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(A/N In the spoiler below, are the souls inhabiting some of the current women to have met Ken. This knowledge is only for those who know my other main book that was the past life of Ken. If you have not read it, it is fine, you can enjoy this novel as a stand alone. But to save time in the comments section, I will verify who belongs to what character. Enjoy...)

 

Chapter 30  Entering The Ancient Kobold City! by Harem-Fan

 

     [Hide From Undead] [Extended Heroism] [Extended Greater Darkvision] [Fastidiousness] [Extended False Life] [Extended Mage Armor] [Extended Wild Instincts] [Waterproof]

     Yeah, if one was to use detect magic on me, they would be bewildered by all of the magic affecting me. But all of this magic is key to survival in my cruel world. Hell, both fastidiousness and water proof saved me from the worst case outcome of the shit filled Kobold trap, sigh.

     Slowly traveling down this 20 by 20 passage spiraling downward, I have in only 100 feet, disarmed 3 separate traps. An arrow trap, falling block trap, and a magic fire trap.

     For those that do not know about Kobolds, they are trap enthusiasts. They never fight fair, and always fight from advantageous positions. Frankly, I respect them for this.

     Goat is taking the rear guard of the group, then Raven is in front of him, and finally Lilith is in front of her. I am about 20 feet forward as the vanguard and trap sweeper. The reason Lilith takes point in the rear group is her high perception to notice dangers, and her bow can aid all of us. Goat protects the back, because he is part Fighter in his Class.

     Down in this ancient city, the stone is all black, and makes the darkness even more eerie. The only light that occasionally is seen so far, is from small patches of phosphorescent moss growing on the ceilings and cracks in the stonework.

     There are carvings on the walls, showing the past exploits of this once flourishing kingdom of Kobolds. It is obvious how proud they are due to scenes of dragons fighting and assisting the little dog-men, and many symbols of Asmodeus are engraved along with the little beasts. I whisper to my group pointing.

     "This is not just a Kobold City, but one huge Temple to Asmodeus! My gut feeling is telling me, this might be the reason only Undead are reported and not the living Kobold. It might not even be a stretch to suggest that the Countess might be a part of this coverup?"

     Raven frowns and says her thoughts.

     "Lately, more and more rumors of the Temple of Asmodeus have been slowly making its way to our Island Nation. It is even rumored in my church that many nobles have slowly and secretly been converting to the religion of Asmodeus. And the most crazy rumor says that the Sorcerer King has also become a devout follower of the God of Devils?"

     Goat shrugs and asks.

     "Got nothing to do with this Goat, so let's just go get paid?"

     Thinking about it, it really does not matter to me. What can my silver group do anyway? If the King is secretly a Devil worshiper, what can I do about it? I nod and tell my party.

     "Goat is right, if we encounter more like his past party-member, we will just kill them. We are not in a position to make our guesses a big deal and paint a target on our backs, so I will advance down the corridor now."

     I slip back into the darkness and continue searching...

-   If this story is on any-other site than Scribble Hub, then it was stolen without permission!

     A bit later we entered a long entry-hall area, with many little arrow-slits along both walls. The room is 60 feet wide and 100 feet deep with a door at the opposite end. Yeah, this screams murder hole!

     With my hide in plain sight, the guards manning the arrow slits could not detect me, so I disabled the traps in the main hall, a few tripwires connected to arrow and falling block traps.

     I then had Lilith use her ring of invisibility, and had her cast invisibility on Goat and Raven. We just walked past the 20 Kobold archers into the next area without alerting them to our presence.

     Just inside the wide hall in the next area, we see it is full of nearly 50 animated Skeletal Warriors just standing motionless in this underground courtyard.

     The courtyard area is circular and domed. It has a diameter of 100 feet and has many Kobold statues lining the walls, presumably past champions.

     The odd thing about the undead, is the fact half are of miners and were Human and not Kobold. This tells us... They got animated AFTER the pit to the city was discovered.

     I also noticed tracks coming into the large room, from a group of 4 living Humans. I point this out and in the direction in which they traveled.

     This must be the team of 2 Human Clerics and 2 Human Bards. They had not done any fighting, and it looks suspicious how they all bypassed the traps, living and dead creatures, like they were invited?!

     Lilith whispers to me.

     "They are no good scoundrels that either know of treasure or are allied with the Kobold and Asmodeus cult. So following them might be rewarding. If they are an enemy, they probably have wealth, to remove my negative levels, husband..."

     Why do I think my wife only sees walking gold pouches, and wants to rob them? But yeah, it is better than taking one of the other 3 passageways... Wait, fuck!"

     "Look at the floor everyone, and the 5 total entrances of the round chamber... It is a 5 point star!"

     Raven noticed it and said it.

     "Asmodeus holy symbol, the five pointed star. How long has this Temple City been here?"

     Lilith, using her Bardic Knowledge and Lore Master ability, tells us.

     "It is clear that the giant meteorite that devastated the island long ago, probably buried this Temple. So based on the murals and deductions... The Temple City of Asmodeus has been here for hundreds if not thousands of years? I think someone dropped that star onto this civilization to destroy it?!"

     Goat grumbled and said what we were thinking.

     "I have this feeling, like the Silver teams are not meant to be successful here. I think we are sacrifices? And perhaps, this scholarly group will take fake credit for defeating the Temple City? So what is really down here?"

     I point to the north-side of the room and say.

     "Then our answers are that way..."

     So we ignore the Undead, and head to the left most passage, going North...

-

     I came across a stone double door about 50 feet down the passage, and inspected it. It is trapped, magically plus mechanically locked, and very durable to breaking. Yeah, they are hiding something good here.

     Click! After finally removing all the defenses, I retrieve my thieves tools, as I heard the satisfying click of the opening lock.

     "Alright everyone, here we go."

     Pulling the two double doors open, we are greeted with another large stone room that is 80 feet by 80 feet in dimensions, with a ceiling 20 feet high. At the opposing end of the room are another set of double doors, just to piss me off.

     But what really caught our eyes were the two large animals in each of the far corners...

     Achaierai... This bird-like beast is mostly head, lunging forward on four scaly legs. Wisps of noxious black vapor trail from its hooked beak.

     Yeah, those damn things are huge! When they stood, they were now 15 feet tall, and now I see why they needed a 20 foot tall roof to be guard pets. Lilith briefly told us.

     "Those are intelligent predatory animals of Hell, and they spit out a breath that can confuse us, so be careful, and spread out!"

     I am not sure if they are resistant to fire or not, so I will cast something else... Lesser Spell Synthesis...

     [Shield] and [Produce Flame]

     I double cast and make a faintly shimmering floating disc of force to protect me, making me difficult to hit, and in my right hand, flame sprang to life.

    Whoosh Sizzle! With a flick of my wrist, a fist sized ball of fire accurately hit the left Achaierai in its disgusting body, doing moderate damage, and letting me know.. I can kill it with fire!

     Just as my Produce Flame hit, another flame reappeared in my hand to refill the charges in the spell. Now with a torch in hand, we will be able to see the color of the beast. I step forward a smidge and tell my team.

     "Let me be the vanguard, pull back and hit them with ranged attacks."

     Swoosh Thunk Thunk Sizzle! Lilith, listening to me, stepped back a bit and fired two acidic arrows into the one I wounded, dealing significant damage to that animal from hell.

     The wounded Achaierai, then charged at me to Spring Attack! But due to my armor and defense being near untouchable, the Achaierai retreated about 10 feet from me and waited for another attack. The ability to spring attack lets a creature move in and make a single attack and move away without letting you touch them. The only way to defend against it, is to wait to attack until the last second, but that is lame.

     Raven moved to the back of the group and cast a spell on me...

     [Shield Other]

     "I will now share the wounds with you, Ken!"

     "Thanks."

     The back right Achaierai, then dashed forward to spit out its black gas on me and Goat...

     Sizzle Burn! The black cloud began to rot the skin on me and Goat, doing moderate damage, and we both could feel our minds being targeted with horrific visions. Thankfully, my mind rejected those images. But Goat unfortunately looks a bit Confused now.

     Goat looking around at things we cannot see, just punched himself in the face and did not look bothered by his bleeding nose.

     Yeah, Goat is under a Confusion effect, and until he shakes it off, he will act randomly for a while...

     The 2 Achaierai are standing near me, so I just step to the back a bit, and unload my Dragons breath on them...

          "HuuuuuA! Bleeeeeeeeh!"

     With the cone of melting flames, covering the two unfortunate creatures, the first one we aimed at, just died, and the second Achaierai avoided the brunt of the flames by nimbly sidestepping a bit.

     Creek! And to ruin our easy win, the double doors in the back opened revealing a Kobold of impressive nature. Standing behind him were the two Clerics from the Silver Party that showed up first. But this time, all three proudly wear holy symbols of the Devil God. The Kobold made a gesture and cast a spell...

     [Invisibility]

     He has the Trickery Domain of Asmodeus, so his casting made sense. Then the two other Clerics cast their spells with evil grins...

     [Invisibility]

     [Invisibility]

     Well, ain't that a pickle? And to make it worse, they are further than 60 feet away, damn!

     Swoosh Thunk Sizzle! Then, Lilith sent one arrow into the last beast, killing it.

     [Aural~♪!] Then she began to sing, using her Inspire Courage ability to buff us a bit.

     Raven was incredibly sharp and cast a spell to affect the enemy and us in a positive way...

     [Prayer]

     She had to move into the room a bit to cover everything, but, this spell raises our luck in everything, and lowers the foes' everything with bad luck.

     "Bruh! Damn, what did I miss?! And what cocksucker punched me, where are they!"

     Knowing the enemy is hiding, I cast a spell to help everyone, while moving next to Raven, to also locate the enemies for my group!

     [Fairy Fire]

     Sparkle! The two Human Clerics on the left corner by a pile of bones, had all of a sudden been hit with the fairy fire spell, and their two bodies radiate a purple candle lit aura! Yeah, they look nervous. I say to the team.

     "And the Kobold Cleric is at the right bone pile!"

     From the feet of all three men, a vile spell was cast...

     [Animate Dead]

     [Animate Dead]

     [Animate Dead]

     Soon, the two piles of bones by the 3 Clerics began to slowly rise...

     Seeing 3 Hill giant Skeletons rise from the ground, Goat said...

     "Fuck these Dick Sacks! That is cheating, right?"

     As the 3 Skeletal Hill Giants stood, their green lights in their eye-sockets, flicker as they reached down to pull out the large 20 pound rock at their side pouches, and got ready to rain down a whole lot of pain...

     Now the real battle will begin!

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