Reincarnated as a Dragon's Egg
Chapter 500: A Momentary Opening

I look down at the clay brave from the sky. The clay brave turns the [Life-Cutting Laevateinn] towards me and shoots out [Shockwaves] clad in sinister light. I lower my head, twist my body, and fold my wings to dodge the triple [Shockwave].

Even with this distance, I can’t say that I’m safe… It’s a little hard to dodge the [Shockwaves] in the dense fog. I can’t keep it up forever.

I swing my claws, carving through the ground where the [Shockwaves] came from with [Dimension Claw]… But, there’s no sensation of hitting the clay brave. The fog makes it hard to see my target from this high up.

The difference in our body sizes is a fatal disadvantage to me for this long distance shooting match. It’s easy for me to be spotted, and I'm a big target for its attacks. But it's far too strong for me to fight with my stats halved in [Baby Dragon] form.

Even using [Mirage] to try and bluff my position is unlikely to work against the [Evil Ahriman]’s antimagic effect. The shub-niggurath was specialised in underhand tactics, but the clay brave has an earnest fighting style thanks to [Evil Ahriman]. Still, I wish it was a bit larger. It's too small to reliably target.

…There’s no helping it. I don’t have many skills that seem like they could work. I don’t know if this place was important to the former Demon Lord, but I'm not going to hold back.

“GuOOOOOOh!”

I roar as I use [Dimension Claw] to carve through the ground. I make the scale of the slash as wide as possible. The ground tears in two, and several secondary cracks spread out. Three [Shockwaves] fly towards me in return. I fly up to avoid them.

…The preparations are done. Its footing is lost.

Once I’ve flown a bit higher, I point my body at the ground.

“GuuOOOh!”

Black light expands out from me. It's the [Gravity] magic. As my increased weight causes my huge body to begin to plummet, I fold in my wings to reduce my air resistance.

In addition… While falling, I prepare another magic skill. From my centre, a dusky-black magic circle expands. The preparation time for this one is a little long. I’ll deploy the magic circle now, then activate it the moment I land.

Just before I reach the ground, at the edge of my fast-moving vision, I see the clay brave leaping towards me and swinging its sword into my flank. E-even under these circumstances, it’s still attacking! I thought for sure it would distance itself, but… No, this is perfect!

Right as I touch down, I swing my rearlegs beneath me. With a thunderous roar, a huge shockwave rolls out into the surroundings. It’s the [Hero] skill, [Return to Ground]. As the terrible shockwave spreads out, the ground that was already torn up by my [Dimension Claw] shakes and deforms.

The clay brave’s [Laevateinn of Life-Cutting] cuts through the scales of my shoulder, and is about to cut through my flesh when, taken aback by the disturbed ground, the clay brave leaps up.

It has shown a momentary opening.

I raise my foreleg as though I’m about to swing. But I don’t move any further. It’s a diversion meant to distract. I know that if I were to try and hit it normally, it’d just ward off my speed and hit me with a counter.

It’s a little immature to use this tactic when I already have a stat advantage, but… In this moment where it can’t easily escape, I’ll catch it with a wide-range skill! I activate the [Hellgate] I prepared while falling.

【Normal Skill [Hellgate]】

【A type of spatial magic. It calls out to the world of the dead to immolate the enemy with hellfire.】

【The hellfire does not affect the caster.】

【Raising the skill level will expand the scale of the effect.】

【The attack power is high, but an equivalent exchange is needed.】

The scale of [Hellgate] expands as the skill level rises. At level 2, the diameter was about five metres. Now that it’s level 4, it should cover a fairly wide area.

“GuuoOOOh!”

The black light from the magic circle intensifies and then spreads over the ground, forming into several giant black skeletons that appear to be crawling out of the ground.

The [Evil Ahriman] was even able to repel [Gravity], but… It wasn’t completely ineffective. I doubt it can completely block the [Hellgate] that killed a fenrir in an instant. But, to be safe, I waited for the perfect timing when its ability to respond would be delayed.

The clay brave shifts its stance, shoving its sword hand towards the ground to raise the rest of its body slightly. Then, with its legs outstretched, it kicks off a chunk of earth that was lifted by my [Return to Ground], leaping away to escape. It reaches out its legs to another lump of earth.

I destroy that lump of earth with [Dimension Claw]. Even if I’m not able to catch the clay brave  itself, it’s easy for me to tell where it’ll go next, as its movements are restricted by the terrain.

I probably wouldn’t be able to react in time normally, but… While falling, I considered the possibility that it would use the ground raised by my [Return to Ground] as footing to escape. 

The three giant dark skeletons lean down on the clay brave. The clay braves tries to kick off the skeletons to escape from the black hell of [Hellgate].

I think for a moment its gotten away. But instead, as its leg kicks against the giant skeleton, the armour covering it shatters and earth inside scatters.

As the clay brave lands on its one leg, black light emanates from the arms of the skeletons and presses it down. Then, the three giant black skeletons lift their arms and lean against it.

The black light fades away.The diameter this time was about ten metres. How big will it be at the maximum level?

The clay brave that was surrounded by the giant black skeletons remains, standing upright. The leg that was pulverised has already regenerated. Of course, the broken armour is still gone.

…It’s quite the impressive armour. No, what’s amazing is the clay brave wearing it.

Cracks run through the [Evil Ahriman], and it breaks apart. From inside, a lightly dressed female figure appears. The clay brave readies its sword, then sprints across the ground towards me even faster than before.

It leaps up and swings [Life-Cutting Laevateinn] down towards my head. The dark red blade cuts through my head. But, it was no more than a [Mirage] illusion. 

“GuuoOOOOh!”

I swing my foreleg up to gouge through the clay brave before it can recover. Its upper and lower bodies separate and fly apart. The [Life-Cutting Laevateinn] stabs into the ground.

【24700 experience points have been acquired.】

【Due to the title skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 24700 experience points have been acquired.】

【The level of [Oneiros] has risen from 97 to 105.】

I won…? For a moment, I’m cautious of its upper body regenerating and getting up. I've completely messed up the area with my [Dimension Claw] and [Return to Ground] though. What should I do…?

【Normal skill [Ideal Weapon] has risen from level 7 to 8.】

【Normal skill [Hellgate] has risen from level 4 to 5.】

【Normal skill [Wormhole: Lv1] has been acquired.】

A-a new skill…?