The dragon's harem

Chapter 1683: The Deadly Blizzard

The knight outside the tent was cold, snowy, and loud. The wind never calmed down, and only grew more violent with each passing minute. The temperature dropped lower and lower, turning the entire place outside the camp into a deadly blizzard.

The trees in the distance groaned, the shattered surface of the bay that was about to freeze quaked and tore open once more, turning into boiling waves of frigid water.

Arad tried to take a short look outside, and he could feel his fingers freezing, his hair falling apart, and his skin burning in the crushing cold. It was so cold outside that he found it almost hard to believe this was just mundane cold. If Gojo didn’t build those stone houses for them, they would’ve suffered the whole night.

It wasn’t just a normal blizzard outside, but a whole tempest of snow, ice, and violent torrents of crushing wind. It was impossible to imagine any living being surviving in this place, except white dragons.

In fact, this blizzard looked like something you’d only see in Isbert’s frozen world. A deadly cold and an endless winder of frigid whiteness.

He quickly jumped back inside, closed the door, and rushed to warm up beside the flames. “I’m feeling it in my bones.”

His fingers were already blue, and his eyelashes were frozen and covered in snow. If he had walked fully outside, he would’ve turned into a frozen ice statue in seconds.

Haru was sitting on the bed, naked. Unlike the freezing outside, the inside of the stone house was warm, nice, and toasty. She looked unlike any human, with bright red skin, long and sharp black nails, long silky black hair, and a white half mask covering her eyes.

She flinched, stirred a bit, then turned her head as if looking at something.

“It is a monster.” She said, turning back to Arad as her fingers brushed against the walls, scratching them with her nails. “This isn’t a normal blizzard, but the daunting presence of a monster. Much like Undine’s Walking Glacier.”

Arad looked at her and frowned. He was right to think it looked unnatural; now, he has to worry if whatever is causing that problem will harm them.

“Are you saying this blizzard outside is caused by a monster? It isn’t coming our way, is it?” That would be a bit of a problem… no, a big problem. Right now, only Gojo could walk into the blizzard outside and not freeze immediately if he used some massive spells.

But there was a huge difference between walking outside and fighting that thing. Their chances are almost zero.

Haru shook her head. “No, it’s heading toward the sea to hunt for food. Right now, it’s battling the ancient horrors of the sea. We’re too small to be wroth the effort.”

As powerful a monster can be, managing their food intake is just as important to them as it is to animals. Many people get terrified when seeing a mountain-sized monster, but what they fail to know is that they are no more than ants to it.

A bear won’t bother attacking ants unless they start stinging it. So as long as Arad and everyone here avoid attacking the freezing horror outside, it won’t waste its time and energy on them.

She smiled. “And before you ask, it’s not a dragon. I can’t see it, but I know it’s a horror and not a dragon.” Arad could see her shiver for a moment, then take a moment to breathe.

Using her power wasn’t easy, and it puts just as much physical stress on her body as it does on her mind and magic. Arad didn’t know how it felt, but Haru had once described it as having a seizure when her power stresses her mind a lot, and like having a heart attack when it puts weight on her body.

That’s why she shivers and flinches each time she uses her power; her brain and body are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information and energy needed to peer into the tapestry of fate.

“It evades the sun. Come at night and hunt in the sea and bay, then when it leaves in the morning, the residual magic it leaves freezes the surface of the water and covers it with snow.” She didn’t know why such a powerful monster behaved like that, but she knew it only came out at night.

It could be because the sun is warm, it could be because the horrors of the sea only swim close to the surface to hunt at night, and it could be something else. Haru could try to find out with her power, but that would probably be too much to handle with very little reward.

She waved her hand, calling him to come sit beside her. She already got naked for bedtime, and he had the audacity to open the door and look outside, and now he sat beside the fire, leaving her alone.

It felt strange for her to be the only one sitting on the fur bed.

“We can’t do anything about it. In fact, it’s stronger than that Kraken. The Kraken is on that monster’s dinner list.”

Arad stood, looked at the hearth for a second, then approached the bed, taking off what little clothes he had on. Unlike Alina, the nights here were long, taking up more than two-thirds of the whole day.

He looked at her for a moment, then smiled. “I couldn’t even walk outside for a few seconds before freezing, and this is just its aura. It walks with a blizzard, and to fight it, one must be able to endure the punishing cold of its presence.” That monster was much like Gamond… but nowhere near the same power level.

“Much like you.” She smiled, leaning toward him, she reached with her hand and ran her sharp nails across his massive back. “Usually, Sara would be with us and take you on first. But now, weak little me is locked in a room with you.”

“Ah, I see… Do you want me to bring you its head?” Hearing his words, Haru flinched. Why did he reach such a conclusion? For a moment, she couldn’t even guess.

“No, that’s impossible. It’s a creature beyond anything we can achieve here.” She then remained silent for a long time, sitting there and enduring his sharp gaze until she gave up.

“It’s not in our fate to take it down. It’s impossible for us, I know that.” She leaned back and lay on the bed. “But… For a Seer to grow in power, they must find a way to break fate and change it. Since it’s a monster that we’d normally be able to kill, I just thought if I could get it killed, I’ll grow stronger and might even regain a bit of my sight.”

“I see…” Arad started thinking, and soon reached a strange conclusion. “You’re a priestess of Asmodeus, and I know that she is Amaterasu’s Archon… can you start worshiping Amaterasu instead?”

Haru giggled, lifting her foot and tapping him on the face. “Of course. I’m already here sleeping with you, so a bit of blasphemy never hurt the priestesses of hell. Most don’t know, but since Asmodeus is Amaterasu’s archon, we priestesses technically worship her through Asmodeus.”

She looked at Arad with a smile. “Amaterasu, she first loves her followers to be zealous and devoted, so she grants them power. Like Lydia. She believed in Amaterasu and pushed forward in her name without a care in the world, putting all of her faith into the divine goddess, and she got power.”

She spread her legs apart and wiggled her toes. “But… when they reach that insane level of mindless obedience, for them to take another step forward and gain more power from Amaterasu, they must pass a test.”

“And that test is to gain free will and break her orders.” Arad looked at Haru with a grin.

She then frowned. “But… Worshipping Amaterasu can’t help us here.”

Arad leaned beside her. “Well, if you can worship Amaterasu and Asmodeus, I bet you can somehow get linked through them to another goddess, right? To Eris.” Eris was a part of Amaterasu’s sun pantheon, so that should be possible, as long as Amaterasu doesn’t mind.

“That thing fears the sun, so let’s bring a sun to it.” He pointed at the door. “As Yog said, Entropy is keeping me and Gojo from getting power here. But you aren’t blocked like us. So if you find a way to connect to Eris and I sign a devil contract with you to get power, I could technically use your power, since you’re already here.”

She smiled. “I’ll try.”