Chereads / Reincarnated as a Glutton(Ended) / Chapter 13 - 12 Wounds

Chapter 13 - 12 Wounds

Ducking into a bush about 100 or so feet from the barracks, Kael scanned the ground for any tells of the monsters activity. Though the dusty ground was tightly packed, he noticed a rare small hole or two, big enough to possibly be its claw tip sinking into the earth as it prowled. Using his Illusion magic, he cast a small, crude chameleon sort of dome around him. If he moved fast, it would blur, but if he was very slow it would look almost exactly like the ground beneath him. Though the colors were a bit off, and the details were miniscule, from a distance it was probably impossible to tell. Focusing on his illusion, he slowly planted the bone spears in the ground, twisting them so they'd be at jagged, random angles that would be hard to avoid coming out of a dive.

His plan was simple, lure it in, make it dive for him, and let it spear itself using the planted spears. Afterwards, he could jump on the Drakeling and hamstring it, aiming for where he thought tendons would be. Lastly, he would rip up its wings with his dagger, preventing it from flying. "If all goes well, this thing has numbered hours... I should probably hide back in the bush. Would an illusion be good enough or should I just use myself as bait...?" His jaw set, he frowned. While an ambush of this kind would likely kill lesser creatures, would it really work on something descended from Dragons? Only one way to find out...

Dispelling the illusion only around him was drastically more difficult than he had first expected. The "Ground" around him was slightly warped and distorted. "This... This is such a dumb plan..." He lamented, a low groan escaping as he faked falling down from exhaustion after making it look like he came from the forest. The illusionary wall covering the spears was right over where he lay, "Protecting" him in a way. Just as he thought, an inhuman screech ripped through the forest as a dark red blur sped from a small gap in the trees... Behind him!!! It didn't come chasing him, it stalked around the entrance instead of trailing him! "Oh shit!!!" Flailing madly, he dove for cover under the spears, praying to any and all gods that he would make it out alive. He rolled under a small bushel of the jagged bones, making sure his crude deception had held up before whipping his dagger and a short bone knife from both his belt and his sheathe.

Seeing the puny prey laying down, it raged. This pathetic creature was trying to hit the earth so it could only aim for his back again? Even more so, it had not died as it wanted. This scummy human worm dared to defy when a descendant of the mighty Fire dragons chose to end its life. The infuriated Drakeling felt its blood boil, shifting its size to its more imposing, powerful form. As it folded its great, batlike wings and dove, inches away from the human...

Blood spurted onto the ground in front of Kael. His eardrums were blasted with the most horrifying howl he had ever heard, almost making them burst. The Drakeling was inches from his throat with its talons, but had been just right in its dive to end up impaling its right eye with one of his spears! All of the others shattered from the impact of its hard plate of scales, but the single spear that drove into its eye sent it into a fury, claws turning the earth from flat to grooved. Seeing his chance, Kael took a risky lunge at the blinded beast, using his body weight to force the spear deeper, until..

CRACK

The spear shattered in its eye socket, inciting an almost humanlike scream of agony and hatred from the monster. Its blackish red blood gushed like a ghastly river from the socket now closed over by a scaly eyelid, the remaining red eye bloodshot and burning into Kael's very soul with loathing stronger than any hate could run. Turning from him before he could sink his dagger into the other eye, the wounded Drakeling slammed him in the chest with its thick tail to gain distance, flinging him ten feet back into a tree hard enough for him to cough blood; as it turned into a red blur and vanished back into the forest, leaving only a splattered blood patch turning the once light brown road black.

"Haa....hahaa...hahaha! I'm alive! That was... Oh jeez.. Never again." Trembling with relief, Kael attempted to get off the ground only to find the status menu had popped up. [Player has been inflicted with Paralysis(S) and is stunned. Duration: 2 Minutes. Player took a blow to the vitals. Critical damage, 50 HP dealt.] "Irk... Yeah that's going to leave one hell of a bruise.." Wincing as he watched his precious HP tick down from the damage, he sat in a heap on the ground until his paralysis wore off. Dusting off his clothing and cloak, he found it was all mostly intact with only a small dent in the leather chest piece from the tail thwacking him good.

Hobbling back to the post, the guards took him back to the room he had been recovering in before pelting him with question after question. "Did you kill it? Are you okay? What happened? Where did you run off to? Why do you smell like blood?" Were only a fraction of his bombardment. He tried his best to answer each swiftly, his lack of social skills more apparent than ever. "Ahh... No.. I'm fine. I injured it. Went to set a trap. Found and killed some goblins." He said truthfully, seeing no point in hiding anything but the details related to his [System] menu and such.

Once the Vice Captain had returned, she sat across from where he was resting. "Okay.. We're starting from the beginning now. I want only the truth, am I clear? Who are you. How did you wound it and where. What is your goal here?" She gave him a look of iron, clearly determined to make him cough up details he had been brushing off. "And, so we are clear. We took you in after you survived to send you back to safety, and yet you ran off after waking back up to go and set a trap for something that almost killed you? As the firstborn of the Count Dravlyg, Olivia Dravlyg, I find this to be both ungrateful and offensive." She scolded him without anger in her voice... Was she perhaps the mythical "Tsundere"?!?

Slapping his cheeks to get himself back into reality, he sighed and resigned to the now identified noblewomans' demands. "Let me start with who I am first at least?"