Fractured God

The two, instead of going at the pace they went at before, had now broken out in a full sprint. While they were discussing what to do earlier, Ezekiel spoke of a somewhat pertinent fact.

"Given the size of this place it isn't too unlikely for there to be hundreds of kobolds running around at the minimum," he informed Tibaut.

Upon hearing this, Tibaut felt that he did not feel like experiencing the irl version of playing a Musou game and absolutely booked it trying to find an exit.

Two men were at this point now hot and sweaty in their desperate escape.

"You son of a bitch, why wait till now to mention that!?"

"It was pretty obvious if you asked me."

"Shut up, I'm a rookie. Anyway, how long till they discover the bodies?" Tibaut plainly said to him while trying to steady his breathing.

As if on cue, as soon as those words left his mouth he heard what sounded like muffled howling coming from the direction the kobolds went in. Upon hearing this Tibaut decided to kick his running into the next gear. He had long surpassed the pace even an olympic runner could reach in his attempt to escape.

"Why the hell is this place so fucking long?"

"Why are you running so seriously for? They're just kobolds."

"Shut up you bastard, if you want to get mobbed by them be my guest. Just don't expect me to bring back your corpse."

"Geez, you're so mean kiddo. You'd just let your good friend die down here?"

"Tch, shut up and keep running," Tibaut told him while gritting his teeth.

Even if they were "just kobolds" fighting one hundred or more of anything seemed like a daunting task.

They soon approached what looked like a town centre of some kind. Well, they had no idea if it was one or not, but they assumed so because of how absolutely massive the space was compared to anything else they had seen.

The space was about the size of a football stadium. It also had various paths and tunnels that connected to it which made it clear it was a communal area of some kind.

While Tibaut was busy trying to get the hell outta there Ezekiel grabbed his collar.

This grab was very brief, which resulted in Tibaut being sent to his ass on the floor. Before he could complain to Ezekiel he noticed him staring in a certain direction in this giant space.

When he brought his eyes to the direction Ezekiel was staring in he noticed something odd. There were several kobolds standing around something in the ground. They were examining it by poking and prodding it with their various clubs and long sticks.

His heart dropped when he realised the thing they were inspecting was not a thing but actually a person. Although he couldn't get a good look at them, the few glimpses he was able to get from looking in between the legs of the kobolds confirmed there was a person there.

Without exchanging any words the two ran towards the group with speed that made their earlier pace look like a joke. Before the kobolds even knew what hit them, half were blasted into the air by fireballs.

However, the person they were attacking was nowhere to be seen. Before they had time to even process what was even going on a strange man with dreadlocks appeared in front of them.

Some of the kobolds tried to get some distance while others attacked him.

Unfortunately for them, the ones who were attacking were moved back while the ones who moved away were pulled like a coin to a magnet. What happened next was in its purest form a slaughter. The seven kobolds didn't stand a chance.

As soon as they were within range of Ezekiel they had already lost. It was like watching a child forcing several ants to crawl on and off of its hand while slowly crushing them one by one.

After they finished up the kobolds present, Ezekiel brought the person near to his feet using his magic. It was a woman. She seemed to have no noticeable bruises or cuts but had her eyes closed and was breathing heavily.

"Man, rescuing a babe has really got me feeling like a hero, wouldn't you agree, Tibaut?"

"Is this really the time for this? Wait, you aren't going to do anything to her while she's unconscious are you?" Tibaut said while giving him a dubious look.

"Kid, don't look at me like that. I'm talking about the aesthetics of being an adventurer. You must have a real dirty mind if the first thing you think of when you see a passed-out woman is someone doing stuff to her unconscious." Ezekiel while shaking his head in faux disappointment.

"You bastard, don't you lecture me…"

They continued bickering and quite loudly at that. It was so loud in fact it woke up the unconscious woman. Although maybe it was a good thing she didn't fully have her bearings together as the conversation the two were having would make most women keep their distance.

"Um"

"..."

"..."

Upon making her presence known both of the idiots immediately shut their mouths.

Ezekiel cleared his throat and helped her to stand up.

"Say, what's a woman like yourself doing down in a place like this," Ezekiel questioned.

"I'd like to ask you people the same thing." She responded.

"Oh we're, just adventurers checking this place out for anything suspicious (I'm not sure if I should tell her that we're technically stuck here)" Tibaut responded, keeping a watch of the multiple paths that lead into this place.

Upon hearing that the woman smiled although a tinge of discomfort was noticeable on her face.

"Is that so? My, I must have been blessed to have the both of you come down here in my time of need."

"As I was asking, what-"

But before Ezekiel could continue his questioning he heard howling coming from the various tunnels connected to the space.