You are Summoned

Chapter 260. Wall Lizards.

“What now?” I mumbled to myself and was startled when Melvin responded to me.

“Lizard things eating our kobolds.”

Melvin was right, I could see the seemingly solid stone cavern wall near the crafting station had collapsed, revealing a new space, and more importantly, several lizards the size of ponies. The lizards were chowing down on some of the kobold crafters who had been too slow to run.

The kobold warriors defending the cavern were running toward the threat, but I really doubted that they would be enough to handle it on their own. I had Blieek and Glamb with me, but the rest of my minions were too far out to be of use right now. It was up to us, and I ordered the two to follow me as I headed toward the fight.

A total of seven of the giant lizards had now emerged from the collapsed wall, and I didn’t know if more were going to follow. The creatures were larger and heavier than the kobolds and seemed more than eager to have kobold for dinner. Aggressive, the lizards also seemed to have no fear, crowding around and feasting on the trio of dead kobolds that they had taken down. They completely ignored the defenders closing in on them.

“After I throw this, I want you to charge in and attack,” I ordered to one of the kobold warriors who had joined me. The kobold seemed terrified, but I got the sense that he would follow the order. Defending their home cavern made them a bit braver than those just watching over the gathering parties.

Hefting my javelin, I activated its power and hurled it at the closest lizard. Automatically targeting, the magic in the weapon made my throw hit the lizard in the chest. A jolt of electricity shot through the beast, killing it and stunning the lizard next to it which happened to be touching my target.

I followed up with a magic missile, while the kobold I’d chosen charged forward. I felt a bit bad about what I was about to do, but there were too many enemies that were too powerful, and a sacrifice had to be made. As the lizards turned toward the threat, they lunged at the kobold who I targeted with the Ring of Final Sacrifice.

The system seemed to deem the kobolds minions when it came to the ring and the magic of the powerful item filled the attacking kobold. I was a bit shocked that the kobold managed to stab the lead lizard, but its crude wooden spear just skipped off the scales of the beast. The first lizard clamped down on the kobold, killing it and causing the ring’s magic to activate.

The explosion almost knocked me off my feet, we were a bit closer than we should have been to the enemy. The remaining kobold warriors were knocked over by the blast but were recovering quickly. Blieek and Glamb remained on their feet and charged in. I hit Glamb with Duplicate as they ran forward.

My dual wielding goblin had turned into a formidable fighter now that the trio’s weapons were upgraded to rank three and their armor to rank four. I drew my wand as the smoke and dust from the explosion started to dissipate. The lizard that had killed the exploding kobold was completely obliterated, only a few meaty scraps remained. A few other lizards were seriously wounded and flailing around on the ground.

That left three beasts were at least partially protected from the blast by the other lizards. These were injured to varying degrees, but all were still willing to fight. I hit the healthiest one with a magic missile as Blieek used his charge ability to impale it with his spear. Unlike the kobold warriors, Blieek’s spear had no trouble piercing the lizard scales.

The damage was enough to put the lizard down, but Glamb was in trouble. He had hacked his blades into one of the lizards, but his duplicate chose the same target. That left the lizard bleeding out on the stone cavern floor, but it also left one lizard free to chomp down on Glamb’s head. Despite his upgraded armor, the lizard’s teeth had managed to latch onto the goblin’s neck where there was no protection.

Shaking its head like a dog, the lizard shredded Glamb’s neck and the Health Bloom I cast on the area wasn’t enough to stop the bleeding in time. For the second time in the challenge, poor Glamb was killed and would have to regenerate before I could call him back. Blieek and the duplicate Glamb laid into the killer lizard. Heavy chopping blades and a steel spear dealt with the monster.

“Finish off the wounded,” I ordered the kobold warriors who were just now catching up to my minions. They set about stabbing the fallen lizards, their spears were garbage, but there were plenty of points on the lizards’ bodies where the tough scales had been blasted off from the explosion.

“Explore the new opening, Glamb. Blieek will stay with me,” I ordered. The duplicate Glamb trotted off past the collapsed wall, his weapons at the ready as Blieek helped the kobolds finish off the lizards.

You have dispatched a threat to your people. Bonus resources have been awarded, and an expansion to your cavern is now available for you to exploit.

The system prompt appeared as the last lizard was dispatched. I headed back to the headquarters to order a team of workers to start harvesting the bodies. The system reward was nice, but I wasn’t going to let the free resources lying on the floor go bad. From the headquarters, I could also monitor the duplicate Glamb’s progress.

The new addition to our cavern was a single, almost rectangular space. About as large as two mushroom farm plots. It would provide space for the crafting stations to expand further. As long as the other walls didn’t collapse under another surprise lizard assault, I should have enough room in the newly discovered area for a future structure.

A few glowing crystals caught my eye in the new area. There was a large cluster of them that seemed to be growing out of the far wall of the new expansion. As I examined the crystals, the system came through with an explanation.

Glow Crystal Formation. With the proper tools, these glow crystals can be harvested by your kobold workers. Highly sought after for lighting, the glow crystals quickly replenish after being harvested, reducing their value somewhat despite their demand.

Nice, another resource area ready to be exploited by my kobold empire. The only trouble was, when I tried to assign a work team to harvest the glow crystals, I was met with another system prompt.

Your workers do not have the proper tools to harvest these crystals. Simple mining tools can be created at the crafting station, but you must wait for your workers to respawn and new workers to be trained in their construction.

You have unlocked the Quartermaster’s Hut. By constructing a Quartermaster’s Hut, you will provide a place to distribute weapons, gear, armor, and tools to your people. Items crafted by your people, or received in trade will automatically be stored in the Quartermaster’s Hut. This building will increase the efficiency of all your workers and warriors by 5%.

I ordered up one of the new huts, placing it near the crafters station. It seemed like the building would just give a flat bonus to efficiency, but with my lazy workers, I needed all the help I could get. By raising the rank of the structure, I was pretty sure that I’d unlock even better efficiency boosts.

Now, I had to wait impatiently for my crafters to respawn. We needed more tools, weapons, and equipment. With the newly upgraded crafter’s station, my kobolds should be able to provide them once they all respawned. Only two had survived the lizard attack, and they were just now returning to their posts, though I could see they kept looking around instead of focusing on their work. The system seemed to have noticed as well.

Protect your workers from attack. If a particular work team takes significant casualties, the surviving members will be struck with a Fear debuff that will reduce their work efficiency by 50% for an hour.

The workers might be scared, but I could see they at least had a better place to work now that the crafters station had been upgraded. A new forge, more tools, and even what looked like a small alchemy station had been created. It wasn’t the only thing to upgrade, the Barracks had also hit rank one.

Changing from the rickety looking barn structure, the barracks now was starting to look like a sturdy, purpose-built structure. At the entrance, the drill sergeant still waited, calling out for new recruits, but I could also see a small tower placed above the entrance. A single warrior stood guard there, and his presence signified something new.

At Rank 1, your barracks will start to create defenders to protect the structure and your nearby headquarters. These forces are in addition to your existing population and do not require any additional resources or housing to support.

Nice, it was only a single warrior defending both the barracks and the headquarters, but it was a start. The fact that the new defender wouldn’t be a drain on resources was even better news. Given the unexpected lizard attack, and the hostile elves, I could only wonder when and where the next threat might show itself.

I had my eye on the log fort that the elves had discovered and got a bad feeling about that place. My minions should be there soon, and then we’d see if that place represented an opportunity, or a new enemy. Speaking of opportunities or enemies, the time on the temporary truce with the rock gnomes was running down, and I still needed to decide how I wanted to proceed with them.