Chapter 146: Cynical, Reasonable, and Observer

"Let’s hear the bad news first!" The Chief followed Red’s antics while the three Goblin Champions looked impatient.

"The bad news is that they have a lot of kobolds. I see at least another sixty kobolds and five Elite Kobolds at the entrance. They possibly have more kobolds inside."

That was indeed bad news, as it meant they were still being outnumbered even after the first ambush.

"What’s the good news?" The impatient Goblin Champion asked in an authoritative tone.

"The good news is that I made a hole in their wall. I think we should ambush one or two more times before attacking the village."

He shared the good news. The Chief looked pleased, and the cynical Goblin Champion looked less unpleasant.

"But why one or two more times? Can we just lure them out repeatedly until we kill them all?" It was another Goblin Champion, the one who was always quiet.

"I hate this plan, but it’s very effective. We don’t lose a single goblin and kill six of their elites. We should stay with this plan until we kill them all."

Red was glad that not all Goblin Champions were as stiff as the Chief or the cynical Goblin Champion.

"That’s the problem: the effectiveness. They will not fall for the same trap again and again. They will eventually realize something is wrong when the first, second, and third batch doesn’t return."

The Goblin Champion accepted his reasoning, more reasonable than the one who always tried to find fault with him.

"If they truly hole up in their village. I can keep shooting them with my fireball. But there’s an issue with that."

"What’s the issue?" The Chief asked. That was indeed a plan in his mind, but he couldn’t find an issue with it. That was a brilliant idea.

"I am afraid the village will get burned, and we can’t use the place as our base, Chief. I am also afraid that I might burn their food storage too."

The strategy was to use the kobold village as their resting place, an operation base for them as they kept going. But it could not be used if the village was burned. Most importantly, the food. They needed the kobolds’ food for their supplies, or else the goblins would be noisy.

His fireball’s explosion made the fire easier to spread. The hay roof and wooden house just made it worse. He could see the picture of the village burned down with five to seven fireballs.

Three fireballs might be controllable as long as he didn’t target where the houses were. Targeting the building that was not close, forcing them out of the village and fighting it outside the village. He didn’t want to take down the entire wall as well. They would need the wall too once they took over the village.

"That’s indeed a problem."

"Let’s think about that later. Just lure more kobolds toward us!" The cynical Goblin Champion barked at Red.

For once, the cynical Goblin Champion said something useful. That was for them to think later on. Not something they should figure out now anyway.

"Clean the bodies, or the ambush wouldn’t work!"

The Chief was about to say something to him. Red could see that because the Chief’s eyes kept moving toward him. But then the Chief said nothing. He left under the cynical Goblin Champion’s eyes.

Red was sure the Chief wanted to say something, but the Chief could not say it in front of the cynical, reasonable, and observer Goblin Champion.

Since he didn’t know the three Goblin Champions’ names, he named them based on their behavior. Two of them were mostly quiet, so he could not call them both quiet. Of course, that was just a temporary name and would be corrected based on their behavior. For now, they were cynical, reasonable, and observer.

He left the group without getting loot. That was disappointing, but to be expected. He expected that he would not get the loot with their numbers. But later, he could get it when they clashed.

Red left the ambush area and went back to the edge of the clearing where the kobold village was. He hid behind the trunk, checking the situation once more. There were fewer kobolds than his first check.

There were thirty-two kobolds; twelve of them were on the ground, patrolling around the wall. Twenty Kobold Archers were stationed on the platform as well as the tower. They were obviously on alert for another attack.

That was not going to discourage him from firing another fireball. The archers were not his issue. The issue was the too-big Elite Kobold Fighters that stood guard.

He created a hole in their defense wall, and both Elite Kobold Fighters were standing guard there. He recalled how their Burst Leap easily cut the distance. It meant he needed to be wary and ready against them.

Red was still leaning on the trunk, hiding from the Kobold Archer’s watch. However, he found his target, the tower with eight Kobold Archers on it. There was a reason why he picked the tower.

First, it was a stand-alone structure. There was no house around it, and it was closer to the wall. Shooting it down would not cause a fire that might burn their potential supply.

Second, the Kobold Archers would not be able to escape. The choice was to be hit by his fireball, or to jump off the tower. Both choices would hurt. He knew they would jump off to avoid the fire, but they would be hurt doing so. They might break their legs or hands, or even their necks.

He quickly got in position and charged his Fireball with six times mana. He would like to try the seven times mana since the six times mana Fireball was quite stable, but he was worried the fireball might explode midway.

"Let’s settle with six times mana for now..."

As soon as the fire swirled in his palm and formed the fireball, the kobolds immediately found him. He quickly shot the fireball.

Swoosh!

Red didn’t watch where his fireball was going. He snapped toward the two Elite Kobold Fighters. He was surprised to find they didn’t move.

The two Elite Kobold Fighters just watched him from their spot. Not that they didn’t do anything. They were hissing loudly, screaming. They were alerting the kobolds inside the village.

Boom!

The fireball hit the tower and exploded. The echoes of the kobolds’ screams traveled to his ears. As he predicted, his fireball took down the tower, but the fire didn’t spread.