King Arthur holding back

Arthur himself kills FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY men in this fight, including finishing off Colgrin and Baldulph! Then the next four battles were fought on the river Dublas, which the Saxons REALLY wanted. Despite losing the first round, each time they kept coming back thinking “Surely this time Arthur and his men can’t beat us” And then being shocked when Arthur sent them home on their shields. They eventually just tried to cut and run from England, and Arthur is all “Good! Don’t come back!” The Saxons then looped around and attacked a different part of England and Arthur goes “Oh. Oh, that’s how it's gonna be? Fine. If y’all want to fake surrender, I guess I’m no longer accepting surrenders. Let me stop going EASY on you.” And the Saxons are like “Wait, he was going easy on us?”

Arthurian myths Retold pg 29-30