The Hydra Hunt
The landscape near the North Mountain... was it like this? The scenery... is different from what I remember!
“Yeah, the forest... is a bit weird.”
“Hey, this is not just weird.”
Of course it was weird. Not just any monster, but a Hydra was said to inhabit it.
Didn’t we study monsters at least a little?
If we don’t know this much, what are we doing going to the Tower later?
You guys know, right? You have to hunt the Hydra!
Even if you can’t catch it, you at least have to land some effective hits. This isn’t a bus.
Rion was irritated by all the nagging from the corner of his mouth.
“The Hydra’s aura seems stronger than I thought. Normally it only spits poison within its activity range, but to cover the mountain and even the surrounding forest with faint poison...”
In contrast, Enril pointed out one by one, surely.
As a senior Hero, about real situations not in books.
“Eh, eh?! Then don’t we have to do mana decoding right here from the start?!”
A female student stepped forward with a panicked tone.
The Hydra’s poison is deadly if even a small amount is ingested properly.
In the past, a huge city became a ghost city because of one Hydra.
The tens of thousands of people living there rotted into corpses poisoned by it.
“Huu...”
Rion let out a deep sigh.
If I had time to say that, I could have circulated mana long ago.
It’s not like they can’t do it themselves.
They say there’s plenty of mana. The world is overflowing. What are they lacking?
“From now on, we’ll do it. Well, everyone knows how to decode mana, right?”
“Yes, Instructor!”
At least Enril stepped up, so Rion’s complaints didn’t come out.
By now, one might seriously wonder if he brought Hero candidates or chirping chicks.
...Maybe the latter is actually correct.
No matter how you look at it, no matter how you look, the kids are too pure and kind.
In this world, as Hero candidates, they might look good.
But in that case, they couldn’t survive even a moment in the Tower, which is hell itself.
Noble heart, upright belief, noble spirit of sacrifice, all good.
All good, but first and foremost, winning is important, toppling the Tower, right?
If their skills are good, what then. Everyone’s hearts are too flower fields.
...Be patient, be patient. I’m the instructor. I was assigned to teach them.
I would be this frustrated, how much more so for Enril who has experienced the Tower.
Thinking this, Rion continued heading deeper into the forest.
“Rest for 20 minutes here.”
“Y-yes, thank you!!”
The exhausted students sat down.
Not physically weak, but using both body and mana, it’s inevitable to feel tired.
“This place is at least not very poisonous.”
Found a relatively good place in the forest where poison accumulates.
Probably the mana-rich stream acts as a purifying water or something.
It won’t last long. At best a few days.
How did you find such a place so quickly.
Enril started looking at him with sparkling eyes.
Rion, feeling burdened by that, decided to leave the spot quickly.
“Enril.”
“Yes, Instructor!”
“Go around the surroundings a bit and come back. I’ll leave the students to you.”
Leaving Enril’s request to not worry and go back, Rion entered deeper into the forest.
After a suitable distance, he lightly kicked his feet.
Fssssh!—
Instantly distancing Rion from Enril and the group.
When he reached the target point, he slowly reduced speed.
With sharp eyes, he began gazing at the distant place.
“...”
Far away, the pungent smell of poison felt beyond the valley.
Dark, dark. Evil hidden behind ugly, ugly true form.
The chicks didn’t know, nor did Enril, but Rion knew.
That beyond there was a much larger death crouching.
Hey, this might be a bit... dangerous?
Why was faint poison seeping even at the forest entrance.
Probably the Hydra that settled here was quite strong.
The head instructor thought it was a normal Hydra, but it’s not.
This much, professional monster hunters should come.
The damage to the still insufficient students would snowball.
Our kids’ level... hmm.
Imagining the students resting at the rest spot.
Chicks. Very pure and cute chicks.
But their skill isn’t that bad, that’s not it.
Mana handling skill, attitude towards monsters, self-awareness.
All three are fine. Just a bit lacking, that’s the worry.
He pondered for a moment, but it was ultimately useless.
They are students of the Hero Academy, Hero candidates climbing the Tower.
The outstanding ones are selected as Heroes and head to the Tower, hell itself.
The less outstanding stay here and become monster hunters.
There are differences, but both must stake their lives.
One mistake, life or death. Small, self; large, the whole world.
What they need is more experience.
And what Rion needs is a Hero who breaks through the Tower based on experience.
So, in the end, the answer is one.
They have to clash. Even if they get cut and bleed a little.
“Ah, you’re back?”
When he returned to the spot, Enril greeted Rion.
From the situation, she seemed to be organizing rest and preparing to depart.
Clearly the instructor is Rion, but Enril was doing all the work.
...Not bad.
Honestly, this is something Enril is more expert at than himself.
All he did was sit in the Tower for 100 years.
Or, after meeting Enril, just a simple fight.
All the monster subjugation like this is more advantageous for Enril.
“Ah, I... I might have proceeded without Instructor’s permission...”
“Don’t worry about it. Your advice will hit home more with those friends.”
“...Is that so?”
From the way she spoke, it seems that part is the issue again.
Others call her a Hero, but she herself survived by her own efforts.
Even if she struggled, begged, in the end she was saved again and fell back under the Tower.
Enril seemed to look down on herself for that.
“The path is two ways. Live and topple the Tower, or die and become the Tower’s grudge. So I always go to the Tower. To end it myself, or to meet my end.”
Looking at it this way, it seems the Hero education was wrong?
You have to think about surviving and winning, why start with dying?
Is honor toppling the Tower? Or saving the world?
Nobility can sometimes be positive, but not now.
Your world is really precarious. Wake up.
Rion wanted to say something because Enril’s attitude didn’t sit well with him, but since her expression was bad, he couldn’t.
The faint vibration he felt also helped.
Kugugoo!—
“Woah?!”
“I-is it an earthquake?”
“...If it were an earthquake, it’d be better. But it doesn’t seem so. Students.”
It seems the poison snake guy noticed their presence earlier than expected.
Otherwise, no reason to suddenly move from the nest he set.
Annoying guys came into his territory, so he means to tear them apart himself.
“H, Hydra is coming...”
“This position doesn’t seem good for fighting! Let’s move!”
“That’s better. The terrain is hard to maneuver right now.”
As Rion said, the candidates were not just chicks.
At first, they looked a bit panicked, but soon composed themselves and did their jobs.
Scouted the fighting terrain, formed formations, prepared battle plans.
Looking at it, it was a very desirable Hero’s appearance.
They have the will to face reality without losing courage and break through.
They know who they are and what they have to do.
But the problem is, such team play is impossible in the Tower.
One day, ten people will have to do everything alone.
Enril, who knew this well, quietly looked at the students.
Please, in this real battle, realize this and it becomes a motivation to work harder.
And for Rion—
Good. This concludes that even a little of the main body’s power is flowing out.
In fact, he had been worrying a lot on the way.
After all, the body doesn’t feel poison, but has to pretend to.
That’s why he had to show decoding by raising mana high.
Then, maybe the main body’s power leaks out, he thought.
If that were really the case, not only Enril next to him, but the Hydra coming from far away would turn around and run in the opposite direction.
No matter how powerful the monster, nothing before the Tower Master.
Be careful with the main body power at all times.
No reason to come out openly from the start.
After all, he came to watch over the students from behind.
Even if the Hydra is strong, there’s only one individual.
Conversely, the students, excluding Rion and Enril, are about 10.
It’s not overwhelmingly advantageous, but not disadvantageous either.
Fighting monsters, he knows, no big worry.
If someone gets in danger, save them, and in return fight a bit, that’s it.
Or, I could show the refined mana with the Mana Cultivation Technique while dealing the final blow?
*
...There was some idiot thinking that. Damn. What final blow.
Why am I fighting with the Hydra.
Why is Enril fighting together next to me.
Why are the students who should fight the Hydra all lying there!