The dragon's harem

Valeria paled, her breath grew hoarse, and her eyes dilated. Her fingers wrapped around her bow so tightly that they turned pale, and her knees trembled for a moment.

Arad stood six meters away from her, and she was already drowning in his shadow. As if the world itself bends to suit his will, she couldn't even imagine herself shooting an arrow at him.

Right now, all she could see was a dark blur of magic standing in front of her, drowning the whole world in a deep sense of cold indifference. She didn't think for a second that she was anything more than a tiny bug standing before him, but at least even cockroaches would fight back.

She could take a few steps forward and force him into her range of five meters, but that would be such an obvious move that she could already feel the cold stone cracking her skull open like an egg.

That is why she would use her trump card, her ultimate move that caught many off-guard and sent them to their doom.

"I don't see a reason why you would be scared..." Arad noticed her shaking hands and wanted to lighten the mood a bit. Talk a bit, but that was a mistake. She was scared, but that didn't mean she won't fight back.

Valeria squinted, and she could see Arad, who was six meters away. That was her trump card, her winning move, and her secret weapon.

In a fraction of a second, an arrow had already flown at Arad's face with deadly precision. She aimed straight for the inside of his mouth as he talked, making sure that she would hit a soft part of his body to get a wound.

Even Aella, who was watching from the back, paled. She didn't know that Valeria could see six meters away from her. She never tried to get away from Valeria in the first place, but knowing that what seemed like a safe distance wasn't was terrifying.

The arrow flew faster than lightning and hit Arad's face, releasing a blinding flash and a bright red spark. The crowd gasped, and the archers stood, thinking that it was over. Arad had taken a hit. But the first to pale was Valeria.

Valeria looked at Arad, almost pissing herself. Her arrow got caught between his teeth. He bit it. The crowd finally saw the arrow and exploded into roars, some cheering and some just crying from shock.

The one who looked most terrified was Valeria herself. Arad catching her arrow wasn't the problem. The arrow didn't shatter from the impact, and that was almost driving her insane.

Valeria had fired the arrow with such speed and power that coming to a sudden halt or hitting something solid would've caused it to shatter into a splash of shrapnel. That was her plan. Even if Arad tried to block the arrow, the shrapnel would still hit the inside of his throat and gain her the win.

So, how did this monster catch the arrow without breaking it?

She had no idea.

Arad took a few steps forward and stood just four meters away from her. It was only now that she could take a good look at him, which left her even more scared.

He stood at over three meters tall with enough muscles and size to put even monsters to shame. Due to how large he was, his mere existence was enough to drown the tiny pocked of clarity.

No wonder he could throw a stone like that. Arad's arms are thicker than her thighs by a lot, and his shoulders are so broad that she could probably fit three or four of her standing side by side in it.

Forget throwing stones. He could toss her around like a toy with just one arm. She could imagine Aella sitting beside Arad, and that image looked strange. Did she teach him, or did he teach her?

BA-BA-BAM! In a fraction of a second, a time so short that it might've not existed at all, Valeria released two dozen arrows straight at Arad's chest. Two arrows were also heading toward his eyes.

He is big, a big target. Now was Valeria's turn to hope that he couldn't dodge all of them. But what happened next hit her like a hammer on the head. She wanted to cry and run away, but she can't do that.

She wet herself a bit and took an involuntary step away, her teeth crackling as she saw all of her arrows bundled up in Arad's left hand. The last two arrows that headed to his eyes were in his right hand.

He caught them all.

None of the arrows had broken either.

Arad was a monster that she couldn't face. No wonder he entered the tournament and only threw stones like a caveman. She couldn't imagine what he could do with actual weapons.

Valeria took a deep breath, puffed her chest, and then sighed. She then dropped her bow down and slapped herself on the face a few times until her cheeks turned red.

"Are you okay?" Arad asked, tilting his head with a worried face.

Valeria looked at him with a smile and nodded, "I'm fine. It is just that I don't think I can defeat you without using something that I hate."

She then bent down, picked her bow, and stood still. A second passed, then another, then another. Sweat started pouring over her whole body, her eyes grew red, and the veins on her neck bulged.

The commentator didn't understand what was going on. Neither did the referee, the crowd, or the archers.

It was just the sweating Valeria and the calm Arad standing face to face, menacingly looking at each other. But for some reason, everyone felt that they'd miss everything if they blinked.

An arrow to the eye.

An arrow to the chest.

An arrow to the shoulders, knees, groin, and even the ears.

All of her attempts failed. She saw thousands of tires. Yet nothing worked. Valeria could see herself losing over and over.

But after each passing second, she was closing her grasp on him. She slowly cracked the way he fights, the way he will catch her arrows.

Standing there, as still as a statue, blood started dripping from Valeria's nose, eyes, and ears.

Arad had already seen someone else do something like this.

The Devil Seer Haru.

This half-angel, Valeria, is gazing at the expanse of fate. She is trying to find a future where she manages to land an arrow on Arad.

A whole minute had passed since the two stood staring at each other. And finally, she started moving.