The dragon's harem

Chapter 1720: The Call of the Brood

When Arad and Gojo reached the forest at last, they were surprised by a ghastly scene akin to what they had seen around Death’s house. Only this time, it wasn’t done by a divine being.

An endless net of black silk engulfed all of the trees beneath the vast blanket of pure white snow, each thread as sharp as razor blades and as durable as steel wires.

Corpses and cocoon everywhere, and countless spiders crawling everywhere, accompanied by briders. There were at least a hundred briders crawling on the forest’s edge, meaning probably thousands of them lived inside.

Arad was confident that he could face ten of them and win with his current power, but with those numbers, no chance. The only thought that crossed his mind was to burn the entire forest down.

He didn’t hate spiders, but he was certain that any human’s first instinct would be to get rid of this infestation as quickly as possible. There was no situation where more than five spiders are a good thing, especially if they were massive and man-eating monsters.

Even the elves who loved their forests so much and would start a war against any cutting three would agree and set this entire forest ablaze. This nest shouldn’t be allowed to thrive and exist.

Arad asked Eris, and he got a quick answer about what she would do. It was just as Arad expected, and she said that she would drop the biggest purple sun she could on the forest and make sure those bugs never made it out.

The two brothers looked at the forest from afar, without getting any closer, but they could already sense what awaited them inside.

”This...” Gojo frowned. ”It’s bad... really bad.”

He knew what this was and knew just how much of a pain it was going to be. If Lucy were here, she would’ve already thrown up several times and ordered a full extermination.

”You don’t need to tell me. I can see the entire forest is engulfed, and what kind of monster could make this?” They could see the briders, but what kind of monster is behind them, what could force hundreds, if not thousands, of powerful monsters to work together like a colony?

But then, they could hear it, a sweet whisper ringing in their ears.

”The brooooood... join the ice brood.” It whispered and gasped, ”The deadly flooooood, I can protect you... from the merciless cooooold...”

That sounded like a woman, slightly older, and reeked of mind magic. Something in her voice was compelling them to obey and walk into the forest to seek her out.

It took Arad a while to figure it out, but the monster wasn’t really speaking, it was just sending thoughts, meanings and feelings to their brains, and they were the ones interpreting them as voices and words.

Growling, Arad rubbed his eyes. That monster’s voice sounded like Gamond, and he knew why. It was cold, and the mind magic tried to bring the image of a loved one that fit. His brain was interpreting the mind magic as Gamond whispering into his ears, and he did feel compelled to obey.

Gojo growled and tapped his head. ”Get out of my head, and out of our way. Mother of the Ice Brood. Unless you want to end up dead.”

To him, the mind magic sounded weirder, sharper, and had a higher-pitched voice. He could just see her tiny figure in front of him, looking at him mockingly, Yog. It seems that his mind would see any manipulation attempt as Yog fooling around, and he almost snapped at that.

The briders, those half-human, half-spider monsters that Arad and Gojo faced before, this was their mother, the biggest spider of them all, an S-rank natural disaster.

Arad cracked his fists, ”I guess, she will be the first large monster we kill here. Damn, I thought we were going to hunt the kraken first.” He was able to collect himself thanks to Eris whispering into his mind, keeping him anchored in reality.

Gojo, on the other hand, sighed. He was already used to dealing with Yog’s manipulation, so it was impossible for him to fall for such a trick. Besides, he had just used similar magic on the Yeti’s chieftain, and it would be embarrassing for him to fall for the same trick. ”Yeah, but this one is really nasty. I’d rather if we don’t fight her.” He pointed at the forest and explained what the Mother of the Ice brood could do.

She was a massive spider, more akin to a cobalt blue tarantula, had a humanoid upper half like all briders, and could freely switch between a humanoid form, a spider form, and her half form.

The Mother of the Ice Brood had too many powers, but most related to her innate nature as a queen of her own brood. She could weave and control threads of black silk that were stronger than steel, wield ice magic, mind control, and a nasty ability to reincarnate herself to any of her daughters while retaining her full power and memories. Of course, all in addition to a boosted basic brider skill set of poison and such.

She was, in fact, similar to someone that Arad knew well, Meryem, the ant queen. Which meant that given time and luck, she could even turn into a world-ending threat.

A brider apocalypse is probably one of the nastiest ways a world could end.

”In the Arctic, is she still alive?” Arad asked, and Gojo smiled. ”She is dead.”

”You killed her?” It was natural to expect his powerful brother to swoop in and end such a monster with ease, but...

”No, adventurers did, with assistance of the previous kingdom.” He pointed at the forest. ”They assigned four hundred mages to build and maintain a barrier around the entire forest, and starved the brood into extinction over three decades.”

Even the strongest of monsters could still fall to a prolonged attrition war, and the Mother of Ice Brood seemed to have faced a sad and pitiful death, starved for decades before she finally faced her death.

Arad stared at the forest in silence and then pointed, ”So? How could we kill her?”

Gojo started thinking about it for a few seconds and then spoke. ”I was thinking of keeping her alive and taking her back with us, the entire brood.” He smiled. ”She might’ve been a deadly threat to regular kingdoms, but with me there, she is more of an amazing asset.”

Arad nodded and then asked with a passive face. ”I get that, but how are we going to convince that... thing? I doubt she would listen to us.”

Both of them should’ve been aware that the Mother of the Ice Brood’s mind magic wasn’t her speaking, but just an extension of her horrid will.

”Let’s go, I got a simple plan.” As Gojo walked toward the forest, Arad followed him while forming a stone spear. ”I’ll deal with the queen; you stop the others.”

”Her brood?” Dealing with all of the briders would be literally impossible.

”No, her mates. She mind controls and enslaves monsters to breed with them. While I handle her, I want you to keep those brainwashed creatures away from us.” He smiled. ”If possible, kill them all. The briders shouldn’t dare get in their mother’s way.”

As they approached the forest, the Mother of the Ice Brood’s whispers grew louder and sharper in their heads.

”Come... to meee. Join the Broooood. To my nest, you are not fooooood.”

Arad frowned. He could feel someone hugging him from the back, and he could tell that it should’ve been Gamond. He could hear her breathing on his ear as she whispered, and even smell her.

”Should we be worried about her mind control?”

Gojo, on the other hand, could feel Yog sitting on his shoulders; he could smell her, feel her legs tightening around his neck, and even feel her sharp nails poking at his head. But he knew all of that was just an illusion, and he wasn’t going to fall for it.

”No, we’re intelligent creatures, not mere monsters. She recognized our power, so she is now calling us into the nest to become her mates. We should be able to just walk through the forest, and no brider would dare attack us.” He pointed at the black silk, ”Just don’t get entangled and die.”

That was easy to say, but hard to achieve.

Before long, the two went into the forest, walked past endless trees engulfed in black silk, and soon reached the queen’s nest. A large open area with a bed of black silk, the Mother of the Ice Brood rested in the middle, surrounded by over fifty powerful monsters.

”What should we do now?” Arad stood in place and looked at all of the monsters surrounding the Mother of the Ice Brood, and none of them was weak or easy to deal with: Tigers, large bison, and even more disfigured horrors.

”Kill them all, as quickly as you can. Then, run away. I’ll deal with her.” Gojo walked forward with a smile. ”But, I might end up both badly injured and out of mana, so you’ll have to carry me back.”