The dragon's harem

Agnar seemed reluctant to use his pact with Maharaja. He could transform into a fearsome black jaguar and face the elephants, but he knew that focusing on attack would leave his allies defenseless, which was good.

Of course, Arad wasn’t going to sit around and watch a bunch of elephants turn two of his daughters and a student into pancakes. He’ll help if the situation becomes a bit more dire, but he won’t mind letting them test their still further.

As he stood in the shadows, hidden by the darkness’s woman’s power, the one he now decided to call Darkness. He started to learn a bit more about his link to souls, of course, thanks to his murder of crows.

As he stood there, an old, ragged crow slowly glided down, almost crashing on Arad’s shoulders instead of landing on them. The poor creature looked exhausted, spent, and weak. It was looked at with sad, dried eyes. Its body had grown too weak for flight, and it had spent what little power it had to reach him.

Arad’s void surged from his body like a splash of hungry water and consumed the whole crowd in an instant, sending him into the depths of Arad’s stomach. Seconds later, Arad could feel it. The elderly crow has died of old age, peacefully resting in the cold embrace of the void.

What was left was a faint spark of light, the poor creature’s tiny soul. Strangely whole and unharmed. It floated through the void and merged with Arad’s soul. When Arad forcefully killed a creature to take their soul, the souls were always damaged, but the elderly crow’s soul was whole, untouched. A natural cause of death, like old age, didn’t seem to harm a creature’s soul as much as killing them did.

Arad had already had several crows die inside his stomach from old age. It was just a matter of fact with how many thousands of them he commanded. A few dozen crow souls were now floating in the void, and soon, they were reborn from it.

Crows were naturally smart, and the older they got, the smarter they were. Now, the oldest of them were coming back to life with bodies of pure void. The Void Crows, as Arad started calling them, looked like normal crows, but with matt black feathers and glowing purple eyes.

At that moment, the battle grew fiercer, and Angar was about to be smacked with one of the elephants. It only took Arad a fraction of a second to calculate that the battle is over, the three won’t survive without assistance.

He extended his hand forward and pointed at one of the elephants. A Void Crow appeared on his shoulder, the same one who had just died. It looked at the elephant, and fire burned in its purple eyes. A second later, the crow burst forward like an arrow, several times faster than what a crow had any right to be. Its beak hit the elephant on the head, and the whole bird pierced the monster from head to the other side, exploding it in a splatter of blood and guts.

The crow wasn’t done just yet; it flew around the battlefield and finished the other elephants just like that. The elephants were B-rank monsters, and Arad assumed that his Void crows were the same rank. It was just that their bodies were made of his void, making them much more lethal. Their only weakness was soul attacks, which were rare enough not to be considered an immediate threat.

Agnar looked at the dead elephants for a second, then noticed the crow flying back. Yuwaku sighed and sheathed her sword, glad that she didn’t need to resort to her nymph powers. Ignis quickly looked back and jumped down from the tree, her tail wagging happily.

Agnar was the last one to notice, and he growled, “I could’ve killed them on my own.” He swung his sword, blood splashed on the ground, and the blade turned clean. “I didn’t need your help.”

Arad walked out of the trees with a smile. “You at least understand.”

Agnar sighed, “Thank you. I might not have needed your help, but we, as a whole, needed it.” He looked at the bloodied mess. “The quest said nothing about the elephant being resistant to fire. The guild has been a shit-show since Nina left weeks ago.” He sighed.

“She was more competent in her work than most, who would’ve thunk?” He sheathed the sword and approached Arad.

“You.” Arad lifted his fist and gently tapped the rascal on the head, which was still strong enough to make him reel back. “If you had just checked the Monster Manual, you would’ve learned that if more than three of those elephants moved together, then there is an 80% chance they are royal fire elephants.”

“Is it my fault now?” Agnar looked at Arad with a sharp glare, “I have to check a book each time?”

“Adventurers are supposed to know monsters as well as they know their weapons. Nina checked the manual and referenced the special trait for monsters, but that was an extra thing she did. You better get used to spending as much time studying monsters as sharpening your blade.” Arad approached Agnar and lifted him by the head.

“And… you’ve got some guts dragging my two daughters out here with you on a death mission.” He looked at the little rascal with an evil smile and then threw him back. Agnar twisted his torso mid-air like a cat and landed on his legs. “Sorry about that… A leader should’ve read the manual and taken every precaution to ensure the safety of the members of his party.”

At least Agnar seemed to understand where he had made a mistake.

“This shouldn’t be the first mission that got this messy, right?” Arad looked at Yuwaku, “I was away for a long time. Surely it didn’t just happen when I was around.”

Yuwaku nodded, “This is the fifth mission we failed, of course, we completed over fifty others, our success rate is far higher than other adventuring parties.”

“Then would you have escaped from this mess without me arriving?” Arad looked back at Agnar, who simply replied.

“Ignis would retreat first. Yuwaku and I would stall the monsters for a few seconds to give her some distance. And then I’ll transform into a black jaguar and carry Yuwaku away. I’m the fastest in that form after all.” He looked at Yuwaku with a smile, but she slowly turned toward Arad with a neutral face. “That was the plan.”

“Effective, isn’t it?” Agnar wiped his nose, but immediately fell silent when Yuwaku spoke, seemingly unfazed. “Agnar could’ve retreated with Ignis and left me to unleash my full power. The two won’t get caught if they weren’t in range… but Agnar seems to prefer having me ride him out of battle each time.”

Arad sharply turned around, and Agnar was already gone; he almost forgot his shadow on the ground.