The dark spheres were static and simply floated in the air, seemingly harmless. But I knew the dark fae had begun using her magic because every sphere was about the size of a coin.

Ophelia immediately stopped moving, and instinctively backed away from each of the spheres. I commanded her to release the silly fae before their fighting made an even bigger mess.

Once she did, the dark fae fell limply from her grip, breathing with difficulty. Unfortunately, Ophelia was still within the confines of the spheres, so I instructed her not to move.

It was unclear what the spheres did so, as the dark fae gasped to recover her breath, I observed them.

[Don't touch it!] she screamed when she saw me get close. [It was an accident! They weren't supposed to come out!]

An accident?

The four inch fae seemed to shrink into a ball as she cowered in panic. I thought her reaction was a little extreme. The spheres looked harmless, but that was only because nothing had touched them yet. And I wasn't silly enough to test it myself.

Instead I instructed Ophelia not to touch them as well and she carefully slithered through the motionless bubbles to reach my side, leaving the dark fae alone inside. I appraised her once again, but her results were still obscured.

It was one of the few moments I wished I could bypass Appraisal's restrictions to see the fae's full stats. Her magic was high and so this had to be one of her abilities, but the question remained, what kind?

[Can't you dispel them?] I asked the panicked fairy.

She shook her head before crawling out from beneath them. [They won't go away until something touches them.]

Oh? In that case...

I retrieved a large piece of rock from [Dimensional Box] and placed it in the midst of the dark spheres. And almost instantly, the spheres cleanly devoured the rock, leaving behind holes of their size.

I was startled at the result but continued to exhaust all the spheres, and in the end the rock resembled swiss cheese

How interesting…it was clearly some kind of void type skill.

Unlike what the fae said, I doubted they could stay active forever. The spheres would likely disappear as soon as she ran out of MP. But she had plenty, and this made me realise how dangerous the situation could've been.

Ophelia hid behind me, hissing fiercely at the dark fae when she witnessed what happened to the rock. And with good reason. If any one of the spheres had touched her, I feared to imagine what would happen to her body.

The other snakes were similarly terrified and backed away from the tiny troublemaker, hissing fiercely from a distance.

With all of her spheres gone now, the dark fae began to sob loudly. [I'm not supposed to use it. The fairies don't like me because of it.]

[Good. Don't use it here either.] I scolded her carelessness.

Wasn't it just a matter of her learning to control it? It seemed she had no idea how to switch it on or off.

I imagined a similar situation had occurred in the past, and she had been forced to shy away from others, perhaps that was why she was living with the nymphs. If she learnt to use it properly, it would be a powerful weapon, but until then it was a hazard…but that wasn't really my concern.

I wasn't going to risk my snakes because of one brat who couldn't control her own powers.

But when the dark fae sat on the ground bawling her eyes out, and I began to feel bad.

No, no, I should send her away.

«Why?» Sensei interjected, reading my thoughts. «She seems rather smitten with you.»

"Smitten with me or with my food?" I asked with a scoff.

«To her, both are interchangeable.» he replied coolly.

That makes it even worse!

Ophelia wasn't a fan either, she stared at the sobbing fairy with suspicion before giving me a withering stare of disagreement – It was clear she did not approve.

Even her team members regarded the dark fae with fear. However, I noticed Apollo had slithered closer to observe the hole ridden rock with curiosity.

While Ophelia was smart and careful, I did not see things in the same way she did. The dark fae's powers were interesting, they were similar to my [Dimensional Box] but there was no differentiation between the living and the dead. If I were to study her, perhaps I could learn how to undo the limit.

Or I could simply eat her and save myself the trouble.

[Hey. Stop crying and look at me.] I turned to the crying mess.

The dark fae looked up, with her face full of tears and snot.

[Ugh. Stop crying! It was an accident, wasn't it?]

The tiny fae nodded fiercely.

She looked pitiful, but I didn't want to let her off so simply.

[You can't stay here if you use it again.] I scolded her. [I can't have you putting my nestlings at risk.]

[I won't.] She sobbed. [It was an accident, promise.]

While the dark fae wiped her tears, I assured Ophelia she would be leaving soon. It was only then that she stopped looking at the tiny fae like she wanted to eat her.

I couldn't count on a promise from someone who couldn't even control herself, so it was either I took her away or I threw her into a prison cell. Leaving her with the nestlings was a big no. If Ophelia was this wary of her, I couldn't imagine how Typhon would react.

Soon the dark fae stopped crying and flew over to sit on my head once more. This, of course, made Ophelia hiss with rage and the tiny fae hid behind my horns to avoid looking at her.

Her actions also seemed to make the other snakes angry, and for good reason too. She should know it wasn't a good idea for her to sit on my head like it was her personal room.

The dark fae, seemingly unbothered by their stares, began to chatter away.

[Are they your babies?] she asked, while staring curiously at the nestlings.

This brat!

[What? No!]

The dark fae shrugged nonchalantly. [It's because they all look alike, and you look…different.]

What sort of reasoning was that?

[I may look different, but I'm still the same as them. I'm sure not every fairy looks the same as you, right?]

I patted Ophelia on the head with my tail to stop her scowling, instructing her to take the nestlings to look around the new cave, while I ventured into one of the rooms below with the dark fae to keep her out of sight.

There, I proceeded to create numerous cells in the ground to act as prisons in the event of trouble.

[That's true.] The dark fae cheerily said. [I'm the only one of my siblings with horns.]

[Good for you.] I smirked. [But yours are nothing compared to mine.]

The dark fae huffed and began to pace around annoyingly on my head. I considered dipping my head so she would fall into one of the cells.

But then it occurred to me...Did this dumb fae followed me because I had horns too?

Once I finished with the cells, I went back up to the cave. And I saw everyone from Ophelia's team had settled in quite nicely. There were many snakes sprawled on the furs I set out. Each one seemed to have picked a particular spot they liked and they were all looking rather content in their respective coils.

It seemed another team had joined them as there were more snakes than before. I spotted Galahad among the lounging masses and as soon as he saw me, he rushed over in excitement, leading the charge for all the snakes present.

Soon I found myself surrounded, each snake peering at my wings in astonishment and awe, with some even attempting to slither up them to reach my back.

I sighed. Was this what it felt like to be mobbed?

I would have preferred It to be beautiful men instead of snakes though…

The dark fae squealed in fright from the top of my head at the sight of so many snakes, leading Galahad to spot her.

Immediately, his eyes went wide like saucers and before I knew what was going on, the dark fae was cruelly swept off my head with a water whip, causing her to land harshly on the ground on her butt.

Galahad seemed intent on attacking her, so I smacked him to make him stop. He reluctantly halted his attack, but did not stop staring daggers at the tiny fae.

Why were the nestlings so ferocious today?

Completely drenched with water, the dark fae burst into tears, shivering miserably as she tried and failed to lift her soaked wings.

Ophelia slithered over to Galahad not forgetting to glare at her.

I let out a sigh and settled down among them, letting the nestlings climb over my wings to settle on my back if they wished. The dark fae's spot on my head was soon taken over by Galahad and she could only stare up at him with resentment.

As the dark fae sulked, more of my teams began to arrive.

Morgana arrived first, followed by Cygnus who looked rather dusty and tired. They all looked bigger than they were before they left the cave, and there was even a bit of iridescent colour appearing on their scales.

With every new snake that arrived, each one stared at my new wings and then at the cave in wonder and amazement. I noticed a rather excited glint in Morgana eyes, and I couldn't help wondering what she was thinking.

However, with all the teams returned, except for Typhon and Artemis. I began to wonder if something had gone wrong.

I checked the atlas and saw both teams were still out in the wild. One was closer and the other was much farther away. I wanted them all to return to appreciate my sculpted cave, but there was no way to recall them telepathically. I would have to go out and bring them back individually.

After instructing the nestlings to explore the cave, I got up from my rest, alerting my captain's that I would be going after the remaining teams. None complained, but as soon as I chose the dark fae to accompany me, there were hisses of protest from Ophelia and Galahad.

I sighed…if only they knew I was doing this for their safety.

I would have taken them all, but they were too many and if they fell off my back, catching them all would be a challenge. The dark fae stuck her tongue at them and resumed her spot on my head, much to my annoyance.

Of the two teams I was least worried for Typhon, but there was no way to know whose team was which, so rather than guess, I simply left the cave to go after the nearest team first.