Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling Vol. 1

by Necoco

  Right now, all my focus had to be on the Little Rock Dragon’s movements. It lifted its massive front leg, intending to crush me. I dodged out of the way. The tail swished towards me. I dodged it. Again and again, I just kept dodging it. I focused all of my energy into evasion as I searched for a weak spot.

  The Little Rock Dragon thrust its long neck towards me, opening its mouth wide.

  Here comes the Bite attack!

  I’d seen it on its Status Screen; I knew it’d try to use it eventually. I was waiting for this moment when it stretched its neck out close to me.

  I jumped up as high as I could, evading the attack by a paper-thin margin.

  Gained Title Skill “King of Evasion” Lv 1.

  Now!

  I tackled its stony face with all my strength. It threw me off, the force of it almost knocking me out of Roll. I somehow managed to keep moving, scrambling away from its head.

  Please, it has to work. C’mon and chase me! Come after me!

  The malice wafting off it was overwhelming.

  Suddenly the ground began to rumble. Or at least, that’s what it felt like to me. The landscape trembled and shook, kicking dust up into the air. A tree right in front of me broke off at the roots and fell towards me. It hit me hard, breaking my Roll skill and slamming me to the ground.

  What was that? My head swam but I forced myself to think through it. It had to be the dragon’s Tremor skill. The Little Rock Dragon had used its gigantic body to stomp on the earth to make it shake.

  If I was in this state, there was no way the other three were safe. They were much closer to the dragon than I was. My only comfort was that since Tremor seemed to have such a wide area of effect, its power might’ve been dispersed enough to not do too much damage.

  The Little Rock Dragon began its slow walk to where I lay crumpled on the ground.

  Come on, come on!

  I tried to get up. God, my body felt heavy. The dragon’s guard was down; this was my chance. I’d lie still for now and pretend I couldn’t move.

  The Little Rock Dragon came up beside me, big mouth open, right in my face. Then I sprang up and blasted a Dragon Punch with all my might, hitting it right in the teeth.

  Its fangs scraped my fist and I felt the skin break, but I landed the punch nonetheless. The inside of its mouth was vulnerable, one of the few places it didn’t have that rocky hide.

  “Raaaaaaaaaar!”

  I retreated as the Little Rock Dragon let out a fearsome roar, its neck swinging around wildly in pain.

  I did that.

  That must have hurt, but it definitely wasn’t a victory. I couldn’t hope for a victory. My attack hadn’t knocked much HP off at all.

  I ran for the nearest human—the old man. I checked his status. His HP was at 0. Not great, but I needed to check the others, too. I found Doz next. The Little Rock Dragon’s claws had gotten him; his armor was ripped apart across the chest, wounds oozing blood. His legs were pinned by a branch that must have fallen during the Tremor attack.

  I tried to shift the branch, but it was too heavy for me to lift by myself.

  Tssss…

  A hiss like steam behind made me turn around. Smoke billowed from the Little Rock Dragon’s mouth. I instinctively knew that it was using its Regeneration skill, already undoing the little damage that I’d risked my life to inflict.

  This was ridiculous. The dragon was way too strong.

  I used Roll to speed towards Myria, who was still unconscious some distance away. I had some trouble finding her. The Tremor attack had left the ground uneven, and she’d slid partially into a depression in the dirt. As gently as I could, I took her neck in my jaws and pulled her out. She was slightly bigger than me, but I managed to sling her over my back.

  Then I ran as fast as I could. I ran and I ran, the forest flashing by around me. I heard a crushing sound from behind that did not bode well for the other two humans. But I didn’t turn around.

  PART 4

  I RAN THROUGH THE FOREST with Myria on my back. The Little Rock Dragon didn’t follow us, but the graywolves must have been drawn in by the scent of her blood. They had us in their sights. A group of at least three. I could win if I took them head-on, but I wasn’t sure I could protect Myria at the same time.

  The graywolves weren’t showing themselves, but I could hear them faintly. They seemed to be biding their time. I hoped they were considering withdrawing at the sight of my Stats, but it was also possible they were waiting for reinforcements, or trailing me in separate groups. Graywolves were very skilled at sniffing out others of their kind to form hunting packs. According to Divine Voice, it was a common strategy.

  Well, if they weren’t going to attack until later, that was a problem for later. I’d just proceed like they planned to leave us alone. I didn’t really have a choice; I couldn’t take them all on my own, and Myria’s HP was dwindling by the minute.

  At first I thought it was just my imagination, brought on by worry and my anxious, constant checking of her status. But I was right—her HP was draining constantly. It had to be a status condition. Bleeding. And at this rate, she wouldn’t last five more minutes.

  I thought I’d grown strong hunting those low-rank monsters, but in the grand scheme of things, I was weak. Worthless. After all those days of loneliness, I’d finally started to make a friend. But I couldn’t even protect her.

  “Raaaa!”

  A Baby Dragon’s roar. Maybe it wasn’t the sort of sound to strike fear in the hearts of all the local monsters like the Little Rock Dragon’s roar. Maybe it would just call my enemies closer, seeking easy prey. But I couldn’t help myself. I had to roar. It was the only way to ease all the terrible, pent-up feelings that were swirling inside of me.

  I wanted to be stronger. I wanted to be able to crush that ugly Rock Dragon like it was a lowly wyrm.

  The more I ran, the more of Myria’s warm blood I felt running down my body, her life draining away with it.

  “Raaaaaa!”

  I roared again, a reckless call for help. But the only response I received was the fierce cries of monsters stronger than me, and the echo of my own pathetic little voice.

  Gained Title Skill “Protective Spirit” Lv 1.

  Wow, Divine Voice, how thoughtful! Not like I can actually do anything with that!

  Hold on. Title Skills must have some kind of effect. Walking Egg kept giving me experience points. It was called a Skill, so it must have an ability attached. So maybe I could do something with it.

  Hey, Divine Voice! Are you listening to me?!

  Special Skill “Divine Voice” Lv 2 is unable to provide that explanation.

  Come on, don’t mess around! Someone’s life is on the line!

  Special Skill “Divine Voice” Lv 2 is unable to provide that explanation.

  You’ve gotta be kidding me! You’re the one who kept forcing those messages into my head saying “Get stronger” and “Run”! Listen, I don’t know who you are, but I’ve got a feeling you’re not as neutral as you pretend to be. You’ve been watching and ridiculing me this whole time! So suck it up and answer me! There’s no time left!

  Special Skill “Divine Voice” Lv 2 is unable to provide that explanation.

  The same answer over and over again. That feeling of throwing a ball against a wall returned, repetitive and futile, every word mysterious and inscrutable.

  The Divine Voice was useless, so what should I do? How could I save Myria? I racked my brain, poring over every detail of this system controlling me.

  I had an idea.

  When I pushed hard to understand what the humans were saying, I gained a special skill called Grecian Language. I had that skill now, but I hadn’t made any progress with it beyond that. I couldn’t use the language.

  I’d been thinking about the system all wrong. Every time a new skill appeared, I wasn’t gaining a new ability I could use. Instead, the skills reflected things I could already do. The world wasn’t bound to the numbers; my Status Screen
or whatever it was didn’t create reality or make things happen. It just read the state of the world and put it in a numerical form. I was sure there were still elements I didn’t understand; this was only a theory, after all. But it made a whole lot more sense than the alternative.

  In other words, skills didn’t just miraculously appear out of nowhere. Instead, skills were expressions of physical feats and capabilities. So if I practiced and worked at it, I should be able to use recovery magic. I could even do it now, however crude and low-level.

  I lowered Myria off my back and lay her gently on the ground. I thought back to when she used magic on me—the light, the warmth, the sensation. According to her Status Screen, her recovery magic was called Rest.

  I focused on the word “Rest” in my mind, trying to visualize the effects of the spell, and shouted it in my head.

  Rest, Rest.

  It’s not working. Nothing’s happening.

  Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest!

  Something was happening…

  Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest!

  A sudden, intense fatigue swept through my brain.

  Fatigue? Just from thinking about something? If my MP was draining, did that mean the magic was working?

  Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest!

  Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest!

  Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest!

  Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest! Rest!

  After repeating it dozens of times, a light appeared, healing Myria’s wounds just the slightest bit. I did it!

  I kept repeating Rest for as long as my stamina held out. I started panting, and I could feel my limit approaching. Checking my status, I saw that my MP had dropped to 0. I checked Myria’s. Her HP was just a little higher than it had been.

  That’s it? I used up all my MP and that’s all it did? Well, at least the negative status effect Bleeding disappeared. She should survive now.

  Title Skill “Protective Spirit” Lv 1 has become Lv 3.

  I don’t care about title skills, just give me the Rest ability!

  My spell only had about a fifth of the power that Myria’s did, but at least she wouldn’t bleed to death now. Still, Myria’s low HP made me nervous. I needed to take her somewhere safe. My only choice was to leave the forest and search for the humans’ village.

  When Myria and the others had found me, their HP and MP were fine, and they hadn’t seemed tired. That must mean their village was nearby. I searched for signs of where they’d come from as best I could and ran as fast as my legs could move in that direction.

  PART 5

  TWO GRAYWOLVES were following me. They’d finally shown themselves, clearly choosing a fight over retreat. They must have spent a while observing me and decided they stood a good chance. They closed in and then retreated, over and over, staying just out of range.

  One was Lv 7, the other Lv 8. I could take the two of them with no problems, even with Myria on my back. If any others came to join in on the fun, though…

  I knew it. Those two were just decoys. The pack had purposefully sent the two smallest wolves to draw my attention. They would wait for me to take the bait, and as soon as I slowed my pace to attack, the three hiding nearby would charge. The graywolves’ standard tactic.

  Normally, I could take on five of them easily. I was totally confident that I could destroy an entire pack of graywolves.

  But I had Myria on my back. My only choice was to run.

  Argh! Stop following me, you stupid stalker wolves!

  I sped up, hoping to shake them, but they were stubborn.

  I didn’t have much stamina left. Not after a high-level dragon handed me my ass and I taught myself recovery magic by brute force, using it until my MP was completely drained.

  I sighed—normally, losing them would be easy. But I pushed that thought out of my mind—I wasn’t going to accomplish anything by whining about it.

  “Gaaaaaaar!”

  “Grrrrrrr!”

  “Gaarooooo!”

  “Arooooo!”

  “Garoooo!”

  The wolves began to howl. They must have realized I wasn’t taking the bait, or maybe they’d noticed my injured state. They gave up on their ambush and sprinted towards me all together, their leader in front. There were five of them, just as I’d suspected.

  The vanguards were Lv 7 and Lv 8. Fine. I could defeat them with little to no damage.

  The two flanking the head wolf were Lv 10 and Lv 11. In peak condition, I could take them down easily. Even now, they probably couldn’t beat me, but they’d wear me down enough that other monsters could take advantage and pick me off.

  The final wolf was the real problem. It was Lv 15. I’d never seen such a high-level graywolf before. Even if my stats were at full power, I would have made a tactical retreat before fighting it. Near the point of collapse, I knew I was in trouble. This was not a fight I wanted to have.

  Just leave me alone!

  I ran as fast as I could, but they were closing in. The head wolf could really move. Its agility was on par with mine, and it had a title skill called Forest Hunter. It was probably a big shot in the wolf world.

  Fortunately, there was quite a gap between it and the smaller wolves. It was a risk, but if I could get the head wolf alone, I thought I might be able to take it on while still protecting Myria. If I just picked off the little ones, the leader would fly into a rage, but if I got rid of the leader, the others would run away. If I couldn’t outrun them, that would have to be my strategy.

  I wanted to give myself an edge with my Breath attack, but I didn’t have any MP. It would have to be hand-to-hand combat.

  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about protecting Myria. I couldn’t outrun the wolves, so putting off a fight now would only delay the inevitable. I needed to attack.

  The Little Rock Dragon had let me off comparatively easily, but I was pretty confident in saying I hadn’t yet been in a situation this dire.

  I sped up, trying to build up some distance between the leader of the pack and the other wolves. I needed it alone to have half a chance. I held out hope that I could still lose them, but no luck. Fine. I expected that.

  Slowing abruptly, I leapt up onto a nearby tree branch, digging in my claws to redirect my momentum. There was the pack leader, temporarily bewildered by my sudden leap into the trees. I used that split-second of confusion to my advantage, jumping from the branch and right onto the wolf’s head.

  “Gaaaaooo!”

  I bit into the back of its vulnerable neck with as much force as I could muster.

  The other wolves ran up. I snarled and pushed the leader away, maneuvering myself into a turn without losing momentum. And then I started running again.

  Everything went according to plan, save for one little detail.

  “Grrrrrrrr!”

  The head wolf wasn’t dead.

  If I’d stuck around to finish the job, I would’ve been wide open for the little wolves’ counterattack. I missed my shot. My exhaustion must have weakened my attack.

  God, I hadn’t even knocked it unconscious. It was awake and spitting with rage, springing to its feet and glaring at me with crimson eyes. The little wolves circled their leader worriedly, but it just knocked them away and came at me even faster than before.

  Its claws tore at the ground as it completely ignored its draining stamina and charged me, faster and faster. It still had more than a fourth of its HP left, and the status condition Fury.

  I sprinted to put distance between us, but it kept up easily.

  What should I do? Should I attack again?

  Up until now, I’d had the advantage of pretending to run away. If I turned to fight, there was no guarantee that I could get the first strike. Plus, the wolf was in Fury mode, making its movements erratic and unpredictable.

  Even one hit would be bad, for me and for Myria. Neither of us had HP to spare. If only I had enough MP for Baby’s Breath… But there was no sense in bellyaching.

  I
was worse off than I was when the fight started, but I still had to do something. One more attack. Come on. One more, and I was sure I could kill it.

  I shot a quick glance behind me at the head wolf. Then I returned my focus forward, trying to map out the lay of the land and running the simulation. Judging by the terrain, the position of the trees… Yeah, I could do it again. The same trick. I could defeat the wolf.

  I leapt into a tree, using my hind legs to maneuver in the air. But Myria’s weight on my back messed with my center of gravity and I lost my balance, pitching backwards. Not good, not good!

  “Gaaaaaaao!”

  The wolf came at me with an angled claw attack, digging into my chest and tearing all the way down towards my belly.

  I almost dropped Myria, but I shook my hips and hitched her back into position. Another attack came, punishment for taking my attention off the enemy.

  The wolf brandished its other claw.

  “Grrrrrr!”

  I thrust my shoulder forward to take the brunt, but the gash was deep.

  The second-fastest wolf caught up to us, flanking me from behind. It charged, attacking from my blind spot. Luckily, it missed Myria. But it didn’t miss my stomach, which took severe damage.

  I couldn’t waste any more time. And now it was impossible for me to fight with Myria on my back.

  I threw her off onto the ground. The impact would be rough on her in the state she was in, but I needed the freedom of movement.

  Now that I was lighter, I evaded the attacks that came at me from the front, punching the pack leader in the nose as hard as I could. He slammed to the ground, skidding over the forest floor and collapsing. I checked to make sure his HP was zero. Yep. Down for good.

  Gained 60 Experience Points.

  Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 60 Experience Points.

  “Baby Dragon” Lv 20 has become Lv 22.

  Haah, haah… That was rough. Why couldn’t my HP fully recover after I leveled up, like a video game? This world sucked.