As one of the few kobold shamans who had inherited some of the tribe's knowledge, Saron had finally confirmed Levi's true species.
A dragon!
And a metallic dragon at that, a silver dragon, which was extremely rare in the Underdark!
But none of that mattered now.
In their experience, dragons were known for being petty and vengeful.
There were tales of a red dragon who, after being hunted by a party of self-proclaimed 'dragonslayers' in its youth, publicly burned a town to the ground upon reaching adulthood.
And metallic dragons were even more trouble. Hit the young one, and the old one will come—that phrase was practically invented for them! And they often came in groups!
With his limited wisdom, Saron could only make a swift, decisive judgment. Since they had already offended it, they had to snuff out the possibility of future retaliation in the bud.
Though they would lose the powerful backer the tribe desperately needed, the blood of a wyrmling, offered through the tribe's ancestral sacrificial ritual, would be enough to awaken the latent species talents in many of the young, setting them on the path to becoming Dragon-blood Sorcerers!
Furthermore, even if this silver dragon were to grow powerful enough to protect the tribe, it would take at least several decades to progress through its wyrmling, young, and juvenile stages to become a youth dragon with some magical ability.
During those decades, not only would it be weak, but its enormous appetite would likely become an unbearable burden on their tribe.
As the old kobold shouted, an almost imperceptible ripple of magic spread through the air. The panicked kobolds instantly changed. Their eyes became bloodshot, their pupils dilated, and the veins and muscles on their bodies bulged as if they had gone berserk.
They dropped to all fours and charged with a collective 'Awooo!', their speed and power on a completely different level than before.
On the other side, although Levi couldn't understand what the old kobold was yelling, he could tell things had gone south.
The moment of draconic nobility he'd felt after that roar vanished. Without a second thought, he bit down on the stone spear pinning his wing membrane, yanked it out, tossed it aside, and fled!
Adios!
As for fighting these rabid-looking kobolds head-on?
If Levi could have fired off a second breath weapon, he might have considered it. But he could clearly feel that the first one had completely drained his young body. If it weren't a life-or-death situation, he would have just collapsed and gone to sleep right there.
Following his instincts, Levi displayed an agility and speed that stunned the kobolds. He frantically pumped his four short legs while clumsily flapping the wings that felt so awkward to him.
The posture… well, you could say it looked like a duck being chased by a farmer, running desperately but unable to take flight.
Levi couldn't care less about how elegant he looked or whether he was bringing shame to the noble silver dragon lineage. His mind was consumed by a single, primal urge:
Hunger!
The intense exertion led to intense energy consumption. The pot of food the kobolds had so carefully prepared was digested in an instant, burned away for kinetic energy before it even had a chance to become waste or fat.
Dizzy and light-headed from hunger, Levi could only run on instinct, constantly changing his path based on the whooshing sounds of projectiles behind him.
Since Saron had decided to eliminate all future threats, the adult kobolds held nothing back. They hurled their stalactite spears with full force, creating a barrage like cluster bombs that exploded around Levi with deep thuds.
Shattered stone fragments flew everywhere like shrapnel, constantly carving gruesome wounds on Levi's body.
If not for the scales covering his body, which absorbed most of the impact, he would have been torn to shreds long ago.
The chase continued for several kilometers until they reached a riverbank where the terrain suddenly became extremely steep. The pursuing kobolds, also panting and drooling, suddenly screeched to a halt at a gesture from their leader.
The lead adult kobold stared at the dark, silent riverbank with a grave and fearful expression. It then shot a frustrated look at the silver dragon, which was still scrambling away in a panic. With an annoyed snort, it reluctantly ordered the equally unwilling kobolds to retreat from the eerily quiet area.
Unaware that he had entered a dangerous zone, Levi was just relieved that he had finally shaken off those damned kobolds. He didn't dare to let his guard down, though, and continued running for an unknown amount of time until he found a natural cave, his stamina on the verge of collapse.
After cautiously checking several times to ensure the cave was empty of any signs of previous inhabitants, he collapsed in exhaustion.
Still uneasy, Levi forced his heavy eyelids open for one last look outside the cave. He could only see a thin gray mist floating above the river and the empty, barren river flats.
Theoretically, in the Underdark, a precious water source like this should be teeming with life…
Levi instinctively sensed that something was unusual about this riverbank, but right now, he had no other choice.
His body was severely drained. A wave of irresistible sleepiness washed over him, making him feel as if he would fall into a deep slumber the moment he closed his eyes.
"This won't do!"
Overwhelmingly tired, Levi felt the gnawing hunger in his stomach return, a hunger so intense it felt like it could digest him from the inside out. He had a premonition of danger.
Even though he had eaten a mass of fungal matter and most of his own eggshell back at the kobold camp—a volume nearly equal to his own body weight—it had all been burned off during the frantic escape.
"If I fall asleep like this, I might never wake up…" Levi's mind, feeling like a rusty, grinding machine, thought numbly.
He forced his eyes open, trying to find something edible before he passed out. But all he could see was the quiet riverbank in the distance, the mottled stone walls of the cave, and the faintly glowing moss on the rock floor beneath him…
The idea of fishing in the river was immediately dismissed. Setting aside the fact that he was exhausted and had never swum in this form—he might just die the moment he hit the water—even in the nature documentaries he'd watched in his past life, riverbanks like this were prime resting and ambush spots for top predators. Rushing in without knowing the situation was a death sentence.
So, the only thing left is…
Levi stared woodenly at the moss growing stubbornly on the damp rocks and swallowed hard.
"I wonder if the stuff in fantasy novels about dragons being able to digest rocks, metal ores, and other inorganic matter is true… Whatever… I don't have a choice…"
Nearly mad with hunger, Levi steeled himself and licked the rock. His tongue, covered in countless tiny barbs, scraped the moss clean, leaving white streaks on the stone.
It didn't taste like the seaweed he'd imagined. The fishy smell was strong, but it was barely edible…
Feeling the acid churning in his stomach, Levi stopped caring. He opened his mouth, full of uneven baby teeth, and started chewing ferociously on the ground.
With a mouthful of rock and soil, Levi's slitted pupils widened.
"Blech… what the hell…"
Even with his altered draconic sense of taste, the texture was indescribably gritty. It was like biting down on a piece of sand, magnified a hundred times. The rock fragments of various sizes not only grated against his teeth but also scraped his throat.
Fighting the overwhelming urge to vomit, Levi forced the mixture of moss and rock down.
"It's working…" He felt a sliver of relief as the 'food' began to be rapidly digested in his stomach.
As time went on, Levi's foraging yielded a small surprise.
Beneath the layer of soil he had dug up, he found numerous earthworm-like creatures and some amphibious shellfish and crabs. Before these forcibly evicted residents could escape, they were swept up by his barbed tongue and deposited into the highly acidic, multi-chambered stomach of a certain silver dragon.
Levi didn't know how long he had been eating. With the upper half of his body buried in a pit of his own making, he was finally half-full. He could no longer resist the waves of drowsiness, and his vision blurred as his eyelids slowly closed.
Perhaps it was a hallucination, but just as sleep was about to claim him, he instinctively lifted his head to find a more comfortable sleeping position. He thought he saw a glistening, round creature emerge from the river, hopping and bouncing slowly towards him.
"What… is that thing… The little thing… looks quite… unique… A blueberry pudding? I… am so… hungry…"
At that, Levi's consciousness completely shut down. With a thud, his upper body fell back into the pit he had dug. His mind sank into a boundless darkness as he began the first slumber of his new life as a dragon.