The roar from the dungeon boss shook the dungeon to its core, and Yuki, who had already fallen to the ground, was too fear-stricken to get up.
[You've been hit with a status ailment: FEAR]
[You've been paralyzed for 10 seconds]
Yuki lay immobilized on the ground, unable to make any movement, but the status ailment from the roar didn't have any effect on the dragon egg, Owen.
First horny bastards, now the dungeon boss? I can't tell if Yuki is lucky or not, Owen rolled out of Yuki's embrace.
He focused his sense on scanning the dungeon boss and his surroundings and mapped out a way to fight it.
He couldn't analyze the full stats of the dungeon boss, so he had no way to compare his stats to its own, but he was fully confident in the overpowered existence of being a dragon. Or rather, an indestructible dragon egg.
He accelerated his roll toward the dungeon boss, and it slammed its claws down toward Owen, but Owen dodged it by a hair's breadth. His shell scraped one of the stone pillars as his momentum kept spiking.
He ricocheted off another pillar, then launched toward the dungeon boss again like a bullet.
The dungeon boss whipped its tail through the air. Owen twisted mid-roll but wasn't able to dodge the tail strike.
The strike sent him rebounding upward into the air. Then he fell down, smashed into a pillar, bounced, redirected, and drove straight at the dungeon boss's ribs.
Kpa-kang!
The hit landed. The indestructible egg met hard scales, causing a cracking sound to echo through the air.
Owen had expected the boss to fall, but he was flung backward instead. Sent bouncing uncontrollably across the stone circle and skidding into a wobbling stop in front of Yuki, who had now been freed from the paralysis.
She picked the egg up and ran back into the forest, away from the dungeon boss.
But it wasn't going to let her off that easily. It roared again and started marching toward her.
What the hell? Just a crack of its scales? Some ribs should've broken at least! Owen protested in his head, unable to accept that he couldn't deal considerable damage even with his high attack.
But he quickly subsided his arrogance and accepted his first defeat. Well, even with my high attack, all I'm dealing is blunt damage. It would've been different if it was a slash attack from dragon claws.
Fuck, I can't wait to hatch, Owen thought as he checked out the remaining EXP he needed for him to hit level 10.
[Host: Owen]
[Species: Dragon (King Bloodline)]
[Status: Unhatched Egg]
[Rank: S]
[Level: 9/10]
---
Just a few more EXP before I reach my level cap, and according to my gaming and manga knowledge, I will definitely hatch by level 10.
Owen couldn't hide his excitement as he trembled in Yuki's arms.
"Don't be scared, little egg. I'll bring us to safety," Yuki assured him as she felt the egg tremble in her arms, causing her breasts to quake.
She coincidentally came across more Lizardmen on her way, and Owen strategically defeated each with precise ricochets off trees and accelerated dives.
[EXP Gained!]
Just a few more... that's all I need. Where the hell are the monsters? Owen asked as he spread his Mana Sense wide but couldn't pick up any monster's life signature anymore.
It seemed the dungeon boss's roar had scared them all off as it kept chasing Yuki.
But just as he was about to give up hope, his Mana Sense picked up two life signatures.
He smirked within. He bounced out of Yuki's arms and accelerated ahead of her, disappearing into the forest.
He didn't want Yuki to witness what he was about to do. He had sensed the mana signature of the two C-rank hunters, Gordy and Perry, and he thought they were the perfect "monsters" to break his level cap.
Whoosh!
Owen rolled past them, coming to a halt in front of the fleeing pair of brothers.
"What the hell? Isn't this the dragon egg? Hah! That big-breasted fool must've been killed by the rampaging dungeon boss!" Gordy jeered.
Perry stepped toward the egg and bent to pick it up. "Better for us. While it's snacking on her corpse, let's seize this chance to steal the dragon egg and get the heck out of this dungeon!"
Fuck you, you're going to be the corpse soon! Owen jerked back as he steadied himself for a roll and accelerated toward the bent Perry, smashing into his groin region.
"UGH—!" Perry yelped.
Gordy unsheathed his sword as he rushed toward the egg. "Brother! Move aside!"
He activated his sword skill, and the blue arc of energy shot forward toward Owen, but it just ricocheted off the tough shell.
Hah! Wait your turn, bozo! Owen bounced off a few trees, increasing his momentum after each bounce, then accelerated toward Gordy, going for the kill as he aimed for his head.
Whump!
He smashed through the C-rank hunter's head with ease, like breaking through a wooden fence.
[Human hunter defeated—!]
[EXP Gained!]
"NOOOO! BROTHER!" Perry cried as he saw the pieces of his brother's brain splatter onto the trees around, with his body falling toward the ground.
Perry conjured up a magic wand from his inventory and started waving it around. "You fucking chicken egg!"
He chanted a few lines of words Owen couldn't understand, and a fireball the size of a volleyball appeared in front of the wand.
"DIE!" Perry launched the fireball at Owen.
But Owen didn't feel the need to dodge this; instead, he felt confident in tanking it.
So he stood his ground and let it hit him, and something interesting happened.
Owen, who had his Mana Sense heightened at that moment, felt the mana of the fireball as it enveloped him. So he focused on this new sensation of sensing a skill's mana, and it felt ecstatically pleasing.
Ding—!
[You have assimilated the magic formula of the skill: Fireball (E-Grade) due to Mana Sense (S-Grade)—!]
[You have copied the skill: Fireball (E-Grade) due to Magic Affinity (S-Grade)—!]
[Fireball (E-Grade) has been upgraded to Fireball (A-Grade) due to Fire Affinity (S-Grade)—!]
Hah! Thanks for the free skill! Owen cheered as he focused his will into activating this new skill. He had an abundance of mana, so he even channeled more mana than he needed into the skill.
Perry trembled and fell to the ground as he witnessed what was happening before him. The air rose in temperature, and the light blinded him.
A fireball bigger than a garbage truck appeared above the dragon egg.
"Ha… ha… hahaha! We really shouldn't have taken this damn job," Perry muttered as he accepted his defeat, getting burnt to a crisp as the giant fireball descended upon him.
[Human hunter defeated—!]
[EXP Gained!]
[EXP Threshold Reached—!]
↑--Level Up--↑
[Level: 10/10]
[Conditions met—! Hatching Evolution in progress—!]
Finallyyyy.
The golden egg started hovering in the air as it glowed with golden energy, the air around it trembling.
"Eggy! What's happening?!" Yuki yelled as she had just arrived at the scene.
Fractures and cracks appeared on the egg, spiderwebbing across the shell's faint magical inscriptions.
A low hum vibrated from the egg like a heavenly choir singing. Then the shell flexed outward, bulging as something struck it from the inside.
A jagged split formed in the center as heat spilled out in a thin stream of hot air, then a tiny black claw pushed through.
Golden fragments of shell snapped off with each strike, scattering like shards of sunlight. With a sharp, decisive blow, the egg burst open.
A small black dragon sprawled out, wet and trembling, but unmistakably powerful.
Metallic black scales shone in the light, reflecting the golden streaks that ran through them.
Its eyes opened—bright, sharp, and intimidatingly golden.
Owen lifted his head, inhaled a weak puff of steam, and let out his first sound. A roar just as ear-shattering as the dungeon boss's.
The last fragments of the egg dissolved into ash around him as he floated to the ground.
Ding—!
[Hatching Evolution complete—!]
[Evolution to Baby Dragon complete—!]
[Sovereignty of the Dragon King (SSS-Grade) has been unlocked]
[Royal inheritance initiated—!]
[Analyzing Worldly Affinity and potential—!]
[Host has inherited Sovereignty of Destruction (SSS-Grade)]
[Host has inherited Sovereignty of Space-Time (SSS-Grade)]
[Bloodline skill tree Unlocked—!]
[Host has gained the skill: Dragon's Eye (SS-Grade)]
[Host has gained the skill: Dragon's Breath (SS-Grade)]
[Host has gained the skill: Dragon's Aura (SS-Grade)]
[Host has gained the skill: Dragon's Tongue (SS-Grade)]
[Host has gained the skill: Ultra-Regeneration (SS-Grade)]
[The Roll (A-Grade) skill and Bounce (A-Grade) skill have been combined and upgraded into the skill: Momentum Shift (S-Grade)]
[The Indestructible Shell (S-Grade) skill has been converted and upgraded into the skill: Indestructible Scales (SS-Grade)]