The Peerless Kobold - Chapter 191
This happened a little while before the kobolds who were inhabiting Easteria forest, a newly-declared sanctuary, found and cared for the little girl from Viel village…
On their way back from the Ancient forest, the silver wolf-dog and his party of kobolds and elves dropped by and stopped over Lucua village.
However, the village was small and did not have a big enough place to let everyone stay, so they camped out in the clearing just outside the village and spent the night there, but now, the sound of wooden swords clashing and shouts could be heard from the area.
“SEYAAAAAAH!”
Liz, whose energy was as high as her cat ears standing on end, launched herself from a low stance and used the wooden dagger on her right hand to aim for the gaps in the black-armed kobold’s leather armor and pierce it.
Although the blade was made of wood, such an attack would still cause an injury if it hit, so it was common sense to hold back on attacking the opponent during practice, but… with Liz’s experience, it was rather difficult to expect her to hold back. There was a possibility of something going wrong if the attack connected, so because he didn’t need to receive the blow, Buster stepped back with his left foot and bent his back a bit to evade the attack.
“Wauoh.” (That was close.)
“Kuh, I’m not done yet!”
Continuing from her first attack, Liz used the wooden dagger on her left hand that she held in an underhand grip and aimed for Buster’s throat, but Buster used force to hold down Liz’s thin wrist and stop her momentum.
“Voo, kuaruu…” (She’s light, but she’s still slow…)
“Kuuh!?”
Liz, whose left wrist had been captured, pulled her right arm back from her initial attack and tried to aim at her opponent’s heart… However, the move was within Buster’s expectations, so he vigorously yanked her wrist towards him and moved in to punch Liz in the face as she lost her balance!
“Kyaah!!”
Liz involuntarily flinched and was unable to move as she tightly closed her eyes, but… The pain she was expecting didn’t come and felt Buster’s paw patting her in between her cat ears instead.
“…Oaruga.” (… Let’s stop here.)
“Urghh, I can’t even win against Buster who’s fighting barehanded…”
Unlike monster-type demi-humans who experience “abrupt evolutions”, human-type demi-humans also ascend the Silver Spiral Staircase little by little without being aware of it through experience and combat.
One such example is a cat swordsman who possessed the “Omniscient Eye”, which was admired by all cat warriors as a hero of their race because of his astounding dynamic vision and ability to execute slash attacks at an extreme speed.
But since he did not know the common language, the black-armed kobold Buster could not understand what Liz was saying.
(Hmm, I don’t understand what she’s going on about, but…)
Upon seeing Liz depressed, Buster patted her head more and ended the mock battle that his pack leader asked him to participate in.
(Now, let’s see what’s happening over there…)
Buster was puzzled as he looked at the scene before him. Instead of his furry chieftain, a wild, silver-haired man with a narrow look in his eyes carefully approached a cat swordsman who was holding a wooden sword.
“…It seems like your movement has slightly slowed down, Archer.”
“I’m still not used to this form… Rather, it seems you’ve gotten stronger, Wallace.”
“I have regrets over losing my friends to the goblin attack, so I can’t afford to lose to them again.”
The youthful-looking gentleman smiled fearlessly as he blocked the incoming attack, jumped back, and held his sword in an eight-directional stance. [1]
“Tsk, I can’t find an opening… You’ve truly gotten stronger.”
Translator’s Notes:
[1] eight-directional stance – refers to the Kendo move Hassō-no-kamae (八相（八双）の構, “all (eight) directions”)
