The dragon's harem

Chapter 962: The Snake Woman

”I donʼt know...” Arad looked at her, remembering Domaʼs parents. ”A medusa?”

”If weʼre talking about a devil, that would be right.” The woman leaned back and Kodono sat beside her, ”The child of a human and a serpentine devil would be a lamia.” She looked back, ”Lamy, come over for a second.”

Upon hearing her motherʼs call, Lamy who was hiding in the upper floor slowly slithered down. The moment she slid through the door, Arad could notice several things about her. First, he looked at the girlʼs mother, ”Lamy? Really?”

”Her full name is Lamina, I did give her a proper name.” The mother sighed, ”Albeit that wouldnʼt matter here.”

Lamy looked closer to a normal human or an elf with her long ears if you looked from her naval and up. Silky smooth skin, long hair, and glowing yellow eyes. Her portrait picture wouldnʼt be any different than any other human. Looking down was the problem.

Her hip starts looking human, but then her thighs conjoin right beneath her thigh gape, turning into a 6-meter-long {around 20-feet-long} snake tail of greenish-gray scales like those of her father Kodono.

”Sheʼs far stronger than a normal human thanks to her powerful tail and poisonous bite, but she also far weaker than serpentine demons since her human upper half holds her heart and lungs, itʼs weak, undefended, and canʼt sustain the large muscles in her lower half.” Lamyʼs mother explained with a deep sigh.

Grambleg nodded, ”Her human organs canʼt handle her demonic lower half. She gets exhausted too quickly and lacks the magic and pain tolerance of demons.” He glared at Kodono, ”Especially with this fool as her father. I always told him to let her fight and get beaten up often. How is she supposed to grow used to injuries and battle if he keeps her sheltered here all the time.”

”Go raise your children!” Kodono growled at him, ”Sheʼs my daughter and I know whatʼs best for her.” While Lamyʼs lower half can regenerate like other demons despite how taxing that was, her upper half wonʼt. One wrong injury in her upper half and sheʼs dead. Kodono knew this but he didnʼt want anyone else to know, thatʼs his daughterʼs weakness and heʼll take that information with him to the grave.

Lamy canʼt fit anywhere, sheʼs too weak to live among demons and too horrifying to be accepted among humans. She had survived for over a century under her fatherʼs protection, but eventually, sheʼd end up dead in a fight.

Her mother looked at Arad, ”I know this is too rude to ask of you, but can you grant her protection?” The moment she spoke, Kodono slapped her so hard she went flying across the room. ”Fool! Do you want us all dead?!”

Demon lords hate the divines and the humans worshipping them, theyʼd allow them to exist as long as they arenʼt a bother, but the moment something happens, they are the first to be killed. Kodono had spent the past century barely managing to keep his daughter and wife out of Sawlessʼs bloodthirsty gaze. Arad is a demon lord, he could reject him when he walked into his home, but Kodono wouldʼve hidden his wife and daughter from him as well if he had time.

Asking a demon lord to protect Lamy is like asking the ruler of a kingdom to shield a demon. They would only become the target of suspicions of other rulers and would be often ridiculed or even attacked as potential traitors.

For a proper demon lord, killing Lamy and her mother would be a far easier, simpler, and more effective method than trying to shelter them. If Arad was any other demon lord, he wouldʼve already killed Lamy for being tainted with human blood the same way a priest might choose to kill a person tainted with demonic blood.

Arad who sat there saw everything in slow motion. That slap, Kodono wasnʼt trying to slap his wife, he pushed her out of Aradʼs sight as fast as possible and took her place, he had also covered Lamy with his thick tail, standing between them and Arad.

Heʼs trying to protect them from Arad. Kodono still didnʼt know anything about Arad, for all he knew, Arad was a massive violent dragon that just killed two demon lords. Aradʼs action outside earlier only helped to amplify Kodonoʼs worries about him.

Arad sighed, ”Sit aside. I wonʼt harm her.” Arad looked at Mira, ”Go heal her...” She had already gone to heal Kodonoʼs wife.

Aradʼs eyes shifted toward Lamy as Kodono still backed away with weary glares. Aradʼs eyes flashed with magic as he used his void eyes to look at Lamy and see how her bodyʼs magic circuits worked. His vampiric sense checked her blood flow and circulation while his powerful lycanthropic nose detected pheromones and hormones like a wolf trying to smell the fear in his prey.

Lamyʼs expression looked a little bit sad, but that was because she was trying her best not to have a panic attack. She was home and saw Aradʼs fire breath as he emerged from the upper layer. At that moment, she thought that she and everyone on this layer were going to die.

Arad could sense that she was terrified of him, unable to move a single muscle now that he was looking at her. He ignored how she was feeling as he focused his sharp hearing, listening to her heart racing and her lungs struggling to work. Even counting her fear, her heart rate was abnormally high. That poor human heart of hers is unable to support her massive and muscular snake tail even at rest.

”Did you try the pale night?” Arad looked at Kodono.

”Itʼs not that cheap. Iʼve had to save up for a century to be able to afford one meeting for her.” He looked at his wife. ”And that was only thanks to luck, Sawless wasnʼt around for a decade so I managed to get to her in the lower layers.”

Kodonoʼs wife sat up, ”The trip took us twelve years to finish. We were too years late and Kodono almost got killed by Sawless for being absent.”

Arad stood, ”I might be able to help, but give me an hour.” He looked at Mira, ”Letʼs go, itʼs already getting late so we better finish this so we can sleep.” Arad had training tomorrow and it was already almost midnight.

”Youʼll help?” Kodonoʼs wife gasped. Grambleg snorted, looking at Kodono, ”Lucky bastard, good luck to you.” Even if those two were fighting earlier, they had fought several battles in the past and had known each other for over five centuries.

Arad and Mira left and returned to Hatiʼs house. This time, Arad wasnʼt going to bring Mira with him as she needed to sleep. He went to Hatiʼs room alone, knocked, and one of her daughters allowed him in.

As usual, Hati laid on one of her large soft pillows, drinking wife as three of her daughters cooled her with large fans. ”Want something?” She looked at him with a smirk.

”The pale night, how did you contact her?” Arad asked with a serious face and Hati rolled on her pillow, ”I didnʼt. I asked Kayden and he called her.” She flicked her finger and Arad could hear a ping in his head.

”Communication magic, Kayden should be able to hear you.” She kept drinking.

ʼThis magic...Hati...no, Arad youʼre the one calling with her spell?ʼ Kaydenʼs voice rang in Aradʼs head. ʼIʼm not telling you about tomorrowʼs training until tomorrow, give up.ʼ

ʼI wanted to speak with the pale night. Can you call her for me?ʼ Arad asked and to his surprise, Kayden sighed. ʼIʼm cooking with my daughter now...if you donʼt have a good reason, Iʼm not doing it.ʼ

But before Kayden could finish speaking a kidʼs sharp voice pierced Aradʼs ear, ʼUncle Arad!ʼ... [This sounds better! Higher quality than that spell. Itʼs me, Kali.] This was Kaydenʼs adopted

daughter, Kali.

”Wait...” Arad gasped, ”The way your voice booms in my head, Iʼve heard it before...” This was the same as when he heard the dark elf goddess or Amaterasu speak.

[Weʼll do it! Give us a minute, weʼll be there.] She spoke and cut the call immediately without giving Arad a chance to respond.

Two minutes later, Kayden walked into Hatiʼs room with Kali sitting on his shoulder and the pale night walking at his side. He had to go bring her from the lower layers of the abyss which took a lot of energy even from a demon as powerful as him. The distance was just too long.

”Uncle Arad!” Kali climbed on Kaydenʼs head and leaped toward Arad, latching onto his face. ”Itʼs been a while.”

”Since when I became an uncle, Iʼm not that old.” He tried to pull her away from his face, but to his surprise, she was extremely powerful.

”Not an uncle?” She looked at him with a sad face and her eyes suddenly started sparking with

joy, ”I know! You arenʼt an uncle! Grandpa Arad!”

”You made me even older!” Arad cried.