1st person POV: Kaito Mugenrei
The city slept, but I couldn't.
The streets of Korvath were quiet at this hour, bathed in the pale blue before dawn. Lanterns flickered weakly against the morning mist. My boots echoed against cobblestone as I wandered without a destination, hands resting against my blades.
I could feel it—
That creeping, suffocating presence pressing against the edges of my senses. The forest to the north was stirring like a restless beast. The air itself felt heavier, like the world was holding its breath.
I stopped near the northern wall and stared into the treeline. A faint, rhythmic tremor reached my ears. Not loud enough for the untrained to notice. But I'd felt this before. Once, long ago… before everything burned.
> Even if I shout it… no one listens.
I could still see it clearly: standing in the streets of Bustleburg as a boy, yelling about the monsters coming. Soldiers laughed. Adults brushed me off. Hours later, the city was ash and blood.
I gritted my teeth. There was no point waking anyone up.
I turned my back to the wall, tightened my gloves, and slipped into the forest alone.
---
The treeline greeted me with damp air and silence. Too silent.
I didn't wait. I moved swiftly, blade drawn, and within minutes I found them—
kobold scouts slinking between the trees, their yellow eyes reflecting faint light. I cut through them like weeds, quick and quiet. One by one, bodies fell into the undergrowth.
Then I heard it.
A rumble.
Through the fog, a tide of kobold warriors surged forward. They weren't sneaking anymore—they were charging, dozens… no, hundreds of them. The first wave.
> "Tch… so it begins."
I leapt down from a rock ledge and met them head-on. My blades flashed in a brutal rhythm—cut, pivot, slash, crush. Bodies piled at my feet, but more came, trampling their dead without hesitation.
Then the second wave arrived.
Kobold raiders and elites burst through the flanks, faster and stronger than the grunts. They fanned out, surrounding me, darting in with curved blades and savage precision. I parried and countered, slicing through a raider's throat, but three more replaced him instantly.
Behind them, the third wave revealed itself.
Archers and shamans took position at the rear. Arrows whistled through the trees. Green light flickered as shamans chanted, hurling glowing orbs that detonated on impact.
The air became a storm of steel and magic.
I weaved between arrows, deflecting fireballs with my blades, carving a bloody line through the horde. But I could feel it—this wasn't a raid. It was a full-scale assault.
And then… they came.
The five chieftains stepped out from the treeline like warlords, each flanked by their personal guard. Their armor gleamed with crude metal plates, their weapons heavy with trophies of past kills. They barked orders in guttural growls, and the scattered kobold formations snapped into tighter ranks.
And finally—
The ground shook.
The trees split apart.
The Kobold King emerged, towering and broad, a monstrous sword in one hand and a battered shield in the other. His roar echoed through the forest like a rolling thunderclap. Even the kobolds paused for a heartbeat, as if announcing the arrival of their god.
I tightened my grip.
This wasn't a fight I could win out here.
---
I moved like a shadow, cutting down elites and raiders trying to keep pace. My goal shifted—stop the chieftains before they reached the wall.
I intercepted the leftmost chieftain, sliding low and carving through his escort. Blood sprayed as I spun, stabbing a shaman through the chest. But the chieftain didn't stop to duel. He barked something to his warriors and kept marching, using them as living shields.
I lunged after him—
And a wall of kobolds slammed into me.
Arrows rained down. Raiders harried my flanks. Every second I spent cutting through fodder, the chieftains moved closer to Korvath.
When I finally broke free, breath misting in the dawn air, the sight made my stomach drop—
The chieftains had already reached the wall.
And behind them, the Kobold King approached like a battering ram.
---
A few adventurers had gathered near the northern gate—maybe a dozen. They were mid-rankers, still yawning sleep from their eyes but drawing weapons nonetheless. Brave… but hopelessly outmatched.
"Form up!" one of them shouted. "We hold the line until reinforcements—"
He didn't finish. A chieftain crashed into their formation like a storm. Shields shattered. Swords flew. Bodies hit the ground in seconds.
I dove into the fray, decapitating a raider mid-leap, kicking an archer aside. For a brief moment, we held the breach.
Then the Kobold King reached the wall.
One swing.
The reinforced gate exploded into splinters.
The king's shield smashed through the barricade, creating a massive breach. Kobold warriors poured through like a flood.
I cut down two elites at once, but the defense line was already collapsing. Screams filled the dawn air. Fires broke out in the nearby district.
They were inside.
I sprinted into the city after them, ignoring the chaos around me. Smoke and blood painted the streets. The kobolds spread out like a plague.
Near the main square, just beyond the shattered wall, I found them—
Five chieftains, rallying their forces.
And further ahead, the Kobold King, issuing commands like a seasoned general.
My breath came out slow.
No reinforcements. No plan. No one else.
> "Ignored… again."
I raised my blades.
> "But I'll make sure you hear me now."
With a battle cry that split the morning air, I charged into the square alone—
Straight into the five chieftains, while the Kobold King watched from beyond, his monstrous eyes fixed on me.
Steel clashed against steel as I met the first two head-on. The square shook with the force of our blows.
The chapter ends here, with Kaito surrounded, blades flashing, holding the line alone as Korvath burns behind him.