Chapter 25: Chapter 025

The journey back to his abode was easier than Henry had expected. The destruction he caused in his wake had left a very clear trail of his path. The fire that he caused had been doused by the Kivu, though Henry knew not how the Kivus had done it. The fire had trimmed the swamp of most obtrusive sights, making it easy for Henry to locate the “landmarks”. From then on, he needed only to backtrack on the trail of destruction of his own doing.

Perhaps it was because Henry had eaten the Demon’s Murux Heart, the majority of the swamp’s fauna had begun avoiding him like the plague. Although there were still a few monsters that came up to him all so boldly, Henry dispatched them all with ease. He was faster and stronger than before even though his physique didn’t change much. 

The Jetstream Breath ability he got from the werewolf-like beast was extremely useful against heavily armoured opponents. The condensed breath of high-pressure air was cutting through the monsters’ shells and hides like carving a cake. The only drawback, other than the focus requirement, was its recoil, which was astonishingly high. The high recoil alone made the aiming process difficult and also severely limited his movement as he used it. Fortunately, those high-defence monsters he encountered were big and slow.

Night had fallen when Henry successfully returned to his abode.

Not so surprisingly, monsters came and occupied his abode in his absence. It was the same kind of Baboons from before. They had returned with another leader. Henry wasn’t sure if they were exactly the same ones or just a different tribe, though it mattered not to him. He was tired after a long march and the Baboons occupying his abode did not help in alleviating his fatigue.

None of the Baboons seemed to have noticed Henry’s presence even though he was merely a dozen feet away from them. He wasn’t even using his camouflage ability.

Is this some kind of passive ability from eating the Murux Heart of the werewolf or the Demon?

Whichever it was, it worked in Henry’s favour. It allowed him to creep up close enough to the Baboons without being noticed. He inadvertently let out a growl as he gathered his breaths, attracting the Baboons’ attention and notice.

Sup

The Baboons jumped and howled at Henry’s presence. They snarled at him with their fangs bared and their crude makeshift weapons raised. The leader of the Baboon bellowed, not with rage but with joy. They appeared to be celebrating their victory already. Henry could tell they were mocking him for walking up to them by his lonesome self.

Whatever. Just die.

And Henry unleashed his breath. The blaze dyed the darkness into a searing radiance that turned the whole place into day for a few brief moments. The screams and throes of the Baboon filled the dark silence as their ashes scattered into the cold air of the night.

The forest wasn’t stirred by that grandeur display as the animals and creatures were already familiar with it. They knew of Henry’s temperament. As long as they did not go out of their way to bother or disturb Henry intentionally, he would not hunt them down. But of course, they knew he would hunt them for food regardless but that was just the routine of the wild and wasn’t something they could change. Not that they had thought about changing it.

****

A few days went by after that fruitful day of saving a princess and squashing a pest that had been plaguing a great itch on his body. Henry’s days returned to the normal routine of chores. The passing days were dull and mundane but after what happened, he learned to be deeply grateful for such days. He wanted to cherish them as much as he could before shit once again hits the fan.

Neither the Augru Tribe nor the Kivu Tribe intruded upon his residence after that fruitful day. He had expected the Augru Tribe to throw him a feast once they received word that the Kivu Princess had been rescued but regrettably, they didn’t. 

Henry wasn’t disgruntled, however. He didn’t have the indelicacy to be feeling disgruntled as he was the one who asked to be left alone in the first place. He wasn’t so shameless that he would go back on his wishes for some temporary gratification. It wasn’t even their gratitude he wanted, it was simply their food he desired.

They could at least leave some offering at my doorstep as a gesture of good faith.

His mind was slowly veering into the boundaries of shamelessness as he was returning from the pond after wetting his parched throat in the morning. This walk back and forth between his abode and the pond was also doubled as his patrol route, though not much ground was covered in this walk. Still, it was better than nothing.

Nothing out of the ordinary. No foreign or unfamiliar scent. No trampled bushes or broken branches beyond the ones that I made. Good, good.

Henry went down his mental checklist as he looked around. Even though he didn’t go out of his way to memorise the smell and scent, he managed to memorise them regardless. It was an inadvertent and convenient side effect of his monotonous routine. And as far as he knew, he was the biggest creature in the vicinity and he was the only creature that would flatten the bushes and snap off the branches in his wake. 

Henry was halfway back to his abode when the winds shifted in their direction as per usual. It was then a sweet-smelling scent drifted into his nose. His brows were raised with intrigue and his shoulders perked up in wonder.

He smelled this scent before but it was never this heavy. He had thought it was just how the plants here smelled but now that the sweet scent was way heavier than before, he was able to discern the smell clearer. It was the scent of fruits. To be precise, it was the smell of peaches.

Are the trees finally bearing fruits?

He asked himself, steering his head in the direction of the fruity smell. He took a whiff and relished in the refreshing and calming scent of fruits. It wouldn’t be exaggerating to say it was incredibly therapeutic as all he had been smelling since his reincarnation as a Dragon were pungent odours of meat and waste. The smell of fruits was doing wonders to his weary and jaded mind.

Suddenly, the world didn’t feel so bleak anymore as if the sweetness of the scent had lifted the black and white veil off his world. His routine was no longer monotonous and it was filled with a newfound sense of ambition and hope. He kicked into a jog and hurried in the direction of the fruity smell.

Of course, he held his guard up as he approached the sweet smell. He did think there was a slight chance for it to be a lure or a bait set up by some wicked monster or worse, a person.

Not bloody likely.

Henry told himself as he smelled no other scent.

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The trees that were bearing such sweet scents eventually came into view and they were just how Henry had imagined them to be. His dull and brooding expression lit up with zeal. 

The trees looked exactly like the peach trees he knew from Earth, aside from the fact that the trees and the fruits they bore were much larger than the one he knew. But those dissimilarities were no cause for complaints. If anything, they were a huge plus. 

He wondered just how he had overlooked these trees all this time but he decided to figure that out later after he had his fill of these delectable-looking and smelling fruits.

He scurried up to one of the many peach trees in the grove with a gaze that was glued firmly to the ripened peaches dangling by the branches. His saliva was overflowing and dripping off the edges of his mouth and he did little to curb it. He was far too absorbed in the peaches to be caring about anything else.

Though he was huge, the peaches were still out of his reach. However, that was not a problem. He had plenty of ways to get the peaches. He could cut the branches down with his jetstream breath but that would decrease the peach trees’ yield in the future. 

And so, he poured strength into his feet as he crouched low. The tattoos around his limbs glowed. When he leapt, he shot towards the branches, just high enough to pluck a few peaches of the branches with his forelimbs. After his experiences in the swamp, he was able to control the strength of his jump albeit not fully.

He managed to snag more than six peaches in a single leap with a single swipe. Each of the peaches was nearly as large as his palm. He brought one close to his mouth and nose. His eyes spanned as wide as they could, glaring intensely at the peach as if he was looking at it through a microscope. He took in its scent deeply and his body shuddered gratifyingly from the refreshing and sweet smell. 

He finally wiped away his overflowing drool, not because he was aware of how much he was drooling but because of his muscle memory. He opened his mouth wide and bit into the peach. The overwhelmingly sweet juice of the peach gushed into his mouth and spread across his tongue.

Oh, fuck! This is sweet… This is so sweet…!

He gasped ecstatically in his heart. How long had it been since the last time he was able to taste something so sweet and revitalising? He asked himself but no answer came. He didn’t even care about the answer. He just focused on the present.

He chewed on the flesh and more nectar spilt onto his tongue. He moaned delightfully. It wasn’t just the juice. The flesh itself had the right amount of tenderness, not too soft and not too hard. He wanted to slowly savour the peach, but his longing for sweetness triumphed over his rationality.

Henry did not bother taking bites after the first bite. He simply tossed the whole fruit into his mouth and chewed it whole as it was. He did the same for the rest of the peaches he had plucked. At the very least, he waited until he had finished chewing and swallowing one peach before he popped another one into his mouth. 

When he had finished all those that he had plucked, he went to pluck more, using the same tactic as before. When he was finally feeling full and satisfied, more than half of the trees here had their branches completely stripped naked.

Henry let out a gasp of absolute delight and appeasement as he laid on his back while patting his belly gently. It had been the most satisfying feeling he had experienced ever since he became a Dragon. A part of him had even resigned to never feel this kind of contentment ever again but he was glad that sort of depressing resignation was unneeded. 

Oh good god… I don’t think I want to move…

He tried moving but his body refused to listen. He wasn’t numb nor was he exhausted. He was simply feeling too content to be doing anything else. He felt like he could die now and he would have no regrets.

Damn it. I have to move. I have to get back. I can’t just laze around just because—

His thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a weasel that was lying on the ground in the same manner as he was. He flipped himself upright and crept towards the unmoving weasel slowly and carefully. 

The weasel’s eyes were wide open and its pupils were moving. However, it wasn’t moving at all despite its blatant notice of Henry’s approach.

Is it not afraid of me?

That was Henry’s first guess but then, a half-eaten chunk of a peach beside the weasel caught his attention. A thought struck his mind. He took the half-eaten chunk and put it close to the weasel. The rodent’s eyes began to swim erratically as if trying to express its reluctance and refusal in the stead of its incapability to shake its head.

No way… Are these peaches perhaps… poisonous?

Such a grim thought crossed his mind but not unfounded. He popped the half-eaten chunk of peach into his mouth. Now that he had gotten used to the sweetness, he did feel some sort of paralytic sensation spreading across his mouth.

Paralytic poison… And I ate more than six of them!

As terrifying as the thought was, Henry wasn’t paralysed. There was barely any numbness on his body. At worst, he was just feeling a little sluggish. He then remembered the properties of his saliva. He surmised either his saliva had diluted the poison or he had some innate poison resistance.

Whichever it was, he made a mental note of not giving in to his impulse this easily again. As strong as he had become, this was still the wilderness. He had gotten lucky this time around and luck was an unreliable ally.

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