The Scorpions and the spiders will not be able to help as they were all advancing. If he forcefully awaken them, then there will be mana deviation. All he had left were the wasps and the beetles.

  The wasps, though bigger in size and higher poison potency would be of little help in this battle as Vipers, like most venomous desert snakes had poison resistance. The beetles would be useless. These were dung beetles, the size of the dungeon core and had no fighting capabilities against other species.

  His only hope was to awaken him. The mouse. Yet even he will have difficulty, after all this was a snake, one of the biggest threat to mice.

  "Defend the dungeon."

  "Run."

  The first command was for the wasps and the second was for the mouse, who was sleeping in his nesting chamber.

  The wasps flew out into the tunnel to intercept the viper. At the same time, the mouse woke up.

  The viper entered the tunnel. A sense of dread arose in Ozymandias. It was not for himself but for his dungeon. There was no miasma or mana emissions from the snake, hence he was safe but it could not be said for his dungeon monsters especially the mouse.

  The viper flick it's tongue and turned around. It was headed for the mouse hole inside the tunnel. It had found the scent of the mouse.

  Even though most of the dungeon defenders were down, the viper did not find it easy to reach the hole easily. The wasps charged at the snakes and stung it with their stingers.

  The first wasp's attack landed on the viper's head and the second landed on one of its cheek. The viper recoiled.

  "Aim for the eyes."

  The wasps' stingers only had a slight pinch on the viper's body due to its hard scales. The viper had only recoiled in surprised. The stingers had not pierce through, so the venom in them had not entered the body of the viper after all this snake was a horned viper known particularly for their thick, protective scales that make it difficult for a wasp's stinger to penetrate deeply.

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  The eyes were the only part of the viper that was not covered in protective scales. It was the best place to land a successful attack.

  Ozymandias was also doing his best. Tendrils of mana, unseen to the naked eyes were rising from the ground and heading towards the viper.

  The viper had regain its footing. It raise its head. As the wasps attack, it's swung its head to and from trying to swat them away like how a horse swats flies with their tail.

  A fatal mistake on the part of one of the wasp. It flew towards the viper's mouth, its stinger ready. The viper open its mouth. In a flash, the viper caught the wasp in its mouth, its fangs piercing in.

  Ozymandias felt it. The link between him and the wasp had been cut. The wasp had died. Nevertheless, Ozymandias did not give in to despair at the death of one of his monster. Instead he capitalise on it.

  As the viper was swallowing the wasp, it remain still for some seconds, giving Ozymandias the opportunity to use his mana tendrils on the viper.

  The tendrils twined around the viper's body, holding the snake to the ground. Three tendrils were growing out from the ground underneath the viper's body.

  But before the tendrils could stab its heart, the viper broke out, snapping away the tendrils that was holding it down with much ease. It also caught the remaining wasp but instead of swallowing it, it release the wasp corpse.

  A sense of unease fill Ozymandias. Something was not right with the viper. As it ate the wasp, something change in the viper. It's writhed and twitch around.

  Something leak out from its body. Ozymandias knew that unpleasant energy. It was miasma. The viper had become corrupted.

  Ozymandias pull out all of his tendrils, twenty in all. He had to kill the viper before it transform completely. There was no time.

  Unlike mana which take a long time to fully transform a creature, miasma was swift since it eats away the creature not sustain it, powering it only for a short run period of time.

  Ozymandias poured ten unit of mana in all his tendrils, spending almost half of his reserve. This process strengthen the mana tendrils. The previous tendrils only had five mana on each tendrils and were in gaseous state. However, with fifteen mana in each tendrils, the tendrils were somehow in a liquefied state.

  The improved tendrils bound the viper again. Twenty tendrils made of mana against a viper. Nodes of mana tendrils entered the viper's body. The viper thrash and hiss angrily. It's body has become a battlefield between mana and miasma and both hurt it.

  Fortunately, the viper was not fully corrupted yet meaning the amount of miasma in its body was not strong enough to become a threat to Ozymandias' mana.

  Unfortunately, the viper being not fully corrupted also means that when Ozymandias was done with cleansing the miasma, it will not die like the corrupted rat.

  Ten of the mana tendrils headed towards the roof just above the viper's position. Ozymandias poured more mana into the tendrils, further strengthening them.

  Meanwhile, the struggle between the mana and miasma had ended. The former had emerged victorious over the latter but not completely as there was still some miasma left in the viper. The snake calm down, losing its maddening state.

  *Boom*

  The roof collapse as the tendrils hit with much force. The heap of soil covered the viper.

  Yet the battle was not done. The viper crawl out of the heap after a while. It was wounded and weak but it still had life.

  Ozymandias mana was dwindling. He could not use the tendrils anymore.

  Ozymandias vision was beginning to blur. He had used much of his mana and his storage was nearly empty, leaving only some twenty or so mana. He was about to shut down.

  The last thing he saw was a blur of black fur charging out of a hole in the tunnel towards the awakened viper.

  Darkness fell. For the second time since awakening, Ozymandias shut down due to mana depletion.