Chapter 11: Chapter 10: The Dragon hunts the Kobold, oblivious of the Threat from behind.

I began this duel by casting [Fire] a couple of times. Due to his evasive skills, I wasn’t expecting them to hit him, but to delay him long enough for me to reapply [Holy Protection] and [Haste]. [Fire] was cheaper in mana compared to [Firebolt], and I was being conservative with it to land the decisive move.

The benefits of my stat boosters were amazing, but the mana costs were already piling up. I got a bit nervous seeing my mana drop lower again, but it would only become a problem if I messed around. I had to finish this fight quickly, or get more mana in the future. Yeah, more mana sounded like the correct idea.

Once my buffs were reapplied, I used my increased speed from the [Haste] buff to close in the distance between the kobold and I. I only needed one or two good [Smite] or [Firebolt] and it should be a kill. Sadly, he could react well with [Prediction]. In other words, throwing my spells out willy-nilly was unwise.

Kobolds weren’t dumb now that I thought about it. They were as smart as primitive humans, and with proper weapons, their offensive prowess was higher than a [Wind Raccoon]. I was truly thankful that none of them had any knowledge on magic, otherwise this might have been harder to pull off. I did wonder if they hadn’t met a [Wind Raccoon] before, but there was no need to think about it.

Hmm?

One of my skills triggered and sent me a warning. Was it from the skill I just got? [Prediction] was it? Oh, that’s why! Why did I get it so suddenly? But I guessed it didn’t matter considering it warned me of an attack coming from below.

I evaded it out of instinct and witnessed the kobold pulling its spear along the earth to throw dirt aiming at my eyes, only to miss. If I hadn’t dodged it, I probably would have been blinded by it.

Recovering from his sly move, he grabbed his spear with both hands and suddenly went into a stance, launching a powerful thrust the next second. I could feel the wind moved from that attack as I dodged it, reminded of the pain I felt on my shoulder. It healed up with my level up, so this was probably phantom pain.

Concentrate! Focus! Don’t be scared. We can win this. We can and will win this!

Thinking logically, that didn’t feel like a normal attack and, thankfully, through appraising him, I knew exactly where it came from.

<Spear Technique: A skill that improves the usage of spear-like weapons>

<Pierce: A weapon ability that shoots out a piercing attack>

Weapon abilities! If you had magic for your mages, then your warriors needed weapon abilities to possibly keep up. Dodging his single powerful thrust wasn’t as hard once I understood the cause for the attack, using my higher Agility and [Haste] buff to my advantage.

The more I continued this fight, the more I understood how game-like this world was. Sure, I could feel my shoulder pulsating in pain and my legs screaming out in exhaustion, but I wasn’t down for the count until my Health and Stamina reached zero. They were resources. Resources I had to use to my advantage to win this battle.

<Acquisition requirement fulfilled. [Parallel Thoughts Lv. 1] acquired>

My first battle with an opponent with not only a Job but also a weapon ability began to excite me a bit. If the kobold could get it, could I get them too? It was just too bad we couldn’t communicate right now.

“Graaah!” The kobold continued this assault, lunging his body and weapon to drive me backwards as I stayed on the defensive.

I was evading ‘cause I was waiting for my moment to strike. A window of opportunity. And it was starting to open up for me as I noticed his movements slowing down. I could hear his breathing increasing and becoming longer. I saw him squint with every attack.

My Stamina was low. I was almost at my limit. I couldn’t win a war of attrition if I continued wailing around like an idiot. What I had to do was stay calm, analyze, and conserve my strength. Health, Mana, Stamina; it was all about resource management.

Now!

The moment the kobold launched another [Pierce] at me, I ducked underneath it and tackled the kobold, knocking them to the side before shoving my claw into its stomach. However, it pulled out its bone knife and redirected my claw before it could dig in. Fortunately for me, I still managed to carve out some flesh and blood.

Nice reflex.

Using its spear’s staff, it pushed me off it and tried to attack me, unwilling to let this chance go. I smirked as I dodged its attack, and to its surprise, the spear lodged right into the wall behind me. It’s eyes widened as it turned around as I was wrapping my flames in flames with [Imbue Fire].

Slashing up, it managed to dodge my attack by letting go of its spear. Now unleashing a flurry of red slashes, I now drove the kobold into the defensive. Tt was doing pretty well by dodging all my attacks, but similar to how I lead the kobold to the first wall, I was leading it to another.

I have not forgotten how many walls I created around myself!

The kobold only realized my plan when it couldn’t dodge backward anymore, snapping its head around to see the large earth wall behind it. When it jolted its head back around, it was all too late.

“GrrriiergrrrrrAAAAAAH!” It cried out as I landed a direct hit to its chest. The fire around my claws seared its lungs and heart.

Using my pierce claw as leverage, I pulled myself up and threw another high-speed strike to its throat. It had breathed its last.

<Experience has reached a breaking point. [Young Dragon *] has risen from [Level 14] to [Level 15]>

<Attributes have increased due to level up>

<Acquired 250 skill points>

<Max level has been reached. Evolution is now available for [Young Dragon *]>

And it was over.

“Kiiersh… Krah…” I dropped to my legs, breathing heavily to recover from this physically and mentally taxing fight. I blinked as I saw the pool of blood before me and how the red liquid stained my black scales.

… I killed them.

Dead eyes. There was no focus, no life, none of that will to fight was left in the kobold leader’s eyes. Dull and hollow; a chill went down my spine as I continued gazing into them, until I simply shut my eyes and abandoned its body and the rest of the hunter’s on the grass.

I won’t be taking these bodies to eat. Thinking about it was gross at this point now that my head cleared up. I did place the bodies of the kobold sentries into my storage before, but I’ll empty it later on. I was starting to feel ill and I didn’t want to deal with that mess now.

“Grouuhh!”

“Graaaa!”

As I walked out from the [Earth Wall] maze that I created to fight in, I suddenly heard loud growls and cries from my left. Turning around, my heart suddenly dropped to the floor as I saw six kobolds glaring at me.

Two adults were blocking the smaller kobolds from running forward, all while those kids let out voices so filled with sadness, anger, and despair that I couldn’t take it. I shivered. My legs froze. My stomach—

“KrruuuuARRRGH!”

Urghhhh!

“Kra! Kra! Kriiiiiiiiieeeeeh! Kraaaaaahhhh…”

F-Fuck!

The shivering intensified to the point I thought I heard my scales shake like a rattlesnake. I had just… slaughtered all those kobolds. “I had to! You tried to kill me!” I wanted to shout at the six remaining kobolds, but I couldn’t. My mouth felt so dry despite having just puked.

Memories of how the kobolds celebrated and frolicked so much appeared in my head again, rocking my head and making that headache even more and more. I could feel the burning pain in my throat, as if it was condemnation for what I did.

I wished I hadn’t been here. I wished I hadn’t been lured in by the smell of cooked meat. I wished they hadn’t found me out. I just wished I wasn’t in this situation in the first place…

But it’s too late for any regrets.

At the end of the day, I had to deal with my consequences. Yes, I did it in self-defense, but I chose to kill them. Couldn’t I have incapacitated them? Animals killed each other for survival, and monsters with their kind. Maybe a part of me was satisfied with what happened.

By killing them, my path to my new evolution was opened up. I could evolve once again. Another step towards surviving this forest and getting out of it, and I earned it by fighting well.I earned this… spoil of battle.

Maybe I wasn’t fit to be like an animal. To be a monster was too hard for me. I was unhappy with today’s fight ‘cause I was still human… thankfully.

I’m sorry… I’ll take my leave.

I should return the bodies of the kobold sentries. That’s the least I could do. While I didn’t believe I was in any way at fault for today, I could still sympathize with them for what I did. They saw me as the villain, and that was okay to me. From today on, I will never meet them ever again.

First, the bodies…

<Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Enhanced Enemy Sense Lv. 6] evolved into [Enhanced Enemy Sense Lv. 7]>

Huh? What is that?

My [Enhanced Enemy Sense] suddenly activated, turning my attention to something forming in the shadow created by the campfire. Walking closer to it, I suddenly noticed small black lines moving and forming what looked like a mag—

‘Dodge left!’

A voice similar to mine suddenly echoed through my mind the moment [Prediction] activated. In the next second, something in black fur came out from the shadow. Something large with large, sharp teeth bared in my direction!

“Grraaaaah!”

My body stiffened as my reflex took over and I dodged to the left with [Acrobatic], [Evasion], and my still active [Haste] buff, just as that strange voice told me to. By infusing my legs with mana, I narrowly dodged flying at me, draining my dangerously low Stamina. However, even then, I wasn’t able to evade something hard from hitting me.

Urrrfahhh!

[Holy Protection] managed to reduce the damage significantly due to increasing my Vitality, but I wasn’t left undamaged. The smack sent me flying away. I wasn’t able to stop the landing momentum and ended up ragdolling on the ground, like a stone skipping on water, until I crashed against one of my [Earth Wall]s.

Uieeeeghhhh!

My body ached. One of my wings was even twisted. I cast a [Modest Heal] to heal my wounds and used [Identify] immediately afterward to appraise the shadow.

____________________________

Name: *    Level: 1    Race: Garm

Status:    Health: 684/684   Mana: 442/442

Strength: 372    Intelligence: 241

Vitality: 304    Wisdom: 279

Agility: 451    Stamina: 410/410

Effects: None

Skill:  [Identify Lv. 3] [Identity Blocker Lv. 4] [Stealth Lv. 5] [Presence Killer Lv. 6]

Information Blocked

____________________________

<Garm: A monstrous wolf which hunts in packs to take down its prey. A garm is a swift hunter specialized at taking down prey through stealth and ambushes. Able to use dark elemental magic. Rank D>

The form and appearance of this sudden enemy revealed itself once the stars I saw disappeared, unveiling a giant wolf in jet-black. It towered; it was almost the size of a horse or at the very least, that of a bull. It’s yellow eyes, its most conspicuous body feature, focused on me as it raised its head in an arrogant manner, showing off the thing it was holding in its mouth.

A kobold body.

[“Easy prey.”] Another voice suddenly appeared in my head, however, this time, it was that of a middle-aged man.

Whah?! Wh-What is that thing?! Where did it come from?! Co-Could this thing be the bad feeling I had ever since a few days ago? Could it also be the reason why [Enhanced Enemy Sense] had such a sudden surge of improvements?

Impossible.

What a ridiculous idea. I wanted to deny that stupid thought, but what else explained my [Enhanced Enemy Sense] rising so fast I couldn’t even fathom the sudden change? If so, then this went beyond normal persistence… It was an obsession.

How long has it stalked me! I need to run!

But I couldn’t. My body didn’t want to listen to me. I managed to heal myself but I still couldn’t bring out the strength to push my legs up. After all, what was that voice? Where did it come from? Did that wolf just speak to me?

“Grrr… Grah!” But that thought was pushed back as I saw the wolf let the kobold body fall onto the ground, only to begin eating it like a savage. It ripped through its skin, tearing off muscles and blood vessels as blood seeped on the ground like a spilled water bottle.

My eyes then moved over to the four bodies lying next to the wolf’s foot. It seemed I managed to empty the kobold corpses in time, and this wolf was treating them like its lunch. “Easy prey.” Those words still lingered in my head.

This was my chance!

Outrunning this thing was near impossible. Its agility was nearly three times higher than mine. As such, if this wolf wasn’t interested in me, then it was best to just take this opportunity and run. I could not deal with this creep at this point.

“Graaaah!”

“Grouh!”

But as I was slowly shifting into the darkness of the forest, my ears picked up the same cries I heard the kobolds make. Snapping my head around, I saw one of the young kobolds throw a stone at the giant wolf. It simply smacked against its body, leaving little to no reaction but a moving ear.

“Graaaah!” The young kobold threw whatever it could at the wolf before one of the adult kobolds charged at the smaller one and held it down to the ground. Unfortunately, it was too late.

“Grr?!” The wolf jolted back only seconds before a burning piece of wood nearly hit it. It was the last object the small kobold threw.

[“… Run, child.”] That booming voice resounded inside my head again. [“You are not prey.”]

“Grraaaaah!” But the small kobold was defiant, even breaking through the older one’s grip, it stirred up the other younger ones. Like small children, they ran past the older kobolds, towards the pile of dead kobold sentries.

As four, they grabbed onto the near-eaten guard and began to drag them all while under the wolf’s gaze. The latter’s yellow eyes began to glow as it focused onto the kids. A foot forward, and it began to growl. Another one moved, and it snarled, frightening the kobolds frozen. And once its back legs tensed up, I saw it assume a stance.

It didn’t like its prey stolen.

Noooooooooooo!

“Grrrrraaaah!”

Smite!

The wolf’s head arched back as white projectile flew right underneath its jaw. I dashed forward as the wolf was about to look down at me, only to cast my most trusted spell I had in my arsenal.

Shine!

“Groouuueeeeek?!”

A loud howl escaped the canine’s mouth as it flinched back, flailing around as steam exuded from under its eye lids. Reading that part about garms being able to use dark spells made me think it might be weak to stuff like [Holy Magic]. At least, [Shine] mentioned being effective against them.

And what do you know, I just scorched the wolf’s eyes, effectively blinding it for a few seconds at the very least. Just enough time to pay these kobolds back.

“Krash!” I body checked the children back into the grasp of the older kobolds and then cast two [Earth Walls]. One to launch the bodies of the sentries back to them, while the other to create an escape route for them.

I could see the confusion in the kobolds’ eyes as I did that, but I didn’t need to hear anything from them. I knew they couldn’t forgive me, even after just saving them. They lost family ‘cause of me. If somebody did that to my Papa or Mama, I don’t think I could imagine what I would have done to their murderer.

But, this wasn’t my problem to face now. I had something far more dangerous on my hands now…

“Grrrrrrrrr!”

Scheiße! I did it now!

Why did I just do that? Why did I save those kobolds? I could have just walked away and saved myself, but my body made me move. My consciousness made me move. I had to ask myself was it really worth doing all of that just to draw in the ire of a being who could squash me with a single stomp?

Fuck! Shine! Earth Wall!

“Grrouuuuuuuh!”

I did not look back. All I could do now was to run. Run so fast like never before into the depths of the forest.

The darkness was the only place left for me.

---

<[Arcane Fever (Minor)] [Exhaustion (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Dragon *]>

You are reading story A Dragon Idol’s Reincarnation Tale at novel35.com

‘Right shadow!’

“Grrrraaa.”

Earth Wall! Ark! Guuuuek! Fuck!

What would happen if I got into an actual mage versus mage fight? Well, that was exactly what I was facing now with this wolf.

Dark spells; I had absolutely no idea which spells it was shooting and using here since I couldn’t appraise it. My [Identify] wasn’t high enough to see its profile. Without it, I had no idea what was happening here.

All I knew up until now during this chase was that it could shoot out black mana missiles and was able to literally dive into shadows and reappear in another! It was crazy and haunting for me. I’m barely managing to escape it due to my size and using [Earth Wall] and [Shine] to hide myself.

However, it was too little, too late. I’m at the very edge of my limits now. That illness and headache I felt before was transformed into an ailment called [Arcane Corruption], which caused my Health to slowly drain down while every spell I cast made my body want to explode. I could feel it wanting to burst, and I could only grit through it and heal up my missing Health to survive.

[Exhaustion] has also come. My Stamina was zero and fatigue clouded my brain. I felt dull. I wanted to sleep. I wanted this all to end. I wanted peace right now…

And the only thing that was keeping me going, preventing me from falling asleep was this voice inside my head.

‘Hey, hey, girl! Don’t fall asleep! Just listen to me and just move! We will survive this!’

Who was this? Why did she sound just like me, like, it was the voice I imagined myself speaking with. The accent and the way I thought was copied exactly. It felt like another me inside my head, but I was too tired to think about it any further.

Fuck. Fuck Fuck! Why did I do that?! Why did I do that?! I’m gonna die ‘cause I played hero. Why am I so stupid?! Why am I so dumb! Fuck, fuck, fuck! I just want to live! I want to fucking live!

Self-deprecation. All of this was not worth the effort I put in today.

Why do all these damn dogs want to kill me?! Why? Why? Why?! Dammit! Verdammte scheiße! is this world trying to make me hate it? Trying to make me hate dogs? Then fuck all of you!

Anger in myself. Anger in everything else. Life was become harder and harder to love. All I wanted to do was sing and dance on a stage and make people smile as I shined in the limelight. I just wanted to make other people happy. That was all.

So why did I deserve all this?

I don’t want to fail! I don’t want to fucking fail again! Mama! Papa! Please, I don’t want to fail again! I don’t want to die, again! Fuck!

<[Exhaustion (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Dragon *]>

H-Huh? Oof!

The strength in my legs disappeared and my body suddenly dropped on the ground, tumbling around before stopping against something hard. As I laid on the ground, all I could feel in my legs was my muscles complaining to me for overusing them. Otherwise, they did not listen to me.

Get up!

I told myself, only managing to raise my neck, although, I wished I hadn’t

“Grrr… Grah!”

…Nein…nei-nein, nein, nein. There is another one!

____________________________

Name: *    Level: 24    Race: Garm

Status:    Health: 1753/1753   Mana: 852/852

Strength: 1083    Intelligence: 598

Vitality: 768    Wisdom: 798

Agility: 1689    Stamina: 1400/1400

Titles:  [Pack Leader]

Information Blocked

____________________________

<Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Identify Lv. 4] evolved into [Identify Lv. 5]>

<[Mana Stress (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Dragon *]>

Scheiße! Scheiße! Scheiße! Scheiße! Eiiiiiiiiiiee, t-th-this is too much. Shin— U-urgh… W-Why can’t I cast any spells?! Shine! Uuurgh! Ark!

“Kraaaah!” The spurring of my mana did nothing but force me to puke again. No matter how often I tried, I couldn’t even call out a magic circle.

I was OOM.

I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die!

<[Terror (Major)] inflicted on [Young Dragon *]>

Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mon-Mon…

I suddenly sensed the first garm finally arriving behind me. One garm hunted and chased the prey while another one hid to ambush them when they were weakened. I was tricked. I was caught in their trap.

The reaper’s scythe was coming for me.

“Grou.”

“Grrrrrr. GRA!”

However, for some unknown reason, the garm with the [Pack Leader] title suddenly reproached the other one and lunged at it, smacking the other garm with a strong paw, sending it falling onto the ground. Putting one leg on the first garm’s throat, the second one snarled and growled, causing the other to whimper

W-What the fuck?! Am I that pathetic? Enough to be ignored? … Dammit, run!

Whether it was due to my fear of the garms or my embarrassment from feeling warm fluids running down my back legs and tail, I barely managed to stand up. With shivering legs, I began to stagger away while keeping my eyes onto the garms. I just couldn’t look away. I had to know if they were about to chase me or not.

I was tunnel-visioned, and it was ‘cause of this that I didn’t notice where I was walkingI walking to.

Huh?

I tripped. Yup, I tripped. What a cliché way to die.

“Kii?!” I yelped out as I noticed my body falling.

“Grouuu?” Followed by the garm suddenly turning around to me.

There it was. The outro for this final song.

It was… okay.

I had already died once already and was miraculously given a second chance to live. Looking back on this short life, I couldn’t help but admit having fun being a dragon, despite the unsanitary, dangerous, hazardous, horrifying and uncomfortable living environment. Magic was sure a drug.

I wish it could havehad lasted a bit longer, but my wishes tended to never come true. It wasn’t anything new.

I wondered, if I could have survived, if I hadn’t fought the kobolds, could I have been on a path to get out of this place? It was a bit ironic for me to say that after what I did to those kobolds. Karma, huh? Did I really deserve all of this crap?\

It wasn’t fair at all. But so was life.

…I just wish I wasn’t on the receiving end of this luck. Too bad, gods, you put too much trust into this loser… Mama. Papa. I’m sorry I disappointed you two again…

…

…

… Hey, why am I not dead yet? I did all that depressive monologuing to make me accept all of this so why haven—

Arck!

“Kriiiiek!”

At the moment I opened my eyes, something suddenly crashed against my head, causing my already intense headache to pulsate even more. But that wasn’t the end of it. My whole body began to crash against super hard stuff, as if it was rocks.

And I could feel my body getting pulled down by gravity, but with how often my head has been twisting around with my body, the vertigo I felt might be confusing me. However, I wouldn’t say my body was lying to me as I could sense my bones starting to break. Pain was everywhere.

<Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled.[Physical Resistance Lv. 4] [Pain Resistance Lv. 4] gained>

With a loud thud, my body eventually landed onto the cold, unfeeling ground. I could taste dirt and blood in my mouth. After spitting it out, I could still feel more in my mouth. At this point, I just gave up.

“Kraaa…koch.”

Modest Heal.

<[Mana Stress (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Dragon *]>

ARGHHHH!

My head was burning. In that whole chaos, I had forgotten I had [Mana Stress]. I forgot, and I was reminded of it in the cruelest way possible. But… with how much my body was aching, I don’t think I should worry about getting more pain.

What I was more worried about was my dwindling Health from [Arcane Corruption] and where the fuck I was. Opening my eyes, or at least I thought I was, I couldn’t see anything. Darkness, everywhere.

Did I fall down somewhere. The forest was dark, but not to the point I couldn't see anything. There wasn’t even a moon. Did I end up in a cave or something?

If that was the case, then the issue with my Health was now the most pressing matter here. [Arcane Corruption] was sapping it like a poison, and I couldn’t use my healing spells to heal myself. Neither could I move my body. I believe the last remaining strength inside me was now gone.

I hate this. I hate this darkness…

But, one thing to celebrate about was that I couldn't sense anything nearby nor could I hear anything. In fact, it was so silent, I felt at peace. Did I actually fall into a cave and managed to escape death that way?

If that was the case, then my prayers actually did come true. I was given a third try.

And this chance was about to go away if I didn’t do something right now!

System Voice, I want to evolve now!

<Would you like to evolve [Young Dragon *]?>

Evolution

[Young Fire Dragon]

[Young Earth Dragon]

[Young Holy Dragon]

This was my only option left. The only thing I could know when I was on death’s door. If leveling up restored my Health and Mana, then evolving should do the same, right? I didn’t check on it when I evolved at first, but who cared about it right now.

I wasn’t bleeding and this place seemed empty. This was the perfect chance to evolve and gamble on my life persisting.

If I did die, then so be it. At least, I’ll go in my sleep. High risk, high rewards. Then again, the least I could do was to confirm my evolution choices. I had time; only seconds really, but it was something.

System Voice…I…know it’s ridiculous of me to ask you this, but—

<Would you like to buy [Night Vision] for 200 SP? Your current SP is 1900>

Uhh. What? I mean, sure?

<You have bought [Night Vision Lv. 1] Your current SP is 1700>

What the fuck? Well, at least I can kinda see in the dark now but… what?

<Would you like to evolve [Young Dragon *]?>

Back to this? I guess I should ask it now. What is the best evolution choice?

<Will you take the default evolution choice [Young Dragon *]?>

Is the default the best choice? I mean I could say yes, if you told me what the default choice is.

But then the fatigue of my body caught on. The ground was freezing and hard, but it honestly felt like a soft bed to my damaged body right now. I wanted to sleep. I wanted to rest. Anything but more action.

<Evolution choice decided. Commencing evolution of [Young Dragon *]>

Hold up, I…

And sleep finally overwhelmed me before I could choose.

<Title [The Light] description has changed>

<Title [Bearer of Kargryxmor’s Blood] description has changed>

<Choice denied>

<Attribute change occurred. Evolution error. Evolution stopped>

<Evolution options updated according to draconic lineage. Genetic mutations applied to evolution options>

Evolution

[Young Spark Fire Dragon]

<Would you like to evolve [Young Dragon *]?>

‘… The first day on the job and this shit happens! I was just made by the damn System Voice! Shit, I should hurry! Yes! Yes! Make my body evolve!’

<[Yes] chosen>

<Evolution choice decided. Commencing evolution of [Young Dragon *]>

‘Fuck me… Urgh, please, work. Goodnight, and see you in the morning… original me.’

<Parallel Thoughts: A skill allowing the user to have separate thought processes working at the same time. With further levels, more separate thoughts or minds will be granted>

You can find story with these keywords: A Dragon Idol’s Reincarnation Tale, Read A Dragon Idol’s Reincarnation Tale, A Dragon Idol’s Reincarnation Tale novel, A Dragon Idol’s Reincarnation Tale book, A Dragon Idol’s Reincarnation Tale story, A Dragon Idol’s Reincarnation Tale full, A Dragon Idol’s Reincarnation Tale Latest Chapter