The dragon's harem

Arad stood up and stepped between the scorpion and Nina. Immediately, a black sphere engulfed the poor scorpion, scaring the living hell out of him. Arad didn’t pay the monster’s terrified screams any attention and focused on Nina.

Nina’s eyes moved beneath her eyelids, her nose twitched as she smelled the meat, her toes and fingers curled, and soon her muscles started tensing one by one. Arad could see her body slowly waking up, and he clenched a fist.

Her eyes burst open, and she immediately sat up with a confused face. In just a fraction of a second, her eyes moved at lightning speed, looking at every corner of the room, and Arad could see her feet shift so only her sole was planted on the bed with her toes listening for tremors. She even seemed to stop breathing, fully focused on her surroundings.

One second passed, and she rapidly turned toward the fire where the meat was slowly roasting, and beside that, she saw Arad standing there.

“Where are we?” Nina asked, and Arad looked down, a relieved smile on his face, “A cave close to where we fought. I brought you here after the fight.”

She touched her chest, her arms, and legs, grabbed her face, and opened and closed her mouth. Her stomach wasn’t rumbling, and her mind wasn’t burning with murderous rage and madness.

“I’m… back to normal?”

The two of them sighed, and she fell back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. “Whatever was your plan, it worked wonders. Who would’ve thought that such a simple method would work?”

Arad looked at her with an amused smile. “I admit it’s simple, but I might be the only one crazy enough to attempt it. Feeding a gluttonous tarrasque my flesh, then having to beat it without harming her.” He shook his head, released the scorpion, and then sat beside the fire and flipped the meat so it won’t burn.

Nina looked at him in silence for a few minutes. Slowly pulled her legs from the bed and stood. After taking just a few steps, she dropped beside the fire and stared at it. “Now that explained it like that. It’s definitely crazy.”

Arad checked the meat; it was good enough for him, but for her… Who is he worrying about? She ate his arms raw, as fresh as they could be, dripping with blood. “Want some? Still not cooked fully.”

Nina’s eyes were focused on something else, the terrified S-rank monster hiding behind him. “What… is that doing here?”

“Him?” Arad looked at the scorpion with a smile and patted it on the head. “He came here after you fell asleep, so I had him guard the cave entrance so I could cook some meat before you woke up.”

“You…” She covered her face with her palm. “… used an S-rank monster as a guard dog? You know that this thing is mad? It’ll slaughter a whole city if it gets the chance.”

Arad looked at the scorpion. Nina was right, and monsters were monsters. The scorpion is an actual horror to the humanoids and will kill them at sight for food. The only reason it’s acting reserved is that Arad and Nina are two monsters with far greater strength. And it is not like the monster is intelligent, it is just that Arad’s innate ability to understand thoughts allows him to decipher and culminate a semblance of thoughts.

Wizards and even druids won’t be able to speak to such a monster, even with power spells that allow communication with animals and monsters. This means only one thing. This scorpion he is keeping as a pet isn’t a suitable creature to be a pet. It would lung at the first thing weaker than him the moment Arad and Nina aren’t around to scare it.

Arad threw a glance at the scorpion, making it shrink back in fear. For a moment, Arad thought the scorpion was just a small monster, but now that he looked at it closer, it was massive. Arad stood at three meters tall, and the scorpion was double that at six meters tall, it only lowered its head to Arad to pat which made it seem smaller for a moment.

Nina was right, there was something wrong with Arad’s view of the world now. He had grown far too powerful that even a horror like this scorpion seemed like a cute little pet. Understanding this caused Arad to look back on the few hours, he must change his perspective on many things.

^Souls… I can see them, but I must’ve misunderstood something.^ He glared at the scorpion and could see its soul glowing darkly inside its body. The poor monster took a step back, terrified by Arad’s gaze.

The scorpion was in way too weak, it was far more powerful than someone like Tina. In fact, even if a hundred thousand Tinas tried to attack, they’d end up losing. On the other hand, this scorpion wasn’t stronger than someone like Claug or Merlin, who can probably kill it in a single move.

It is not that weaker people get scared from having someone look at their souls, and strong people can’t feel it. That feeling must be relative to Arad’s strength, and if the target is far too weak, the mere gaze of a powerful being like Arad could make its soul shudder.

Until now, he only looked at people who were weaker than him, some stronger than others, but they were still weaker. Can he see the souls of those stronger than him? Someone like Kali or Kayden?

“Arad? What are you doing?” Nina asked as she noticed him staring at the scorpion for a bit too long. “I didn’t say anything about killing or eating it if it isn’t doing us any harm.”

Arad quickly snapped back to reality and shook his head, “No, I was thinking about something else.”

Those who are far weaker than he is feel a sense of fear and dread… that fear can’t be coming out of nowhere. There must be a reason why Arad looks at their soul is scary. He needs to experiment with that to find how it works.

Nina took a piece of meat from the fire and sank her teeth into it, juices flowing down her lips and chin. “Eat before it gets burned.”

Arad looked at her with a smile as he took a piece, biting through meat and bone with ease. The poor scorpion remained still and didn’t dare move an inch, it had just seen death; its life flashed before its eyes.