The dragon's harem

CLAP! Arad put his hands together, glaring at the two with glowing red eyes. "Time to cook."

A spark of flame emerged from his back, the crimson light from it darkening his face to them as the wine barrels in the building burst.

Expansions are the process of releasing one's magic in a violent burst to gain environmental advantage. It is most common with powerful entities with an abundance of mana to waste, such as spirits, dragons, and devils.

The city lord started turning away to run, while the fake Merlin lifted her staff, trying to conjure a barrier as fast as she could.

A water dragon fights best in water, so they would benefit from flooding the battlefield, and their enemies would suffer.

Arad's body burst into flames, and the glass windows of the buildings shattered. The wooden houses around them started smoking.

It's like a candle's last flare, burning a large chunk of the caster's mana to gain an advantage, a path to victory.

[Fire Expansion:...]

Mages have been watching the natural world and some of them have created spells to mimic that. Those spells ranged from tame ones like barriers, and storm spells like firestorms. The most known expansion-like spell humans managed to pull is the sanctuary spell, a holy spell that heals everyone in an area around the cleric.

Flames exploded from Arad's body, igniting the streets in the blink of an eye.

He had a spell that acted similar to an expansion, [Fire Cloak]. In exchange for a large amount of mana, he could expand its range from just around his body to several meters away.

[...: Blast Furnace]

Arad had already seen a red dragon use an expansion, all he needed to do was morph the [Fire Cloak] Formula to achieve something similar but on a much smaller scale.

While the red dragon Arad saw could expand his fire to hundreds of meters. At this time, Arad could only extend his fire to a ten-meter radius, the same as what Eris could do.

GAAAAAAAA! The city lord got caught in the blast, his armor burning red hot and melting onto his skin, slowly cooking him alive.

Thud! Arad landed on the ground with inferno still bursting from him like a welding torch, glaring at the fake Merlin. "Your turn," He took a step forward, and she got pushed back.

"Damn it," She growled as her barrier got pushed toward the walls by Arad's flames. "You monster," She cried.

With a smile on his face, Arad approached her, the flames gushing from his body, pushing on her barrier until it shattered.

BAM! In the blink of an eye, Arad's flames burned her to a crisp. Her limbs fell off as black as coal as her body disintegrated.

SWOSH! Arad's flames faded as he killed the fake Merlin, glaring back toward the crying city lord writhing on the street like a worm as his armor cooked him.

"You're next," Arad turned around, his eyes burning.

The city lord tried to crawl away, and Arad slowly walked toward him, "Now. Who's making law here?" He stared at him with a passive face. Dragons weren't strange to monsters and humans claiming rule over their land. Usually, it ends with one less city on the map or a meal for the dragon.

To Arad and to most dragons, it didn't matter what it was, a labyrinth or a dungeon. As long as it's in their domain, it's under their rule. This was the reason that most of the time when adventurers seek dragons they find them hiding inside dungeons, caves, or as the last boss of a labyrinth.

At that time, the city lord couldn't hear or see. His whole body was already charred.

"You don't come to me with laws on my land," Arad said, lifting his quarterstaff, "I only approved one lord of Alina, and you dare mock him and take his form."

Dragon barely cares what humans or monsters say about them, but there were some things they took for an insult. In the rare case, that a dragon approves of someone ruling on their land, and that someone gets mocked or challenged for his seat, it's the same as spitting in the face of that dragon.

CRACK! Arad crushed the lord's skull with his quarterstaff, causing his body to disintegrate into one large gem.

Arad bent down and lifted the gem, staring at it. "This is a large one," He turned around, walking to pick up the fake Merlin gem as well.

The people who survived at the end of the street stared at Arad in terror. It only took him a few minutes to beat the city lord and the stairs guardian.

"How are we supposed to stop that from going up?" One mumbled.

"He's bound to get killed in the higher layers," A woman growled, picking a cleaver, "The labyrinth lord would punish us if we ran away from him." She took a step forward.

"What are you doing?" A man glared at her.

"Even if we die," She said, "We can be reborn again from the core. I'm doing my best to stop him."

Arad looked across the street, seeing her approaching him. He smiled.

"You approach me even after seeing this?" Arad looked at her, opening his arms as he started walking.

"I can't cut you apart without getting closer," She waved her cleaver, "We can't run away from you,"

"Don't worry," Arad smiled, "I like women who can put up a fight."

She stood facing him, sweating.

"What are you doing?" Arad looked at her eyes, "Attack, I'm waiting,"

"HAAAAAA!" She screamed, swinging her cleaver at his neck.

SWOSH! CRACK! Arad dodged the attack and punched the back of her head, knocking her to the ground.

Arad squatted beside her head, "If that fake lord was as straightforward as you, this would have been a slightly better place." He stood, "Stay there," He then walked across the street as the people avoided him.

"Merlin! Amber!" Arad shouted, "Where are you? I beat the fake city lord and the stairs guardian," He called, "That guardian looked like you, Merlin. But she was weaker and slower,"

CLANG! One of the houses' doors shattered open, and a soldier rushed out, swinging a greatsword at Arad's neck. "For the lord!"

CRACK! The sound of bones cracking echoed across the streets.