As I watched the red-haired girl desperately run towards us, it was clear that she was running away from the huge, ore-covered lizard.

“Ah……”

She ran up to us, but on the way, she tripped on a tree root and fell. Our gazes met at that moment, and I unintentionally caught the desperate plea in her eyes.

“Guuh!”  (Tsk!)

Even though I clicked my tongue, I found myself running towards her. Because I still have the memories from when I was a human, it was painful for me to abandon her. Besides, my sister could not run because of her sprained ankle, so we had no choice but to fight.

“Guruaah!!”

Quickly wrapping my arms around the girl, I jump sideways, quickly anticipating the attack of the roaring predator approaching us. Immediately after, the Rock Monitor Lizard bulldozed through the place we were previously standing at great speed. 

“Eh!? It’s fluffy? How did that happen!?”

“Wafuu, woaoonn!” (Hey, watch out!)

Turning back as I held the confused girl close, I found that the monster had slowed down its movement and changed course towards Buster, who seemed to be its next prey.

“Guruuuuo… gau, uoooann!!”  (Aren’t you a tough one… Go ahead and come at me!!)

It seems like a switch of sorts had been flipped inside my friend. Letting himself become the bait, he lowered his hips and took a stance.

“Garugouaa, kuuauooon!!”  (With this one strike, I shall finish you!!)

Aiming for the head of the rock monitor lizard that attempted to bite, catch, and squeeze him, Buster’s powerful slash attack hit, but…

“G-guah!!”  (Ugh!!)

The ore covering the lizard’s skin simply deflected the attack, Buster had added his own weight to the centrifugal force used to deliver the blow, so the deflection sent a powerful rebound shock through his arms. However, the rock monitor lizard was hit with the Great Sword when it just looked up, so its head was pushed back down because of the force from the sword.

Furthermore, because it was hit pretty hard on the head, its movement temporarily halted.

“Woaoonn!!”  (I won’t let such an opportunity go to waste!!)

“Ukyah!!”

Tossing the red-headed girl I had been carrying under my arms, I pulled out my short sword from the scabbard at my waist, and, running towards the rock monitor lizard, I aimed between one of the gaps in its ore-covered body, and stabbed at it.

“Kshhh!? Gugaaaaaah!!”

“Guh!” (Gah!)

The rock monitor lizard lashed out in pain, pushing Buster’s Great Sword away and flinging me with its huge and heavy frame.

“Guruu, kuaaroan, gauruaah!”  (Chief, do that thing you did earlier, we’re not getting anywhere!)

“Wafu, guruau” (Sure, leave it to me.)

And so, I gathered power into my core and this time, out of my own volition, let out the Hellhound’s Roar, which enhanced my fellow Kobold’s base capabilities. 

“Uwooooooooooooooon!!”

“Garuuoooh! Wooonn!!” (I’m burning up! Let’s do this!!)

The muscles in both of Buster’s arms bulged in an instant as he unleashed all the power in his body in a single slash.

“Guuruaaah!!” (Slash!I)

Smash!!

The Great Sword, which was blocked by the Rock Monitor Lizard’s robust defense, shattered the ore acting as its armor, but the remaining strength could only stab shallowly at its body. This caused it to swivel around and angrily deal a blow to Buster with its tail.

“Gyaaooooo!”  (Angry!)

“Wooooh!?”

 Buster received a blow from the thick of its tail and was blown away. 

“Guruaaah!!”  (Busteeer!!)

“G-guoh, uruaaah!!” (G-guh, uraaaaaah!!)

The black-armed, heavy-set Kobold picked himself up and endured the pain as the battle cry fired him up again.

(Huh, it seems like he’s fine.)

It was not looking good no matter how I look at it…the next attack would not go through. What’s going on here? Even the monster from earlier was strangely strong.

If there were many monsters like this in the forest, then we Kobolds would have been annihilated a long time ago, but, it was futile to complain since we still had a chance to win. When Buster was thrown off by the rock monitor lizard’s tail attack earlier, its underside was exposed and it wasn’t covered with ore at all!

“Kuruu, kuaaoonn!” (Here goes nothing!!)

Kneeling on the spot, I pressed my hands against the earth to focus my magic. There was something I have been feeling ever since my fur turned silver earlier. It seemed like the sensory understanding of the world that one possesses at birth to fully demonstrate their potential.

Perhaps I’m turning into a magic-user type Kobold that can control the earth and wind!

“Uoah, uorufuh!!”  (Eat this, Fangs of the Earth!!)

“Guh, gaa—h, gii, gya…..”

Numerous fang-shaped clods appeared directly underneath the rock monitor lizard and pierced its belly, skewering it to the earth. As I suspected, no ore-like armor covered its underside.

Even its dorsal side had gaps in its ore-covered skin, to allow for some movement. If its underside were also covered in ore, then it would rub against the ground and it would not be able to move that quickly.

“Gurua, gaoruan?”  (Chief, is it dead?)

“Gau, uaou.” (No, not yet.)

And so I called Dagger (my sister) who had been waiting behind me.

“Wafu? Kuon”  (What is it, big brother?)

“Kuua gaoruau”  (Finish it off.)

When we beat the jet-black unicorn earlier, we evolved… to confirm if the same phenomenon will occur again, I asked Dagger to deliver the final blow.

“Kuu, garukuuga kuruun”  (But it doesn’t seem like my dagger will work.)

“Garuouu” (Use this.)

I took out the Unicorn horn from my backpack and handed it to Dagger.

“Nn, kuruoou kuon”  (Okay big brother, I’ll give it a try.)

Using the Unicorn horn, Dagger stabbed deep into the gap between the ores covering the earthbound rock monitor lizard’s head and put an end to it.