The Thankless Hero

Its legs were still bleeding from where I'd bit it but as the claws tightened around my body I was glad for the first time that my scales were still slippery from the larvae's fluids.

I easily slid through the grasp of its claws, travelling quickly over its arm like it was a branch, before hooking around the bearded skin of its neck. And from there I caught a closer look at the open wound where the larvae burrowed.

Realising its mistake, the lizard's grip tightened, hooking its claws over my body to stop me, but I'd already climbed over most of its arm.

Wrapped around its neck I reared my head and aimed with [Poison Fang] to strike with a shot of venom. Not into the open wound but at the exposed body of the larvae. But before I could attack, I was abruptly yanked away from my target.

My fangs only managed to graze the larvae's skin before the lizard forcefully pulled me away from its neck.

I tightened my [Grip] over the lizard's neck and arm, to slow my descent but in the pull, both of its arms gripped my lower body and began to squeeze – shortening my reach with every tug, not caring at all that its throat was being suffocated by the tightening of my grip.

The lizard's eyes now bulged out of its head, deeply reddened. I'd only managed to inject a drop of venom due to its quick intervention and I was doubtful such a small amount would work. But from the enraged growls the lizard made as it struggled to pull me away, I clearly offended it.

As its claws dug into my scales I felt the pain of its grip even with the protection of [Rugged Scales]. With my continued resistance, its skin began to moisten with fluid once again and I felt my grip begin to slip.

Tightening myself around it, I struggled to bring myself up to the wound's opening again. As I did, I was astonished to see the opening of the wound was slowly closing as the fluid of the lizard's body dripped over it. And before long, the wound had considerably shrunk in size.

Was it healing itself?

It would explain why the lizard had so many closed wounds from stingers that should have appeared fresh. But before I could look further, the lizard brought its jagged maw up to bite and I immediately loosened my grip, slipping out of its bite range. With the added force of its pull, I was immediately flung off its body.

When I was over its shoulder, I didn't want to use [Venom Spray] on the open wound in order not to risk poisoning the lizard along with the larva but now with its fully enraged eyes fixed on me, I regretted my decision.

It was the same pattern with the Locust before. As soon as the larva was hurt even a little, it began to attack more furiously, coming at me with everything like it had gone mad.

The lizard moved to sweep its tail over the ground in its frenzy, not minding its hurt legs, and like before I instinctively moved backwards to dodge. But the swing of its tail did not come.

When I looked back the lizard had disappeared from view – it was a feint!

I frantically looked around but there was nothing in sight. Instinctively, I looked up and saw its gaping maw plunging down from the roof!

I immediately leapt out of its path, but its sharp teeth snagged on my scales ripping a few of them off. The close impact caused a dent in my midsection and the wind got knocked out of me once again.

The lizard swiftly recovered, shaking off bits of debris from over its mouth like it felt no pain from its attack.

It lunged towards me again, close enough to bite and I quickly leapt backwards to dodge, ignoring the pain I felt. But I wasn't fast enough, and its extended claws reached out and grabbed me from the ground, pulling me towards its salivating maw.

Rows of its sharp teeth were exposed, curling up on the lizard's face to what looked like a smirk, but the sight of it only made me furious.

Was it mocking me?

I had to admit, it was resilient, but I could have killed it ten times over if I used [Poison Fang].

In its grasp I curled myself taut like a spring, evading its gaping maw to lunge at its eyes using [Rapid Strike]. In a sidewinding sweep across its face, I speared them with my side horns, leaving behind a long grisly scar.

The lizard released its grip as it howled in pain, tossing me away to clutch at its bleeding eyes. Once released, I targeted its legs and saw that my previous work had already scabbed over. I immediately bit down again on its heels. I had to work fast before it restored its eyes and I lose my advantage.

With the added force of [Bite] blood sprayed messily at its feet as it stumbled, slowing its movements greatly but it didn't stop, it simply ignored its pain and kept attacking. It couldn't see me and in its confused searching, it brought its head lower to the ground to trace me using [Scent].

It whirred around sweeping its tail, but its aim was completely off unlike before. This confirmed to me that the masking of my scent has worked!

It's [Scent] would have been accurate, but my smell was no longer my own but that of a larva, so it couldn't distinguish me. I circled around it until its back faced me before climbing over its tail.

The lizard swung its tail down on the ground like a hammer, jolting my throbbing skin with waves of pain, but I gripped tight around its tail and was not thrown off.

The residual shock of its attack was dispersed through my body with [Impact Resistance] sending trembling ripples through my injuries but I quickly made my way to its back.

The lizard struggled to grasp me with its claws but to ensure I didn't fall I squeezed hard around its midsection with [Steel Skin] combined with [Grip] so its claws wouldn't get a proper grip like before.

Unable to get a hold on me, it kept producing the slippery secretion over its skin to make it difficult for me to climb, all the while snapping at my body with its teeth.

I kept myself out of the range of its maw and its vicious mouth by wrapping tightly around its midsection. From there, I was able to reach the wound behind its head.

The wound was almost covered in a large scar, so I tore it open wider to expose the larvae inside, promptly sinking my fangs into it.

The Lizard shrieked in agony and after struggling for a while, it collapsed lifelessly on the ground in a crumpled heap.

Still reluctant to release it from my grip, I wondered if it had died. But I hadn't planned to kill it though.

〚You have defeated LV3 Novus Hesperia〛

〚You have earned 4XP〛

Did killing the larvae mean its host also died? If so, then what was the point of protecting it all through the fight? I was slightly annoyed at that thought.

Before I released it, I scanned the body with [Heat Sense], just to make sure.

It revealed the outline of the larvae around the spine of the lizard, in a shade of deep blue in the midst of a dull red colour. The lizard was still alive, although it only gave off a weak heat signal and I was relieved I didn't accidentally kill it after all the effort.

I was about to cut open its back to remove the dead larvae, when I heard Sensei's amused voice.

«Why save the creature? You could have killed it easily with your venom and spared yourself a pointless battle.»

I looked at my HP that was now [34/64] and had to admit he had a point.

I had done it to test if a Host was capable of being recovered after getting infected by a larva, in the event of myself getting infected or any of the nestlings in the future.

And the lizard had shown that saving hosts was possible and knowing that brought me a bit of solace.

"The wasps are well organised." I responded. "The hole may be sealed off, but that doesn't stop any wasps from returning if things seemed wrong. I can't leave the cell vacant for this reason."

«And you're not tempted at all by the creature's regenerative properties?»

"I need somewhere good enough to hide, and for the moment I can continue to use it as a shield so I don't care about its ability."

It wasn't necessarily true - I just didn't want an ability that essentially made me into a walking slime, however useful it proved to be.

Sensei, as if knowing my thoughts, began to chuckle and I ignored him. Luckily, the system alert that came next interrupted his inappropriate response.

〚You have earned the title『Hero』Activating status effect. Success!〛

Oh? How wonderful!

At least something acknowledged my efforts! I checked my stats and saw some improvements.

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Name: Aurelia LV6 [Neonate Snake] |Poisoned|

Specie: Cerastes Vipera

HP: 34/64 Defence: 46>58

MP: 26/38 Intellect: 59

SP: 42/59 Magic: 22

Attack: 50>62 Agility: 55

Skills:

[Poison Fang: LV3] [Bite: LV4]

[Venom Rain: LV1] [Grip: LV3]

[Scent: LV2] [Heat Sense: LV4]

[Silence: LV3] [Rapid Strike: LV1]

[Stealth: LV3] [Appraisal: LV2]

[Buoyancy: LV1] [Steel Skin: LV3]

[Leap: LV2] [Rugged Scales: LV3]

Title:

[Apostle] [Coldblooded]

[Commander] [Hero]

Unique Skill:

[Devour]

Attributes:

[Obsidian Horn]

Resistances:

[Impact Resistance: LV4]

[Pain Resistance: LV4]

[Wind Resistance: LV1]

[Shock Resistance: LV2]

[Faint Resistance: LV1]

[Paralysis Resistance: LV1]

Experience Points: [142]

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The title [Hero] increased my [Attack] and [Defence] by 25%! Suddenly the battle didn't seem so pointless after all. I'd saved a life and gained a passive stat boost, what else could I need?

A mute button for Sensei?

Perhaps the gods granted wishes if one prayed hard enough.

I approached my defeated foe with renewed enthusiasm. Luckily for the lizard, it was already unconscious at this time, or the emergency surgery I started would have been quite gruesome for it.

Unbothered by the bloody mess, I opened its injury wider and quickly removed the dead larvae.

I watched with fascination as the hole began to knit together. It would have made a wonderful ability if it wasn't so slow. If it was slightly better perhaps I would have been the defeated one. It healed at a rate just above my normal healing and wasn't much help to the lizard during the fight.

Once I got out of the hive, I was better off learning how to cast healing spells like that elf girl.

I inspected the dead larvae that was not much different in appearance from the one I killed before. In a separate corner of the hexagonal chamber, I spotted traces of another egg closer to where the lizard had been paralyzed.

The larvae too must have also been newly hatched, yet its appraisal results were different.

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LV3 Novus Hesperia

Specie: Ailith Vespoidea

HP: 0/10 Defence: 6

MP: 0/08 Intellect: 4

SP: 0/10 Magic: 6

Attack: 6 Agility: 10

Skills:

[Scent: LV1] [Bite: LV1]

[Paralysis Poison: LV1]

[Mind Chain: LV3]

______________

Its stats had improved after spending only a few minutes inside a host body and I'd killed it even before it started to absorb the lizard's bodily nutrients.

If the larvae's strength increased the longer it remained inside its host, then the locust I'd killed had probably been recently turned too.

I wondered what would happen if the hosts were allowed to live for a much longer time with their larvae intact.

I shuddered at the thought.

Wouldn't that just produce wasps of absurdly stronger levels?