The dragon's harem

As most of the wasp swarm got blasted to pieces by the unrelenting barrage of cannon shells, the remaining bugs decided to flee. There was nothing for them to gain in this fight besides death, and so they quickly fled the scene.

The ghost ship approached the golden disk and disappeared, only leaving Jasmine, who fell and landed beside Cerilla, “How was that? Those bugs didn’t last as long as I hoped.”

D, who was in the back, stared at her and sighed, “Didn’t last long enough? You can barely keep that ship up for a few minutes at best.”

Jasmine frowned, “I can keep it for six, but they only lasted three. It doesn’t even serve as exercise.”

Ever since Jasmine took the throne, she has never had a chance to ride the deadly waves of the Death Sea. Her crew must be entangled in a storm somewhere, fighting krakens while she is here, climbing a big tree.

She closed her eyes for a second and sensed her mana reserves, quickly finding out that she didn’t lose that much; she could’ve kept fighting for much longer.

“You still want to fight.” Cerilla stared at her with an annoyed face. “You’ve already obliterated most of the wasps, and those aren’t monsters that the mortal world is ready to handle.”

Jasmine smiled, “That’s where you’re wrong, my sister in marriage.” She took a step forward, looked back at the corpses, and grinned. “Those bugs are stupid.”

“You mean?” Cerilla approached, and Dalla looked at the wasps. “They don’t know how to fight humanoids.”

“As expected from an S-rank, you get it. Those are stupid beasts. The monsters in the mortal world are weaker, yes, but they are smarter and more used to fighting humanoid and adventurers, which makes them more dangerous.”

Jasmine pointed with her flyssa at one of the dead wasps.

“This fellow here was their smartest. He or she managed to dodge my cannonballs and attacked me on the deck. If the whole swarm was as smart and skilled as they were, I would’ve died without being able to put up a fight.”

“The spider was also stupid.” Merida approached, “She should’ve run away when she felt my demonic magic.”

The branches of the world tree were a free wilderness without the influence of humanoids. The monsters here relied on their sheer power, numbers, or innate magic to overwhelm their prey, but that sometimes doesn’t work when the prey has a brain.

Mathilde looked at the carnage that Jasmine left behind, reevaluating her. The dark queen wasn’t just a master of the blade, but a dancer of the wild seas. A pirate with a ghost ship hiding in her back pocket.

“Can you swim?” She asked, and Jasmine looked back at her.

“If you’re asking if I can fight underwater, yes, I can. I switch to a harpoon, and I’ve trained to fight at depths that would kill most people.”

Jasmine smiled, “Guess how deep I can go?”

“Three hundred meters? That’s the best humans can do.” Mathilde replied, and Jasmine burst laughing, “That’s humans, not me. I can dive as deep as four thousand feet, that’s around a dozen hundred meters or so.”

Cerilla sighed, “So you still hunt giant squid. Do they taste that good?”

Jasmine nodded, “The best the sea can offer, and they taste better when you catch them yourself. One harpoon to the head and they spazz out and die.”

D looked at them, then back at the disk and Mathilde. “We shouldn’t waste time here. Let’s go.”

Mathilde nodded. D was right. They’d better move before another space disaster catches them. This fight ended quickly, but it was good. It allowed her to see the extent of Jasmine’s power and why the Dark Elves’ goddess might be interested in her.

Even though she refused the throne, fate itself seemed to have pushed her back to the crown, and by extension to Arad. If anyone were as obnoxious and paranoid as Yog, it would be the Triplets of Fate.

Everyone jumped on the radiant dist and flew away from the corpses, leaving the ghastly scene far behind them. Arad was still asleep, but most of his wounds had healed, only leaving dark scars behind.

Letting Arad keep sleeping as long as they weren’t in danger, the girls kept flying upward with Mathilde for the next hour. Soon, they reached a place that allowed them to relax.

The Amber Graveyard.

Countless branches infested with amber blobs of resin, housing many dead bugs, animals, and even angels that perished here. Mathilde stopped to pay her respect to a few of them before finding a calm spot where they could stop and camp.

“We should rest here and wait for Arad to wake up. After the Amber Graveyard, there is the Amber Wound.” She pointed upward at a boiling part of the branches above. “See that branch with the resin spilling from it? If we touched the resin, we’re dead. So we have to wait for it to calm down.”

She set the disk down and looked around. The branch where they were was clean, flat, and had a lot of space for them to use.

Plum flew around and then used size magic to grow to the size of a human. She stood and looked around with a smile, waving her hands. “Let’s see if I can do it.”

Seconds later, the wood of the floor started boiling and coming to life. She used her magic to force it to change and shift, taking the shape of planks and logs. A massive cabin akin to a wooden mansion soon appeared, and Plum nodded with a satisfied smile.

Mathilde looked at the building with an impressed face. “Not many can control wood magic this well. Beside Sylph.”

Plum looked at her with a proud smile, puffing her chest, “Of course, I’m a Plant Spirit Queen, I rule over wood and anything related to it.” She waved her hand and pointed a finger downward, “I had to grow from a shunned wood spirit to this, of course, my mastery is high.”

“Mastery?” D looked at her. She had already gone inside to explore the mansion. “There is only one massive bedroom.”

“I know. That’s Arad’s room.”

“And what about us?”

“Well, I never thought about that.” Plum scratched her chin. “I’ll build you a room.” She flew, waved her fingers, and built a small dog house that even a cat can’t fit inside.

“Here you go!” She waved her arm with a smile, and D glared at her, “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, you’re a wizard, build something yourself.” She flew at her and took a seat on her head.

“I can, but you could’ve just left some empty rooms for everyone else to use.” D growled, and Plum looked at her.

“You’re the only one complaining. Who wants to sleep in her own room instead of in Arad’s room?”

Cerilla sighed in the back. “Only her. Not even Mathilde complained.”