Reincarnated As A Chameleon And Eating Everything To Evolve

Matthew dashed forward while brandishing his claws and aimed towards the closest human. His scream was heard out loud and due to the system translating his words, the humans were able to hear the death threat that was aimed at them.

All the humans turned their heads towards the source of the sound, but none of them could see anything there. They looked left and right as they searched for someone that had just threatened to kill them all, but their eyes couldn't find anything in the vicinity.

The human soldiers were confused, but one man who seemed to be the captain remembered something and quickly shouted,

"Men, hurry up and prepare y-"

But his words were cut off mid-way as suddenly the words that came out of his mouth changed into a gurgle and a stream of blood spurted out from his neck before his body fell to the ground.

The remaining five men had finally remembered their briefing before starting their attacks towards the kobold village. They were told that there will be a slim chance that an invisible enemy will appear among them. And just in case the invisible enemy did come, each team was given a magic dagger that could temporarily reveal the invisible enemy as long as the dagger touched the body of the enemy.

But that was only given to the team captain because magic equipment wasn't that common even though the dagger was only a low-quality magic weapon. And it was supposed to be used as an emergency measure if they didn't have any other choices left since they couldn't even see the enemy, tagging it with their dagger was incredibly hard and almost impossible if the invisible enemy targeted their vitals. 

The main instructions that they received if they ever meet the invisible enemy were to report back to the higher-ups and they will dispatch a specialized mage that could reveal the invisible enemy.

And now that the humans had suddenly lost their captain, the 5 of them decided unanimously that they needed to run away.

However, Matthew didn't have a plan on letting them escape. Not only was he beyond furious and wanted them to at least pay a little with their lives, but Matthew also didn't want his whereabouts to be known by the other humans.

Matthew quickly used his tongue to grab around one of the human's legs and pulled himself towards him. With his leg being pulled, the man fell over to the ground, and before he was able to shout for help, he felt a sharp pain in his neck before finally losing his life.

Matthew then grabbed the man's sword with his tongue and ran forward to chase the remaining 4 humans. Using his tongue like a whip with a sword on its end and his own claws to simultaneously attack the humans, Matthew was able to quicken his pace and finish the humans in a matter of seconds.

His tongue would snap at one of the human's necks while his body went after the other humans and used his claws to also finish them at the same time, resulting in the humans being dealt with at an unimaginable speed.

Matthew then ran back towards Mutt to help him get up and leave the forest as soon as possible.

But when he got back, he saw that Mutt was already standing on his own as he gently let down the kobold kid in his hand down to the ground. 

Looking at the kobold kid on the ground, Matthew noticed that the kid had already closed his eyes tightly and his ċhėst had stopped going up and down. Anger rose up once again in Matthew's heart, but Matthew knew that his body was already past its limits as he functioned on the adrenaline in his body and his aura is also going to be empty soon. 

The village was still surrounded by humans and he didn't know when they would send another troop towards Mutt's location and if they did, Matthew's aura would already run out at that point and he wouldn't be able to fight with his current condition.

And thinking clearly using his head, Matthew knew that the best choice to do right now was to retreat first before taking their revenge against the humans. So he got closer to Mutt and spoke,

"Mutt let's go, we don't have much time left, I got spare aura to break through the encirclement for us to run away, but we need to hurry up."

But Mutt didn't respond to Matthew and using his magic staff, he started drawing symbols on the ground around his feet.

"Mutt…"

Matthew tried calling out to him, but still, Mutt ignored him and he kept on writing the symbols that had already made a full circle shape that goes around Mutt's body.

"Mutt, I know running away is not what the kobolds do, but we can always come back to get our revenge. There's always another chance if we stay alive."

"If we stay here then we will also lose that chance, come on Mutt!"

Even if Matthew tried explaining to him the best choice for them right now, Mutt still didn't budge and continued writing. The symbols had made another layer outside the first circle and Mutt seems to be planning on continuing writing the third layer.

"Mutt…"

"Please…I beg you, let's leave this place…"

Matthew finally begged Mutt, but Mutt still continued on writing the third layer of the circle. 

Matthew had spent minutes waiting for Mutt and his aura would already be empty for a long time if he didn't turn off his chameleon aura ability a few moments ago.

"Matthew, I understand what you are trying to do, I know you do this out of the goodness in your heart, and I know running away now is supposed to be the best option for us in our current situation."

"But Matthew, although it is the best logical option, it is not the best choice that I as the village chief of the kobolds should make."

"Look around you, Matthew. The village is essentially gone and all the kobolds have died protecting it until their last breath. What would you think when all the villagers had fought until their last breath and I, their chief, just ran away and left them all behind without spending my all."

"Even if their souls could understand if I left, I won't be able to forgive myself and I can't live with the guilt haunting me every single day. Every moment when I open up my eyes, I will remember that every breath I take is at the price of the other kobold's lives."

"Matthew, I could run away on my own if I want."

"It's not because I can't, but I won't."

"But Mutt…"

"And now that the village chief had lost his village, what else should he lead? And knowing that the kid had finally wanted to learn magic and be able to live on his own, I had also done my job as a grandpa. I won't have any regrets left other than being able to see the kid grow up and replace me as the village chief."

"I'm sure with that genius' head, he will be an amazing village chief, it's quite sad that I won't be able to see it happen. But I won't be greedy, I'm already happy with my current life and revenge is not really my thing," 

"I can just leave that complicated stuff to you and the kids. But don't make it your life goal, just do it if you have the spare time, I don't want you all to be tied up to such useless things. I just want you all to live however you want, and with the village gone, then the kids will also gain their freedom to do anything they want to do."

"But Mutt, if the kobolds don't run away then I also won-"

"Matthew, running away is not an option for the kobolds, but I know that you are not a kobold."

Matthew who was about to open his mouth closed them back up and just stared at the old kobold blankly.

"I already know from the start, Matthew. Other than the fact that you could speak our language perfectly and your head looks similar to ours, you are definitely not a kobold."

"Your tail shape and the scales covering your whole body is not something that a kobold could have. If you at least have fur rather than scales then there's maybe a slight chance that I believe you are a kobold. But the most crucial detail that made me sure you are not a kobold is because you didn't even get a small reaction when you recited the chants perfectly when you tried to use magic."

"The magic that the kobolds used was a gift from the gods, no matter how untalented you are at magic, the staff would at least give a reaction unless you are not a kobold."

"But then… why did you not say anything to me and just let me stay here?" Matthew asked the old kobold.

"Well, that doesn't change the fact that you saved the village. And the kid adored you so much that even I started getting slightly jealous about it." Mutt said while laughing at the end of his sentence.

Matthew was about to say something to Mutt, but his ears suddenly picked up hooves sound coming towards their current place and looking at Mutt's expression it doesn't seem that he is the only one who heard it.

"Matthew for my last request, can you please give this to the kid?"

Mutt said while giving Matthew his magic staff. Matthew wanted to try and persuade Mutt once again to leave with him, but remembering what Mutt had just said to him, he just stayed silent and received Mutt's magic staff.

"Also, please take care of the child and the twins, they already experienced so much at their age and their burden was about to increase even more. I will say sorry in advance if they become a burden for you, but their parents are great fighters, I'm sure that they will be able to help you a lot in the future if you gave them the chance to grow."

"And lastly, please live your life to the fullest and until the moment before your death, make sure that you are smiling and free of regrets."

The sounds of the hooves were getting closer and Matthew's eyes had already caught on to at least 10 horsemen running towards him.

"Now, Matthew, leave this place, I don't want another one of my children to get hurt anymore. And thank you for all the things that you did, for everything. I'll leave the children to you."

Without giving Matthew a chance to reply, the old kobold used his claws to cut his palms before putting both of his hands down on the middle of the circles that he had just drawn and said his chants,

"Through the fire authority that was given by the gods to the kobolds, hereby I offer my life as a sacrifice and command the fire elements to be my will and be my dėsɨrė!" 

"WAIT MUTT, WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?"

But Matthew's words couldn't reach Mutt as the sea of fire that was rampaging throughout the kobold village had all started to gather towards Mutt. The heat was scorching hot as Matthew could feel his eyes starting to dry and his wounds were stinging from the heat.

Clenching the magic staff on his hands until his hands felt numb, Matthew ran towards the forest, away from the village as fast as he could.

And when he was a distance away from the village, he could finally see there's a huge whirlpool of fire coming from the middle of the village right where the old kobold had been standing when he cast his magic.