Riot Grasper

Aaahhhhh!!!

I wish someone would tell me what to do when I gallantly go to save a princess in a desperate crisis and the words of encouragement are, "You're disgusting."

Can I consider them an enemy?

Nope. Calm down, me.

You knew they hated you. You shouldn't swing down your sword on the person you saved just because they didn't say thank you.

…All joking aside, why did I act like this? I'm not sure why I acted the way I did. It's a bit of a contradiction to think that I' going to help someone that I captured myself. I'm not sure what to do, but I'm sure I'm not the only one.

「Fine. I'm not interested in stupid games. Let's see how long you last until your life is burned away!」

Oh, this guy is so ready to kill.

Talking about ignoring rules and beating each other up. Well, maybe I deserved it, considering what I did.

However, I was expecting the organizer to stop me for interrupting… but the place was boiling.

『Get it done!』

『Keep it going!』

『Please beat him to a pulp!』

… and so on from the audience.

–Soon after, the bell rang to announce the start of the match between me and Belga. Apparently, it was decided that it would be more interesting to let the match continue, so I carried Rei to the edge of the arena and gently set herdown.

She was unconscious and her face was flatteringly pretty. It would be hard to find a woman who is more deserving of the term, "cute if she keeps her mouth shut," but it would be a terrible idea to tell her that.

I'm tingling.

…By the way, I'm not a pervert.

The reason I'm shaking is because I'm feeling a little uplifted.

The reason for that — Belga.

No, I repeat, I am not a pervert.

I turned around and brought the person I was about to fight into view.

His purple eyes look at me and he stands on his knees as if telling me to hurry up. It's gentlemanly of him to wait for me, but I think he's simply confident that he can beat me without any cowardly tricks.

Belga is dressed lightly, with only a breastplate made of some kind of scale as armor. He doesn't seem to be carrying any weapons, so his impression is that of a martial artist.

His well-trained body was supply enough to be belie his age, and it wasn't like I was excited by the fact that he was an old man.

Name: Belga Rembrandt

Race: Dragonewt

Age: 40

Occupation: Guard

Skills:

・Elder Dragon's ScalesＬｖ３（７２／１５０）

・Body ArtＬｖ３（１１０／１５０）

・Fire MagicＬｖ２（４５／５０）

・Life Force EnhancmentＬｖ３（８７／１５０）

–Dragonewt

When I was reincarnated to this world, this was the race I wanted to be reincarnated as if it were possible. A rare race blessed with a strong body and aptitude for magic. This is the first time I've seen one in person, but they don't look much different from humans.

I can't help but get more or less excited in front of the species I admire.

Moreover, some of the skills they possess are even apparently rare skills.

《Dragon's Scales》– A skill exclusive to the Dragonewt. The hard outer scales grant the bearer the blessings of a dragon. It has excellent offensive and defensive capabilities, and when mastered, it can become a weapon of destruction against humans.

Destructive weapons are… kind of scary to explain. I guess it means that the body becomes hardened and is effective for both attack and defense.

What's that? I'm super jealous.

I want to say that my body is the strongest armor I have.

「…What are you looking at?」

I wondered if he was disturbed by the way I was looking at him as if I was licking his body, but Belga was on guard and spat a questioning word at me.

「Nothing, it's just the first time I've met a dragonewt」

「… How did you know?」

Ah….

I can figure it out with theThief's God Eyes, but I can't really say that.

「It's okay. I'm not going to hide it. What's more, even though you know that there is an absolute race difference between you and me, are you still going to compete.」

「Well, it's my job too.」

「Oh…」

Belga didn't hide his annoyance, but he smiled a little at my response.

Also, I'm not a fan of roughhousing, but I have a bit of a desire to have a pure contest with a Dragonewt

How far will I be able to go with the skills I have developed so far.

Lately, I've been so absorbed in strengthening Rook, my cavalry beast, that I haven't been taking my share from the demons, but I have been training my sword myself every night.

I know full well that such things do not contribute to skill proficiency.

It's like a way for me to sort out my feelings.

Seeing Lim lamenting her helplessness, I felt a pang of guilt.

Taking skills from demons is not without its risks. It's not that I haven't tried, it's just that I won't hesitate tot take skills from others if I have to.

Still, I thought I'd try to hone my skills myself, just a little.

Let me show you my swordsmanship, which may have grown just a little bit.

「Besides, if I told you I was withdrawing, would you really let me off the hook quietly?」

I slipped my beloved sword, Noir Melt Rogue, out of it's scabbard.

The answer is obvious. With an amused contortion of his face, Belga sank his hips and leaned forward, minimizing the blurring of his body by lowering his center of gravity.

「I'm sorry. My answer earlier was–no!」

His dark green hair drew a bright trail in a straight line and ate up the distance between us in an instant.

is it…?

Maybe he wasn't serious in his battle with Rei, but he was moving even faster than when I was watching him earlier. With just one more breath, he was already in my face.

I don't even think I need to go easy on him. I cleaved my sword with all my might to block his step as he rushed forward.

Even though the purpose was to block, Belga pushed his forearm forward to meet the sword head on. The sword blow, which would have cleanly severed the arm of an ordinary person was killed by the heavy impact.

So that's the strength of the Elder Dragon's Scales. It's hard.

A sensation ran through my palms, as if I had slashed against an iron pillar.

Belga is smiling wryly. But by the way, my sword is not that strong either. It's a gem of product that Jig(TL: Who? IDK. Someone tell me) created with some very precious materials. It's a great sword that I wish could cut through a dragons scales, which are stronger than steel, like butter.

The sword is digging into Belga's arm, but only slightly. If I push in like this–

「–Kick!」

The front kick that was delivered with a voice that forced my auditory nerves to work harder was on a trajectory that mercilessly pushed up my chin. Although I avoided it my twisting my body, it was sharp enough to break my neck if it had hit properly. The skin on my cheeks was burned just by the air from it.

… What a joke of a power.

If it's just a scratch it'll heal quickly with the life force enhancement, but–

「It's broken!」

A series of fists came close to my stomach. I immediately pulled out the sword that was embedded in my opponents arm, and thrust the tip of the blade out in front of me. It was a vicious blow that would've destroyed all of the organs in my abdomen, and even though it was with his bare hands, it was more terrifying to me than a blade.

Sword and fist clashed against each other for a few moments.

The wounds on his other arm began to heal.

–His life force has been strengthened as well. In addition, his level is higher.

For the time being, I could see that my opponent possessed skills other than fire magic. It would be awkward to take them away in the middle of a match, but when your life is in danger, you can't say that.

— I'll do it.

In order to slow things down, I took a step back, and pulled Belga toward me. I'm not sure if he wasn't expecting me to have any knowledge of bodywork, or if he was caught off guard a bit. I let my unprotected body eat a whole knee kick. The force is applied to my left leg, which is my pivot foot, and the recoil generated by the kick is passed to the ground.

（Hardly…）

In addition to hardening my fists and arms, my whole body seems to benefit from the skill. My knees are protected by mithril parts, but without them, my bones might have been broken by the kick.

Still, I succeeded in making him retreat a little. As soon as I returned my kick up leg to the ground I took a deep breath and immediately formulated a magic image in my brain.

Wind that circulates the atmosphere. Show my enemy a glimpse of your great power — Rampaging Wind Slash.

The wind whirlpool around Belga is a magic that cuts the target trapped inside with a wind blade, but it doesn't seem to have much effect. I'm not sure if the dragon's scales are effective against magic as well.

But now the magic is just for blinding. In that sense, it was useful.

「This stuff won't even slow me down!」

From the center of the whirlpool, a dragon man – Dragonewt – leaned forward.

Then show me you can withstand this too.

You are a block of ice that will not melt even if the fires of hell. Dwell in my weapon and be the bullet that strikes down my enemies.

Ice grains began to float on the surface of my jet-black sword, and I could feel the cool air of the blade on my palm as I held it. It seems that the image of how I wish my entire body's blood would freeze in an instant if I were to be slashed by this sword has been well realized.

With my cold sword at the bottom, I shifted my weight to my toes. As my body bounced forward, I used wind magic to assist my body and further increase my speed.

— Let's just say, this is an all out thrust.

The ice blade shot out at a high speed and pierced my enemy.

This is the Icicle Calibur

I screamed my throat out in my mind alone, and rushed towards Belga.

The other party is not afraid to look at my technique and maintain a standing position. Both fists are beginning to flicker with red, raging flames. Are you thinking of intercepting them with fire magic?

But this one is faster.

「Ooooooohhhhhhhhhhh!!!!」(TL: In case you wanted to see the Japanese for this, cause I thought it was hilarious for some reason. おおおおおおおおぉぉぉぉぉぉぉぉぉぉっっっ!!)

Just as the tip of the sword, which had been thrust out with energy, was about to reach Belga, a large amount of steam was scattered around him with a sound like air being released from a giant balloon.

It took only a moment for my vision to be blocked, and I quickly realized what had happened.

No matter how hard I push or pull the sword, it doesn't move. It's no wonder. I'm not sure what to make of this. The flames also prevented it from freezing.

It's….

The thought of freezing my opponent sent a chill down my spine.

「Nuh-uh…. Guh.」

However, it seems that he was not completely blinded. If you look closely you can see the slight tip of the cut sticking into Belga's abdomen.

A fine sound like cracking thin ice echoed and the wound froze.

For the first time, my opponent showed some frustration and immediately pulled out the sword that was stuck in him by force and leaped backwards.

「Mmm-hmm. Interesting. I knew you weren't weak, but I didn't expect some human child to be able to fight this well.」

He makes a statement that seems to have a lot of room to maneuver. If I think back to the attack and defense up to this point, it seems that I have the advantage.

The fire magic of my opponent was also visible, which meant that I could finally active that Thief's God Eye's against my enemies skills. I clenched my fist lightly to check the sensation in my hands and tried to remain calm so as to not be rushed by greed.

「It's been a long time since I've been seen in this form.」

Huh?

Wait a minute. What form?

I don't think so.

「I didn't really mean to kill you, but as expected, I don't know… when this happens…」

Belga spat out a few noisy words and raised his voice with such force that even my eardrums vibrated at such a distance.

「Ohhhhhhhh!」

At the same time, something like scales appeared on the surface of Belga's body and covered his entire body. The scales, which resembled green jade emeralds, were the same color as Belga's hair. Including the horns that appeared on his head, the sharp claws at his finger tips, and even his tail. He's definitely a Dragonewt. His bluish-purple eyes are still directed toward me with a very strong will.

It is still barely humanoid, probably because he's bipedal.

So those are the real Elder Dragon's Scales.

Oh man.

This is not good.

……………

It's so cool!

I mean, it's tricky.

Maybe it's improved in terms of ability, and my Riot Grasper, the divine art of thievery, needs to touch the opponent directly. If that dragon form is the outer shell, is it like a pseudo-armor? Whether or not I want to defeat him normally or take away his skills, I'll have to peel off his outer shell first.

It looks really hard…

Unlike before, when I tried to make a slightly stronger fist, the joints of my fingers made a pleasant sound that stimulated my desire to fight.

Round two — let's begin.

TN: I can't tell if Belga is supposed to be a male or a female, and I honestly forget what I put in previous chapters, so if one of you remember, have a guess, or would be willing to look in the previous chapter, please leave their proper pronouns in the comments. Thanks.