Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling, Volume 8, page 15
Or maybe…if their Demon King really was the slime I took down, who managed to survive somehow, he told them about me. I didn’t remember talking to Myria in front of the slime, but it seemed like it had stolen the mahawolf’s skill, the one that allowed it to share information with other mahawolves in the pack, so maybe it’d seen me and Myria through one of their eyes.
Either way, the background info wasn’t important to me just then; what mattered was that Samael seemed to be taking Myria as a potential deterrent for me and that it was actually an effective plan.
“Hey, Illusia! That is your name, isn’t it?!”
Crap, he knows my name. The possibility that that damn slime was behind all of this kicked up another notch in my brain.
An impatient grin was plastered over Samael’s face. It was a look that said using my name was his way out of this predicament.
From the faces of the other soldiers, I’d gathered that they’d been expecting an attack from the saint; they were not, however, expecting an Ouroboros to show up with her.
It seemed like the Demon King had made some preparations, but the fact that Saint Lilyxila had gone out of her way to contact me and risk drawing my ire, and succeeded in adding me to her ranks, meant that the saint was clearly one step ahead. I clenched my fangs and glared at Samael.
Partner’s voice floated through my brain. (“Hey, Illusia, don’t get too worked up.”)
Yeah, yeah. I know.
I didn’t know how much information Samael knew, but he wasn’t certain that it was me. If I responded in the affirmative, I could be putting Myria in danger.
“Ha, ha ha, ha ha! So it really is you, isn’t it? It’s clear as day when you freeze up like that!” Samael laughed.
“W-well…sorry to get your hopes up, but even if that dragon really was Illusia, I’m not sure I’d be a very effective hostage.” Myria’s words made my heart ache. I turned my head to face the other knight slimes.
For now, my top priority was taking out all the slimes in the reception hall. The Demon King was inviting adventurers to the castle to farm them for experience. Our lives outside of this conflict were going to have to wait on the backburner for now.
“Besides! You can’t kill me without permission anyway!” My shoulders shook as Myria’s voice rang out. He can’t kill her without permission? What’s that supposed to mean? Regardless, if it was true, it was the most valuable bit of information I’d gathered.
“Shut up, little girl! And don’t be so full yourself, got it? If you have no worth as a hostage, then you’re not even worth keeping alive!”
“Kyaaa!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Samael’s hand on Myria’s neck.
“Grrrooooooaaaaaaah!” I concentrated magic in my stomach and let out a Bellow toward Samael. For a moment, the entire hall stopped moving. Samael’s expression froze, but it quickly thawed as he began to laugh.
“So this girl’s important to you, is she? Then come face me. You’d best not leave it to one of your subordinates either, or you’ll regret it.” With that, Samael pulled Myria by the arm and ran into an adjoining room.
“I-Illusia? But… But why…?” As she was pulled through the door frame, she turned to face me, and our eyes finally met.
Part 3
I STARED AT THE DOOR Samael and Myria disappeared through. I’d be able to fit if I bent over and slid through, but if they started going through narrow passageways, I’d likely be forced to use Human Transformation to follow them.
Plus, Samael’s goal was likely to divide our forces. He’d probably concluded that they couldn’t stop me, Allo, Nightmare, Grandpa Magiatite, and Volk with just two of the Three Cavaliers and a few random slimes.
But with me out of the way, the rest of the group would have to take on Mephisto and the slimes themselves. Volk was the strongest of the bunch, but although he’d restored his HP, his MP was still low. He was also probably mentally exhausted by now.
What should I do? Samael might kill Myria if he got angry, but the rage he’d displayed might’ve all been a bluff too. If someone else went after them, he might also give up on negotiations and spare Myria.
But since I didn’t know why Myria wasn’t being killed, there was no evidence that she would come out of that unharmed. Given the circumstances, it wasn’t outrageous to think that she might be unwilling to be taken as a hostage and end up acting on her own. The question was who I would rather make things more dangerous for: Myria or the rest of the adventurers in the reception hall.
…No, it’s not just that. I was pretty sure that I could at least take down Mephisto or Samael in a one-on-one fight. The fact that Samael had run away with Myria meant that he had some kind of plan up his sleeve.
We’re just one step behind them. I gritted my teeth in frustration. My head hurt thinking about the last of the Three Cavaliers, Rogueheil, and the Demon King joining the fray.
Where was Lilyxila? She’d sent Alphis in to scout things out; surely, she could tell what was going on. I wished she’d at least send Seraphim in or something… This must’ve meant that she wasn’t going to show up until the Demon King did.
As I stood there pondering my options, more slime soldiers started to pour through the hall’s main doors.
“Buy us some time, and don’t give the adventurers time to catch their breaths!”
“Where’s the saint? I’m gonna hunt that bitch down and present her to the princess myself!”
In total, another twenty or so new soldiers stood ready to fight.
She’s got to be running out of soldiers by now! How many slimes does she have under her control, anyway?
“Well, that’s unfortunate. What, are you despairing because you think I’m too weak to take them on?” Volk snickered in front of me.
N-no, I never said you were weak. In fact, you’re really strong for a human. But you don’t have a Divine Voice, do you?
“An adventurer alone won’t be enough to beat them. Let me borrow one of your allies. Yes, that ball of liquid metal will do. We’ll take care of that Cavalier girl.” Volk turned toward Grandpa Magiatite. He was sliding across the floor and coating the knight slimes in vaporized magiatite, which hardened and rendered them powerless. Volk had the right idea: Grandpa Magiatite was clearly the best monster for clearing out the knight slimes.
The adventurers Partner had healed were starting to move, but they seemed to be threatened by the mayhem around them. Most of them had already run out of MP, and they weren’t as powerful as the slimes. However, Volk was in a tight spot. Even with Grandpa Magiatite on his side, he’d be hard-pressed to take on the slime soldiers and the Three Cavaliers all on his own.
“Get moving!” Volk called. “Their top priority right now is you, Ouroboros. I’ll be damned if I, the future greatest swordsman in the world, am going to let myself be taken down by a bunch of slimes pretending to be sword-slingers!”
I knew what Volk was implying. It was too dangerous for me to chase Samael down alone. I’d have a much greater advantage in a one-on-one fight against him, but Samael clearly had a plan. He could very well lead me straight to where Rogueheil was lying in wait. Other forces could be hiding in the castle as well, not to mention the Demon King himself. If I came across any of them alone, I’d be outnumbered and out of luck.
“Graaah!” Partner cried, looking up at the ceiling. Nightmare, suspended up there with her webs, had been dropping web piles in front of the knight slimes to block their attacks; but when she noticed my gaze, she quickly used one of her dangling strings to come down to me. I bowed my head at Volk.
He nodded back. “I’ll catch up to you as soon as I get rid of the big threat and all her small fry around here,” he said, pointing his sword at Mephisto, the purple-haired Cavalier girl. Mephisto looked…different from the last time I saw her. Her blouse was open at the front, and a woman’s head with ragged hair grew out of her chest.
But this didn’t surprise me. After all, Mephisto was a Dual Slime.
Dual Slime: Rank B+ Monster.
A two-headed slime. One head manages status effects, while the other manages death and destruction magic. Dual Slimes are skilled at close combat, while also specializing in simultaneous magic activation and continuous attacks with its water blades. When cornered, the slime will separate into two.
From the description, it was clear that this monster was trouble, but not any more trouble than the other enemies we’d be facing from here on out. Volk said he’d take care of the Dual Slime, and I couldn’t afford to hesitate.
I moved toward the doorway Samael and Myria had just vanished behind, and Nightmare shot a web onto my back and climbed on.
The knight slimes in my way scattered. It seemed like they didn’t want to go to the trouble of challenging me, now that Samael had expressed his intent to take me on.
“Gale!” Allo, riding on my back, sent a peal of wind magic at the fleeing knight slimes.
“Ahh, the dragonslayer. It seems we underestimated you.” Mephisto said with a blank expression.
Her second head smiled. “Aha ha! What a fool. We’ve already figured out all of your skills and weaknesses! The only reason you’ve survived this long is because the slimes you’ve been fighting are just as stupid as you are! You know you wouldn’t win a single battle in a hundred against me, don’t you? Shouldn’t you cry and plead for mercy? ‘Oh, big dragon, stop chasing after little girls and save me instead!’”
I whirled back toward Volk with worry as I heard Mephisto’s words, but Volk was simply standing there with his great sword at the ready, showing no signs of agitation.
“I told you, I’ll be right behind you, Ouroboros. I won’t allow you to question my skills any longer.”
I nodded and turned back, then smashed through the door—and the surrounding wall—that led to the hallway Samael and Myria had fled through.
I wasn’t without my doubts. Not about Volk’s skill, per se, but about pitting him against Mephisto; they had two completely different fighting styles. I didn’t know if I was doing the right thing. Was it really okay to put my personal feelings for Myria above everything else when the world was at stake?
Maybe that was why I thought there’d be more benefits to me staying and fighting with the rest of them. Still, even though I felt bad for the saint and the other adventurers, I knew that no matter how much I agonized about the decision, I’d still end up choosing the same path forward.
Memories from when I’d first come to this world surfaced in my mind. I remembered the way Myria had used Rest when Doz cut me, and how anxious she’d seemed when she first called out to me.
Part 4
I CHASED AFTER SAMAEL and his hostage, Myria. The halls were cramped, but I bent my head and surged forward, cracking the ceiling in places as I went. My paws left deep divots in the soft floor behind me. Then one of my paws broke through, sending splintered flooring crashing down a story, but I kept pushing onward.
In such cramped quarters, Samael would have the advantage. But in terms of stats, I easily came out on top. The difference in our ranks was huge. I also had Allo and Nightmare on my side. Samael’s goal was to lure me away and spread our forces thin, but we’d still win that fight. He knew that too, which meant he must’ve had some other objective in mind.
I figured Samael didn’t think ordering me to kill myself would work, even with a hostage. And if the threat was dangerous enough that I decided to give up on rescuing Myria, then Samael would lose an important hand, his bargaining chip against me, and his life to boot.
I wasn’t sure what I’d do if Samael decided to opt for more desperate measures and make Myria his human shield, but there were an awful lot of risks involved with a plan like that. No, Samael’s plan has to involve using Myria to create a scenario where our fight is stacked in his favor.
Samael was devious, just like that slime was. Although, if he’d just attacked her without thinking it over, Myria might’ve already been dead, so perhaps I couldn’t complain about that deviousness.
Samael was running in front of me, and he joined up with more knight slimes. Five appeared in the passageway.
“S-Sir Samael, the situation is—”
Samael ran ahead, shouting orders to the knight slimes. “You have one minute…no, twenty seconds! Damn it, quit struggling, girl! I can bring you along the easy way or the rough way, your choice!”
The knight slimes all froze in front of me for a second, bewildered.
“Our job is to slow them down!” one called.
“Which means Ooze Bombs! Aim for their legs! And their faces!”
The knight slimes spat out little bullets of slime that exploded on impact. This was the same skill that had gotten Volk’s feet stuck to his shoes. I leapt off the floor with my back paws, then scrambled through the narrow hallway, sidestepped, and swung my claws wide.
“Grrroooooh!” My claws popped the Ooze Bombs, destroying them. The burst bullets splattered onto my scales. I felt a burning, numbing pain as the ooze melted parts of my hide, but it wasn’t anything serious.
Every wall in the room was covered in my claw marks, and they crumbled as I passed through them.
“Wh…what’re we supposed to do against him?!”
I broke through the knight slimes’ line of defense with ease, tearing three of them apart with my claws as I went. Nightmare somehow managed to cling to me with her webs, and Allo held onto my back with her enhanced arms.
Gained 1,360 Experience Points.
Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 1,360 Experience Points.
My Divine Voice chimed in to report that I’d gained around three enemies’ worth of experience points. As the two surviving knight slimes sat dazed on the ground, a few pieces of broken rubble fell, crushing them and cutting their screams short.
Gained 940 Experience Points.
Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 940 Experience Points.
Sorry, but I don’t have time for you guys. Samael, if you want to trap me, then go ahead and try it. I’ll use that chance to beat you to a pulp and get Myria away from you.
“D-damn it! No matter how high my level is, I’m still a rank C+ against an Ouroboros! I’m not sure how much longer I can hold out. But Rogueheil is just a bit further!” Samael looked back at me, then turned his attention to his route. Myria, being yanked along by the arm, glared up at Samael and narrowed her eyes like she’d made up her mind about something.
Wh-what’re you planning to do, Myria…?
As Samael realized the threat I presented, his attention on Myria naturally faded. This was an opportune time for Myria to make a move, but the difference in their strength was too high for her to do much.
“But a ranged area-of-effect attack should do something, at least! Fireball!” Myria placed her hand on Samael’s right shoulder. The next moment, a ball of flame expanded from her palm. Once it grew about as large as two apples, the ball of flames burst open.
I heard the sound of crackling flames. Then Samael’s face appeared from the thick smoke, twitching in fury. “Didn’t I tell you not to get carried away? Well, it doesn’t matter to me either way, but don’t you think it’d be best for you not to make me angry?”
Samael’s right hand remained motionless on Myria’s shoulder. Not only were there no burn marks on his arms, but his clothing looked pristine as well—because his clothes were made of the same viscous mucus that made up his body, they were more like flesh than clothing. Such a weak attack wouldn’t do any damage.
Myria, on the other hand, had been caught up in the burst of fire and was coughing from the smoke. Her hand had taken a direct blast of fire, and it was covered in severe burns from her thumb to her palm and wrists.
But it hadn’t been for nothing. Samael’s eyes widened in realization, and he leapt to the end of the hallway, yanking Myria along by the hand. Two Whirlwind Slashes—one going in the wrong direction, the other sailing right over Samael’s head—flew up and out from my wings. A few severed hairs from Samael’s green-and-silver head floated to the ground, turning back into mucus in midair.
Samael followed the blades of wind with his eyes, and his face twisted into a distorted grin. “Man, that was close… Were you aiming to hit me right after I’d gone deaf from the close-range explosion and nearly blind from all the smoke? My reaction was a little slow. Not a bad attack for taking advantage of my impaired senses. I nearly had my head severed from my body. I would have, if your judgment weren’t so poor.”
He turned his gaze back to me. “Are you in a hurry to defeat me? Or is this girl not as important as she seems to believe she is? Do you think I can’t kill her because I’d lose my bargaining chip? What a shallow assumption. It’s not just a choice between letting her live or killing her. I can take it slow, do it in strategic steps. I could melt her face off with acid and ruin her pretty looks, or maybe I’ll rot off her feet and make her unable to walk for the rest of her life. How about that? Here, as a penalty to you, I’ll make her a little more compact so it’s easier for me to walk.” Samael reached his hand toward the base of Myria’s left foot.
At the same moment, two Whirlwind Slashes passed behind them and crashed into the back wall, causing the ceiling to collapse. The passage in front of Samael filled with debris, blocking his path forward.
“Ngh! I-Illusia! You’ve been aiming for this from the very beginning, haven’t you?!”
Samael was a slime, which meant he’d be able to escape through the debris blocking his path, but Myria couldn’t. If he wanted to escape, he’d have to leave her behind. After that, I could turn back with Myria and meet up with Volk, then take down Mephisto while she was on her own. At worst, the Demon King could potentially escape…but even that would at least mean being chased out of Ardesia and suffering a tremendous loss of power.
Rather than being hasty, I preferred to keep the worst-case scenario in mind and choose the option that’ll get us out of our predicament safely.
