"Gra-mmph!"

Mir's mouth was covered by Murray's palm before he could finish speaking his mind. Getting the signal, Mir quieted down and continued to watch the boa move.

Ordinary boas didn't like to live in water, and they were generally antisocial creatures except during mating seasons. However, most mutated creatures displayed a discernible behavioral change compared to their ordinary compatriots. Rudimentary social systems could generally be found in a vast majority of the cases where such social behavior was absent before the mutation. The Glutton Boas were an excellent example of this.

The so-called grade- 3 Glutton Boa slithered out of the pit slowly and appeared to be surveying the surroundings. Occasionally, its tongue slipped out of its maw, whipping the air in front of its mouth at an incredible speed. Mir could actually hear the sound the serrated tongue was making. Rather than ordinary hissing, it resembled the sound of a large flag fluttering under powerful wind, echoing throughout the dead-silent valley.

The boa that they had noticed on the treetop not too far away woke up from the sound and let out a weak hiss.

Under Mir's terrified gaze, the boa lowered its body from the top of the tree while hanging from a branch with the tip of its tail.

And a second later, it wasn't there. A dull thump at the foot of the tree made Mir realize that the grade- 1 Glutton Boa had executed its mutant ability to shorten the space between its body and the ground, making a casual jump that helped it land below without suffering any damage.

So the very first boa they had encountered inside the valley was one of those special breeds which could use its spatial ability outside its body!

No wonder this place hadn't been overly visited by the explorers. Not only was it in an obscure, hard-to-find region, the creatures sleeping around it were top-notch threats to ordinary humans. Only powerful Transcenders could hope to make a profit in this place...as long as the grade- 3 Glutton Boa didn't notice them.

The grade- 3 Boa seemed to hold the position of a ruler in this valley, because following the first grade- 1 boa's response, countless other boas pushed their ways out of mounds, grassy areas, unnoticeable pits on the hillsides, hollowed tree trunks, and some even from the pitch-black pool itself.

Soon, at least a hundred Glutton Boas of varying sizes and shapes gathered around the pool, watching the grade- 3 boa intently.

It was a real shame that neither Mir, nor Murray understood the hissing that ensued there. They couldn't read the gestures formed by tails, movements made by heads, and strange shapes formed by their serpentine bodies either.

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But it was quite apparent that the grade- 3 boa was instructing its less powerful peers to do something.

Almost twenty minutes later, the Boas began to retreat. Letting out some odd sounds through its tongue one last time, the giant draconic snake pulled its body back inside the dark pool, disappearing without a trace.

Orders received, the other boas didn't return to their holes. Instead, they spread out across the valley, seemingly with a specific purpose.

"Should we fall back?" Mir whispered. "This is too close to that big fucking monster."

"The herbs I need are still there, though," Murray mumbled back.

"Send some bees to rip out the stalks. You can monitor them from a safe distance!" Mir insisted on taking the safe route. Murray narrowed his eyes, seemingly contemplating the viability of that plan.

Hisss...

In the middle of their discussion, both of them noticed one bloated boa slowly making its way towards the mound they were hiding behind.

Murray put up a hand to stop Mir from retreating.

"It's a simple task to prevent them from approaching us."

Turning towards the silent bees sitting around them, Murray picked out an odd looking one and showed it to Mir.

"She's the new queen of the hive," he said.

Mir took a close look at its appearance. This bee was slightly larger than the rest, with a bright golden, rotund lower segment and a crystalline needle-like stinger attached at its bottom.

"You use her to order the swarm?" Mir asked, intrigued by the mechanism of Murray's command over the other bees.

It seemed like an excellent hidden benefit. Most mutated arthropods lived in hives or nests. If one managed to form a contract with the apex commander of the insect society, would they always be able to control the other insects under its command?

"Yes. Since I'm not a transcender yet, the contract I formed with the Purplevein Queen bee didn't pull her spiritual presence inside my body. Neither do I have the ability to conjure her physical body inside my Soulslot. She has always been present with her hive members, which makes them listen to whatever I relay to them through her. If I became a transcender and took her physical body away for a couple of days, these bees would go look for a new queen, a new hive."

Mir nodded, realizing that the process was more nuanced than he had thought. One couldn't just go around making contracts with tiny insects, hoping to become the controller of humongous, unstoppable swarms.

Under Murray's directions, several bees hummed and flew over toward the fat boa, circling around its head speedily. The boa observed them curiously for a moment before suddenly erupting into action, moving like a coiled spring and biting down on one unfortunate bee.

Mir visibly winced. That bee had trusted its queen and selflessly assaulted a creature far beyond its ability to contend with. And it had taken but five seconds for it to die.

Murray quickly directed the other bees to fly higher, beyond the boa's reach. But the boa didn't seem to have liked the taste of the sacrificed bee. It hissed in disinterest and continued to slither forward and up, right where Mir and Murray were squatting.

Puff. Puff. Puff.

Half a dozen purple-streaked icicles whistled through the wind, their target- the snake's head.

Two of the six icicles landed on target. One penetrated the snake's right eye, and the other speared the edge of its opened jaw.

Hisssssss!!

The painful roar of the snake alerted several others nearby, all of whom began to make their way towards their hiding spot. Mir cursed silently and began to backtrack as inconspicuously as he could.

Most snakes had atrocious vision. They'd taste his scent before seeing his body. Mir didn't want to wait for either to happen. Thankfully, there was little wind in the crevice through which they had climbed down. Both brothers managed to reach the top of the route where the opening to the valley began.

In this narrow path, it was easier for the bees to shoot their icicles with better precision. Several minutes later, the crevice was filled with writhing serpentine bodies. It didn't take long for the first Glutton Boa to die from internal and external bleeding. Several others followed suit. Although Murray had lost over two dozen bees during the attack due to the space-penetrating bites of the Boas, their net profit was worth the loss.

With a hint of numbness, Mir noticed that he was beginning to treat this extremely cruel battleground like a transaction, a game even. The deaths of the bee soldiers were mere statistics to him, and the deaths of the Boas complemented the loss. Neither type of deaths fazed him after the shock of the first sacrifice.