EnroItzal

I have eight chapters in reserve for this novel. If I get less busy IRL, I might just open up a Patreon for this novel.

The pungent odour of the creepy crawlers’ charred carcasses permeated and persisted onto the next day and the next. On top of Henry’s depression, the stench did not lift his spirits but further plummeted until he started unleashing his fire breath in the clearing in front of his cave with reckless abandon. There was no punching bag nor any monsters who would approach him. So, he decided to vent his frustration out in the air. The consistent display of his strength and his kill count had established him as the apex predator in his territory.

But Henry was not happy. The aromatic smell of the lady in white was still lingering in his mind and existed as a phantom scent in his nose. He had only been eating subpar food ever since he became a Dragon. He was excited for the day when he would once again find food that can be compared to the delicious food he had when he was a human. And he did, but he was not excited then. He realised he had yet to fully accept his circumstances. Consuming human-like creatures was still a big hurdle for him to pass, let alone for the sake of self-gratification. What’s more, he was horrified at himself for trying to come up with excuses for eating people. 

Due to his depression, he did not adhere to his routine. He did not go out hunting. He ate only what he had in his reserves. His meal became more terrible and unpleasant than he remembered. The lady’s scent had made all the other meat taste worse than they already were. Nevertheless, he forced himself to gulp down the meat he had.

It was the night after tomorrow. A foul and unfamiliar scent dragged him out of his sleep. Ever since he made contact with those tribal people, the haggard man, and the beast-kin, he had turned high-strung during his sleep. He would wake up at the smallest thing that was out of the ordinary, such as tiny animals passing by his face or water droplets landing on his head from the damp ceiling. This time, his high strung behaviour was warranted. As he snapped open his eyes, he saw the view in front of him was distorted and that was the direction the foul scent came from. He immediately understood what was happening.

Henry grabbed a handful of soil furtively and flung it at the distorted space. The dirt outline the intruder’s contour, confirming Henry’s suspicions. It was an iguana, the same kind that could camouflage itself. It was baring its fangs and ready to attack when Henry threw soil at it and the dirt ended up getting into its mouth. It wiggled around to spit out the sand and that gave Henry a huge window to retaliate. He grabbed the lizard’s head and smashed it against the wall until it burst apart like a watermelon.

Puny lizard.

At first, Henry thought the iguana was here to avenge its fallen kin but upon recognizing the stench to be the same as the bear and the rats, he realised this might be the work of the haggard man. It was even more evident when he saw the state the iguana was in, rotten flesh and festering wounds here and there. It had been dead for quite some time.

So you have finally given your response.

Henry grinned. The uncertainty of when the haggard man would attack him had given him restless nights and days but now that the man had retaliated, Henry felt a huge weight was lifted off his chest. But Henry still felt unsatisfied that the haggard man sent only his expendables to Henry and did not show himself. Just when Henry thought about tracking the man down through the iguana’s scent, a better idea touched his mind. Henry tore open the iguana’s torso and scooped out a tiny clump of crystal. The Mana Heart, as he had coined it. It was a tenth of the size found in the tiger’s body. He tossed the crystal clump into his mouth and swallowed it as it melted in his mouth. A surge only the portion of what the tiger’s crystal clump gave him coursed through his body. In the next moment, he felt something was beckoning him somewhere. 

It worked.

A smile spread on his face. He breathed a sigh of relief. It was a huge gamble. The worst that could happen was that the haggard man would gain control over his mind after he swallowed the iguana’s Mana Heart. If he wasn’t in a shitty mood, he would have tried something so dangerous. Putting himself into a dangerous situation had really taken his mind off of the cumbersome thoughts and he was sure that after killing the haggard man, he would be in a much greater mood.

It was still the middle of the night but Henry didn’t care. He set off from his cave and sprinted towards the beckoning. He didn’t rule out the possibility that this was all a trap the haggard man was luring him into. However, Henry wasn’t in his right mind and he knew that. He was being reckless for the sake of ridding his depression. If he kept staying in his cave and wallowed in his self-pity, he felt that his mind would rot. Who knows, maybe a taste of the haggard man’s flesh would change his perspective and morality. 

Henry followed the trail out of his territory. The part of the forest he found himself in was one that he would describe as wicked. From the air, the scenery, and the smell, everything simply spelt wicked but it was not the work of the haggard man. This was simply how the flora and fauna were in this part of the forest. A couple of miles later, he came to a swamp. Algae covered the surface of the waters and trees with massive roots were growing out of the pond and soil. Most unsettling of all, he saw a few nests that seemed to be the homes of creepy crawlers. There were a lot of intermittent ripples on the small lakes’ surfaces. He spied a whirlpool in the waters and schools of fish with razor-sharp teeth were swimming around it. He didn’t know why and he didn’t want to know. He ignored all of those ominous sights and continued following the trail, leading him along the bank of the swamp rivers.

Finally, a cave appeared in sight and it was thrice the size of the cave he called home. A bunch of broken branches, snapped twigs, and fallen leaves were scattered in front of the entrance. He took a whiff, catching a foul stench emanating from within but it wasn’t the scent of death or defilement. It was the odour of excretion. This cave was home to some large monster, large enough to devastate the trees as it moved around, and the invisible trail led him here.

Is this really a trap?

Henry stopped at the entrance. He didn’t know what was inside the cave. The cave went deep but how deep it was, he didn’t know. Moreover, there was also the layout of the cave, something he needed to take into consideration. Entering the cave without such knowledge was folly but he didn’t have any other clue or trail to follow. He strained his ears but nigh-silence responded. The stale breeze blowing and water droplets hitting against the rocky surfaces were the only sounds he heard. As he squinted his eyes and peered deeply into the darkness, he saw tracks on the soil inside the cave. 

A serpent monster?

He instantly determined the kind of monster living inside the cave. The problem was if the serpent monster was at home. He picked up a branch on the ground and tossed it into the cave. The branch made quite a bit of noise as it tumbled. As the noises persisted for a while, Henry judged that the cave had a steep slope. Then, he heard the stick hitting something solid but slightly spongy. The stick did not hit a rock. It hit flesh.

Oh crap…

Before Henry could run for cover, the serpent monster shot out of the cave. It wasn’t as fast as Iora but it was the faster monster he had encountered so far. Henry barely avoided its fangs but its tail slammed right into him. He went flying and tumbling across the ground before coming to a stop upon crashing into a mossy boulder.

Stupid fool! Find a cover next time before prodding it!

Henry reprimanded himself. He quickly scrambled to his feet to face his opponent, a giant grey snake with keeled dorsal scales that gave it a bristly appearance. It had rows of razor-sharp teeth with a pair of extremely long fangs. It had fins near its ears and gills around its neck. An aquatic snake, Henry guessed. Most striking of all, it had a patch of blackness just on the left side of its body just under the gills. The Bristly Serpent was shuddering and writhing as if it wanted to scrape off that black patch. It also seemed to be the cause of the Bristly Serpent’s heightened aggression. The serpent was exuding an oppressing aura that Henry wanted to just curl up and weep but he defied that instinct of his with great effort, leaving him panting.

I see… That fucker lure me here to get eaten by this serpent that he had provoked. Clever bastard.

The serpent darted towards Henry like an arrow. He leapt aside but the serpent followed his veer without smashing into the ground first. Henry coiled his claws into a fist and uppercut the serpent when it got too close. The serpent recovered immediately from the uppercut and smacked Henry off his feet by ramming him with the underside of its head. Henry recovered his footing and retaliated with his fire breath. The Bristly Serpent shrieked but swiftly swerved away from the stream of flames. It lunged again without a hint of fear. It was blinded by rage, caused by the annoying patch of itch on its body. Henry threw aura blades but it received them head-on without a scratch.

High defence and high agility? GM, fix this shit!

Of course, this was no game, Henry knew that. The only balance here was nature’s balance. The fighting prowess and abilities of animals and creatures were all mountains and molehills. The Bristly Serpent gracefully dodged another stream of flames and rammed its head into Henry, but he responded with a tail smack right into the side of the serpent’s head. The serpent flinched and shrugged, and that was all the damage it incurred from Henry’s tail smack. The blaze in the serpent’s eyes flared up.

I’m sorry.

 Blue light converged in the Bristly Serpent’s mouth, forming an orb of pure magic. Henry had consumed too much fantasy fiction to not know where this would go. He gathered his breath and spewed out a blazing bolt at the serpent. At the same time, the serpent unleashed the blue orb in its mouth in a form of a high-pressure stream of water. The water jet cut through the blazing bolt like paper. Henry flattened himself on the ground as the water jet streaked overhead. The boulders behind him were severed in half.

Holy shit…!

Henry growled in terror. His eyes widened at the clean-cut surfaces of the boulders. There was something about witnessing water cutting through tough rocks that instilled a greater impression than all the other offensive magic he had seen. His limbs went stiff from his screaming nerves that were clamouring for him to run, which was ironic. No way he could run or move when his limbs were stiff. This was his closest brush against death yet. He could hear his own heart pounding like drums thundering in a festival.

He was flung into the air as something slammed against him while he was still paralyzed by his fear. He went spinning as he was falling back to the ground. The winds dispersed from him, allowing passage for the Bristly Serpent’s meteoric speed. Henry tried scratching the serpent with his claws but it could manoeuvre with extreme precision even when it was moving this fast. It went around Henry before tightening up, constricting him with its body. Henry felt all the air in his body was squeezed out of him and he was left gasping for air that refused to enter his lungs.

The Bristly Serpent loomed over Henry in his despair. It spanned its mouth wide, amassing blue light between its opened jaws. Henry struggled but it ended in vain. Without being able to breathe, he couldn’t unleash his blazing roar. The blue lights morphed into an orb of magic. And then, the serpent unleashed its water jet spell. As a final struggle, Henry conjured up the translucent barrier. He doubted it could completely protect him from the water jet but it could at least negate some damage. Contrary to his expectation, the water jet’s trajectory was skewed by the translucent barrier even though it was shattered easily. The water jet grazed harshly against the side of Henry’s head and ultimately struck the serpent’s own body. It shrieked agonisingly and tossed Henry into the air. The water jet also merely grazed the Bristly Serpent but a huge part of its scales was torn off. Its wounds were shallow but large.

Before Henry found land, the Bristly Serpent swiped him out of the air with its mouth. It clamped down on Henry with its jaws but no matter how it tried, it couldn’t pierce through Henry’s hide with its razor-sharp teeth. Henry struggled in the serpent’s mouth and managed to scratch its cavity with his body spike. It shrieked and flung Henry out of its mouth but he grabbed its fang and held on to the serpent. The serpent dropped to the ground and started flailing about, trying to get Henry off of its body and prevent him from using his claws or fire breath. It was working. Henry couldn’t find an opportunity to gather his breath or swung his claws. However, these two weren’t his only means of attack.

Henry lost his grip on the serpent’s fang for a moment but he managed to hold on by hooking his claws onto the scales on the back of the serpent’s head. He licked his lips and sank his teeth into the serpent’s flesh. Unlike the serpent, his teeth had no problem piercing through the serpent’s scales. The Bristly Serpent shrieked even louder and slammed his head into a tree along with Henry. He retched blood and let go of the serpent. He fell to the foot of the tree and stayed there without attempting to move. He had accomplished his tactic and he now only needed to wait.

The Bristly Serpent glared furiously at Henry who was lying on the ground with a complacent expression. For all the pain he caused it, simply killing him would not placate its anger. As it thought about what to do to make Henry suffer as it did, the venom began to take effect. Its body stiffened for a while before it went limp and collapsed to the ground. Henry heaved away his consternation and lay flat on his belly. If the Bristly Serpent was immune to his venom, then he would have been fucked. But thankfully, the serpent wasn’t. Currently, it was writhing and billowing in pain. Henry wanted to end its misery by giving it the finishing blow but his state was worse than he initially thought. There was blood in his mouth, the serpent’s blood and his own. The right side of his head was bleeding and the stinging pain was beginning to set in. A few of his ribs were cracked and shattered when the serpent constricted him and when it slammed him against the tree. His tough hide couldn’t save him from the blunt force as his innards were just as fragile as any others’.

A hiss took his attention while he was assessing his own wounds. He gulped at the realisation. He didn’t know when but the sound of the serpent’s squirming had stopped. He turned his head to the side and saw that the Bristly Serpent had recovered. It was no longer affected by the venom. No, it was more accurate to say the venom appeared to have been cleansed from its body. Moreover, the patch of blackness had also disappeared. Henry didn’t know if he was just seeing things but the eyes of the Bristly Serpent seemed mellowed and devoid of rage. The serpent approached him and he tried to move but since his adrenaline had died down, the pain had arrived and prevented him from moving much. 

The serpent looked at Henry with a passive expression. It did not attack him. It tilted its head from side to side as if it was waiting for Henry to say something but after a minute of silence from Henry, who was in too much pain to give any response, the serpent lowered its head to him and gently coiled its tail around him. It then slowly brought Henry into its cave without any force.

W-what the hell is this serpent trying to do? Did it think that I risked my life trying to cure its affliction?

There was no other explanation for the Bristly Serpent’s behaviour. It had misunderstood Henry’s intention and seemed to think that he was just trying to help it. There were a lot of moments that could refute that but it was just a monster, it couldn’t think too deeply of all the small details. Nevertheless, Henry didn’t try to clear the misunderstanding. As it stood, this was benefitting him. He could barely move. If the serpent left him alone, surely he would have become prey for other monsters. Undoubtedly, he had inadvertently saved the Bristly Serpent and it had saved him in return.

The cave ran deep. Like Henry had guessed, there was a steep slope shortly after the entrance. The Bristly Serpent brought him to the bottom of the cave. Judging from the piles of bones gathered here and there, this was truly its nest. There was a small lake in the middle. He could see fish swimming peacefully within but when the Bristly Serpent neared the water, the fish scattered and disappeared into the depth. The serpent lay Henry on a pile of large leaves and it then promptly slithered into the water. The lake ran deeper than the cave if the serpent could completely submerge itself into the water.

Right… now what?