I landed in the forest without incident and decided to follow along the river for the time being. It’ll be tough if I’m not able to precisely tell where water is. On the other hand, so long as I’m able to secure water, I should be able to manage, even if prey is fairly hard to come by.
How about I give myself a little rundown of my newly acquired skills as I walk? I didn’t want to rely on you too much… but Voice of God, gimme a check.
First, let’s start off with the shady-lookin’ one… [[Fake Life (Soul Appendment)]].
[Normal skill [[Fake Life (Soul Appendment)]].]
[Grants fabricated life to lifeless objects.]
Sooo…. It’s a reanimation related magic skill? Even so, this “fabricated” part is ominous no matter how you slice it though… I’m not getting the sense that it’ll bring them back to life normally for me. That’s probably it. A zombie-like thing, y’know?
I also feel like I’ll be able to use this skill in some different kind of way if I level it up though… Hrmm… Next time, I’ll try testing it out on a monster or something. How ‘bout that? If I can get a handle on it, I have a feeling that I’ll clearly see the value in using it. Though admittedly, not a single clue comes to mind as to the specifics of that.
Annd next is the… shadier-lookin’ one. Seriously, there’s, like, no way this skill is any good. Even if I say that, I’m not so sure that I can actually get a rundown of this one or not, though…
[Sacred skill [[Human Realm]].]
[Secures one with the authority to rule over the world of man. Though bereaved of its original powers, it grants great influence over one’s potential evolutions.]
…Uh, I got something, but it’s more vague than I imagined it would be, and it’s a non-level-related skill… I wonder if it’ll be fine if I treat this like a title skill or something like that?
Granting me influence over my potential evolutions is a plus, but frankly, I’m not all that happy about it. It doesn’t feel like it’s going to be terrible since it’s called [[Human Realm]], but its straightforwardness and obviousness is suspicious… Or rather, it’s suspicious because of the ridiculous backfire becoming a juvenile plague dragon was when I was lured in with [[Humanization]]. Having a long neck but with only the face being human and whatnot? That sorta superbly revolting evolution is not what I’m ending up with, alright?
I might as well try taking a peek at my other skills too, huh? Who knows, there might be something useful. I know normal skills, for the most part, have their purposes and resistance skills… more or less seem about the same. There’s nothing to be interested in among my characteristic skills either… Well, whatever. Title skills it is then.
[Title skill [[Ant King]].]
[A title personally bestowed upon by the Ant Queen to a [[Commander Ant]] who has been recognized for their achievements.]
[A possessor of superior genes, one is granted the authority to bear offspring with the Ant Queen.]
[Recognized primarily by red ants within the nest.]
Oh… Ohh. Is that so? I think that’s enough of the title skills. Thinking about it, there’s no way in hell that I’d be able to do that just because I knew the particulars of a title skill. [[Walking Egg]] has been helping me quite a lot, though.
“Gaa-! Gaa-!”
My left head, Partner, reached her head out towards the direction of the river. She apparently seemed to be thirsty.
As Partner lined herself up, she brought her mouth to the river and gulped down some water. While she was drinking water, I gave a quick glance to my left. Partner was gulping down water while making a ruckus of splashing sounds and something plaque-like was drifting down the river.
…Glad I’m upstream.
When I raised my head, I saw a simple building constructed out of stone situated on the other side of the river. The entrance to the building appeared to be on the other side of it.
I’d say the building is a little over 4 meters tall? The building is nearly 4 meters wide as well and its length is nearly 10 meters deep. That’s big in its own right. Without even having to stoop down, my huge body will completely fit inside of it. Plus, the river is close by. It’s looking likely that that is just the right kind of place for me to live in. It might not be a bad idea to try moving my base there for a little while.
I spread my wings and cleared the river. The impact from my landing shook the surrounding area. Whoops… Gotta move a little more carefully now. I might’ve accidentally provoked some monsters with that sound I just made.
I haven’t come across any monsters that looked like they were particularly dangerous so far, but Adofu said that this is supposed to be a hazardous place, more so than that desert where the giant centipede prowled around.
Let’s see, what was I-, uhmm… Ah, right. The Lithuvar Tribe. Yes. The rumors were that these are the guys who are called a crazy dangerous demonic tribe or something or another, yes? Well, for the time being, I’ll just have to keep my eyes and ears peeled for them.
While keeping the sound of my footsteps in check, I approached the stone building. When I walked around it to the other side, I saw dragon statues lining either side of the entrance.
No, the statue isn’t just of any dragon, but a dragon with two heads. A double-headed dragon, same as me.
Woah, that looks like it’s expertly and immaculately crafted. I’m in no rush, so let’s get a closer look at this.
When I shortened the distance between me and one of the statues, the presence of a monster came wafting out from inside the building. It’s quite the hefty presence. The current inhabitants are here.
Yeah, it may not be the best idea to approach it haphazardly. If something came outta there that could very well tear the centipede to pieces, I wouldn’t exactly be delighted, so perhaps it would be better to turn back.
However, since the stone statue is that of a dragon, then I wonder if there’s some chance that a dragon or something is here. I’m tempted to take a little peek, though… No, no. Let’s be a good dragon and take a few steps back from here. If I step on a sleeping tiger’s tail by being nosy, I’ll never live it down.
Just as I was about to turn away, Partner called out.
“Gaa?”
She seemed to be posing a question to me, asking about if it’s okay to run away. I don’t know how, but looking at Partner’s face and hearing her voice, I get what she wants to say and then it comes to me. I wonder if this is thanks to my [[Mutual Understanding]] skill?
“Ah-… No-, no please… EeeEEEEK!”
As I was thinking about what it even was that was bothering me, I heard a shriek come out from the direction of the building. It can’t be, there’s a human near the monster!? I was so distracted by the monster that I didn’t notice them. Adofu was asking me all sorts of questions, so it never even occurred to me that there were humans here. Sure enough, when I tried very carefully to feel around, I could tell that there were humans there. I could even tell that there were two of them.
I circle around to the entrance and enter it by barging in.
“GwoooOOUGH-!!!!”
I roar, pulling the monster’s attention towards me. Clearly showing hostile intent means I lose the opportunity at a preemptive strike, but it’s what I had to do. I didn’t even have time to avoid a tree that was in my way, so I shattered it with my body.
A noise emanated from inside the building that sounded like something standing up. In the next moment, a yellow monster jumped out from the entrance.
“GUFFAWGHAWGHAWGH-!!”
It looked over its shoulder towards me while it roared in a stupid and booming voice. From tip to tip, it looks like it spans nearly seven meters? Its physique is roughly the same as mine.
Its overall appearance looked just like that of a gigantic lion. It sported yellow fur with a dark reddish-brown mane that covered everything around its face. The tip of its long tail had what appeared to be a reverse pincushion and its face was of an uncanny composition that looked like a leopard’s face topped with a human woman’s face.
The edge of the right side of the monster’s mouth was soaked with blood with a torso of a human child just barely sticking out of it. The child’s abdomen was pierced through with one of the monster’s fangs… It’s cruel… All too cruel.
Author’s chapter postscript:
Activity report: Updated!
The cover for the second volume of Dragon Egg is publicly available!
http://mypage.syosetu.com/mypageblog/view/userid/625518/blogkey/1358904/
