The dragon's harem

After hours of looking at the bones, Camilla was looking pretty drained and exhausted. She was never good at working her mind, and trying to memorize the bones like this put a heavy load on her head. She would much rather swing her sword mindlessly for hours.

Alcott noticed that and sighed. “Well, how about we train a bit? Studying the bones for this long has to be boring.” He stood, “Pick up your sword and let’s see what you could do.”

With a large smile on her face, she stood, pulled her sword out, and pointed toward him. “Really? I was getting sleepy here.” This would be far easier than studying the bones; she gets to see Alcott move directly and study him instead. Nothing beats learning directly from a master, especially if that master was Alcott himself.

Alcott smiled. “Well, try not to cry.” He stood there with a relaxed stance, his sword in his right hand, carelessly dangling down without any clear pose or stance.

Camilla stood with her sword straight, looked at Alcott for a long moment, and could sense her death. If she were to carelessly charge, he’ll slash her in half. Even in such a relaxed pose, she couldn’t find a single opening.

If she swung at his neck, he would slice her guts open. If she aimed at his heart with a stab, her head would roll. If she tried to cut his wrists, he would cleave her vertically into two. If she aims for his eyes, he’ll kick and cave her chest plate into her lungs as he said earlier. One wrong step and he’ll kick her knees and shatter them, and one wrong swing, and she’ll be talking to Mira in the afterlife.

“You may be a whelp, but still a wolf at heart. Your guts are kicking in, and you can’t even attack. Your knees are shaking.” Alcott pointed at her legs and smiled. “Those instincts are good; they teach you to avoid death and survive. Getting stronger won’t matter if you die midway after all.”

Camilla took a deep breath, and her shaking stopped. That was right, she was afraid of him, even if this was just a practice match. She could understand and sense his power, and she knew that she had no way of surviving a real fight against him.

That’s why she relaxed her body, and tried to take once advice she heard to heart. She, too, wasn’t a sword master, but a paladin. Alcott could sense the air shifting around her and smiled. “So, you’re starting to understand.”

“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to take this fight seriously, even if it is training. Otherwise, I won’t land a single hit.” Sparks of divine magic started faintly glowing under armor, and her eyes flashed with golden light.

“Go ahead, just try to aim at the bones and align your edge well.” Alcott smiled.

In the next moment, Camilla burst forward with a thunderclap, and her sword flashed with light as she aimed at Alcott’s knees with a low swing. She was shorter than he, so it was to her advantage to keep a low stance and make it hard for him to hit her, even though she was certain he could counter her anyway.

As her sword flew toward Alcott’s knees, she could predict what he would do. It was simple, he’ll kick her wrist aside and stab her in the back, easy, simple, and fast. But Alcott didn’t do that, he wasn’t looking to end the fight in a single move, so instead he hit a nasty dodge, jumping two meters into the air with a large grin on his face, as he came toward her with a curb stomp.

Camilla’s sword whistled through the air, and she quickly turned, lifted her forearms, and blocked Alcott’s stomp. That 260 pound of man meat felt more like a cow falling on her back, and Camilla was forced to roll away before he crushed her like a cockroach.

“The stomp wasn’t directly vertical; I aimed it at a slight angle toward your charge. So, it was my weight, and the momentum you used to charge at me, all combined.” He looked at her with a gentle smile, and she was already sweating from that short exchange. Trying to block that stomp had drained all of her stamina.

“Also, relax. The stress is draining your energy. Being afraid and stressed in a fight isn’t good; you’ll not last half the time you could.” He lifted his right foot and took a step forward, but instead of moving a single step, his entire body flew toward Camilla at blinding speed.

That footwork alone was insane. While one foot pretended to take a normal step to confuse Camilla, the other foot flexed and kicked the ground, making him jump forward out of nowhere, and catch her off guard.

This time, Camilla didn’t dodge or try to block. She too jumped at him, swinging her sword. This was a gamble, a trade where each of them would land a hit on the other. She was a paladin, so this strategy was viable since her divine magic automatically empowers her healing factor, and she can use healing magic on herself.

She aimed at his neck, and he aimed at her legs. She wanted to end the fight with a single hit, and he wanted to slow her down. The exchange was blindingly fast, but both of them were able to see it and act as it happened. Alcott aborted his attack and used his sword to deflect hers, and Camilla growled and swung her other fist at his face to at least get some damage in.

But at that moment, something strange happened. Her leg was cut, a deep gash appeared out of nowhere on her thigh, and her punch was forced to miss as she buckled down.

“What…did you do?” She growled, and Alcott looked at her with a smile.

“Huh? I hit you with my empty hand.” He lifted his left hand and showed her his bloodied fingers, and instead of nails, he had long claws, his werewolf claws.

“Isn’t that cheating?” She looked at him with a pained smile, and he laughed. “But, it’s a part of my body, same as my fist or feet. You, too, have them, so they are fair game. I wouldn’t have complained if you punched or kicked me, so why would there be a rule about our claws? little whelp.”

He was right, she was a werewolf as well, and should incorporate her powers into her fighting style. “You’re right…” She stood as her wound healed with divine magic, and she took a deep breath. Her chest inflated until it hurt beneath her tight breastplate, and then unleashed a deafening howl.

By her side, three large, void wolves appeared out of nowhere and charged at Alcott, howling in mad frenzy.

Alcott dodged the wolves’ bites and saw Camilla rushing at him with another attack, coordinating with her wolves. He deflected her slash with ease and chuckled. “Yeah, Arad did have those stored somewhere. But since they are too weak to help in his fights, he never used them. Is he allowing you to access them?”

“All of the animals and monsters he killed and turned into void creatures are living within his vast stomach. I only need one howl to summon them out.” She and the wolves started swarming Alcott with attacks, but nothing seemed to reach him. He was used to such fights, and could deal with more than a hundred people at once, so only four were like nothing.

Camilla had to pull something else, and she had just the idea. With one finger up and her sword resting on her shoulder, she called on Mira’s divine magic and tried to do something that no one else would do. She was certain that if she were the paladin of any other divine and tried to pull such a thing, she would be kicked out immediately for such insolence.

But she knew Mira well now, so well that they were once naked on the same bed with Arad. Mira won’t mind such a jab, and what’s more, those wolves are Arad’s pups, so she’ll tolerate them with ease.

The black wolves made of void flashed with divine light, and in the next moment, they had grown to twice the size, turned into flaming wolves of divine magic, and followed Camilla in a blinding assault of smites and divine magic.

Alcott was still dodging the attacks with ease. “So, you got Mira’s divine magic and granted it to those wolves so they can smite as well? So those wolves are like your familiars?” Then, with a single swing, he cut the three wolves at once. “But… wolves are still wolves, dumb animals no matter what powers you give them. They have simple patterns and are easily baited.”

Camilla was surprised that he killed the wolves with a single swing and almost hesitated. However, she still clenched her fists and followed with her attack, aiming to take advantage of the opening created when Alcott attacked the wolves.

But she was cut immediately after the wolves. Alcott’s swing didn’t just hit all of the wolves in succession, but he still turned around, using the same momentum, and cut the charging Camilla across the stomach horizontally.

“But humans are just as stupid. Since this is the only opening, of course, I know you’ll take it, and I used that against you. Next time, show some restraint and don’t jump at any opening that comes. Some of them are traps.”

Camilla fell to her knees, bleeding, but her divine magic quickly healed her. “How… did you move like that?”

“Practice, I fought many dragons, and dragons rarely live alone. Most of them are protected by hordes of monster minions, slaves, and cultists. Most of my fights were against hundreds of enemies at once, so I had to learn how to cut multiple targets with a single, smooth, and precise swing.” He swung his sword around and sheathed it. “One motion, multiple fatal hits, it takes years to master, and countless battles.”

He smiled. “I’m not going to give you that experience, but Arad could. If you have the guts to get beaten by him to death, why won’t you ask him to use his multiple bodies to gang up on you?”

“He is busy, but I’ll ask Merlin for a labyrinth room with countless monsters to fight all at once.” She stood, looked back at the bones, and could still feel her stomach hurting. Studying might not be that bad now.