The dragon's harem

When the sun dawned and darkness engulfed the floors, the group climbed the last few sets of stairs and slowly opened the door of floor 910. Arad looked inside the darkness, unable to see a thing.

Ombre urged them to remain silent and extended her hands. Arad held one and Neige held one, soon their eyes could see through the darkness as if it was daylight.

They had planned for everything, now it was time to start working and hope that everything went smoothly.

Ombre took a silent step inside the floor, and the two trailed at her sides, engulfed in black shadows. In the womb of darkness, Ombre was completely invisible and silent, those who touch her and allow her to reach into their shadows gain the same property. They could even see through the darkness by borrowing her power.

Their plan was simple yet dangerous. Ombre would get Arad and Neige close enough to the boss to get a sneak attack in and finish it with one move.

^This feels disgusting…^ Neige’s voice boomed through their heads. They could also hear each other’s thoughts through the shadow. Right now, Neige was disgusted at the strange feeling, like millions of ants were crawling on her body.

To become invisible, they had to become one with the shadows, which also meant feeling what the shadow feels. When those ugly spider minions crawled around them in the darkness, the three could feel as if those spiders were crawling on their bodies.

While Arad wasn’t bothered at all, Neige made it clear that she wanted to scratch her body really badly. That feeling would drive her mad if it lasted any longer. But this was a dangerous mission, even for her. She gritted her teeth and pushed the feeling to the back of her head.

Arad looked aside and saw the tiny spiders crawl everywhere. ^Damn they’re ugly…^ They were almost a meter long with human heads, long tongues for legs, and their disgusting, hole-filled bodies oozed a strange, foul goo. The spiders fought and ate each other alive, some of the injured ones ran away and satiated themselves by eating dirt, all while moaning and groaning like a man taking the most painful shit of his whole life.

The closer they’ve got to the nightmare monster, the bigger the spiders around them got, almost reaching six meters in size. If one of those things made its way out in the world, people might rather end it all than face the thing; just the smell alone made even Arad flinch.

^I should burn this whole floor when I get my power back. Those things should’ve been forgotten like the nightmare they came from.^

Arad’s eyes then panned back to the nightmare, that massive, ugly bastard. If he killed him, what would happen to the other spiders? They won’t remain, would they? He had never defeated a nightmare before, so he doesn’t know what will happen once they clear it.

^Say, once we kill it, what then?^ Arad asked, and Ombre looked at him. He couldn’t see the expressions on her face but understood she was confused. So she replied, ^You don’t know?^

Arad shook his head, and it was Neige’s turn to give him a weird look. ^Of course, that thing would become passive to us.^

^Nightmares can’t be killed. The moment you damage them, the floor gets locked, and if the nightmare dies, it’ll rise back immediately and become passive to everyone on its floor.^ So they weren’t going to kill the nightmare, because such a task was impossible. Those boss floors were designed so that multiple people can clear them one after another.

Even if Arad’s group managed to win and move to the upper floors, anyone who comes after them, even a second late would have to defeat the boss again.

Soon they reached the foot of the spire tower where the nightmare perched. That thing looks even uglier up close, being several hundred meters wide and long, it looked like something that could stand with a whole city between its massive legs. It’s massive hole riddle stomach looked like a bee hive, with all of the small spiders crawling in and out of it.

Neige suddenly hunched down, turned aside, and threw up. Just looking at the thing made her stomach turn, and her head hurt. It was then that all of the spiders turned toward them with madness burning in their eyes. Arad grabbed the two horrors and ran away, hiding behind a massive boulder.

The nightmare glanced down with one eye and lost interest, but the small spiders fought with their life on the line to devour what Neige had puked out. The sight had made even Arad’s stomach turn. Those nightmarish monsters were starving to the point of insanity.

^You okay?^ He looked at Neige, and she nodded with a pale face. ^I… just need to rest a bit.^ She leaned close to him and closed her eyes, trying to erase the nightmare’s image from her head.

But the moment she remembered how he looked she threw up again, and Arad had to run away with them before the spiders swarmed at the place.

This time, the nightmare turned its head and looked down, intrigued. First time might’ve been a mistake, but if it happened twice, something was off, and the nightmare wasn’t stupid enough to ignore it.

With a deep moan rumbling in its horrid stomach, countless spiders flew out and started scouting the place, looking for any intruders.

Arad looked around with a worried face. Ombre wasn’t that much of a fighter, and something is wrong with Neige; her body can’t stop shaking. He is the only one who moves or fights the spider, which wasn’t the plan.

He looked at Ombre, ^We need to find a hiding place.^

She pointed at the bottom of the spire. ^There are stairs inside the spire that lead to its peak. We can go inside, I sense a locked space inside that we could use as a shelter.

Arad relied on Ombre scouting ahead with her shadows and carried Neige in his arms as they approached the spire. Soon, when they walked inside, they found it filled to the brim with the stinky, black, and green goo.

^There, beneath the stairs.^ Ombre pointed, and when Arad approached, he could see a small door. After making sure no spiders were close, he opened the door and rushed inside.