The dragon's harem

The fight between Arad and the Great Titanoboa Wyrm had lasted long enough, and he was going to end it soon. Because, as powerful as the Titanoboa was, it wasn’t a real dragon, and that meant more than one thing.

There are many aspects that set True Dragons apart from the other creatures with draconic blood, and one of them is their insides. A red dragon’s internal temperature is so high that it could melt steel; that’s why stabbing one usually results in the sword melting.

Green dragons’ organs are coated in their poison, and like that, all dragons are internally immune, or close to immune, to their own element.

Unless Alcott came to mess up with them like he did with Claug.

Arad’s own organs are stored inside his stomach, meaning that his torso is empty. Stabbing him in the heart won’t do anything, because there are no heart or lungs in his chest. They are all protected by his void.

The Titanoboa isn’t the same. Its organs are only protected from its own lightning by a layer of fat, and it’ll all crumble down if Arad manages to inflict a large enough wound to create an opening for the current to flow through.

Arad dodged the Titanoboa’s attacks and finally managed to land a solid claw attack, ripping a few of the scales away, and he then retreated to wait for his next opening.

Arad weaved through several attacks and swung his claw again, hitting the same spot, over and over, until he managed to break through into the massive Titanoboa’s organ cavity.

As the Titanoboa’s blood flowed into its organs and coated them, the electricity it generated followed immediately, jolting its insides so hard that it froze in place, trying to scream but unable to.

Arad landed on the Titanoboa’s head, “Do you know what makes dragons scary? We’re smart, not mindless monsters.” He swung both his claws at its forehead, cracking the skull. After three more hits, he managed to put an end to the Titanoboa’s misery and swallowed it whole into his stomach.

****

Arad looked at Merida and Grace, “And that is how the Titanoboa died. In the monster book, it was classified as a monster that must be avoided, but we can now stop worrying about it. Hoping there is only one.”

Merida looked at him for a long moment and took a deep breath, unable to believe what he had just explained.

“Do you know how stupidly powerful something must be to fight you like that and actually survive for a while? Physically, you’re almost unmatched.”

Arad shrugged, “I won’t say that, Nina still can hold her own against me.”

Grace, who had only seen Nina once so far, had already understood the power that barbarian holds in her tiny body.

“Merida is right, we should be worried. I’ve felt the shadow of that snake, and I can tell, it’s not something that a squad of dragons can take down easily.”

Arad leaned on the wall and closed his eyes for a second. “If I could use my full power, you wouldn’t have even had time to feel its shadow. The Titanoboa was fast, agile, strong, and durable, but what it wasn’t was observant. I bet Aella could snipe it from a few kilometers away.”

The Titanoboa used smell and head sense to track its prey, making it extremely hard for it to track small humanoids. When you’re the size of a mountain range, a human is nothing more than a tiny spec of sand that you won’t even notice. And with Aella being able to fire an Oxygen Destroyer nuke, the poor Titanoboa would die before knowing what happened to it.

“All of your mates are monsters.” Grace sighed as she stood and looked around. “What will you do now? Keep climbing through the night?”

Arad stood, and so did Merida. Right now, that decision is hard. He has everyone hiding inside the safety of his stomach and in the comfort of his small world. He could just speed up and ignore all of the monsters, aiming to reach the branches as fast as he could.

But that left a huge problem: if this were a normal tree, nothing would prevent a snake from climbing up. The monsters of the trunk won’t stop chasing him; in fact, all of those he ignored would gang up on him the moment he stops.

Arad doesn’t want to risk it, especially when he can’t blow them all to ash with one breath. Not being able to use his most devastating area attack was quite the hindrance.

Now, the only thing left is to figure out what both The World Tree and the Elvish Goddess Sylph want, and find a way to meet their requirement without putting his wives in danger.

“Cerilla said that she wants to climb the tree, not spend the whole trip hiding inside your stomach. The last thing she wants is for the goddess to take that action as cheating.” Merida looked at Arad, and he sighed.

“This trip is like a pilgrimage after all; she must make it.”

He looked at the ground, and then took a deep breath, “We’ll spend the night here and travel only in the day. There are fewer monsters under the sunlight.” He extended his hands, touching both Merida and Grace, sending them into his stomach.

With him being alone, he opened his eyes, looked at the wall, and growled, “I gave you enough.”

Arad’s eyes burned blue with magic as radiation started erupting from his body and flames ignited in his palms. What’s more, Kali’s divine magic rushed into the burning inferno, turning it bright golden. “Blaze of Destruction, if you don’t show up, I’m burning the whole tree down with you.”

“How scary.” From the dark shadows, a tiny fairy showed up. Long red hair, glowing yellow eyes, and skin as golden as the bright sun. “Yggdrasil and Sylph are both rejecting me. I can’t believe they are that afraid of a single dragon.”

“As I thought, you’re a spirit queen. One is responsible for guarding the world tree, and putting those who climb it to the test.” Arad growled, and she smiled.

“And you’re one little bitch, bringing the flames of the Fire Spirit Queen and mixing it with the divine magic of the goddess of destruction to hold the World Tree hostage.” The spirit shrugged, “I can’t believe it tossed me out just like this.”

Arad took a step forward, “You’re one danger I can’t ignore, and so be it. Either you, me, or the tree.”

“You’ve got a lot of balls. You talk big for one using the World Tree as a hostage.” She cracked her neck, hands, and toes, waving her tiny palms around and creating spectral claws.

“How about I scoop those balls of yours and feed them to the ants?” The spirit queen’s magic started burning, and her veins bulged as she got ready to attack.

What are her goals? What is her relationship to the World Tree? Arad didn’t know, and didn’t care. All he cared about was that she was a danger to Cerilla and the rest, and that is why she had to go.

Arad had once threatened to burn the World Tree down if Cerilla or anyone else got hurt, but he changed his mind. He’ll burn the tree before anyone can get hurt. His job is to protect his wives, not take revenge for them after they get hurt or killed.