Useless Dragon

An eggshell sat in the middle of the morning's glow, covered in mana-shimmering dew and glowing purple lines. Kobolds huddled around it for protection and guidance, swapping stories of hunts and raids, of victory and retreat, of service and sustenance- until my head burst through it with an impressive crack.

"Good morning, everyone!" I roared, startling myself with the volume of my own voice. Evidently, I had gained the ability to speak draconic, as there was no mental reach. I spoke, and kobolds turned. They numbered into the low dozens, blues and greens contrasting what I knew to be a standard kobold's red. Their noises floated to my head, easily understood by my newly-unified brain.

"Is this our new leader?"

"She's almost as big as Zyradon!"

"Is she single?"

"I started the hearthfire"

I reared back to a sitting position like a bear, beginning to address the kobolds in question. They seemed smaller than before, only due to the larger size I had gained by tricking Zyradon into defeating himself.

"A command report, please." I requested of the confused kobolds. "Who's in charge of who?"

Khirc stepped up before a deep blue great kobold with a magical-looking staff could answer. "Kobolds loyal to their old master are marching on Minas Malboor, and Cilgris has left off to warn them. With their absolute unit quantity and the presence of drakes of your tier, it is unlikely that even prepared humans will last."

"Say no more." I instructed, reading between the lines. "I think I'm able to carry around six of you. Croc, Drox, and Khirc; pick an ally and let's get moving."

Thankfully, each of them had already chosen. A kobold with a human-level greatsword was her choice, awkwardly sheathing it before climbing onto my dark-scaled back. Croc and Drox nominated the mage who tried to speak to me, identifying him as Qriak, when a third kobold caught my eye with his singular one. It burned with something bright, something deep-set, something worth keeping. I opened my hand for the scarred kobold, but with one space-defying step, he was already on.

"We ride." said the aged kobold without missing a beat.

"We ride!" I roared in agreement, and started to move my legs. My claws dug into the ground, sending me exploding forward with every step. My leg muscles flexed rhythmically, front two launching off the ground and landing in a quick sequence followed by my back two. Qriak shouted instructions over the whipping of the air past our horns, guiding me towards less-wooded jungle and away from difficult ground and predator nests. Though this didn't stop me from seeing a large orange cat with black streaks and hilariously small wings, nor electing to collide head-on with the monster. My nose-horn parted the way like I was running through a wall of thick paper or thin cardboard, splatter across my face satisfying rather than gross.

[You have slain: Chiropanther (II). Experience shared with party]

I only slowed to bite the remainder in half, flipping the front half onto my back and taking another large bite out of the back half with my impressive mouth. I marveled at how easily it glided through this monster's meat, taste satisfying on my carnivorous tongue.

"Breakfast is served!" I called to the kobolds. Drox loudly served as best she could, while Qriak and Croc held the kill steady. And I placed one foot in front of the others, starting to build up speed again. 

We breached the treeline, and the path and enemy ahead became clear. I drew closer, unafraid of anything short of their concentrated might, when what I saw took my surprise. Dozens of kobolds hacked at and clambered up the city wall with disunity, acting more like goblins as they crowded and jockeyed for position, a green and blue one close to pushing eachother off the wall. And all the while, humans counter-attacked. Where a wall breach already occurred, humans with axes backed up by pitchforks fended off kobolds. They clambered over the corpse of one drake, comparable in size to me, giving me hope until I saw the numerous armored corpses below. The guards had likely run dry, and another drake alone might be enough to push through and start taking over. 

I seemed to have fewer qualms about fighting my own kind, especially if they were extensions of a tyrant's will. With a simple instruction to hold on to something, I reared on my back legs with a mighty [Roar]

Dozens of kobolds heard the roar, minds hammered in varying amounts. Some stumbled, some stopped in their tracks, some ran, and a rare few fell over, paralyzed with fright. Three even fell to the ground from their position on the wall, a single one dying on impact.

I didn't look at the rest. I caught the attention of the regular drake ahead of me, keeping my ursine stance and delivering a [Slash] to its face. The dragon blocked with a solid horn, my other Slash coming in high and pulling the enemy drake in to deliver a [Bite]. I felt my scales buckle under the chomp from its wide snout, but not before my kobold swat team slid off my back to strike at weak points. Drox slashed at the drake's less-armored stomach, the greatsword kobold swung wide for the back of its knee, and the old master seemed to apparate on the drake's skull. He raised his clawed hand upwards, coating it in an azure-gold light for a heartbeat before pointing his claws together and gouging into the drake's eye. It opened its jaw to roar in pain, allowing me to push its imbalanced form over. It seemed to trip over a greatsword, blood scored with surprising ease before I dove in for the kill. I forearm-blocked its claws, forcing forelegs apart to deliver a [Lacerating Bite]. 

The skill rising to level 6 did not prepare me for the frenzy that followed. I twisted and thrashed, feeling it spray fire over my head. I did not stop, grinding and pulling, until finally ripping a large chunk out. The divine taste of dragonmeat and victory ignited me like oil on a fire, my voice bellowing across the plains in another [Roar]. 

"Fall to the ground or become ground meat!"

My voice hit the battlefield like a tsunami. Some kobolds fell quickly, some lay down their arms and knelt in respect, but a few challengers remained. I charged into the attempted spear-thicket, kobold weapons seeming too heavy to wield when an apex of their own species approached. My head punctured one, two more slashed by stamina-backed claws, and several more on the sides fell to a greatsword's golfswing. I charged around the battlefield, drawing attention away from the human city in an effort to save it just as much as grind levels. While I repositioned, I saw some of the runners duck for cover in the skeleton of a shed. Unafraid of a mere wooden frame, I ran closer, batting kobold spears out of the way and glaring down as if my eyes were yet another source of fire. My chosen allies surrounded me, making opportune strikes with their various weapons from the safety of my air of fear.

This aura crumpled when a ballista bolt struck my shoulder point-blank. I fell to one knee, rolling out of the way of more and nearly crushing half my allies in the process. My frenzy flickered out, extent of the pain pouring through my leg like a deluge of icewater. Khirc stood guard of my wounded shoulder, bashing with her shield and trying to pose as if casting or meditating, when a gleeful battlecry ripped through the kobold ballista. Drox had already thrown an axe into the ballista's winch, other one embedding itself firmly in a kobold's leather chestplate and scaled chest before she went to work with her claws. Red glows surrounded them, cutting down a kobold siege engineer to size, then another, seeming to laugh off the shortsword of a nearby kobold before unifying her claws on his head. The greatsword kobold seemed to be faring just as well if not better, dancing in and out of my vision with surprising skill and despite his wounds delivering many more to the kobolds ahead. Croc finished his dance. An orb of flame flew over my head, the battlefield erupting like a celebratory firework.

"They're retreating." Informed Khirc. "Should we chase them down?"

"No." I managed to mutter, my flow of blood loss waning bit by bit. "They ran away. We won."

I reached aside, bracing my elbow against the ground, and grasped onto the ballista bolt. Holding my breath and ensuring not to bite my own tongue clean off from pain, I pulled. 

"Valerie what are you-" asked Qirak, but I could barely hear the rest. My pain crescendoed from icewater into burning lava, entire upper arm's nerves swearing at me in their only language to stop whatever I was doing. My clenching muscles only strengthened my grasp, angling the bolt free with an agonizing, liberating, tear.

The bolt clattered to the ground, and so did I. My consciousness flickered as kobolds rushed to attend to me, their care for me even more durable than any scale. Drox used her strength to prop me wound-up, Qirak and Croc wielded the last of their fire and water to clean the wound and cauterize it shut, and Khirc finally got a hold of her god. Vines from nowhere wrapped around my shoulder, acting as a mere bandage- until the healing magic hit. My pain numbed, replaced with a spike of odd bliss that quickly faded back to mere discomfort.

"Thank you, phoebe." Khirc praised sincerely, kneeling in exhaustion and reverence. 

[-Battle Results-] the screen showed me

[Your party has slain: 2x black firedrake (III), 8x kobold soldier (II), 25x kobold (I). Experience pooled and shared.]

[Your level has risen to 5. 5 skillpoints awarded. All stats have risen by 2]

[Slash 1-> 2. Roar 1->3. Frenzy 3->5, upgrade available. Lacerating bite 5->6]

"Not bad, not bad" I commented. The humans had me in their sights, likely as an overly bloodthirsty member of the siege. Ignoring imprecise crossbow fire glancing off my scales and pinprick longbow arrows puncturing through them, I began limping towards the city's gate. Mana reserves still full, I reached out towards an important-looking guard, designated by a flash of gold worked onto his hat. 

[I've saved you. Please, free my kobold in exchange for my services]

"Excuse me miss" the grey-tabbarded guard jeered. "We could handle that ourselves"

A thought crossed my mind in the middle of his posturing. [Aren't a dozen of your men dead?]

"Only the weak" came the grating reply. "Minas Malboor offers the finest-"

[Shut.] I ordered through the mental connection, turning my back and walking away. [I don't care about your bragging. The enemies are dead, just let me eat in peace.]

The guard captain jibbered, but likely didn't have the manpower to stop me from dragging away "his" kills. 

I hid with my allies, kob-new and kob-old behind a small hill, joined by several more. Just over a dozen smaller kobolds of dull blue had joined my impromptu buffet, awarded with a leg of firedrake for their troubles. I was finally safe enough to use rapid healing, letting it slowly but steadily turn my massive well of stamina into lost health and eased discomfort.

We ate like monarchs, taking care to extract the kanastones. And while my allies took their midday rest, I merely drew my limbs under me like a cat. I had systems to engage with, points to burn, and Skills to upgrade.

I reached into my panels again, seeing a new one appeared below my Skill panel. A pixellated anvil and hammer icon stared at me, unrecognized.

"This must have been installed in my last evolution..." I thought, tapping it with a claw.

My five level-capped skills emerged, along with two slots to drag them.

"What happens if I..." I thought, dragging together Mind magic and Frenzy. 

[Anger magic (II). Cast mind spells with ramping power, channeling speed, and stamina cost. 2 SP] read the new tab.

Excited by new tools to fight with, I tried again. Stamina cap and rapid healing granted me...

[Buffered rapid healing (II). Gain a special special stamina well, which can be spent only to heal you. Both stamina wells refill independently. 2 SP]

I tried again with other combinations of the four, seeing a pattern emerge. When two skills were alloyed together, the result seemed to comprise their overlap, stronger than either could be but in increasingly specific fields. 

Water magic combining with the others seemed to sidestep this. Likely due to its Fundamental nature, my options doubled. Water magic and frenzy granted me these two choices

[Stream magic (II). Cast water spells with ramping power, channeling speed, and stamina cost. 0 SP]

[Hydrocast frenzy (II+). Increase the effects of frenzy. Frenzy buffs water magic at a reduced effect rather than inhibiting it. Frenzy drains mana to cast. 4 SP.]

My other options included the same sort of deal. A plain-looking but free effect that consumed the Fundamental power, and a more unconventional one that spiked in power and cost. 

"I need to learn a ton of generalist Skills." I whispered "And level them to five. Some cool synergy is going to be held in there"

My musings stopped when I heard the sound of something large slow to a crawl. A double-masted ship docked at Minas Malboor's port, seeming oddly familiar when I squinted my eyes from this range.

[Your Master has returned to effective range. Partner effects restored.]