The dragon's harem

Chapter 714 An Explosive Challenge

Arad walked toward the basement and went into the dungeon. The goblins moved out of the way as they saw him walk in. "Our lord!" One of them gasped.

"How are you doing?" Arad asked as he walked between them, heading deeper into the dungeon.

"We're doing well. Nothing is lacking, and everything is abundant. Our numbers have been increasing lately, but Lady Meryem's children dug us larger nests." The goblin replied.

"How about food?"

"Lady Aella has been hunting for us every now and then, but the majority of our food supply is from the mushroom and fungus farms we've built here alongside the Kobolds and Axols." The goblin replied, pointing toward a massive cavern with glowing blue mushrooms and Axols swimming everywhere.

"They've been hard at work all this time." Arad smiled, "This might be a dangerous part of the forest, but even it can't sustain all the monsters of the dungeon." He walked into the large room and squatted down beside the mushrooms.

"Great one?" One of the Axols looked up at Arad, climbing into his hand.

"You've been doing great, thanks to you the dungeon monsters are well-fed." Arad patted the small Axol.

"We eat drops. Don't need hard parts..." The Axol looked back at the mushrooms.

The glowing blue mushrooms looked like any other mushrooms that could be found on the surface. The two differences are that they glow blue and that they are covered with a dew-like lair of oil that Axols feed on. That meant the Axols only needed to eat the oil and they left the meat of the mushroom to the monsters to feed upon.

The goblin approached Arad, "We provide them with water from the spring, clean the farm, and replant the mushrooms. The Axols tend to it and help it grow safely by enchanting the water with their magic. They are like bees to it."

"Aren't there any other kind of mushrooms? I feel like eating only blue ones would get stale after a while." Arad looked at the goblin.

"Lady Aella's hunters help break that for us, so it's not a problem." The goblin replied, "But, there are indeed other types of mushrooms. White, red, green, purple, and even long ones that glow with an even brighter blue color than those."

Arad put the Axol down and stood, "I'll find more of them for you to plant here. I'm sure I spotted some around Rita."

"Please don't bother with us, it's not a priority." The goblin shook his head and Arad patted him. "Don't worry, it'll only take me a few hours at most."

Arad then headed deeper into the dungeon until he reached the Kobold's layer where Kin was recovering. "I see you're doing well," Arad said with a smile as she lifted her head.

"Vlad's blood control damaged a lot of my veins. Human healing magic doesn't work on me that well," She replied, looking at him with glowing golden eyes.

"Vlad is dead now," Arad smiled, "And I came to send you to see Baltos. You can shift into a humanoid form, can't you?"

Gin nodded as her body burst into a pure light. "It's painful, but I can do it," She walked toward him in her usual maid uniform. "But, I doubt I can fly or walk all the way to mountain peak."

Thud! Arad put his hand on her head, "That's why I'm here. See you later," ZON! He teleported her to the Keep.

"Now," Arad stretched, cracking his neck. "Let's check on who this woman posted out in the forest." His eyes flashed purpled as his vision fused with the animals, seeing Selica, Sena's assistant, sitting on a stone right at the edge of the forest.

ZON! Arad teleported outside immediately.

****

"Haa!" Selica sighed, ^Lady Sena said to sit here and release faint magic, how could this be easier than walking to his house?^ She looked at the forest, ^It'll take about half an hour to walk to Arad's house from here, and the forest is riddled with vicious monsters.^

She looked at the shadow of a tree, "About a quarter of an hour. I wonder if he'll really show up,"

^Why would he even show up? Most monsters release magic, he couldn't possibly differentiate me from them. I won't if Lady Sena is just messing with me, it's too cold here.^ She licked her hands, blasting them with an explosion to heat them up.

"Nice skill," A voice came from the forest and she jumped out, startled. "Who's that?" She immediately saw Arad creep his massive draconic head out of the forest, growing with a gust of steam gushing out between his leg-sized fangs.

^He really showed up, but why in his draconic form? No, this magic, he's ready to fight. Why?^ Selica gasped, taking a step back.

"No offense, but your magic is extremely weak. But I've been stung badly by a lot of seemingly weaker opponents, I'll take you as seriously as I can," Arad growled as his magic spiked.

Selica took a few steps back, ^Take me seriously. Does he think I'm a challenge? Don't tell me void dragons act like chromatic dragons, Sena set me up,^

Arad opened his jaw and rushed at her with a bite.

Sena rolled away, spitting on her arms as she tried to make a run for it. ^Shit! Shit! What's Lady Sena thinking about? Me sitting here in his land was akin to a mating call, I have no way of fending him off now that I rubbed him the wrong way.^ She turned to look back, seeing Arad's claw rushing at her.

She rolled beneath the attack and turned back, ^He might be as intelligent as a human if not more, but he's still a monster at the end of the day, he'll act like a dragon and shouldn't be treated as anything else.^

She put her hands together and pointed forward, [Burst]

BA-BOOM! A massive explosion rushed from her fists, engulfing Arad's head. ^This should allow me time to escape or at least speak.^ She couldn't find an opening to talk with how fast Arad moved, and she doubted her words would get to his head before she got a deadly strike from his claws.

From the explosion's smoke, Arad rushed toward her in his humanoid form swinging a fist. ^He's fast, but I can keep up.^ Selica dodged Arad's punch and swung an uppercut at his chin. BA-BOOM! A massive explosion rushed out of her knuckles.

A left hook followed by a right one then a straight punch, unlike what her frame might suggest, Sena was an expert punch with skills far beyond what most people could achieve. Between each strike and another, she'd spit forward, catch the spit with her fist, and smack it into Arad to release an explosion.

After the quick barrage of hits, Selica spat on Arad's chest and kicked it as hard as she could, releasing a massive explosion that sent her flying back. "Arad Orion! Listen to me!" She shouted but quickly fell silent as she saw Arad standing there.

^Not a single scratch. Each of those explosions is strong enough to rip a hole in a one-foot stone wall.^She started sweating, ^It'll all or nothing,^

Arad tilted his head as he looked at her, "Those explosions are interesting, do they react to air or impact? Probably both? It's not only your spit that is explosive. It's almost all of your bodily fluids including blood and sweat."

^He figured it out already? I'm finished... there is no escaping his claws now.^

"So, why did Sena send you?" Arad looked at her, and she gasped.

"Wait...you know?"

"I can see her magic on you. I'm not that stupid," Arad replied. He did indeed think she was a drakaina that posted in his land as a mating call and got excited for a moment, even for how weak the magic seemed. But he immediately noticed that it wasn't the case.

"Then why are you fighting me?" Selica asked with a worried face.

Arad mimicked Selica's stance, throwing a few punches, "I just wanted to see how you fight, efficient movements without any wasted effort." He looked at her, "You can't develop such a fighting style without being always pushed to the edge,"

"Not all of us are as powerful as you or have the regeneration to tank fatal hits. A broken rib should be enough to drop me down." Selica sighed, "I can't risk any damage," She approached him, "Lady Sena wanted me to tell you something. She's coming to visit tomorrow or the day after to discuss something,"

"She could've just come on her own. Why did she send you?" Arad sighed.

"Probably related to why she told me to sit here and release magic," Selica scratched her chin, "I don't know what she's planning, but I don't like it."

"That I can't guess," Arad looked around, "Should I teleport you to her office?"

"No need, I'll go back on my own," Selica stared at him, "But, I didn't expect to be able to stand my ground for even a second."

"I never tried to begin with," Arad replied staring at her.

"How big the gap of strength is? Mind showing me?" She clenched her fist. ^Even if he got faster or stronger, I can guess how his attacks work. Even magic shouldn't pose that much of a...^

Suddenly, Selica found her nose touching Arad's massive chest. He appeared in front of her face before she even realized it. And as quickly as that, her vision turned back.

***

Selica opened her eyes in Sena's office, asleep on a couch as she stared at the ceiling. "Where am I?"

"Arad brought you here," Sena replied, sitting beside her.

"Wait! What did he!" Selica cried.

"Calm down, he did nothing to you. It only took one wave of his magic to knock you out," Sena stared at her, "He didn't even need to hit you to win,"

Selica took a deep breath, "Why did you send me to him?"

"So he can learn how to punch. He trained with swords but not fists." Sena stared at her. "That small encounter with you should get him a bit intrigued in martial arts. Besides the barbaric fist-fighting, that Nina taught him."

"So I'm a training dummy," Selica laid down, exhausted.

"Oh! We have more work to do," Sena smiled, "I already spoke with Arad when he brought you here. We're going with him to the University of the Arts."

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