My Skill Bar is Full of Monster Skills-Chapter 48: Gigantification

In an underground space very deep from the surface, resembling a natural cavern, seven or eight flat-bottomed cargo ships covered with tarpaulins were docked in a broad underground dark river, akin to the Mill River.

The dark river meandered into the distance, and judging by the sound of water, there seemed to be many tributary dark rivers joining in.

Meanwhile, many short figures were busily transporting boxes of ore from mining carts onto the cargo ships.

On a slightly elevated rock by the dark river’s edge, a blond man dressed in a blue and white mage robe slightly frowned. He seemed to have received some sort of communication, turned around to look in the direction of the Azure Mine, and murmured lowly:

"Adventurers have come again as expected."

"However, the Detection Array showed no reaction, so there should be no Classes."

"It seems the death of that group of adventurers last time didn’t concern the association much, which makes it easier to handle."

Yet, apparently due to concern about something, he turned his head to the short figure beside him, and asked:

"Withered Beard, has the arrangement I asked you to make for our clan been settled in the outer hall?"

"Rest assured, Lord Aiel, I’ve already arranged everything. The deeper dark passages have been blocked as of yesterday as well." Came a slightly slurred, aged voice.

"Hmm, very good." The blond man named Aiel showed a satisfied smile and nodded.

However, seemingly still somewhat distrustful of the Kobold Priest in front, the blond man suddenly changed his tone and asked a question: "By the way, Withered Beard, how many Winged Kobolds did you arrange?"

"Uh... three." Under the candlelight of the right paw, the elderly Kobold Priest’s face, illuminated red, suddenly showed a hint of fear and trepidation, stammering.

"What! Three?!" The blond middle-aged man’s eyes widened, his expression quite astonished!

But in the next second, the blond middle-aged man regained his composure, pointed at Withered Beard’s nose, and shouted curses:

"Fool! Three is far from enough! Why didn’t you follow my arrangement and deploy eight?!"

...

The outer hall.

And those three Gray Dwarves almost advanced in unison, heavily swinging hammers at Chris, Grande, and Raine!

"Clang!!!"

Sparks flew around at the same time!

The sound of metal clashing almost overlapped threefold.

Even though Chris and Grande recently practiced Shield Blocks with Raine, they faced Gray Dwarves whose Power exceeded them by at least thirty percent, striking with heavy hammers.

Both of them staggered immediately, and their left hand holding the Shield felt painful and throbbing, muscles trembling.

Only Raine, wielding a newly purchased Steel Shield, firmly blocked the Warhammer of the middle Gray Dwarf, but judging from Raine’s bulging forearm and shoulder deltoid muscles, it wasn’t easy either.

Meanwhile.

Raine also noticed that due to Chris and Grande retreating by two steps beside him, for a moment, he became particularly exposed.

This made Raine’s heart think ’not good,’ and he immediately stepped back two more steps.

This problem was also seen by Chris and Grande, but before they could shout, Raine quickly retreated a step, returned to the line, and stood shoulder to shoulder with them, maintaining themselves on the same baseline.

"Whoosh!"

An arrow shot swiftly towards the Gray Dwarf from the rear, forcing the Gray Dwarf, intending to strike Chris again, to abandon the attack and lift his hammer to block.

Compared to Reya, who could quickly execute archery counterattacks, Fabian was somewhat frustrated.

Because he had just shot two Crossbow Arrows and was now quickly reloading, causing a momentary gap, unable to harass the Gray Dwarf Warrior in front of Grande.

’Damn it! I should have brought a Short Bow!’ Fabian thought frustrated.

As a Rogue Apprentice, Fabian was familiar with Crossbow Arrows and Short Bows, but generally, he would only choose one type of ranged weapon for a mission.

Due to Captain Reya being a powerful Shooter, Fabian usually carried a Hand Crossbow.

In fact, this time it’s hard to blame Fabian.

After all, who would have thought that near Mill Town, in the heartland of the Human Kingdom of Soladin, Gray Dwarves, typical of the Underdark, would appear?

As for launching a flank attack, Fabian couldn’t manage it now, not to mention the fierce close combat attacks of the Gray Dwarves, at this moment, his side three people and the enemy were locked in combat on one line, he simply couldn’t break through.

"Fight while retreating! Retreat to the passage!" Reya’s clear and urgent voice came from behind Raine.

Raine naturally understood why Reya immediately changed tactics.

Originally, the plan was to hold the passage exit to restrict the Gray Dwarves’ actions, but now merely after one clash, Chris and Grande were pushed back.

The strength of the Gray Dwarf Warriors before them was stronger than anticipated.

So, only by withdrawing from this hall, retreating to the narrow passage leading to the surface that they had come through, could they avoid being quickly overrun by the Gray Dwarves.

Raine was very much in agreement with this adjustment.

Because besides the aforementioned reason, what he worried about more was the underground space detected by acoustic positioning.

He didn’t know whether, apart from the numerous Kobolds, there were additional Gray Dwarf Warriors below.

If there were, then the consequences would be disastrous.

"Hold steady, follow my rhythm!" Raine growled.

Thanks to last time’s squad practice, hearing Raine’s steady voice, Chris and Grande beside him, their steps changed from frantic to rhythmic.

From the side, the three human Shield Warriors, apart from initial panic at engaging, seemed steadier and retreated slowly!

The Gray Dwarves were very surprised.

In their view, this time should have been like last time, swiftly defeating the enemy upon appearance.

But unexpectedly, this group of human adventurers, despite lacking Classes, showed an indomitable spirit.

They actually resisted the first wave of their attacks.

Sos remembered several days ago when the human squad, although there were six of them.

Two were instantly killed upon appearance, then the other human adventurers scattered in panic, and the whole battle seemed like a slaughter of civilians.

Oh, except for the one human Warrior who stayed behind to resist, making him spend a few more hammer blows.

But now this human squad, despite having one less member, could fight with vigor.

Though for some reason, the current human squad had three Shield Bearers, a rare configuration, their combat determination and tactic cooperation also differed vastly from the team of a few days ago.

Momentarily, their battle seemed to reach a stalemate.

Raine and his group had already retreated over twenty meters, approximately reaching the other end of the underground hall, the location of the connecting exit passage.

That means, maintaining the current state, their safe retreat was fairly guaranteed.

But then, Fabian from behind urgently reminded: "Damn it! I’m out of Crossbow Arrows!"

Apparently noticing this situation, the three Gray Dwarves ahead suddenly roared angrily, their originally 1.5-meter stature suddenly swelling in muscle, height surging upward.

At this moment, the heights of the three Gray Dwarves became almost comparable to Raine’s group.

Moreover, since Raine’s group had slightly bent knees with Shields raised in blocking stance, from Reya’s perspective, the Gray Dwarves momentarily appeared even taller than Raine and the others.

"Damn it! It’s Gigantification!" Reya’s urgent and anxious cry came from behind!

"You three, be careful!"

But the problem is, sometimes, when there’s a large disparity in Power, even if you know the opponent’s attack angle and direction, you can’t block it.