I did as she asked. I’d been avoiding using my Ensnare ability up to now, because I didn’t want the Cobra to have the chance to mimic the spell and throw it back at us. Now, however, it was all or nothing. I conjured as powerful an Ensnare as I could muster and flung it at the monster’s hideous head, where it wrapped itself around the Cobra’s head and jaws, clamping the jaws shut and holding the head still. Venom bubbled and drooled from the creature’s trapped jaws, and dribbled from its poison sacs. I knew then that as soon as the Ensnare spell dispersed, the monster would be ready to spray a blast of venom at us.

Time to finish this.

Belinda, in her black cloud form, arrowed toward the monster. I thought she would wrap the monster’s head and suck the flesh from it as she had back at the roadblock fight, but instead she flew up above the creature’s head and then disappeared down into its skull.

The monster reared up and then glanced around, confused. Belinda had gone inside its mind.

Her voice spoke in my head again. “I have control of it, but I won’t be able to hold it for long.”

We used the brief moment she had bought us. Astrid, roaring in werewolf form, charged the Cobra from one side and Selena in cat form charged the other. The snakes had been defeated, so I dispersed two of the Flora Whelps and one of the Cougars, leaving one of each. I sent these remaining ones to join the attack against the Cobra, and reabsorbed the mana from the others to give myself a much-needed boost.

As my allies charged in, Belinda lost control of the Cobra, and at the same time my Ensnare spell burst. The Cobra immediately began to fight back. Selena in cat form leaped up onto its back, closing her massive jaws around its throat and digging her claws into its neck. The remaining Cougar and Flora Whelp teamed up to attack the Cobra from behind, worrying the creature’s tail and pinning it in place so it couldn’t move forward.

Astrid was attacking the head, buffeting it around the face with blows from her massive claws. She leaped out of the way as a blast of venom sprayed from the Cobra’s mouth, then dived in again to smash the Cobra’s lower jaw with two quick swipes of her clawed fists. The blows sheared the poison sacs off the monster’s jaw, and a fetid mixture of blood and poison poured steaming from the wound. The Cobra screeched in pain.