David felt like he was about to suffocate, so following his body's instincts, he pushed upwards.
CRACK.
Just as he emerged from the 'nest' and greedily inhaled, he smelled a pungent sulfur odor.
Damn it! Could the fireworks in the warehouse have caught fire?
Fearing he might be blown to smithereens in the next second, David struggled to open his eyes, which were glued shut.
Yet what came into view was a 'dark-skinned person' with an equally dumbfounded expression, and the desolate, rust-red mountain hollow behind them.
No, the creature in front of him wasn't so much a person as a kind of being that couldn't possibly exist in reality—
An elf! A dark-skinned one at that.
"Damn!" he and the elf cursed in unison, voicing their shock.
The elf hurriedly turned his head and yelled, "An egg has hatched!"
His expression was like that of an on-duty maternity nurse sneaking into the restroom for a break, pants halfway down, looking at her phone, only to discover a baby's head stuck in the toilet bowl.
"Hold it steady! Don't let it get away!"
Only then did David realize there was a group of these dark-skinned creatures not far away! Each was armed with a deadly weapon, their forms agile—a complete departure from his past stereotypical perceptions.
Holy shit, I've transmigrated...
With this shocking thought, David felt as if his head had been suddenly cracked open; a flood of information was forcibly stuffed inside, including the language of the Drow.
This influx of information was so overwhelming that he instinctively wanted to roar something out so his head wouldn't burst.
"Saphistouin Karatrulka David Uthos Sed Ponga..."
As this inherited knowledge awoke within him, David finally understood.
He had indeed transmigrated.
He had transmigrated into a dragon, a Red Dragon, in another world.
And this was his true name.
But as he roared out this true name, the previously gloomy-faced Drow looked as ecstatic as a lottery winner hit by a surprise jackpot, his face twisted in delight.
David, the newly reincarnated dragon, had no time to digest this fact before he sharply sensed a chilling presence that made his scales stand on end.
A Spellcaster! She's casting a spell!
David wanted to escape, but with only his head emerged, he found himself stuck in the eggshell. His struggles caused him to sway from side to side like a comical weeble.
What drove him to utter madness was that his true name was absurdly long. With his small mouth, it was as if he had installed a bootleg speed booster; he felt as if he couldn't stop until he had recited it all.
In just a short moment, sparks began to fly from his itchy, sore throat.
David was stunned for a moment, then he realized.
Right, I'm a dragon now.
A Red Dragon capable of breathing fire!
Blast her! Just blast her!
Just as human infants are born with the instinct to suckle, David, now a Red Dragon Hatchling, merely had to inhale subconsciously to feel a burning breath rapidly building in his chest. The firelight in his throat began to glow with a dazzling, visible intensity.
The Drow, who was preparing her shadow spell, was so terrified by the dragon's rising roar that her chant discordantly escalated in the empty mountain hollow, matching the dragon's cry.
"AH—!"
"ROAR—!"
But just as David felt a hot stream about to erupt, he was suddenly tackled to the ground from behind.
At the same time, a pair of slender yet strong arms reached out from the side of his neck, coiling tightly around his muzzle like vines, bringing the fierce flame breath he was about to release to an abrupt halt.
"Quick! The chains!"
Responding to the call, the Drow swarmed over, forcefully dragging the relentlessly struggling David out of the half eggshell.
After a series of slick maneuvers, David became the first dragon to be elaborately bound without even fully hatching.
The Drow who had successfully subdued the Red Dragon Hatchling were extremely excited.
The way they looked at David, their eyes burning, wasn't like they were looking at a newly hatched Evil Dragon, but more like a moving, life-sized gold mine.
The Drow Spellcaster who had faced off against the True Dragon with shadow magic hurried forward to claim credit, her excitement leaving her almost incoherent. "Leader! A True Dragon! A True Dragon! He just shouted his true name! It was Saphis-something—did you all hear it?"
The Drow leader stepped on David's plump rear with one foot, grinding it in. Feeling the solid and powerful feedback underfoot, she licked her lips and said with a smile, "As if we needed you to tell us. If I hadn't arrived immediately, you might already be a piece of fragrant roast meat by now."
Her Drow followers immediately burst into boisterous laughter.
"Alright!"
The Drow leader raised her hand to signal everyone to silence, then looked around the group and said, "A True Dragon, and we've even saved a huge sum on the awakening ceremony expenses—you all know what that means."
"As long as we can smoothly pull off this job, not only can we completely pay off all our debts, but we can also pocket a substantial surplus. Whether you use that money to bribe the military to clean our records, or you have other plans, I won't interfere."
"But before that, all of you put away your petty schemes. Continue on the road, and let's leave the territory of this Red Dragon's dam first—otherwise, all of this will be for naught."
Only then did the Drow, understanding the situation, pack up their belongings. David, the Red Dragon Hatchling who represented their hope of turning their lives around, received their utmost "care."
He was hung upside down on a dead wooden stake like a spit-roasted piglet. His snout, considered the biggest safety hazard, was bound by a chain until it resembled a mining drill bit. Carried forward by two Drow, he was positioned in the middle of the group.
Even the eggshell was carefully packed by the Drow, every piece accounted for, to be used as the Hatchling's first meal after hatching.
Ensuring the Hatchling's quality and value was one of the necessary and crucial steps.
Most importantly, they could save a huge amount on provisions this way, without having to frantically figure out how to fill the belly of an Evil Dragon—a stomach like an Abyssal Depths—while fleeing for their lives!
More than once, they had heard rumors of their leader directly slaughtering two Drow as emergency Dragon Food.
Especially since this was a Red Dragon that could breathe fire right after hatching.
If she were pushed to desperation, she would undoubtedly resort to such measures!
In a way, each of them could be considered reserve food for the Red Dragon!
Meanwhile, David, completely unaware of his 'high-standard treatment,' was caught in an unprecedented internal conflict.
Calm down, I have to stay calm! It looks like there's no immediate threat to my life.
Although various negative emotions surged uncontrollably within him, he kept reminding himself of this.
Faced with such an unfamiliar and unprecedented situation, only by remaining calm could he hope to find a way out.
Wait, these damned Drow actually want to sell me as a slave?!
Listening to the piercing cackles from the group of Drow as they chatted, even David, who had been a corporate drone enduring a 996 work culture for half his life, couldn't help but become enraged.
That anger was like a spark falling into the vast sea of his draconic heritage, causing ripples to spread.
An even fiercer wrath blazed from his heart, and his originally amber-colored pupils instantly turned as red-hot as boiling lava.
He looked around at the Drow.
Just wait until I get an opportunity...
Then I'll turn all of you...
Every single one, into ashes!!!
The anger had come so unexpectedly that David, his mind nearly crashing from the Endless Rage, took a long while to find the source of his fury from within his draconic heritage.
Damn it, it turns out one of my bloodline ancestors was captured, 'trained,' and sold...
After all, according to history, these long-eared creatures were merely slaves and playthings bred by dragons years ago.
This was an eternal disgrace that could never be erased!
So, even though this dragon ancestor had 'died,' his soul departed to Barto Hell to serve the great mother of the Chromatic Dragons, Tiamat, the fury left in his bloodline had not yet extinguished.
For a moment, David was torn between laughter and tears.
He never would have guessed that such a wretched experience could resonate through his bloodline and incite such a reaction.
Sure, he was angry too, but the problem was that impotent rage was useless at the moment.
Suddenly, a piece of information popped into his mind:
[Authority—Wrath]
...What the hell? David was stunned.
An abrupt feeling of weightlessness brought his thoughts back to reality. Just before hitting the ground, he looked up in shock to find that the two Drow who were supposed to be carrying him had casually thrown him aside!
In a few strides, they silently closed in on the Drow leader's back, drew their daggers, and plunged the sharp blades into her neck and lower back simultaneously.
A flash of cold light sliced through the air.
The bodies of the two Drow Wanderers stiffened, and then their heads soared skyward.
THUD. They rolled in front of David.
The Drow leader, her eyes bloodshot, scanned the stunned and unsettled crowd, then sheathed her knife and said, "Quicken your pace. We might still be within the range of some lair guardian."
"Yes!"
"And them...?" the Drow Spellcaster, her face etched with anxiety, asked knowingly.
The Drow leader glanced at the bewildered David, a cold smile playing on her lips. "Naturally, we follow the old rules. Salt them well. They'll serve as provisions for our Red Dragon baby on the road."
"..." David, the dragon, was completely stunned.
He hadn't even had time to process the fact that he'd suddenly turned into a dragon.
And now he was already fast-forwarding to the philosophical dilemma of 'should I eat people to survive?' and 'do Drow even count as people?'