Chapter 309
Chapter 309
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 309
Chapter Title: God-Defying Herculean Strength #9
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Some of us had to stay behind to guard the Gorgor ship we'd arrived on and the unconscious Elfride.
That's why Hippolyte decided to remain on the ship we'd come in on.
"Coming all this way just to end up guarding the damn ship. Tsk."
She clearly wasn't thrilled about it, but among us, she was the only one strong enough to protect the ship in these unpredictable seas where anything could pop out.
Without the ship, we'd have a hell of a time getting back.
"I-I want to stay here too.... I can't go beyond that point. The smell is too foul. There's something horrific at the end there."
The problem was Luna.
Ever since we arrived at this fleet of ships, Luna hadn't calmed down at all. She was trembling like she'd been spooked by something massive.
I got it—sending a soft girl like Luna into unknown dangers was a risky gamble.
But thinking back, I wondered if there'd ever been a time when Luna was this terrified and shaking. She wasn't as timid as I'd thought.
With her sharp senses, was Luna instinctively picking up on some powerful, horrifying presence hidden in this pile of wreckage?
That realization made the danger feel even greater.
Luna said,
"Hassan, I can't go with you, but take this! Use it if that snake gives you too much trouble!"
"What's this?"
"You'll know when you use it!"
What the hell was it? Just as I was about to ask again, Paranoya spoke up first.
"Master Hassan...! I'll stay on the ship with everyone to guard it...! I believe you can slay that wicked sea serpent even without us...!"
"What? So I guess I'm going alone."
In the end, I was the only one left who could head out to hunt the sea serpent on this bizarre island of ships.
Seeing how everyone was struggling with this toxic fog, though, it couldn't be helped.
It was probably only going to get thicker deeper in. In a world without proper gas masks, dragging everyone through this poison would be insane.
So, in the end, it was just me and Tritan setting out to take down the sea serpent.
It felt weird as hell having to team up alone with the guy who'd tried to kill me, but on the flip side, it was reassuring not to venture solo into a monster serpent's lair.
This guy was a powerhouse, after all. We'd make it work somehow.
Creak, creak.
Screeech—.
Tritan and I walked across the shattered decks of the ships, pushing deeper into the thicker fog.
We'd only gone about ten meters or so, but the ship we'd arrived on was already swallowed by the black mist, out of sight.
Chilling.
Was it really okay to keep going like this?
"Cough—."
Right then, Tritan hacked up a deep cough, like something had been shoved up from his lungs. His palm was smeared with bright red blood, making me grimace. He didn't look good at all.
"Intense poison. Worse than last time. Hoo—. Even I can barely stand."
"That bad?"
"And you're holding up just fine? Got some special resistance to poison or something?"
"Maybe."
Thinking about it, there were plenty of reasons why.
Maybe because of my dad, who loved his wuxia novels, I'd been shoving all sorts of weird shit into my mouth since I was a kid, claiming it was to build "immunity to all poisons" or whatever.
Bees, wasps—you name it, I'd let them sting me. Centipedes, venomous snakes, all sorts of deadly critters, I'd tested their venom on myself.
The worst was these ants my dad got from somewhere. Ants with fucking scorpion-like stingers on their tails, of all things.
One sting from those, and even I was bawling my eyes out in agony.
The real kicker? Wearing a glove stuffed with a bucketful of the bastards and enduring it for an hour.
It fucking hurt! Aaaagh—!
Man up, boy! Tough it out! Once this is done, your fingers will cleave heaven and sea alike!
Hieeeek!
Straight-up child abuse.
But looking back now, maybe all that brutal training as a kid was why I could stay relatively calm in this black fog.
Had my dad somehow foreseen I'd end up in a situation like this?
Nah, just my delusion. No one could've predicted I'd be here dealing with this crap.
Cough—.
"Hoo, no time to waste. The serpent's poison is getting stronger. Let's hurry and take it out."
As Tritan kept coughing up blood, I suddenly had a question.
"By the way, is that serpent thing injured?"
"How'd you know?"
"Wounded snakes and bugs always pump out stronger venom."
"You're right. The sea serpent Hydra fled here after taking some wounds, for some reason. Immortal body and all, but I don't know who hurt it...."
"This fucker, Hydra?"
My vision went dark.
Hydra.
I knew damn well the terror that name carried.
A beast with deadly venom and blood that even top gods and heroes struggled to kill.
A monster straight out of myth, coiled somewhere in this ship graveyard—it sent chills straight down my spine.
"You f-fucking Hydra? Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"Why? If I said the name, everyone would've bolted."
Couldn't argue with that.
Like Tritan said. If we'd known a Hydra was lurking here, would our party have come all this way to this distant strait?
Hard to say.
We probably would've debated it even more.
Maybe I should just turn back and pretend this never happened.
As I seriously considered that, something slowly emerged from the dark, murky seawater and began climbing onto the broken deck.
Clack, clack.
Clack—.
It was a massive crab. A fucking enormous one, half the size of a man's torso. I shouted in surprise,
"Your minions?"
"Nah, ones controlled by Hydra's poison. This area's crawling with monsters and heroes felled by venom. Better watch out."
Groooar—.
No sooner had Tritan finished than grotesque corpses started rising from the sea alongside the crab.
Bloated from the water, covered in barnacles and seaweed—these hideous things.
One had a bracelet like mine on its wrist, so probably one of the heroes who'd come here chasing warrior karma.
"F-Fuck!"
They looked like drowned pigs burst green and bloated—horrific enough to make me scream.
"Fucking hell, they're goddamn grotesque!"
Groooar—.
These aquatic zombies lunged at me and Tritan.
The thought of one of those abominations touching me was so repulsive I felt like dying, so I yanked out my club and smashed their heads clean off with all my might.
Splat—!
Gurgle—.
But even headless, they kept coming at me.
What the hell? Looking closer, tiny crabs, shrimp, and barnacles were swarming inside its body, gnawing and puppeteering it.
Sea creatures controlling the corpse!
It creeped me out so bad, chicken skin erupted all over—I wanted to claw my skin raw.
Things like this exist in the world?! This was straight-up unforgivable!
"Fuck this!"
Too scared shitless, I didn't forget to stomp the crabs underfoot, crushing their shells.
"At this rate, it'll never end. Let's break through to where the serpent's sealed!"
I agreed vehemently with Tritan.
"Sounds good!"
Dealing with these minions one by one, we might end up as sea wraiths ourselves.
Groooar—.
"Get lost, you claustrophobic fuckwits!"
*
*
*
Tritan and I finally reached a massive wrecked liner big enough to call a passenger ship.
Its side was blown open like it'd taken a cannonball, with a bizarre rock embedded there.
"Looks like the seal's still holding, at least."
From Tritan's words, I realized that rock was sealing the venomous dragon Hydra.
I'd pictured a sea cave blocked by a boulder, like Ariel said, but it being between shattered ship hulls felt oddly surreal.
"Hoo...."
Tritan let out a heavy sigh.
Blood was already trickling from his eyes, nose, and ears. Looked brutal. About to croak?
We'd plowed through plenty of minions, but I didn't recall him taking any hits.
Probably because of the black, murky liquid starting to seep from beyond that rock.
Vile.
So acrid and putrid even I felt queasy—like every rot in the world mashed together, enough to rot my nose off.
If sharp-nosed Luna were here, she'd probably pass out.
Maybe that's why her instincts kicked in from afar, making her stay on the ship. Totally plausible.
Something primal, like a heartbeat urging escape.
"Hoo—."
I just regulated my breathing.
I pondered why I'd come here.
Slaying the monster blackening these seas—Hydra—that was the prophets' karma quest. More precisely, the gods' task delivered through prophets to humans.
And heroes who completed it got to ask any question and receive an answer.
In that logic, I felt a kind of fate.
If I did well.
Really well, maybe I'd learn why the hell I'd ended up in this bizarre world.
It felt like a rule made for me.
Even Jupiter, whom I'd met at the abyss's end, urging me to Delphi—probably for this reason.
You might call it grand delusion, but that's what I believed.
No one wanted answers more than me.
I slowly moved toward the rock. Tritan, behind me, called out in shock.
"You're serious? There's a real Hydra back there. Daughter of the monster queen Echidna! Primal beast! Not just some snake!?"
"Yeah, that's why we came this far. To kill the Hydra."
"No, you're actually gonna fight a real Hydra? After coming all this way, you still don't get it?"
I couldn't understand what Tritan was suddenly on about.
"What're you talking about? Didn't you come to take it down with me?"
Tritan scowled at my question.
"No! I figured I'd guide you here, you'd bail, and we'd go home! I didn't wanna add more bodies to the sea!"
"Oh—."
Didn't know the details, but I could tell Tritan was scared.
Even gods get scared?
No, the gods I'd seen and this Tritan guy were a bit different.
So I finally spat out the words I'd been holding back.
"You're not all that impressive, huh."
"What?"
"Thought you were hot shit with over thirty in your harem, but turns out you're not much different from me."
"Of course, dumbass! I don't even have devotees or a throne yet! I'm barely stronger than a demigod!"
"Ah, figured as much."
As I nodded in agreement, Tritan calmed from his agitated state and spoke evenly.
"If I'd borrowed my father's sacred weapon Triaina, maybe, but right now I'm just a water mage. Same as you, no?"
"Not sure. What're you getting at?"
Seemed not all divine heirs were god-level powerhouses. High potential, but not there yet, basically?
Luna was the same.
"And that's why you're scared of the Hydra—as a god."
"That too? What do you mean? Gods fear things?"
"Its immortal flesh and venom curse eat the soul. Endless agony without death, for eons."
I docked a single candy point from my image of gods' majesty and grandeur. Felt like my head cleared up.
So now what?
Back off?
Nah, then I wouldn't have come this far.
"Then stay put and watch."
I finally stood before the rock, twice my height at least.
Groooar.
As I poured strength into my palm, the massive, embedded boulder began sliding aside with a heavy rumble.
Psssh—.
At the same time, the foul poison surging from within stung my eyes fiercely.
"No, after all those warnings, you still? I said it for your sake, man! What the hell are you? Crazy?"
"I'll find out now."
This was literally my chance.
"What I can do—."
My chance for answers, my personal karma.
"—and what the hell I am."
Before my eyes, countless fluorescent glints of beastly eyes emerged from the darkness.