The dragon's harem

The hell gate opened up, sending a gust of acidic, searing wind reeking of rot and blood. Nina closed her nose, "It's horrid!" She gasped.

"It's hell and the ninth layer nonetheless." Malta pulled a small band, throwing it to Nina. "Cover your mouth and nose with this. There is no clean air inside. This would help you breathe without your lungs melting from the acid."

She then gave her two pairs of goggles that she pulled out of her magic pocket, "And after you put those on, I have a protective robe for you."

Nina looked at the ground as Malta kept pulling protective gears from her magic pocket, "Do I need all of this? You know I can't die,"

"No one dies in hell. They suffer for eternity." Malta stared at her, "You need the gear as long as you aren't native of the hells, meaning a devil,"

"And you're a devil or half-devil?"

"Pure blood devil, and an old one at that," Malta replied as she helped Nina wear the protective clothes. Their design is a bit complicated for a barbarian to figure out, and Malta didn't want her ripping them off."

"How old?" Nina looked at her, "You do look young,"

"I was alive well before the war of the gods," She looked at her.

"The war of gods. That was over five thousand years ago." Nina looked at her.

"Since people don't die in the hells, we devils end up living for untold ages. I believe I'm deep into my eight thousand." Malta smiled.

The two walked into the gate, and Nina immediately gasped. Even with the protective gears, she could feel her skin burning as if she stood close to a furnace. It quickly got harder to breathe, and she could feel the bones inside her limbs as she moved. They stunk like a sore tooth.

As Nina opened her eyes, she found herself standing behind Malta in a massive room made of black stones, strange obsidian metal, and lava.

"This is hell?"

"No, it's my basement," Malta looked back at her, "But before we walk out, please keep this in mind." She approached Nina.

"We're in the ninth layer of hell, the harshest and most dangerous. The weakest devil here we call a disgrace soul worm of rot, is capable of beating ten of you working combined." Malta glared into Nina's eyes, "This is the place where powerful sinners get sent to be punished, including dragons, titans, and demi-gods that failed to ascend. You don't want to fight anyone here, don't taunt anyone, and don't break anything."

"I'm not that stupid," Nina stared at her, "We just need information about Arad. That's it,"

Malta sighed as she heard Nina's response, but knowing her, she might snap at anyone.

As they walked out of the basement, Nina saw a maid succubus wearing a strange black leather outfit approaching them. "Lady Malta, who is that?" She asked, her eyes glowing pink, "She doesn't smell like a sinner. Is it food?"

"She isn't, don't touch her, and tell the other maids not to. She's our guest and will be leaving soon." Malta stared at the maid, and she bowed. "As you say, Lady Malta. What a shape. She smells quite nice."

Malta and Nina walked past the maids.

"Say, is she a succubus?" Nina asked, looking back at the maid.

"Don't look at her," Malta grabbed Nina by the head, turning her to look away from the maids.

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"She's a succubus that worked for the mother of all life. Look her wrong, and she'll get turned on, and you don't want her going crazy," Malta waved her hand, signaling for the succubus to get back into her work.

The succubus maid smiled, waving her hand, "Don't forget my food next time,"

"Hey," Nina poked Malta's back, "She didn't feel that strong,"

"As I said, don't be an idiot here. Succubus disguises themself as humans to prey on humanoids. They are proficient at hiding their strength and pretending to be weak. Forget about the weaker devils in this layer. She'll give you a worse fate than hell's torture."

As they walked, they walked past some imps, wiggling their way around the corridors, "Lady Malta, Piple says hello, good day upon you," One of them waved his hands, his tail wiggling like a puppy as his ugly face formed a smile that can only be described as unsettlingly adoring.

The other imps bowed behind him, and Malta smiled, "Piple, the papers are ready, right?"

"Of course," He bowed and then looked at Nina, "A guest? What shall I bring you?"

"Nothing, she's only here to ask Spindle a few questions." Malta said, "She'll leave before you can prepare anything,"

"How sad, my regret." He turned toward Nina, "Lady, I don't know who. My greetings and farewells. Please stay safe. Your blood smells quite nice," He sniffed the air, "Brimming with life,"

"How many times have I told you not to sniff other people's blood?" Malta bet forward, smacking him on the head, "Get back to your work,"

The imps all rushed away, leaving Malta and Nina alone.

"And that imp is?"

"A blood imp and the other are regular imps. He's working here as a translator since we get all kinds of creatures." Malta pulled Nina by the hand, "We wasted a lot of time. Let's go. And yes, he can wipe the floor with twenty of you, so don't even try."

"Is the difference that great?"

"It must be that great. If you were to turn evil, commit atrocities in the world then die and get sent to hell for torture and punishment, the devils here should be able to handle you. That's why they are strong. The job calls for it." Malta explained.

"I thought devils convince people to sin?" Nina looked at her.

"So they get more work, it's business. The more sinners, the more work, the better pay they get." Malta smiled, "Remember the maid? She often watches the outside world, looking for men and women that she likes. When she finds one, she goes out to seduce, or convince them to cheat, to force themselves on other people. So when they sin and get sent to her, she can have them as her toys for a long time. It's all a carefully constructed plan,"

Devils are lawful evil creatures. They have their own rules and role in the multiverse ecosystem as the punishers of sinners. They abuse that power as much as they can for their own whims.

As they walked into a massive room, Nina froze in place as she saw two massive red eyes glaring at them from the darkness. Torches ignited all over the room, and she could see the massive creatures sitting on an obsidian throne, glaring down at them.

"Malta returned to Spindle." He stood, barely fitting in the room as he glared down at Malta and Nina, "Spindle is happy, happy indeed."

Malta looked at Nina, "My husband, Spindle," She smiled, then looked at Spindle. "Darling, we got something we want you to look at,"

"Spindle doesn't need to look. Spindle got a good nose indeed." He said, his head wiggling, "Foul smell, even by hell's standards. You better report that to the inner court."

"I know, but can you tell us what you know?"

"That's the smell of an abomination, a third-grade one. By the way, I only fought the weaker first and second grades," Spindle's face changed, "Whoever you lost is dead."

"He's Arad Orion," Malta looked at Spindle, and he froze.

"No way! Master would kill us," Spindle started shaking.

"He didn't kill us so must be still alive somewhere. Can you help us?"

Spindle started thinking, "Let spindle have a look," He looked inside the box, inspecting Arad's arm.

"An ooze type, no, a dream walker. It stands at ten feet tall, vaguely humanoid in shape but extremely slender, and its whole body is covered in black slime and smoke. It can force people into a dreamland, knocking them out." Spindle looked at Malta, "Those bastards travel in a group, so they must have taken Arad to their colony to suck on his psychic power, he's a void dragon after all,"

"How do we defeat them?"

"I don't know. In the past, it was Lady Zaleria who dealt with them." He looked at Nina, "As with all abominations, they are ineffable. You don't either system experience from them as they are outsiders, and you can't learn how to fight as they are hard to comprehend by nature. All loss and no benefits to their existence,"

"Do we have a chance to save him?"

"You better ask someone free to help you. There are three in the outside world that can beat those abominations and are easy to talk to." Spindle looked at Malta taking a serious face. Kayden, the god slayer. Gray, the clone of divinity, and Sena, the shadow of creation."

"We need to find them first," Nina mumbled.

"Our best bet is Kayden. He's the strongest of them. And we can find him easily." Malta smiled, "Thank you, love."

"No need to thank Spindle," He smiled, "I hate serious talk, but not when it's necessary," He looked at Malta, "Guide her out and come back. We still have a lot of work,"

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