The dragon's harem

A towering man walked into the village, a shadow that washed the ground and sent one of the men walking the street into a terrified frenzy. Soon, the village guards rushed in, their faces paling at the sight of the terrifying monster facing them.

“I wanted to sell some meat and monster parts.” Arad pulled the large sack he had on his back and plopped it down with a loud thud. He had made that thing out of monster hides, a makeshift knapsack that was five times larger than normal.

Arad had spent a whole day wandering the wilderness of this floor and had discovered a few things. First, he was on the floor 901 of the massive labyrinth, which was as low as Merlin could fling him down.

This floor, 901, was relatively safe with countless villages and even a big city in its center. The monsters around ranged from as low as level 10 to as high as level 500, which was technically far too weak for such a high floor. That’s why he calls it relatively safe.

While all monsters looked different and could be relatively told apart by their level, Arad had come up with another way to rank them. A way that looked more accurate to him, as some low-level monsters had abilities or traits that made them deadlier or harder to resist than the higher-level ones.

Animals were the weakest rank in his eyes. They simply looked like normal animals with levels, making them easy to predict and deal with.

Monsters came after the Animals. They were larger, stronger, and possessed somewhat of a weak intelligence. Dealing with them was far more dangerous since some can use magic, innately, but still… a dire wolf that can throw [Wind Blade] at you? Without extreme senses dodging the invisible wind blade was impossible even if the monster was of a lower level.

Monstrosities were a step above the Monsters. Just looking at them would make the normal man flinch; their bodies mostly resembled deformed monsters or animals. While a wolf is an animal, a dire wolf that is larger and more rugged is a monster; a wolf with two horns and a third eye is a monstrosity.

Arad almost died to a monstrosity, a large mole-rat that attacked him while he was taking care of his business. The thinker was smart enough to lay an ambush. For his survival, Arad only has Nina to thank. He’ll make sure to thank her when he returns home.

Horrors, those things were far more terrifying than Monstrosities. Deformed and ugly amalgamation of countless beings, all writhing in pain and blood. Seeing one was enough to make a man throw up. Those things were smart enough to speak, deceive, and lure humans in.

Arad had once heard a scream calling for help in the forest. He rushed in to check it out, only to find the most horrid and disgusting lump of nightmares waiting for him. He barely managed to escape with his life, only thanks to the Horror he faced being slow.

Lastly, the worst of the worst, Terrors. Those things were as smart as humans, if not far smarter. Their true bodies looked like Horrors, but they could shapeshift, disguise themselves, and even be reasoned with. But like dealing with devils, those things were up to no good and getting away from them seemed nearly impossible… that’s why he has this thing sitting on his shoulder.

A pale woman with long grey hair and burning white eyes sat on Arad’s shoulder, wearing hide clothes like his that barely covered her private bits. This fiendish nightmare of a Terror sitting on his shoulder was one that he met late on his first night. He woke up in the middle of the night to her wolfing on the wolf meat he stored for breakfast.

At that time, she looked nothing like how innocent she looks now. All that Arad saw was a massive mass of viscera and blood twirling in the shape of a massive goat with the twisting intestines taking a vaguely humanoid shape, which was snacking on the meat with more than five mouths.

She had left him for the desert. But after looking at him, her expression suddenly changed. Her magic is what saved him. With one look at him with her dozen-or-so milky eyes, she could see the truth. Her main magic allowed her to see the abilities and powers of her prey so she could better hunt them, but in Arad’s case, she saw the dragon inside him, the true monster this labyrinth is afraid of.

She made a deal with him. She’ll help him inside the labyrinth, and he’ll take her outside when he regains his power. With him being powerless to fight against her, he could only accept her deal. Even if she became a threat later, with his draconic power restored, killing her shouldn’t be a problem.

This also taught him a painful lesson, igniting fire at night is inviting Terrors for dinner. The only ones that would stay away were monsters and animals, the rest are powerful or stupid enough to dare attack.

The village guards recoiled back just from seeing Arad’s massive body, and almost none of them noticed the woman sitting on his shoulder. It was then that he tapped the large sack, “You’ve got a trader here, right?”

The guards finally came back to their senses upon hearing a human voice. In their life, they had never seen a man so huge and wearing a monster’s hide like that. But almost immediately, as they calmed down, they noticed the woman sitting on his shoulder. Her presence was so faint that she almost seemed invisible, but now that their eyes lay on her, they couldn’t help but stare.

Her well-toned and pale body leaned on Arad’s shoulder, almost glowing in the sunlight. With her sitting high up, the guards could only look at her feet, lower chest, and chin, her eyes glowing like gems at the top.

A mischievous smile covered her face as she leaned on Arad’s head, “Like what you see? Cowards.” Her words came out as gentle as the breeze, and the guards weren’t even offended for being called; most of them seemed glad she even looked back at them.

“Get out of the way. If you’ve feasted with your eyes, then scram before I pull them out. I’ve got no interest in cowards who hide behind weapons and armor.” The guards immediately got out of the way when they heard her voice.

Arad looked at her, “I’m going to buy a weapon.”

She giggled, “I’ve seen you rip monsters apart with your bare hands. And besides… I’ve seen your true power, such a magnificent beast.” Her eyes shifted back to the guards, “They are cowards, shaking in their boots upon glancing at your shadow.”