242 – The Mudslinging Match’s Conclusion

It looks like the black pig forefoot has taken a lot of damage.
It’s limping a bit as it walks, avoiding putting weight on its right hand side.
That’s to be expected after it received such relentless attacks.

Aro brandishes her humerus that she picked up, facing the pig.
She knows she hasn’t got much MP left.
She’s probably planning on fighting without relying on skills from here on, using her advantage of her reach and its disadvantage of its injury against it.

“Fugouh! Fugoh!”

The pig cries out as it kicks off the ground, curling into a ball mid air.
It lands while rotating, then rolls straight towards Aro.

Stunned that her desperate attacks on its foot have been rendered meaningless, she hardens her stance, holding out her bone. 

This is bad, we really made a mistake.
I’d forgotten it had the [Roll] skill.
We should have stopped it from using that tactic.
The fact that it had [Roll] completely slipped my mind.
Attacking its foot was pointless.

N-no, it’s not like absolutely nothing was gained from it.
She’s forced it into a situation where it has no choice but to [Roll].
The [Roll] skill certainly is strong.
It increases both speed and attack strength.
In the past, I always relied on it.
That is why I know its weaknesses too.

Its biggest weakness has got to be its inability to make tight turns, as it forces the user to charge in a straight line.
No matter how much she loses in terms of speed, if she can predict how it will move, she should be able to handle it.

The pig approaches while rolling.
She takes a step backwards and to the side, bringing herself next to a tree.
It adjusts its trajectory to chase after her.

She extends a hand towards it, stirring up a miniature tornado.
It seems she intends to use [Gale] to force it to crash into the tree.
She stepped back like that to lure it closer I guess.

This girl, she went and saw through the weakness of [Roll].
Nicely done.
This way she can… is what I thought, but it just [Rolls] straight through the [Gale] as if it wasn’t there.
The tornado peters out, and the pig continues on, intent on flattening her.

She quickly darts behind the tree.
Nice judgement.
It’ll be difficult to [Roll] around it.

…Is what I thought, but it slows down, allowing it to wrap around the tree.
Of course, Aro who was hiding on the other side became prey to [Roll].
She gets sent flying, impacting the ground spine-first two meters away.

She moves to stand up, but part way through she collapses back to the ground as though she’s got no strenght left.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Name: Aro
Species: Skull Lowmage
Lv: 4/13HP: 7/26
MP: 4/22
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

Th-that attack just now did 19 damage.
It’s impossible for her to keep fighting.
That’s all she can do.
She’s tried hard enough.

Having sent Aro flying, the pig cancels its [Roll], touching the ground lightly with its forefoot as it slows down.
Dragging its foot, it approaches Aro.

As I’m about to fire off a [Wind Slash], my partner extends her head.

“Gaaah!”

With her cry, Aro is enveloped in black light.
It seems her HP is being restored with [Soul AppendmentFake Life].
Nice, partner.

Great, now Aro, quickly pull back from the pig.
That’s what I thought she’d do, but as soon as she gets up, she strikes it with the bone she’s holding instead.

“Goh!”

Expecting to only have to deal a deathblow, the pig receives her strike from the front.
It flinches, and aiming for that opening, she swings her bone to get another hit in.

“Gabuh!”

Her strike lands cleanly on the top of its head.
Swaying slightly, the pig steps back to dodge her third strike.

A-Aro? No, that was well, done, but please don’t try to do the impossible.
Your MP is pretty much all gone.
Your body is going to break, really.
We can restore it with [Soul AppendmentFake Life], but still.

Having taken two steps back, the pig curls into a ball and uses [Roll] to charge at Aro.
She drops her stance, holding out the bone she’s gripping towards it.
Facing it head-on, she thrusts the bone into it.

“Gemon!”

It screams out.
But, the momentum from its [Roll] continues as it collides with Aro, sending her flying for a second time.
Her humerus flies out of her grip and sticks into the ground.

The pig cancels its [Roll], coming to a rest upside down.
It’s able to stand up, however, glaring wrathfully at Aro as it does so.

Face down, Aro tries to use her arm to push herself up.
However, she’s either out of strength or out of stamina, because her body doesn’t lift up.

D-do you still want to fight? She looks at me and nods her head in confirmation.

…Indeed, the black pig’s got to be reaching its limit soon.
If you still want to fight, then [Soul AppendmentFake Life] will let you force your way through.

“Gaah!”

With my partner’s cry, Aro is once again enveloped in black light.
She stands up and extracts her bone from the ground.

From here on, it’s plain fistfight.
The pig leaps out at her, and she counters a swing of her bone, scoring a wonderful hit.
Each time she gets damaged, my partner heals her right away.

After several repetitions of that, her humerus finally breaks.

“Fugo, fugou…”

At the same time the black pig collapses on the spot as though it’s used up all its strength.
She’s really managed to defeat a higher rank opponent.
This’ll have earned her tons of experience.
If I just focus on healing, can’t she just grind experience no problem?

She wobbles and sinks to the ground.
As if her strings had been cut, her head drops and she stops moving.

That’s not no problem at all.
She’s been using the healing to force her body to move.
If a flesh-and-blood human were to imitate this strategy, it would be a mess.

I stroke her head with my forefoot.
Well done, you really tried your best.
With a clatter, she turns to look at me.

…This bone, it’s still alive, right.
Her arm will be restored when she evolves, right?

Which reminds me, Aro’s current status is… 

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
Species: Skull Lowmage
Lv: 13/13
HP: 26/47
MP: 3/44
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

Her level’s reached the max.
She can evolve.
Hopefully, this’ll be one step closer to a human-type species.
That’s the what she’s been striving for after all.

I gulp nervously.
If it’s a step closer to human-type body, then that’s great.
But if she evolves into some giant bone monstrosity, I won’t be able to look her in the eyes.

Please, god.
Please make it something human-like… Ah, I forgot, the god of this world’s a piece of shit.