Chapter 18: The descendants of fire became offerings Part 1
by fnovelpia
Soren ran frantically, his breath growing heavier with each passing second.
He stumbled several times, almost falling, and soon the pain in his lungs became unbearable.
“Damn it! How far are they going to chase me?”
“This is dangerous…!”
But he couldn’t stop now.
The kobold pack was closing in on him, and their relentless pursuit was unlike anything he had ever experienced.
‘Why the hell are these crazy bastards risking their lives to chase me?’
Soren glanced back, his mind racing.
Already struggling for breath, he felt as if he were about to collapse.
Yet the kobolds behind him showed no signs of fatigue.
They were still running full speed.
He was about to lose his mind.
If he kept running like this without a plan, the end was already decided.
If he was lucky, he’d be thrown into the food storage, his limbs severed. He might survive for a week, gnawing on scraps, before finally dying.
If he was unlucky, he’d be split open alive, experiencing firsthand the horrific sight of his own intestines spilling out.
Either way, he would die.
Soren didn’t want to die like that.
In a panic, he quickly unfurled a map.
The magical map recorded every path he’d taken so far.
Soren’s quick thinking was paying off.
“Left!”
Soren shouted, and the others immediately changed direction.
The path that turned left led to an empty room.
There was nothing there.
In other words, it wouldn’t stop the kobold pack from chasing them.
Soren gripped his staff and looked back.
“Kahhknal!”
Three poisoned spikes shot out, striking the kobolds.
They collapsed within seconds, their bodies falling limp.
Thanks to that, the kobolds behind them stumbled over their fallen comrades, tumbling to the ground in a heap.
Soren shot another poisoned spike, and the kobolds fell like a wave crashing down.
He quickly turned back to the map.
‘I’ve never gone straight ahead. The left path is blocked, so if we go right…’
Returning the way they came would be a waste of time, but in this desperate situation, choosing an unknown path seemed too risky.
Soren made up his mind quickly.
He would only choose a sure path.
“Let’s go right!”
Soon, they reached another fork in the road, and the party sharply veered right.
“Huff! Huff…”
His vision was growing blurry, beads of sweat clung to his brow, and the cold of the dungeon only intensified as it chilled the sweat from his skin.
The others were making the dungeon even more chaotic.
Soren gritted his teeth and kept running.
The pain in his chest was so intense that he could barely speak.
Loreia fired her crossbow behind them repeatedly.
But it seemed to be pointless, as she quickly pulled it back and clicked her tongue in frustration.
The kobold corpses briefly slowed them down, but unfortunately, the pack effortlessly trampled over the bodies and kept chasing.
‘How is this happening…’
Soren’s mind was tangled.
‘Where had things gone wrong?’
This dungeon was just like the last one in the lower levels, but it was far more dangerous than the overgrown den they had encountered before.
The problem was the mountain of kobolds.
Just one thing made all the difference.
They were the rulers of this dungeon, the Cave of Chill.
Their nest was the very dungeon itself.
“Where are we going?!”
“Straight ahead! We’re going straight ahead!”
They ran for a long time, but the kobold pack didn’t seem to tire.
No, the ones who got tired had already fallen behind, trampled by the others.
The kobolds chasing them were fresh and full of energy, converging from all directions.
Ahead of Soren, more kobolds were joining the pack.
“Up ahead! Straight ahead!”
“Uooooo!”
Crash!
Bork, roaring loudly, lunged at the kobolds, tearing them apart.
Fur split open with a sickening crack, and innards and blood poured out.
Soren’s face twisted in disgust at the scene.
“There’s more ahead!”
“The way’s blocked! Even with the ancestors’ blessing, this is impossible!”
The next room was a junk room, filled with nothing but discarded items.
The way they came was blocked by yet another kobold pack that was rushing toward them.
Soren slowed his pace for a moment, his mind spinning, trying to figure out which direction to go.
“Left!”
“Are you sure…? Is this really the right way?!”
“What else can we do?!”
“Left! Let’s go!”
For a moment, there was a brief argument, but a quick decision was made.
In times like this, enemies became allies.
As soon as they turned left, they were met with paths leading both right and straight ahead.
Without hesitation, Soren pointed to the right.
‘If I’m right…?’
The structure of the dungeon was organic.
The rooms weren’t scattered randomly but interconnected by many paths.
The same applied to the path they had come from.
For now, they had no choice but to take an unfamiliar path, but with the map in hand, Soren was confident he could find his way.
***
“Trap!”
As they entered a new room, Loreia yelled.
At that moment, Soren’s eyes widened in realization.
“Let’s head toward the trap!”
“A trap?!”
“We can avoid it!”
Moss quickly understood, nodding in agreement.
He raised his shield and slowed his pace, falling behind Soren.
“Run! I’ll block it!”
Soren glanced at the room, eyeing the hidden traps set in the corners.
The powerful arrows might strike his shield, but there was no time to worry.
There was no room to crouch or crawl, so he and the others kept moving forward.
“May glory be with us!”
Boom!
A flash of light erupted suddenly.
Moss’s shield was enveloped by the light, and it formed into a solid layer around it.
“Trap!”
At that moment, Bork stepped on the trap.
The moment he passed through the center of the room, arrows rained down on them.
Loreia quickly slid across the floor, lowering her body to avoid the arrows, while Bork blindly swung his axe, cutting the arrows mid-air.
Thanks to that, Soren only had to watch their backs.
Even that was taken care of by Moss, who blocked the arrows with his shield.
Clang!
The arrows that struck the shield, or rather the golden light surrounding it, bounced off.
At the same time, the light flickered and cracked.
This happened several times.
“We can’t let the shield break!”
Moss didn’t say a word.
He was too busy running and blocking arrows with all his might.
Soren was the one responsible for guiding Moss, who could not see ahead.
Soren simply ran.
He ran until he was on the verge of death.
“Kiing! Kking!”
“Kerrk!”
As soon as they exited the trap room, the kobolds chasing them fell into a trap and collapsed one by one.
The problem was that there were so many of them that it wasn’t even noticeable.
“It’s over!”
Moss, with a pale face, returned to the formation.
Soren quickly scanned him and shouted.
“Straight ahead! Then to the right! And left!”
While Soren was looking at the map, the party had already gone too far back without realizing it.
At this point, returning to the camp seemed impossible.
After carefully picking the safest path, having to turn back without achieving anything felt like a complete waste.
‘Damn dungeon!’
It was incredibly frustrating.
After running for a long time, they were finally able to return to the path shown on the map.
“Heh, heh…!”
“Kerrk…!”
By this time, both Soren and Moss were exhausted.
Soren, who had been stumbling and barely running, finally stopped.
Moss also kneeled on the ground, as though waiting for that moment.
“We have to go, kid!”
“J-just wait… Ugh…”
Spitting out, he made a disgusting sound as his saliva hit the ground.
The smell of decay lingered in his mouth.
Soren, his face wrinkled in exhaustion, slowly lifted his gaze.
“Those bastards, we need to figure out a way…!”
“Damn it, there’s no way…!”
Bork squeezed his eyes shut, then grabbed his axe and stood in front of the passage they had come through.
Loreia, who had loaded her crossbow, quickly stood behind him.
Breathing heavily, Soren turned his eyes to Moss, who had collapsed on the ground.
“Isn’t there any way…?”
“Ugh! Cough…!”
Moss was on the verge of passing out.
It was the weight of the shield and the camp supplies he had been carrying alone, as well as retreating while blocking arrows, that had drained him.
Soren looked away from Moss, who was unable to speak properly.
‘There must be something… something…’
It felt hopeless.
There didn’t seem to be any way out.
From behind, a massive noise echoed from the passage as if the dungeon was about to collapse.
‘Bork and Loreia?’ The two of them trying to stop the kobold horde would be a suicide mission.
‘Think. Think.’
Soren closed his eyes quietly.
Time seemed to fragment as his thoughts spread across his brain in an instant.
“Kobolds are stubborn, greedy, and a tragically cursed species.”
Suddenly, the content of a guide popped into his mind.
“They once worshiped the God of Fire and Hammer, Kobanye. No one could rival their skill in metallurgy. But, caught in their own arrogance, they eventually angered Kobanye by trying to take the Steel Fortress.”
The price they paid was becoming a degenerate species, reduced to the pitiful kobolds they were now.
Soren, momentarily stunned by this fact, kept repeating one line over and over in his mind.
“They once worshiped the God of Fire and Hammer, Kobanye.”
The God of Fire and Hammer, Kobanye.
The species that worshipped him became the kobolds.
‘The descendants of fire must be hunted.’
Then, he recalled an ancient inscription he had seen before.
‘So that’s what it was!’
Soren’s eyes widened in realization.
Now he understood its true nature.
If that was the case, there was a way out.
Soren immediately forced Moss to get up.
Bork and Loreia looked back at him.
The kobolds’ shrill cries grew louder.
The ground trembled slightly.
Time was running out.
“I know the way! Run!”
“Where to…?”
Moss, looking as though he might die at any moment, asked.
Soren had already begun carrying some of Moss’s burden.
“To the altar room!”
The altar room they had passed earlier.
The greedy mouths of the god, who craved offerings, were right there.
There was no certainty.
No clear solution.
But if he had to choose between those two, Soren would bet everything on the “uncertain challenge.”
“This way!”
Heading toward the altar room was just like that.
There was no certainty.
But there was no other way to survive.
It would be difficult to escape.
The kobolds had already caught their scent.
Their claws would tear into flesh, and their fangs would gut them.
‘Even if my eyes are filled with dirt, it won’t end like that.’
Soren dreamed of living a long life and dying peacefully.
With that determination, they arrived at the altar room, which, as expected, was unchanged.
A colder air than other rooms, pale light descending from the ceiling, murals carved into the walls, and an altar in the center.
“Soren, what are you trying to do…?”
“Everyone, prepare for battle!”
Reaching the altar alone, Soren shouted.
For a moment, the other three party members were confused, but Moss, who was exhausted, suddenly slapped his forehead in realization.
“No way… Is it…?”
“We have to fight here! Otherwise, we’ll all die!”
“Everyone! Soren is right!”
Moss, the actual leader of the party, spoke those words, and Bork and Loreia silently raised their weapons.
The kobold horde was drawing near, shaking the entire dungeon with their loud cries.
As the three party members prepared to face them, Soren approached the altar and kneeled.
Positioned across from the passage, with a bell and a staff in hand.
“Lord of the Frozen Army, ruler of the frozen lands…”
The murals on the walls, depicting ancient times, began to shake.
Stones tumbled from the ceiling.
The pale light glowed, dust illuminated in the air.
Soren closed his eyes quietly.
“They’re coming!”
“Come! My ancestors will be with me!”
The kobolds approached.
If things continued like this, the four of them would be slaughtered by these vicious beasts.
“Grant us the cold power that even the hottest flames cannot melt. Uth-Kalden, the Lord of Frost, Uth-Kalden!”
“Uth-Kalden. Oh, the God of Frost who descended, Uth-Kalden!”
The bell rang loudly, shaking violently.
A chilling cold filled the air, as though it could freeze them to the bone.
The cold, which had been rippling across the altar, finally touched the tips of Soren’s fingers.
“Your altar is about to be defiled! Before the frost melts away, please heed this offering!”
Ding!
The bell’s movement stopped.
At that moment, Soren felt an intense, almost unbearable desire as if his very soul was being scraped.
A wicked smile crept onto Soren’s face. Now that he had understood the will of the great being…
“Please, grant us the strength to hunt the descendants of fire.”
It was time to offer their tribute.
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