Volume 3 - CH 16

「HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

The weight type pendulum whirled and struck the Coeurl’s head. Then when I targeted its eye with the all-purpose type, it dodged the blade in annoyance and it finally recognized me as an “enemy”.

『Guaooo……』

「……Come」

The Coeurl let out a low growl and turned its sharp gaze toward me. I also rotated the pendulum provocatively.

「Aria-!」

Viro was about to rush forward seeing me trying to face the Coeurl alone, but Grave got in his way.

「Do you think you have the leeway to do something like that?」

「Grave-!!」

Viro was enraged by Grave’s cheap provocation.

「Boy-, don’t lose your focus-!!」

Samantha swiftly used Stone Bullet to hold back Grave while sending her gaze to me who was facing the Coeurl alone just for an instant.

「We’re going to defeat Grave while the little girl draw away the beast!! Don’t lose focus and was the time that she’s giving us!」

「Shit-!」

Samantha gave a scolding as though her senility until now was just a lie. Viro regained his composure and spat out while taking a stance with his short sword. Seeing Viro like that made Grave smiled mockingly to instigate him.

「I understand your enthusiasm, but let’s be realistic here.」

「Shut your trap!!」

.

Viro and Samantha wouldn’t lose even against Grave if they got serious. I believed in that and so I would draw away this mythical beast until the two could defeat Grave.

『GUAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!』

*Byubyun!*

The Coeurl stepped forward and used its two whiskers to attack like a whip.

Fast……but, it wasn’t beyond my ability to keep up with.

Steel yourself. Don’t avert your eyes even just for a moment. Guess its attack from the movements of its muscles!

I saw through the trajectory of the whips using my “eyes” based on my Magic Power Control that had reached level 4. I bent backward to dodge the whips and used that momentum to somersault backward and opened some distance.

Since defeating the orc general, I kept practicing to remove the unnecessary magic elements in my mana bit by bit even when I was in a normal state. With that my Body Strengthening was gradually improving in its precision though it was still unstable when running at full strength.

Even so the improvement was still negligible, but in a fight of this level, even that slight difference could decide my fate.

『Guruu……』

The Coeurl didn’t immediately charge forward with all its strength because my attack at the beginning was effective.

I didn’t know whether someone weak like me would be able to cut through a mythical beast’s skin. It was also possible that the Coeurl had resistance against sharp weapon just like the werewolf from the assassin guild. But, it seemed that a blunt weapon like the weight type was quite effective. The Coeurl was clearly on guard against the pendulum.

High intellect……that was an advantage in almost all cases but it could also become “weakness”.

If the Coeurl charged forward using its large body just like it did with Viro, I would definitely be unable to block the attack and got torn apart. But the Coeurl with its high intellect understood that blunt attack could damage even itself and hesitated to get too close to me.

It was a painful blow that it was on guard against my weight type pendulum when it was my only weapon that could damage it, but it wasn’t really bad in this current situation where I needed to buy time. But that too would only last until it noticed that my own attack power wasn’t that high. After that it would attack me with the resolve of getting hurt.

.

▼Coeurl　Race：Mytical Beast・Rank ５

【Magic Power：２８１／３２４】【Stamina：４２６／５１０】

【Overall Combat Strength：２１３６（With Body Strengthening：２７０５）】

.

The Coeurl’s combat strength far surpassed even the orc general. It might be possible for a rank 5 heavy warrior to endure an attack from it, but in my case I could clearly imagine how I would die from it.

That was why I wouldn’t fight “honorably”. I would make it wary against me as much as possible, bought as much time as possible, and drew it as far away as possible from Viro and Samantha.

「──Shadow Snatch──」

The moment the Coeurl showed movement, I created several “darkness” of Shadow Snatch. The Coeurl reacted just for an instant seeing that. I threw multiple “darkness” to float toward it.

『GUAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!』

It quickly swept away one “darkness” with its two whiskers like a whip. I used the easily erased “darkness” as cover and pulled out a knife from between my skirt’s slit and attacked the Coeurl.

*Clang──!*

The Coeurl noticed the attack instantly and its whiskers smashed the knife with a metallic sound. Just how hard they were?

The Coeurl judged that the “darkness” was to blind it and charged toward me while ignoring them.

I too fired my crossbow’s arrow into my own shadow seeing that. A darkness that the Coeurl was about to pass from the side let out the arrow toward its eye.

『GAAAAAAAAAAAA!』

The arrow appeared in a distance of less than a step from its eye, and yet the Coeurl twisted its neck and dodged it. The arrow that aimed at its eye hit its black fur and got deflected.

For a crossbow arrow to not wound it, as expected it might really have Thrust Resistance. ……No, it was also possible for the Coeurl to have the skill’s superior version, the Sharp Resistance.

The skills Slash Resistance and Thrust Resistance were characteristic skills of monster that had their body protected with fur or shell. Human like us couldn’t possible learn them. There were also people like that werewolf or the very rare beastmen who had similar resistance to those, but even then it wouldn’t be at a level that could deflect arrow.

Their superior version, the Sharp Resistance neutralized more than 80% of the damage from close-quarter attack skill that had lower level than it. If the rank 5 Coeurl had that skill, its Sharp Resistance’s level would be rank 4 at the lowest.

My Archery skill’s level was 1, so it couldn’t even be used as comparison but, most likely even my knife and dagger would be mostly useless.

This was an existence that was already counted as one of “the strong” by birth──there was an insurmountable “gap” between it and human due to its skills and also status.

But──the Coeurl had given me various information from this short fight.

Even an attack from a weakling like me would deal damage if it landed on its eyes or inside its mouth. Its huge claws and fangs were unsuited to deflect small weapons. It would use its whiskers that had the same hardness like steel to deflect them away. It deflected even my knife that didn’t aim at its eye because it was smart and stayed wary of any strange attack from me.

What were you wary about? Poison? Or else you disliked getting wounded?

Laid bare your everything to me…….

I’m going to lay bare your everything, even the “weakness” that you don’t know about…….

「…………」

『Gururuu……』

The Coeurl’s wariness grew stronger. Did it see something from my eyes that were staring fixedly at it?

「Come」

In order to use this “sense of distance” too, I kicked on the wooden plank to jump backward and lured the Coeurl into the marshland forest.

『GUAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!』

The Coeurl knew that I was provoking it, even so it gave chase without hesitation.

It gave chase even knowing that it was just a provocation because it prioritized its emotion rather than its animal instinct. This too was the adverse effect of high intelligence.

I kept the Coeurl within my field of vision while letting the pendulum flew. I jumped from tree to tree through the marshland.

『GAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!』

「HAA!」

Its whiskers whipped out, mowing down the small tree that I was going to jump at. The Coeurl’s fangs rushed me as I floated in the air, but I scattered red mustard’s powder at it.

『────!』

The Coeurl averted its face. Its movement dulled a little. The red mustard’s effect was small but it wasn’t zero. In that instant I kicked at the Coeurl’s nose with my boots that got magic steel inserted inside. The recoil helped me flew back while at the same time the weight type pendulum hit the Coeurl’s face from the side.

『GUAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!』

But, the Coeurl’s body also spun and dodged the weight type pendulum while hitting away the pendulum’s string with its whiskers.

As I thought it was on guard. But I managed to take some distance. I left that place and started moving to lure the Coeurl again.

Ahead from here was a “dangerous area” that was even more threatening than the previous place that was riddled with bottomless swamps.

Ahead from here there was no “water”.

At the surrounding there were dry and weathered ground and bare rocks.

There were countless huge aquatic trees here. All of them had dried out, and while the tree parts above ground could still be seen, their enormous roots had withered into dust and left behind many gaping wide “holes” in the ground like pitfalls.

This place was also a marshland before, but the water from lake stopped flowing here, the swamp dried out, and now not only human, even wild animal couldn’t pass through here. Now only few small animals and insects could exist in this place that was called as the 『desiccated forest』.

Seeing that I was a “human” and the Coeurl was an “animal”, the “forest” would always be advantageous for the Coeurl as a battlefield.

But, there was a “reason” why I lured the Coeurl to this desiccated forest.

I used the roots extending from the holes on the ground as footholds and jumped around freely to all directions. The Coeurl used the tree trunks as stepping stones and swung its sharp claws toward me.

There was no way for me to dodge that while midair. Right now the Coeurl must be very on guard against my weight type pendulum and the red mustard powder. I couldn’t dodge anymore──normally.

My mind was sharpened to be razor edge with my extreme concentration. I grasped the state of my surrounding using not only my Detection skill but also my eyes and my whole body. In that moment I used Weight and Martial Arts to erase my weight and warded off the claw’s power like a feather fluttering in the wind.

I slipped through the claws in paper thin difference with several strands of my hair severed. The Coeurl’s whiskers whipped out toward me, but I stayed floating in the air while kicking on its shoulder. I used it as a foothold and dodged.

『GAAAAAA!!』

The Coeurl let out an enraged roar in respond to my acrobatic way of fighting. Then, the Coeurl’s foothold suddenly crumbled when it was readying itself to pounce.

*Snaap!*

『GUAO!』

The tree root crumbled and the Coeurl became unbalanced. My weight type pendulum smashed its head again at that timing.

The trees around here had all dried up until they withered. It might not matter to me who had light body weight, but the Coeurl whose weight was dozens of times greater than me couldn’t be supported by the trees here.

The trees might hold if it was moving quickly, but they weren’t solid enough to be foothold for fighting and launching powerful strike. Fighting here decreased its offensive power and agility sharply.

If it got careless and overextended itself and fell into the deep holes that riddled this place, even the Coeurl wouldn’t get away unscathed. This was the first idea that came to mind when I heard about this place from the adventurer guild. Originally this was a place that I planned to lure Grave into by myself in the worst case.

「──Shadow──」

I created two Shadows that I also used in the battle against orcs. I switched with them using the cover of the trees. It was hard for this technique to trick an opponent that relied on their eyesight, but the more the opponent relied on Night Vision and Detection skills, the more this technique would affect their judgment.

The Coeurl was slightly bewildered by the fragile foothold and the Shadows. I threw a knife to the shadow under my feet and fired it from the “darkness” of Shadow Snatch.

『GUAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!』

The Coeurl whose high speed movement was sealed deflected the knife with its whiskers.

But that was fine. I never expected the knife to be effective anyway.

*GAANN!!*

『GAAAAA!?』

In that moment I swung down the weight type pendulum that was my main intention from right above in an arc. This time it landed a direct hit on the side of the Coeurl’s head for sure.

The Coeurl that got hit on its head again roared angrily to the sky. It was so loud it felt like the whole desiccated forest was shaking.

『GUAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!』

*Bachin……!*

In that moment, small sparks spread from the Coeurl’s whiskers.

This is, “electricity”? The “knowledge” inside me told me of the true nature of that phenomenon. I immediately retreated while my two Shadows that were left behind got touched and were dispersed instantly like mist.

「………tsu」

The mental impact that slightly reached me caused my face to grimace reflexively.

Lightning also existed in this world, and “lightning attack” also existed as an advanced combination magic of wind and water, but I got the feeling that what the Coeurl used was something fundamentally different than that.

Most likely it generated electricity using its tough muscle cells, then using it by combining it with mana and gathered it to its whiskers.

The effect was dealing shock to the opponent’s nerve using electricity……it hindered the use of sorcery huh. By hindering me from focusing my mind, all sorceries that were connected to me got erased. If the electricity attack was used in that way, most sorcery on standby would be neutralized unless it was a sorcery that had instantaneous effect.

My combat strength would be halved if I didn’t have sorcery. The Coeurl had noticed that I was a light warrior who used sorcery and acted to crush my advantage.

『GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!』

「……Tsu!」

The Coeurl that had been staying wary now finally turned serious. Sparks of “electricity” came out from its two whiskers while its large body lunged at me.

Seeing that, I too pushed down my shaken heart to the bottom and resolved myself to meet it head on.

My illusion sorcery was sealed, while the Coeurl had its attack power and agility drastically reduced.

The Coeurl had given up dodging. It landed on top of a small remaining rock. There it bent its large body that was flexible like a jet black whip to the limit like a drawn bow.

「…………」

『…………』

I focused all my nerves. In our eyes now there was nothing more reflected other than the figure of each other. We put all our strength into the next attack.

Compared to the Coeurl’s full strength, my full strength was only about half or even half of it. Even so I didn’t plan to die. I put “everything” that I could right now and strongly tightened my hold on my dagger.

Coeurl……you would be the one who died.

*Crackle*──the Coeurl’s whiskers were electrified like static electricity and the dried sand on the surrounding ground was fiercely blown away.

I purposefully removed elements from the mana in my whole body and accelerated its flowing speed.

This was my authentic “trump card”.

I pictured in my  heart, that attack that defeated the orc general, Gorjaoul. I fixed the aim of my black dagger toward the Coeurl’s eye and crouched on my four limbs like a cat.

The Coeurl’s crimson eyes narrowed as it sensed my mana. The muscles throughout its body swelled powerfully, then its huge body shot out like a cannon ball in the same moment.

*DOON──!!*

The withered rocky place it used as foothold was pulverized. The black beast closed in with a sound as though the atmosphere was exploding.

I concentrated my mind to the extreme. Inside my accelerated thought, I unleashed the elemental mana that I had removed and stockpiled into “magic”.

「──Shadow Walker──」

My figure vanished into shadow the instant I came into contact with the Coeurl. I appeared on the Coeurl’s back with Shadow Walker and grabbed its whiskers with the power of the rampaging Body Strengthening.

「Tsu!!」

『GUA!!』

「Kuh!」

The shock that disturbed my concentration directly flowed into me. It made the rampaging mana went even wilder. I forcefully suppressed it with my willpower while smashing that rampaging “mana” through the Coeurl’s whiskers just as it was.

『GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!』

The Coeurl rampaged around the desiccated forest with me still on its back due to the rampaging mana it received.

「GO DOWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!」

I gritted my teeth as my hands felt like they would be torn off while sending in even more mana. The Coeurl also lost control of its body and tried to shake me off. Like that both of us crashed on a giant tree. The giant tree started to crumble and like that the two of us fell, swallowed into the gaping wide hole under the tree’s roots, into the deep darkness.