The dragon's harem

Chapter 988: The First Bossfight

Arad and Arthur crashed onto the soft bushes and flowers of the mansionʼs garden, scaring away the gardener working there. She ran back to the toolʼs shed with a terrified face and stared back, her fingers shaking. As the dust cleared, she saw Arad standing straight with Arthur still in his hand. A large cut was burned clear on the mansionʼs wall, the wooden beams still oozed smoke.

That was a three-stories fall yet Arad and Arthur seems unharmed. Fighting dragons included a lot of falls, especially since the dragonʼs most loved way of killing people is carrying them high and dropping them to their deaths. They loved watching their terrified face as they fell to their doom.

Any newbie trying to face a dragon must learn how to survive falls and Alcott had made sure to drill that into Arad, even if Arad can fly and would seldom need it. That skill included using all of his joints from toes, ankles, knees, hips, spine, and neck to absorb the impact shock and transfer it to his arms, where he can release it in a powerful swing.

”Weʼre outside, arenʼt we? I felt the flowers.” Arthur couldnʼt see anything with his face covered with Aradʼs large palm, but he could tell where he was and he giggled, ”Youʼll regret going outside with me.” A large shadow engulfed the whole garden.

No one could miss it, a powerful presence resting on the roof.

Chirp! Chirp! Aradʼs eyes slowly looked back, and they opened wide. A massive bird... the thing had four limbs in addition to wings, that was a griffin sitting on the roof of the building, staring at him with a curious gaze. It was large, almost twice as large as normal griffins, and far too muscular.

It was big enough to swallow a human of Aradʼs size whole. A powerful monster, A+, probably even an S-rank threat.

While in Aradʼs world griffins were wild monsters rarely tamed by anyone, in this world, they alongside wyverns were commonly trained as mounts for war. The golden feathers on its chest, the shiny beak, the glowing red eyes, and the brown talons with sharp black claws. A royal griffin, the one usually leading packs of griffins in the wild.

Judging by its size, this griffin was well-fed and trained, grown up to be mounted in the deadliest of wars like a warhorse. ”Sheʼs a sweet baby, isnʼt she?” Arthur giggled, ”A royal Wargriffin.”

The griffin jumped down from the ceiling with a loud chirp, crashing right on top of Arad and Arthur. The whole mansion shook and even the houses beside it cracked. Arad was pushed back to the wall, holding his head. He did manage to dodge the impact, but the shockwave still sent him flying back, and his head was hurting like hell.

Touching the back of his head, Aradʼs palm came drenched in blood. He mustʼve hit a solid part of the wall too hard for his human body to take. But at least, he couldnʼt feel any cracks in his skull.

”Tis but a scratch.” He stood and started stretching, flexing his arms back as if warming up. Suddenly moving in his human form seemed to be quite exhaustion if he wasnʼt ready for it, itʼs better to warm up his muscles and joint before going head on in a deadly fight.

He looked forward as the dust cleared, seeing Arthur riding on the griffinʼs back. ^Giving me time to warm up, what a generous man...^ Arad almost giggled.

Arthur looked back at Arad, seeing him stretch. ^Is he mocking me? Bastard isnʼt even trying to preventing from mounting. Iʼll smash that arrogant face of his in the dirt. Coming to lecture me in my own house. A

The city lord pulled a sword from the sack on the griffinʼs side and pointed it at the sky. ”You come to my home to lecture me? Iʼll see that you know your place! Face first on the fucking dirt!”

[Welcome to the first boss fight. Arthur Cumalot, lord of Domiros. Heʼs too powerful for you to defeat head-on, and youʼve only got one way to beat him. Use magic to win in the dragonʼs most favorite style.]

^I bet that chicken is loyal, this fight wonʼt end even if I knocked Arthur down. I donʼt have enough firepower besides elemental expansion to kill it, so Iʼll have to find another way. Thatʼs why Yog said I canʼt win... which means... let gravity do its job. Chicken canʼt fly, Iʼll knock this one out of the sky...^

Arad smiled, but a thought quickly came to his mind. ^Just donʼt tell me he shoots spells from above that thing...^ Arad was a bit worried, heʼd be at a severe disadvantage if man started flinging spells down. And as if answering, Arthur fired a lightning bolt at him. He barely dodged it and growled, ”Ah...shit.”

With a powerful leap, Arad rushed forward, throwing his steel sword for the lightning bolt to get pulled into, and made his way between the griffinʼs legs. The griffin tried hitting him but Arad was far too nimble, like a motivated cockroach, sliding into the gardenʼs tool shed.

The griffin stopped chasing Arad, and Arthur didnʼt attack since the gardener was also one of his women and she was hiding inside the shed. ”Get out!” Above his sword, a golden lightning bolt beckoned death, awaiting for Arad to peek his head out.

Arad slid into the shed and looked to the side, seeing the gardener hiding beneath the workbench, closing her mouth with both hands, terrified to the bones. ”Donʼt get out, itʼs kind of ugly there. And I donʼt just mean your husbandʼs face.” He approached the workbench she was hiding beneath and scrambled through it, picking a small bag filled with nails. ”This should work.”

Arad looked again at the gardener, ”Iʼll make his mug even uglier.”

He then approached a pile of tools that had several shovels, pickaxes, and strange spears. From that pile Arad picked a large shovel and kicked the spade out, leaving only the wooden handle. A wooden pole for him to use as a weapon.

”Now...to cook that large chicken.”

***

As Arthur kept a sharp eye on the shed, one of the windows suddenly shattered with something flying out at blinding speed, covered in the old drapes. ^Does he think he can trick? Celia canʼt move that fast and if she did sheʼll be already dead.^ Covering himself wasnʼt going to save Arad from Arthurʼs lightning-fast judgment, and Artur dropped the biggest lightning bolt he could on the moving object, charring it to cinder.

”Fool! Did you think I canʼt...” Arthur gasped; the one beneath the drape wasnʼt Arad, it was nothing more than a bag of old fertilizer. From behind the shed, Arad silently flew out and swung his arm, throwing the nails all over the garden with a single swing.

Arthur knew nothing about Arad and if he did, he wouldʼve known that Arad would never lay his hands on someone who couldnʼt fight. Celia was far safer around Arad than with Arthur

himself.

As it rained rusty nails, Arthur looked around in panic, spotting Arad running toward him with magnificent steps, carefully avoiding each nail as he flailed a long wooden pole.

”Do you think this will save you?!” Arthur swung his sword and fired a massive lightning bolt. The lighting bolt twisted, changing its direction toward the nails on the ground. Arthur stood shocked, normal nails shouldnʼt be enough to pull lightning, Aradʼs mustʼve done something to those nails.

Arad is capable of using the basic forms of magic like fire bolt or lightning hand, weak spells that canʼt even kill a human with a single hit. Lightning hand is akin to a taser, mainly used to incapacitate people. But Arad had used it to charge the nails, making them far better at

attracting lightning.

With precise magic control and sufficient output Arthur should still be able to surpass the nail interference, but that would be wasting far more mana than he can handle, resulting in his mana running out after just a few attacks; If he got careless, he might even pass out.

Arad could still try and dodge the lightning bolts so it wasnʼt a good gamble for Arthur to take, forcing him to give up on his lightning magic and focusing on melee combat with the assistance of his trusty griffin.

Arad used the wooden pole to jump up, racing toward the griffinʼs wings. He needed to knock Arthur down or he wonʼt get anywhere with this fight. The griffin was waiting for such a moment, immediately turning aside and swatted Arad down with his wing.

For war griffins, attacking their rider was a far too common a tactic and they have been taught how to protect their rider first and foremost. Arad wonʼt be getting anywhere near Arthur with simple attacks and moves, that was clear from that short interaction.

^Didnʼt need an order from Arthur to strike me down, sheʼs well-trained.^ Arad landed on his

feet, circling around the griffin like he wasnʼt hit.

The women watching from the window looked at the fight in awe, ”Wait! Wasnʼt he a

swordsman?” Mesharra gasped.

”Heʼs here to learn magic, right?” Mary looked at the fight, ”He isnʼt casting any magic.” No matter how she looked at it, Arad was pushing the fight toward a physical one.

”No, heʼs using magic. Just not directly.” Plum had a smile on her face, ”Heʼs smart.”

Echidna giggled, ”Magic isnʼt just for blasting stuff. Heʼs using it to render Arthurʼs powerful

lightning magic useless.” She could see Aradʼs magic spread all over the garden, each tiny nail pulsed with his magic, interfering with lightning magic and reducing its accuracy back to

almost nothing.

Arthur growled, ”Fine! Iʼll show you what Iʼm made off!” He pointed his sword at Arad, charging the biggest lightning bolt he could ever cast.

A smile crosses Aradʼs face, his left fist holding four long nails between his knuckles like claws. It wasnʼt just Alcott who had great fighting techniques.

Arad threw the nails at the griffin and swung his wooden pole, dodging the griffinʼs attack as he nailed her. WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! A nail onto each of the griffinʼs arms, head, and chest, all crackling with Aradʼs lightning.

The ones Arad mimicked was no one else but his wife, Mira, her moves were tailored to her human body, but Arad could push it a bit further using his superior physical strength and

speed.

Arthur didnʼt even notice the nails and the griffin was trained to endure hits and keep

fighting, no one knew what was going to happen next besides Arad. Arthur fired his massive lightning bolt, and it immediately struck the griffin, disorienting her and leaving her

wobbling like a newborn calve.

The divine moves of the newborn goddess of greed were too much to predict even for the seasoned Arthur and his well-trained mount.

In that fraction of a second Arad had already jumped aboard and was standing face-to-face

with Arthur, ”Yo... a nice roasted chicken you have here.”

”Heʼs dangerous...” Echidna gasped, ”Far too smart, Iʼve never seen magic being used like that. If I passed curses with nails like that...”