Chapter 2:
The Girl and the Dragon
PART 1
“KYAAAAOOOOH!”
The graywolf howled as I sent it flying through the air with a Dragon Punch. It slammed against a tree and slumped to the ground.
This creature was, as its name suggested, a gray wolf. It was nearly twice my size, and a formidable opponent.
The sun had almost set, so I decided this would be my last conquest for the day.
Gained 24 Experience Points.
Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 24 Experience Points.
Since defeating that big group of darkwyrms, I was able to attack other monsters much more aggressively, but my level wasn’t really going up that much. Possibly it was due to only choosing battles I was sure I could win; I was always sure to check a monster’s stats before engaging. This got me a Title Skill called Safety First: Lv 1. I was pretty sure Divine Voice was trying to call me a wuss.
My Loneliness Resistance and View Status had also gone up. It made sense, since all I’d been doing was going around checking out statuses, and I was alone all the damn time. The Loneliness Resistance didn’t really seem good for much, though, since I still felt pretty lonely.
Feel free to talk to me more, Divine Voice.
Three days had passed, but I was still only at level 15. I needed five more additional levels before I could evolve again, at level 20.
I’d spent a lot of time searching out and defeating lower-level graywolves. I could take out up to about a Lv 6 with no problems. The one I just defeated was a Lv 6 graywolf who had strayed from his pack.
Maybe I should explore more? The only way to level up was to get more experience, after all. I wouldn’t get very far if I kept hunting with Safety First.
New experiences and tougher battles had to be the key to growth. That was true back in Japan, so I was sure things couldn’t be all that different here.
But what exactly was my goal? I was surviving just fine, but occasionally the Divine Voice would pop into my head and start pressuring me with the same line, over and over. Grow stronger. I knew I shouldn’t put blind faith in it to the point of endangering myself, but it was definitely egging me on. Even though I wasn’t an egg anymore.
I used Baby’s Breath to roast the graywolf. It was a bit gamey, but still exponentially better than giant caterpillars. I just wished I had some salt and pepper.
“Κάνω εγείρουν μου-όπως το όνομα. Και είναι σε θέση να εργαστεί σταθερά!”
I was tearing into my dinner when I suddenly heard voices. I didn’t recognize the language, but the voices were definitely human.
“Εγώ, τρομακτικό.”
“Και επειδή αναγνωρίζω μόνο το χέρι της μαγείας, Διαβάστε σωστά.”
I strained to hear as I ate. There were three distinct voices, two men—one young and one old—and a young girl. The younger man sounded casual, while the old man’s voice carried a hint of sterness. The girl sounded frightened.
Whoa, there are other people here?
All the Loneliness Resistance in the world couldn’t make up for spending so long only interacting with monsters. I couldn’t express how much I’d been craving human contact.
Their words were strange to me, but I could make it work. Half of communication was nonverbal, right? I wolfed down the rest of my dinner, eager to finish and find the humans. I swallowed my last mouthful, tossed the bones aside, and rushed off in the direction of the voices. I caught glimpses of a large, intimidatingly built man through the trees. The other two must be nearby.
“Raaar!”
I tried to call out to them, but the only thing that came out of my mouth was a dragon’s roar. Oh, dammit. I tried to wave my hands reassuringly. I was probably going to level up “Just an Idiot” any time now.
The man looked over at me and froze. Then he grinned. The two other humans stepped into view, both of them focused on me as well. A big tough guy, an old man, and a girl, just as their voices had suggested. Their clothes were strange—armor and robes, like they’d just stepped out of a fantasy story.
Well, I probably shouldn’t be surprised considering the monsters and everything, but was this whole world like that? Eh, I could deal with that later. First I had to win their hearts with my charming growls.
The big guy, who had to be the leader, was looking at me with such a pleased grin on his face. And he continued grinning the whole time as he drew his sword and brandished it at me.
He wasn’t anywhere near me, and at first I thought the white streaks bursting out of his sword were some kind of optical illusion. But they slashed through the trees and streaked toward me, their wake rustling the grass. I didn’t have time to dodge. Both of my arms were up, leaving my abdomen completely vulnerable. The white slashes hit me in the gut, leaving angry red marks behind.
“Raaar!”
Oww, that really hurt! Way worse than the graywolf! I belatedly checked the guy’s stats.
Doz Doglemaad
Species: Earth-human
Status: Normal
Lv: 14/45
HP: 38/42
MP: 11/15
Attack: 40+12
Defense: 28+6
Magic: 17
Agility: 22
Equipment:
Weapon: Longsword: D+
Armor: Golden Copper
Armor: D
Special Skills:
Grecian Language: Lv 6
Swordsman: Lv 2
Resistance Skills:
Soul Contamination Resistance: Lv 3
Normal Skills:
Shockwave: Lv 2
Flame Slash: Lv 1
Intimidation: Lv 3
Title Skills:
Novice Warrior: Lv 4
Okay, so…that just now must have been his Shockwave skill. His name was Doz and his species was “Earth-human.” So…just a human who lives on Earth? And he thought I was his enemy. I needed to prove to him that I wasn’t a threat.