Black Mountain stood in the distance, ignoring the Gale Wolf's barking and making no attempt to interrupt the heartfelt exchange between Lynn and the other two.
He slipped the black bead he had just used to threaten Lin Chen back into his sleeve, curled his lip, and let out a string of derisive sounds.
"A One-Ring Wizard and a newly advanced Sky Knight," Black Mountain said. "Your bond as father and son is touching, but unfortunately, your strength falls far short."
"Lynn, have you spent so long in Graystone City that you've forgotten just how wide the gap between the Second Ring and One-Ring is?"
"I haven't," Lynn said. "We'll have to try before we know how much of a gap there is."
With that, Lynn raised his right hand and struck first.
Gray-white soul threads shot from his fingertips, spreading into a fine mesh before him and descending over Black Mountain's head.
Lin Chen wasted no more words either. He pushed off the ground, golden battle aura erupting around him, and shot like an arrow toward Black Mountain's left flank.
"Just what I wanted." Black Mountain swept a hand through the air. Black mist surged from his sleeve, forming more than a dozen enormous shadow pythons that lunged at both men.
Lynn flicked a finger, and the huge net of soul threads spread out, ensnaring the ten pythons at the front.
The threads tightened, and the pythons dissolved into black smoke with agonized cries.
But the remaining pythons slipped around the net and lunged straight at Lin Chen beside him.
Lin Chen held his greatsword across his body and drove his corona battle aura to its limit. A layer of white-hot flame ignited along the blade.
One python bit down on the sword, hissing as the flames scorched it,