Reincarnated as a Dragon's Egg
Chapter 498: The Test of the Strange Land

The clay brave holds ready its dark red longsword, the same colour as its armour.

…I don’t know what that was about it being half the previous Demon Lord, but if it’s going to test me, then I’ll take it on. I might have struggled a bit against the shub-niggurath due to its invincibility skill, but I have no intention of losing to a single A+ monster.

I’ll check its status, then engage.

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Species: Clay Brave

Condition: Normal

Lv: 130/130 (Lock)

HP: 1902/1902

MP: 1754/1754

Attack: 1631+190

Defence: 1990+255

Magic: 1331

Speed: 1257

Rank: A+

Equipment:

Hand: [Laevateinn[1] of Life-Cutting: L-]

Body: [Evil Ahriman:[2] L]

Characteristic Skills:

[Golem: Lv-] [Earth Attribute: Lv-] [Light Attribute: Lv-] [Swordsman Talent: Lv9] [Automatic HP Recovery: Lv9] [Automatic MP Recovery: Lv9]

Resistance Skills:

[Physical Resistance: LvMAX} [Magic Resistance: LvMAX] [Poison Nullification: Lv-] [Instant Death Nullification: Lv-] [Curse Nullification: Lv-]

Normal Skills:

[Bite: Lv8] [Transformation: Lv7] [Autoregeneration: Lv8] [Clay: Lv8] [Shockwave: Lv9] [Thirteen-Fold Magic Sword: Lv7] [Flowing Body: Lv7] [False Moon Scoop: Lv7]

Title Skills:

[King of Earth: Lv-] [Former Demon Lord’s Subordinate: Lv-] [Final Evolution: Lv-] [Obsession: LvMAX] [Sword King: Lv9] [Divine Sword Bearer: Lv-] [One Clad in an Evil God: Lv-]

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…There aren’t any strange skills. As it looks, it seems to be a close-range type that leverages its high stats.

Or rather, it has a skill list similar to Volk or another human swordsman. I’d heard that it was made by the alchemist Alchimia, but if she made it based on herself, then it’s possible that Alchimia’s main talent was with the sword.

Its resistances are high, and it can heal during protracted battles, all while overwhelming its opponent through swordsmanship. It’s probably strong against an opponent of the same rank, but… It seems it might easily get overrun by numbers.

…Still, what worries me more than the monster is its weapon.

【[Laevateinn of Life-Cutting: Value L-]】

【[Attack: +190]】

【Also known as the [Blade of the Unjust God].】

【Made from the tailfeathers of the magical [Vithopnir] clad in rainbows, a sword containing the maximum amount of magic.】

【However, the cost of this strength is that each time it is swung, some of the wielder’s life is cut away.】

【It is said that a Demon Lord once searched desperately for this weapon in hopes that it would slay a god, but was highly discouraged upon replaceing the real thing.】

Th-the attack boost is 190!?

How does that work? The [Holy Sword Radim] that a certain Hero wielded barely gave half of that. I don’t know what [Vithopnir] was, but perhaps it was a Legendary rank Magic Beast King… Volk would probably be overjoyed to see a Legendary sword, but I suspect he wouldn’t be able to keep up with how it cuts away at the wielder’s life.

【[Evil Ahriman: Value L]]】

【[Defence: +255]】

【The strongest Saint of the generations, [Jornes], followed a calamity of a dragon and used that dragon’s flames to craft this armour.】

【Though it was originally supposed to be clad in holy light, due to the armour reflecting its creator's black heart, it instead carries an intense curse.】

【Due to the power of [Jornes’] prayer, the armour is constantly surrounded by a barrier that reflects magic.】

【However, it is said that the heart of whoever wears it is consumed, crippling them.】

【Four successive generations of Heroes tried to use the armour to defeat the Demon Lord, but all of them without fail suffered a tragic end, and so it was sealed in a labyrinth below a royal castle for a very long time.】

…In terms of rank, this one’s higher. The boost to defence is far above any armour I’ve seen up to now. It apparently cursed four Heroes to death, but… I wonder if the one who dug it out of the underground labyrinth was Alchimia. Did she want to kill God’s Voice that badly?

The clay brave holds its sword up to its forehead. It’s a highly humanlike gesture that almost feels like a pretentious knight.

The clay brave kicks off the ground, leaping as it releases a [Shockwave]. The dark red radiance of [Laevateinn of Life-Cutting] separates from the blade and turns into a destructive slash that flies towards me.

I bend down and turn my neck aside to dodge. The clay brave following behind the [Shockwave] twists in the air to rain down a powerful blow towards me.

I defend with the claws of one of my forelegs while swinging my other down towards the clay brave. My foreleg slams into it, dashing it into the ground.

I did it! Or so I thought. The next moment, a sharp pain runs through my foreleg.

“Gah…”

It got me… Probably, in the moment before I hit it, it held out its sword and used my own force against me to cut my wrist. But I also hit it hard. It shouldn’t be unharmed…!

Something jumps out of the hole in the ground, scattering a cloud of dust. The clay brave lands on the ground as though nothing had happened and once again holds its sword ready.

It hardly did any damage!?  Could this be the power of [Evil Ahriman]…? N-no, that’s wrong. Even with that defence boost, if it took my attack head-on it should have been blasted apart.

It wasn’t a direct hit. It must have used the recoil of slashing my wrist to launch itself away.

I-its small size makes it hard to fight… No, this is the difference in our combat ability. It was able to ward off my brute strength attack.

…Even I can’t take hits from【Attack: 1631+190】too many times. [Evil Ahriman] has a tremendous magic resistance. Unlike the shub-niggurath, the clay brave an opponent that fights from the front, but it doesn’t seem like an opponent I can relax against.

[1] The weapon crafted by Loki in Norse mythology – wikipedia

[2] The primary adversary of Zoroastrianism, an evil spirit – wikipedia