Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling, Volume 8, page 17
From that skill, I felt the shadow of the Forte Slime I’d once fought looming over the entire Demon King affair. I spared a glance behind me to where Samael was running down the wrecked hallway.
I wonder if Allo and the others managed to escape… As the thought crossed my mind, Allo suddenly popped out from behind a corner, a black sphere of light pulsating in her hand.
Is that…Dark Sphere? This was the first time I’d seen Allo use that particular skill, but I remembered seeing it in her stats.
The black orb of light spun out of Allo’s hand and spiraled into Samael’s body. He was blown off his feet and slammed against the wall behind him. The blast severed his arm, which broke off from the elbow and turned into a mass of green goo.
“Gaagh! Y-you…”
Allo had apparently only pretended to escape so she could catch Samael off guard and deliver a nasty blow. The power contained within Dark Sphere—which Allo likely built up while she was hiding—was not something to be taken lightly, even with such a disparity between their levels. This time, her clever plan was a big hit—literally.
Allo took one last look at Samael before fleeing down the hallway. Samael lifted his newly regenerated arm and opened and closed it a few times as if to check its grip strength, then began to chase after Allo.
Sorry, Allo… I’ll have to leave Samael to you!
Part 2
I SWUNG MY PAW at Rogueheil for a vicious slash. Rogueheil turned one of his arms into a tentacle and then leapt up to avoid my attack. He turned to run through the crumbling wall, so instead I smashed into it with all my might, sending debris crashing down onto the floor.
Rogueheil smiled at the fallen debris, then lifted his arm and turned toward me.
“Holy Pillar!”
I deflected the three blueish-green pillars hurtling toward me with a couple of Whirlwind Slashes, changing their trajectory so they thudded into the floor, nearly vertical. Then I stomped on them where they met the flooring. They snapped and fell, landing next to Rogueheil and all the debris. I scanned my surroundings, looking for Rogueheil, but thanks to the rubble, he was in my blind spot. When I caught sight of him again, he had both his arms raised. His body went transparent, turning a color close to green, and his outline dissolved.
“Oho ho ho ho, did you think you had an opening? Too bad. Eat this! Ooze Machine Gun!” The surface of Rogueheil’s body rippled, and then countless sticky bullets erupted from all over his body.
Tch! Talk about bad timing! Don’t think you can underestimate me, though! I won’t just sit here and let you batter me around!
I took in a quick breath, then released it toward Rogueheil. A wall of fire formed a barrier between the two of us, engulfing the old man and his slime bullets. It was my Scorching Breath skill.
“Guh!” The slime bullets that I didn’t get to in time embedded themselves in my legs and torso. Sharp pain emanated out from the entrance wounds; the bullets were clearly made of a strong acid, which dissolved my scales and began to burn my skin. Ooze Machine Gun was a nasty, versatile skill, capable of hitting many targets at once with skin-eating acid.
“Heh heh. You can make decisions much more quickly now without those liabilities you call friends in the way, can’t you? Thank goodness; I was starting to get bore—”
I slammed my tail into Rogueheil as he tried to escape from the flames, splattering green bodily fluids everywhere. He thudded into the wall behind him with a grunt. “Y-you…!” he sputtered, eyes wide. I swung my lethal Ouroboros claws at his face with all my might, scraping the ceiling and walls along the way, and carved a massive gouge into his body, sending him flying backward.
“Is that all you’ve got…?” Rogueheil’s body rapidly began to regenerate before my eyes; he was back to normal in a matter of seconds. This wasn’t just a characteristic of slimes—Rogueheil seemed to be spending copious amounts of MP to recover as fast as possible.
His overwhelming regeneration speed, while disheartening, was also an indication that Rogueheil wouldn’t be able to keep up with consistent damage unless he exhausted all his MP with recovery skills.
Just gotta keep up the pressure with a bunch of quick attacks! I can’t give him any time to rest! I took my mind off the destruction around me, twisted my entire body around, and swung down to slam my massive claws into him again.
“Guh! H-how dare you… Holy Pillar!”
A thick blue-green pillar appeared in front of Rogueheil, blocking my path. I figured his plan was to make a wall between us to block my attacks and give himself time to heal.
“Heh, heh… Now, get ready for—”
“Groooooaaaaah!”
I let out a Bellow, then swung my arm down with all my might. The pillar shattered, creating cracks in the ground that spread out in ripples until it crumbled beneath Rogueheil and sent his body pelting to the ground of the floor beneath us.
Still no experience points, though. That guy’s one tough old bastard. I immediately jumped down after him and spotted him still struggling to crawl out of the rubble. I raised my arm.
Sorry, Rogueheil, but this fight ends here!
Suddenly, I felt a prickle of unease. This feels too easy. Why would he give away his position right away?
Did he…want me to find him?
I could guess at what his plan was, thanks to seeing his skill list before. This had to be his Doppelganger skill…
Normal Skill “Doppelganger”: Reduces HP to create a slime double. Once the doppelganger takes a certain amount of damage, it will disintegrate, resulting in no experience gain for its attacker.
Partner! Keep an eye out! This one’s a clone!
I whirled around to swipe at the real Rogueheil, who’d crept up behind me from the shadows. Rogueheil made a huge backward leap, then stuck his tentacles to the ceiling and pulled himself up there to rest in a belly-crawl position.
(“Get our body outta the way!”)
I did as Partner asked, arching my body away from her head as much as I could. Looking behind me, I saw that Partner had bitten into the doppelganger’s tentacle and was about to rip it off by force. But before she had a chance, the doppelganger’s body collapsed and vanished.
“…Hmph. You didn’t fall for it? Perhaps your abilities really are a step above my own.”
I looked up and let out a Whirlwind Slash at Rogueheil, who was dangling from the ceiling, but he evaded the attack by swinging around the room with his extended tentacle arms. He swung toward the stairs at the far end of the room and began to head down them.
We were on the ground floor, which meant he was going underground. He led me deeper and deeper below the castle’s walls. The further we were from Allo and the others, the better, so I was fine just letting him lead me wherever he wanted, but going along with his intentions still made me uneasy.
I chased Rogueheil to the bottom of the stairs, where we emerged into a massive hall. Unlike the castle’s above-ground interior, though, this hall was completely decked out in metal.
Perfect. I can go all out in here, and it’s not so cramped. Let’s get this over with. Bring it on!
“Illusia, allow me to share with you the conditions under which the Three Cavaliers came into being. We were chosen because we were the top three strongest out of the group that possessed a certain level of intelligence. Monsters with lower intelligence tend to reach their final evolution at lower levels…but there were some who didn’t.”
Huh? What the heck is this guy talking about?
Suddenly, a massive door at the back of the underground hall toppled to the ground with a crash. The moment I peered into the expanse behind the door, I was so horrified that I couldn’t breathe.
From the depths emerged a massive slime, about the same size as me. Inside the slime’s body floated a number of human figures. Most of them were just bones, but there were also some floating around that were still partially covered in rotten flesh.
“Bruuuaaaaaagh!” The mass of slime gave a fearless roar.
“This was to be our final secret weapon to ensure the saint’s defeat. I didn’t expect to have to move here before we even knew what she was plotting, though. But that’s not all. Wide Summon!”
A giant summoning circle formed around Rogueheil. It flashed with a dazzling light, and then in its place stood five green-skinned giants. Each looked about three meters tall. They all had grotesque, squashed faces and clutched massive clubs in their hands. The giants looked around with lifeless eyes, then turned their attention to me.
Wh-what’s with all these creepy newcomers…?
How much power did Rogueheil think he needed to throw at me just to beat me?
“I suppose I should get serious now too. My human form is too weak for a proper fight.”
Rogueheil’s body lost its color, then began to lose definition and expand. In the blink of an eye, all semblance of the human Rogueheil was gone.
When he expanded to four meters tall, color returned to his body, and he turned a grotesque gutter green. A mass of tentacles shot out from Rogueheil’s form. His entire body was dotted with eyeballs that blinked unnervingly.
‹Hyoh hoh hoh! Did you truly think you could beat me just now? It is the mark of a skilled tactician to hide one’s claws until the enemy has been made assured of their victory! Now, let’s see… Doppelganger!›
Rogueheil’s entire body split into two, three…no, five clones. Each one instantly expanded to the original’s size.
‹You can’t escape now, can you, Illusia? I’ll suck your memories out of you one by one, just like I did to everyone else in this city! Hyoh hoh hoh hoh!› Rogueheil’s body split
open to reveal a huge mouth with at least four tongues hanging from it.
When I first saw him, I’d thought Rogueheil seemed like a calm old man—but that clearly had been nothing more than a facade.
Part 3
“BLUUUAAAAAAGH!”
A circular depression appeared in the massive slime, from which a cacophony of screams erupted. Even I was terrified, frozen in place for a moment. The eye sockets of the corpses floating in the mucus seemed to look at me with resentment as the slime advanced.
It was slow. But between the massive slime, the five giants, and the five Rogueheils, I knew I was in trouble.
Giga Slime: Rank A– Monster
A monster of unbelievable gluttony.
It will devour everything in its sight.
The souls of those ingested will not be reincarnated but will instead be made to suffer endlessly inside the Giga Slime.
Right, of course Rogueheil is bringing out all the rank A– big guns! Things aren’t gonna be quite so easy this time around!
“Grooooh!”
The ugly giants with smashed faces ran toward me, passing the Giga Slime, as the Rogueheils crawled around on the ground and moved to surround me.
Quell Troll: Rank B– Monster
The final evolution of the most fearsome and brutal of the trolls. Rulers of the Black Forest.
Their minds are constantly filled with thoughts of rage and frustration. It is said among adventurers that it is better to die than be captured by a Quell Troll.
Th-they’re all rank B-?! What about Rogueheil’s doppelgangers?!
Species: Doppel Shoggoth Ooze
Status: Doppelganger
Lv: 75/75 (LOCK) (MAX)
HP: 53/53
MP: 8/8
Attack: 248
Defense: 258
Magic: 461
Agility: 437
Rank: B-
Special Skills:
Slime Body: Lv —
Tentacles: Lv 5
Poison Belt: Lv 6
Digestive Fluids: Lv 5
Resistance Skills:
Physical Resistance: Lv 2
Magic Resistance: Lv 2
Poison Resistance: Lv 2
Paralysis Resistance: Lv 4
Curse Resistance: Lv 5
Confusion Resistance: Lv 2
Sleep Resistance: Lv 4
Petrify Resistance: Lv 2
Normal Skills:
Color Change: Lv 5
Life Drain: Lv 5
Grapple: Lv 4
Ooze Bomb: Lv 5
Diseased Breath: Lv 4
Regenerate: Lv 5
Title Skills:
Final Evolution: Lv —
…As expected, they were much weaker than his main body, but they were still max level rank B-. Their HP and MP weren’t so high, though. Maybe they could only take the amount of HP that was sacrificed when they split off from the main body. Like the Doppelganger skill description said, I’d be able to wipe them out with one hit…if I could actually hit them.
I sent a Whirlwind Slash toward the two trolls that were running at me. Even a single Whirlwind Slash was enough to do a lot of damage to rank B– enemies. The slashes sliced through the flesh of the two trolls. They bent over and dropped to their knees, motionless.
All right! I should be able to take these guys out in no ti—oh, just kidding!
Species: Quell Troll
Status: Hardened
Lv: 69/69 (MAX)
HP: 317/483
MP: 174/192
Species: Quell Troll
Status: Hardened
Lv: 68/68 (MAX)
HP: 299/488
MP: 165/189
When I looked closer, I realized that the blood from their wounds had stopped, and their flesh had a strange, metallic quality to it. A skill that boosts defense and hinders movement by turning their bodies to steel? Seriously?! Here I am, trying to cut them all down as fast as I can, and they keep pulling out all these annoying skills!
While I was focused on the trolls, the swarm of Rogueheils surrounded me. I almost lost track of which one was the main body, but there was one that moved faster than the others and kept his distance. The four other Rogueheils advanced toward me, leaving the main body behind. Guess I’ve just gotta burn ’em all to a crisp. My wide-range skills were limited to Scorching Breath, Diseased Breath, and Earth Fall, which would send out a shockwave. With this hall’s low ceiling, I couldn’t risk using Earth Fall, so Scorching Breath was going to have to do. I inhaled, drawing magical power into my stomach.
The Rogueheils’ bodies began to ripple. The doppelgangers didn’t have Ooze Machine Gun, though, only Ooze Bomb, and a few single shots wouldn’t be an issue for me.
I let out my Scorching Breath, moving my head around in a circle. Partner kept an eye on my surroundings to try and eliminate the blind spot created by my breath attack. In response, slime bullets shot at me from all directions, and the Rogueheils scattered. They’d disappear once they took enough damage, so a breath attack like mine was a natural enemy for them.
I’d been hoping to take out at least one of the doppelgangers with that attack, but I only succeeded in getting the Rogueheil legion out of my way. This situation was getting worse by the second…
Behind my fiery cover, I tried to come up with a solution. I guess I ought to try and whittle away at those trolls? But their Harden skill made them a lot tougher than typical monsters at their rank. So maybe if I take out Rogueheil’s doppelgangers first…?
But they were really fast, and they were using the trolls as decoys, and they used nasty tactics that made them hard to hit. What should I do? If I spent too much time thinking, I’d give them an opening to attack.
I guess I’ll leave the trolls alone until they get close and then use Scorching Breath to make them Harden and slow them down… In the meantime, I’ll make sure Rogueheil’s clones don’t run away by attacking from up close… Wait, maybe I should…
As I pondered my options, I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine, and my body froze as if I were paralyzed. I could barely move my eyes, but out of the corner of my eye I saw the true Rogueheil standing near me, his eyes wide open.
Is this one of Rogueheil’s Gaze skills?! He had three different ones: Fearsome Gaze, Maddening Gaze, and Petrifying Gaze. My guess was that this was Fearsome Gaze.
My Master’s Demonic Gaze skill required constant eye contact to stay activated, but it seemed like this one could be used regardless of eye contact. Damn it…!
“Grooooooh!” I released a wave of magic to shake it off. Typically, the easier a binding skill was to activate, the easier it was to end its effects. Plus, my stats were higher. I should be able to hold out against these guys if I keep my wits about me!
Suddenly, something came flying at my head through the wall of flames, thunking me in the skull before bouncing off. For a moment, I saw stars. Whatever it was, it sure packed a punch. I spread my wings out to my full wingspan to increase the air resistance behind me and dug my claws into the ground. The blow still sent me back a few meters, but not enough to slam me into the wall and knock me down or cause any additional damage.
That hit… Was it…from the Giga Slime…?
Now that I had a clear field of vision, I could see the Giga Slime’s many tentacles looming over me. I can’t ignore this guy either. If I get hit with that many tentacles, it’s game over.
I jumped to the side as the Giga Slime’s thick tentacles slammed down right where I’d been standing. Massive trenches appeared in the walls and floor where the tentacles landed.
That slime was all about stats, HP, and attack. If the only thing that mattered was raw power, it’d be even stronger than me. It was impossible to survive in this world without focusing on specific stats, but as a pawn in a group fight, its stats worked horribly.
‹Hyaaah hah hah! That one hurt, didn’t it? Well done, Giga!› Rogueheil crowed via Telepathy. ‹The souls of hundreds of humans and monsters are trapped inside the Giga Slime’s body. The Demon King steals their skills, I erase any useless skills and wipe their memories, and then we dispose of them. The corpses of the adventurers, who no one will come looking for, are stuck underground and used as fodder for the Giga Slime.›
Destroying all of a creature’s skills and wiping their memories… I only had a faint idea of what that would do to them. Skills were acquired through experience and instinct. Depriving someone of their skills was depriving them of their very identity. That explains why the man from Myria’s village, Doz, and Modi’s daughter, Luon, had both lost their minds.
