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I've been reading 魔法使いの夜 and stuck with this sentence -「体幹の見切りと筋肉の凝固弛緩その隙間。」.
I completely cannot grasp the meaning from it, so I'll try to break it into
parts and translate them.

「体幹の見切り」 - the weak(見切り) part of torso

「筋肉の凝固弛緩」 - solidification and relaxation of the muscles

「その隙間」 - their weak point(opening)

Can you please tell me where I'm mistaken, and help me with translating it.
Thank you!

>
> 彼の思考には初めから、その点しか存在しない。ーー狙うは一点。意識の同一、呼吸の合致。体幹の見切りと筋肉の凝固弛緩その隙間。その地点こそ、唯一とも言える、生命の壁の亀裂である。人狼の胸に叩きつけられる、あまりにも弱い人の力。

Full scene: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU-27H4XNAc> (This part starts at
1:23)
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2013-11-28T16:03:41.370
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2013-11-29T12:15:29.773
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question
words translation
Meaning of the phrase 「体幹の見切りと筋肉の凝固弛緩その隙間」
What difficult Japanese you are reading!

I think your understanding is correct. 「体幹の見切りと筋肉の凝固弛緩その隙間。」is the point 彼 has
been thinking to strike to defeat the enemy 人狼. 「体幹の見切りと筋肉の凝固弛緩その隙間。」is not a
full sentence, but a looong noun, more description of その点 introduced in the
first sentence.

Perhaps 彼 has not found the exact point to strike yet. 彼 has to syncronize his
mind with that of the enemy, has to syncronize his breathing with the enemy to
completely capture the right place and the right moment. Even has to watch how
enemy's body moves, how its muscle tightens and untightens. There must be
opening in his body. That's the only place he strikes. 彼 well recognizes how
weak people are before 人狼, so 彼 has been thinking to find out the right place
to hit, he's been thinking only about it from the beginning and nothing else.
If he misses, that means his immediate death.

This is my version of understanding when I read the paragraph, not verbatim
translation (sorry!) Your translation of parts of 「体幹の見切りと筋肉の凝固弛緩その隙間。」is
correct, you are not mistaken.

Hope this helps you understand the paragraph!
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2013-11-29T11:43:15.163
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answer
To repeat what I stated in the comment, 「体幹の見切りと筋肉の凝固弛緩その隙間」 is NOT a sentence
by any standard. It is only a noun phrase in which everything else will
eventually end up modifying the last noun 隙間. I repeated it because so many
members here call little phrases "sentences".

隙間 is a key word here. If one thinks of a "spatial gap" just because a
dictionary says so, one will be left in the dark with the whole phrase. The
word is being used to refer to a "temporal gap" here. I shall return to this
point.

体幹の見切り might be a difficult phrase to comprehend because 見切り is being used as
a technical martial art term here rather than for a usual dictionary meaning.
It means pulling back one's upper body to parry an attack.

筋肉の凝固弛緩 means what OP stated without a twist.

Now, in order to pull back one's upper body, 筋肉の凝固 naturally must occur,
followed immediately by 筋肉の弛緩. That split second between the two sets of
muscle activities is what the author refers to as その隙間. He is saying that that
is the ultimate moment for an effective attack because that is the only moment
that the opponent is defenseless.

If it helps the Japanese-learner, try inserting a 「それに伴う」 between
「体幹の見切りと」and「筋肉の凝固弛緩」with それ referring to 体幹の見切り. It MIGHT become a little
easier to understand the phrase.
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2013-12-02T00:58:16.337
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answer