The dragon's harem

Chapter 1524: Pay Up!

Balina had many sisters and siblings; her mother was quite active after all. For a few seconds, she couldn’t remember her sister’s name, but then, it came back to her. ”Ryan!”

Arad looked at Balina, then back at Ryan, ”You’re her sister?” He approached and looked at her, ”How did you survive the whole fight?”

”The others are stupid, they lived their whole lives used to moving and fighting in their draconic form. Now they thought they could fight someone who is used to fighting in a human form.” She started writing something on the ground.

”Tiamat allows us all to gain a humanoid form if we want. But that is more of a curse than a blessing. Dragons should achieve that with their own effort, not by her grace.”

On the ground, she wrote the word, [Effort]

Arad smiled, ”Effort? I don’t think it matters how they got that form, as long as they train on how to use it.” He looked back at the shattered arena, ”Who tries to use a breath at close range when they aren’t fast enough to dodge and recover? Only those who are used to nothing scratching their scales are that stupid.”

Ryan wrote another word, [Luck], ”Depends, they are just unlucky. You’re the first real threat they’ve had to face. You can’t blame them for seeking safety and comfort.”

She stood and looked at Arad, straining her neck. Unlike her sister, who was almost six feet tall, Ryan was only a bit over five feet. ”Why are you so massive?”

”I’m just tall.” Arad smiled, and she started measuring his thigh with her hand, ”It’s like... this big. Will sister be okay?” She tilted her head, and Arad laughed, ”Of course, she will be fine. Question is, why are you here?”

She looked up, ”I came to see what you’re made from. I heard many strange rumors, Arad Orion, Uranus, hell-rider, the black death, the star of night, slayer of vampires, the death of Vlad, the Emperor of Nothing, and the guardian of spirits... many people all around the world call you by different names.”

”I don’t know about half of those names...” Arad frowned, and she smiled, ”Of course you don’t. Those names are what people call you, not what you call yourself. They are nicknames.” She wrote the word nicknames on the ground with her foot.

”So? What did you see in me?” Arad asked.

Ryan looked back at her mother, then at Balina, and then turned back to Arad with a giggle, ”A womanizer.”

”Is that a bad thing or a good thing?” Arad lifted an eyebrow, and she shrugged, ”As everything in the world.” She wrote on the ground with her foot.

”It depends.”

With a smile, she looked at Gamond, ”If your wives were all weak, that would’ve meant you’re a loser that only takes on those he knows that he can win against. But since they are all too powerful, that only means you’re that strong to be able to rein them in beneath one roof. To us dragons, that means a lot.”

On the ground, she wrote ”Pride.”

”A lion without a pride is a homeless loser, and a lion that has a massive pride is the king of the forest. You’re the latter, which is good.” She then pointed at Arad with one finger, ”So, you pass.”

She then stretched and started flexing her arms, ”So? Shall we fight? All of the other drakainas are already out, so they won’t bother us.”

”You want to fight me?” Arad took a step back and got ready.

”Of course, I won’t let my sister eat the whole cake by herself.” She opened her mouth, and a cloud of white dust puffed out, crackling into flames.

Among the thousand drakainas that Arad just beat, there were many orange drakains among them, so he knew what to expect.

Orange dragons are dragons that breathe sodium, pure salt. It’s extremely flammable in the air and explosive in water.

”I’m Ryan, the short queen of Vinlan.” She lifted her foot up, and her shoes exploded into pieces, leaving her long, draconic claws exposed. Unlike Arad, who remained in a full humanoid form most of the time, she didn’t. Ryan decided to face him looking like a half-dragon, a human with draconic talons and wings.

[Death Macabre]

The ground around them stirred and shifted, and hundreds of mummies rose from it with a growl like growing plants, their bodies dripping with salt. The moment they stood, they all burst into flames, turning into a harrowing orange army of flaming undead.

A circle of water magic appeared on Ryan’s right hand, and a circle of wind magic appeared on her left hand. She was a witch, a witch that used necromancy to raise the undead, covered them with her pure sodium to set them ablaze, then used her water and wind magic to either empower the flame or cause them to explode.

Ryan herself jumped back. She knew well that she couldn’t match Arad in either physical strength or speed, so she decided that a ranged battle would be in her favor.

Arad looked at the army of mummies with a smile, ”A fire necromancer? I have never seen such a thing before.”

Ryan smiled, ”I’m counting on that.”

Arad jumped away and lifted his hands up. ”So, you came with your army.” He swung his arms down, causing his shadow to surge forward and cover his half of the arena, ”I have to show mine then.”

From the shadows, tens of hundreds of heavily armored vampire paladins emerged, holding their weapons and flags up.

One paladin marched forward, clad in her black armor. She stomped on the ground and plunged the flag down, her eyes flashing red behind the visor of her helmet.

All of the vampires behind her got into formation and pulled their weapons, ready for a fight.

”Get them.” Arad said in the back, and the flag paladin took another step forward, ”BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD LORD!”

But then, the one behind her whispered, ”Ah, chief Sera... those mummies don’t have blood.”

All of the vampires froze for a second, confused, and looked at the flag bearer. She growled, shifted a bit, ”AH! FOR THE EMPEROR!”

After shouting, she looked back at them, ”Satisfied?” And the one behind her gave her a thumbs-up.

And then, the two armies clashed.

Ryan looked at the battle from afar, waiting for a chance to attack Arad, who stood behind his army. She blinked, and he was gone.

”That’s a scary scene. Don’t you think? Vampires and burning mummies clashing like two tides of water.” Arad was already behind her, sitting on a fancy wooden chair.

She started sweating buckets and didn’t move an inch. ”You’re that fast?”

Arad waved his hand and pulled another chair. ”Take a seat, let’s watch.”

She didn’t look back, scared that he would smack her away. So she just took a few steps back and sat down, ending up on the ground between his legs.

”I’ve got a chair for you?” Arad lifted an eyebrow, and she shook her head, ”I’m fine here. I already lost anyway.”

”Lost? The armies are just starting. You wanted to challenge me like this, so we’re doing it. Your army against mine.” Arad smiled, ”My vampires are powerful, but they never faced mummies before, let alone flaming ones.”

”Why...you can just knock me out and all of my mummies would disappear.” She looked up at him, and Arad shook his head.

”It’s more fair this way.”

After half an hour, Arad’s vampires ended up winning because Ryan ran out of mana to sustain her army. If Arad wasn’t sitting right behind her, she would’ve tried using her sodium and water magic to blow the vampires away.

”I lost.” She sighed, seeing the last of her mummies getting stomped down by one of the vampires.

”Let’s go back then.” He reached down, touched her head, and the two of them appeared beside his wives. ”Now, are you out of tricks yet?”

Arad waved his hand and dropped all of the knocked-out drakainas on the seats. ”Here are your dragons.”

”Mine?” Lola giggled, ”They aren’t mine, they are your wives’ servants now. Let them pick and choose.”

Gamond had already pulled the still knocked out, still bleeding white drakainas from the pile, slapping them awake, and giving them maid outfits.

Beside Arad, Balina dragged Ryan away by the ear, ”You little shit! What brought you here?!”

Eris approached Arad, ”I know what you’re thinking, but this should be better.” She looked at the drakainas, ”At least those are dragons. They can assist me or the others in a fight, unlike human servants.”

Arad thought about. His wives were basically protecting their personal guards, which should be the opposite. He needed their guards to be stronger than them; if not, then at least able to help.

Zul, for example, was still recovering and sick, so she could really use two or three guards to protect her. There was at least one Black Great Wyrm drakaina there...

”That one...” He pointed at Lola, ”She said that she kidnapped some of them. Don’t force anyone to stay. Eris, can I count on you to make it official?”

Eris shook her head, ”I’m not good with papers; they’ll have to wait until we go back for Isdis to write them proper contracts and set their pay.”

Arad nodded, ”Got it, I’ll get their pay ready.” He reached into his stomach and pulled a severed head, his own.

Eris froze, and so did everyone there. That was the head of one of his incarnations. They usually disappeared right away so he could summon them back up, but why did he leave this head? No, who cut it?

Arad approached Lola and put his severed head on her lap, ”Pay up.”

She said she’ll give a quarter of her hoard to anyone who brings her Arad’s head...