Anyway, the grimoire “Herculean Crushing” was full of rambling statements such as, “A mage that cannot talk with his fists is weak,” or “Armor is merely a decoration and a well-trained body is a work of art”…

However, in addition to the Adamantine Body, there were many useful things such as the “Zealous Fist” which crushes magic attacks with opposing magic-covered fists, and some bits and pieces of information that have nothing to do with magic at all.

Moreover, the Lightning Wizard technique he talked about on page 137 was merely a physical attack where the practitioner would unleash a full-bodied back fist strike…It was no longer on the level of what you would classify as a grimoire.

Well, aside from that, I should finish this fast.

After all, I can only sustain this Adamantine Body for a few more minutes…

“Garuoaaan… voruah, guruaaonn!!” [Let’s end this quickly… Let’s go, Buster!!]

“Voruoaaaauh! Guruah!!” (That’s supposed to be my line, Chief!!)

As both of us rushed to close the distance, he unleashed a full-powered right straight punch! I pretended to stop and receive Buster’s punch, but l leaned in at the last second and made the first strike.

“Voruooonn!” (Annoying!)

“Fuuh!”

Buster swung with force as he used his left hand to push back against my right straight cut and deflected it outward. Furthermore, he also guarded against the follow-up left jab which I directed to the right side of his head. 

“Ugu, garuu, guruaaah!” [Ugh, haah, take this!]

I feel some pain as his jab connects with my right arm, but I immediately slam my right knee into Buster’s unprotected abdomen! 

“G-guoh!?” 

He reflexively jumps back to offset the force of the knee strike, but I don’t let this opening pass.

“Garuoooooh!!” [Daraaaaaaaaah!!]

With my left foot, I took a step forward, raised my right leg, and rotated my hips until my knee was pointing downward as I unleashed an axe kick aimed at Buster’s neck.

“Gauh!” (Tsk!)

【Activated：Instinctive Evasion】

As my knee pointed down for an axe kick stance and my right leg approached Buster’s neck, his split-second decision paid off and he used his thick right arm as a guard and caught my kick just in time.

“Voruaah, guruah!!” (Take this, Chief!)

“Uwooooh!?” [Uwooh!?]

Before I could regain my stance, Buster preemptively gets into my space and hits my left leg with a powerful foot sweep!

As both of my feet left the ground, I inevitably wound up on my back.

“Kuh!” [Kuh!]

“Uruaah!” (Uraaaaah!)

When I quickly rolled over to gain some distance away from him, Buster vigorously brought down his foot and stepped on me.

“Gauuh!” [Shit!]

“Gauah!?” (Naah!?)

I instantly wrapped myself around Buster’s lower half as I pulled myself up, placing my left hand on his hip and my right hand around one of his knees so that I could use the strength of my Adamantine Body to lift and hurl the black-armed Kobold!

“Gaaaaaah!” [Gaaaaaah!]

“Woaruah!!” (Oh no you don’t!!)

Perceiving my move, Buster drops his hips, lowering his center of gravity, and presses me back down with his right fist, preventing me from getting up!

Furthermore, he also raised his left fist to strike me from above, but…

“Vorugau, garuoaaah!!” [Don’t underestimate Herculean Crushing!!]

Greio had also mentioned dealing with this kind of situation in his book as well.

I immediately switched my position from trying to lift myself and twisted around, overworking the muscles of my upper body to throw Buster sideways.

“Uwooooh!?” (Uwooooh!?)

He, like me, also uses the momentum of his fall to roll over and gain some distance away. I was just able to get up on one knee, so it was impossible to make a follow-up attack.

However, since I regained my footing a little faster than Buster, I attacked him by thrusting my knee against him as he was trying to get up.

“Kuuh.” (Kuuh.)

Buster quickly crossed his arms and prepared to guard against my attack, but… that was not what I was aiming for!

Using Buster’s raised left knee as a stepping stone, I leaped over his head and unleashed a full-forced back kick to the back of his head.

“Gahah!” (Gahah!)

As Buster was distracted by the damage at the back of his head, I turned around as soon as I landed and unleashed a spinning kick to the unprotected side of his head! 

Well, it’s dangerous to strike a blow against the head while it’s unprotected, so I had to reduce the strength a bit.

Thud

“Guh, guuu, garuaann…” (Guh, nnghh, I give up…)

Buster admitted defeat after he received a supposedly deadly blow to his exposed head had I not toned down the force of my attack. 

This was just a warm-up compared to the succession of fights we just won, and Buster wasn’t really thirsting for results, so this fight did not mean anything at all.

Thus, our little game ended here.

(… Knowing your personality, you only had to stop my last kick with your hand before it landed on you.)

Surprisingly, I realized that “Herculean Crushing” isn’t something to take lightly of… Basically, even though it is lacking in terms of range in hand-to-hand combat, this technique makes up for it by adding attribute magic in the fighter’s limbs, in addition to the attack magic technique that is incorporated into the limited range of moves.

However, this is definitely something that goes beyond the scope of an ordinary Mage…

“Gauruaao, waon? Gauruaaan.” (Buster, are you alright? Come and let me see.)

“… Wafon.” (… Thanks.)

The Spear-user, Lancer, who is basically caring by nature, places her paws over Buster’s injuries and casts Healing magic over them.

“Eruku rehite eru wetesdi. Berukureia, ruku girukuoru eldaawuru cobalto foreo viida imajin taunto.” (So they can even use Healing magic. But even if he’s an Elder Kobold, he still fights with his fists… It somehow ruins my impression of a Forest Sage.)

“From what I heard, Elder Kobolds are supposed to have mastered the Magic arts, but…” the jade-eyed and fair-skinned White Elf whispered…