The dragon's harem

“We should travel with you. I don’t know what the tree or Sylph would think if I don’t make the trip.” Cerilla looked at Arad and then at the world outside, “I can feel it, it isn’t about the destination, but about the journey. This trip is most likely just a training ground for what I’ll face atop the tree. And if previous kings made it, I can do it as well.”

“You making it up or not isn’t my problem.” Arad looked at her for a long moment, “All of the previous kings died not long after returning from the trip. It took a toll on their bodies.”

“As all things in life do. But keep in mind that most of the previous kings took the trip later in their lives. I’m still young and strong.” Cerilla sat on a log and looked at Arad, then at Jasmine. “I can’t ignore my duty.”

“If you were to die from the trip, I’m burning the tree down and ripping that goddess of yours apart.” Arad stared at her with a dead face and glowing purple eyes. “I’ll put Plum in place of the world tree and Aella in place of Sylph.”

Jasmine sighed, “I want to say that you’re joking, but you’ve already killed a god, so I guess you aren’t.”

“I’m not joking.” Arad stood and waved his hand, “For that, I’ll call for some help.” The ground around him rippled, and waves of powerful magic rushed out.

Shadows boiled, and crimson rot slowly foamed from the cracks in the wood. The four women with Arad rushed back while Plum hid inside his hair, looking at the ground with a terrified face.

“Ah, what’s your problem, calling me all the way up here?” Grace, the shadow drakaina, emerged fully naked in her dark elf form, her eyes burning with dark malice as she glared around, finally stopping at Arad.

“Arad? I guess you need something?” Merida took a step out of her crimson rot, engulfed with dark green demonic magic. Her eyes looked at the tree, quickly catching a whiff of the rot fungus Arad faced before. “That thing is foul.”

“Grace, protect Jasmine and D. Merida, you protect Cerilla and Dalla. I’ll protect you all. Our main goal is to reach the top of the tree with those four alive.” Arad looked at them, and Grace sighed.

“I guess you don’t care about our lives, then?”

Merida glared at her and then smiled, “Neither of us can die. You can always retreat into the safety of the shadows. My real body is in the abyss, so even if I died, I’ll resurrect there, and he is Arad.”

“Merida is right. We three are the most suitable for this place. Grace is a shadow drakaina that can move and attack swiftly, even mid-air, since even flying monsters cast shadows upon themselves. And Merida herself can counter one of the most deadly things around here, the rot fungus. If anything is to kill one of us, it’s that thing.”

Merida nodded, “My demonic fungus is much stronger and can consume that rot with ease. As long as I’m around, it won’t pose a threat.” She pulled her sword and sat down, looking at the crack in the wall leading outside.

“I’ll start looking for it.” As Merida closed her eyes, crimson rot and fungus started spreading from where she sat, slowly reaching out and seeking the rot fungus.

Grace sighed, “If you think so.” She walked toward the crack in the wall and looked outside. She was the most powerful in shadows and darkness, and now, it was night. “This place is full of vile shadows.” She growled, “I’ll go hunt a few. And don’t worry, I’m not stupid, I won’t let them follow me back here.” She jumped into the shadows and disappeared.

Arad turned back toward the four women, “You four should sleep. Night is more dangerous than daytime. And something huge is approaching.”

He could hear it, a massive creature slithering toward them from above, several tens of kilometers long, a serpent so huge it might as well wrap around Arad and squish him.

“Merida, take care of the ugly ones.” Arad disappeared before the four women could catch him, and a second later, the tree shook as they heard the ear-shattering, vile hiss of a titanic serpent.

Cerilla started sweating as she couldn’t believe that a fight was causing the massive world tree to shake like this. Whatever Arad was facing now, it wasn’t something someone like her could even hope to survive brushing against.

Looking around, she noticed that she wasn’t the only terrified one. Dalla was pale, and Jasmine couldn’t even breathe. D, who could see the flowing mana in the air, almost shat herself and was now on her knees, terrified. She had just seen a monster far stronger than anything she had seen in her life, and saw Arad, who was even more harrowing, clashing with that terror.

But their fear was only going to grow stronger. Compared to everyone else in Arad’s roster, they were nowhere near the strongest, and they were going to see the vast difference between them and the rest.

From the crack in the wall, the rotten husk of a mantis peeked, looking at the four women with mad hunger in its maggot-infested eyes.

“It’s controlled by a magical fungus. It devours mana and control corpses like zombies. Fire, we must use fire…” D crawled back and stared at Jasmine, “Fire! Burn it, burn the whole place down!”

“We’re in the world tree! We won’t use fire!” Jasmine growled back at her.

“Who cares about the damned tree? Not us when we turn into that!” She pointed at the mantis, “BURN IT!”

“You’re all so noisy.” A voice rang behind them as Merida lifted her sword, slowly standing up. “Scared of a mere bug, I should’ve taken you to my abyss layer.”

Cerilla looked back at her, “Can you kill that thing? Physical attacks won’t hurt it.”

“I would love to see it move when I turn it into a mush.” Merida flew forward, her sword sparking as it cut through the air so fast that friction almost ignited it. The mantis swung his arm blades at her with equal speed, meeting her face too fast.

To everyone else, the fight was just a blur. Merida and the mantis moved at a speed that surpassed anything the four had seen, and neither of them could even help. Dalla was reminded of how she is just the weakest of the S-ranks, and that all her power only works when her enemy can feel pain.

Cerilla tried to call some of Sylph’s power through her pact, but she found it too slow, in the time it took her to send a call and recive even a fraction of her power, the mantic and Merida would’ve already moved to another spot in the vast trunk, clashing at a level that made the mere though of getting close seem suicidal.

Jasmine was good with fire and earth magic, but sadly, there was no earth around here, and fire is off-limits, turning her into someone just as useless as a normal human. The best she could do was drag the terrified D away and calm her down.

“That woman is a Demon Lord. How many of them does Arad have?” D gasped and Jasmine smiled, “Plenty, enough that us plebeians might not even be worth his time.”

“Let’s see…” Plum suddenly spoke, and everyone noticed her. She was too short for anything to notice her otherwise. She made an ok with her fingers and looked through it, aiming at the mantis, “Here, here, go!”

A wooden spear burst from the ground and impaled the mantis, giving Merida enough time to blend it into a smoothie.