Flame Python and English Longbow

The sun blazed overhead.

The huge June sun, like a fiery ball, seemed to have gone mad, scorching the world with reckless abandon. The air was unbearably hot, and the water in a river on the plain looked as though it were about to boil.

Beside the river stood a magnificent city—Blue Lion City. As the capital of the Blue Lion Kingdom, it possessed an imposing grandeur, like an ancient beast crouching upon the earth. Inside the city, buildings of every kind were arranged in neat layers, radiating outward from the royal palace at its center.

Suddenly, the palace gates opened, and a squadron of fast-riding cavalry thundered toward the city gates. Pedestrians on the streets hastily scattered out of their way.

Before long, the cavalry charged out of Blue Lion City and onto the dirt road outside, where heat haze rose from the ground. Yellow dust billowed up in an instant. Yet the riders paid it no mind, maintaining their formation as they galloped toward the distance.

An hour later.

Richard arrived at a remote hillside more than ten li outside the city and jumped down from his horse. The cavalry behind him dismounted as well, spreading out around them and vaguely forming a protective perimeter around Richard and a Strong Man in black.

The Strong Man in black carried a case in his hand. He was the third manager of the KGB shop. Of course, he had an even more secret identity—for example... he was one of Richard's personally cultivated, utterly loyal confidants.

In fact, the KGB and several other shops had all been established and controlled by Richard, either openly or in secret. He commanded a force far greater than what his status as Prince suggested.

There were two reasons for this. One was that his abilities far surpassed those of an ordinary Prince, even exceeding the limits of this era. The other was that he had never considered the identity of Prince to be particularly valuable, especially after something that had happened several years ago.

To him, the identity of Prince was more of a disguise and... a burden. If he could, he would have liked to cast aside that identity and do certain things without any restraints. For example, study this world and investigate the rumored... power of magic.

With those thoughts in mind, Richard looked to one side.

There, the wizard from the dungeon had been tied to a horse and jolted so badly that his face was deathly pale. After the captain of the dungeon guards untied him and yanked him off the horse, he could barely stand.

The guard captain did not care about that. Once he learned that the wizard was a fraud, all his fear had vanished, leaving only anger. He kicked and shoved the wizard over, then turned to Richard with a flattering smile. "Your Highness, look..."

Richard ignored the guard captain and looked at the wizard. "Where did you see the python? Point it out to me."

"It was..." The wizard raised his head and looked into the distance. After studying it for a while, he finally pointed. "Under that tree. I was passing by when the python suddenly appeared. It nearly scared me to death. But fortunately, it seemed uninterested in me and quickly left, allowing me to escape with my life—and find its shed skin."

Richard nodded slightly and turned to the guard captain. The guard captain forcefully waved his hand, and the dozen or so soldiers who had come with them drew their weapons and swiftly moved forward to surround the area.

Ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters...

They soon reached the place the wizard had indicated, but there was not even a rabbit there, much less a giant python.

The guard captain cast an unfriendly glance at the wizard. The wizard shrank his neck, terrified that Richard would think he was lying, and hurriedly explained, "Y-Your Highness, perhaps that python went somewhere else..."

Richard crouched down, his gaze falling on the ground. He parted the tender weeds, revealing a mark beneath them that looked as if it had been scorched by flames. It appeared that a slithering Radiant Flame Python had indeed passed through here.

Richard scraped up a little soil with his fingernail and held it beneath his nose. It carried the garlic-like scent of Yellow Phosphorus, mixed with Sulfur's distinctive stench.

Richard stood and turned to the guard captain. "Search ahead. Watch the ground and the trees. Snakes are ectothermic animals; they dislike cold and prefer heat. If their magical transformation has not changed that trait, then in this weather, it is very likely hiding somewhere shaded. Stay alert."

"Yes." The guard captain nodded firmly. Without another word, he quickly conveyed Richard's orders to his men, having the soldiers spread out and continue their search.

About ten minutes later, word came back that traces of a python had been discovered in a dense patch of grass more than two hundred meters ahead, though they could not be certain whether it was the one they were looking for.

Richard did not hesitate and quickly headed over. When he was still several dozen meters away from the python, the guard captain stopped him.

"Your Highness, be careful. Pythons are dangerous," the guard captain said. "How about I send someone to test it first and see whether its body really catches fire?"

Richard shook his head, his expression blank. "No need."

As he spoke, Richard's gaze had already settled on the patch of grass several dozen meters away. A brown, mottled python lay curled within it, its eyes closed as if taking a nap. Under the sunlight, the air around the python appeared somewhat distorted.

Richard knew that was caused by light refraction as it passed through different mediums.

There was nothing but air around the python. The only explanation for the refraction was that the temperature there was extremely high, far above the ambient air temperature. Considering that the surrounding weeds showed no signs of being burned, it was not above their ignition point of 200°C. It was most likely somewhere between several dozen degrees Celsius and over one hundred degrees Celsius.

An ordinary python could not possibly do that. The answer was obvious.

Richard said to the guard captain, "Have your men get ready. No need to test it—begin the capture directly. First, use arrows to test its defenses. Ideally, severely wound it and capture it alive. If that is not possible... dead is acceptable too."

"Yes." The guard captain nodded, quickly leaving Richard's side and beginning to issue orders. Shouts rang out as several soldiers with the best archery skills swiftly picked up their bows.

The bows used by the soldiers resembled English Longbows from the Middle Ages, in Richard's view. These bows were generally around 1.5 meters long, with some reaching two meters. Their staves were made by bending a single piece of yew wood, sturdy and elastic. Their bowstrings were cured from sheep gut or ox sinew. Due to their exceptionally long staves, these bows gave arrows tremendous power and extremely long range, far surpassing ordinary modern bows. They could shoot arrows beyond 350 meters.

At a range of two hundred to two hundred and fifty meters, they could penetrate leather armor. Within two hundred meters, they could pierce chainmail. Within one hundred meters, they could penetrate plate armor. Within fifty meters, apart from shields and specially made armor, almost nothing could withstand their shots. They could be called unstoppable.

At that moment, the soldiers were roughly fifty meters away from the python.

The four soldiers were all veterans. Years of archery training had given them distinctly uneven arm lengths—a sign of great experience. They picked up their bows, took bundles of twenty-four arrows from the quivers on their backs, untied them, and planted them directly in the ground before them. Each arrow was nearly a meter long, so once planted, they could be grabbed without bending down, allowing for easy, continuous shooting.

Once the four soldiers were ready, they exchanged glances and took deep breaths. Each nocked an arrow onto his longbow and began aiming.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Four arrows shot out in succession like meteors toward the python's position, but not one struck it. Even the closest arrow landed more than ten centimeters away. After all, not every soldier was a legendary marksman capable of hitting a target from a hundred paces. On the battlefield, they generally relied on dense volleys to ensure accuracy.

Richard was not angered by this and simply continued watching.

After their first failure, the four soldiers quickly each grabbed another arrow from the ground and nocked it onto their longbows. This time, they aimed a little longer before another series of whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh rang out.

The disturbed python was just about to move when four arrows descended, two striking it directly. One hit its tail, while another pierced straight through its body. Bright red blood quickly flowed out. Hiss!

The python cried out as if enraged. With a violent twist, it snapped the arrows with two cracks. Opening its mouth and flicking out its tongue, it sprayed out large clusters of sparks. Then it slithered toward the group, instantly making the atmosphere tense as several soldiers instinctively started backing away. At that moment, the most excited person was neither Richard nor the guard captain, but the wizard.

The wizard nearly jumped up. He grabbed the guard captain and cried repeatedly, "You saw it, didn't you? You saw it! What I said was true! There really is a python here that catches fire! His Highness promised me, so you cannot kill me!"

The guard captain was tense enough already and had no time to deal with him. With a wave of his hand, he shoved the wizard to the ground, drew the sword at his waist, and used his presence to steady the panicked soldiers. "What are you afraid of? Keep shooting it with arrows! The rest of you, get the nets ready! Capture it alive!"

"Yes!" the soldiers hurriedly answered and sprang into action.