Hydra Hunt
The next day, Rion let out a sigh as yesterday's events at the Tower came back to him.
They made it all the way near the top floor. I thought maybe this time... but of course not.
No one in the world could know a Hero's journey. The Tower was a space of perfect chaos — a purgatory even the gods themselves could not touch. Once you stepped inside, you were severed completely from the world beyond. Only when the Demonic Beasts vanished and the Tower crumbled could anyone know a Hero had succeeded. If that never happened, the world had no choice but to keep choosing Heroes and sending them in. Burning incense for the ones who never returned was just a grim extra.
But Rion, the Tower Master, could know. The Tower itself was a world that existed for him alone, so of course he could. That was why, whenever a Hero died — like yesterday — he felt the ripple.
Hang in there, Enril.
It might have been luck at first. But she had gotten the hang of it, and because of that, Enril had not died on the way up the way the others had. Even though the Tower remade itself into a bottomless, ever-shifting hell with every entry, she had reached the Throne Hall in the end. She arrived every time. She challenged him every time. She lost every time — and still, she showed potential. That was why Rion had spared her every time. Why he had sent her back down. Unlike the other Heroes, she had shown him something real.
I looked into it. Some of the other Tier 0 Heroes were already confirmed dead.
Even though everything here was reality and not a game, he could not help but look — wondering if there might be another Hero besides Enril who carried that same possibility. All it confirmed was that reality was nothing like the game. If every Tier 0 had been like Enril, others would have reached the Throne Hall besides her. In the end, this was thoroughly, inescapably real — and Enril was the only challenger.
At least for now.
"Haaah—"
Letting out another long breath, Rion opened the door to the Head Instructor's office and stepped inside. He had come to discuss what had happened yesterday.
"Head Instructor Edmond. Instructor Rion reporting."
"Ah. Come in, Instructor Rion. I have been expecting you."
Head Instructor Edmond greeted him behind a magnificent mustache. At a glance he might have looked like a dandy more concerned with appearances than substance, but the truth was quite the opposite. He simply lacked the qualification to enter the Tower, that was all. In raw ability, he was far stronger than most Hero Candidates.
Looking at him like this, I really don't understand how Hero qualifications get handed out.
Did the Sacred Relic just have a thing for young, handsome faces? Rion shook his head and sat down at Edmond's invitation.
"I have heard the report. A Mana Cultivation Technique, was it?"
"Yes. I would like to teach it, but it is completely different from our existing training methods, so I thought I should report to you first, Head Instructor."
Reports mattered. Especially when they concerned one's superior. It was not simply a question of whether the person above you liked the idea. It was also about whether you had someone who could cover for you if things went wrong. What mattered to Rion right now was making the Heroes stronger and sending them to the Tower. That was why he had come here as a training instructor — and falling out with the Head Instructor would be a headache. No matter that he was the boss. No matter how strong he was. He could not end this himself. Doing something reckless would only cost him.
"Please take a look at this first. These are the relevant materials."
They were documents on the Mana Cultivation Technique, written as thoroughly as he could manage from memory. Edmond looked them over, stroking his chin as he sank into thought.
"Hmm..."
The theory itself was excellent. This was not the kind of empty nonsense some mages liked to spout. Refine mana and work it into a state of maximum efficiency. If it were actually possible, it would be far more useful than the quantity-based approach they had been using until now.
In truth, this idea has come up more than a few times over the years.
Mana was abundant. So what if you made that abundant mana even purer? Wouldn't something even more powerful than what they currently produced come out of it? It was a question anyone who used mana had turned over at least once.
But...
Then why had the subject never been seriously discussed? If it could produce such results, why had no one ever pushed for it? Because the process was twice as hard as simply using mana. Creating a single perfect gem required more effort than anyone imagined. You mined the raw ore from a vein and put it through every kind of process before a jewel finally emerged. Ordinary people could not even dream of it. Even master craftsmen found it grueling.
Mana cultivation was the same. Knights, swordsmen, even mages — the act demanded a kind of labor they had never experienced. And did that guarantee success? Not at all. Failure was more likely. In short, it was several times harder than simply using mana, with no promise it would even work. An extremely difficult method of operation.
"Instructor Rion. As I am sure you know, the concept of refining mana has been considered far too inefficient to ever be properly discussed."
"I have more or less figured that out. This world has such vast amounts of mana that the conclusion was always the same: rather than go through all that trouble, it is better to just absorb more mana and use it."
"You know it well. And I heard you only crossed the sea a short while ago."
What? Is this guy actually suspicious of me?
Just in case, Rion raised his guard as high as it would go. Edmond, for his part, had tossed the remark out without any particular thought.
"As you know, the mana here is abundant beyond measure. For instance—"
A rush of blue light bloomed from Edmond's fingertips. It was not a mage's spell, but a technique of swordsmen and knights — Aura. In this world, calling forth that crystallized form was no great difficulty.
"Even a has-been like myself can manage this much with ease."
A "has-been" who can casually carve through Demonic Beasts with a smile, apparently.
Looking at him now, Rion thought he might understand why the Sacred Relic had not chosen this man as a Hero. Excessive humility! That was plenty unsightly in its own right.
"Which is why the other instructors have been skeptical, but..."
But what? He'd better finish that sentence properly. If Rion did not like what he heard, he would go find those other instructors, hang them upside down, and change their minds for them.
"Miss Enril has agreed regarding its effectiveness. If a Hero who returned alive from the Tower says so — and not just anyone — there must be a reason."
Hearing that, Rion was newly grateful he had brought Enril in yesterday. If she had not been a Hero, the instructors would have had no reason to listen.
"Still, we will need to put the other instructors' doubts to rest, so there is something I need from you."
"A demonstration. Something along those lines, right?"
Edmond gave a wry smile as Rion cut straight to the heart of it. Asking an instructor at the Hero Academy for proof, of all people — it was almost laughable. But in matters like this, justification always played an enormous role. Accomplish something decisive, and no one would argue anymore.
"The truth is, a Hydra has appeared on North Mountain, not far from the Academy."
A Hydra — a high-tier Demonic Beast with powerful mana resistance and poison. Out here, it seemed to occupy a position of considerable power. Inside the Tower, it was not even mid-boss material.
"You are asking me to take care of that Hydra?"
"Not at all. I am asking you to look after the cadets who will be going to deal with it."
"..."
No, that is just asking me to deal with it in so many words. A Hydra's mana resistance was enormous — what were a bunch of cadets supposed to do about that? You would need someone at least approaching Enril's level just to have a shot at killing it.
"I hope you will not have to step in, but a Hydra is an extremely powerful Demonic Beast. And who knows? If Instructor Rion, armed with the Mana Cultivation Technique, puts on an impressive display in front of the students, even the instructors who cannot ignore those students' opinions will have to acknowledge it."
Edmond waited for an answer, a faint smile at the corner of his mouth.
He put some thought into this. So that's why he's the Head Instructor.
Demonic Beasts had to be dealt with anyway, and that job fell to the Hero Candidates. But the anxiety was real. Losing a Hero somewhere that was not even the Tower was something to be avoided. So if something went wrong, they needed someone who was not a Hero but had comparable skill. The Head Instructor had Rion in mind for that role, and that was why he had made the proposal.
Rion could not refuse anyway. It was a reasonably solid justification. He would go at the Head Instructor's "request." He would put on an impressive performance there. From the other instructors' perspective, they would not be able to hold onto their skepticism after that.
"Hmm..."
For some reason, though, Rion did not answer immediately. He hesitated.
"Is there a problem, Instructor Rion?"
"Hm? Ah. No, nothing. I was just thinking about something."
"If the Hydra is a concern, you are free to decline."
It was no pushover of a Demonic Beast, so Edmond was leaving him a way out — in case Rion found the creature genuinely difficult. But the reason Rion kept delaying his answer was something else entirely.
A Hydra... mana resistance is one thing, but isn't its real trademark that nightmarish venom?
Having a lot of heads, or being tough against mana attacks — that was not the whole story. The venom it spewed would snatch your life the instant it entered your body. That was why you were forced to wrap a considerable amount of mana around yourself for defense rather than offense—
But I... I'm completely immune to poison.
It was one of the many powers he possessed as the Tower Master. No poison that existed in this world could do him any harm. Even a Hydra's venom was nothing more than a dry, stale puff of incense to him.
I don't even get poisoned, and I have to pretend to spend mana defending against it? Yeah... this is going to be a real pain.
A few days later, the team to eliminate the Hydra was decided. First was Rion, who would lead them, and then ten cadets who would gain experience. Among them was Adnel, who had been ready to drop out until Rion talked her out of it.
And the last member—
"I'm ready, Instructor."
"Uh... right. Let's go."
Tangled up with Enril yet again, Rion pressed a hand to his forehead. He had wanted to raise that Hero, that much was true. He just had not wanted to keep running into her this often.