The dragon's harem

Chapter 1722: Thunder Step

Bathed in sapphire glow, Gojo flew past the immense body of the Ice Brood Mother, doing a flip past the intricate net of black silk webbing trying to snare him.

Those threads were as sharp as razor blades, and as tough as steel. A literal net of deadly swords, and a single brush against their intertwined expanse could leave him minced. The magic engulfing his body crackled, and he slipped through the deadly net.

The Ice Brood Mother was unable to believe the audacity of such a bug to challenge her. Seeing him flying through her web unhindered was frustrating, and she couldn’t wait to sink her fangs and such his organs out.

Her red glowing eyes moved, following Gojo’s every move. He was fast, but not fast enough to escape her. Soon, spikes of ice rose from the ground like spears and burst upward, aiming at Gojo’s small body with horrifying accuracy.

One of the spears reached Gojo, getting to within an inch of his blue glowing eyes. And the crazy wizard was still smiling, his magic never growing slower or faltering even as the spear almost tore his left eye out.

It wasn’t because Gojo had no fear or worry; he was both worried and afraid, but he knew well that those two would get in his way. Primal instincts were good and helpful, but the higher the stakes are, the more a well-calculated and thoughtful plan would work even better.

Stick to the plan, trust the process, and believe in your past self that made all of the decisions for you. Besides all of that, his eyes could see far clearer now.

To Gojo, the attacks looked, size, and shape didn’t matter that much. What Gojo cared about the most was the mana itself, and he could clearly see it. Silver threads of pure mana, the building block of all spells, and the guiding light to his victory.

The threads of mana rushing from the ground and air, seeping into the Ice Brood Mother’s body, then dripping to the ground, forming into ice magic, then getting flung at him like missiles.

He could see how she cast her magic and her will to use and manipulate it. But that wasn’t where her magic ended, since in addition to the black threads of silk, Gojo could clearly see a second net of insidious, ethereal vines forming an inescapable net of mind control magic.

She was a monster, and he was a wizard, so reading the flow of her magic was nothing but simple. The only hurdle in his path was speed, and keeping up with the horrid mind of a monster of her calibre was nothing short of an impossible feat.

It wasn’t anything complicated. Size did really matter, and a bigger brain meant more processing power for magic. Of course, some creature might have bigger brains but be dumber, but that’s beside the point of magic. This Ice Brood Mother can’t be considered smart in the same way humans are, but she is capable in terms of innate magic. It was in the same way a chimp might show better pattern recognition than a human, while failing in everything else. It was also similar to how an elephant could remember its area, watering holes, and faces far longer than humans could retain such memories.

That is why he had to break her mind, he must crush her soul, and tear her down to her very basic self, a weak little spider. How dare such a bug stand against a dragon? He might be a human now, but Gojo still was a dragon, a proud, powerful, and arrogant dragon.

Kicking one of the flying ice spears with his foot, Gojo’s entire body sparked with a violent arc of lightning, and immediately accelerated into a blinding speed. If she could keep up with him, he only needed to get faster. With his arms extended outward like an airplane, he navigated through the air, leveraging his extra dimension of mobility to his advantage.

The spell was a weak one called Thunder Step, and it worked by creating an electric arc between the caster and the place they wanted to go, then using that arc to form a magnetic field to pull their charged body at near the speed of sound.

It was a common spell, used by almost every mage as a useful mobility spell. It allowed them to quickly escape a dangerous situation or relocate to a safer zone to cast their bigger, more powerful spells.

The most difficult part about this spell was accelerating and decelerating, and it was where most wizards die. As expected, human organs and blood tend to hate rapid acceleration and deceleration. To combat that, the talented wizards studied, and after years, they finally managed to create a standard version of this spell that can be safely learned and used by anyone who puts in enough effort.

That spell was assisted by the system, and could move any caster around ten meters (30 feet) to any spot they could see. But Gojo lacked the system, and that version was too restrictive and safe for his liking. That is why he had already mastered the spell far beyond mere understanding.

Unlike all wizards, he can set his own distance, arc shape, path, acceleration, deceleration, and even duration, which allowed him to slowly accelerate to the speed of sound, then even surpass it without shattering his own body.

As he flew around the Ice Brood Mother, he could still see that her eyes were following him, and that her magic still kept up, even though he had already surpassed sound and was moving faster than most bullets; the spider’s powerful senses and reaction speed still helped her bridge the gap and keep him under her hungry gaze.

In fact, now she had become even more aggressive after noticing that he got faster, and instead of sitting in place and throwing spells, the Ice Brood Mother decided to get moving as well. Her massive, heavy, and cumbersome body moved like a swift steed, and she jumped into the air, stepping on her net with grace.

For the first time in his life, Gojo felt something strange. Now that he saw the titanic Ice Brood Mother move, he was appalled by how a creature of her size could do that. She jumped around, flipped between her threads, and even seemed to fly by swinging around using her threads.

To escape her gaze and fangs, Gojo had to accelerate even further. But if he did that, then his reserve of mana would vanish in the blink of an eye. He had to come up with something, anything that would help him surpass this monster.

His eyes flashed blue, his body roared with lightning, and he flashed right past one of the Ice Brood Mother’s fangs with a grin. “Now this is getting fun!”