Riot Grasper

TN: I'm now rather confident that Belga is a guy. If not, then oh well.

Ouch, ouch, ouch.

No matter how much recovery magic I used, even with my body's healing power strengthened by my life force enhancement skill, there was no way that a serious injury could be completely healed in such a short time.

My ribs creaked as I pushed my foot forward, and something bloody rumbled in the pit of my stomach. To tell you the truth, I don't want to sit there and take a step like Rei did either.

「….. It's not worth the work, really.」

My running speed has also heavily decreased. But once his wounds are healed, my chance of victory will be completely gone.

I couldn't even defeat him with that surprise blow, and that was essentially all the strength I could muster at that time. If I could have won without using my skills that would have been ideal, but now is not the time to be thinking about that.

Now is a good time to use my Riot Grasper skill, since his outer shell is damaged.

There is no need to explain what happened, even if the audience finds it a bit unnatural. Belga himself will likely be suspicious, but he's already trying to kill me.

Then we can do it here too–

「Come on!」

「–Crush!!」

With all the energy I could muster, I forced my body to move, even as it rejected me in pain.

Avoid, avoid, avoid.

I don't have the confidence to parry his attacks at this point.

I rolled to avoid a barrage of blows from his strong arms, which would pulverize me on contact, and rushed at his damaged outer shell.

「Don't get ahead of yourself!」

With a shout of anger, his huge body spun around, and his whip-like tail mercilessly blocked my way. In spite of his swollen body, his nimble movements are incomparable to those of before he transformed into a dragon.

（You're a very lively dragon）

….. This tail gave me a good whack on the side of my head.

That was rather painful.

「The same…. attack will happen to you.」

I leapt and dodged a blow from the front. With my abdomen pointing upward, I felt the wind pressure of his tail against my back, which probably extended my flying time.

The fear of high jumping, where touching the bar would kill you instantly, is a valuable experience.

That's right, if you take one of these things seriously, you definitely won't be safe.

But I wouldn't get hit by the same attack twice.

I see it.

Deep inside the damaged outer shell, I caught sight of Belga's main body, which was protected by a pseudo-dragon armor. The hole drilled by the impact of the explosion was already almost closed, but if I reached out, I could reach his main body.

— There's an opening!

「….. you.」

As I thrust my hand straight out, a voice sounded as if it had seen through my actions.

It's always a good idea to lure enemies by showing them you're weak.

Suddenly – his huge body flew.

No, he didn't really grow wings and fly. It was if a light and small human being jumped and floated softly into the air.

He turned his body around and thrust his sharp clawed leg straight down at my head. His foot was wrapped in high temperature flames that distorted the atmosphere, and came straight at my head.

「Red Lotus Kick」

What a cool idea. I didn't have time to think about it though. For some reason, time seems to be moving slowly. Even if I tried to avoid it, my body would not be able to react in time.

The overwhelming sense of despair took over my body.

— Oh, this…. could it be… death?

The next moment, the area in front of my eyes turned bright red.

It's not that my head exploded like a watermelon, rather, an explosion of heavy flames covered my entire vision.

「….. ouch, ouch, ouch.」

Without knowing why, I simply let out a voice that complained about the current state of my body.

Somehow I seem to be alive. I'm in pain. I couldn't have dodged that blow though, so what happened.

I looked down at my abdomen, where I had felt the pain, and saw a large block of ice lying on the ground.

Is this….. ?

Apparently, this block of ice must have pushed my body out of the way. The question was, who had done this?

Someone immediately came to mind as soon as I thought about it a bit. I remember seeing someone use this magic a lot in the fight just recently.

Rei was sitting with her back against the wall. I didn't think that should would help me. Her voice was too far away to reach me, but our gazes met for a moment. She doesn't seem to like to owe anyone anything, so I guess she's trying to say that this makes things even.

Hahaha, she has a pretty cute side too…

She just spat at me…

What's so wrong about saving me!

If that's the case, then I'll say it too. This ice block…. is more like an icicle! If you just wanted to push me away, you didn't need to make the tip so sharp.

That hurts! If it wasn't for my armor, then there'd be a hole in my stomach.

I'd like to correct my statement about you being cute if you don't talk.

But well… she saved my a lot of trouble.

「–It's been a long time since I fought with all my might. Thanks to that, my head is cooled down a bit. If you're willing to admit defeat, I'm willing to forgive you here.」

It was Belga, who was closing the distance to me, who advised me to surrender in an arrogant manner.

To be honest, I'm inclined to admit it. It's not every day you get a request that so worthy.

「Ha, ha. Yes, you're right. I almost feel like admitting it honestly.」

「….. I see.」

「Oh, don't get me wrong. What I said wasn't about admitting defeat.」

「Hmm…. Then what would you like to admit to?」

Oh, my god. The part of the outer shell that was damaged is almost completely sealed up. I guess I'll just have to settle for….

「I'd like to admit that…」

But still, it was more than I expected. I knew…. that this was the one I was going to choose.

「You know, I've been thinking about the Dragonewts, and how strong you are, you know?」

It's not only the other person who has healed. I've also healed a bit, and can now move much better.

「Huh!」

I squeezed the air out of my lungs in a single breath and pressed towards my opponent.

「Hilarious!」

As if he had anticipated my reaction, Belga reacted instantly.

I ducked out of the way of a series of blows that were trying to intercept me, and got as close as I could. Then, I slashed the scales off his outer shell with my sword. Without hesitation, I began to peel off his scales.

If I keep my distance, my opponent will have the advantage in size. Still, it's not as if I can avoid all of his attacks.

Instead of peeling off the outer shell of my opponent, my flesh has been removed in some places.

As expected–

I wasn't fighting with the mindset of avoiding it or passing it off cleanly.

— It's fine as long as I don't get fatally injured.

There is no way that I can win cleanly against an opponent whose ability is superior to my own in the first place.

I don't care if I look like crap, I'll give you an arm or two.

「It's a little… There!」

Nimbly, Belga swung his arms down with full force. The large blow was easy to read, and the arm that missed gouged deep into the ground and stopped.

「There it is!」

I moved my body as fast as I could to thrust my sword into his neck, where the scales were peeling off and his defense was weak.

–Let's go!

「….. Sorry to hear that.」

The feeling in my hands was hard.

I thought it was a joke that a person could catch a blade or a bullet with his teeth. No, the person in front of my was no longer human.

In a sense, this may be a natural result.

— The sword had been caught by the fangs on the head of his outer shell.

「Is that it?」

「Yeah. Maybe.」

As I answered his question, I put all my strength into the sword in his mouth, and forced his mouth open.

Then, without hesitation, I plunged my left arm into the small gap that had appeared.

The sword, have done its job, tumbled to the ground and made a loud crunching sound.

「You know, I think you're much cuter like this…」(

What I grasped in my palm was a solid, raw feeling.

I've already filled eight skill slots, but my life force and body magic are already covered. Even if I could take all of his rare skills and fire magic, I couldn't fit it in ten skill slots, although it may be time to consider replacing skills.

（Well, it's not something to think about right now.）

Take that.

The moment I activated the skill, I experienced a sensation of warmth flowing through my body. A feeling of elation that made the blood pumping through my blood almost boil. It felt incredible.

— But!

「Gig… ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!」

In the process of pulling my arm out, I heard an unpleasant sound that went directly to my body, causing me to feel intense pain.

The metaphorical expression of my blood boiling is now rather lukewarm. It feels like it's about to evaporate.

I couldn't really feel anything beyond my upper arm, but only the pain that was driving my crazy kept stimulating my brain.

It was obvious what had happened.

My left arm is gone.

「What the hell was that?」

After spitting out the words in a boring manner, Belga really spit something out of his mouth.

The bloody object followed gravity and fell to the ground in a heap.

Maybe I'm lucky it hasn't been chewed to smithereens. That would be…

「Please don't waste your food at least.」

I was willing to give you an arm or two, but please don't treat it so roughly.

「I don't know how you can be so tough in that condition, but this match is over.」

「Yes, it is.」

I smiled as I managed to stop the bleeding from my left arm with healing magic.

「I've won.」

「What…?」

Immediately after that, a change took place in Belga's body.

「Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. What the hell?!」

His outer shell began to shrink rapidly, and the jade-green scales rapidly peeled off. His claws and fangs crumbled fragilely, and his long thick tail was now a shadow of it's former self.

「Ha…. huh?」

–A few moments later, Belga had completely reverted to his human form.

Bright green hair and deep blue eyes. His appearance alone makes it impossible to determine that he is a Dragonewt.

With my remaining right arm, I picked up the fallen sword and immediately placed it on the neck of a very confused Belga.

「Don't move. I can cut you now.」

Belga, listening to my advice, looked me straight in the eye. Apparently, he realized that it was not a lie. He had come to that conclusion in light of what had already happened to her.

「I've lost.」

「Yes.」

「….. I see.」

— The bell sounded to end the match.

The sound of the bells echoing in my stomach rushed through my body, and the world I was supposed to be seeing began to shimmer. The cheers of the ground sounded terribly distant. It was if water had been poured in my ears.

Why's this?

Oh… I've lost too much blood.

It was a very reckless thing to do. I wonder if my arm can be reattatched?

Anyway, I'll have to try my best at healing magic, but… that level of magic may be too high for me.

I'm so tired of this….

My consciousness cut off there, and my vision went dark.

TN: Again, sorry for the confusion with Belga. Previous chapters should be fixed.