Into the mouth of Tarkos.

John really hoped that legends about elven night vision were not exaggerated

The approach to the mountains was slow and careful, they did not want to raise the alarms. The elves, as primitive as they were, were actually good hunters and seemed delighted to be using their new gear to kill the enemy of their people.

This volcano was active, lava was flowing in small streams from the top of it and disappearing in deep cracks in the ground. The entrance they were approaching was heavily guarded, with 6 guards and 3 hound like scaly creatures. Getting in while stopping one of them from running inside to get help or blow his horn to raise the alarm would be really hard, some would say impossible (apparently the sounds these lizards made were unable to travel very far and they needed the horns on long distance).

He had a skill that would work for that, but he never used it before. He explained his plan to the elves and while they were worried about the outcome they agreed on it. From behind a big rock John looked around to see if everyone was in position.

He focused on Stealth and began to disappear in the shadows, hidden in the bush growing behind a big stone. John felt himself disappear. He had given the group some instructions, not knowing exactly how it would work. He hadn't tried it yet but the Shadow Step he got with overcharged Stealth and Darkness Mastery should be able to teleport him between two hiding places.

He waited for the elves to close their eyes, once his stealth indicator showed a closed eye he focused on the dark corner in the caves behind the guards. Suddenly, his point of view shifted and he was looking at the back of the guards rather than their faces.

'Holy shit, I can really teleport with this thing. Now for the next part, let's hope that the pointy ears can follow the battle plan.' John thought. He could probably have killed these guards with a frontal ****, but if one of them called for help everything would be lost.

Getting in had worked, now he had to disable the alarm. Even such a low tech system could be sabotaged. He was in range to use Theft, only 3 of the guards had horns to call for help, he discreetly took them from each of them.

'Alarm disabled' he mentally checked.

As instructed as soon as the horn that was visible on the belt of one of the hunters disappeared, the elves began scattering bits of bloody meat all around the entrance. The 3 lizard dogs ran away from the guard post, attracted by the smell.

'3,2,1 go!'

John sneaked behind the guards just as the guard dogs disappeared behind a big rock. He could hear the muffled yelps as they fell into the ambush prepared.

John used Restrain on the three guards standing on the left and approached slowly behind the one who was on the right end. He launched a sneak attack on him, the three paralyzed guards were motionless and the other two had stepped forward to check what their pets were doing.

240 dmg (sneak attack, crit)

Obsidian tipped spears flew high and struck with deadly accuracy on the three defenseless guards, sending them on the ground, bleeding profusely.

The rest of the elves charged the entrance, shield raised and spears pointing forward. They had no problem dispatching the two guards that had left the entrance. John stabbed his target with Dragon Fang, using a lightning Charged Strike, stunning him just long enough to finish him by slicing his throat with his sword.

60xp

The elves had also quickly finished the wounded guards that were bleeding on the ground. Apparently even with such advantages, a good battle plan, superior numbers, shields and armors, one of the elves had managed to get himself injured during the short fight.

John felt like he was wasting mana, casting an Alter Body to close his wound, but he had to do it if he wanted to be followed by the others.

He recovered some of the materials he had used to equip the elves by looting the corpses.

39 units Lizardmen meat
12 units of brown lizard hide
6 units of yellow lizard hide
33 obsidian shards
6 dirty loincloths
1200$

He did not take the time to go loot the dog creatures outside of the cave, he put his troops in order and they entered the mouth of Tarkos. Starting now it would be very dangerous. Each encounter could warn all the lizardmen living in this volcano and whatever else might lurk here. The tunnels were dark, steep and the surfaces rugged with sharp rocks everywhere. At regular intervals there were small holes filled with bubbling lava. The elves looked at it with horror and disgust. John wanted to know more, the absence of a camp fire at the village had really seemed odd.

"Fire is taboo. It is the curse of Tarkos, it destroys the forest, burns the flesh, it is the breath of evil in this world. We cannot use it, it is forbidden. If we did the father sun and mother moon would spit at us." explained Cali, like it made any sense. They were so primitive that they had not even discovered the positive aspects the fire could display once tamed.

At least the elves seemed able to walk silently. Soon they arrived at a split in the tunnel, Cali told him that prisoners would probably be deeper in the mountain. John, having no clue, decided to follow her lead.

Suddenly, as they were advancing they fell into an ambush themselves. Before anyone could react three elves were down with spear tips in their necks. That the lizardmen died near instantly under the strikes of the rest of the team brought little comfort to the survivors. John too was worried about it. He did not know how strong this Tarkos could be, but he wanted to have as many people at his side if they encountered him (preferably Sylvia too).

If only he could... Wait a second! He opened his interface and went to the map page. Of course it only showed what he had explored and had no details of the tunnels under the volcano, but there was a green dot on the map getting closer to his purple one as he advanced. He had a direction and a distance, all he needed was to figure out how high it was and how to get there.

Suddenly the young elven scout who had taken the lead took fire, molten lava raining on him from the ceiling of the tunnel. He had tripped on a rope near the ground and triggered a trap.

They had to sacrifice two shields to make a bridge and cross the puddle of molten stone. They finally reached a point where the tunnel opened on a room. John knew that Sylvia was there, he would have even without the map. He could recognize her floral scent in the air.

He could see the heavy gate made of stone bars that blocked the entrance of the cell (very ingenious, they probably made them by cooling down streams of Lava). He could also see the two guards.

Far from the small Yellowscale hunters these were 3.5 meter tall, very muscular, their jaws were longer and their fangs terrifying. Their scales were black and red and they were armed with very menacing weapons that would remind someone of Darth Maul's light saber if the plasma was replaced by huge obsidian blades.

Both were lvl 13, Restrain would only work for a few seconds. Their scales looked nothing like the soft leather of the other reptiles. There was nowhere behind them to teleport, no way to do a sneak attack. The situation left only one option, a frontal battle against two very powerful opponents.