The dragon's harem

CRACK! Bim, Bom, and Shi landed beside the crack, staring at the abyss.

“Ground, shaking,” Bim said with a smile, “Monsters, the great one,”

“Don’t know,” Shi replied, pointing down with her axe and tapping her foot on the ground, “Small things, a lot.”

“Fight, Bom,” Bom approached Shi, but she punched him. “Monsters,” .𝒎

Bom growled with a sad face but quickly broke into a smile, putting his axe above his shoulder.

The three of them jumped down like one, ready to kill anything down there and find out why they could sense the great one from the ground.

At the bottom of the ravine, a hulking cockroach stared up, seeing the three barbarians falling. It rushed inside, knocking on the stones to ring the alarm, and intruders were approached.

BAM! Bin kicked the wall with his foot, bouncing from one side to another with grace. Even if his human eyes couldn’t see anything, the moment his feet touched the walls, he could feel the monsters moving at the bottom like ants.

Bom swung his axe at the wall, using it to slow his fall, and extended his hand to Shi, “Mom, help,”

Shi smiled as she fell, “No,” She fell straight down, landing feet first in the middle of the dark, scarring the hulking cockroaches inside.

Those large muscular humanoid cockroaches glared at her, each of them standing at almost three meters tall. They growled and grunted. This woman looked small to them, but something seemed off about her.

Shi couldn’t see in the dark, but she still could hear them breathing, and feel the beat of their massive hearts on the ground through her feet.

One massive hulking cockroach approached her, bending down with its horrid breath gushing out. “JOOO?”

Shi lifted her hands, grabbing the monster’s head in her palms. In the next moment, she swung her head forth, headbutting the creature and caving his skull in.

As its body started falling, she swung one fist, piercing the monster’s upper chest and heart. “Roaches, hard to die,”

“JOOOOOO!” The other roaches screamed. They expected intruders, but not someone that strong.

The hulking cockroaches weren’t completely beastial. They had a slither of intelligence to them. Their average stood at four, equivalent to apes and crows. They were capable of simple planning and understanding.

They knew surface dwellers shouldn’t be able to see or fight in the dark. For that, they couldn’t comprehend how Shi already killed one of their kind.

Why can’t they sense fear from her? Why are they the ones trembling even though they have advantages?

The roaches charged forth, swinging at Shi who didn’t bother to move, a grin on her face.

CRACK! The moment the roaches approached her, Bom and Bin reached the floor, landing on the monsters beside Shi.

As the roaches splattered into green goo, “Kill,” Shi said with a grin, and the two barbarians rushed forward with their axes, cleaving the monsters.

The roaches roared, calling their strongest ones to deal with the intruders. If one was a problem, having three is a disaster.

Before Bom and Bin, tens of massive cockroaches started merging from the cracks, trying to overwhelm them with sheer numbers.

The two barbarians smiled. They were used to fighting hordes of wolves and goblins alone. The monsters being bigger didn’t change anything. If not, it made them easier to hit with their axes.

Some of the roaches tried to run away, but they were faced with Shi waiting for them with a smile, standing tall with her arms crossed. To them, she was a true monster.

CRACK! Bin returned, “Found, red stone,” He said, and Shi followed him to Bom.

Besides the crushed corpse of a roach shaman rested a red crystal glowing with an ominous flare. The great one’s aura was coming from it.

Shi approached the stone but suddenly stopped, “Monster, a big one,” She stared back.

Bin grunted, “Small ones, a lot,”

“Kill!” Bom growled, ready for blood.

As the two barbarians got ready to fight, Shi extended her hand to lift the crystal. They must take it to the village.

Right behind the crystal in the shadows, Arad stood there, watching with closed eyes.

The moment Shi touched the stone, it turned white and crumbled, Causing her veins to glow red for a second before fading.

Bin stared back at her, “What?”

“Don’t know,” Shi replied, looking at the crystal’s ashes, as confused as everyone else.

The three barbarians rushed to face the coming massive monster.

Thud! They stopped at an opening in the cave, staring down and feeling a massive creature writhing on the ground. It was long, hard, over five meters thick, and several hundred long.

“Worm,” Shi growled.

“Big,” Bom nodded.

“Bad, don’t know color,” Bin stared at them, “Danger,”

Underground worms were known for their sheer strength and deadly poisons. The native barbarians did hunt them, but only in groups of five or more, and they also had to take into account the creature’s color.

Arad stood behind them, glaring in silence.

Shi paused for a second, suddenly turning around and glaring at Arad. But in her eyes, she saw a tall muscular woman with long brown hair and eyes, and a body full of war paints.

She blinked, but then no one was there. She rubbed her eyes, confused.

Bin and Bom stared at her, “Okay?”

“Okay,” Shi replied, “We kill the worm,”

The three barbarians jumped, ready to face the worm. Even as dangerous as they are, if they manage to get it on the head. It will be over quickly.

They weren’t known to make smart decisions even if they knew it was dangerous.

Bin and Bom swing their axes, hitting the worm in the head. CLANG! From the metallic sound, they knew it was a gray worm.

“BACK!” Shi shouted, kicking the wall and bouncing all the way toward the end of the coiled worm. The gray worm’s weakness was two green patches at its rear end, the testicles.

Shi held her axe as she reached the green patches. One good swing and the worm would bleed to death in seconds.

[Don’t, Rage] A voice boomed in her head.

Shi froze for a second, hesitating to rage and attack.

“Kill it!” Bin shouted, and Shi got smacked by the worm’s tail, sending her body flying away.

Bin and Bom growled, perplexed at the powerful Shi’s hesitation. Something was off.

At that moment, the worm sneaked Bom, biting his left leg off.

Bin growled, swinging his axe and knocking the worm down. “Shi! Rage!” He screamed.

Shi grunted her teeth.

[Weak, blood, rage,] the woman’s voice kept booming in her Shi’s head, but she decided to ignore it, raging as she did her whole life.

Her skin turned red, and she could feel the power coursing through her veins…BLOP! But, blood gushed out of her eyes and ears, her skin started falling off, and everything stopped in terror.

ROAR! Shi screamed, lunging in a splash of blood, and swinging her axe at the worm, cutting it in half.

As the worm writhed in pain, scales covered Shi’s body as it expanded and grew large, taking a deformed crocodilian shape.

“Shi!” Bom jumped at her, trying to understand what was happening, but she swallowed him whole.

Bin gasped, but Shi’s attention shifted toward the massive worm. She bit its writhing body and swung it around, ascendingly smacking Bin and sending his body bouncing across the cavern, finally landing inside the cave where Arad and everyone found him.

^It’s my fault,^ Bin thought as he sat there, unable to move with Arad standing at his side. ^If I didn’t ask her to rage,^

Bin lifted his head, his dead eyes looking forward to see Arad and everyone standing before him. Hours had passed since he remained there, unable to move.

He could see Shi far larger than before creeping at them from the darkness, and Aella turning around to face it.

^I want to make things right.^

Arad turned with Aella’s scream, teleporting everyone away and letting Bin face Shi for one last time.