Chapter 127 – The Sage vs The Master Swordsman

“Gyaooou!!” (You’ll never get away with this!!)

【Activated：Arm Strengthening (Intermediate)】

The Goblin Sword Master’s arms suddenly bulked up as he tried to push back against the curved sword’s attack that he had stopped with his twin blades. The momentum of my surprise attack was cut short and parried, and my hand which held the scimitar was firmly pushed back with little resistance.

“Kuuh.”

As I jumped back, he slightly twisted his upper body and brandished the iron sword so that it was over his left shoulder, and drew the iron sword in his left hand to the side in a position that allowed him to execute a series of attacks.

“Gaderausuh!!” (Take this!!)

“Gau, vowuru.” (Hah, not today.)

As I evaded his attacks, I released the concentrated wind magic from my right hand in the form of wind blades and ruined his attack sequence, but…

“Zetosuh!” (You’re too naive!!)

“Wafuh!?” (Wha–!?)

Seeing the Wind Blades shot from up close, the Goblin Sword Master uses his left foot as a pivot point and turns to evade the attack. At the same time, he vigorously swung his right sword and aimed for the back of my neck!

“Gyaoooooh!!” (Uraah!!)

“Uwoooooooh!” (Uwoooooooh!)

I instinctively shouted and crouched with my ears pinned back as his sword narrowly passed over my head when he thrust it towards me at a great speed. If I hadn’t pulled my ears back on time, then I would’ve become an “Earless Kobold” by now…

“Guh, gooruaaaaaah!!” (Tsk, you’ll pay for that!!)

I thrust my left hand into the ground from a crouched position and moved my right foot a bit behind. I then pushed myself forward and lunged at him while aiming my curved blade on his shin!

“Uwoh!!”

The twin blade-wielding Goblin avoids my scimitar by quickly taking a step back, but the blow cuts through the leather shin guard and makes a shallow cut which slows his movement for a moment.

“Guruaaaaaaaaah!” (Daraaaaaaaaaaah!)

I then took that opportunity to quickly stab him in the adam’s apple, but he unexpectedly deflected my attack with his left sword and stabbed me straight to the heart with his right.

“Giuah, giradoresu!!” (I’ll kill you, you little shit!!)

“Gauuh, voruaah!!” (Hahah, I admit you’re pretty good!!)

My wild instincts kicked in, and for some reason, a rush of energy surged as I stepped sideways to avoid the direct hit to my heart, got into his personal space, and countered with a punch to his face with my left hand.

“Guuuuuuuuuh!?”

As the Goblin swordsman groaned while he stumbled back, I concentrated Earth-type magic into my right leg and powerfully slammed my foot on the ground.

“Gauaoooh, worufu!!” (Devour the enemy, Fangs of the Earth!!)

“UWOOH!”

Perhaps sensing the flow of power, he surprisingly dodged the earth clod that shot towards him and rolled on the ground to gain some distance away from me and got up.

Of course, I wasn’t going to miss on that opening and was about to fire a follow-up shot, but…

“Guu, reijih!” (Nggh, Lightning Bolt!!)

Frowning, the Goblin Swordsman stops moving and keeps his distance while coating his twin blades with purple lightning.

(Tsk, has the effects of Howling Noise run out!?)

At this point, the effect of Howling Noise which blocks the flow of magic throughout the body has run out. But because the skill requires a good amount of magic refinement, it wasn’t a move that you could just use in battle unless you were going against a stronger foe.

“Gaua uruvu kuvoruaaaaaaaann!!” (Using my trump card against this guy might be bad, but here goes nothing!!)

While covering my left fist with a wind magic-powered whirlwind, I held my scimitar at chest level and prepared to confront the Goblin Swordsman.

Around us, both the Kobolds and the Goblins have been clashing with each other to stop either side from interfering with our fight, so we couldn’t just take our time on a stand-off.

It seems the both of us had the same thought… And so, after a moment of silence, a sharp battle cry rang out.

“UGAAAAAAAAAA!!”

With increased vigor, the Goblin Swordsman charged ahead and swung his purple lightning-covered swords!

When I turned to the right to evade the slash attack, the opponent flawlessly swung his purple lightning-covered left sword and aimed for my neck. However, while I was able to deflect his attack by a hair’s breadth with my whirlwind-covered left arm, the back of my hand ended up getting covered by multiple shallow cuts and blood sprayed everywhere.

“Gauuh.” (Tsk)

But before I could even register the pain and numbness from my left hand, the Goblin Swordsman skillfully passed the iron sword on his right hand under my left arm and stabbed me in the torso.

In the end, I could not evade the blow he made while I was momentarily dazed, and the purple lightning-covered blade made a shallow cut in my abdomen.

“Guuaah!? GURUAAAAAAAH!!”

At that moment, an electric shock ran through my body, but I was able to use Adamantine Body to circulate the pure magic power in my body to create interference and increase my magic resistance. Afterward, I snapped out of my daze, pushed him away with a roar, and slashed at the enemy’s torso with my curved blade right after I found a gap in his attack.

“Gubuh, aa, gizu gileusua…” (Cough, aah, so this is my end…)

The Goblin Swordsman who had been slashed from his abdomen to his chest lost power in his legs and fell. When the opponent lost his grip on his twin swords and they fell with a clatter, a column of light gushed out at the same time as an angry shout rang out!

“GIIIIIIIIDDOOOOOOOOOO!!” (SWOOOOOOOOORD!!)

“Wafa!? Guoooooh!!” (Wha!? Guooooh!!)

Before I knew it, the Goblin carrying a Greatsword had come close within shooting distance, opened his mouth wide, and shot a breath of shining light that pierced my right shoulder.

“Uuah…”

While also blinded by the light, I dropped my scimitar due to the intense pain… But the next time I opened my eyes, I was standing in the middle of a familiar white space in front of the landing of the silver Spiral Staircase.