Arthur was taken aback by the presence of horns at each monster which meant they would be facing monsters on the caliber of the horned bear. He still had bad memories about his counter with the horned bear, and now he had to face over a hundred monsters at the same time, with a more dangerous python on the back.

It was a very hard battle, but as an ex-cultivator, he loved defying heaven, so this battle wasn’t that impossible for him. The first wave came swiftly, as over dozens of pythons glided on the grassy ground, and reached the front line rapidly held by Tarry alone.

Just as they approached him, they suddenly felt the irresistible urge towards other stuff thrown on the ground. Without any thoughts, they deviated, heading straight towards the meat scattered on the ground, gulping them one by one at a rapid pace.

“Tarry, now!”

Arthur yelled, as he grabbed an arrow and put it into his bow. Just as Tarry moved to meet the first monster, his body shone in black color, forming an invisible shield around him.

This was new, as Arthur refrained from using the arrow for now, watching Tarry direct his shield towards the python. The strike didn’t only hit the python normally, but everyone noticed a shadow, bigger than Tarry’s body, moved forward with the strike to hit the python.

This hit didn’t only render the python motionless, but it also had it spit great amounts of blood, even its scales started to peel off at many sites.

Tarry didn’t stop, even to examine what he did to the python, as there were others around him. He was stressful, very nervous from the fact of him being alone in front of all these huge scary snakes.

The hits he directed to the other pythons carried the same shadow with them, and they all caused the same damage. Arthur was content, very satisfied by the results of this coupling. It seemed that coupling with a monster wasn’t just related by boosting the basic attributes, but it also granted the mage abilities, certain unique abilities that magnified his already existing ones.

Arthur then started to attack, using arrows, controlling them to hit all the pythons on critical spots.

“Lily, attack!”

He ordered, and Lily executed at once, as she was better than him in position, so her arrows were much faster, far stronger than hit. Arthur wasn’t upset about it, as he wanted to kill these pythons as fast as he could.

“The rest, use spears and attack those coming from far!”

The pythons of the first wave were already being slaughtered by Arthur and Lily’s arrows, so there was the second wave, sent by the orders of their king, the two horned white python.

Arthur spotted the subtle movements of the pythons from far, so he arranged his team to attack those newcomers, trying to inflict some weakening to them.

The spear attack yielded better results than he expected, as the wave was entirely entangled in a state of weakness and drowsiness, before they were the new targets of the arrows.

Arthur hated snakes, like others, but he had to admit, the quality of these pythons exceeded his imaginations. The number of this python swarm was very huge, so it was logical for each one to gain a pet, and the rest would be killed. If anyone wanted to couple or absorb one, then Arthur would help.

So, he refrained from dealing the last blows towards the snakes, as he moved to hit the next wave. Lily followed his orders, while he yelled at the lazy Don back there:

“Go and grab those pythons, put them into the other shore.”

Arthur knew the main strength of grouped monsters lied in their leader, so as long as that double horned snake was still alive, any living python here would be a problem.

But, he also knew each monster had its own territory, once stepped outside it, the bond between the king and slaves would be severed. When they retreated to the other shore, the snakes didn’t attack, or showed any signs of offense, until they crossed the river.

Arthur let Don carry the snakes one by one towards the other shore, threw them there weakened, without any strength at all. Then it returned to grab more. When he and Lily finished the second wave, Don had already finished moving the first one, and the king just sent the third wave.

“It’s a battle of attrition then,” Arthur sighed, as he already started to feel exhausted from the continuous use of his control ability.

The next wave was led by Arthur to bypass the already defeated second wave, as he made Tarry meet them face to face. They fell into the same trap as before.

“Attack!”

He yelled, taking a break from the overuse of his ability. He watched everyone attack, focusing his gaze over Ron and Edwar, to find a shadow of them following their sword attacks, yielding far more damage than before.

He confirmed his theory, and the coupling had a magnificent effect on each mage’s battle prowess. He smiled, watching in content and pride his doing, as he didn’t need to act this time, while all the snakes were beaten to the ground.

“Retreat, Don grab them over the river, Lily holds the next wave with me.”

After the fall of the third wave, the fourth wave came in greater numbers than before. At least fifty pythons appeared, thrashing towards them, but he used the arrows to inflict damage to them, with the aid of Lily’s arrows, they both managed to stop one fourth of the pythons.

“Use the spears.”

The timing was appropriate, as the pythons were so near to them. The meat bait did its work to distract them, while the spears hit their huge bodies at many places. In a few minutes, all the pythons were poisoned, lying flat on the ground.

“Continue moving them Don,” Arthur yelled, encouraging his pet to move the pythons faster. After four subsequent defeats, the king of the pythons appeared with the rest of the snakes, leading the final discharge itself.

Arthur felt some danger coming from this special python. Before he could expect the next move, the two horns over the head of that python shone brightly, and at once all the defeated pythons lying on the ground started to move, with their horns starting to shine as well.

‘Bastard, you are mentally controlling them,’ Arthur cursed inside him, before making up his mind. “Slain them all, leave none alive!”

It was a race between their ability to kill every and single one of the pythons here before they could activate their special ability. Arthur just glanced back, towards the other shore, to feel more confident and relieved.. His idea proved itself right, as that special python couldn’t control those outside its jurisdiction.