The dragon's harem

Here in the Labyrinth, the Terror didn't have that much of a competition, at least unless she climbs up to higher floors. Her main power was the ability to see the truth of people. One glance and she can understand what they do best, she can see the healer as a healer and the fighter as a fighter, even if they tried to disguise themselves.

With how smart Terrors are, their going after the healers first was far too common. People would hide their abilities in the hope of confusing the terrors, but she alone was able to see past that, allowing her to shut down all strategies to defeat her. That was on top of her raw power, magic, and other cursed abilities that she barely needs to use.

The Terror sat alone on a large stone, being as beautiful and pristine as she could be, as she watched the bloodied Arad cleaving his way through five massive fiery bears. She could help, but she won't. That wasn't their agreement, and besides, he needs the experience more than her.

Taking her free time and getting the best of it she looked back into Arad's truth, what she saw in him. Vast, sickening eldritch darkness. She felt like she was drowning just by seeing the shadows, and a pain surged through her body. Standing alone in the darkness with countless bugs gnawing on her flesh and bones…yet inside her stomach, she carries something precious, priceless, something far too dear to her heart to let go.

For a moment, she thought he was a starving pregnant woman, barely clinging to life while hundreds of rats ate her alive in a dark room, but soon saw far beyond the truth. Her first assumption was wrong, very, very, wrong.

The man standing before her was a being far higher than the so-called goddess of the Labyrinth, she pales and disappears in his shadow as ants disappear in her own shadow. This man was far weaker than her now… but she couldn't help but feel something shift in her heart.

Listening to her beating lump of flesh, she realised that the feeling she got wasn't love, it wasn't affection, nor hatred. Like a veil lifting from her soul, that feeling was pure reverence. And the moment she understood that feeling she could feel the invisible shackles of the Labyrinth around her soul shift and crack.

Even she couldn't fully understand what she was feeling. The moment she saw him asleep at night, she understood well that killing him is easy, like a lion killing a sleeping baby deer; it won't even be a challenge. But…what after that… she saw nothing but darkness.

She, who always could make the best decision in a fight, thanks to her innate power, found herself sinking into a deep sense of doom just from thinking about a future when the man in front of her dies.

After contemplating it for a whole week, watching Arad fight and rest, constantly using her power to prob at his nature, she finally made a guess, a wild one, but one that she believes. The goddess of the Labyrinth dominates this place, if she perishes, the whole Labyrinth would vanish into nothing. Arad should be the same, but for what lies beyond the barriers of this Labyrinth.

In their time together, she had learned from him that his goal is to reach the uppermost floor and save the goddess of the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth itself might've developed a sense of self and is now trying to usurp its creator.

"You'll always be sitting there? Aren't you going to help?" Arad looked at her as he pulled his axe from the skull of the last bear. He had managed to win, but only barely, thanks to Shi's regeneration.

"I'll help if something you can't handle shows up." She replied, looking at him with a passive face. He looked straight into her eyes but couldn't read them. Her look was distant, as if she wasn't looking at him, but something far behind his back.

To Arad, it was easier to communicate with Shi than with this Terror. And speaking of Shi, it wasn't that her soul was fully dormant, she herself wasn't that much of a talkative. A woman of few words, and even less meaning behind them.

Arad could hear her whispering, ^Food!^ with a slight excitement whenever he sees something move that isn't human. At times, his gaze would get lost in the sky, following a fluttering butterfly, just because Shi got distracted. Unlike Doma, who mostly kept away from interfering with his body, Shi wasn't as skilled as her and couldn't fully take over, but her attempts were always at a whim.

Arad sat on the ground to rest, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. ^Shi, how are you doing? Any changes to your soul?^ Arad asked, knowing that she was just a soul. Shi didn't reply, but she was aware that she had long since died and that the only reason she still exists is that Arad's soul is nurturing her, keeping her on life support.

Shi's eyes slowly looked out of the darkness of Arad's soul, her gaze flowing out of his eyes and landing on the Terror.

Arad knew what she wanted to say before she could even speak, this wasn't the first time she said it after all. And he didn't agree, there has to be a better way. When Doma gets out, Shi will get out in the same way.

Shi did have a method for her to get out with a body of her own, probably due to the influence of the tarrasque blood, but Arad wasn't sure. He has to investigate that further before trying anything rash.

^Breed.^ Shi's words came as quiet as a whisper, but as sharp as a knife. The Terror glanced at Arad, "That thing inside your head is quite aggressive today. I can feel her gaze from here."

Shi wanted Arad to get someone pregnant so her soul could fly into the newborn child and be rebirthed again into a new body. The tarrasque's immunity to death, strong life force, and infinite will of survival seemed to have a power far beyond what Arad thought at first.

But Arad wasn't willing to let a child of his die for Shi to be born again. And even without that, he wasn't willing to try anything before confirming it would work. Doing that here without his powers was nothing but a gamble that he had very little to gain and many things to lose.

"I don't mind, you know." The Terror looked at him with a grin, "But your wives would skin me alive." She liked her lips. "We can do it if you want. But I'll have to tell them you forced me into it, to save my hide."

Arad stared at her with a tired face. "We aren't doing anything." He watched as the bears turned into drops. "And we've got a bigger problem to worry about."

He had spent the past days leveling up for this reason, the first boss floor. They were now on floor 909, and the next floor is where the boss resides. Only by killing it would they be able to advance.

While Arad could easily climb floors 901-909 by evading the powerful monsters and having the Terror deal with any other terror… the boss was an opponent that she couldn't face on her own, so those first floors took him the longest time, as he had to level up quite a bit.