The dragon's harem

The door suddenly opened up, and a maid rushed in. “Lady Aella, we’ve got a problem. A big one.” She gasped for air, looked at everyone, then turned toward Zephyr. “It’s on fire, the feast kitchen! A hydra attacked the city from the north side.”

Aella frowned and growled. “Get my armor. I’m going out. Since when?”

“Just now, the attack was detected by Merlin’s barrier. The guards had mounted the cannons and are currently trying to repel it, but the hydra’s regeneration is too much.” When focusing on her hearing, she could indeed hear the muffled roars of cannons in the distance.

Since most monster fights are either loud, destructive, or awfully gory, Merlin had created a function in her barrier to weaken those things and protect the people living inside the city. So, a random kid won’t be hearing someone screaming as they are eaten alive, and any blinding flash of light won’t be strong enough to blind people.

The maids at her sides gasped. “But… it is just a few hours from the ceremony. Shouldn’t we let the emperor handle it?” They were right, if it is a hydra, Arad should be able to eat it for breakfast; Even though a hydra is an S-rank monster, thanks to its regeneration.

Honestly, what’s up with all of those powerful monsters showing up one after another? A year ago, one B-rank monster attacking a city would be a disaster. True, Arad’s castle and the great capital of Orion are built within Alina’s Forest, which is an active monster-infested jungle. But it didn’t make sense for so many monsters to show up.

The answer was simple, even though none of the maids could comprehend it. The rise of this new capital, the ants expanding their colony underground, and Arad’s territory growing larger and larger. While humans easily understood the situation and bent into Arad’s empire, many of the powerful and dominant monsters aren’t going to sit and watch him swallow their territories.

Arad had become an Alpha monster, a predator that stood above the food chain, even above the most vicious and powerful creatures of the world. Many already see him as a threat to their survival, and they aren’t going to compromise.

True, those monsters could just ignore Arad’s existence and keep living their lives. If they don’t bother him, then he won’t bother them. Arad isn’t an active Alpha; he is a silent one. But they just couldn’t take it; to them, it was humiliating to be under the rule of another monster, even if that ruler never orders them.

They’ll either be number one, or dead.

Of course, those monsters aren’t stupid. This hydra won’t dare challenge Arad directly, and it would probably flee if he as much as showed up. It is here to prove a point, to show its power, and threaten Arad by attacking his minions. To it, the humanoids living around Arad’s nest are his minions, the target for its attack.

She looked at them, “He can, but the attack is near my feast kitchen. I funded that, and it’s my responsibility to maintain it. If we all throw everything on Arad, he’ll never get a moment of rest. Tell Merlin that no one should attack that hydra, it’s mine.”

In seconds, she had taken off all that she wore and picked up her armor, putting it on in the blink of an eye thanks to the maids’ help. Zephyr sat on her shoulder, and Lexi picked up a broom, then the three of them flew out of the window and headed toward the attack site.

The hydra was massive, thirty meters tall at the shoulders, and fifty meters long. It had six heads, green and brown scales, red eyes, and stank to high heaven. And it wasn’t alone, beside it, tens of smaller hydras followed, and they were only a tenth of their big one’s size.

As Aella landed on the wall among the terrified guardsmen, she looked down, and her eyes opened wide. The Hydra didn’t only bring its spawn to the battle, but even its minions. Goblins were riding the little hydras and charging toward the walls.

The walls were black, charred and burned, which quickly prompted Aella to ask. “It can breathe fire?”

One of the guards rushed in, gave Aella a quick bow, and told her what had happened. The Hydra hissed at them, and they didn’t think much of it. All monsters growl and grunt. They started loading the cannons, but then suddenly, everything went up in flames.

That was how the wall was burned, and the debris from it fell into the city, igniting the feast kitchen.

“It’s a gas.” Alcott approached as he was nearby. “This is a green hydra, a draconic monster that started showing several thousand years ago when dragons decided that giant drakes were suitable partners.”

He sighed and looked toward the Hydra. “By the color of its scales and the frills on its spine. This hydra was born to a regular hydra and a grey dragon, it’s about three hundred years old, and probably a male.”

“What’s that about a gas?” Aella didn’t want to listen to a biology lesson; she wanted to know how to quickly kill that thing.

“Something like a flammable air that the hydra stores inside its body in a liquid form and then releases through its throat, then ignites with a spark.” He pointed at the hydra. “The problem is that it has enough fuel for days, and if we kill it now, it’ll blow up and might take a quarter of the city down with it.”

“How many breaths can it shoot? Just give me an estimate.” Aella was already trying to come up with a plan to lure the hydra away and blow it, or force it to spend all of its gas and then kill it.

“About fifty, if it isn’t regenerating it as we speak. They can do that by either eating flesh and digesting it in their stomach or by their innate magic. Since it had the blood of a gray dragon, expect it perform better than average.”

Aella started floating, “Then I’ll have to blow it away from the city. Any advice?”

“That hydra doesn’t have wings, but expect it to be able to jump quite high, like twice its height. And, don’t breathe its gas or you’ll die.” He took a seat and smiled. “I’ll be here, if you fail, I’ll kill it.”

As Aella flew away with Zephyr and Lexi, Alcott pulled a steel canteen of rum and sighed. “What do you think?”

Arad was already there behind one of the cannons, taking the form of a big, fat, black rat. “Aella can kill it; the problem is the collateral damage.” Arad approached and smiled; his large rat teeth were as white as opal and glowed in the sunlight.

“You can’t avoid that, especially in fights near or inside cities.” Alcott took a sip and poured some for Arad in the canteen’s lid.

“Said the man who saved tens of soldiers just a few moments ago. Some of them were roasted to a crisp, but they’ll survive with Amaterasu’s angels healing them in the church.” As Arad shifted back into his human form, Alcott chuckled.

“What, I just started shoving them away the moment that Hydra started hissing.” He smiled. “If I were going to fight it alone in the wilderness, I would’ve stabbed it in the stomach and caused it to instantly explode and die. But here, I would drag it away then kill it, maybe drown it in a lake beforehand.”

Arad shrugged. “I would just eat it.”