Dragon King's Harem Chapter 585. Venom III
Dragon King's Harem Chapter 585. Venom III
Nightmare burned hot in my grip, fire mana begging to finish the arc. One swing. One clean line. Bride and queen together. Elegant, efficient, very satisfying.
But Seranaya stood there with both arms spread wide, body trembling, vines torn, bridal flowers scorched and falling from her hair. Her face twisted with fear, not for herself.
For Elowen.
“I won’t let you hurt my mom!”
The hall went quiet around that sentence.
Even through battle, even through the roar of fire and the crackle of ice, that line cut through everything.
I blinked once. Then slowly lowered Nightmare a little.
“Oh,” I murmured.
A faint, humorless smile touched my lips.
“This is nice.”
Seranaya glared at me, breathing hard, black pollen drifting from her lips. “Don’t mock me!”
“I’m not.”
Not fully.
Because yeah.
This was almost touching.
Tear-jerking, even.
A daughter standing between death and her mother. After all the manipulation, all the poison, all the murder, she still loved Elowen enough to throw herself in front of my blade.
Tragic.
I glanced at Elowen over Seranaya’s shoulder.
The queen’s monstrous face was half-burned, half-beautiful, eyes glowing like dying poison under bark. For one second, I thought maybe, she would react.
Maybe fear for her daughter or love.
Something.
Anything.
Instead, Elowen’s gaze dropped to Seranaya’s back.
And sharpened.
My smile faded.
Seranaya didn’t see it.
Evelina’s eyes widened.
“Seranaya, move!” Evelina shouted.
Too late.
A root pierced through Seranaya from behind.
Just like she had stabbed Durharn.
The symmetry was so cruel even the hall seemed to recoil from it.
Seranaya’s eyes went wide.
Her mouth opened, but no scream came out. She looked down slowly at the thick root bursting from her chest, dark green and pulsing, blooming tiny flowers soaked in her own blood and poison sap.
Then she turned her head.
Slowly.
Like her body no longer belonged to her.
Behind her, Elowen’s remaining root arm was buried through her daughter’s back.
Seranaya’s voice came out small.
Broken.
“Mom?”
That one word hit harder than any scream.
For the first time all day, Seranaya sounded young.
Elowen’s expression didn’t soften.
Not even a little.
“I need more power,” she whispered.
Seranaya trembled. “What…?”
“To beat him.” Elowen leaned closer, her monstrous face almost tender in shape but empty in feeling. “And you will give me.”
Then the root pulsed.
Seranaya screamed.
Raw pain tearing out of her throat as Elowen began draining her.
[Observation Activated]
[Target: Seranaya]
[Condition: Critical]
[Life Force Extraction Detected]
[Authority Artifact Energy Transfer Detected]
[Poison Core Absorption: Active]
[Recipient: Queen Elowen Vireth]
[Warning: Enemy Power Rising]
Elowen’s burned body began regenerating.
The blackened bark cracked and fell away. New wood grew beneath it, darker, stronger, threaded with Seranaya’s floral mana and the unstable dwarven authority from the bracelet. Her missing arm regrew in a twisted shape, less elegant now, more monstrous. Thorned branches spread from her back like a grotesque crown. The air filled with pressure.
Seranaya clawed weakly at the root in her chest. “Mother… please…”
Elowen closed her eyes and inhaled. Like she was drinking spring rain.
Disgust rolled through me, hot and immediate.
Even Sela, who hated Seranaya, froze in horror. Marissa’s lips parted slightly, her expression caught between rage and something sadder. Evelina looked devastated, golden light flaring around her hands uselessly for a heartbeat because even she knew Seranaya was inside Elowen’s draining grip now.
Seraphel’s fire dimmed for half a second.
The Fairy Queen whispered, “Cruel…”
Yeah. That was the word.
Seranaya had killed Durharn.
She had poisoned the hall.
She had helped ruin an entire kingdom.
But watching her mother use her like fuel?
That still twisted something ugly in my chest.
Because betrayal from enemies was one thing.
Betrayal from the person you ran to protect?
That was hell.
I lifted Nightmare again.
The fire on the blade changed.
Darker.
Meaner.
Elowen opened her eyes.
Now they glowed brighter than before, gold-green and insane.
She smiled over Seranaya’s shoulder.
“See, Dragon King?” she said. “Family should be useful.”
I said nothing.
Because if I spoke too soon, I might stop holding back completely.
Seranaya’s body sagged, held upright only by the root through her chest. Her monstrous bloom form began wilting. Flowers fell from her hair. The black poison in her petals faded. Her eyes, once sharp and cruel, became glassy with disbelief.
“Mom…” she whispered again.
Elowen ignored her and pulled harder.
The floor cracked beneath Elowen’s growing body. More roots erupted, thicker and darker, now glowing with both nymph poison and dwarven earth mana stolen through Seranaya’s bracelet. The hall shook. The throne split behind her. Durharn’s remains were dragged into the same root network, feeding the monstrous ritual further.
So now she was consuming both.
Daughter and groom.
Bride and king.
Love and authority.
All fertilizer.
I stepped forward.
Evelina moved beside me, her face no longer soft. “Argod…”
Her voice was quiet.
But I heard the question underneath.
Can we save her?
I looked at Seranaya.
At the root and the mana draining out of her body.
Maybe not.
But saving her wasn’t the first move.
Stopping Elowen was.
“I’ll cut the connection,” I said.
Marissa immediately snapped back into focus. “If you cut wrong, the poison core bursts.”
“Then guide me.”
She nodded, wiping blood from her shoulder. “Left side. The root has two channels. Life force and poison. Cut the green-black line first, then the gold one.”
Sela stepped forward, earth mana surging. “Sela will hold Seranaya.”
Her voice was cold, but not heartless.
We were still better than them.
Al appeared at my other side, shadows coiling around his fingers. “I can bind the mother for four seconds.”
“Only four?”
He adjusted his monocle. “She ate her daughter. I find that rude and empowering.”
Fair.
Seraphel lifted her flaming spear. “I will burn anything that tries to spread.”
The Fairy Queen raised her staff. “And I will contain the pollen.”
Elowen laughed as her monstrous body rose higher, Seranaya hanging from her root like a broken doll.
“You’re all too late.”
I spread my wings again.
Fire roared along Nightmare.
“No,” I said, voice low.
“I’m just done being polite.”
Then Al’s shadows snapped forward.
Sela’s earth rose.
Marissa’s flowers bloomed with antidote light.
Evelina’s barrier sharpened into golden blades.
Seraphel’s flames curled around the battlefield.
And I launched straight at the mother who had decided her daughter was a battery.