WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
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◈ Black Badger ◈
Chapter 95: Creature Loyalty Liquor (2)
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The insect creature died instantly.
Impaled on a silver spike, its body went limp. The human-faced bird fluttered atop Nemalda, looking puzzled.
Asil needed to get into the waiting area while there was an opening.
Ricardo must have thought the same thing, because he walked toward Asil.
He bent down and lifted Asil.
Supporting Asil expertly over his shoulder, Ricardo headed for the waiting area.
Huh?
Why was the third creature not appearing?
Pushing the question aside, I took Asil from him.
“Senior, please concede too.”
I met Ricardo's eyes as I received Asil.
But Ricardo did not answer. He simply turned away.
My senior walked off with his usual lazy yet steady stride. The tall man headed back into the arena.
I carefully laid the dazed Asil beside Bobby. He could barely keep his eyes open. His uneven breathing bothered me.
I wanted him to get treatment right away....
I did not want to see another senior reduced to this state.
I spun around.
“Ricardo!”
I raised my voice at his retreating back.
“I'll go in now!”
Without looking back, my senior raised his middle finger.
This was driving me insane.
The silver spike piercing Nemalda began to flow away. Nemalda's corpse slowly settled onto the ground as well.
The human-faced bird stopped tearing into the corpse and turned its head.
Dark red blood was smeared around its pale mouth.
With its mouth covered in blood, the human-faced bird stared blankly at my senior.
[Ricardo has grabbed a spear!]
Ha.
That man really was going through with it.
The silver liquid crept forward, lengthened, and became a spear.
Without even looking my way, my senior pulled it free and gripped it.
It had absorbed even the broken spear lying on the ground, making it twice as long as when Asil had wielded it.
The form-changing weapon gleamed brilliantly under the arena lights.
The human-faced bird perched on Nemalda's corpse flapped into the air.
I bit my lip as I watched it cast a shadow over Ricardo.
[Hang in there, Pepper!]
Squelch!
The spear pierced its eye.
“Aaagh!”
[Oh no! Pepper's left eye has been pierced!]
The announcer gave the commentary in a voice that did not sound sorry at all.
Flap! Flap!
The sound of agonized wings filled the arena. Chains rattled sharply after it.
[But it is not a fatal wound!]
That was the problem.
The spear lodged in its eye dropped to the ground. The silver spear rolled across the arena.
[He lacks the strength! What poor learning ability, repeating Bobby's mistake!]
Boom!
Ricardo dodged the human-faced bird as it swooped down as swiftly as a hawk.
Its enormous talons dug into the arena floor. They landed slightly off from where my senior had been standing.
It was not a mistake.
Losing the use of one eye had weakened its sense of distance.
And my senior was skilled enough to use that to his advantage.
“But still, concede!”
That did not mean he could kill it.
“Concede! Concede!”
“Will you shut up already~?”
My senior grumbled as he rolled away from the human-faced bird's second attack.
“I'm trying to focus....”
Boom!
Thud! Thud!
The attacks continued, but none of them hit. Ricardo dodged each attack with ease.
Fine cracks spread across the arena floor, but Ricardo was untouched. He evaded every attack efficiently, without a single unnecessary movement.
There was a clear difference between his movements and those of Asil and Bobby.
Asil had been unable to move properly because of his injuries, of course.
Even considering that, Ricardo's movements were far more efficient than those of the seniors before him.
[The movements of someone with a long career really are different!]
Perhaps even civilians could see it, because the announcer shouted excitedly.
[Sordi is showing us just how different he is from the previous Badgers. I suppose we should give up on expecting Pepper's attacks to work!]
I thought so too.
He might even be able to counterattack.
I watched Ricardo dodge an attack while dissolving his spear back into liquid.
Then....
Squelch!
A silver spike pierced its talon.
“Oh!”
[Ah! He extended the form-changing weapon where he predicted Pepper would land!]
The human-faced bird flapped its wings painfully against the ground.
[Pepper's right foot has been pinned!]
Got it.
The human-faced bird's pained cries echoed through the arena.
He could not kill it, but Pepper would not be able to fly for a while.
Especially since the tip of the spike piercing its foot had split apart like a pinwheel.
Impressed by my senior's perfect response, I raised my voice.
“Senior! I'll go in and kill it now!”
Ricardo turned his head for the first time and met my eyes.
“Please concede!”
The man did not answer.
Instead, he slowly walked toward the waiting area.
That alone satisfied me. My racing heartbeat calmed down.
Once he came over, I would make him concede no matter what.
Then I would rush in and start with the flapping human-faced bird....
Squelch.
Huh?
Ricardo and I both looked down at the same time.
For a while, we stared at the same spot.
My senior had stopped while walking toward the waiting area. His left foot hovered slightly above the ground.
About three centimeters in the air. His right foot was firmly planted on the arena floor, but his left foot did not touch it. It was as though something invisible was beneath it.
Something soft....
“What is that?”
It was moving?
“What on earth....”
A long, pillar-shaped shadow appeared in front of Ricardo as he stepped back.
I stared in disbelief as the silhouette of a translucent pillar emerged, bubbled like the surface of boiling water, and turned human.
No....
It became me.
[At last! Huu has revealed itself!]
A dripping, translucent Hildebert Taleb.
[Please give it a round of applause! It seems Huu has decided to imitate the decent-looking rookie Badger in the waiting area today!]
“Me?”
“What an unpleasant face....”
My sharp hearing caught Ricardo's murmur.
“Looks cocky....”
Me?
I could not ask.
Ricardo turned the remaining form-changing weapon into a dagger and swung it.
Whoosh.
The dagger passed through fake Hildebert Taleb's neck.
It sounded like a blade slicing through translucent liquid.
The section struck by the dagger collapsed and flowed downward.
But the creature's body, which had lost its shape and wobbled, soon regenerated the fake Hilde.
[As you know, physical attacks do not work very well on Huu!]
If they did not work very well, that meant they worked a little.
[Especially not with a dagger like that. There is no way he can kill it!]
This was insane.
Frowning, I took in the situation. Slime Hildebert's right hand was turning into a sharp dagger.
It was copying the dagger Ricardo had swung.
Meanwhile, my senior stood still with his face frozen cold, dagger in hand.
He seemed to lack the mass needed to make a spear. Most of his weapon was being used to restrain the human-faced bird, leaving Ricardo with little material to work with.
And then there was the cold sweat.
Cold sweat beaded on my senior's face, which had grown paler than before. He did not look well.
It did not seem like his stamina had dropped like Bobby's.
Was it a side effect of using the form-changing weapon?
Either way, we needed to end this quickly.
Watching the creature raise its sword hand like Captain Hook, I shouted.
“Ricardo!”
He had killed Nemalda and restrained the human-faced bird, so he needed to make a calm decision now!
“Concede!”
The limp creature swung its arm.
“Please concede!”
Slice.
The dagger grazed his neck.
My heart dropped.
Bright red blood flowed from the straight wound.
If it had been even a little deeper, he would have died.
Ricardo frowned and widened the distance between them. Gripping the area around the wound with his left hand, he swung his dagger.
The silver dagger struck the creature's blade-shaped arm.
Clang!
He was overpowered.
Seeing my senior's right arm forced back, I screamed.
“Rick!”
That stubborn idiot!
“Concede! I said concede!”
At this point, I had nothing left to lose.
“I’m going in!”
Whether the chains exploded or not.
Whether the electric cage stood in my way or not. I ran to the corner first, so Bobby and Asil would not be caught in any explosion, then sprinted toward the electric cage.
With bomb chains still fastened around my wrists and ankles.
“Give me the sword!”
“Concede!”
The moment I stepped onto the electric cage, Ricardo shouted sharply.
“Get those chains off him, now!”
Crash!
My wrists and ankles felt light.
The electric cage disappeared, and so did the ceiling over my head.
New sensations flooded in. The audience surrounding me, the announcer holding a microphone atop a huge hoverboard, enormous lights shining down on the arena, the high open ceiling.
A massive colosseum.
Taking in the flood of sensations, I ran toward my senior.
Then I kicked fake Taleb as it turned toward me.
Thud!
Fake Taleb flew into the corner of the arena and splattered.
I could see Ricardo Sordi clearly now. The man lifted his gaze from my ankles and met my eyes.
I beamed at my senior, who looked ready to kill someone.
“Senior! I'll take you to the waiting area!”
“Crazy bastard!”
Ricardo grabbed me by the collar.
He glared at me as if he wanted to kill me, even though my smile did not fade.
“Do you have no sense at all?”
“I'll finish this quickly.”
I gave him a faint smile.
I really would....
“I'll do well, so please give me the sword, Senior.”
His green eyes burned as they stared at me.
A fire made of anger and irritation.
The flames fueled by those intense emotions gradually faded.
In their place came feelings I could not understand.
I did not bother trying to figure out exactly what they were.
Instead, I smiled softly as I watched him release my collar.
“Thank you for trusting me.”
“If you kill the bird, I'll make it bigger....”
My senior held out the dagger in an irritated voice.
“But if you get even one scratch, you'll be worked like a dog once we're back....”
A silver dagger.
I took the dagger he offered. It was solid enough to cut down the human-faced bird flapping on the ground and Huu, which was forming my face.
Solid enough to cut down the creature beyond the slowly opening door.
“This is enough.”
I answered my senior as he passed me.
“I'll do well.”
The hunt, too.
The score I had to settle, too.
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