The kobolt captain probably thought I'd use the wounded kobolt as a shield for the arrows, so he didn't fire any more. Quite unexpected.
I thought they'd be like the goblins in terms of camaraderie, always waiting for the other to let their guard down so they could turn their backs into a new sheath for a stone dagger. Apparently I was wrong.
But please! Who would use a body slightly smaller and about the same weight as a Roman iron shield against someone who can shoot wooden arrows through the steel chassis of chariots?
'By the way, how come his arrows didn't shatter when he shot them? Or break when they hit the ground?!'
Ahhhh, I almost went off on another tangent. The fact is, I didn't capture these kobolts to use as shields, not entirely at least. This was just an unexpected bonus.
The main reason was that I needed to restock, and since I didn't want to have to do the job of securing a rat and squeezing it so the stagnant blood would get into my mouth, the best thing to do was bite something that was still alive.
'I'd even say I'm sorry, but I've already killed some of yours and still intend to kill more, so I'd only do it out of hypocrisy.'
I don't know why I thought this just before biting him, but it still happened. Unlike the goblins, the rats, and the (uuuurrggghhh) zombie, my canines easily pierced the skin of his neck with the kobolt.
In those cases, my canines went in as easily as if I were biting into a nearly ripe guava, with the kobolt it was like biting into a still-green pear.
An unexpected resistance, but with a bit of force, broke without any problems. When the kobolt's blood entered my mouth, I was quite glad the captain wasn't shooting arrows anymore; I would have been an easy target with the numbness that had hit me.
Not only in a positive way, as with Impeto's blood, but in a more negative way, as with the goblin blood.
If goblin blood is best compared to something slightly rotten, kobolt blood might be comparable to the most sour thing anyone has ever tasted.
It was almost like lemonade (more thick), but made with half water and half vinegar, mixed with green pineapple juice. My tongue literally went numb after two sips, but to compensate for the sour taste, I could feel all the fatigue in my body instantly disappear.
The exhaustion I felt from traversing the destroyed houses, the mental fatigue from shooting accurately at the kobolts—it all vanished like magic.
It's worth remembering that even as I did this, I continued running to the pile of rubble the kobolt captain had made his vantage point, walking in a zigzag pattern just to be safe.
The kobolt captain kept watching everything with his eyes, and if looks could kill, I would have died a thousand times in mere seconds. He was so angry to see me biting his subordinate.
'How adorable of you to be concerned about him. In that case, why not see for yourself how he is?'. I thought as I tossed the kobolt's half-dead body toward the captain.
Normally, the body would disappear right after I killed it, but I don't know why, but the bodies are taking longer to disappear than when I woke up, but now this works in my favor.
With the captain distracted, I managed to reach one of the still-standing walls. It was one of those walls with a depression connecting two different wings. A parkour practitioner could use this type of depression as an easy handhold to climb to the roof, and with my stats, I could too.
My body is now stronger, but lighter than before, and responds much more easily to what I want. With three pushes, I was on the roof, just a few meters away from the kobolt captain.
He, in turn, had his back to me, holding his subordinate. A wave of guilt, like when I saw Impeto's offspring, hit me, but quickly faded.
Not out of insensitivity, but pure astonishment. Because I saw the kobolt captain rip the magic stone from his subordinate, killing him once and for all, and unceremoniously throwing the body back to the ground. While he ate the magic stone.
'Ah. So it wasn't anger because I'd taken a subordinate hostage; he thought I was going to take the magic stone he considered his. Probably.'
'Yeah, looks like my initial impression wasn't so wrong after all.' I thought, a little amused by the situation.
After savoring the magical anpsera like a bullet, the kobolt captain turned to me. He looked at me with both defiance and scorn. The bad thing was, I had no doubt that this scornful look wasn't born of unfounded confidence.
Even though it was close range, we'd been fighting for a while, and if there was one thing I could tell, it was that the fact that I was alive now was a combination of three factors.
First, my dhampir body was faster and more agile than my old one; it was easier to dodge that way.
2, pure luck and a surge of adrenaline that heightened my senses, which helped me stay dodged and only manage a few scratches.
3, the Kobolt captain's aim was poor, simple as that.
It became obvious, shortly after I emerged from behind the car, that the captain only used the bow as a secondary weapon (at best). From what I could gather, his primary weapon would be the spear, his secondary the bow.
'That is, if he doesn't have any unpleasant surprises, like knowing how to use magic like me.'
Looking back, I was pretty stupid during this fight. I kept dodging and returning attacks, but I had basically demonstrated all my cards: my aim, magic, and speed.
Of course, he didn't know how many spells I could use, nor how much power I could put into them. But the fact that he already knew I could use magic is already a disadvantage.
As he made it abundantly clear as he lazily, almost bored, took the spear off his back and dropped the bow and quiver.
'This must be the first fight where I've actually considered I have a chance of dying, but strangely, I'm not scared. In fact, I'm actually kind of excited for it.'
I found this strange, the stories always show the MC afraid of a possible imminent death with his hands shaking and making plans to get out of there preferably without a fight. But not me.
I'm frighteningly calm, my hands shaking not from fear, but from anticipation. My heartbeat is steadier than when I fought Impeto and the chickens.
Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I stared into the kobolt captain's snake-like eyes. The whole time, he just stared at me, doing nothing, even with the sound of Impeto and Lumi taking out more of his subordinates.
'Arrogance often leads to harm, my friend. I'll show you how it works,' I thought, grabbing the Sai from my [item box].
I placed it right in front of my eyes and positioned my feet in a basic kendo stance. For the first time, the kobolt captain didn't look at me with scorn, but with a more serious expression—not recognition, but something close to it—and he positioned himself in a typical spearman's stance.
We looked at each other and advanced on each other at the same moment.