Chapter 307
Chapter 307
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 307
Chapter Title: Hydra's Fury
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Vision cleared to an open plain without any undulations.
The Hydra that first appeared there didn't look all that impressive.
But as it gradually drew closer, its massive body became starkly apparent.
If it had been just a matter of size, that would have been manageable. Over a hundred rankers wouldn't have been so terrified.
But the Hydra wasn't merely a giant monster.
Snakes writhing wildly, roaring toward the heavens.
A presence emanated from the Hydra unlike any monster they had encountered before.
It was like beholding a repulsive demon slithering nearer, the very embodiment of slaughter, trampling, and destruction.
The Hydra with eight heads and the one with nine weren't separated by just a single head.
'Never thought I'd see that thing again.'
Ye-ryeong felt a familiar chill. Even after all this time, her body still remembered.
The Hydra was enraged.
She didn't know what at. But even from this distance, she could tell it was furious.
Ye-ryeong turned her body and locked eyes with the Hydra from afar.
Even at such a distance, she could feel its heads staring in their direction.
"You're late."
The distance was closing rapidly. The creature, which had been approaching leisurely, began to accelerate.
The Hydra had detected their presence.
The speeding Hydra was several times faster. Now, the gap was visibly narrowing before their eyes.
Could they escape from a beast charging at that speed?
The greatsword gripped in Pelius's pale hands trembled.
"W-what do we do now?"
His tone toward Ye-ryeong had turned polite.
His instincts as a high ranker were telling him that the woman before him was his only lifeline.
But unfortunately, that lifeline had already risen beyond his reach.
"Too late."
Kyaaaaa—!
The Hydra took to the skies.
"—It's coming."
Kwang—!
In the blink of an eye, it closed the distance and crashed down right before the city.
This fast? Pelius's eyes went wide. He'd assumed something that size would be slow, but that was a mistake.
"Block it—!"
"Don't block—dodge!"
Pelius raised his shield and shouted. Ye-ryeong's cry followed immediately after, but he had already gripped it firmly.
A thick curtain of mana unfurled over the shield. The absolute barrier that had made him what he was.
But.
Kwaaang—!
"...!"
The instant the Hydra's tail whipped into the barrier.
Craaaack—!
Snap, crackle.
The barrier shattered into pieces, accompanied by the sound of the bones in his shield hand breaking.
Pelius's body flew lightly like a sheet of paper. When his body slammed into a building, it collapsed in a heap of rubble.
Ye-ryeong pressed her forehead.
"Agh, that moron."
Kyaaaaa—!
The Hydra, having swung its tail, bellowed in fury at the human who dared block its path.
Its nine heads glared down at the rankers at its feet. Ye-ryeong pulled her mask higher against the venom-laced breath.
"A high ranker in one hit..."
"Damn it, how are we supposed to block that?!"
The rankers fell into chaos.
They'd thought it was a full hundred, but no.
Just a hundred. They had no means to stop that monster.
Kwaaadddududu.
The Hydra's massive body surged into the city.
It swung its tail and began spewing poisonous fumes from its heads. Buildings shattered in an instant, and the ground where the fumes spread melted away.
It was an unstoppable calamity.
No rankers remained to confront the Hydra.
Far from fighting, countless rankers were dying after being swept up in the fumes while fleeing.
That was when.
"Hey, snake."
Above the rampaging Hydra's heads.
Ye-ryeong stood there, a dagger in hand.
"Remember me?"
Thud.
In that moment, the Hydra's movements halted as if by magic.
The other eight heads focused on Ye-ryeong standing atop one of them.
As if it understood her words, it bared its fangs and roared.
Kyaaaaaah—!
A bone-chilling killing intent permeated the roar. Perhaps it was the Hydra's answer to her question.
Sixteen crimson eyes wept tears of blood.
Seeing that reaction, Ye-ryeong was convinced.
"You do remember."
She had been there the day they subdued the Hydra.
Though it was Soo-hyuk who had ultimately cut off its breath.
It probably wanted to kill them all. Every human who had lent even a hand to slaying it that day.
Kwajik—!
Unable to contain its rage, one of the Hydra's heads lunged and bit into the head where Ye-ryeong had been standing.
Ye-ryeong was already gone. She had leaped atop the very head that charged in fury.
The Hydra's wrath, once directed at all humans, now focused solely on Ye-ryeong. Instead of attacking the city, it would concentrate on killing her.
"This was supposed to be Su-hun or Gyu-seong's job..."
Under the Hydra's gaze pouring down on her, Ye-ryeong let out a deep sigh.
"Come at me, you snake bastard."
The daggers moved at invisible speeds.
Dozens of daggers danced in the sky. Some targeted the Hydra's eyes, others pierced its scales and carved out flesh.
Ye-ryeong's figure was hard to track with the eye.
She had become a dagger herself. The sharpest one among the dozens.
"Ah..."
Pelius, buried in the rubble of a collapsed building struck by the Hydra, watched her movements in a daze.
'Can a person really move that fast?'
Ye-ryeong's speed surpassed anything he'd ever seen.
She dodged all nine heads and evaded every incoming poison stinger.
It was an acrobatic feat where a single misstep would cost her life. Pelius knew that well from personal experience.
Even the hand that deployed his absolute barrier had snapped like a twig—how could an assassin withstand the Hydra's attacks?
Yet Ye-ryeong dodged them all.
And that wasn't all.
She relentlessly targeted the Hydra's eyes.
She evaded the stingers, clambered up its neck, and all the while hurled projectiles ceaselessly at its eyes.
Kyaaaaa—!
Each time a projectile struck its eye, the Hydra screamed.
It had to hurt. No matter how small the thorn, an eye stab was painful.
But that was the extent of it.
Ye-ryeong's projectiles weren't enough to deprive it of sight. Those embedded in its eyes melted away quickly, and the eyes gradually recovered over time.
The Hydra possessed truly transcendent regenerative power.
Kyaaa, kyaaaaa—!
The nine heads thrashed about like a dance. Ye-ryeong's daggers soared through the air, peeling scales and bewildering its eyes.
"Amazing..."
"Amazing won't help."
Pelius, murmuring in admiration, jumped in fright at the voice beside him.
Ye-ryeong was there before he knew it, rolling her stiff neck.
"Aigoo, this is killing me."
"W-when did you get here?"
He had definitely been watching her from afar. One of those dozens of daggers flying in the sky was Ye-ryeong.
Yet even from this distance, he'd lost track of her movements.
What if she were closer? What if one day that dagger targeted his throat or heart?
The mere thought sent shivers down his spine, and Pelius unwittingly backed away from her.
"Hey. You're sturdy. Managed not to die after taking that hit. High ranker?"
"I am a high ranker, but..."
"Barely."
Pelius shut his mouth. She'd hit the nail on the head.
He had indeed scraped by to become a high ranker. Still, a high ranker was a high ranker—an existence far superior to most.
He'd looked down on those below him since, but today he learned there was a sky above the sky.
Now humble, Pelius touched his broken wrist and asked,
"Can you take that thing down?"
"How am I supposed to take it down?"
"Pardon?"
"You got no shame? Telling me to catch that."
This fight was terribly unfavorable for her.
No stealth possible, assassination out of the question. For Ye-ryeong, who specialized in subtlety and speed over raw power, a colossal foe with immense regenerative ability like the Hydra was the worst possible matchup.
"Our compatibility sucks. Agh, seriously. I hate frontal fights."
"Th-then what do we do now?"
Shiiit.
At that moment, one of the Hydra's heads, craning around in search of Ye-ryeong, spotted the two.
One head spotting them drew the others' attention as well. The heads moved like separate lives, yet were unmistakably connected as one.
"Hiiik!"
Pelius's face drained of color once more under the Hydra's gaze.
The nine heads stared their way. His legs trembled from the sheer malice.
"A so-called high ranker getting scared."
"A-at this rate, aren't we all dead?"
"Not we—you."
Bulrok.
One of the Hydra's heads puffed its cheeks.
Poison stingers incoming. Pelius reflexively raised his shield in alarm. Scared or arrogant, a high ranker was still a high ranker.
Keeeng—a clear ringing sound echoed as a thick barrier unfurled before Pelius and Ye-ryeong. Having learned from the previous hit, this one was far thicker than before.
Tudududu.
The incoming stingers pelted the shield and barrier.
"Kraaaa!"
Pelius let out a cry that was half-scream, half-battle shout. His wrist was a mangled mess, but he couldn't loosen his grip on the shield. Doing so would mean losing his life, not just his wrist.
"Not bad?"
"Don't just talk—help me out!"
Pelius yelled desperately.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the barrier almost immediately. The stingers kept coming relentlessly, and it didn't look like he'd hold out much longer.
He'd shouted it at Ye-ryeong, but she acted as if he'd said it to someone else.
"They say so?"
"Pardon?"
In that instant, whoosh—the temperature of the air enveloping their skin shifted.
Chiiiii.
Kadudududu.
The Hydra's flying stingers froze white. Unable to bear the weight, the frozen stingers plummeted downward.
A biting chill raced across the ground at rapid speed.
Kyaaaaaah—!
The Hydra screamed.
Its body began freezing over at a frightening pace. Its heads rose high into the sky as it thrashed against the encroaching ice, shrieking.
A beat later, the Hydra's body locked in place mid-scream, fully frozen.
Pelius stared in stunned disbelief at the events that unfolded in an instant. That monster had frozen solid in one go.
"What... is this..."
"Came quick."
Step.
Ye-ryeong turned to Si-woo, who arrived panting right behind her.
"You walked?"
Sweat-drenched despite the frigid weather, Si-woo replied with a wronged expression.
"You got here too fast."