Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling Vol. 1
Page 8
Dark Resistance: Lv 2
Light Resistance: Lv 1
Normal Skills:
Roll: Lv 4
View Status: Lv 3
Baby’s Breath: Lv 2
Whistle: Lv 1
Dragon Punch: Lv 2
Disease Breath: Lv 1
Venom Fangs: Lv 1
Paralyzing Venom Claws: Lv 1
Title Skills:
Dragon King’s Son: Lv —
Walking Egg: Lv —
Klutz: Lv 4
Just an Idiot: Lv 1
Infighter: Lv 3
Pest Killer: Lv 2
Safety First: Lv 1
Liar: Lv 1
King of Evasion: Lv 1
Protective Spirit: Lv 4
Itty-bitty Hero: Lv 1
Wrongdoer: Lv 2
Calamity: Lv1
Chicken Runner: Lv 1
Hm? I was still pretty far below the giant spider’s level, but my stats were coming along. Then there was my species and rank. The spider was a D Rank monster, but I was a D+. I wondered if that affected how high my stats got.
The spider’s overall stats were still a bit higher than mine, and it had recovered nearly all of its HP, probably from the Automatic HP Recovery. I was still at a disadvantage, but I had the upper hand in terms of skills.
Two of the taranturouge’s skills, Spidersilk and Double Poison, had no effect on me. I could burn the silk with my Baby’s Breath, and I had level 3 protection against poison-based attacks. So it couldn’t hit me at close range. And now that my stats were higher, maybe I had a chance at victory? Since my agility had increased, I might be able to outrun it using Roll at full speed, but I was already feeling drained and woozy, my concentration slipping…if I tried to go any faster I was pretty sure I’d just crash.
I could either keep up my dangerous exhausted driving, or just put an end to this stalker once and for all.
I chose the latter, of course. I was gonna pound that spider for making me run around all crazy like this.
PART 7
I ABRUPTLY DROPPED my speed and kicked off the ground, pivoting in midair. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I hit the brakes, skidding to a halt for several meters that left the bottoms of my feet scraped up.
I wanted to stop slowly, but I didn’t have time for that. I needed enough momentum to knock my enemy hard. Suddenly, there it was—the dark red giant spider, the taranturouge, with its tongue dangling obscenely out of its mouth. I checked its skills one more time so I could plan my first move.
Normal Skills:
Bite: Lv 3
Spidersilk: Lv 4
Paralyzing Tongue: Lv 2
Double Poison: Lv 2
Its Bite skill was pretty high. Between its high attack level and my dwindling HP, it might knock me out in one hit. And a high skill level meant it used that skill a lot. Luckily, that was also its closest-range attack, which was good for me. Would its first move be the paralyzing attack, since that one had more reach? Nah, it didn’t know that I had Poison Resistance. It had, however, experienced my fire breath firsthand. The Double Poison attack was a good bet.
But now the tough part was trying to figure out exactly what Double Poison would be like. I had Venom Fangs and Paralyzing Venom Claws, but since the spider’s skill didn’t name a body part, it could be a mid-range attack that launched venom at me through…some freaky method. I had to be ready for whatever it threw at me.
Divine Voice Lv 3 only told me specifics about my own skills. Maybe I should’ve been more aggressive about communicating with it so I could level it up more. But it still kind of creeped me out. I asked it for help when I needed it, so it felt a little churlish to mention it now, but I definitely got the feeling it was manipulating me.
Anyway, no matter what the spider came at me with, I should respond with Baby’s Breath, since it had the greatest reach. Now that my stats were higher, I could follow up with a chain of physical attacks as soon as it landed, and hopefully knock that spider out in one go. I hadn’t even tried Disease Breath yet—honestly, I was afraid of getting another scary title if I tried it, so there was no way I’d use it here. That left me back at Baby’s Breath.
I drew a bunch of air into my lungs, keeping my eye on the taranturouge as it scuttled toward me and running the battle simulation in my head. There were some small rocks on the ground right in front of me. As soon as the spider reached them, I’d blast it with Baby’s Breath. I’d prepare myself to take damage and cut through the hot wind. I’d land an uppercut on the spider’s chin to close its mouth. Then I’d beat it senseless with Dragon Punch. If it still wasn’t dead, I’d keep spamming my close-range attacks. Yeah, that was a good plan. The spider’s recovery skill meant I couldn’t mess around; I had to go big or go home. Drawing the fight out too long would put me at a disadvantage. I needed to get it over with fast.
The taranturouge stuck out its tongue and opened its big mouth wide. That freaked me out. It would make sense to open its mouth if it was going to use Bite, but why was its tongue hanging out? Surely it wouldn’t bite like that. What was it going to do?
It still hadn’t reached the rocks, but I decided to accelerate my plan and use Baby’s Breath. But the next instant some kind of purple smoke obscured my vision. I felt it entering my throat.
“Auughh!”
All right, apparently Double Poison was a cloud of poisonous smoke. And since it was gaseous, it covered a lot of ground. Its scope was even wider than Baby’s Breath.
I’m in trouble. This is bad. I can’t use Baby’s Breath if I can’t breathe!
I immediately fell back, but the taranturouge charged me through the smoke. It used its Bite attack right where I’d been seconds before—a swing and a miss. It was so close that I took a chance and kicked off it, using the momentum to jump backwards. I spread my wings and gained a bit of distance.
Time to start from square one. The taranturouge kept the distance between us and stared me down. It wasn’t moving; I figured it had taken a hit when I jumped off of it. We’d both taken a hit, then. But on my side, the poison smoke hadn’t done much to me—no negative status effects, just an unpleasant sensation deep in my throat, and a swollen feeling wherever it had touched me directly.
Should I use Baby’s Breath next? Considering my abused throat, I doubted it would be very powerful. But it didn’t need to be—it just had to scare my opponent. Although if I missed, the spider would bite me and it would be all over.
If I attacked straight on, Breath’s range was too small to get a good hit. It wouldn’t make or break the fight, but it was definitely a bad bet.
But I still wasn’t sure how to lure my enemy in close enough to give me a good opening. Going purely by stats, it still had me beat in agility. The gap wasn’t huge, but I still didn’t want the spider slipping behind me.
Maybe I could use Roll to get the speed advantage and bash myself against its side. No, even that wouldn’t work. If I got that stupidly close to it, I’d be giving it an opportunity to use Bite again.
Roll might be a good method of transportation, but in the future I should only use it against weak enemies. Back when I was an egg I could use it to defeat darkwyrms, but that was because the shape of the wyrms’ bodies made it easy to quickly grab them.
The taranturouge’s ranged skill beat Baby’s Breath’s reach, so that was out. I couldn’t tackle it using Roll, and if I used any other kind of physical attacks, it would use Double Poison on me again. My only choices were to eat the cloud of poison and beat it in hand-to-hand combat while suffering the effects, run away using Roll, or try to use Disease Breath to inflict negative status effects on the spider so I could flee. Only I’d never used Disease Breath before, so I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen. I didn’t know its range, or what it actually did to the enemy, either.
Wasn’t there anything else I could do? A sure bet, something that would definitely defeat this huge spider?
PART 8
THE TARANTUROUGE
and I stared each other down, motionless. I needed to defeat it, but I was completely out of ideas. I could see all its ability scores; I didn’t want to throw myself into a losing hand-to-hand battle. Even its Breath attack was better than mine.
But if it was so much stronger than me, why was it still just standing there doing nothing? It still had the Fury condition, so it had to be eager to eat me alive. The knock on the back of its head that I gave it was to get some distance between us, not to deal damage, and it shouldn’t have hurt it enough to stop it.
Maybe it wasn’t glaring at all. Maybe it was just observing me. But why would it do that now, after all this time? The only thing that I could think of was that it was confused why its cloud of poison didn’t have me writhing on the ground in agony. Or was it waiting for the effects of the poison to kick in? I did inhale a lot of it. I didn’t expect my resistance skill to protect me from that much damage.
That made sense. It was waiting for the poison to finish me off, so this impasse didn’t matter. If it was convinced its plan would work, maybe I could use that to my advantage.
I squinted, trying to get a better look at the taranturouge’s face. Now I was sure of it. It was definitely waiting for the poison to weaken me. It was under the effects of Fury, but it must have realized our strength was pretty well-matched after I nearly kicked off its head. This was a safer, more reliable method of finishing me off.
That gave me a plan. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was worth a try.
“Raaaaaaar!”
I fell to my knees and coughed for effect, clawing frantically at my throat. If this didn’t work, I’d be the biggest clown in the world. Maybe the spider would just casually walk up and shoot me with Double Poison again to finish me off. My Just an Idiot skill level would skyrocket as I took my dying breaths.
I glanced anxiously over at the taranturouge. Its tongue was dangling out of its mouth again, aimed at me.
Yes, it’s falling for it!
Title Skill: “Liar” Lv 1 has become Lv 2.
I leveled up another sketchy skill, but I only had one life. I had to do this right or I’d die. The taranturouge closed the distance between us and drew its tongue back in, before leaping into the air. Hold up. It retracted its tongue, which meant it wasn’t going to use Paralyzing Tongue. And it wouldn’t retract to use Double Poison, either. It only had one other skill. It must have figured I was weak enough from the poison that one good Bite would finish me off once and for all.
I could do it. If I’d read its strategy well, I could predict how it would respond. My throat still hurt a little, but it didn’t matter. I leapt to my feet, drew in a deep breath, and blasted Baby’s Breath at the airborne taranturouge.
Just try to evade that, buddy!
My sudden attack startled it. It shot out Spidersilk towards the ground to try to change course, but it was too late. The instant my fiery breath touched the web, it erupted into flames. Not only had the taranturouge completely wasted a skill attack, now it was off balance. The hot blast consumed it, knocking it to the ground in an unsightly sprawl of flailing legs. I pounced, smacking it upside the head with my Dragon Punch.
First round goes to me. Victory will be mine. Now I can kill it.
The taranturouge hit the ground, the impact reverberating through its body, its eight spindly legs twitching with agony. I ripped into its back with my claws and followed up with Roll to shred its back to pieces. Still rolling, I sprang lightly off the taranturouge’s back and used the force of the revolutions and the weight of my tail to smash its head in. That was the finishing blow. Its legs stilled and it sprawled limply across the earth.
Gained 104 Experience Points.
Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 104 experience points.
Yes! I got him in one fell swoop! Getting that notification was enormously reassuring. That was the most experience I’d ever gotten at one time. Before this my record was the 60 I received from that Lv 14 graywolf when I was bringing Myria to her village. It made sense, though; I had been purposely targeting enemies much weaker than me.
“Young Plague Dragon” Lv 8 has become Lv 14.
Whoa! Yeah, just as I thought–defeating an enemy with a much higher level than you levels you up super fast. Now I just had to hope it came with that special skill I was after…
Normal Skill “Baby’s Breath” Lv 2 has become Lv 3.
Uh-huh, uh-huh. That one really helped me out this time. It might contain the word “Baby,” but I was glad I had an attack with such a big reach. It really worked against the Spidersilk, too.
Gained Special Skill “Dragon Tail” Lv 1.
Dragon Tail? Like the tail on my body?
Oh, that’s right. I used my tail for the finishing blow, so a skill like that made sense. That was all fine and good, but I thought I’d get, you know…more. For instance—and this is just an example—Human Transformation.
Title Skill “Pest Killer” Lv 2 has become Lv 3.
The spider was a bug, so that made sense. Maybe the taranturouge was really scared when I punched it out because of that title skill. It’s possible that without Pest Killer, it would have beaten me. That was a close fight, after all.
So, getting back to the point. The thing where I can turn into a human…
Silence.
Huh…? That’s it? You’d better not tell me that the whole speech you gave me about the Plague Dragon was a lie.
The Divine Voice seemed like a jerk, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’d lied to me. But this was just too cruel. Was Human Transformation even still an option? Did I have to do something before I could get it?
Species: Young Plague Dragon
Status: Normal
Lv: 14/40
HP: 20/92
MP: 4/95
Attack: 89
Defense: 75
Magic: 85
Agility: 77
Rank: D+
Special Skills:
Dragon Scale: Lv 2
Divine Voice: Lv 3
Grecian Language: Lv 1
Fly: Lv 1
Dragon Scale Powder: Lv 1
Dark Type: Lv —
Resistance Skills:
Physical Resistance: Lv 3
Fall Resistance: Lv 4
Hunger Resistance: Lv 3
Poison Resistance: Lv 3
Loneliness Resistance: Lv 4
Magic Resistance: Lv 2
Dark Resistance: Lv 2
Light Resistance: Lv 1
Normal Skills:
Roll: Lv 4
View Status: Lv 3
Baby’s Breath: Lv 3
Whistle: Lv 1
Dragon Punch: Lv 2
Disease Breath: Lv 1
Venom Fangs: Lv 1
Paralyzing Venom Claws: Lv 1
Dragon Tail: Lv 1
Title Skills:
Dragon King’s Son: Lv —
Walking Egg: Lv —
Klutz: Lv 4
Just an Idiot: Lv 1
Infighter: Lv 3
Pest Killer: Lv 3
Safety First: Lv 1
Liar: Lv 2
King of Evasion: Lv 1
Protective Spirit: Lv 4
Itty-bitty Hero: Lv 1
Wrongdoer: Lv 2
Calamity: Lv1
Chicken Run: Lv 1
I’d already surpassed the stats I had back when I maxed out my levels as a Baby Dragon. But I still wasn’t anywhere close to the Little Rock Dragon. Its attack power was more than 150. I wanted to be stronger than that someday. That dragon was a C Rank monster. Far, far above me. Maybe I’d be able to beat it if I evolved again.
PART 9
AFTER CLAIMING VICTORY against the taran- turouge, I holed up inside a nearby cave to rest. I’d caught a Lv 4 graywolf on the way there and tore into it with my claws, then lit a fire with Baby’s Breath and some branches I’d gathered. The cave grew smoky, but since I was close to the entrance I didn’t mind too much.
I cooked
the graywolf meat over the flame, then crushed up some kind of wild seeds and glazed the meat with the paste to try to cover up the gamey taste.
I wasn’t sure what the seeds were; they resembled little red beans that grew in clusters, kind of like peppercorns. They didn’t have much flavor, but their aroma stirred up my appetite. Honestly, the flavor of the meat didn’t bother me that much, this was just an excuse to try out these sort-of-peppercorns. I didn’t have anything better to do than hunting and culinary experimentation, anyway.
Yeah, it was pretty good. Not only did the peppercorns improve the taste of the meat, they added a little spice that made my stomach growl. Not bad at all. Maybe I could make this cave my base and start stockpiling these little seeds. They were kind of wet and squishy when I crushed them up, but—oh, I could dry them in the sun to preserve them. This was actually starting to be fun.
Gained Title Skill “Mr. Chef.”
Well, now it just feels like you’re spying on me during my personal time, which I don’t love. Don’t you have any respect?
I swallowed the last bite, tearing the remaining flesh from the bone. Whew, I’m stuffed. I was pretty desensitized to nastiness after dining on caterpillars and spiders, but man, there was nothing like a home-cooked meal. Making something yourself is satisfying and good for mental health, too. Even if all you do is add a little spice and throw it on the fire!
Mr. Chef, huh? Maybe I could raise that skill and win over the villagers with a delicious meal. Nah, probably not. Even with incredible cooking abilities, they’d probably just think I was fattening them up to eat them later. After all, look at me! They’d be totally justified if they tried to kill me before I killed them first. Anyway, I wouldn’t be able to cook as well as a human could. Claws got in the way too much.
I gathered the leftover pelt, skull, and entrails from the wolf and shoved them into a corner of the cave, then lay down on the floor. The earth was cool and rather soothing nice, but I suspected it would be much more comfy if I laid down that pelt like a blanket. Lying on the bumpy ground wasn’t too bad, though—maybe because of the Dragon Scale skill.