CHAPTER 123 Taking This Ssseriously

CHAPTER 123

Taking This Ssseriously

Rufus

We stood facing each other, Knolith with his sword, and me with my claws. Honestly, it was a bad matchup …

I missed my shirt.

The ice crunched beneath my foot as I shifted my stance lower and pushed off in a flying tackle toward the lizardkin. He wasn’t expecting me to outright jump him right off the call to resume. I’d always waited for him to attack me first, since it benefited my [Examine] to see an attack. But my skill was currently at eighty-three percent, so there was no need.

This was the first time we’d gone longer than a minute fighting.

Coming down, I spent the mana to turn into my full beast form. Knolith realized that he couldn’t just parry all of me and made the smart move to dodge.

I nicked his shirt by his left wrist, where the lower arm was unprotected. The dragon heart scales only covered his biceps, shoulders, and upper chest, so there was plenty of room left elsewhere to sink my teeth into if I so wished.

“Finally!” The lizardkin let out a genuine laugh. “You are taking this ssseriously!”

I didn’t know what my beast form had to do with taking the battle seriously. If I were being honest with myself, I was hoping that the cold would be more manageable with more fur. It was, thank the gods, and it was easier to balance on the ice as well. I could have just as easily changed into my folk form and put on a pair of warm winter boots with good grip and have the same effect.

Each form had its own drawbacks, though, and even if my strength and damage and speed all remained the same in each form, I was certainly larger in this one.

I snapped at his wrist a second time as I dodged his blade .

The worst part about being in this form was that I wouldn’t be able to do what Brownie suggested. Maybe I should just find an opportunity to put on a shirt instead.

“I’ve dreamed of this day.” Knolith spun and swiped at my legs, making me jump into the air to get out of the way.

“If you wanted to fight my beast form,” I said, my voice low and gravelly, “you could’ve just asked?”

Even as I landed, Knolith was there. But I knew he would be. A blue line that met where I was going to land told me he was going to be there, and activate a skill. I just had to deal with that in my own way.

I burned mana to land just out of reach of his blade in my folk form.

No one in the Dark Horde had ever seen my folk form before, and Knolith paused in shock.

“Change back.” Knolith pulled his sword out of the ground and pointed it at me. I could see from [Examine] that he didn’t have anything planned; he simply swiped his blade. I dodged easily.

“Why?” I almost skipped out of his reach as he continued swinging wildly at me with no plan or purpose. It was actually harder than it looked, because there were two or three red lines to show where his blade might attack from.

“When I defeat you,” Knolith ground out, “it is going to be when you are the legendary Commander General Rufus.”

“You mean when I look like this.” I spent the barest bit of mana and changed just my ears. The cold of the ice beneath my bare feet was starting to burn, but I could heal that pretty quickly once this was over.

The lizardkin frowned and struck hard, his sword actually landing on the ground from the miss to my arm. “Change back!”

“Or like this?” I threw my arms and torso forward in a way that would suggest I’d change into my beast form and land on all fours again. Knolith, expecting such, hurriedly took a step to the side, his sword still pointed to the ground.

“Hah!” I snapped my clawless hand out and surprise poked him in the eyes instead.

“Gah!”

It didn’t live up to my majestic image as the stoic and unyielding commander general … but it was worth it when Brownie let out a shout full of joy. But her exhilarating cheer turned into a concerning gasp. I turned to see her, standing up but otherwise fine.

And then I felt it.

The lizardkin hadn’t been stepping to the side to let me change into beast form. He’d been waiting . His right hand had held the sword, but his left hand had formed his usual full ice blade in preparation for this.

He’d been baiting me .

The sword had extended and pierced into my pants at the thigh, and the ice was already encasing me. With a look of triumph, Knolith pointed his real sword at my throat while he gently leaned forward and pressed the ice blade against the skin of my thigh.

It would be really, really bad if he got ice magic into my blood.

“I yield,” I said, lifting both arms.

The lizardkin didn’t look like he believed me at first, or maybe that was just his squinty red eyes from my earlier jab. “Truly?”

“I yield ,” I repeated, and in that moment, I actually activated one of my most annoying perks. [Natural Poise]. The passive ability to make me look confident had made my life a thousand times easier since I’d become the commander general, but I rarely bothered to actually use the perk for its own sake. At this moment, I needed it to hide the grin that would have otherwise lit up my face and given everything away.

I knew the lizardkin could do it. Or, at least, I’d hoped he was strong enough, and smart enough, to take the job from me.

Because I certainly didn’t want it anymore.