NOVEL WEB Chapter 12: Acidic saliva
Arthur hurried deeper into the cave. Behind the eggs, he spotted an opening.
His body was now as large as an adult kodo beast, but fortunately, this dragon lair was enormous. Skirting around the eggs, he squeezed through and found himself in an even vaster chamber.
What he saw next nearly blinded him. The entire cave glittered with crystals and gemstones embedded everywhere—even up on the ceiling and walls—so many that the dazzling light made it hard for him to keep his eyes open.
"Guess it's true what they say: dragons love shiny stuff!"
For some reason, Arthur also found himself drawn to these sparkly treasures, almost wanting to flop right onto them and take a nap. It took him a while, patting here and poking there, to finally rein in his excitement.
"Time to focus," he muttered. "If that mother dragon comes back and finds me missing—or if she doesn't catch enough prey—she'll probably toss me on the grill next."
As apprehension crowded out his initial joy at finding the hoard, one detail stood out: according to the system prompt in his mind, these weren't just decorative trinkets.
They were Evolution Crystals and Magic Gems, often used for forging high-level gear. Adding even small amounts of these minerals could boost a weapon's grade significantly.
Arthur wasn't a smith, but he did have a bold idea. Maybe, just maybe, if he gobbled these minerals, the raw energy inside them would fuel his evolution further. If he could develop some form of flight, he could finally escape this place.
On that hunch, Arthur pried a chunk of Evolution Crystal off the rock wall, tossed it in his mouth, and swallowed without chewing. It slid into his gut, leaving him with a pleasantly warm sensation.
He took that as a green light and started devouring all the crystals and gems he could get his claws on, quickly stripping the mother dragon's stash bare.
Having just wolfed down a ridiculous amount of rare minerals—plus whatever bits of those toxic frogs he still hadn't fully digested—Arthur felt confident he'd soon gain a new skill.
Time ticked by as he sat quietly, eyes closed, allowing his body to digest. Under the influence of Evolution Crystals and Magic Gems, streams of pure energy coursed through him, pushing his body to keep expanding and improving.
At last…
"Phew—"
Arthur snapped his eyes open in delight. His formerly golden vertical pupils now gleamed with a faint greenish tinge.
"Right on! I scored a new skill—and leveled it up big-time. It's S-grade 'Acidic Saliva'!"
Anything that got splashed with his saliva would corrode in seconds, even the hardest metals would dissolve.
Arthur went ahead and licked a piece of Evolution Crystal to test it out. The supposedly rock-solid crystal instantly started foaming green and melted away into a puddle. A second later, those corrosive fluids began eating into the cave floor too, leaving a deep hole before losing potency.
The whole thing took maybe three seconds.
Arthur's eyes went wide, and he nearly cackled with excitement.
"Holy fuck! This skill is even more powerful than I expected!"
He already had a plan in mind to escape the dragon's lair. But just then, he noticed his evolution points had climbed to 99—and those three enormous dragon eggs floated right back into his thoughts.
"I wonder if my saliva can melt those eggshells. If it can, then I can crack 'em open and feast on the insides!"
Fired up by the idea, Arthur crept out of the gem-filled chamber. He paused to listen. Except for the wind rushing past the cave entrance, there were no other sounds—no heavy dragon breathing, no movement. A good sign the mother dragon had flown far away.
He wasted no time. Approaching the eggs, he carefully put a claw on one and opened his mouth. A quick spray of acidic spit landed on the shell.
Hisssss—
A sizzle of corrosion erupted, forming tiny bubbles of greenish foam on the shell. In seconds, a small hole appeared, and golden egg fluid leaked out. Arthur eagerly latched his mouth over it, slurping every drop until the egg was left bone-dry.
The entire process took under a minute. Repeating the same trick, he corroded holes in the other two eggs as well, gulping down every last drop of their rich contents.
"Burp—"
Arthur hiccupped uncontrollably, still trying to catch his breath when his body lurched into overdrive. The energy in those eggs was impossibly pure; the moment he absorbed it, his flesh began to expand at an outrageous rate.
He ballooned like a giant inflatable, rapidly growing until he was about the size of a full-grown elephant. And it didn't feel good—in fact, it was agonizing. His bones shattered through muscles and skin, which then re-formed, tore again, and healed in a vicious cycle.
Even though each rupture sealed almost instantly—before the blood could really spray—every burst of pain stacked on top of the last. Arthur roared and rolled across the cave floor, smashing the broken eggshells to powder and bashing dents into the walls.
Finally, when his bulk rivaled that of a massive woolly mammoth, the growth began to slow. But he hadn't fully absorbed all that power yet.
"Ugh, if I don't find somewhere to rest, I'm gonna pop."
He could feel that raw energy building up dangerously inside, his newly regenerated hide threatening to split at the seams.
"And there's no way I can stay here. I just ate her kids—she's definitely gonna kill me if she comes back!"
Barely clinging to his senses, Arthur staggered to the cave mouth, still half-blinded by pain. The wind hammered the cliff as fiercely as ever, but now it didn't budge him—there was enough mass on his frame now that a mere gust wasn't about to knock him over.
He gazed down into the dizzying drop. It had to be at least 9,000 feet straight down. Drawing in a deep breath, Arthur vaulted off the ledge. His huge body plummeted like a boulder.
As the ground grew closer and closer, and with no flight ability to speak of, Arthur could only brace himself and hope to minimize the damage when he landed.
Boom—
He slammed into branches jutting from the cliffside, which slowed his fall just enough that, when he finally crashed into a massive boulder, he only cracked it into shards rather than splattering himself.
Dust and rubble billowed everywhere.
Thankfully, thanks to his thick hide and the surge of power within him, the pain, while brutal, wasn't lethal. And the minor injuries he had instantly healed up, fueled by that wealth of unspent energy.
By now Arthur was insanely powerful—probably beyond 95% of this forest's creatures. But the dragon reigns over everything, and to survive, he had to find somewhere to hide.
He dragged himself upright and tore off into the depths of the forest. Under the weight of his huge body, trees crashed aside, and hordes of smaller animals and birds fled in panic.
Not until he finally ran himself ragged did he glance back and see the trail of evidence he'd left—an unmistakably demolished path through the undergrowth. He stared, dumbfounded.