Chapter 523 Accursed Pillar
Lilia flew away, leaving a trail of blue magic after her. Arad looked at the sky, "Another monster that we can't deal with,"
"She seems like a big problem." Gojo added, "I'm going around and training a bit." ZON! In the blink of an eye, he disappeared.
Arad looked at the bag of coins in his hand, "Well, I got funds for building," He smiled...but then something clicked in his mind, and he made a dumb face.
^Wait? A mountain of cursed metal in my stomach?^ He looked at his hand. ^Won't that mean I can't take anyone inside?^
ZON! Arad teleported away immediately, landing on the peak of his mountain.
He closed his eyes, staring into his stomach. ^It seemed like a wall at first, but looking at it now, it's a long rectangular stick of cursed metal that weighs five hundred tons.^ He pulled a sword from his stomach and looked at it, "Good, it isn't infected."
He sat on a stone, thinking, "What will I do with it? I still need like twenty-nine years to evolve or something..."
It was then that his draconic brain started to pulse, setting plans to use that cursed metal as a weapon. What if I spawned it in the middle of my void expansion?
Arad shifted into his half-dragon form and flew into the sky, standing above the clouds and putting his hands together.
[Void Expansion: Devouring void]
ZON! As the massive sphere of darkness appeared in the sky, Arad spawned the pillar[Now that's sitting it up right] of cursed metal in the center.
Arad nodded with a smile, "To me, it feels great. Anyone else, they should be dead." He lifted his hand, pulling one of his vampire spawns out.
"How are you feeling?" He asked.
"I'm fine, Master."
Arad scratched his chin, "They are immune to it since they are a part of my blood? I won't say immune. Attuned is the word."
"You can go now," Waving his hand again, Arad made the spawn disappear.
He then approached the pillar, touching it. "Now, let me try agitating it a bit. See how it goes."
A faint rumbling sound resonated through the pillar as Arad gently stroked its void. It then started heating up rapidly as it gleaned with a bright blue light.
He laughed with a smile on his face, "It's going! It's going!"
Arad's void expansion was unlike that of his brother. It didn't twist the void by nature, but instead expanded Arad's stomach out. Its main property was the lower pressure and lack of air that suffocated and digested anything inside.
Currently, Arad's void expansion has two more attack methods besides Arad himself. The tens of vampire spawns that can use the same beam Arad learned from his brother. And now the death pillar he can spawn in the middle, damaging anyone inside automatically as long as he activated it.
"I should change it," Arad smiled.
[Void expansion: Devouring void] Is when I open my stomach, using the basic effects of my void without the spawns and this pillar.
[Void expansion: Blood dance] Is when I release the spans inside my stomach, having them and the basic effect at the same time.
[Void expansion: Accursed Pillar]
Arad's void expansion faded, and he flew down, landing in front of his house. "Meryem, where is the little one?"
"ARAD!" Meryem ran toward him, dropping him to the ground and rubbing her face on his chest.
Arad tried to push her away, but her grip on his chest was strong enough that he couldn't. "Calm down! You're always like this,"
"You never take me with you. I'm not letting you go." She mumbled.
"I'm not going anywhere, at least for now," Arad growled as it slowly got harder to breathe.
"Come here," Tina approached from the back, grabbing Meryem by her antenna and pulling her back. "Master, her antennae are sensitive. Pull her from them."
"I know," Arad stood, "Where is she?"
"I asked the kobolds to transfer the red wyrmling into the dungeon. She fell asleep the moment we healed her wounds with potions." Tina looked at the house, "What caused those injuries? Was it another dragon?"
"Yeah," Arad nodded, "He won't be coming back,"
"I hope so," Tina looked back at the fences. Monsters, wolves, and apes surrounded the whole house. They seem more agitated than before.
Arad clapped his hands, and the monsters turned to look at him, "It's okay now. She's inside my lair, you can relax,"
The monsters knew better than to anger Arad. When a dragon takes over the land, the animals and monsters there start showing strange behavior, protecting the dragon's eggs even if he didn't ask.
If we were useful he wouldn't eat us. That was all they could think of.
****
Days passed by, Arad and Eris completed burying everyone in a week, and a few houses started to pop out at the base of Arad's mountain. The architects from the capital and Isdis have started building the castle's outer wall with the help of Meryem's ants.
Arad went into the city to buy some supplies, but he then met Alcott and Ginger at the gate.
"You're going on a quest?" He asked, seeing them filling a carriage with their luggage.
"Not a quest," Alcott replied, putting the last box in. "We're going to search for some people, other s-ranks,"
"For fighting Vlad." Arad looked at Alcott, then at Ginger.
"Father is a pain to deal with. Without the holy sword, we might need a party of powerful s-ranks to take him down, and this time we will make sure he never comes back." She growled.
"You sure there is no holy sword?" Arad pulled the dragon slayer from his stomach, "Or at least, a vampire slayer like this?"
"Not as far I know," Alcott scratched his head, "Silver weapons usually work against them, but Vlad is different. He isn't just immune to the sun. He's also immune to anything that usually harms vampires."
"Father is the king of vampires for a reason. We need help, and we're going to get it," Ginger growled.
"Be careful. He might attack you on the way."
"We know how to slip undetected." Alcott smiled, "You take care here. Nina is staying, so ask for help if anything happens."
After Alcott and Nina left, Arad headed into the city to buy the wood and steel the builders needed. He didn't know why couldn't they just cut trees from the forest, but what could he say when Mira was the one asking.
Two days passed and Arad was asleep in his house.
He opened his eyes, sensing something in the air. Sitting up, Aella stared at him from the bedside, "You're awake?" She mumbled.
"Did I disturb you?" He looked at her with a smile.
"Not at all. What was that?" She also woke up for the same reason. "Zephyr, do you know what was it?"
The half-naked fairy rolled at the bedside, mumbling in her sleep. She didn't even wake up.
"Loci, what was that?" Arad asked, and the flower in the vase at the window wiggled, growing a mouth.
"That was Nina. She jumped from the guild and took off," Loci replied, and Arad stood up.n--0VElb1n
"I'm going to check with the guild and see what happened."
"I'm coming as well," Aella stood and went to the cabinet to wear her clothes. Arad lifted Zephyr by her left leg with two fingers and dangled her like a rat, "Wake up,"
"Be gentle with the ladies," Zephyr mumbled, opening one eye as she yawned. "I'm a fragile being," She stretched and then closed her eyes to get back to sleep.
Arad stared at her for a moment and then headed to the cold water jug.
CHLOP! He dipped her like a tea bag.
"BOWAAA!" She cried, shaking, "What are you doing!"
CHLOP! Arad dipped her again, "Are you awake yet?"
"I'm," Zephyr replied, "Why did you wake me up?" She said with an annoyed face.
"Nina left the city," Arad replied, "We're going to see what's happened."
"She can leave if she wants, isn't that her right?" Zephyr stared at him, "Why do you have to bug her? She's strong enough to take care of herself."
"From what Loci saw, she jumped from the guild without a second thought," Arad looked at the flower pot.
"She busted a hole through the guild's ceiling. Nina won't do that if she was responding to something normal," Loci added.