They would grow on the monster's back, exchange energy with it in exchange for giving it what the monster most needed, a water canal!
The monster used water to survive, but weirdly enough it didn't have the ability to absorb water itself. So, it had to use the help of this herb, in exchange for giving part of its power on a regular basis.
It was a mutual benefit relationship between these two. And William was happy for his luck to find such an adult monster here thanks to the herbs grown on its back.
"These herbs are all mature, at least a thousand years old or more…" he examined the bushes' leaves before storing them inside one of his rings.
He knew keeping these inside his ring was a big and fatal mistake. But he had no other choice but to do so for now.
Rings couldn't help to store any living herb or plants for long durations before these would decay. But William knew keeping these inside for a week or so wasn't going to be a problem for him.
If he regularly took them out, made them come in contact with water, they'd replenish the lost energy and slowly would decay. And if he also helped by pouring his spirit power into them, they wouldn't decay at all!
As for the usage of these bushes, William knew they could do magic in the world of alchemy. Not to mention they could also be sold at a high price, no less than his dark gold grade cores.
"I don't lack wealth at this point. It's better to accumulate such treasures slowly till the time I'll make the best use out of these," he decided while uprooting the last bush from the monster's back.
Doing this wasn't enough to kill the monster for sure. But the secret lied in the holes the roots of these bushes left behind on the rocky back of this monster.
"Time for you to die," William stopped at one hole, held his sword high before slamming fiercely into the back of the monster.
*Roar!* and for the first time ever, a muffled roar issued from this monster, while its body kept shaking violently as if it got electrified or something.
William didn't stop there, got his sword out, and went towards the next hole, and the next. He kept doing this to all the holes on the monster's back until the monster finally stopped moving at all.
"It's done," William wiped the nonexistent sweat on his forehead, before looking at this colossal monster. "It's a waste to let you remain here. I got to move you back… But…" William looked again at this colossal monster and knew how impossible it was for him to do this.
"At least I'll get my core first," William climbed down fast, went to the jelly lower half of this monster, and started cutting a hole deep into it.
"It's enough," after doing this for two minutes, and without his sword facing any resistance, he made a hole enough for his arm to get inside.
He stretched his arm, moved it around, touching jelly and weak substances all the way. He knew the core was located in the lower half, but it was hard to guess its true location.
"Not at this part," after half a minute, he stopped what he was doing, changed his spot, and kept hitting this jelly substance with his sword.
"Found it!" After doing this for four more times, he finally managed to touch something hard with his fingers. He stretched his body as much as possible and finally grabbed it out.
*Roar!*
Just as he got it out, he heard a loud roar coming from his side. Without the need to even look, he controlled his knives, silenced that noisy dude which dared to try and attack him.
"Hahahaha! This trip is like a trip to a treasure trove for me, hahahaha!" holding his second gold core in his hand, one he could absorb, William couldn't control his laughs.
*Roar!* *Roar!* *Roar!*
Yet all great times were doomed to end fast! William got surrounded by a growing number of monsters, all eyeing his prize and wanted a piece of this monster.
"I miss that noisy old man right now!" William started to madly attack the monsters around, using everything he got to kill them. He used his knives, his sword, and from time to time he even took out his bow and arrows, making sure to disperse any grand number of monsters coming in his direction.
"I hope he sees it!" As William didn't want to leave this place for now, fearing his great loot to get eaten up by the hungry monsters around, he took something out from his ring and instantly used it.
It was the signal flare, the one everyone in the academy got, one of many he already bought before from the market. He used it before to save Berry, and now he was using it to attract the attention of the faraway Ibra.
William planned to get rid of the monster here, get its core, and then walk back to meet up with Ibra. he didn't want to end their trip this early, especially when there was such a great harvest waiting for him.
But things changed when he realised leaving this monster behind would be quite a loss.
So, he wracked his brain quite fast, thinking about a way to call Ibra back here. At this moment, he regretted again not having Bullets of all the team members, and vowed to get these once this fight here got all over.
The answer he could think about was his signal flare, and he didn't hesitate to use one on the spot. He released that signal high up, enough to be seen by Ibra. Then he returned to focus on clearing the area around from any monster.
As he couldn't tell if Ibra was in a situation to come here fast or not, William decided to take it quite easy, keeping his lightning technique at hold till the most needed moments.