The hydra created several small ripples that quickly passed through the magic shield. Jumping back, the hydra shook its head before raising and spitting a huge portion of the acid at the magic shield.

Another portion of ripples appeared on the shield when green acid touched the magic surface, creating many small holes in the process.

The hydra continued to wait till the size of the holes wouldn't increase, but it roared the moment it saw how all the new holes began closing when the magic shield started glowing.

Roaring, the hydra started to attack the shield both with acid and its claws. It used different tactics, gained speed, and even concentrated its attack on one spot, but half an hour later, it finally realized that her actions were futile. Roaring after another big attack, it turned around and looked at the tamers behind her.

Since she couldn't escape now from this new, but stronger and bigger cage, it would be good to start with conquering the cage and leaving no outsiders that could affect her in here.

Choosing Kevin as her 1st target, the hydra moved, gaining speed.

Kevin and others were long ago ready for the hydra's attack and just continued to wait, letting it exhaust itself in futile attempts to break through the shield.

They intensified their barriers before preparing whips and nets made for taming purposes.

A moment later, hydra bumped at Kevin's barrier, sending him into the short flight. Though she succeeded and damaged his barrier, she lost almost all the speed. This was the moment that other tamers couldn't waste, so several nets quickly appeared, landing on hydra, and restricting its movements.

These nets were made of unique material that made the nets much sturdier and allowed them to withstand the hydra's acid. Besides, the moment, they landed on the hydra, they started compressing, further restricting the hydra's movements.

Hydra just snorted when the first nets landed on her, and she quickly spat the huge portion of acid at them. At first, she believed that it would be enough to get rid of these irritating things, but the moment later, she noticed that most of them were intact after her acid attack.

Roaring, the hydra started twitching and moving as strong as she could. The hydra tried to use its claws to tear the nets. At this time, tamers also noticed that the hydra tried to free itself, concentrating its full attention on this process. So, they couldn't let this chance go to waste, and started bombarding the hydra with the whip hits.

Kevin also returned to his colleagues and started hitting the hydra with the whips, further provoking and exhausting it.

The hydra roared from fury and pain before raising its head to look at tamers with hate and promise of vengeance.

Quite used for such scenes, tamers continued to hit her while one of the tame masters approached the hydra, starting the next phase of taming process.

"You will submit," said the man, hitting the hydra, and using the "Tame link" to start a mental attack on the monster.

The "Tame link" was one of the unique properties of all tamers that allowed them to communicate with monsters and animals. It was a quite rare and unique ability that only those with a talent for taming could use.

The hydra only intensified its roar and continued to twitch and move, ignoring increasing restrictions, attempting to break forth.

***

This process continued for another hour, but the longer it went, the weaker the hydra became.

Another attack later, the hydra roared before lowering its head in exhaustion.

At the same time, Theo and Lucia continued to closely look after the taming process. Theo had a calm expression on his face as if he didn't see anything new or unique while Lucia furrowed her brows and wrinkled as she continued to watch how Kevin and others continue to beat the hydra.

In theory, this process should have finished long ago when tamers would succeed in submitting the monster, but the hydra continued to bear the pain and exhaustion, attempting to break forth, using any chance it had.

"Brother, how long will they continue? Why don't they use another method to subdue her?" asked Lucia, showing her dissatisfaction with Kevin and other tamers.

"Sure, they might have used the 2nd method, but I heard that it's not very effective against wild and energetic monsters, I think everything they did up until now was just to exhaust and teach the hydra of several lessons to make it clear that it's not in the wild anymore," explained Theo, drinking another glass of juice.

Lucia wasn't convinced with Theo's words and stood up, intending to order Kevin to choose a softer approach until a group of guardian knights didn't appear on the tribunes, and the pavilion.

They got into the all-important positions around the tribunes and exits from the arena, increasing their vigilance to the maximum.

Of course, Theo and Lucia noticed those knights, so it didn't take long for them to understand who has just come here. They quickly stood up and looked at the entrance to the pavilion.

A moment later, a yellow-haired man in noble's outfit and dangerous vibe appeared on the Freinos family Pavillion. This was Darwin Freinos!

Darwin quickly threw several short glances at his children before moving towards his place in the center of the pavilion.

Of course, the family head couldn't miss such a moment when his family would get the guardian beast.

He nodded with satisfaction when he saw the hydra and how she spat the acid in attempts to get free, but the moment he turned his head Lucia was quick to react.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Father, where is mother, and older sisters? Why they are not here?" asked Lucia with a curious expression on her face.

"They are busy right now, daughter," said Darwin, caressing Lucia on her head, "This time your hobby to collect monsters brought huge benefits for the family. Now, tell me what you want."

The moment Darwin asked them, he concentrated his glance at both Lucia and Theo.

Theo was still thinking about what to ask when Lucia smiled, starting to bombard Darwin with several small and big requests.

"Okay, calm down, I will take off your restriction on auction participation, and would let you participate as much as you want, but you will have to pay yourself without asking others or me for money," said Darwin, choosing the smallest and easiest request Lucia asked him.

Feeling yourself cheated, Lucia turned around, making a grumpy expression on her face.

"I would like to participate in the expedition army. I just want to see the real battle and feel it," said Theo about his request to Darwin.

Almost momentaneously, Darwin steeled his expression before looking at Theo with a serious and piercing gaze.

"Army is not a place for games, son. Though you look older and taller thanks to your recent breakthrough in battle energy, you are still the boy, and the battlefield is not a place for the boy!" said Darwin with a serious and cold tone.

Theo continued to look at his father with the same expression as he had before.

"I know, I don't ask to send me to the actual battlefields, I am ready to go there to serve as water porter if needed, I just want to feel the atmosphere of the actual campaign and see the actual battlefield with my own eyes," said Theo with a resolute expression on his face.

Darwin continued to look at his son before softening his gaze.

"Theo, son, I am glad that you want to do it, I actually do, but it's a bit early for you, you are still too weak even to be a water porter in the army, you would just die there from exhaustion," explained Darwin, starting to move his gaze to the arena.

"If I become 3rd rank squire, a minimum for water porters, would you let me go there?"

Darwin returned his glance and pondered a bit Theo's words.

"Theo, you know it's not a problem to show you all the things you ask at any time you want, you just have to wait and go there after several months. There is no need for you to become a water porter,"

"No!, it's not the same, father if I agree with you, I would just see the results of the battles that wouldn't be real, it would just be a short scene without other details," explained the, standing up from his chair, "I want to see everything for myself from the beginning, see how army marches through the lands, see how they prepare for the battle, see how many of them would return back and see the deaths of our people myself."

Darwin continued to look at Theo for several moments, understanding that he wouldn't be able to change his mind. Sighing, Darwin softened his expression before smiling at Theo.

"Fine, son. If you become a 3rd rank squire, I would let you to the expedition army as water porter together with your sisters next week when they would leave to take command of their units," said Darwin before turning his head and looking at the arena.

Theo also moved his glance with a satisfied expression on his face.

The moment, Darwin looked at the arena, he noticed 3 hydra eggs laying on the silver.

"Looks like all my children would get a guardian beast for yourself," said Darwin with a satisfied expression on his face.

The moment he finished his speech, the loud roar came from the hydra that was laying on the ground. All the tamers have long ago thought that she ran out of stamina and approached her, but the moment when they started moving to the next phase, the hydra moved, tearing the nets.

Freeing itself, the hydra lashed out at the tamers, sending them in all directions.

The guardian knights and other tamers that were outside showed tense expressions on their faces and already wanted to enter to help the tamers when they heard Kevin's voice.

"Don't enter, we will be fine," said Kevin, quickly catching hydra's attention and moving the direction of its eggs.

In fact, it was the best solution, he could use against the hydra that went berserk from fury and pain. When he approached the place in front of the eggs, the hydra noticed them, and moved its attention at her eggs, while clear traits of reasoning appeared in her eyes.

Of course, Kevin didn't miss such change and instantly threw his whip, deciding to use the 2nd method to tame it.

The moment, Kevin threw his whip away, the hydra wanted to start her attack when she heard a male voice in her mind.

She got quite confused and looked at the Kevin that took a special material from his spacial ring. Kevin took that material and raised it in front of himself.

For the first time in the taming process, the hydra showed signs of curiosity while others on the tribunes stood up from their places when they saw what Kevin decided to use for this hydra.

"Look, that's the taming pact,"

"Master Kevin decided to use the rare taming pact to subdue this hydra,"

"That's quite risky, most of the monsters ignore the taming pacts and rarely agree to submit even with certain conditions,"

"I heard that taming pact creates a mental link between the contractor and the monster, letting them understand each other,"

The hydra pondered for a bit before turning and looking at her eggs. A short time later, she calmed down, nodding her head, agreeing to the taming contract.

The moment, the hydra nodded its head, Darwin smiled with satisfaction while the magic shield disappeared, letting the hydra approach its eggs.

***

A short time later, Kevin, Darwin, Theo, Lucia, tame masters, and guardian knights were standing in the arena.

The hydra showed no aggression towards the people and just continued to look at her eggs while Kevin continued to talk about something with Darwin.

"My Lord, though we failed to subdue this hydra by force, we were able to convince it to form a taming contract. It agreed to live here and protect the Freinos family, but it has several requirements that should be accomplished from our side," explained Darwin, raising his head and looking at Darwin.

Darwin nodded, letting the master continue his speech.

"First, it asked to get a place with a pond or small lake where she and her cubs wouldn't feel uncomfortable as she did in the cage. She also asked to let her stay with her cubs, so that she could raise them, and transfer her experience and wisdom. Finally, she would agree if you promise to treat her and her cubs well and help them get stronger." said Kevin, finishing his explanation.

Darwin threw his glance at the hydra and pondered for a bit before turning and looking at Kevin.

"Fine, all the conditions she asked about are appropriate. She and her cubs would get everything she asked, and we would make sure she gets stronger," said Darwin, letting the tame master tell about it to the hydra.

The hydra mumbled in satisfaction and continued to look at her eggs.

"Since we have successfully tamed the hydra, now we have to decide to who we would give the taming contract," mumbled Darwin, pondering about this topic.

Just as he said that loud, Lucia quickly moved through several tamers and approached the hydra.

"Lizzi, Lizzi," cried the girl before approaching it, and climbing on its body.

Kevin and other tame masters already started to move to help Lucia, but they stopped when they saw that the hydra didn't show any aggression towards Lucia and just approached its head to smell her before returning to look at her eggs without showing any interest to Lucia that has already started climbing the neck.

"Looks like, Lizzi has found the owner, she has no problem with," said Darwin shaking his head and smiling as he watched at his small daughter,"My other children would get cubs when they hatch. Just finish the formal part with the contract,"

Kevin nodded to Darwin's command before watching how his Lord and a huge group of guardian knights leave the arena. While that tame masters and tamers continued to look at the Lucia and exchange glances between each other.

Only now, most of them realized that the famed "Lady Distress" had an amazing talent for taming that allowed her to make hydra accept her as her new owner.

It was already evening when Lucia, Theo, and guardian knights returned back home with Lizzi and her 3 eggs.