CHAPTER 38: CHAPTER 38: ETHEREAL DRAGON IMAGE

" I see, so this is just a dream?" As soon as the world started crumbling he ran downstairs. Naledi was looking around in confusion.

She seemed surprised to see him. " I don’t have a lot of time but there’s a lot I wanted to say to you." " Alex?" " Listen, the last timw I saw you I didn’t get to tell you how much I love you.

How I wished I could’ve spent the rest of my life with you. How much you meant to me, how sorry I am for everything and how much I missed your cooking." The world around him continued crumbling.

His body started glitching, some part of him started turning back into dragon body parts starting with his legs but Naledi did not seem shaken by this.

Which made sense, this was not the real her but a mere dream constructed by the flower. Why would it be shaken by something like this.

She stretched her hand and touched his face which was glitching as well, sometimes a dragon head and sometimes back to his human head.

Even that did not seem to surprise her. " Oh Alex, how I wish this was not a dream." " Huh?" Then puff, the world shattered and he disappeared.

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Somewhere else in the world,Naledi woke up as the sun was about to set. The blood moon had been going on for days every night so daytime was the only time they had to rest.

" I just had the strangest dream." She told Cat who was sitting next to her. " I saw Alex and he turned into a dragon. He talked to me as if it was the real him."

" Do you think it’s some premno..promni..the future thing?" " Premonition and I don’t know, maybe. He complemented my cooking."

She smiled when she remembered that. " Yeah no, it’s just dream." Said Cat. " I see, you haven’t had a beating lately." They started chasing each other across the entire settlement.

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Ved opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was his cocoon being corroded by some liquid it was submerged in.

This was most likely a digestive liquid of the flower. The rate of the corrosion was not very fast, at this rate it would take days for it to get to him and how long it would take to digest him was another story.

He had to use this time to think of a way out, the flower was stronger than him so fighting it head on was obviously a bad idea.

’ Wait, I’m inside the flower right now so it won’t be able to use it vines to attack me, the only threat is whatever it uses to put me into sleep.’

He knew if he got caught in that dream again it would be hard to get out since the flower will most likely make whatever it used even stronger.

However he also couldn’t stay here forever. With no other choise he busted out of the web cocoon and without give the flower a chance to react he slashed the white walls with his claws.

However what he expected did not happen, instead of his claws ripping apart the petals they merely cut a little into them. A wound which the flower healed almost immediately.

He frowned. ’ This will be harder than I thought.’ he continued slashing and slashing but failed to breakthrough.

However a change happened, the corrosive liquid started bubbling, before it was not even strong enough to hurt him but now he felt his scales burning.

His frown deepened, at this rate he will be digested in less than a day and that if the corrosive liquid doesn’t get stronger.

But he had no other choise, the flower was immune to his poison and he had no other means of attacks besides his claws, tail and teeth.

All which were barely doing any demage. Then an idea came to him. ’ Sometimes I can be so stupid, how could I not think of something so obvious earlier.’

But to his defence he was stressed and not thinking straight so he stopped chastising himself.

While he couldn’t deal significant demage to the flower he was able to deal some demage. His problem was trying to break through with a single attack.

So he ended up attacking different places which the flower healed almost instantly but that was stupid and obviously ineffective, if he attacked the same place over and over wouldn’t the demage accumulate?

He started implementing this idea. He slashed with his right claws and before the flower could completely heal the wound he slashed with the left.

He continued doing this over and over again, his claws moved so fast they became blurs but he noticed a problem, while the wound did not heal it did not widen either.

Currently they were in a stalemate but it wouldn’t last for long because as he had feared, the moment his attacks dealt more demage the digestive liquid grew stronger.

The pain was starting to interfere with his thinking ability and his claw missed the spot by a few centimetres. This was the chance the flower needed to close the wound.

He cursed in his mind and restarted the process but this time he activated both herculean strength and flash at full capacity.

Each attack sent shockwaves inside the flower and the opening widened little by the little but his stamina was being drained like an opened dam.

This is why he never activated both at the same time, he could not afford the stamina expenditure and if he couldn’t solve whatever situation that could force him to go that far quickly, he would be doomed.

But this time he had no choice, without going all out he was going to die. Even now after using all of the strength he could muster he realised he still might not be able to open enough space before being dissolved.

His scales started melting like wax and he grew even more desperate but no matter how desperate he was, the opening did not widen faster. In his desperation he strongly wished for strength, strength to break through his predicament, strength to survive and what could have more strength than a dragon?.

Then an image appeared in his head, an image of a towering dragon with unparalleled might, with the strength to shatter the earth and shake the heavens but this time it felt different.

The image felt real and solid, he could even feel the dragons breath on his scales. The image connected to something inside him and he felt it clearly.

Like a string extended from inside him to the world, it was connected to his herculean strength, an ethereal ghost like image of a dragon appeared behind him but his vision was too blurry and his mind too groggy to notice. With a loud roar he swung his claw at the petal wall and BOOOM, water rushed in.