My inventory is full of monster materials.

Chapter 137 Initial Victory

As the light grew dimmer in the depths of the dense forest, the elite squad, hidden behind the bushes, all turned their gazes toward the distance.

There stands a huge cave resembling an air-raid shelter, with a wide, dark entrance and rough rock walls, surrounded by a simple wooden structure.

Four simple watchtowers stood at the four corners, with dog-headed figures wearing lizard heads pacing back and forth on the towers, vigilantly scanning their surroundings and occasionally letting out sharp hisses.

A moment later, the sound of wings cutting through the air came from the sky. The griffin folded its wings and landed steadily at the team's ambush site.

Adele leaped lightly off her mount, her face beaming with joy, and strode over to Killian, who was sitting on the rock, to deliver the information crisply and efficiently.

"Ahead is the outpost of the kobold tribe, a medium-sized camp with about 30 to 40 kobolds."

"There are 1-2 kobold sorcerers, 10 crossbowmen and slingers, and the rest are warriors or miners."

After the report was finished, Adele looked intently at Killian, and the other team members also turned their gazes to her.

Everyone was waiting for the new captain to issue his first combat orders after taking office, in order to observe the captain's strength and decisiveness.

Killian slowly rose, reached out and grasped the hilt of the greatsword beside him, and with a clang, hoisted the heavy greatsword onto his shoulder.

His gaze swept over everyone present, and his voice was steady and powerful as he directly addressed the task at hand.

"Adele, you ride the griffin into the air and take charge of long-range shooting, focusing on containing the crossbowmen and sorcerers."

"Eris, Nolan, charge with me head-on and storm the camp. The rest of you stay put and be ready to provide support at any time."

Upon hearing this, everyone turned their heads slightly, and Adele was the first to ask, her eyes full of curiosity.

"Why leave the two mages behind? Wouldn't it have been faster to defeat the enemy by having them fight together?"

Adele comes from a prestigious family and has been trained by masters, so she has a solid foundation in training, but she lacks practical experience. Her questions at this moment are tinged with a bit of bewilderment and excitement as she enters the battlefield for the first time.

Killian's explanation was simple yet persuasive.

"Four professionals are enough to handle this number of kobolds. More people would only cause chaos and lead to friendly fire."

"Remember, act quickly and decisively; aim to finish the entire battle within fifteen minutes."

"It won't take fifteen minutes, ten minutes will be enough."

Eris drew his ornate slender sword with a clang, the tip gleaming coldly, his face full of arrogance.

Nolan slammed the cast-iron sledgehammer into the ground with a loud thud, sending debris flying, his voice impassioned.

"I can no longer contain myself and must judge these heretical monsters!"

As the lion took to the air once more, Killian, carrying his greatsword, led the charge towards the kobold camp, followed closely by Eris and Nolan. The three figures, with their overwhelming momentum, instantly shattered the tranquility of the camp.

Theresa stood firmly at her post, her hands resting on her paladin's longsword, while Mark and Gray stood side by side, their eyes fixed on the movements of the camp ahead.

Soon, a fierce battle broke out in the distant camp.

Killian's greatsword swept across the area, Eris moved nimbly, and Nolan crushed the minions with brute force.

Not far away, faint gray magical fluctuations emanated, clearly indicating that a kobold warlock was casting a spell, but it was precisely restrained by Adele in the air with her arrows, and the spell was interrupted time and time again.

The camp was a scene of chaos and fire.

A dozen minutes later, the commotion in the camp gradually subsided, and the howling and the clash of weapons completely disappeared.

Just then, a clear whistle rang out, and Mark and Gray both breathed a sigh of relief.

This was a pre-arranged code, signifying that the crisis had been averted.

Mark and Gray exchanged a glance, then Mark called to Theresa, and the three of them headed toward the kobold outpost.

The moment I stepped into the camp, the scene before me was shocking.

The ground was littered with the corpses and severed limbs of kobolds, and the air was thick with the stench of blood and filth. The makeshift shacks were smashed to pieces, with scattered ore and animal hides.

At this moment, the four advance team members were busy with their own tasks.

Killian crouched down, drew his dagger from his waist, and finished off the kobold corpses on the ground one by one, to prevent any that had escaped from feigning death and launching a counterattack.

Adele remained riding the lion, perched atop the highest watchtower, frowning and unwilling to dismount, clearly finding the camp too filthy.

Eris wiped the rapier in her hand with a silk handkerchief with a look of disgust, as if the blade was dirty, her eyes full of impatience.

Nolan then crawled into makeshift shacks, rummaging through the clutter with his hands, searching for anything of value.

Mark's gaze fell on the kobold corpse on the ground.

As burrowing, reptilian, humanoid creatures, they are short in stature, with thick limbs, lizard-like heads, and sparse scales covering their bodies.

It is rumored that dragonborn do not necessarily possess dragon blood, but kobolds have acquired a diluted dragon bloodline due to being influenced by the aura of dragons.

A very small number of kobolds whose bloodline has awakened will grow a pair of withered, small fleshy wings on their backs, which is a symbol of the dragon bloodline being concentrated to a certain degree.

"They are black-scaled dog-headed men."

Gray's voice rang out beside Mark, interrupting his observation.

Mark followed his gaze and saw that the scales on the kobold's neck were indeed dark black, so he asked.

"Is there any explanation for this?"

Gray crouched down and pointed to the scales on a kobold corpse, explaining.

"The kobold tribe will undergo corresponding physical changes depending on the dragon attribute of their faith."

"The fact that these kobolds have black skin suggests that they worship a black dragon, or a subspecies of a black dragon."

As he spoke, Gray pointed to a dog-headed corpse with fleshy wings and wearing a priest's robe not far away.

"Look, there are kobold warlocks here, which proves that this tribe is capable of performing the dragon blood ritual, and the core of the ritual must be the tribal totem containing the remains of a giant dragon."

Gray's voice wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the quiet camp.

Upon hearing this, Eris and Nolan immediately stopped what they were doing, their eyes lighting up.

Even a single scale or tooth from a dragon's remains is a rare material, worth over a thousand gold pieces, which would be a considerable fortune for these pampered noble children.

Even Adele, on the watchtower, disregarded the filth of the camp and slowly descended on her griffin, bending down to search among the corpses and shacks.

That's the allure of adventure—it always holds unknown treasures.

Gray looked at the crowd's frenzied expressions and gave a helpless, bitter smile.

He deliberately brought up the dragon's remains, hoping to motivate everyone to tackle the cave later, but he didn't expect them to be so impatient.

Only two people in the camp remained unmoved.

Theresa remained standing at the edge of the camp, her armor spotless, her hands clasped in front of her chest, silently praying tirelessly, as if the bloodshed and treasure before her were irrelevant to her.

The other person was Mark.

Mark wasn't unmoved by the dragon's remains, but he knew they were too eye-catching, and that a scramble for them would inevitably lead to conflict.

Instead, Mark was more interested in the worthless kobold corpses scattered around him.

By dissecting these corpses, one can obtain valuable monster materials. If they are winged kobolds, one might even be able to extract traces of dragon blood.

With that thought in mind, Mark headed straight for the center of the camp.

At that moment, Killian was holding a dagger, preparing to cut off the fleshy wings on the back of the kobold warlock, when Mark quickly stepped forward to stop him.

"Killian, you killed this kobold warlock, didn't you? I'd like to buy its corpse."

"Buy it?"

A muffled sound came from Killian's helmet, a sound filled with doubt.

"What do you need it for?"

Mark explained with a smile.

"I am particularly interested in biological research and want to collect its corpse as a specimen."

"How about I buy it for 100 gold coins?"

After saying that, Mark immediately took out a bulging money bag from his dimensional bag, weighed it in his hand, and showed his sincerity.

Killian had already taken away the valuable magical ornaments and staff from the kobold warlock, leaving only the fleshy wings symbolizing dragon blood and a few internal organs, with an overall value of no more than a few dozen gold coins.

But Killian simply waved his hand and said it very bluntly.

"No need, you can have it."

Mark didn't insist, took back his money bag, and sincerely thanked him.

Thank you.

As he spoke, Mark bent down and squatted beside the kobold warlock's corpse, his eyes becoming hungry and somewhat fanatical as he carefully examined every part of the body, looking as if he had discovered the remains of a dragon.

Killian sheathed his dagger, glanced at his teammates, coughed a few times, and gave a loud order.

"Stop it, all of you! The main body of the kobold tribe is in the crypts. This is just an outpost; there's nothing of value here!"

These words were like a bucket of cold water, instantly stopping Eris, Adele, and Nolan, who were busy at work. Their faces were full of resentment, but they could only reluctantly give up.

Killian then issued subsequent instructions one by one.

"Adelle, take off immediately and take charge of guarding the cave entrance. Keep a close eye on any activity inside the cave and give an immediate warning if any kobolds rush out."

"Gray, set up an attack array in the open area of ​​the camp and prepare for the assault."

"The rest of you should take this time to rest, replenish your magic and stamina, and be ready to engage in battle at any time."

Everyone responded in unison, and Adele immediately rode the griffin into the air, landing steadily on the watchtower, her eyes fixed on the cave entrance.

Without wasting words, Gray quickly cleared a space, took out a staff, magic scroll, crystals and other materials from his dimensional bag, and began to build an attack array.

Gray formed hand seals and chanted a spell. The crystals were arranged in a specific position on the open ground. He tapped the crystals with his ruby ​​staff, and they glowed red.

Red magical patterns spread across the ground, gradually outlining the prototype of a magic array resembling a magic attack tower.

Mark looked around at the series of actions and became puzzled. He stepped forward and asked Killian.

"Are you planning to establish a battlefield here instead of going directly into the cave?"

Killian nodded, speaking in a calm tone.

"That's right. If you take a closer look at our squad's configuration, it's actually not very suitable for underground combat."

Upon hearing this, Mark glanced at the team members present.

Greatswordsman Killian, Swiftswordsman Eris, Hammer Warrior Nolan, and Paladin Theresa are all melee classes that excel at frontal assaults in open terrain.

The archer cavalry, Adele, Mark, and the two mages, Gray, found it difficult to utilize their ranged attack advantage within the narrow cave.

Kobolds are naturally adept at cave dwelling, skilled in setting traps and fighting in the dark. While ordinary expeditions would be equipped with thieves or assassins to scout and clear mines, their squad was unusually lacking in this area.

This is the biggest disadvantage: lack of underground reconnaissance capabilities, difficulty for melee classes to perform in confined spaces, easy to accidentally injure teammates with ranged attacks, and complete ignorance of traps and terrain within the cave.

Mark nodded and pondered for a moment before asking a question.

"We have already captured the outpost. The kobolds are intelligent beings after all. Once they learn of the outpost's destruction, they will most likely only send out a small force to spy on it."

"If the losses are too great, they will inevitably retreat into the caves and refuse to come out. In the end, won't we still be forced to enter the caves, wasting our time?"

Killian wore a confident smile and spoke with certainty.

"Don't worry, I was prepared." With that, he took a sealed ceramic jar from his pouch and handed it to Mark.

Mark took the earthenware pot, shook it gently, and then poured out some coarse black powder. A strong, pungent smell immediately hit him, making him cover his nose and frown as he complained.

"Uh... what is this? It smells like dried poop?"

Killian nodded seriously, his tone frank.

"This is dragon poop."

Mark's expression froze instantly, his face filled with disbelief. He never expected that Killian's so-called "preparation" would be this.

Killian, however, explained with a serious expression.

"Kobolds fanatically worship dragons, which are both sacred symbols and highly provocative to them."

"I plan to burn this dragon dung at the cave entrance. The kobolds inside will smell it and, whether out of worship and a desire to steal it, or out of anger and a desire for revenge, they will all rush out of the cave. Then we can wipe them all out in an open area and avoid the disadvantage of going underground."

Upon hearing this, Mark instantly understood and couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"As expected of a seasoned Silver Adventurer, this method is ingenious."

Afterwards, Killian gathered some firewood at the cave entrance, lit a campfire, and sprinkled dragon feces powder on the flames. Puffs of black smoke rose instantly, carrying a pungent stench, and drifted into the depths of the cave.

After a moment, Max gathered magic in his hands, condensing it into a solid blue runestone. He raised his hand and threw it heavily into the cave entrance. With a flash of blue light, the runestone instantly disappeared into the darkness without making a sound.

Seeing this, Killian asked with some confusion.

"What kind of magic did you use?"

"The Eye of Surveillance".

As Mark spoke, he continued to condense rune stones and throw them into the cave entrance one after another.

"This is a magical construct that will hide itself after being thrown into the cave, allowing us to observe the activity inside the cave entrance in real time and keep track of the kobolds' movements."

Upon hearing this, Killian nodded slightly and said only one sentence.

"it is good."

After dealing with everything, the two returned to their camp.

At this moment, the team members in the camp were taking the time to rest, while Gray stood guard beside the newly set-up attack array.