Chương 36: Reborn as the Dragon: — Chapter 36 - Scraping the Bone to Heal the Wound (Not Really)

The Elite Gnoll had no name, but its Black Dragon master had given it one: Grey. As a chaotic evil Gnoll, Grey wasn't exactly the submissive type. But it couldn't argue with the fact that its Black Dragon master was even more chaotic and evil than anything it had ever encountered. So that settled things nicely. Claiming a demon as your master was an honor among their kind. And with the Black Dragon's ferocious appearance, even the deepest demons of the Abyss would think twice before crossing him.

"Keep this one. The rest — kill them." Grey seized Mori Yama Yaren by the skull and drew a slow, deliberate throat-cutting gesture toward the underlings behind it. They'd all picked that up from the Black Dragon.

"Owooh—" The Gnolls launched their attack as one. But they'd left their savage brawling days behind them. What they practiced now had a certain artistry to it. One Gnoll hoisted a Sakura Island player onto its shoulder and drove him into the ground with perfect form, a textbook suplex. Another grabbed a player by the ankles, flipped him upside down, leaped high into the air, spun at speed, and corkscrewed him headfirst into the stone floor. High-altitude spiral tombstone piledriver. Explosive damage.

There were German suplexes. Backbreakers. Bridge throws. Under the Black Dragon's patient instruction, the Gnolls' already-staggering physical strength had grown even further. With their height advantage, they could toss the average Sakura Island player, who stood around 1. 7 meters tall, around like toys. There was a game back on Earth called The King of Fighters. Most of its moves were pure fantasy, but certain wrestling techniques?

Su Nian had found those surprisingly easy to teach to a group of very large, very enthusiastic Gnolls.

"Masano-kun, Yoshikawa-kun, how are you holding up?"

"We... uh..." A message through the team channel. Unfortunately, the two bodyguards currently being used as balls by the Gnolls had no time to type a proper reply. Their HP was in freefall. The individual kicks weren't doing that much damage, to be fair. But God, it was humiliating.

"Damn you all — I'll make every one of you monsters pay for this!" Masano Jiro fixed the Gnoll standing on his chest with a look of pure, cold fury, as if he was memorizing every detail of its face. The Gnoll, however, remembered what its Black Dragon master had taught it. When a human looks at you like that, slap him. If he keeps looking at you like that, keep slapping. The reason doesn't matter. The Gnoll wasn't sure why that was the lesson. But it followed instructions. Crack.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Masano Jiro took a full-arm slap across the face. Two bloody teeth hit the floor. He couldn't stop himself.

"Baka, bakayarou!" Crack. Another one. The Gnoll rubbed its hands together, grinned wide enough to show every fang in its mouth, and felt profoundly satisfied. A shame, then, that the Sakura Island player in front of it had already gone still, and his corpse dissolved into drifting motes of light and vanished. So that was why the master said these strange humans couldn't be eaten. There was literally nothing left to eat. The Gnoll shook its head, a little regretful.... Meanwhile, at the Kobold lair.

Su Nian was coiled comfortably on a flat shelf of stone, Anna settled in the cradle of his arms, gently wiping the scales across his chest. [Your follower has killed a human Mage player. You have gained 5 System Points.]... [Your follower has killed a human Cleric player. You have gained 5 System Points.] The notifications kept coming. Su Nian couldn't help it, his ferocious dragon maw split into a grin. He'd guessed right.

They couldn't resist leaving the beginner village's safe zone, and his setup was already paying off. Lure players in with treasure chests, let them open the chests, have his underlings kill them, and whatever was in the chest became his.

"Dragon brother, you look really happy right now." Anna giggled from within his arms, pursing her lips and blowing lightly on the black scales. She could feel the warmth rolling off his mood.

"I am. But Anna, don't change the subject. The sores on your leg still haven't been treated."

"Ah... Brother, Anna can actually do it herself..." Her small body gave a little tremor. Her heartbeat jumped.

"Be good. Dragon saliva promotes wound healing, mixed with the right herbs, the effect is excellent. And I'm just a dragon, so there's nothing to be embarrassed about." Su Nian's voice was low and rough, not particularly pleasant by any objective measure. But to Anna's ears, it carried something that hummed through her chest and left her warm and faintly dizzy.

"But..." She was still hesitating. His tail moved. It curled gently around her waist and lifted her, easy as anything.

"Ah, Dragon brother..." Su Nian ignored her flustered protests. He raised one claw and gently drew the hem of her skirt aside, revealing the soft pink skin of her calves and knees. A little higher, on her thighs, the skin was covered in purplish-red festering sores, raw and angry and horrible to look at. [Festering Sores Caused by Unknown Malignant Disease (Deteriorating)] Anna was always laughing. Always smiling, always making light of things. But Su Nian had been paying attention.

He'd noticed the way her brow would crease, briefly, when she thought he wasn't looking. The way she'd go still for just a second before remembering to smile again. She was in pain. Every hour of every day, she was in pain. And she'd hidden every bit of it from him. Probably to keep him from worrying. Just bearing it. Alone. In silence. The sores had already filled with pus. It had to hurt terribly. Su Nian didn't hesitate.

He dropped the gathered herbs into his mouth, chewed until they were thoroughly broken down, then pressed his rough dragon tongue, coated in herb paste, carefully against the wound.

"Brother... please don't... the wound is... it's so dirty..." Anna's face had gone scarlet. She kept her head lowered, her small white teeth pressing into her lower lip. Under Su Nian's care over these past weeks, her color had improved considerably. Even now, flushed with embarrassment, there was a bloom of warmth in her lips that hadn't been there before. Dirty? He didn't see it that way. A little pus and blood, it wasn't as though he was going to swallow any of it.

He controlled the soft barbs along his tongue, raising them fully upright. The herb paste went in first; then he worked at the edges of the necrotic tissue, scraping it clean. Only then would the herbs absorb properly. Only then would the dragon saliva do its full work. Anna's brows drew together. Her body trembled, just slightly. A fine sheen of sweat appeared across her forehead. She felt it, clearly. But she didn't make a sound. The wound is so disgusting. All that pus and blood. And yet Brother just...

he doesn't mind at all, he doesn't pull away, he doesn't look at me like I'm... Dragon brother is so good to Anna. If only... if only... God. If you're real. If you're out there listening, please. Let Anna live. Even just a little longer. Even just a little. I want to stay alive long enough to pay him back for all of this.... Silly girl. I'm not going to let you die. Su Nian glanced at her. The thought settled in him, quiet and absolute, as he went back to his work. Not even a god gets to decide that. Not for her.

[Anna Hathaway favorability +5. Current favorability: 60 (Budding)] ➤ Next: Interrogation