And now here I was, face to face with the Knight Commander once again. But unlike last time, I was more prepared to deal with him. My free claw aching by the sight before him. Seems even my kobold instincts were able to remember our last interaction together.

  He didn’t look too pleased to see me. Most likely because he had to deal with the aftermath of my escape the other day. I could just picture that pig king talking him down and blaming him.

  “Do you have ANY idea what your little antics has done?!” he complained, his anger fully directed at me.

  He tried to pull out his [Magic steel Great Sword] but struggled to do so since I had one of his arms currently wrapped by my makeshift whip sword. But it wouldn’t last, as his [Strength] outstripped my own. It wasn’t going to take long before he broke free from his bindings.

  Knowing this I decided to use a classic move I like to use while he was busy trying to get rid of his restraints. I stored the ground just enough below one of his feet. Particularly the one that was slightly elevated from his movement in an act to free himself.

  At that moment, the ground below him had disappeared. The sudden change in elevation had caused him to lose his footing. Not a moment too soon I took advantage of the situation and made the sword retract, and with it still wrapped around Tobias’ arm dragged him with it.

  …At least that was the idea. I had failed to account for my own size and instead it dragged me instead. No matter, I’ll work with this. I used my free hand and began to cast [Basic Elemental Magic]. But what should I use?

  With his armor, it would mean whatever I throw at him would have less than an effect on him. If that’s the case, then I’ll have to try that instead!

  I gathered magic into my hand all the while still being pulled towards Tobias. There wasn’t much time left but I managed to pull off a Water Ball and splashed his whole body with it before it froze. That wouldn’t be enough as he was unfazed by it. He regained his footing, the frozen layer on his body not doing much. He opted instead to use his free hand to form a fist and knock me midair.

  Luckily for me I bet on the ice to at least slow him down, even if it was for a split second. I took that opportunity and conjured a Fire Ball next before quickly blasting him with flames. I doubt that would be enough to do any damage through his armor. That wasn’t what I was aiming for. I was then met with a fist to the gut as my body was flung back. My sword retracted back to its original state.

  “And what exactly was that supposed to do?” Tobias asked as the ice around his armor broke apart and melted away.

  I gasped for air as I tried to recover from his punch. As expected, with a [Strength] that matches Mordred’s own, it already felt like my body was ready to give in. This is nothing though, it wasn’t the first time I dealt with this kind of pain, nor will it be the last!

  I glared down on the Knight Commander, who grabbed his sword in his hand now that it was freed. Once more I conjured another Water Ball, repeating the same steps of splashing his armor before freezing it. And once again it does little to keep Tobias back who began closing in on me as I blasted him with another Fire Ball.

  “It’s pointless, that basic magic will do little to me. Why use it again?” He questioned as he swung his sword, before I stopped it by causing the air in front of us to harden, creating a makeshift wall.

  But it wasn’t enough as he already broke through it, the hardened air dispersing like glass. Just how tough is this guy?! At least this gave me more time to dodge that swing, though even that proved to be difficult with my body exhausted as it is.

  This fight wasn’t even going that long but I can already feel my own mana reserves dwindling. If I had to guess I think I have around half right now. Changing the property of materials really does take more out of me.

  “You’re really trying my patience little monster.” Tobias complained with an annoyed tone as he started to gather mana to his blade. “My king still wishes for you alive, but I doubt he would mind you with less limbs.”

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  I see, so he must channel his mana to his sword to increase its power similar to how Damian empowers his own body. Still, I took advantage of this moment while he was charging to pull out some reserved [Healing Powder] and applied it on myself, helping me recover from his gut punch a little. But as soon as I did, I could already feel my opponent hover above me.

  He had his sword up in the air, ready to strike down on me like a lightning bolt. It was all I could do to store the ground below me send me falling underground before his weapon could reach me.

  “Think you can run from me? Then try to escape this.”

  He then positioned the tip of his blade at the hole as energy he accumulated combined at the end before it all blasted down.

  Shit! Before I could think I immediately forced the air above me to harden to stop the blast. Bad idea. I quickly realized that I was beginning to lose air to breathe. I need to get out of this hole fast! I launched myself away from him before he could notice while creating a tunnel by storing the ground as quickly as I was being launched. I didn’t even pay attention to where I was popping up. I didn’t have time to as I found myself returning above ground as I quickly gasped for air.

  With luck, it seemed I came out inside a building. It looked like one of the residential houses. That should make it harder for Tobias to find me while I try to recover. About a quarter of my mana reserves huh? I better limit my skills for now.

  I wanted to use more of the [Healing Powder] but it seemed I used a lot more to recover from my arm injury than I had initially thought. For the time being, I should hide and gather myself while I have the chance. Even if I’m not too happy about that.

  “Don’t think you can hide from me little lizard.” I suddenly heard. The sound of his voice drew closer than I had anticipated.

  The sounds of metallic footsteps grew louder with each step. It was clear the Knight Commander knew where I was. Of course, I had suspected they had a way to locate us after all. I just didn’t think he would have it himself. I hastily thought that I would be safe from his notice when I confronted him by himself.

  No matter, I’ll just have to improvise. I should be able to do some simple reshaping with my current mana pool at the least. Luckily this house has a second floor, I quickly took the stairs while Tobias slowly came. Seems he believes he could take his time. Arrogant now, aren’t we?

  I’ll take advantage of that if I have to, after reaching the second floor I reforged the walls in front of me to bend, leaving an opening for me to barely get out. I took a quick glance and just as I had guessed from his footsteps, he was right in front of the building. It doesn’t look like he noticed me. But he seemed ready to break down the door.

  Quietly sliding out of the hole I made; I readied my body as I jumped off of the building. I swung my Falchion sword down, letting the force of gravity drag me down. Tobias immediately noticed as he changed the direction of his own sword to clash with mine, even with the extra force of gravity to help me it still won’t be enough to power through his [Strength]. Instead, I opted to reforge my sword with an extra amount of [Iron] to turn it into a hammer as large as me. The extra weight should give me a bit more power to meet with Tobias!

  Our weapons clashed, sparks flying as the two metals interacted. It seemed I managed to just make the combined power enough to handle Tobias’ weapon.

  “Cheap tricks.” Tobias began to charge his blade once more, but I noticed that it was less intense than before. His low [Spirit] having showed his limits, he must have put a lot more mana into his attack before than I had expected. Still, it’s enough to give him the advantage again.

  But just as he was about to overpower me again, my makeshift hammer started to split. My weapon returning to its original shape as the excess [Iron] split into two as they fell past his blade and crashed onto him. I was still knocked back by him, and it seemed like the two chunks of [Iron] that had fallen on him didn’t do anything.

  Until suddenly his armor started to break, there were small cracks unknown to Tobias that were spreading around his chest armor. This seemed to get his attention, who had a look of anger in his face.

  “What did you do?!” he yelled

  I quickly got back up, I needed to take advantage of the situation. I launched myself once more towards my enemy, more specifically at the origin of the cracks. He seemed to see it coming though as he immediately brought his sword out to block my attack.

  Predictable, of course that would be the first thing most people would do. As I’m propelled closer, I held out my left claw and immediately held on to his sword with my bare claw. I winced in pain feeling both the sharp edge and the residual mana coming out of the sword, blood flowing through an open cut from my claw as it spilled from his blade.

  I hung on to his sword like a monkey bar before quickly slashing at him from below his blade as I shifted my own right to his cracked armor. No sooner did I do so than his armor broke apart into several pieces, leaving an opening for another attack.

  Without thinking I began to reshape my own dripping blood as a harden spike, since it left my body, it should be considered ‘non-living’ though this is the first time I’m doing it like this! The bloody spike sprung into being as it pierced through his exposed chest, finally giving the Knight Commander some real damage!

  Hah take that!!