The Battle with the Hydra (Part 1)

"Ha, haha... Calm down? Zenith is right there! Your mother is right there! How do you expect me to calm down?!" Paul slammed me against the wall with both hands.

"Rudeus! She's your mother! She... she's right in there! How can you... how can you be so calm?!" His voice was almost frantic.

"I... I..." I knew it was important to stay calm at a time like this, but looking at Paul now, I couldn't get a word out.

Eris grabbed Paul and pinned him against the wall in turn. Paul tried to draw his sword, but Eris's blade was already at his throat.

"Paul, calm down!" He let out a breath. "Can't you see?! Look at Rudeus's face! Do you know how much pain he's in right now?"

Only then did Paul look at my face. My expression was probably just like the one I'd worn when he first met me.

He seemed to realize he'd lost control, and his voice grew calmer. "Rudeus... I'm sorry, I just..."

"I'm the one who should be sorry. Mother is right in front of us, and I haven't shown anything at all..." I said.

"No..." Paul started to say something else, but Roxy interrupted him.

"Mr. Paul, I know you're anxious right now. Zenith is your wife, but she's also Rudeus's mother. How could he not be anxious too? So the most important thing now is to discuss how to defeat the Hydra and rescue Zenith."

Once we'd calmed down, we began discussing our tactics. After all, we knew too little about the Hydra.

Paul gripped his sword, his eyes fixed on the monster. "Eris and I will take the front and fight it up close. Rudeus and Roxy will provide long-range magic support from the rear, Talhand will handle defense, and Elinalise will keep it occupied."

"Right, as for how we attack," Master Roxy said, lowering her voice, her wand in hand. "All we know about this monster so far is that it has nine heads and is S-rank. We don't know anything about its defenses or whether it has any special abilities. So once the fight starts, Rudeus and I will probe it with long-range magic first. Once we've confirmed how it defends itself, you can move in."

"Got it." Eris tightened her grip on her sword, her fingers turning white.

"So I'm just handling defense?" Talhand asked in a muffled voice.

"Protect the mages," Paul said.

"Fine."

I took a deep breath. The air was thick with the cloyingly sweet smell of magic crystals and the revolting stench of the Hydra.

"Attack!"

Paul was the first to charge out.

He moved fast, his boots splashing across the slippery rock as he rushed straight at the Hydra's flank. Eris followed close behind, the giant spider leg dragging along the ground and throwing sparks as she circled toward its other side.

The Hydra woke up.

Nine serpentine heads rose at once, eighteen slit pupils gleaming coldly in the blue light. It moved much faster than we'd expected. The head closest to Paul suddenly opened its mouth, and a jet of orange-red flame erupted from deep in its throat.

"It can breathe fire! The first head has the fire attribute! That means each of its heads might have an attribute of its own."

Paul rolled aside to dodge the pillar of fire. The flames grazed the edge of his armor and left a charred black streak on the rock wall.

"Master Roxy!" I shouted.

"Already on it."

A spear of ice shot from the tip of her wand, flying straight at the nearest head. It moved at tremendous speed and struck its target squarely on the side.

But it had no effect.

The instant the ice spear struck the scales, it shattered into a shower of ice fragments, as though it had hit an invisible wall. It didn't leave so much as a scratch on the scales.

"It bounced off? Long-range magic doesn't work on it?"

"Rudeus!" Master Roxy's voice was urgent. "Magic doesn't work on it. Point-blank range! Only magic cast at point-blank range might work on it!"

Gritting my teeth, I charged forward, poured mana into my wand, and aimed at the base of the neck of the nearest snake head. I fired a Rock Bullet almost against the surface of its scales.

The Rock Bullet exploded.

Scales shattered, and dark green blood gushed from the cracks. The head let out a piercing hiss and thrashed violently, spraying a mist of blood.

"It worked! We can penetrate its scales at point-blank range!"

"Front line, go!" I shouted.

Eris was already there.

She leaped off the Hydra's body and brought the Nameless Sword down from above. With a single blow, she severed the head along with half its neck, sending it flying to crash heavily onto the ground.

At the same moment, Paul cut off a second head from the other side.

That made two, with seven left.

"That really was too fast. Eris and Paul are working together perfectly. At this rate, all nine heads will soon..."

On the severed surface of the neck, new flesh began to writhe.

I stared at the sight, my stomach churning. Bone began growing from the center of the stump, muscle fibers winding around it like vines, while scales covered the outermost layer one by one. The whole process was visible to the naked eye. In just a few dozen seconds, a new head would grow back in the same place.

"It's regenerating!" I shouted. "Its heads grow back even if we cut them off!"

"Then we'll just keep cutting!" Eris's voice came from atop the Hydra's back. She didn't stop, swinging the Nameless Sword and severing a third head at its base.

But the first head to be cut off had already grown most of the way back. The outlines of bone and muscle were clearly visible; only the final layer of scales remained.

"We need to find a way to stop it from regenerating. I remember there were similar bosses in games in my previous life... Fire... Could we stop it by burning the stumps?"

"Master Roxy! Use fire! Burn the stumps of the necks we've cut!"

Master Roxy didn't ask any questions. A jet of flame shot from the tip of her wand, precisely covering the stump of the head Eris had just severed. The new flesh charred in the heat, giving off a pungent, scorched stench.

The regeneration stopped.

The stump turned into a charred black crust, and the new flesh stopped writhing.

"It worked!" I shouted. "Eris, after you cut them off, let Master Roxy and me burn the neck stumps!"

Eris didn't look back, but her actions gave me her answer. Her sword fell again, severing the fourth head. My flames followed close behind, covering the new stump.

Three heads were destroyed for good, one was still regenerating, and five active heads remained.

My left eye twitched again. An image flashed through my Demon Eye of Foresight: the third head on the left was gathering power, a dark red glow rising from deep in its throat.

"Eris! The third head on the left is charging up!"

"I see it!"

She leaped from the Hydra's back and struck precisely at the base of the third head's neck. The moment the head was sent flying, the half-charged flames burst from the stump and scorched the Hydra's own body.

"Good work, Eris! Keep going! Six more!" Paul charged in from the side, and with a flash of his sword, he cut off another head.

Master Roxy's flames followed close behind, covering the new stump.

Just then, the Hydra's body suddenly swelled.

The five remaining heads opened their mouths at once, each gathering power. The light of five attributes-fire, water, wind, earth, and lightning-flared simultaneously, illuminating the entire underground space.

"Scatter!" Paul roared.

Five elemental attacks blasted out at once. A pillar of flame, a high-pressure blade of water, a wave of vacuum, a rock projectile, and a beam of lightning intertwined into an impenetrable net of death. Talhand raised his shield at the very front, and a massive stone wall rose out of nowhere before him, blocking two of the attacks. But the shock wave still pushed him several meters backward, his boots carving deep grooves into the rocky floor.

Elinalise's rapier fired a shock wave, holding one head's attention and letting Paul circle around through its blind spot.

My left eye began to throb violently.

I saw it.

An image from one second in the future flooded my vision. The seventh head, the one gathering purple lightning, was charging an attack aimed at Master Roxy. The lightning beam would fire in one second, its path passing right through where she stood.

"Master Roxy! To your right! Dodge!"

She didn't hesitate. The instant she threw herself to the right, a bolt of purple lightning slammed into the spot where she'd been standing, shattering the rock and sending fragments flying. The shock wave grazed the hem of her robe. She stumbled two steps, but steadied herself.

"That was close. Half a second later, and it would have been too late."

The battle reached a fever pitch.

The Hydra had gone completely berserk. Its five remaining heads no longer attacked one at a time, instead unleashing attacks of every attribute simultaneously. The entire underground space became a chaotic elemental storm, flames, frost, lightning, and poisonous mist crisscrossing the air. Several cracks appeared on the crystal's surface from the shock waves, and its blue-green light flickered.

A wind blade sliced open Paul's armor, and blood gushed from his shoulder. He didn't retreat, gritting his teeth and continuing to charge forward. A corner of Eris's clothing had been scorched too, but she didn't slow down in the slightest, her blade striking again and again.

I used another point-blank Rock Bullet to blast the scales off one head, and Eris followed immediately, cutting it off. Master Roxy's flames burned the stump.

Four heads were destroyed for good, two were still regenerating, and three were active.

The Hydra let out a deafening roar. Its body began to tremble violently, and all its remaining heads suddenly stopped attacking and turned in the same direction.

The crystal encasing Zenith.

Light flared in the mouths of all three snake heads at once. The light was a mixture of many colors, as though all its remaining mana had been compressed together.

"It's aiming at the crystal pillar! It's going to..."

"It's going to take us all down with it!" Paul's voice changed pitch.

His face went deathly pale in an instant.