The dragon's harem

Nina’s skin worked like a mirror for magic. Any spell or mana that hits it reflects away. From what Arad knew about the Tarrasque, that thing was supposed to be able to fling spells back at its caster. But Nina seems to be a bit different; if she wants to send the spells back at the caster, she needs to angle her body right, as if trying to reflect light back at its source with a mirror.

The skin seemed to be able to reflect any kind of magic and work on its own. Nina can’t be healed or buffed by anyone, which seems to be the flaw of her skin. She can’t pick and choose.

By the time Arad finished inspecting her skin, Nina was already about to finish eating the third arm. With the first one, her muscles evolved, and with the second, her bones, the third one seemed to harden some of her organs.

Arad jumped back, but before he could get away, Nina was already after him. This time faster than before and with a much more vicious attitude. He was still calm and able to keep up with her, but she was already reaching a level of speed that was unheard of.

This time, Arad didn’t feed her immediately and dodged her attacks for a few seconds, trying to assess and get used to her speed. She isn’t his opponent now, but at the end, when her belly is full, he might end up struggling, if not losing.

Now, he has no way of knowing how he’ll fare, so he is trying to study her body and find the weakness.

It was then that Arad noticed something, and it made him both scared and happy. As Nina landed beside him on one foot, swinging a left hook at his liver, something about her seemed off.

Nina’s muscles moved as one, her bones tensed, and her skin seemed to glisten with sweat, sweat that immediately evaporated into a haze of mist due to how fast she moved. Arad’s eyes didn’t miss the change, this attack wasn’t like any other.

He was right, she is far different from any mundane strong opponent. Nina’s fist flew right through Arad’s body and came from the other side. His eyes could seem beneath her skin, the muscles ruptured from going beyond their limit, but they were already healed before the acceleration died.

In that one strike, Nina’s muscles pushed beyond their limit, were destroyed, and healed seven times. With each push accelerating her fist accelerated further into a realm far beyond what should be possible with flesh and bones.

As Nina’s mouth opened wide, ready to naw at the spilling organs, she found nothing. She paused for a moment, looking at him with a confused face, droll flowing down her lips like rivers. Arad was standing there, unharmed.

To Arad, she looked to have halted, but if anyone else was watching, they probably wouldn’t even notice. And like a vicious monster, she immediately lunged back at him, throwing a storm of attacks, aiming to either kill or maim him.

To her surprise, most of her attacks landed, but none of them managed to harm Arad. In fact, her attacks seemed to fly right through his body without leaving a wound.

Unless Arad wants to get hit, or gets caught off-guard with a surprise or a sneak attack, he can choose to do four things. Like all other fighters, he can choose to dodge, block, or deflect the attack. The last and fourth option that is now open to him is to just let the attack fly through him.

In the same way, Undine or Salamander were able to dodge attacks by turning their bodies into water and fire. Arad could do that with the void; for him, it looks like the attacks are just flying through him.

Of course, such a thing didn’t come without risk. While it doesn’t consume a lot of energy, he needs to tightly manage the time he remains incorporeal for it to be effective in combat. Otherwise, even his attacks won’t land. Not to mention that he would start sinking into the ground if not for gravity magic.

Arad could hear Nina growl in her thoughts. She was, in fact, getting so angry that if she were in control, she might’ve swung at him herself.

“Are you okay? I don’t think I did anything scary, or at least rude. Me looking at your skin should’ve been the thing to get you angry.” He dodged one attack normally and asked, his voice buried beneath the growls and howls of the beastial woman swinging at his face.

^It’s like that day I fought a ghost for the first time. It kept mocking me. No matter how much I raged, how hard I swung, how fast I moved, or how angry I got, all of my attacks kept missing. Until I was too tired to move.^ Arad could sense a deep sense of fear and dread from her thoughts. She was afraid of ghosts, the one thing she couldn’t smash. Luckily, he wasn’t a ghost.

****

Back at the castle, Merlin was sitting at a marble table. Neige was standing at her side, pouring a stream of steaming hot tea into a fancy ceramic cup. Behind her, Ombre brushed her hair, making sure not to strain her goddess scalp. Each brush was calculated and immaculate, even the maids standing around couldn’t believe what their eyes were seeing. All of them thought that brushing hair was just that, brushing hair.

A crystal orb floated in front of Merlin, in it she could see Arad and Nina fighting. If she closed her eyes, she could sense the mana in their area tumbling. Nina was putting a huge strain on nature by forcefully using all of that earth magic to make the ground strong enough to be her footing.

Sitting on the opposite side of Merlin, a tall woman with curly green hair sat. A delicate young woman strained to massage the giantess’s shoulders, sweat pouring down her forehead. Even after several days of being picked up, that young lady never got used to the crammed schedule of serving the Witch-Doctor Claug.

Claug reached forward, picked an empty cup from the table, and put a finger in it. Soon, the cup was filled with bubbling, green poison. She lifted it and got it close to her nose. Sniffing it, Claug smiled, “What an aroma.” She then put the cup back on the table.

Claug lifted a finger and flicked it. “Drink it.” Her words were directed at the woman massaging her shoulders.

The woman’s face contorted in disgust; that poison smelled foul. She would rather drink from the sewers than get that thing anywhere near her face. Even standing there, she could barely suppress her stomach from emptying itself.

With shaking hands, she reached forward and grabbed the cup. A few drops spilled on the floor and Claug looked down with a grimace. “You’ll lick those drops as well. Each dose matters.”

“Aren’t you a bit harsh on her?” Merlin asked as she saw the woman’s terrified, pale face.

“She is the one who wanted this.” Claug looked back at the woman with a smile, “What are you waiting for? Drink it.”

The woman closed her eyes and gulped the disgusting poison in a single gulp. Immediately, the cup fell from her hands, and she fell on her face, crying as she could feel her stomach about to rupture.

Claug, who caught the cup mid-fall, looked at her, “You didn’t pass out this time? Good, you’re getting used to it.”

“Is she dying?” Merlin looked down at the convulsing woman.

“Getting close to it. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” She tapped the woman on the face with her foot, “Hurry, you got a cup to lick clean, those drops as well. When you become able to drink it without flinching, your cleansing would be over.”

“Poor girl.” Merlin sighed, “I doubt she knew what trying to become a witch means.” She looked at the girl with a sad face.

“To be fair…” Claug replied, “When she asked me to teach her first, I pulled all of her nails off and kicked her away to the other side of the forest. She still managed to crawl her way back to me and asked again. She was ready.”