The dragon's harem

The brider had lain in ambush for days by now, and it was hungry. Going out in the cold was dangerous, so it burrowed beneath the snow and spread its threads just below the surface. It then waited, and waited, hoping for a helpless prey to stumble upon it.

This was how most of its kind hunted, and the reason Gojo’s avalanche woke the female brider earlier. They just destroyed its trap.

It got what it wished for, and Arad had stepped on its thread. The brider felt the movement and immediately knew it was a large and heavy prey, food for a whole week perhaps, so its hunger took over, and it lunged out of the snow.

The snow parted away in a burst of white mist; the massive fangs were the first to appear in Arad’s path.

This one looked bigger than the earlier brider, and the human half resembled a man. Tall, pale, powerful, and horrid in its monstrosity. It was stronger, faster, and far more experienced, having lived for years and learned how to hunt efficiently.

Its strike was swift, its movements were calculated and carefully executed, aiming directly at Arad’s torso.

It had adapted and evolved to master the frigid lands of the Arctic and had now become an apex predator feared by everyone.

It didn’t matter how large the prey that triggered its net; it would get paralyzed and killed with a single bite. Creatures much larger than Arad had fallen to its fangs with ease.

As the brider jumped out of the snow, moving too fast for the eye to see and aiming its massive fangs forward with poison spilling out, it came face to face with another apex predator.

One that was much, much more harrowing and terrifying than any other monster.

Arad was still running in a straight line toward the cave, and the brider had just burst from the snow in front of him. He didn’t stop or slow down; instead, he jumped, grabbing the monster by its humanoid head and smacking it in the nose with his knee, cracking the monster’s hard skull into pieces.

The brider didn’t even know what hit it.

Experience and learning are the most deadly of weapons, and Arad had already faced a brider. He now knew how they moved, how they attacked, and which attacks they found it hard to deal with. It didn’t take him too long to find out that the best way to stun a brider is to attack the relatively weak humanoid head.

Arad had punched the female brider’s head several times earlier, so he knew what hardness to expect, and he knew that with a strong enough hit, he should be able to crack the skull with his knee.

Of course, Arad’s attack won’t kill the monster. It would merely stun and wound it for a few seconds. But that was all he needed to step on its body and jump away.

He didn’t slow down or look back. After all, it was much easier to run away from a fight than to win it. Now, all he cared about was getting Haru into a safe and warm place, and if Entropy herself was to stand in front of him, he would crack her skull open just as the brider.

The brider won’t be alive for too long because Arad wasn’t alone.

In the back and as Arad stunned the brider and kept running, Gojo, who was just a few meters away and flying on magic, flicked his fingers and conjured several sharp ice spikes from the snow.

The brider was stunned, so aiming at its eyes and two mouths was too easy to pass on, and the monster ended up dead before it could even realize what hit it.

Liliana watched the brider’s corpse fall to the ground in a splash of blood in horror, then turned to Gojo who was standing in front of her piloting the magic barrier carrying them after Arad.

“That one was supposed to be stronger.” She couldn’t believe her eyes. When she saw this brider show up first, she thought they were going to have to fight it here and now… but those two dispatched it so quickly and without even stopping.

Gojo giggled. “Yeah, but it’s boring now. Arad saw how it moved and learned. For me, since the day is over, I don’t need to conserve mana.” With spells, he could take on much, much larger opponents, and this brider won’t be a problem.

Looking back at the dead brider with a pale face, Liliana started thinking about how those who faced Arad and Gojo in their full power felt. If those two brothers can adapt and fight like this as mere humans without a system, what in hell could they achieve at their full power?

She didn’t need an answer, because she already knew. Those two killed a god and a demigod as mere mortals, and even murdered the god of war and fighting.

****

Arad reached the cave first and flew inside with a single jump. Gojo followed after him and dispelled the floating platform, immediately starting to block the entrance with stones using earth magic.

Luckily, it was large and dry, making it ideal for a temporary shelter. He landed and looked back, seeing Gojo starting to work on the entrance. With them now safely out of the cold wind, Arad could focus more on Haru.

She was doing surprisingly well for someone who got knocked out by the cold, all thanks to Arad’s warmth. When he was running, he was no different than a heater.

Liliana rolled and rushed toward Arad in the back. “How is she?”

Arad smiled. “Better, she warmed up a bit. But it’ll be best if we get a fire going.” He released the ropes and dropped the sledge down. Inside, there were a few logs which they could set ablaze for fire, and Liliana didn’t waste any time and set one close to the cave’s entrance where Gojo could easily create a chimney later.

She quickly prepared a nice bed with the fur hide they had beside the flames and got Arad to bring Haru.

When Arad could safely lay Haru beside the flames with Liliana, he finally took a deep breath, picked up his wood axe, and asked Gojo to let him out of the cave to chop firewood.

What little firewood they had won’t last even an hour. They needed much more than that for the whole night, and nights were far too long here.

They were just a few minutes before dusk, and Gojo wouldn’t have let Arad out if he hadn’t seen a few trees close to the cave. Arad won’t have to go that far away to get firewood, so he let him out.

While Arad was out, Gojo returned to Liliana to check on Haru. “Hypothermia?”

Liliana nodded. “A severe case, but thankfully no frostbite. The flash cold from the sun fading behind the hill, overexertion, and being a native of hell all worked against her.”

Haru was asleep beside the flames, covered with fur blankets to warm her up.

Since Haru was stable, Gojo now wanted to explore the cave and make sure there were no monsters inside. But… since the cave was a confined space, he wanted to wait until Arad arrived.