They charged all together, with Emily deciding to stay back and provide support. The line of Kobold’s spear wall seemed almost impregnable. But with all of them here, there are plenty of ways to bypass it.

  Rue had to slow down as he was about to overtake the entire group. Rita caught up to him. He had to extend his hand to remind her of the plan. The HuGoblin does not seem like she’s just injured at all; she’s full of vitality and ready to wade in. Rue could tell Rita is eager because she did not get to kill any Kobolds, despite arguably being the best in the party.

  Thankfully, Rita slowed down, allowing Alquin and Rino to catch up.

  It’s strange how calm he is; perhaps this is due to his Time of Ice. Rue found himself ready to pounce on the opening soon.

  As planned, they let Rino run forward. He stopped just out of spear reach, then brought his hand together. Mana swirled in his palm as water started to gather, leaking to the ground. Ten seconds passed, and the Kobold did not make any move. Rino had hidden his hand beneath his blue cloak. Then he let the spell rip like a pressurized water blade and sliced off two Kobolds at once. Their bodies fall slowly in a sort of beautiful, gruesome spectacle.

  Rue admired that magic. He would not say his fireball is inferior, but that pressured water has an ethereal beauty to it.

  The plan was for Rue to charge in first and bulldoze his way to the Kobold Mage, but Rino, caught up in battle heat, charged forward to the opening he created.

  “Fool! Wait,” Alquin panted.

  Rue and Rita dash forward, leaving the old man behind. Rita overtook Rue and managed to block one spear, trying to impale Rino.

  Rino, though, released another pressure water to the left, cutting another kobold. Suddenly, the path to the Kobold Mage is wide open for Rue. He saw its back as it shot lightning at the poor human trying to charge it. Its staff crackled with lightning, and Rue could hear how the wood had cracked like a loud snap echoing through the night.

  I think that Staff of his takes on his Magic Vein strain. Emily had said earlier. She had noticed how the kobold lighting doesn’t appear weaker during their exchange.

  Rue rushed forward, and he tapped Rino on the back, signaling a brief thank-you. Rino offered him a smile before holding up his Bone Sword and blocking a spear thrust.

  He had to kill the Mage as fast as possible.

  When Alquin arrived on the kobold Line, he took over Rita's position, and then the plan was for Rita to join Rue to fight the Mage. He had worried about Rino, but Emily would focus her support on him. Still, though, he doubted both Alquin and Rino would last long. Maybe Rita should stay back?

  Wails of cries follow as lightning crashes through a body in a sickening rip of flesh. The distant screaming of humans reverberates through the night, reminding Rue of the night of the goblin attack. Now, he wished they had not launched the attack, as much as he wished they had earlier.

  As he got closer, a sizzling sensation prickled his now ice-clad skin, and then the Robe Kobold turned toward him. The mage has detected them in exactly the same way as it did before; it must be connected to its lightning power.

  Its staff pulsed with a blue crackle of electricity, humming through to the earth below. The mage lifted the staff and pointed it straight at Rue, lighting lurched like an instant tree branch of light. Blank white consumed his vision, and searing heat blasted across his body. Through the pain, Rue kept charging. Compared to the sword wound to his body, this pain is easy to deal with.

  The Kobold Mage now shows a sliver of panic. It looked at the still charging human behind him, who screamed with pure vengeance and anger, then it looked at Rue, who could not be stopped by normal spells of his.

  It made a decision. The Kobold ran toward Rue, with its staff used like a spear. Lightning coarsened through it, and it swung toward him.

  Rue parried the first swing, stopping the staff completely. He had hoped to cut it, but the wood held against his black sword. From the tip of the staff, lightning shot out, piercing straight against Rue's shoulder.

  A pain like he had never felt before cracked inside of him, then immediately, his passive healing work, mending his body, the cold around him, overwhelmed the pain.

  Rue slashed down his sword, scoring a gash across the Kobold's own shoulder; it managed to step back, preventing him from completely severing its arm.

  But Rue mentally smiled. Now, the frost effect will…

  Lighting buzzes from the kobold's body. The blue spread of frost overwhelmed as electricity surged, consuming the ice until it broke apart, and healed the kobold's body.

  How? Rue wanted to ask. But the answer is obvious, he did the exact same thing against the Kobold lightning. It’s a natural healing of an element, just like his Cold Healing. Dread should be inside of him, yet Rue is silently grateful, a bizarre emotion to have. But, winning by slowly freezing his enemy inside just did not sit right for the moment, perhaps it’s just his foolishness speaking, but he did not care for now.

  Rue snarled silently forward, excitement coursing through him just like the lightning across the Kobolds.

  The Mage leered a wide, deviant grin, splitting its face, enjoying this.

  Rue brought his sword down, vapor of cold fog followed his strike. The staff blocked his sword and immediately went on a counterattack with the same lightning bolt. But Rue had seen this coming; he ducked his entire body, still holding the sword lock. He whipped his frozen feet, only to find the kobold jumped and crash a lightning through its fingertip at him.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  The point-blank lighting hit straight to Rue's chest, pain deepened, but before the cold overwhelmed it, the blood inside him snarled, and he reached the peak of exhilaration in his life. Rue smashed his left fist to the kobold's face, and a sickening crunch brought the kobold to the ground.

  He swung his sword down, then lightning coursed through the mage's arms, its hand shot up, and the staff knocked his sword back in the blink of an eye.

  A lighting-enhanced body spell?

  The Kobold got quicker, in an instant, it stood as Rue was still flailing backward, its staff pointed straight at Rue's head.

  Lighting is about to shoot. In the last moment, Rue balanced his feet, his frozen feet against the rough ground, then he headbutted the staff to the side. The lightning zapped to the sky beside him.

  With his left hand, Rue grasped the staff that instantly became brittle with electricity that punished him with a searing heat, but he managed to wrench it out of the Mage's grasp, throwing it down.

  Got you.

  He swung his dark blade, only to be met with lightning piercing his right palm through the Kobold's fingertip. His sword disappeared. But he still had his hand. Rue punched straight the kobold in the chest with his left ice-armed fist.

  The kobold gasped, and blood jumped from its crocodile-like jaw. It snapped its jaw at Rue’s left arm.

  Rue screamed in silence as thousands of sharp teeth stabbed deep inside of him. This pain is way more painful than the lightning!. He punched the Kobold again with his right hand this time, trying to get it to let go. The pain drove his action, before he summoned his sword again.

  Seeing the spell manifest, the kobold let go of his arm and recalled his staff. It flew straight to the Kobold arm like some magnet. The Kobold shoved it straight to Rue's heart - and Rue brought his sword down straight to its neck.

  The way it’s so confident charging at him into a melee tells Rue something. The mage is confident with its close combat ability, as it has shown - it had some kind of magnet power, if Rue had used a steel sword, he would have stood no chance, no doubt. But, His dark sword can be deceiving, unless you feel the cold it emits, then you probably would’ve guessed this is just a mere steel sword. The Kobold was hit once, receiving the frost freezing deep inside its body, so it should have a vague idea that Rue’s sword cannot be manipulated.

  It should’ve.

  Yet, in the middle of battle, when every move is decided within a second, especially in close quarters…

  Perhaps it’s forgotten as it tried to emit electricity through its neck, in an attempt to push away Rue’s Ice sword.

  The kobold’s staff connected straight to his chest, and the impact he felt, then lightning began to lurch. Before the spell can be shot, though, nothing can stop his sword.

  Rue decapitated the Kobold with searing cold. The spell died down as its body slowly fell. The Kobold's head fell first to the ground before its body did.

  (You Have Slain Robe Kobold. Lvl 12)

  (Level Up. General 11 → 12)

  (Level Up. Frost Apprentice 12 → 13)

  Rue stared down at the Headless Kobold by his feet, its neck stump did not leak any drop of blood, as red ice held back the liquid. The staff lay by the Kobold’s gaping mouth. Rue picked it up to examine it.

  (Elderwood Staff (Uncommon))

  A mage's internal capacity is sometimes not enough. The wisdom of the elder had been implanted in a sapling, which in a thousand years had grown into a tree with a branch that was able to blanket an entire planet. This staff is made from the great tree's weakest part, a mere fraction of its depth. Still, the wisdom of the Elder is vast, able to hold any affinity. Elderwood Staff can absorb magical properties, no matter what it is, as the wisdom of the Elder still lives inside of it, despite weakness and frailty.

  Rue reached down, resting his ice-encased hand onto the Kobold's eye, he closed it and put its entire head by the body. With the staff in one hand and his sword in the other, he examined the battlefield.

  He can read the Staff description later, for now…Why did Rita not make it?

  “You!” A voice called. Behind him is a man, perhaps in his mid-forties. He had a gaunt look and beard that covered his entire neck like a branch covering a stone. The man shook like a newborn chick; he held two knives in reverse grip.

  A scout.

  Why would a scout charge ahead?

  The answer is simple, turns out. Corpses of five warriors litter the ground, apparent by their broken shields. Not just warriors, Rue could make out death archers and mages from the tree line. They had gotten into a shootout with the Robe kobold. But, unlike Emily, they’re just way too close. Emily and the Kobold could barely see each other, so both kept missing their shot.

  The normal Kobolds and Bone Warrior Rue’s group has been fighting was a blessing in disguise, it turns out.

  Still, though, this newest arrival group is quite large. How many are there? The dead are a total of ten people that Rue can see. There are five living people. The scout and the other two had been charging. One archer and one mage made their way out of the tree cover, trying to heal their dead comrade.

  “Are you human?” A warrior screamed out, This one is a young man just like Rue and Rino. Like the scout, he looked like he was about to fall at any moment.

  Rue rested his staff around his neck and slit his hand across his throat.

  “No, no, no! Please don’t kill us,” Another scout said, completely having the wrong idea. She looked just like Eve, except with darker hair and a much shorter length.

  Now, how to clear this misunderstanding? The three held a grief look on their face, clearly torn between running and rushing at him.

  Perhaps his first sign isn't a good one now that he has thought about it. He slit his mouth and made a silent gesture. The three are simply too scared to even think. Rue can't waste time on them. He turned toward his Party.

  Clash of steel reverberated; now the battle is not split two ways, only one battle is going on. Good, that made things easier.

  Rino was down on his knees with a bloody arm, and Emily was making him drink a health potion. Meanwhile, Alquin and Rita are killing the kobolds with a clean and measured pace. They do not need Rue, it appears. But that doesn’t mean he will skip over the experience; he might still be able to squish in one more level-up.

  Besides his recent level-up, he got more mana to spare. And his Magic Vein… Yes, not ideal.

  He decided to let go of the Time of Obsidian ice. And, it doesn’t hurt. His passive has healed him, although his HP is far from full, which means he does not have to worry about getting into another fight. The skill combination synergizes amazingly.

  He felt his Magic Vein straining deep inside him. But, he can shrug it off; this meant truly no magic for a while. Rue drew his sword; he had lost his Long Bone somewhere, but, oh well, he could always get a spare.

  “I will be with you guys in a second,” He told the three behind him.

  “He is human,” the girl sighs. Her legs gave out, and she fell on both knees.

  ‘I'm coming,’ Rue sent a mental message to his party.

  He ran to flank the Kobolds.

  ‘Just rest, Rue, we will be fine. Good job on the Robe Kobold,’ Emily said.

  ‘No, I’m not passing on the experience’

  ‘Greedy Bastard,’ He heard Rino laugh.

  Of course. Rue smiled.