Chapter 11: 011

Henry ran until he arrived at the edge of the chasm. The idea he had in mind wasn’t even remotely perfect in his head but it was the only one he had. He knew he wouldn’t fare well in a direct confrontation or a fair fight. He needed to employ some tricks in order to defeat the tiger. 

The tiger emerged from the trees, ramming through the branches and barks in his way. It saw Henry standing by the chasm. Its eyes spelt its suspicions. It trod slowly towards Henry with a low growl that seemed to be saying, “Come here and fight me, coward.”

Though no inner voice was screaming at him, Henry still felt like running with his tails tucked between his legs now that he was facing the full brunt of the tiger’s intimidation. Doubts of all kinds were forming in his mind. Could he truly win? Why was he even fighting? Was all the pain and trouble worth it? His fear was no longer primal or instinctual, but rational. What he was feeling now was rational fear. In a way, it felt more frustrating and crippling with this rational fear.

The tiger, seeing no response from Henry, let out an earth-shattering roar. The birds in the trees took the skies and all nearby animals and creatures scurried out of the area.

The shout made Henry unconsciously take a step back. Upon noticing that, he retook that step and glared hard at the tiger. His pride was forcing him to stand his ground, opposing the fears that were entangling his mind. With the utmost strength of his diaphragm, Henry returned the roar. The tattoos drawn across his body glowed brazenly along with his shout of might and dominance.

When his roar ended, a strange silence lingered in the air. The tiger stared in bafflement at Henry. A few seconds later, roars from the far distance responded to Henry’s roar. A strong gust of wind blew from almost every direction towards him. He could see the tiger’s limbs were mildly shivering. All the ferocity from before was halved by that single roar of his. Its eyes now spelt uncertainty and caution.

What the hell were those roars?

Henry’s worries were shifted to those roars. He didn’t know if those were the cries of friends or foe. If it was the latter, then he had just dug his own grave. If it was the former, then he had dug a grave and it was only a matter of time to figure whose grave it would be.

The tiger shook its head violently to break itself out of the restraints of its innate fear. It understood Henry was a being that would grow into something strong and fearsome in the future. If the tiger didn’t have its master’s wishes to fulfil, it would have run. The tiger roared to the sky, conjuring two spectral versions of itself by its sides.

This is not fair…

The spectres went around Henry and charged towards his flank while the main body charged at him from the front. Henry unleashed his blazing roar in a circle, forming a ring of fire. The spectres halted in their charge but the main body hopped over the fire and continued in its rush. Henry dug into the ground and flung some soil at the tiger’s eyes. The tiger spun and smacked and soil away with its tail. Henry rushed at the tiger when its back was turned. Henry swung his claws but the tiger leapt into the air without even a glance at Henry.

A shared vision with spectres?

Henry growled under his breath, which was supposed to be a curse. He threw his head up and bared its mouth wide at the tiger. He unleashed his fiery breath. The spectres disappeared and the translucent barrier from before appeared around the tiger. The flames engulfed the barrier as the tiger safely landed on the ground. When the flames faded, Henry was no longer in its sight. Before it could even look around, a shout came from behind. The tiger turned around just in time to see Henry ramming into it. He fell through the barrier and slammed his head into the tiger’s head. His bet was right. The barrier only protected the tiger from magic means. 

The tiger staggered backwards as it howled and flailed around in agony. Blood was dripping from its face. Its right eye and left cheek were punctured by Henry’s horns. Its howling turned into a screech.

Even Henry winced from the mere sight of the injuries he inflicted. As much as he pitied the tiger’s state, he knew the tiger wouldn’t return the sentiment. Throwing away his pity, Henry spewed flames unto the tiger. The translucent barrier came up again and repelled the flames. Though it was heavily injured, it was still unrelenting. However, it was being pushed back and its back was facing the chasm. Henry noticed this too and continued to spew fire, though he could only last as long as his breath would allow him. Eventually, he had to catch his breath and when he did, the tiger charged at him with its fangs bared. Henry snorted and surprised the tiger with aura blades. The tiger reacted fast and conjured its translucent barrier but that gave Henry enough time to recover his breath.

Flames slammed into the barrier and forced the tiger to inch closer to the cliff of the chasm. Its hind limbs were slowly losing ground. It tried to resist but there was not enough space for it to push back. Gradually, its hind limbs ran out of ground and it was now dangling half of its body off the cliff. Henry’s breath ran out then. The tiger quickly climbed back out in that short window but it didn’t expect Henry to be charging at it. Before it could dive away, Henry’s head slammed into its torso, parting its paws from land. It was freefalling in the air with nothing to grab on. In its last act of desperation, it roared to the sky, conjuring a spectral version itself that used the main body as a stepping stone to leap back on land.

Is it going to switch position with its spectre?

The spectre landed in front of Henry and rushed towards him. 

Oh shit…

Henry unleashed his fire breath at the spectre. The flames swallowed the spectre but it did not stop in its charge. With no other options, Henry dove out of the way but the spectre managed to grab onto his tail and leapt off the cliff, dragging Henry along.

Son of a bitch!

Henry screeched in indignation as he plunged to the depths. The air scratched his streaked past his skin as he fell. He could barely keep his face straight and his eyes open with the rushing winds brushing harshly against him. He didn’t fall far from the walls but it didn’t matter as he couldn’t reach it. He didn’t have wings. He could steer in the air. Still, he extended his arm and tried to reach for the walls. He didn’t look down. If he did, he was afraid he would expel his breakfast through his rear orifice. An idea struck him then. Facing his claws backwards, he swung them, unleashing aura blades. The force of the aura blades propelled him forward and he quickly dug his claws into the walls. 

He gritted his teeth as he endured the pain of his hide scraping against the rough rocks and his claws carving through the high walls. He cast his gaze down and aimed for the moment he was about to hit the ground. When they were only a few metres before his body kissed the bottom, he leapt off the wall and safely landed into a tumble. The ground was rocky and damp. Various algae and fungi grew all over the rocky surface.

Henry glanced at his limbs, inspecting the damages. Not even his hide was able to withstand the might of physics. His claws were chipped. His paws were mangled. His limbs were missing a few scales. He was bleeding as badly as the girl’s wounds. To take his mind off the burning pain, he thought about the girl. He wondered if her party had found or she had found haven somewhere. She hoped she was faring in a much better circumstance than him.

A low growl Henry him off his rumination. He snapped his head towards the direction of the growl. Blood was flowing in small streams from that direction. As he squinted his eyes, he saw the tiger, lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. Henry approached the tiger carefully. Once he was a few feet away from the tiger, he saw its condition quite clearly. Some of the tiger’s guts and spleens were dangling out of its ruptured body. It was suffering an inarguably worse fate than Henry. It had fallen flat to the bottom without anything to ease its fall. Half of its face was smashed in but it was still breathing. To add to its misfortune, the other half of its face was the side with the punctured eye, essentially rendering it blind. Its nose was constantly twitching, probably using its sense of smell to perceive its surroundings. Not that it would help much. The tiger growled again as it caught Henry’s scent. Its breathing quickened.

Henry growled back and the tiger stopped growling. It seemed to understand Henry’s intention. It then growled softly and ruggedly. Henry didn’t understand its speech but he could understand the intention behind it. Henry got near the tiger and lazily placed its throat between his jaws. And he chomped down, ending the tiger’s misery and suffering. 

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Hmm?

A red glow caught his eyes. It was coming from the tiger’s carcass. Beckoned by the faint light, he tore open the tiger’s torso and found a clump of red crystals just under the tiger’s heart. For some reason, the crystal clump had an aromatic smell. He poked the crystal clump. It felt hard but it was still watering his mouth. Deciding to take a gamble, he pulled the crystal clump out of the tiger and tossed it into his mouth. Surprisingly, the crystal clump instantly melted right on his tongue into something that wasn’t quite liquid nor gas. He swallowed it without a thought. In an instant, he felt his vigour was replenished and the pain from his wounds had lessened. His bleeding had also stopped. 

Did I just consume magic? Is my luck beginning to turn?

Henry was right. His luck was beginning to turn, but for the worse. The sounds of a thousand legs skittering bounced across the walls. Shivers crawled down his spine and his blood froze. He was not alone down here. The walls began to move, or so he thought. The walls were moving. It was what was on the walls that were moving. Insects and bugs of humongous sizes show themselves to Henry. The smallest one was around the size of a puppy. There was a hole on the wall beside him. An insect of some kind popped out. Henry’s eyes were on its pincers, as large as his head. That gave Henry enough reason to act. He incinerated the insect into ashes with a single breath of fire. The other creepy crawlers shrieked and shirked. Some even dove back into the holes they crawled out from. But not all of them were frightened. Some even viewed it as a challenge.

The ground in front of Henry popped open and a spider hopped out. Henry rammed into the spider with his head and sent it tumbling back into its hole. Green goo trickled to his mouth from his horn, proof that he had hurt the spider. Of course, Henry spat it all out.

A bug dropped on him from above and it was biting on his horns. He shook the bug off him and trampled it into a pulp without giving a good glance at what kind of bug it was. He just knew it was a bug as it felt like there were more than six legs tickling him. The ground beside him burst apart and a worm appeared from the newly-formed hole. Rows of razor-sharp serrated teeth adorned its maw. It darted towards Henry with its maw spanned to its widest. Henry greeted it with his fire breath. The worm dodged too late and the flames caught on its maw, burning it from inside out. It retreated back to its hole while burning. Henry hoped that would be enough to kill it.

There was no time for him to take a breather. From afar, a horde of bugs and insects were fast approaching like a tidal wave. Henry swallowed a lump in his throat and ran in the opposite direction with all his might despite his injuries. The pain returned to its original intensity and more. Henry could only endure it if he had no desire of getting swarmed by the creepy crawlers. 

He warded off the other creepy crawlers with his fire breath if one of them came too close. He wasn’t specifically aiming at them as he didn’t have the luxury to. The only thing he was grateful for in his situation was that the grounds were plain and flat with minimum undulation. 

Shivers seeped into his bones when he heard the clackings and skitterings sounding louder and louder behind him. He couldn’t run faster than this. He was already running faster than he was supposed to with his injuries. If he couldn’t run faster, he could slow his pursuers down. He cast his fire breath at the walls but it didn’t yield the results he wanted but he didn’t give up. He could now breathe fire while running. A perk he acquired from his evolution but it wasn’t enough to lighten his dire circumstances. Soon, he began to run out of breath and his pace even slowed. But he didn’t give up. Sucking in a deep breath, he unleashed a desperate roar of blaze at the walls. 

What?

The result shocked Henry himself. Instead of a stream of flames, a bolt of fire shot out from his mouth. The firebolt hit the walls and exploded. Pieces of rock came off and fell onto the path behind him, hindering the pursuit of the creepy crawlers. He had discovered a new ability. Imitating the same motion before, he successfully shot out another bolt of fire. He would have jumped in joy if it wasn’t for his wounds. Just as he was about to relish in his brightening fate, the sight of the path in front of him cast him down from his peak of joy. It was another wave of creepy crawlers rushing towards him.

Are you fucking kidding me!?

Henry stopped in his tracks and stared in disbelief as he gasped for some much-needed breaths. The wave in front of him was still a distance away but with both ways obstructed, it made no difference. Henry looked around, scouring his surroundings desperately. The walls were steep. The jutted out parts were not big enough to accommodate his footing. There was no way he could climb out. With his claws chipped and mangled, he would have to be a masochist to climb out that way. While his attention was robbed by the despair he was facing, an insect shot out from the hole on the wall. Henry couldn’t even snarl. The insect’s fangs grazed his limb. Henry stifled a cry and knocked the insect away with a backhand. The insect was venomous and he was already feeling the effect. He gave the insect not a second glance and promptly reduced it to ashes.

Damn it!

The venom spread rapidly. In no time at all, he could feel his body numbing. His despair became a heavy load weighing down on his back. Then, a glitter from the distance caught his eyes. It was the crystals he had seen from up top before he was attacked by the camouflaging lizard. He trotted his way hastily to the crystals. 

The crystals seemed to have grown out of the depths underneath this depth. The crystals were giving off the same aura as the crystal clump found in the tiger’s body. Henry didn’t know how these crystals were formed and he didn’t care. He was out of options. He tried plucking one but it did not budge at all. He used his fangs instead to pry it loose chunk by chunk. However, the crystals melted off inside his mouth before he even plucked it off. He ended up just sucking the crystals like a pup sucking on its mother’s teats. The more he sucked, the better he felt. He could even see his wounds healing rapidly. The numbness of his body remained but the pain from the venom had disappeared. He heaved a sigh of relief.

The creepy crawlers were getting close as their sounds and noise were getting louder. Henry cast all of that aside and concentrated on devouring the crystals. When he had sucked the veins dry, aura was oozing off of him like steam and smoke. He felt… powerful, which was the only word he could use to describe his current feeling. 

He faced the wave of bugs and insects. He drew in a deep breath until he reached his limit. And he expelled it all out in a massive stream of flames. The creepy crawlers stopped in their rush and immediately turned around to run but the fire swept over them mercilessly. Henry did the same for the other direction but the creepy crawlers from this side had already started their retreat. They had seen the giant brazen glow from afar and also the intense heat. Still, the flames spread far and fast, swallowing the retreating insects and bugs too. Obviously, not every creepy crawler was caught in the fire. Some were lingering high enough on the walls to avoid the fire but a few were toasted by the heat alone. Some had survived by squirming into a hole they found by luck and chance. A few of those were charred in the holes they hid in. 

Henry was panting. It took a lot out of him to do what he just did. He was still feeling vigorous despite the display he had just shown. He was still raring to go and itching to fight but no more of the creepy crawlers dared to approach him or even be in his sight. Plus, the remnant flames served as a natural repellent for the ones who despised light extremely.

It’s not enough… I still want to fight… I still want to kill…

Such thoughts drifted in his mind.

Perhaps the surface would give me what I want. 

With those thoughts in mind, Henry easily scaled the walls by leaping to and from the two sides of the walls. He reached the surface and the fresh breeze greeted him. The stench was unbearable down there but he only realised it now with all the other things in his mind. As he took his first step after his emergence from the chasm, his world spun and rippled. He coughed and spat out blood. His limbs began to tremble.

What the…

He didn’t even get to finish his thoughts and his consciousness left him without a warning as the numbness took over him.

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