After the stone dragon got repaired, Noel charged at Arad, roaring like a raging bull. Arad rushed in headfirst, opening his two front arms to directly stop her charge. The stone dragon was far heavier than any dragon of its size, and it even surpassed some in raw strength. Blocking its charge was a deadly mistake, and many dragons had died to just that, having their bones shattered and bodies broken.

So the moment Arad managed to block her charge, Noel paled inside the stone dragon. She should’ve run through him like a bull through a brittle fence, but instead, her stone dragon is what cracked upon impact.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I’ve faced harder and heavier opponents." Arad pushed the stone golem aside, rushed behind it, and then wrapped his massive arms around its waist. "Back to the ground you go!"

The entire world spun around Noel as Arad suplexed the stone dragon with ease, shattering its head and neck. Other dragons could barely resist the sheer strength and weight, but Arad, it felt strange. This man wasn’t just massive, he was just built out of steel, but the entire steel mill.

As Arad expected, the stone dragon quickly regenerated and charged at him again. He didn’t know when Noel would run out of mana, but he knew that the direct way to end this fight was to drag her out of that stone dragon, which wasn’t an easy job, unless he wanted to kill her.

As Arad and the stone dragon clashed, the entire forest quaked and shattered. The echoes of their fight reached the faraway mountains, and a cloud of dust as tall as the clouds was kicked up into the air. Noel had made it clear that she is fighting for her life at the line, going all out to either kill Arad or die trying, since without such conviction, she wouldn’t even stand a chance.

Arad understood that, and so, he decided to go for a large bite and tear her away from the stone dragon. He had already found out that she was located in the spine, right beneath the neck at the centre of the dragon’s body. It was probably so her magic could reach all of the dragon’s limbs as quickly as possible and allow for finer control, but he wasn’t sure.

So in Noel’s next charge, he punched her aside, and with a single massive bite, he tore a whole chunk of her back, causing the entire stone dragon to crumble to pieces. She had found herself in his massive maw, having been ripped away from her stone shell.

The fight should be over; if he wanted, he could swallow her whole, and that would be her end, or would it? If he were a red dragon, she would’ve already been burned, and if he were a green one, the poison would’ve already gotten her, but his mouth seemed normal so far, without any elemental hazard.

She still had a bit of mana left, and she won’t waste such a chance. With her stone claws, she couldn’t get through his scales, but the soft inner lining of his stomach had to be easier to wound. She still had a fighting chance, and like all fights in her life, it was always a close call with death.

With a large grin on her face, she jumped deeper into Arad’s mouth and forced her way down his throat, sliding faster and faster as she accelerated toward his stomach. She will rip him apart from the inside; she will win this fight no matter what.

While Arad’s esophagus looked normal at first, it quickly changed around her. From regular flesh to flashing dark light, from smelling as you’d expect, not smelling like anything at all. First, she could breathe, but quickly she was running out of breath, finding it harder and harder to draw in a single gasp, and then, she started accelerating even further, and soon, her entire body was getting violently pushed down.

Then, everything disappeared. She didn’t lose consciousness yet; it was just that the esophagus ended, and she was now drifting through the empty void, feeling the blood beneath her skin boiling. Down beneath her in the middle of nothing existed a tiny dot of light, a converging ring of pure power, and when she looked at it, she could already know. If she touches that, something bad would happen.

But no matter what she tried to do, she kept drifting around the void, and the ring of light drew closer and closer to her. It wasn’t a matter of reaching it, but a matter of when she would reach it, the singularity.

She only lasted there a few seconds, and then, everything went dark again. But then, she hit the ground. "Where am I!?" The moment she took a hoarse breath, she screamed at the top of her lungs as she stood and looked around.

Around her, there was nothing but endless green fields, titanic mountains, and a bright purplish sky illuminated by a slightly purple sun. "This... isn’t the outside world, is it?" She mumbled to herself, but someone did reply.

"You are inside Arad’s small world, human." The loud voice roared behind her, and when she turned around, all of the drakainas inside Arad’s stomach started getting out of their stealth. Noel wasn’t alone, but surrounded by more than two hundred fully grown drakainas.

"Don’t be afraid, little one." One of them, a wyrm red drakaina lowered her head down. "Our Lord didn’t kill you, so you’re safe here with us. He’ll soon arrive to deal with you, so please sit still until then, we’ll heal your wounds."

Then in a second, the red drakaina shifted to a humanoid form, and she was a tall woman with long red hair, a hefty build, and wearing the clothes of a mage. "They call me the fire witch, but I can use some divine magic." She waved her hand above Noel’s head and healed her wounds. "I’m a devoted follower of Tiamat, so I can use divine magic from her."

"This place... all of you are?"

The drakaina smiled, "Arad’s inner world. He has an entire world with people living in it inside his stomach. For us, we’re the drakainas maintaining the natural order, and Arad’s mates. Albeit not wives." She looked away, "We aren’t strong enough to stand by his side."

"Hold up..." Noel looked around, counting several tens, maybe even a hundred massive lizards. "All of you? And what do you mean by mates and not wives?"

The drakaina started thinking, "How do I explain it to a human... Drakainas can end up in three situations when approaching a dragon. She could win, get impregnated by him, and then decide whether to live with him or eat him alive. She could lose and get kicked away with nothing. Or, she could close, get impregnated, and then be kicked away."

She smiled, "We weren’t kicked out, by order of our queen, and since we lost to him, we’re to live here inside his world and serve the natural order. Also, we’re open to him, so he can breed with any of us whenever he wants."

Noel looked at the drakaina with a sceptical glare, "And, what are you all doing here? You didn’t just show up when I fell."

The drakaina sat beside Noel, "As I’ve said before, we are devoted followers of Tiamat, the chromatic dragon goddess, and she gave us a vision." She smiled, "You fell here, and we came to heal you, and Arad showed up to take you back home."

"So..." Noel could already guess, "It is a rare chance for you to meet him and maybe get something out of him."

The drakaina shrugged, "That’s right, to be honest, I would even be happy scooping it from inside a human to put it inside me. With how many wives he has, he doesn’t need us. He got plenty, and so we’re benched forever."

Noel blinked, and pointed up, "He is right behind you."

The drakaina froze for a second, and then immediately jumped to her feet and turned around. Her face was right up Arad’s abs, and in that moment, her mind froze. Arad had changed a lot since the last time she saw him, and now, he felt denser, smelled heavier, and what was most impressive is that she could feel a power that surpassed Elder dragons from him, even if he was just an adult dragon.

All the drakainas around started moving and trying to get closer to Arad, sniffing the air and trying to decide who among them would go first. Arad, on the other hand, wasn’t bothered at all; he looked toward Noel. "Don’t worry, I’ll take you back to Li now."

Noel stood, and the red drakaina moved away, gave them a bow, and kept her distance. But Noel suddenly approached Arad, "You know of those drakainas? They... want you as a mate."

Arad looked at her, "I know, but I can’t dedicate time to them all. We dragons live a long time, so they can wait a few months or years."

Noel looked at the red drakaina and then turned back to Arad, "Well, that red one healed and saved my life. I was pretty burned up by that darkness inside your stomach. Can you at least give her something?"

Arad turned his head, looked at the drakaina for a second, and then waved his hand, "Come here, you’re going back with us. I’ll have you guard this woman and her master."