The Labyrinth's Deepest Depths — Subjugation Complete (2)
Looking back on it, we had forgotten something painfully obvious.
Trying to control a fire-breathing hydra with fire itself.
Even if flame resistance was extremely rare, it wasn't as if it didn't exist at all, right?
It was something you basically only found on monsters that lived inside active volcanoes or the legendary beasts that dwelled in magma, so we simply hadn't accounted for it.
So then… what method could stop that hydra's heads from regenerating?
Even a building-sized monster moved so sluggishly that severing its heads was actually quite simple… but those heads just kept growing back, rendering the whole effort meaningless.
"Guh! It's been a long time since I've faced a creature like this!"
"Sir Kazix! Fall back for now!"
"Guildmaster! This one seems rather different from the hydras we've seen until now!"
Sir Kazix, who had even unfurled his wings of light to soar through the air and slash at the hydra's heads, was sent flying.
I hadn't seen it clearly, but it looked as though he had been parried right in the middle of trying to cut through its neck.
Its intelligence was considerable, too.
With so many people pouring attacks on it at once, the hydra seemed to have no choice but to focus entirely on defense.
Should we push harder here?
No… forcing the issue would only wear down the vanguard even more.
It was vital that the front line conserve their stamina as much as possible.
No matter how infinite our recovery magic might be, piling on more strain here would shatter the hard-won balance we had managed to establish.
Burn it… keep the wounds from healing… cell regeneration…
Ways to stop cellular regeneration: either burn the cells until they were ruined, or… completely halt all cellular activity…
Wait a second…
Make cellular activity impossible?
In that instant, an incident from a few mornings ago flashed through my mind.
I had heard a strange noise at night, gotten annoyed, and frozen the whole thing solid—only to discover it was an extinct monster that spewed gas.
The ice magic had been so powerful that even after thawing, there was zero chance of it coming back to life, yet the corpse alone had been more than valuable enough for research.
So then… if burning it still let it regenerate, why not just freeze it instead?
It seemed worth a try.
Lumine and Enge were pouring fire magic onto every wound the moment Sir Kazix severed a head.
They had been burning the injury sites nonstop for a while now, yet nothing had changed, and both of them were starting to look exhausted.
No choice, then.
At this point I just had to go for it.
"Lumine! Enge! Stop using fire magic on the wounds—use ice magic instead!"
"Yes, Lady Esilly!"
The two of them nodded and immediately unleashed ice magic onto the hydra's front neck that Sir Kazix had just cut.
But it was only High Class magic, so it didn't seem to be dealing any real damage.
Neither of them could cast ice magic beyond High Class.
Was the temperature still not low enough after all?
"Sir Kazix!"
"What is it, Hero!"
Sir Kazix, who had been smashing the hydra's heads with his shield while cutting through its necks, came over to my side.
It felt a little awkward having someone so much older than me speak so formally, but the Church Nation had designated me a hero, so of course he would show respect that way…
Being labeled a demon would have been one thing, but a hero?
I didn't know the details, but it seemed all sorts of things had been happening behind my back while I was gone.
Anyway, this wasn't the time for that.
"Can you cut off every single one of the hydra's heads?"
"All of them, you mean! It is possible!"
As confident as ever.
Was that just how paladins of the Church Nation were?
Honestly, I wasn't even sure whether paladin was a particularly high rank.
"Then please do it as quickly as you can!"
The moment Sir Kazix unfurled his wings of light and launched himself into the air, I began gathering mana.
It looked almost beautiful, like an angel ascending to the heavens—until I remembered he was a middle-aged man and snapped back to reality with a jolt.
Ice magic.
How hard had I studied ice magic before entering the labyrinth?
This time I had prepared two spells I had worked especially hard on.
One for small monsters, and one for large ones—two in total.
The hydra before us was an enormous monster.
Not quite on the level of a serpent dragon, but if it ever got outside…
So it had to be dealt with right here.
With the ice magic I had painstakingly created!
Normally I would gather mana into a single point to form a mana orb, but this particular spell used a different method.
Instead of concentrating the mana, I continuously spread it outward, raising the ambient mana density all around.
Of course, I had to be careful not to let any of it flow toward our expedition members.
One mistake and I might freeze our own people solid.
The higher the mana density rose, the more monsters kept spawning.
I felt bad for the people handling the trash mobs, but I hoped they could hold out for about two more minutes like this.
And once the density had climbed high enough…
Creatures that could no longer really be called trash mobs began to appear.
Ah, that was a problem.
If those things charged me, the entire magic formula would shatter.
Just as I was thinking that, the guildmaster's party approached and took up position in front of me.
He glanced back at me for a moment, then bellowed to his party members.
"Do not let a single one of those trash get near Hero Esilly! Understood!"
"You just focus on your own job, boss!"
It was a slightly odd party… but their skill was the real deal.
They were the only S-Rank adventurer party in the Labyrinth City, after all.
And so, without a single trash monster reaching me, I succeeded in saturating the area around the hydra with an extremely high concentration of mana.
It had taken a little time, but this should be enough to produce a result worthy of all the effort the expedition had poured in so far.
I sent the guildmaster a signal with my eyes; he nodded and roared at the top of his lungs.
The entire labyrinth interior seemed to tremble from the force of his voice—it was less a shout and more a lion's roar.
"Everyone, fall back! Vanguard and rear guard alike—retreat to the rear!"
"If you freeze to death there's no compensation, so get out of the way yourselves!"
We had been fighting the hydra for a full hour with zero fatalities. If my magic caused the first deaths, that would go down in history in its own way.
Whether my name or theirs would be the one remembered, I had no idea.
Anyway, every preparation was complete.
Once I confirmed that everyone had evacuated…
I planted my staff firmly into the ground and stretched out my hand.
This was the strongest ice magic I could currently use.
Absolute Zero
Emperor Class ice magic that freezes everything the caster's dispersed mana touches to near absolute zero, instantly stopping all cellular activity.
"<>"
An Emperor Class spell that freezes every place my scattered mana touches to a temperature near absolute zero.
It freezes living beings so swiftly that they never even realize they are freezing.
At temperatures that close to absolute zero, every single cell dies.
A goldfish flash-frozen might still revive, but once every individual cell has been frozen solid, there is no coming back.
The dispersed mana gradually transformed into snow and began freezing the hydra.
The interior of the labyrinth transformed into something like a snow-covered mountain in the middle of a blizzard.
And the hydra, frozen stiff as stone.
The life-flame it had been spewing was locked solid by absolute zero.
"Ah… this isn't right."
Thinking about it, freezing the whole thing solid was a problem.
I stuffed the completely frozen hydra into my Inventory.
I could have thawed and dismantled it right there, but they said they wanted to display it to the people of the Labyrinth City while it was still frozen solid.
"This is the very creature that has terrified our Labyrinth City for so many long years. Showing them the corpse will let them know they have truly been freed from that fear."
But was there even a place big enough to put it?
If they were just going to show it once and then dismantle it, it wouldn't matter much.
Oh, and for the record, the hydra we had just taken down did not belong to me.
The entire expedition had worked hard to defeat it, and according to the contract, rights to the spoils belonged to the guild anyway.
Still, I did have the advantage of priority bidding.
Personally, I wanted the hydra's hide and the horn from its central head.
"Of course! If Hero Esilly desires any particular parts, the guild will yield them with the highest priority!"
"As expected of the guildmaster—you're so big-hearted."
"As big-hearted as Hero Esilly herself, I should hope! Gwahahahaha! …Urgh!!!"
Mid-sentence the guildmaster suddenly let out a scream.
I turned my head, wondering if he had been injured somewhere, only to find Enge standing beside him with a pile bunker driven into his elbow.
"Dear? You mustn't use that sort of language with a young lady."
"I-I only said she was big-hearted!"
"That's exactly what you mustn't say. Lady Esilly is a woman as well—you shouldn't use such words. Understood?"
"Uh…"
Later Enge explained to me that while "big-hearted" meant generous, it could also be used in a double sense.
As a double entendre, "big" could refer to a large chest.
Apparently Enge had heard that sort of comment from certain men quite often.
Well, Enge's chest was the large, satisfying kind that was fun to touch, after all.