Reincarnated as a Dragon – The path of the Dragon God

Henry spent the night in his pocket dimension, fearing Vishara’s retaliation. He didn’t fear for his own life but his two women’s. He was now regretting bringing Rayne and Alani along. It was his oversight. However, there were some underlying benefits in this oversight of his. The discovery of his women’s hidden strength as a result of them becoming his. It was incredible, to say the least.

He didn’t expect Vishara to have such a speedy recovery with her strength. It had only been barely a month after all.

He didn’t think he would lose if he confronted Vishara now but there was no telling if Vishara would be so nice as to leave his two women alone should they clash.

Henry had half a mind to just rush into Vishara’s abode and take them all by himself but he immediately banished that thought. Saner minds prevail, as the saying goes. First off, he had still no precise idea of what Vishara was capable of. If he simply went in blind, he would be at a huge disadvantage.

Secondly, he also had no idea of where Vishara was. They were simply following a trail but they didn’t know where it would take them. Depending on the terrain, the outcome of the fight would vary.

“Calm yourself, Henry. There’s no need to rush.”

Time was against them but not in a drastic sense. They couldn’t dawdle but it didn’t necessarily mean they had to rush.

Night had fallen in the overworld and the same went for his pocket dimension. Somehow, the time of the day inside his personal dimension was aligned with the real world. It was convenient in the sense that they wouldn’t lose track of time.

There was nothing in this world of his save for a vast plain of nothingness. This is what he needed right now. It was therapeutic. He hadn’t the bull’s notion as to when he fell asleep. It was morning when he woke up and he was in his original appearance. A colossal lizard with wings standing larger than a two-storey building.

“Wake up already, you lazy bum!” someone shouted. Needless to say, it was Rayne. “Let us out of here.”

“Oh, sorry about that,” Henry said in his groggy state. At present, only he could decide who comes and goes in his pocket dimension. Nadea had told him he could grant this authority to another individual of his choosing but he still didn’t know how.

“It’s alright, Henry. You can sleep more if you want. It’s not like any of us are actually starving or anything,” Alani said.

“You should not be pampering him, Alani. He is the overlord and guardian of Ulrum. This kind of behaviour is unbefitting of someone with those titles. He requires discipline.”

“Titles that he never asked for, Rayne,” Alani retorted.

Henry raised an eyebrow while he was still recovering from his groggy state. It shocked him wide awake hearing Alani’s smug response to Rayne.

“Since when did your nerves turn into steel,” Rayne scoffed.

Alani cracked her knuckles. “Since yesterday.”

“Alright, alright. Don’t start a fight now, you two. We have a big day ahead of us. There’s plenty of fighting to be done later. Save your strength for then.”

“As you say, Henry.”

Rayne tutted.

Alani giggled. “What’s the matter, Rayne? I didn’t think you would still be repelled by our display of affection.”

“And why would I stop being repelled?”

Alani’s smile widened. “Looks like someone needs more loving before she can be honest with herself.”

Rayne widened her eyes. Her cheeks flushed red. “W-wh-what are you saying?! H-how do you—”

“Oh, please. You were so loud, Rayne. I could barely get a wink of sleep. Well, thanks to you, it did make my night more enjoyable.”

“You brought yourself off while I was being mercilessly and relentlessly ploughed by Henry?”

“Don’t phrase it in such a terrible light. You sounded like you were enjoying every second of it.”

“I was not.”

Alani turned to Henry. “Dear, you should give her more loving tonight.”

“He would not be giving me anything tonight. We are at war here with a vampire. Cease these frivolous thoughts of yours and focus on the proper matters.”

While the two girls continued to argue, Henry took the opportunity to slip away. He exited his pocket dimension carefully. Of course, he had changed into his human form beforehand. He made sure there was no one waiting to ambush him outside before stepping out of the rift. He kept the rift open so the two may come and go whenever they wished.

“Holy shit…” Henry gasped. He knew just how destructive the yesterday's battle was but seeing the aftermath now that everything had calmed down gave off a different feel. Large portions of the lands had been dug out. Fissures were spread here and there. There was no hiding the trace now. Even if no one saw the battle yesterday, the aftermath would surely raise a lot of questions.

There were quite a lot of collateral but all of them were only floras and faunas. There was no human collateral. That said, the sight still invoked a sense of guilt in Henry’s heart. So much of nature had gone to waste.

He came across a lot of half-wounded animals and beasts. Some were near their death while some were just in suffering. He healed all those that he could. He ended the suffering of those with injuries that were too heavy. He could only close the wounds with his saliva. He couldn’t replenish the blood loss. To not let their deaths be in vain, Henry decided to convert those into food.

There was a river nearby. Or rather, there had been a river. It had been turned into a dry trench as a result of the battle. There was a lake nearby but it had become a basin of rubble and waste. The water had been contaminated and was no longer safe for consumption.

“Good god…” Henry fell to his knees.

He was the one responsible for all of this destruction and waste. His eventual battle with Vishara would be twice or even thrice as worse. Now, he was more hesitant than ever in fighting her. He might even turn a town or city into a wasteland if he wasn’t too careful. This was the terror he, as a true dragon, was capable of.

****

Henry continued on with his journey in the late hours of the morning after all of them had their belly filled. The two had the same reaction as Henry when they took in the devastating sight of the landscape that was the result of his battle with Nim.

“Henry, dear, your strength is truly terrifying,” Alani remarked. “In all my hunts and adventures, I have only ever witnessed such a scale of destruction once.”

“There’s something out there that could match my strength?”

“A titan. A colossal troll. It was as large as a hill. A few steps of it could easily bring a village to ruin. It took the combined efforts of hunters and soldiers to bring that gigantic monster down after days of battle. Many villages and small towns were destroyed before the troll was eventually subjugated.”

“Is that troll such a formidable creature?”

“The troll itself didn’t possess any extraordinary abilities except for its regenerative ability. It could regenerate a missing limb or any missing body part. Its sheer size was already a threat in itself.”

“How was such a tenacious beast brought down?” Rayne asked. Her interest was piqued.

“A continuous assault without a pause or a break. We exhausted the troll to the point that it could no longer regenerate even the smallest wounds. We withered it down gradually.”

“A battle of attrition…” Rayne mused. “Well, it certainly isn’t as exciting as your battle, Henry.”

“It’s ‘Henry’ now? What happened to ‘Master’?”

“You have bedded me and robbed me of chastity and maidenhood. Calling you ‘Master’ would be… strange in a few ways.”

“Strangely sensual, you mean?” Alani jibed.

Rayne rolled her eyes. “Don’t let your newfound strength get to your head, Alani. I can still take you with one arm tied around my back. Don’t presume to speak to me as if you’re now my equal.”

“We are equal now, Rayne. We’re both Henry’s women now. If anything, I say I have you beat in terms of primacy.”

“You’re a fool if you think this determines your superiority.”

“Well, I’m not the one who can’t be honest with her feelings.”

While the two continued to bicker, Henry shut himself in his own world. He did not want to be involved in the squabble between women, though he was partly the reason for the squabble. As long as they didn’t start killing each other, he didn’t mind if they bickered.

Hearing the two arguing over trivial things was also therapeutic. It helped lighten the mood but of course, he still kept vigilance of his surroundings. The next goons Vishara sent would not be as simple as before.

The trio walked for two hours before covering the rest of the journey by flight once they were sure they were in the clear of witnesses in the vicinity.

Around noon, they came upon a different land. It was still the same type of landscape with seas of trees spanning for miles but floras and faunas here were different. Everything was lush and vibrant. Colourful too. There was a tree with a spiralling trunk, bearing flowers of five different colours and leaves with different shades of green.

Henry immediately made his landing and continued on foot as they saw a large village in the distance, built upon the slopes of a pair of hills that formed a vast valley.

“Have we flown to another continent?” Alani questioned as she took in the amazing and otherworldly sight.

A buck dashed right past in front of them. It was a normal buck in any way, save for its large antlers and its humongous size.

“That was a deer, right?” Alani asked.

“It sure looks like one,” Henry responded, just as baffled.

“This land is just like any other,” Rayne said. “The only difference is that everything here is healthy and thriving. The soil is fertile and the air is exceptionally clean. Which might explain the size of the buck. But this is curious. I never expected there to be such a place in a human kingdom.”

“Neither did I,” said Alani. “There shouldn’t be such a place. If there was, it would already be swarmed by merchants and other opportunists. I’m amazed that such a place could stay hidden for so long.”

Rayne crouched down and grabbed a handful of soil in order to inspect it. “The flourishing of this vast valley is new. Less than half a year, I say. This place might have been withering long before it was… this.”

“What could have possibly brought about such a huge change?” Henry asked.

Rayne shrugged. “I do not know, but…” She steered her gaze from the soil to Henry.

“What?”

“You more than tripled the prowess and might of both me and Alani just by becoming your mate. I reckon the flourishing of this land is something similar.”

“There’s someone or something else that is capable of such magnificence and miracles, is that what you’re saying?”

“That would be my conjecture. And I don’t believe it’s an improbable guess considering who we are hunting.”

“That is an excellent guess, my good lady,” said a voice.

The trio snapped towards the source of the voice and found a little girl in a black dress with white frills, holding a parasol over herself.

“Good morning,” greeted the girl with a cheerful smile. “Or is it good afternoon now?”

“A vampire,” Rayne muttered.

“Victoria,” the girl introduced herself, doing a curtsy.

Henry frowned, not at the fact that the girl was a vampire, but at the fact that her name and her appearance were too much of a coincidence in tandem.

“I’m not here to fight.”

Neither Rayne nor Alani responded to the vampire girl.

“Then why are you here?” Henry questioned.

The vampire girl smiled widely. “To extend an invitation to you from Her Majesty, and it would be in your best interest to accept it, Lord Henry.”