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Chapter 717 The Daring Woman

"It\'s about payment." Aella looked at him with a smile. "Apparently, it\'s too large, and I want you to receive it."

"It\'s two platinum coins and thirty-five gold coins," Roberta stared at him, "It\'s a massive amount of money,"

Arad smiled, "That\'ll be two hundred and thirty-five gold coins..."

"It\'s kept in Sara\'s care underground. I don\'t dare move such a sum of gold. You\'ll have to collect it yourself lately,"

"I\'ll do that," Arad looked toward the hallway, seeing Mira staring at him.

"Arad...There are some massive trees that we cut deep in the forest to use for building but couldn\'t move due to the snow. Can you bring them later?"

"Of course," Arad replied, "They must be quite heavy,"

"They are of the largest in the forest," Mira replied, and a flower grew in the middle of the room, "I showed them the trees." Loci added, "They were perfect for building large structures like bridges."

"I\'m not a craftsman, so I\'ll have to trust Mira\'s judgment on that," Arad smiled as he looked at the ceiling, "Merida is ready." He stood, "I\'ll come later to collect the money. For now, you can rest here for a while I\'ll before going back."

"Of course, she\'ll stay for a bit," Aella stared at him with a grin, "Do you think I\'ll let a guest leave in the middle of the snow."

"Arad! I\'m ready!" Merida walked into the living room wearing a thick white fur coat, a large leather hat, and a scarf. She knew that it was freezing cold outside, and flying on Arad would make it worse.

Arad stood, "Let\'s leave then," He and Merida walked outside.

Merida stared at the sky, "So, where are we going?" She then turned to Arad who stood beside her.

"Outside my domain to the west, there is a large jungle that houses some powerful monsters. Want to go there?" He pointed to the west with his thumb.

"You meant the death jungle, only A-rank monster roams there and it\'s infamous for having several s-rank monsters come out of it." She sighed, "I\'m glad that I\'m bringing my sword with me. That\'s a dangerous place, even more than this forest."

Arad\'s forest was dangerous in the fact it housed a lot of B-rank monsters and had several infamous A-rank monsters, the jungle was a step above that.

S-rank monsters are creatures that no one wants to face, disaster-level harbingers of destruction.

A-rank monsters are the mess-around-and-get-killed danger. They are monsters that the guild keeps track of and form powerful hunting parties and expeditions to take down. The natural boss-level monsters of the wilds.

B-rank monsters are the menaces of the monster world. They are extremely deadly monsters that could even travel in hoards and spell doom on cities if left unchecked.

Arad shifted into his draconic form and Merida jumped on his back. Like other adult dragons, Arad is classed at least as an S-rank monster, such a dangerous jungle won\'t pose a threat to him.

Arad expanded his wings and flew with Merida on his back, slowly accelerating as he soared through the sky.

Merida gasped, looking around at Arad\'s wings spanning several meters around, the clouds parting as he flew, and the quiet rumbling coming out of his engine-like heart that she could feel through his massive neck which she sat on.

Arad\'s eyes turned up as he stared at Merida zooming out as she stared at the far ground. She had probably never flown this high in her life. ^She\'s different. Something about her doesn\'t align with humans.^ Arad thought, remembering that one night.

^Merida, unlike the others, is vicious by nature. That night, I was too young to understand her intentions. With the pride and arrogance that comes with such a mentality, she\'s closer in actions to a drakaina than a human.^ Arad could feel his blood boiling through his veins, ^That night, I failed to realize the need, I failed to notice she was seeking shelter,^

^[Depending on what I\'m seeing in your memories. What she did could be considered a crime to humans,]^ Doma said in his head.

^But to a dragon, her stepping over her own pride and vicious nature to do such a thing is lower than begging. I should\'ve guessed she sought help, if I had, her father wouldn\'t have died.^

^[It wasn\'t your problem,]^

^I might\'ve not cared if I noticed her need and refused. But what I hate is that I failed to even notice she needed help, and that won\'t happen again. As much as I could, I\'ll keep my eyes peeled off toward those around me.^

"ARAD!" Merida shouted above his neck, "I can\'t feel the wind, is that normal?"

"Of course, my gravity magic keeps you attached to my neck and the shape of my head and horns act as a shield that deflects the wind," Arad replied, "But don\'t trust them, you might still fall off."

"Isn\'t that the remains of Riverside?" She pointed toward the horizon, seeing the massive river and abandoned city beside it.

"It is," Arad replied, "And the mountains beside it are where the demonic infestation started," He stopped flying and started hovering in place, "Look there, it\'s the jungle."

"Why did you choose such...."

A flying wooden spear the size of a large tree flew toward Arad at a blinding speed. With a smile, Arad flapped his right wing, smacking the spear away.

"What was that?" Merida gasped.

"A sharpened tree trunk thrown by the reason I chose this place," He stared down, seeing a thirty-meter-tall, fungus-

infested ape standing in the middle of the jungle, glaring up at them with glowing blue eyes.

"The last of the demonic fungus, it infected the S-rank monster of this jungle and took control. I sensed this a while ago, but I expected them to just die, but they are growing stronger." Arad looked at Merida, "He\'s like you, but the fungus is the dominant one, and he\'s been slowly advancing toward my land."

"Weren\'t we supposed to...do it?" Merida stared at him, confused, "Did you bring me here to fight that thing?"

"No way, I\'m not that insensitive." Arad looked at the ape getting ready to throw another spear. "I do not turn those who ask for my help. I have the power to help them and it\'ll hurt my pride to fail to do so. If I can\'t lend them a hand, that means I\'m just as weak as they are." Arad smacked the ape\'s second spear with a wing slam.

"What are you talking about?" Merida got even more confused with each word.

"This ape\'s control of the jungle is bound to his fungus, so taking them down would leave the spot open."

Merida blinked twice, "Doma! I know you\'re here, explain what this idiot is talking about. Make it simple enough for me to understand."

A mouth appeared on the back of Arad\'s neck, "So, if I understand him right, you offered your body to him once but he didn\'t get the hint and regretted being that dense. Once he realized that, he went on and blasted the demon lord of fungus and pulled you out of that mess. In the meantime, he liked seeing you challenge a demon lord alone and that coupled with the fact that he thought you should finish what you started, Aella ended up picking up on it and agreed to let you marry him."

"Simpler!"

"Humanoids rarely interest Arad as most of them are weak, both physically and mentally. He fell in love with you since women like you who dare to challenge a demon lord alone are rare, and he isn\'t letting you away." Doma giggled, "And since strength is beauty to dragons, he\'s trying to make you stronger, like gifting a woman a ring or a necklace to wear."

Arad flew down, protecting his body with a barrier against the ape\'s spears. As he landed, hundreds of fungus-infected monsters surrounded him, trying to prevent him from reaching the giant ape.

"Demon, the power in this land shall belong to my wife. Begone," Arad lifted his claw, pointing at the infected ape.

The ape roared, pounding his chest as he roared. Merida could feel the fungus in the ground resonating with the one in her body. This was a fragment of the previous demon lord\'s power that got separated once the gates to the abyss closed.

Merida pulled her sword, "So we have to kill him?"

"It\'s my job," Arad said, a black orb emerging in front of his claw. "It\'s been a while since I did this. The last time was against the ancient wood roots." A beam of darkness flashed out of the claw, hitting the ape and only erasing the fungus in his body, ending the fight before it could even start.

"It can\'t be!" Merida gasped, "That was an S-rank monster!"

Arad walked toward the ape\'s corpse and stared at it. "His body relied on the fungus to survive," He kicked the corpse away and lowered Merida to the ground, "What do you say?"

As Merida set her foot on the ground, she could feel the fungus in her body seeping down and taking control of the network built in the forest. "Such powerful magic..." She clenched her fist, and the fungus threads in her muscles and bones grew stronger, increasing her durability, strength, and speed by almost double.

Arad shifted into his humanoid form, "Did it work? Doma said it should work without a problem."

"It did, just like that. I\'m almost twice as strong..." She stared at him, "But..."

Doma\'s mouth appeared on Arad\'s neck, "[It\'s a risky move for a dragon to make their partner stronger. They can fight for domination or leave. The fact he made you stronger means that he trusts you a lot. It\'s your choice now, fight for domination like Eris usually does, or try to escape. What will you do?]"

Merida looked at Arad, "Doma, do you mind leaving for a while?"

"[Why?]"

"I\'ll choose the option you didn\'t state. I am still nowhere near Arad\'s strength, and even if I were I won\'t dare lift my sword against him." She approached Arad, "I rather bend down and submit. Taking responsibility for that night is the best I could do,"

"[Then I\'ll be leaving you two, enjoy...]" Doma faded away.