The dragon's harem

Loviara glared at Abel for a long moment, wanting to return the insult, but she quickly chose to stay quiet. While she had the power to beat him to a pulp, Arad was a whole other problem. That man wasn’t just powerful, but overwhelmingly alien compared to everyone she fought in her life.

One wrong word might land her in more than just hot water, and the last thing she wants is getting both Arad and Kali to gang up on her. She cannot even dream of surviving a second against either, so facing both for a stupid comment might be the most foolish thing ever.

But to her surprise, Arad was the next to act, gently smacking Abel’s head. “What are you talking about? Drop it.”

Arad then shifted his gaze toward Loviara and left Abel rubbing his head. “Arad Orion, Kali’s husband. I’m here looking for a guide or information about the whereabouts of the succubi kingdom. I was hoping to find a relatively safe way to reach it.”

She stared at him for a second, took another deep breath, grateful that she was clean, then replied. “The chimera shadow garden, the ruined village of pain, and the breeding den of life and death. You must locate and clear them all. In each, you’ll get a key. When you have all the keys, use them on any shadow and have a shadow demon guide you through the Styx.”

She looked at Abel, then pointed at the shadows inside the tavern. “The Styx is a deadly black river of shadows, the conduit of souls. One wrong turn and you’ll end up in the underworld among the dead.”

“The Styx…” Arad looked up, “The river between life and death, the river that souls must cross to pass on.”

“That is the one. The succubi kingdom is a place with a powerful flux of life and death. But if you want a clearer direction while on the river, I’d say follow the spiders and their webs.” She looked at Abel, “That place is deadly and dangerous, especially for a guy. There are billions of thirsty and powerful succubi living there, and they have no concept of morals, even the demon’s twisted morals. You’ll be like a piece of meat thrown in a monster den.”

Abel smiled. “I want to see them trying their luck with Arad. I don’t think any of them would even be able to move if he were to let his magic loose.”

“Depends, Thalia, could move just fine.”

Arad replied, and Abel shook his head. “Thalia? That is the Demon Lord of Lust herself, not some random, no-name, succubus. You’ll be fine, I bet they won’t even dare approach you.”

“We’ll see. For now, where do I find the garden, the pain village, and the breeding den?” As Arad shifted his gaze, Loviara frowned. “That is the first problem. No one knows. Their location always changes.”

She asked the bartender for three empty cups, arranged them in a line, then started explaining.

The chimera shadow garden was a lab of a long-dead darkness goddess who used to stitch shadows together to create terrifying horrors. After she was killed by the mother of all life, that lab had long since been abandoned, but those shadow monsters still prowl the place.

The ruined village of pain was rumored to be the secret pleasure place of the previous goddess of pain, where she tortured both mortals and demons for her own fun. She was using a strange magic to prevent her toys from dying, and so, she ended up crossing Death’s path. Right now, that place should only be filled with tortured wraith and horrifying magic.

The last one, the breeding den of life and death, was just as the name sounded, a place where a mad god bred all kinds of races together, trying to create a new life, but only resulting in death. No one knows what happened to that god, but the thing they know is that his den is still filled with creatures that are unknown even to the gods.

Arad remained silent through her entire explanation, quickly realizing that he might have a lead already.

As she finished talking, he lifted his hand and called three peculiar void creatures that he had.

Darkness, Pain, and Madness, all three of them appeared right behind Arad, and all of the demons in the tavern jumped away in absolute terror. Loviara almost shat herself again, and now was hiding behind Abel with a pale face, not that her massive frame could be hidden.

“You three, do you know anything about a chimera shadow garden, a breeding lab, and a torture village?” As he asked, the three seemed to reach.

Darkness nodded energetically, Pain gasped as if she just climaxed, and Madness cackled like a hyena. Arad was right, those three were the same foul gods who ruled those places in the past. No wonder they ended up in the deepest layer of hell.

“So, it was really you three.” Arad sighed, rubbed his eyes, then started with darkness. “That garden, do you know where it is?”

Darkness rested her fists on her hips, then looked around, quickly approached a shadow, and stomped on it. After a few seconds of nothing happening, she turned toward Arad and shook her head.

“What? Can’t find it? Ah, you’ve been locked out. Is there a way to find that place then?” Arad stood, and she nodded, quickly clapping her hands to summon something. From Arad’s shadow, a black shadow rooster emerged, and it looked at Darkness for a long second.

“Cock-a-doodle-doo!” It seemed to have missed Darkness a lot, so after betting the rooster for a bit, she instructed him to track the garden’s current location and guide Arad to it.

Unlike anything else that Arad saw, that rooster seemed to have a massive demonic soul stitched to his mundane rooster body, enchanting and empowering it beyond animal limits by leaps and bounds. Arad had no doubt this little feathery rooster could face lower rank demons and win with relative ease.

With his guide for the garden secured, Arad shifted his attention toward Pain, who was still wiggling and reminiscing about the fun she had in the past. “That village of pain, how do I get there?”

But instead of a clear answer, she just shrugged, telling Arad that she had no idea where the village is now. Which sounded weird because unlike something made of shadows, a village isn’t supposed to have legs, and it couldn’t have moved from its place.

“Can you locate it?”

Pain shrugged once more, but a bit more casually this time. She didn’t know of a way to locate the village, but she could try several things and hope for success. So, she’ll report back to Arad if she gets a lead.

With that, pain ran out of the tavern to start searching.

The last one was Madness, and Arad wasn’t certain he could get a straight answer from someone with such a sick and twisted mind.