Reincarnated as a Dragon – The path of the Dragon God

“No offence but... truth be told, you don’t sound very godly to me,” Chloe commented after she was told of everything by Henry.

“Hmm, maybe I should phrase it better. I am but a mere fledgling of a god.”

“Uh... Okay?”

“A demi-god, if you will. A quasi, you can even say. I have some divinity within me. I am to succeed as a true god one day. It sure doesn’t sound very godly when I put it that way. It’s actually a lot more convoluted and troublesome than how it sounded.”

“You don’t look very troubled though?”

Henry smiled. “I have my girl with me, maybe that’s why?”

“Oh, stop it, Henry…” Yula snickered.

Chloe sighed. “And here I thought it would be something… elaborate and awe-inspiring.”

“Well, sorry about that.”

“No, it’s fine. I prefer this outcome anyway. I don’t think I can handle it if it had been how I imagined.”

“Chloe… I’m truly sorry… for all of this, this shit I got you into.”

“Forget it, Henry. This is my problem too. This… world is my home. I can’t let the fucker run loose and do more damage to my world. So, let’s go get this son of a bitch as soon as possible.”

Yula chuckled. “That’s the spirit, Chloe. See, Henry, she came around.”

“I won’t be so excited yet if I were you,” Chloe said. “We still have no way of getting out of here.”

“Didn’t we just—”

“You have been with him for… way longer than I have. So, forgive me for still not having so much faith in your husband as I do.”

Yula’s cheek went slightly red. “Well. I forgive you…” she giggled to herself.

Chloe rolled her eyes. “Unbelievable.”

“You don’t have to believe me, Chloe,” Henry said. “Just know that I can get all of us out of here, one way or another.”

“Seeing is believing.”

“I suppose so, but first… we have company.”

“What company?” Chloe asked.

Just as her question came through, a large crack suddenly appeared on the ground in front of them.

Yula pulled herself out of her gleeful stupor. “Henry, what the hell is that?”

“I do not know,” Henry answered and scooped both Yula and Chloe into his claws. “All I know is that it ain’t friendly and we’re not staying around to find out more.” Without dawdling, Henry beat his wings and took to the air.

Henry was barely a tenth of a mile away from the ground but he was already feeling the effects akin to flying too high above the clouds.

“Damn it,” Henry cursed. “This place is really restricting.”

“Tell me about it,” Chloe scoffed. Her gaze was glued to the crack that was only getting larger and wider until a black rugged arm sprouted out from the gap.

That queer-looking arm alone was twice the size of Chloe without taking the hand into account.

“Holy shit…” Chloe gasped. “Henry, fly faster or turn around and kill this thing.”

Henry glanced back and unleashed Jetstream Breath on the arm.

Instead of dismembering the arm, Henry’s breath left only a deep gash on the arm and a loud shriek reverberated across the pocket dimension.

“I don’t think fighting it is a good idea,” Henry said and turned his head back to the front as he continued flying further and further away from the arm.

The crack eventually burst into a hole, large enough for the main body of the arm to climb through, which was a skeletal humanoid but instead of bones, it appeared to be composed of hardened flesh.

“Ugh… That’s so eerie and disgusting,” Yula muttered.

The giant flesh skeleton let out another shriek that shook the entire place.

Apparently, it was too much for Henry to bear and he overturned in his flight.

“Whoa, Henry!” Yula cried as she felt Henry’s claws loosening around her. She quickly used her shadows to tie herself to Henry’s palm.

Chloe also nearly fell out of Henry’s grasp but she grabbed onto Henry’s claws and crawled up to Henry’s back along his limb. “That’s better,” she heaved in relief, plopping down on Henry’s back.

“Henry, are you alright?” Yula asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you alright?”

“I’m good. Chloe?”

“Yeah, I’m good too.”

Then, the shriek came again and Henry nearly fumbled in his balance again but he held on. He tutted and glanced behind once more. “What the f—”

“Holy fuck!” Chloe cried out as she, too, was glancing behind.

The flesh skeleton was only yards away from them, slithering close and closer by the second. Yes, it was slithering. The bottom half of its body was that of a serpent. It stared intensely at Henry with its mouth gaping open.

A great sense of danger suddenly struck Henry. “Emergency landing!” he shouted and immediately retracted his wings. He dropped to the ground in an instant.

A stream of dark gaseous liquid was spewed from the flesh skeleton’s mouth and it would have struck Henry if he hadn’t reduced his altitude.

“Looks like we have to fight that thing,” Henry grumbled.

“Obviously, but can we even kill it?” Chloe asked as she hopped down from Henry’s back.

“We will destroy it,” Yula said, stepping off of Henry’s claws.

“We don’t need to kill it. Just incapacitate it or deter it will do.”

“How do we even do either of those two?” Chloe inquired.

Before Henry could come up with an answer, the flesh skeleton had slithered its way over to them. It screeched at the three but mainly at Henry. Without stalling, it lunged at the biggest target it could find.

Henry unleashed a Firebolt but the Flesh Skeleton swiftly avoided the fire projectile mid-lunge.

“Son of a—”

A slit appeared vertically across the Flesh Skeleton’s face. Then, its face opened up into a maw.

Henry tutted and clad himself in lightning.

The Flesh Skeleton closed its maw in a hurry and tried to back away. However, it only tried as it did not succeed in doing so.

Accelerated by the lightning surging across his body, Henry moved fast and silently. His claw was wrapped around the Flesh Skeleton’s neck in a blink of an eye. He then graciously shared the lightning with the abomination.

The Flesh Skeleton let out a piercing and agonising cry that made even Yula and Chloe uncomfortable. Ropes of steam were rising from the Flesh Skeleton’s body as the lightning seared it black.

To Henry’s surprise, the Flesh Skeleton did not submit to its demise easily. It wrapped its tail around Henry and tossed itself to the ground along with Henry. It did not let go of Henry and continued to flail around with Henry in its hold.

Henry bit down on the Flesh Skeleton’s exposed neck in response, instilling his venom into the abomination. However, nothing changed even after a minute had passed. It continued to thrash itself and Henry around without any shift in its outrage.

No way. It’s immune to poison?

The Flesh Skeleton eventually struggled free of Henry’s claw and it lunged at Henry with its maw wide open. As might be expected, the Flesh Skeleton’s razor fangs were unable to even leave a scratch on Henry’s hide.

Henry snickered. Fine. We’ll do this the hard way.

He grabbed the Flesh Skeleton by the neck once more and drew in a deep breath.

“Take cover!” Yula shouted and dove towards Chloe.

“Wh—” Not a single word had fully left Chloe’s lip when she was tackled to the ground by the buxom lady that was a Dragon’s bride.

Yula then dragged herself and Chloe a good distance away from Henry.

At the same time, Henry unleashed the flaming breath he had accumulated onto the Flesh Skeleton that was merely inches away from him, in his grasp.

Due to the proximity of his Fire Breath, the flames scattered around him like wildfire, engulfing all that was unfortunately in the vicinity.

The Flesh Skeleton screamed agonisingly as the flames gradually reduced their entirety into ashes. However, before the flame could fully consume it, it wriggled violently and slithered out of Henry’s grasp. With its whole body still in flames, the Flesh Skeleton chased after Yula.

Fuck! I hate these slippery bastards!

Henry, in return, quickly gave chase to the Flesh Skeleton. The markings on his limbs glow radiantly in vermilion and he caught up to the abomination in an instant as if he had teleported.

The Flesh Skeleton shifted its focus back to Henry and lashed its tail at him.

Henry grabbed its tail, and swung it around, before chucking it into the distance. “Tenacious fuck!” Henry growled as he saw the Flesh Skeleton clambering to its feet, or rather, tail.

“On second thought, we might as well just run,” Chloe proposed.

“Your flames are barely doing anything,” Yula muttered.

“The outer layer of its body is almost as tough as mine,” Henry grumbled. “Who knows how long we’ll spend fighting this thing? It’s best that we run.”

Henry scooped the two into his claws once again and took flight.

Chloe gripped tightly onto Henry. “Hold us tight this time.”

“No promises,” Henry said and picked up his speed further.

“It’s giving chase,” Yula pointed out.

The flames were still burning but it barely deterred the Flesh Skeleton.

“I’m so asking for a raise,” Henry groaned and accelerated even more.

But suddenly…

“Stay…” An ominous that was both the voice of a male and a female resounded across the vast pocket dimension.

What the hell?

“What the fuck was that?!” Chloe exclaimed.

“You heard that?” Henry asked.

“Of course, I did! Just what was that?”

“I heard it too,” Yula said.

“At a guess? The one who’s responsible for all of this.”

“Neophyte of the divine… You have overstepped your limits… You shall perish here…”

“This is the first time I’m hearing this son of a bitch’s voice and he’s already pissing me off.”

“Henry, it’s gaining on us fast!” Yula shouted.

“Damn it!” Henry cursed. “Yula, I’m afraid I have to ask for your help.”

“Use me in any way you wish, my love,” Yula responded lovingly.

Henry came to a stop and turned around, immediately unleashing Fire Breath at the pursuing Flesh Skeleton.

The abomination streaked through the flames and pounced towards Henry.

“Fool,” Henry sneered.

All of a sudden, the Flesh Skeleton slammed hard into the ground as if it was pulled by an invisible force. In truth, it was simply the work of gravity, manipulated to a heavy degree by Henry.

“Now, Yula!”

Tendrils of darkness shot out from Yula’s shadow and joined themselves with the Flesh Skeleton’s shadow. More tendrils of darkness erupted from the Flesh Skeleton’s own shadow, binding it to the ground in addition to the increased gravity.

Henry hopped onto the Flesh Skeleton’s back. A crater was formed underneath due to the intense gravity. It was a shame that Henry had to dispel it since he was also affected, albeit the effects were milder on the caster himself.

The Flesh Skeleton struggled with all its might but it could not slip free this time. It began to cry and shriek as if begging for mercy.

Henry shut it up with a few punches to its face.

The Flesh Skeleton struggled even more violently and thrashed its tail around, although it only waved meekly around.

The Flesh Skeleton could have easily fought against the increased gravity, but Yula’s control was still there, using its shadow against itself.

Henry drew in another deep breath, deeper than the last.

“Chloe, prepare to run as fast and as far as you can.”

“Not again.” Chloe sighed. “Alright… when?”

“Now,” Yula said and released her hold on the Flesh Skeleton’s shadow.

Chloe took Yula into her arm, donned her armour suit, and took off like a cannonball being launched.

And Henry released the breath he held. And it was no mere Fire Breath, but an inferno. Furthermore, it was unleashed at such close range. The aftermath was, to say the least, devastating. From afar, it would look no different than a small nuke went off.

But unlike a nuke, the flames stayed and continued in their rampage, creating a literal firestorm. Everything the blazing tempest touched, was reduced to ashes, including the Flesh Skeleton.

“Holy shit…” Chloe gasped as she witnessed such a sight from afar.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Yula tittered.

“I don’t know about that but… I believe only a god should be capable of something like that…”

“Told you.”

“Yeah… he’s a demi-god alright…”