The dragon's harem

Chapter 1446: Reaching the First Camp

With Mathilde guiding them, the trip to the top had become much easier. She knew the branches like the back of her hand and guided them through them safely. A huge part of that immediate safety was thanks to Arad killing everything remotely close, and now, all monsters of the tree avoided him like the plague.

Of course, many of the monsters were extremely sensitive and could see from hundreds of kilometers away, which allowed them to observe Arad’s blood rampage from a safe distance. That only made them even more terrified of him, and even more so after they saw him fighting Mathilde.

Monsters might not be as intelligent as humanoids, but they are mostly as smart as dogs and parrots, possessing enough intelligence to recognize danger when seeing it.

Even the beasts on the verge of breaking through their mortal shackles and turning into divine beasts or spirits wouldn’t dare show their faces in front of someone who boxed an archon. And considering that Mathilde usually fought Sylph and won many times, even lesser gods won’t dare poke their necks anywhere near Arad now.

Arad flew above the branches, carrying everyone on his back. At first, some thought that the blood bath he caused was excessive, but that was the point of it. Making a statement. If a monster like those two bald eagles had attacked while Cerilla or anyone else were out, the result might be a disaster. Now, everyone can be assured that no one would dare get close to them.

Dalla looked around. Using a magic telescope, she could spot monsters flying away behind the horizon, running away as Arad approached. “I doubt even high magic can harm them. All of them.” She gasped.

D nodded, “And they are just running away like sheep seeing a massive dire demon wolf the size of a small mountain.”

Dalla looked back at Mathilde, “I bet they are scared of you.”

Mathilde shook her head, “They usually ignore me. They don’t attack me and I don’t attack them. If they saw me moving with anything, then they wouldn’t interfere. They never care to run away, because they understand I won’t harm them.” She lifted her hand and pointed at Arad beneath them.

“They are scared of him. And they better be.”

Plum in the back flew toward her, “I’d rather have them attack, and get eaten by him. The more he eats, the better I eat.” She then flew around Mathilde and then looked closer at her, “So, Dendron is back at the trunk, will we see her again? I was starting to like the old hag.”

“She is always at the trunk, so you can visit her whenever you want.” Mathilde looked back at Plum, and her eyes then slid toward Merida and Grace, who sat silently in the back.

Grace was half asleep, lying on her back with her legs and arms sprawled. The shadow drakaina seemed to be having a blast, relaxing on Arad’s massive back.

Merida, on the other hand, was sharpening her sword, tending to it like she always does. Mathilde could sense something strange from her, but it wasn’t unpleasant.

Undominateable will, hot temper, lack of empathy, endless desire for growth, and the cold and calculated mind of a ruthless fighter. Merida must’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how she could kill anything and anyone who dared get close; she even had plans for killing each of Arad’s wives if they went rogue.

Right now, she was carefully thinking of a plan to slaughter Mathilde. And if Mathilde wasn’t a powerful archon with harrowing senses just as scary as her power, she wouldn’t have sensed the cold, murderous lust boiling behind her.

Merida’s sword was magical; it didn’t need sharpening or tending. The act itself was just her zoning out, drowning in thoughts. Mathilde thinks that Merida, even with all of her Demon Lord power, can’t stand a chance against her. But still, she couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous.

For what reason would an all-powerful Archon get worried? Simple, because Merida’s cold bloodlust didn’t make her arrogant, and didn’t get to her head. She isn’t above asking for help, and she had already contacted both the Demon Goddess of destruction, Kali, and the rising Goddess of Murder, Eris, for help.

Mathilde is certain she can deal with Merida herself and any help she receives from Eris, but what if Kali sent someone? What if she sent Diana here? Yeah, that’ll be a disaster.

Soon, they reached one large branch that seemed to extend upward. Mathilde called Arad and asked him to stop. She then flew up and looked around, studying the space itself and not the branches.

The reason they need her is because of the World Tree’s innate space-twisting nature. They can spend a thousand years climbing up, and they’ll never reach the top. The path upward itself was ever changing and hard to follow for those who don’t know the place well.

“Good, fly up to that branch over there, the one with the seven leaves, and land. We’ll stay there for a couple of hours before moving forward.” She landed back on Arad’s head as he started to move.

Cerilla approached her and then looked around. “Is there a reason to wait?”

“Of course. Yggdrasil twists space and makes it longer. That happens all the time, and the space from that point forward is in the process of being elongated. If we get in it, we’ll be walking for days without getting an inch close to the upper branches.”

Arad, who listened closely and watched what Mathilde was looking at, nodded. He, too, could sense and see the fabric of space, and it was somewhat obvious to him.

It’s like an escalator going down, no use trying to walk up on it.

“So we’ll wait for whatever is happening there to stop?” Jasmine approached them, “Won’t that mean we’ll only move when the space already gets longer?”

“We can compensate for that with speed, but we might get trapped if we are in while it is expanding. We stay, wait, and move when it’s safe. You’re a queen, aren’t you? You must know how dangerous it is to try and jump into a moving carriage, or get out of it.”

“I see, so we wait and see.” Jasmine looked at the side of the branch as Arad landed. They called the thing a branch, but with it being hundreds of kilometers wide, it was more like flat ground made of wood.

As they rested, and with Merida always keeping an eye on Mathilde, the Archon decided it was the best time to start training under Dalla. Arad, on the other hand, had other plans.