The dragon's harem

Arad and Gojo returned to the camp just before sunset and found Liliana and Haru had already prepared a light snack for them. Dinner was still a way off, but the two had to eat something, especially after working in the freezing cold outside.

Unlike the snowy and cold outside, the inside of the cave is warm, dry, and cozy. They lived here for a while, so it had thawed fully and became far more hospitable than the first day.

The cave proved to be a decent base. It was well protected from the cold wind, able to hold heat well, and was large enough to be customized and split apart into many rooms.

Gojo had split the cave into two sections, one for him and Liliana and the other for Arad and Haru.

It helped a lot that Arad and Gojo were both dragons and could innately feel comfortable in a cave. In fact, a detail that Liliana and Haru found funny is that both Arad and Gojo had small stashes in their corners where they hoarded stuff.

Arad’s tiny little hoard was made of monster bones and fangs that he thought might be useful later as weapons, and Gojo had a nice collection of rare materials, frozen blood, and crystals that he wanted to take back home with them when they returned.

Besides that, Liliana and Haru had spent the day going over what Gojo and Arad found, planning on how to take over the ruined city. At first, they only knew about the barrier and regenerating walls, but when the brothers returned after the second day of scouting, everything changed.

To face the Blizzard Monster, the city’s barrier must remain standing, so destroying any of the cores was out of the question. If the barrier fell, the cold wind and frigid air would freeze them in seconds, ending the fight before it could even start.

But that didn’t mean they can’t use those cores to get an advantage.

Since those cores were so important, they must be protected well, and that could be exploited.

Liliana had a nice plan, and it was to have Gojo create several golems to sneak in and attack the cores all at once. That would force the steel golems to spread and clear a path to the central spire.

Gojo agreed to her plan, but he had one important point to stress, and it was that they shouldn’t go with that plan before mapping and planning their routes in the city first. Once the cores are attacked, they must make it to the central spire pretty quickly.

Or, they could already be in the spire…

Once inside, Gojo might be able to find a way to control the golems. After all, those hunks of steel were just constructs, nothing more than that.

With that part covered up, it was Arad’s turn to speak, and he had many things to say. First, even though they’ll use the sewers to sneak in, they would have no way of guessing where they’ll pop up in the city.

To make sure they would be safe, he wanted to take at least two Yetis with them in case they faced one of the steel golems. In case a fight breaks out, Gojo is to take Liliana and Haru and escape using magic. Arad would remain behind to fend off the golem with the Yetis.

Even though winning the fight was questionable, Arad could easily stall the golem long enough to escape later, and of course, the two Yetis would end up dead. No matter how powerful the Yetis they pick would be, it would be a pipe dream to expect them to move and coordinate well with Arad.

So to avoid that scenario, Arad and Gojo would go out one last time to draw a map of the whole city, then spend another day making three copies so each can hold onto one. And for how to make the maps, they can use the monster leather they had and a bit of charcoal.

When the next day arrived, Arad and Gojo went back out to their ice tower and mapped the city from afar. They didn’t need the maps to be too detailed. They only needed the map to have enough information to be clear, not much more.

They drew the large streets, and the smaller ones were just represented with lines, and sometimes even ignored when they were short enough to see across. They marked all large buildings, like the core containment facilities, churches, large barns, and even the strangely wide plaza.

Gojo then added one other detail, and it was to mark the location of the golems marching around the spire and the core containment facilities and their routes. They could wing it for everything else, but around those places, they needed to know as much as they could.

Thankfully, drawing the map didn’t take more than a day with both Arad and Gojo working on it. As it showed, Arad was a stupidly awful drawer, and he couldn’t even draw a straight line without breaking his piece of charcoal.

Gojo was inclined to make fun of him, but then was surprised by just how far Arad could see and how powerful his ears were. He could see twice as far away as Gojo, and even hear the golems marching in the streets.

It was all thanks to Arad’s massive size. His eyes, for example, were almost twice as massive as a normal human’s eyes, and thus could take in more light.

Gojo even found it strange that Arad could tell what was written on some large signs from where they stood, and it was scary. If Arad was given a bow and some time to practice, he could pick people up from twice the range of normal arches with relative ease, and that would be underestimating his power.

Even though he was a human, Arad clearly operated on a scope far beyond that of regular humans. Gojo at some point expected Arad to have his body enchanted with magic, but he was surprised to find out that in this human form, Arad was still only relying on his blood and bones.

What kind of human could wrestle a shark in freezing waters? Hunt a tuna with a broken arm, kill and even drop a bear with a slingshot? He even dropped a whole monster bison unarmed.

So, when Arad punched the brider to death, that was just raw muscles doing their work without a single drop of magical enchantments.

“You’re really strange as a human, do you know that?” Gojo looked at Arad’s face, then at his eyes. “It is almost as if you’re living on the edge, on the very limits of what a human’s potential is.”

Arad smiled. “Father’s genetics are just that powerful.” He then looked at his arms. “But… I don’t know where all this height and size came from.”

“Yeah, father is as large as you, and neither is mom.” Gojo looked at himself. “My human part turned out to be high human. So, the theory is that I would’ve been just as massive as you if not for that.”

Arad laughed. “Being a high human isn’t so bad for you. It allows you to use stronger magic, and you love that, right?”

Arad was right, and if Gojo were to choose between being like Arad or a high human, he would pick being a high human ten times out of ten. From his point of view, magic had more flexibility and a wide potential range when it came to both power and prosperity.

Far away from them, in a whole other dimension, Entropy, Yog, Death, and the Mother of all life were sitting on a round table, looking at each other.

“So…Yog…” Entropy glared at her. “You knew I was working on behalf of Amaterasu, yet you still came here to mess up our plans?”

Yog laughed. “You don’t understand, you have to make it believable.” She waved hands and then leaned back on her chair, resting her feet on the table.

“Let me make it clear. If, for a single moment, Arad decides that he has had enough of this, you’ll be fucked. Like… a guy in the incubus hell section kinda of fucked.” She pointed down with one finger. “That’s the Overgod, and even without his power, underestimating him can only end up in disaster.”

Entropy frowned and then looked at the Mother of All Life and Death herself with a puzzled face. “What can he even do now? I know the universe would respond to him, but that won’t be enough to harm us, not in the short term.”

Yog looked at them and then smiled, her teeth turning into sharp fangs. “So… to explain it plainly…”

At that moment, something around them changed, and the three could feel all of their divine power fade away. “I’m to him what a machine is to a human. AO made me, and I’ll do my part to the fullest.”

She went silent for a second.

“So… if he is to be harmed. I’ll make sure none of you will live to regret it.” She then stood on the table, took a deep breath, and burst laughing. “Would you look at your faces! Calm down, I know none of you would cause me any trouble. But… isn’t it funny to see the embodiment of chaos and entropy confused.”

Yog, AO’s omniscience, sole life goal is to revive her maker into his full glory, and everything else is only secondary in importance.

Entropy laughed at her. “So? Care to tell me why you’re out here trying to seduce Gojo? You got Cain, are trying to cheat on him?”

Yog shrugged. “No, not at all.” She looked at Entropy with a grin. “Well, we had to kill Arad’s brother in the womb to make sure the overgod is born without complications… but, at the time, I injected some of Cain’s soul there.”

She jumped back to her chair. “Taking a note from AO’s book, if all goes well, Cain would reincarnate into Gojo’s body after we catch and kill him.”