Ethan hit the gravel at the bottom of the slope with a loud, theatrical thud, rolling onto his side and letting out a sharp, pathetic groan. To the surviving guard and the Kobolds, it looked like a clumsy, panicked fall. In reality, his maximized constitution and agility meant he hadn't felt a thing. He had perfectly absorbed the impact, his eyes scanning the battlefield through the messy strands of his dark hair.
"What in the heavens—" the remaining guard stammered, his short sword trembling as he looked between the muddy, screaming youth and the reptilian monsters perched on the wagon.
The Kobold scout hissed, its flat head tilting in disgust at the noisy intruder. With a sharp click of its tongue, it gestured toward one of the archers on the canvas roof. The archer instantly notched a venom-tipped arrow, spinning its bow around to point it straight at Ethan's chest.
*Thwip!*
The arrow whistled through the air, aiming dead center. To a normal human, it was a lethal blur. To Ethan's peaked perception, the arrow moved with the sluggish, predictable trajectory of a thrown pebble.
He could have easily caught it out of the air. Instead, Ethan let out another loud shriek, deliberately tripping over his own long Westmere robes and collapsing flat onto his face in the dirt. The arrow zipped harmlessly over his head, embedding itself deep into the wooden wheel of the merchant wagon.
"Missed! It missed!" the old merchant wailed from beneath his table, desperately scrambling to gather his scattered silver coins.
While still face-down in the dirt, Ethan's hand swept across the gravel path. His fingers locked around a heavy, jagged piece of limestone. He didn't stand up like a proud warrior. He scrambled to his knees, his face twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated panic, and threw the rock toward the wagon roof with a wild, uncoordinated swing.
To the onlookers, it looked like a desperate, blind throw from a coward.
But Ethan's maximized strength and agility were guiding the rock. The stone tore through the air with a terrifying, silent velocity. It struck the Kobold archer square in the throat before the creature could even notch its next arrow.
There was a horrific *crack* of breaking bone. The archer's black eyes went wide with shock as the sheer force of the impact lifted its small body off the wagon roof, sending it crashing into the dirt behind the vehicle like a sack of wet flour.
[Target eliminated: Forest Kobold Archer (Level 3).]
[Warning: Actions observed by external entities. Amplification variables locked at zero to prevent detection.]
Ethan didn't care about the lack of an EXP multiplier right now; survival and blending in were his only priorities.
"I hit it? I hit it!" Ethan screamed, injecting a tremor of manic disbelief into his voice. He began frantically digging through the dirt for another rock, acting like a madman who had just gotten incredibly lucky.
The Kobold scout's eyes went from cold indifference to pure rage. Seeing its companion drop, it abandoned the merchant and bounded off the canvas roof, its obsidian talons extended as it lunged directly at Ethan's face.
The remaining mercenary guard, emboldened by the sudden distraction, found his courage. With a guttural roar, he lunged forward, thrusting his sword into the ribs of the second Kobold archer as it tried to adjust its aim. The blade found its mark, and the two rolled into the gravel in a desperate, bloody tangle.
That left the scout.
The creature closed the distance in a heartbeat, its bone-handled dagger flashing toward Ethan's eyes. Ethan backed away, flailing his arms wildly, crying out in terror. "Get away from me! Stay back!"
As he flailed, his fist—driven by the absolute maximum physical force a Tier 1 human could possess—accidentally-on-purpose collided directly with the side of the Kobold scout's jaw.