Chapter 8: 008

Henry didn’t know how long he had slept for. It was most likely more than a day as his wounds were all healed and he no longer felt any pain as he flexed his limbs and wiggled his body. He did feel a little bit stiff but that was to be expected if he had slept for a long duration. His biggest surprise was that nothing attacked him while he was asleep. To exaggerate it even further, he even found birds resting on top of him and small rodents huddled close to him when he woke up. He didn’t know how still he was when he was asleep but it was enough to trick the small animals to get close to him.

The bear was still dead. It was burnt to nothing but bones after all but Henry didn’t think he would be surprised if he woke up and saw the bear regenerating all of its lost organs and flesh. But thankfully, no such absurdity happened. He didn’t know if it was just a feeling but the skeleton carcass of the bear felt barren and empty but he didn’t think much of it.

His stomach grumbled as soon as he got to his feet. It was the loudest grumble he had heard. He must have slept for a long time for him to be this hungry. As he took a step forward, he almost fell but he found his balance just in time. He had long gotten used to his new body but for some reason, his body felt different. He thought it was just in his head but when he took another step forward, he noticed the depth of the print he left was deeper than he was used to. It was also then he took notice of his claws, they somehow looked bigger. A hunch popped into his head.

Henry trotted to the lake cautiously and peered at the surface. He gasped at the sight of his own reflection. While he was still largely the same, there had been a great deal of change in his appearance. For one, he had doubled in size. His scales were darker than he remembered and his eyes were akin to embers rather than amber now. His head had grown slightly longer and bulkier, and so were his three horns. As he looked closer, he noticed dark reddish-brown tattoos of sorts running down from his head until the end of his tail. Speaking of his tails, spikes were growing in lines across his tail and the tip of his tail had turned pointed. It was as sharp as his claws. Of course, the spikes on the back of his body had also grown a little. Overall, he had undergone tremendous growth considering not even a month had passed.

He threw his head up and unleashed a roar into the sky. But he immediately shut his jaws and shirked back as if he had just seen some terrifying vision. In a way, he did. He had experienced something terrifying. He hoped it was his paranoia. Facing the surface of the lake, he slowly opened his mouth and his unease came true. His bottom jaw split vertically into two, much like the crocodile. The weirdest thing was that he didn’t feel anything physically wrong. He had even yawned when he woke up and nothing felt off. It felt unnaturally natural even as he opened and closed his mouth while watching his reflection.

To stave his mind away from the drastic change of his mouth, he steered his mind to a matter that he had been wanting to see after he knew about his growth. Facing upwards, he unleashed his fire breath. A stream of flame spewed out from his mouth. The stream was thicker and the range was longer. At that instance, he had completely forgotten about his bifurcated jaws and he was thrilled about finding out what else was changed about him.

He noticed the bear’s skeleton carcass in the corner of his sight and an idea struck his mind. He faced the lake and swung his claws. A smile appeared on his face as aura blades were shot out from his claws. The aura blades skimmed the surface and struck a drifting log from afar. Ripples could be seen trailing away from him on the lake’s surface. The monsters were most probably frightened by Henry’s sudden display of his power.

Henry’s stomach grumbled again to remind him of the most important issue at hand. He was so excited over his growth that he forgot about it. Satisfied with the results, he skipped his way back to the cave with a hum. Along the way back, he realized he didn’t just grow on the surface. His senses were sharper than before. To be exact, his hearing and sense of smell were further enhanced and he could discern scent and smells more accurately. Now that he had better senses, he realized just how many creatures and monsters were out there, constantly looming around him unnoticed. And he bet there were still a whole lot more out there he wasn't capable of noticing. He didn’t know why they didn’t attack him despite the difference in their prowess. He didn’t give much thought to it, not that it would do him any good if he did. 

As Henry neared the cave, he discovered something was watching him from afar. Or rather, it was someone. He caught a glimpse of a humanoid silhouette but the person vanished before he could take a closer look. He caught their scent and it didn’t smell like the tribal people from before. In fact, the person bore a scent that was as foul as piss and dung. In short, the person smelled revolting. Someone that meant him harm, that was his take. He made a mental note of chasing down that person after he had his meal.

When the cave came into sight, a huge wave of relief plunged down on him. Ever since this incarnation of his, his biggest happiness had been taking a bath in the pond and returning to the cave after a long hard day of work. Though he didn’t smell terrible, he still had the desire to take a bath. He doubted he actually even needed to clean himself as his wounds all healed without a hint of festering. Washing himself was more for a mental reason than a physical one.

His merry skipping came to a sudden halt. The wind shifted and it blew from the direction of the cave. A huge amount of stench wafted into his nose. His blood turned warm as his brows arched with anger. His abode had been taken over and occupied in his absence. He predicted something like this would happen eventually but he didn’t expect it would be them, of all possibilities. As if the occupier also caught his scent, they marched out of the cave. It was a small horde of the baboons, evidently the same pack from the ones he barbecued. But there was a glaring difference from the last time. A baboon thrice the size of the others was in the midst of the horde, presumably the alpha. It looked more like a gorilla than the baboon but ultimately, it had the face of a baboon and a tail. 

Unlike before, Henry did not feel any fear or anxiety. He felt only rage. The crowd of baboons parted like the red sea as the alpha ambled its way towards Henry with a smug. Contrary to the alpha, most of the other baboons were shaking in fear and their gazes were swimming. They still remembered the fire that consumed half of their brethren. The alpha hadn’t been at the scene during that scarring moment and thus, it didn’t grasp the degree of threat Henry posed to them. 

The alpha stopped before Henry, towering over him with its large physique. It was looking down on him with an overbearing smirk. It was huffing and puffing as it stared at him. It was laughing, perhaps at puny Henry was in its sight. It started jabbing lightly on Henry’s head. Its laughter became louder. The light jabbing turned into light flickering. Before long, it was patting on Henry’s head with a guffaw that echoed loud and wide.

The tattoos on Henry’s body began to glow. The alpha stopped its acts of mockery and widened its eyes. Even it could tell something was wrong. It finally met Henry’s gaze which it had been ignoring as it insulted him. Rage was brimming in Henry’s bloodshot glare. Henry had only let out a small growl and the alpha pulled back instinctually. Realising that it had been frightened by the low growl of a seemingly small lizard, the alpha retook its step and returned a growl that was louder. But Henry snorted in response.

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A vein bulged on the alpha’s head. It shook with anger and roared right into Henry’s face but he didn’t even flinch. After his experience with the demonic-encroached bear, the level of the alpha baboon’s intimidation was nothing, not even a speck. Seeing Henry’s indifference, it finally lost its patience and swung its fist down on him. Henry snarled and swung his claws at the alpha’s swinging arm, aura shot out from his claws and cleaved through the alpha’s arm. The arm-pieces of the alpha dropped to the ground. It didn’t even register what transpired. It had happened too fast. His head turned slowly like a rusty cogwheel to the ground, where his arm lay in pieces. Only then, the alpha baboon howled in agony as it clutched its shoulder that was missing an arm. It stumbled into the horde in its daze over the loss of its arm, trampling over some of its kin. The other baboons began to clamour and jumped in disquiet and distress. The alpha pointed at Henry and gave an obvious command with a roar. Attack him! It screamed.

Henry cackled at the frozen baboons that were questioning their leader’s orders. It was only natural. They had already known of Henry’s fire breath and now, he had another terrifying ability just as deadly as his fire breath. Even if they weren’t intelligent, their sense of self-preservation would knock some intelligence into them. When the alpha saw none of its brethren was moving, it barked another roar and stomped the ground with its feet to assert its authority. Some of the baboons began to move but only a few and they were trembling in their slow steps. Henry simpered and unleashed his fire breath but not directly at the baboons, just a little bit above them. That did the trick. The baboons shrieked in horror and scattered. The alpha screamed and stamped its feet but not a single one was listening to its tantrum.

Henry snickered louder to get the alpha’s attention. It worked and the alpha glared stubbornly and furiously at him. It knew it wasn’t Henry’s match but its vanity as the leader of its pack did not allow it to retreat. The alpha roared and smacked its chest with its remaining arm as if to give itself courage. It then scooped up some sand and threw it at Henry before charging at him. Henry was surprised. He didn’t expect it to be capable of tricks. It wasn’t as dim as he thought but in the end, it still wasn’t smart enough. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have attacked him in the first place or even tried something as futile as throwing sand. Though unexpected, its movements were too slow and obvious. Henry had ample time to turn around and avoid the sand getting into his eyes. As the alpha was charging straight at him, Henry didn’t need to look. He swung his tail as he turned around, slamming his tail into the alpha’s head. He heard the alpha grunting and falling to the ground from the tail-smack. With the spikes on his tail, the alpha wouldn’t be left without at least a cut.

When they came face to face again, Henry could see he left more than a simple cut on its face. It wasn’t even a cut. It was a puncture. The spikes on his tail had punctured into the alpha’s face, in addition to the blunt force trauma. The alpha was still standing but not straight. It was wobbling and swaying. It was stumbling around, trying to get its bearings but it couldn’t. Henry almost felt some pity for it but upon remembering the alpha baboon’s condescending smug face, he lost all sympathy. As he was about to end the alpha’s misery, a heavy aura of bloodthirst was discharged from it. The alpha snapped its gaze at Henry. Its eyes had turned red and they were bleeding. Something within its body also surged along with its sudden change. That something was magic, Henry felt it as such.

The alpha roared and smacked its backhand into Henry. It was sudden and fast, faster than it had been before its eyes turned red. Henry was sent skidding across the ground with that single backhand. Before he could recover, the alpha was on him. Henry rolled aside as it smashed its fist into the ground. Henry tried to use his fire breath but the alpha moved quicker than he could spew. It grabbed his jaws and gripped them shut. It swung him in the air before him to the ground. On its second swing, Henry dug his claws into the alpha wrist. It howled and released its grip on Henry, flinging him away. While he was falling in the air, he breathed fire unto the alpha. The fire latched onto it easily but the fire didn’t burn for long, doused by the bloody aura it was shrouding itself in.

A moment of fear touched his nerves as he saw the ineffectiveness of his ultimate weapon but he quickly regained his calm and focused on another way to bring the monkey down. However, that brief moment of fear had allowed the alpha to bear down on him. Its fist was already coming. He hopped to the side and avoided being turned into a pulp by the alpha’s hammerfist. As the alpha retracted its arm, Henry threw the aura blades at its face. The alpha reacted quickly and turned its face away just in time, letting the side of his head suffer the damages. With its gaze turned away, Henry pounced on the alpha. He buried his claws into its flesh to make sure he wouldn’t fall off from how hard the alpha was staggering from the pain brought by his claws. Before the alpha could pry Henry off, he sunk his fangs into its shoulders, pushing his fangs deep into its flesh. The alpha cried at the top of its lungs. The agony caused it to lose strength in its grip. Henry thought about tearing a chunk of its flesh off but a better idea came to mind. Instead, he unleashed his fire breath then and there.

If one witnessed it from afar, it would no doubt be a spectacle. A blazing and dazzling combustion that began with an explosion, looking like fireworks during a night festival. Henry leapt away from the alpha baboon. He showed a cautious gaze but he didn’t need to. The alpha baboon was already dead. A quarter of its innards were charred into cinders in seconds. Like a marionette cut of its strings, the alpha collapsed to the ground lifelessly.

Henry didn’t even have his breakfast yet and the morning had already started off in a hectic manner. He walked past the carcass and headed for the cave. He would deal with the alpha’s body later. When he peeked inside the cave and expected to find his stash of meat, he found only bones. Apparently, the baboons had eaten the dead of their own kin. Henry knew he should have been disgusted by the baboons’ acts but more than that, he was angry at the fact that they had eaten his food. I should have let it suffer, such thoughts entered his mind. He then strode out of the cave with firm and hastened steps.

Henry approached the carcass and cut the head off with his claws. He then went and got himself some wood by felling some thick branches from fallen logs scattered around. He carved a branch into a stake and planted it in the middle of the glade. He then mounted the head of the alpha baboon on the stake. He dragged the remaining carcass to a nearby boulder and slung it across, letting the blood drain. But since he was starving, he cut himself a large chunk of flesh and charred it on the spot. He popped the meat into his mouth without thinking about the taste and smell.

While Henry was relishing on his first meal of the day, more guests invited themselves to the grounds of his abode. The guests were a pair of wolves. Judging by the low growls and dripping saliva, Henry could only assume they were hungry. Had they not approached him with such hostility, he would have considered sharing but since they did not, Henry returned their hostility instead.

The battle lasted for a while but it wasn’t a tough battle. Quite the contrary, it was a breeze. The wolves had speed and ferocity but per Henry’s expectation, their fangs and claws were useless against his tough scaly hide. The only problem he had was catching them. They were swift in their movements but no matter how swift they were, it was futile if they couldn’t inflict even a scratch on him. Henry just waited for them to slow down from their exhaustion and then put them down with aura blades, which they seemed to expect from him. He then decapitated the wolves and mounted their heads on the stake. He couldn’t see himself doing this sort of thing if this had occurred during the first few days. But after all that he experienced, this sort of display was necessary. There was no law like the one when he was human. The only law that mattered was the law of the jungle and the only enforcers are the creatures and animals themselves.

After making his fear totems, he dragged the two headless carcasses to the boulders and slung carcasses over to let the blood drain. Despite having just woken up not an hour ago, he was already feeling tired. Thinking about the agenda for the rest of his day, he rubbed his temples.

It’s going to be a long day.

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