their nest completely.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Madara Web Novel