The dragon's harem

Chapter 1517: A Fight in Foam

As the whole arena boiled with foam, Arad could feel the scales on his skin melting and falling apart. It didn’t take him a second to realise this was far deadlier than any soap could ever be.

The foam wasn’t mundane either; something about it was off. It blocked Arad’s vision, and its powerful, sweet smell muffled his nose. With two senses shut down, he tried to listen for Balina’s movement, but he was quickly faced with the fact that the quiet rumble and roil of the soap as it boiled and burned the ground was enough to muffle all of the noise around, making it nearly impossible to track Balina.

Even magic failed to find her as the whole place was covered with her magical soap foam, masking her presence. Gamond most likely faced this, but she could’ve just frozen the whole thing in an instant. That was probably how she got the upper hand and managed to beat Balina so badly.

Balina glided around Arad at blinding speed, skating on the now slippery ground with all of her senses strained to the max. She was fast, swift, and most of all, could see Arad, unlike how he couldn’t even sense her.

She approached him with her nails having turned into long, sharp claws; one slice across the torso should secure her victory. While Gamond did beat her, that was also because Gamond had a massive elemental advantage. The fight today won’t end as quickly as the one with Gamond.

Balina expected to be able to at least deal some damage to Arad.

She reached him, her claws silently flashed through the foam, reaching Arad’s side and going for a direct liver shot. But the moment her claws touched his skin, Arad’s arms snapped like a mousetrap, his fist flying straight at her face faster than she could see.

Arad had punched her in the face, and her body was already flying back. She was in shock for that fraction of a second, unable to believe that he reacted before her claws could even go an inch deep into his skin. With how massive and muscular Arad was, an inch deep wound barely scratched the surface of his obliques.

She had to orient herself quickly before it was too late, and she was right. As her eyes looked forward, she could see Arad chasing after like a charging hog, too massive to be stooped and too fast for it to make sense. The ground was slippery, but he used his feet’ claws to gain traction.

She kicked the ground and pushed herself back, moving as fast as she could to get away. Arad’s senses and eyes were glued to her, and she must lose him in the sea of foam. As she expected, that was easier said than done. Like a relentless animal, Arad chased her all around the arena, moving too fast to let her get away and out of his vision.

If she could only get a few meters away from him, his senses would lose track of her, and she would be safe again.

^Why aren’t his scales melting and falling apart? Don’t tell me his regeneration is that strong? Even great wyrms would’ve been turned into bones by now.^

That thought was enough of a distraction to make her slow a bit and allow Arad to catch up. Before she could reach, she found herself stuck in a bear hug. She was caught in a tackle, at the same time that Arad tried to push her down, his arms were closing shut on her torso, rapidly raising pressure to shatter her bones.

If she doesn’t get out, he’ll blow her back and shatter her ribs in his embrace. From just this, Balina became aware of one thing: Arad was indeed stronger physically than Gamond.

Luckily, grapples were almost useless against her, who was as slippery as a block of soap. In the blink of an eye, her body slipped from between Arad’s arms and popped out, her claws leaving ten cuts on his torso and neck.

In that second, she had slipped back into the foam and hid from his senses.

She was safe once more, as long as she didn’t get close, he won’t find her. But her knees couldn’t stop shaking, because from that short encounter, she realised just how much of a monster Arad was.

She looked at her hand, seeing bits of Arad’s tiny scales on her long claws. ^He isn’t regenerating.^

All of this time, it wasn’t that Arad’s regeneration kept him from melting in her acidic foam, but it was that her acid wasn’t strong enough to fully tear his scales off. That wild animal was fighting her without using a lick of his magic. Inside her elemental expansion, he was challenging her with his bare fists.

Balina had made the same mistake and got her eyes away from Arad for a second, almost missing his next attack.

Arad reached down and plunged his palm on the ground, ripping a fistful of gravel out. Balina immediately knew he was about to throw it, and so she moved away, sliding behind him to stay safe.

Arad lifted his arm and swung, but instead of throwing forward like anyone does, his hand seemed to slip, and the stones flew to the side like a rain of bullets.

Balina’s eyes opened wide and she started sweating, realising that his hand didn’t slip. Arad knew she could see him, so this was his plan.

Arad did the same thing again, scooped a fistful of gravel, and threw it. This time, his arm moved forward, but he didn’t release the stones and instead made a spin, letting them rip behind him.

To Balina’s luck, she had already moved out of the way, and the stones missed her. She couldn’t predict where Arad would throw the stones, so it was a gamble to keep dodging them. She must attack before he hits her.

Arad started throwing faster and faster, and the closer Balina got to him, the less time she had to move between each throw, which made her life many times harder.

Before she could reach him, she finally made a wrong guess, and stones pelted her right in the face. As expected of a dragon of her power and age, those mundane pebbles disintegrated on her skin like droplets of rain. But, damage wasn’t what Arad was looking for, but noise.

The moment Arad heard the stones hit something that was foam and ground, he lunged at blinding speed, reaching Balina in the blink of an eye.

Finding herself unable to dodge his sudden charge, Balina tried to do something else. Blast Arad away with a breath.

Her chest inflated, and she opened her mouth wide, unleashing a torrent of boiling, clear liquid, so powerful that it melted the ground and reached Arad in the blink of an eye.

Even Arad’s powerful scales won’t be able to endure a direct hit, which made him think of a way to evade the death wave of acid rushing at him.