As it turns out, my planning was inadequate even though we advanced for several days without encountering any problems.

On the route along the river that went from the settlement to the mountain range, was a dangerous area called the “Balberra Forest”, which even veteran adventurers dare not carelessly step into. In this place, a very powerful monster spawns every so often and unleashes its fury on the hapless souls that wander in.

Yes, at that time……

 “Guruah!” (Uoh!)

“Kyuah!” (Uhyaah!)

Dagger and I split to the left and right to dodge the jet-black unicorn that came charging at us. At the same time, Dagger belatedly thrust out her right-hand dagger to slash at the beast’s side, but because it had been too late, she only managed to graze its tail as it passed through.

 “Goaah!!” (This bastard!!)

“Hinn!”

Buster swung his Great Sword with a yell, but the jet-black unicorn nimbly avoided him and he missed. Appearing suddenly, I tried to stab it by slashing from a different angle with my Short Sword, but this too was deflected by the horn on its head.

(This is bad, I don’t think we can win against it……)

The beast’s strength rose suddenly. Certainly, I’ve heard during my mercenary days that a unicorn is a dangerous beast, as it pokes its prey with its horn and siphons off its victim’s lifeblood. I was so terrified of the tale that I sobered up quickly……

“Gurua, garuo kuaaruoon?” (Chief, don’t you think we should retreat?)

“Warugaaru, uoaoou!!” (We’re up against a horse, so climb the trees!!)

Gathering strength in our legs, we avoided the next rush then dispersed to climb the trees, but…

“Kuan, ku, kuuoon……”  (Big brother, I, I sprained my foot……)

“Guh, woooan.” (Tsk, guess we have no choice.)

When she tried to avoid the jet-black unicorn’s attack earlier, my sister seemed to have sprained her foot due to the poor foothold she was on. Dragging her dominant leg behind her, she avoided the charging unicorn by moving in a circular motion.

“Gurua…… guruu garugoaaon.”  (Chief…… I’ll stop its movement.)

“Wafi?”  (What?)

Before I had any time to stop him, Buster thrust his Great Sword into the ground, clapping his hands together to draw the jet-black unicorn’s attention.

The unicorn has an agility that does not match its large build and with a blade-like horn that it uses to charge, with the intention of bringing its prey down with one hit. And he’s saying that he’s going to stop that? That’s reckless anyway you look at it!!

“Guau, garugu guoaruooonn!!”  (A moment, I’m putting everything into this one moment!!)

Perhaps Buster’s provocation was effective, or perhaps he thought it was easier this way, he let go of his weapon and spread both of his arms wide, and the jet-black unicorn rushed toward the hulking Kobold with great force. 

 “Hihiiiiiiiiinnn!!”

“Uoooooooh!”

Buster bent over, and, with his arms crossed, launched himself toward the unicorn’s throat and slipped underneath it at the moment of impact!

“Buruah!?”

The jet-black unicorn stops moving for a moment. And it’s unlikely for me to miss such an opportunity.

“Guruaah! Guaaaaan!!”  (You did it! Busteeer!!)

I thrust my short sword into the side of the unicorn charging at it with my whole body, and with a twist of my blade, widened the wound further.

“Hiiiii———-nn!?”

It screamed and thrashed about violently, trying to shake us off as we clung to it.

“Gua!?”

“Kuuuh!”

With the last of its power, it flailed and threw us off its body, so I quickly leaped back to try and suppress the shock. However, I staggered involuntarily as the heavy impact unexpectedly went through my leather armor.

When I somehow endured and looked at it again, the unicorn seemed to be reaching its limit, and a pool of blood was slowly accumulating by its feet.

(That was quite a match……)

I raised my Short Sword again, while Buster pulled out his Great Sword from the ground and carried it over his shoulders. And together, we swung both our blades down and brought the curtain down on the fight.

……………

………

…

And then, I found myself in a completely white space.

We just put an end to the jet-black unicorn earlier, but… where did Dagger and Buster go?

Looking around, I found a huge endless silver spiral staircase touching the heavens. The moment I saw it, a wealth of knowledge that I wasn’t supposed to know anything about came rushing into my head.

 “…… Wofuvorugu.”  (…… The Ultimate Spiral Staircase.)

Yes, this was the lowest level of the Tree of Life, a place where lesser souls of creatures like us Kobolds gathered.

My instincts compelled me to climb the spiral staircase.

Despite the fact that there were no other creatures except for me, I felt many eyes watching me,  coupled with the auditory hallucination-like cheers and blessings that I could hear from somewhere, I continued moving forward until I finally arrived at a place that looked like a dance hall.

The point where I had climbed was so low that It seemed as if I had just begun to climb the Ultimate Spiral Staircase, but right after that I thought, no matter what it was actually a huge step forward for me personally, and suddenly my consciousness was consumed by the light.

As I felt the ebb and flow of knowledge through my head, my consciousness gradually floated back to reality.

“Wafuh?”

When I opened my eyes and checked the situation after being unconscious for a moment, what laid before my eyes was the dead unicorn, whose life force and magic flowed into us and enhanced us.

Suddenly, as I lifted my gaze, I noticed one anomaly.

“Gau, guruaa, kuuaruan woaan!?”  (Oi, Buster, your fur is changing color, you know!?)

The fur from his forearm up to his upper arm had changed into vivid jet-black color, while the arm itself had become so muscular to the point that it seemed uncomfortably different from the rest of his body. 

At a glance, he looked like a higher variation of the Kobold, the Kobold Fighter, but with a slightly different and longer tail.

“Gurua, wafuoonn!?”  (Doesn’t Chief look somewhat different as well!?)

“Kuon, kuuun…” (Big brother looks so pretty……)

“Wu?”  (Eh?)

I looked at my own arm as soon as they told me, and instead of the usual brown fur, my fur had become an almost silver-ash color. Somehow, it seemed like I had gotten shiny too, but… Instinctively looking behind me, it seemed like my tail had become fluffier as well.

(What the hell is this……)

As we would learn much later on, Buster had evolved into a Kobold Warrior, a variation of the Kobold Fighter, while I had evolved into a High Kobold, which is a mutative variant.

Name: Buster (male)

Race: Kobold

Class: Kobold Warrior

Skill: Arm Strengthening (Large, effect is instantaneous)

Weapon: Great Sword

Armament: Leather Armor

Auxiliary: Cloak

Name: Archer (Male: Me)

Race: Kobold

Class: High Kobold

Skill: Elementary Magic (Earth and Wind), Battlecry (Kobold Race Enhancement)

Title: Chief (or Boss)

Weapon: Bow and Arrow (main) Short Sword (auxiliary)

Armament: Leather Armor

Auxiliary: Cloak