The Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Geli
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 032 – Dragon Kalar [B]
“This is…!”
Leonhart witnessed it.
Within his field of vision, his opponent who should have been incapacitated was standing up.
And her appearance at that moment was completely different from her former self.
…So, this is the true form of a dragon Kalar, no, Hunty Kalar…!
Scales grew all over her body. Her nails grew longer and sharper, the crystal on her forehead opened and became her third eye, and her face became that of a ferocious beast.
It was a distorted existence that retained a humanoid shape, yet also had the appearance of a dragon. On top of that, something else happened to Hunty Kalar’s body as a result.
Leonhart was astonished by what he saw, and then he smiled.
…Her wound temporarily closed…!
The scales covered the fatal wound he’d inflicted on her earlier. It wasn’t like her wound was gone, as there were still red lines visible between and beneath the scales, but it managed to stop the severe bleeding.
It was an ugly figure that would be impossible for a human. But Leonhart instead,
“You’re totally enticing me here…!”
praised that appearance. The heat he’d felt in his body earlier flared up once more.
The other party was still standing. The fact that his enemy was still at a disadvantage didn’t change. It wasn’t like her physical strength was restored or her fatigue diminished by what happened. Her wound simply closed. The situation itself didn’t improve much.
However, she could still fight. He could continue to have fun.
She managed to last that long while fighting him, and she still persisted to not let it end just yet.
Leonhart was so happy at that and wanted to call out his opponent. He didn’t hesitate to do so.
“You can still fight, right…?”
He wouldn’t be defeated. That fact didn’t change.
“We can still enjoy ourselves, right…?”
“Gu-guuh…!”
In her true form, Hunty became ferocious as she glared at him. She still had some fighting spirit. Her will wasn’t dead yet.
In that case,
“Aah, aahh! That’s right! Let’s fight some more…!”
…I don’t need to wait anymore…!!
Leonhart leaped forward. And Hunty also leaped to attack.
Two shadows crossed the battlefield.
The village turned into a fierce battlefield once again.
In the center of village square, which offered a better view, Leonhart swung down his sword at Hunty.
Demonic Sword Orpheil. The slash produced by that sword, combined with Leonhart’s skill in the sword, turned every swing into a deadly attack. If it was normal flesh, it would’ve been mercilessly bisected already. However, she managed to block his strike with her flesh.
Leonhart saw what allowed her to achieve that. It was something he was familiar with.
“The claw of a dragon, huh…!”
Orpheil’s blade was blocked by Hunty’s sharpened claws. Leonhart was well aware of how sturdy those could be.
He had first faced it before with a certain dragon majin. The second time was with the nephrite dragon who later became an apostle, Shichisei.
And then there was also a fellow member of the Four Elite Majin, the platinum dragon majin — Camilla.
Leonhart had fought all of these people, and their sturdy claws had all managed to block his proud sword. Just like what happened at this moment.
…Yes, indeed, those claws are really troublesome!!
Against the toughness of those dragon claws, Leonhart felt both regret and joy.
Regret because he had failed to cut through those claws, regardless of how many times he tried it. But at the same time, that meant he could keep hitting it without worrying that it might break.
Those dragon species all possessed great physical strength, power, and toughness, which meant he would have an intense and enjoyable time.
Camilla was the best amongst them. Camilla’s strength was so addicting for him. He got heated up whenever he remembered it. I guess I’ll fight Camilla for a bit once I return—
“Gaaah—!”
“…Oops!”
As he got lost in his thoughts, his opponent noticed and didn’t let the chance slip by. She attacked with her claw. When he noticed it, Leonhart felt as if he was being reprimanded.
“Don’t be jealous. Don’t worry, I’ll treat you attentively as well.”
“…!”
Hunty’s movements became more intense. Her actions carried momentum, as if she was angry about something.
…Fumu, I guess that one was my fault.
As expected, it was rude to think about another opponent in the midst of a duel. He would also get angry if he was treated that way. Right now, his opponent was in front of him. Therefore, he ought to focus solely on her.
Then, Leonhart exerted his own power. Although his opponent’s strength greatly increased, he was still stronger than she was, and faster too. In that case, Leonhart thought he could break her momentum using continuous attacks like he did before.
However,
“—“
“…! You—“
Immediately after, Leonhart chose to defend. Although he was about to attack, why was he forced to defend?
It was the same method as before, but he assumed Hunty couldn’t use it anymore since she became that ferocious.
The magic that allowed her to instantly disappear from his eyes and appear elsewhere—
“—So you still could use your Instant Movement…!”
It was the magic that Leonhart had supposedly already seen though.
Hunty Kalar desperately tried to control her turbulent mind.
…Calm down, I have to calm down…!
When she revealed her true appearance as a dragon Kalar, she felt conflicted about it. However, she couldn’t afford to let it end here. Therefore, she thought it couldn’t be helped. However,
Her blood as a dragon species was clamoring too much.
Her instincts told her to eat the strong opponent before her.
However, she couldn’t do it. Not only was his power and speed superior to hers, but also he was tougher than she was. Although the gap between them narrowed a little bit, allowing her to fight him in close combat, there was no way she could win in a contest of pure strength.
In that case, it was obvious what she had to do.
She would use the power of the dragon species while keeping her mind under control. She would obediently move according to the combat instincts of the dragon species.
Then, Hunty used her Instant Movement.
In front of her, Leonhart raised his sword and was about to execute his next action.
What she was about to do was to evade, yet to not evade.
It was an attack.
She didn’t change her location that much; she merely moved her location just a little bit, just to avoid direct hit, then rushed forward.
…Eat this!
“—!!”
The moment she phased back to reality, his attack swung toward the wrong direction. Perhaps that was the result of his wrong prediction. And the result of this action made Leonhart’s eyes widen in surprise, and this surprised expression of his soon changed into a smile.
“You did it…!”
A blunt impact hit Leonhart’s belly.
The moment she felt the impact on her claw, Leonhart’s body bent and folded forward, but he managed to brace his legs from the impact and he wasn’t sent flying. Mentally, Hunty felt electrified.
…Finally, a solid hit!
It was the first attack that landed on him besides magic. While she was happy it landed, her thoughts were more focused on the fact that it finally landed.
Also, on how many more hits were needed to defeat the majin in front of her. She got sick from such thoughts.
In that case, it was time for her to stack up her blows. Leonhart’s body trembled, either from the damage he just took or from the surprise at the unexpected turn of events.
He didn’t move.
Hunty took the chance to make a vicious strike instead. She activated Instant Movement continuously,
“—OOO—!!”
And then hit him several times in succession.
Leonhart began to feel the difficulty of the battle.
After Hunty unleashed her appearance as dragon Kalar, she made use of her claws, fists, and legs strike several times in succession, and he was getting pushed back by it.
There was a reason why this happened. And that was,
…She only considered the starting point of movement now.
Leonhart calmly analyzed the situation.
His opponent began to use the Instant Movement again. However, she didn’t use it passively as a method of evasion or defense.
She was using it to attack. She only considered his starting point of movement to make her attack land.
And she did it by thoroughly infighting.
“—“
“——!”
Even now, he still swung his sword with his arms. His power was much stronger than before, and so was his speed.
However, that wasn’t enough to make his attacks land.
But what would happen if he was stopped the moment he released his power?
When he swung his sword, he had to exert a lot of strength to do so, and there would be a tiny gap until the movement was made. Due to the structure of his body, it would be inevitable whenever he tried to move with a strong force.
She made use of that gap and aimed for the precise moment to hit.
The moment he exerted his power to swing his sword, she would break his stance, preventing him from swinging his sword properly.
Since his sword was deflected, he had no choice but to pull back.
However, when he exerted his power again, she would try to break his stance again.
Leonhart thought. The Instant Movement magic only unleashed its full potential when it was used for attack.
After all, he couldn’t see the starting point of her attack. He did try to react the moment she moved, but he barely made it, and then she would break his stance, so he couldn’t move carelessly.
On top of that, maybe because she’d released her true form as dragon Kalar, her movements suddenly changed. Perhaps it was better to say that her movement patterns changed?
In that case, he was back at the starting point. He needed to grasp her movement patterns while using Instant Movement in that state once again. He needed to find his own movement pattern.
…I see…
Leonhart felt admiration welling inside himself toward Hunty. This was a tactic only possible for one person, Hunty, who could make use of her Instant Movement for combat.
To think my movements would be restricted this way. I see, so it was about reading the starting point of movements and breaking it before the move could be executed. This would make speed meaningless, since it would prevent the exertion of power.
It was because the force of movement depended on one’s acceleration. Regardless of how much mastery and skill a person may have, there was always a miniscule gap before 100% of their power was achieved.
That was the limit of the human body’s structure.
As he realized that, Leonhart quietly sighed.
…What should I do…?
Offense was the best defense. He then thought about how to deal with his opponent.
Should he relearn his opponent’s patterns? Or should he — advance his skill further?
“—Kuh.”
A smile involuntarily formed on his lips because it was a ridiculous question.
Leonhart chose the second option without hesitation.
Because he was not a human — but a majin.
Therefore, Leonhart didn’t stop moving. He only needed to focus on the changes inside of him. He needed to focus to be aware of his physical movements.
He could only laugh.
The method to overcome current situation, that was,
—To achieve greater heights.
T/N
Hello, we met again!
For today, I’m going to add an illustration for Hunty’s dragon Kalar form (which is probably not as you people imagined)
Hunty (dragon Kalar): https://i.ibb.co/rZWB4H4/Hanty-IV-2.png
Mind you, this was from an old episode which hasn’t been remade for modern graphics yet, so please excuse the poor image.
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