116. Hydra
116. Hydra
Typhon.
The first magical beast,
the great parent of all magical beasts,
the god of magical beasts.
An ancient being who had existed since the oldest records of humanity.
A massive frame wreathed in shadow and darkness, with impenetrable skin that even an Aura Blade couldn't pierce, and claws that tore everything to shreds—
Typhon was a magical beast who symbolized the era of magical beasts, bearing every horrifying description in the world.
When he was alive, other races had to tread carefully around magical beasts, it was said.
They had maintained their own society, not merely hunted one-sidedly like the mute beasts of today.
[Th-that's right... this is the land where Father Typhon's remains slumber. We have guarded this land.]
"So that's why it's the Black Forest..."
That immensely powerful magical beast, Typhon, had died long ago.
He had died abruptly one day.
True to the legend that Typhon had cloaked himself in shadow and darkness, the land where he was buried was pitch-black.
Typhon had died so long ago that no proper records remained, and the stories passed down varied by nation and by race.
The Church said he was slain by a Holy Knight called by God; among the beastmen, they said a dragon beastman killed him; among the elves, they said a young elf boy shot him through the heart with an arrow made from a branch of the World Tree.
Legends about Typhon's death were as numerous as the nations and races themselves.
Scholars, noting this phenomenon, had proposed that all the races had formed a coalition to slay Typhon, but it was not accepted as the established theory.
If that many races had gathered, there should logically be records of it.
"If this is that kind of place, then I won't come any further in either..."
[Hiss! Where do you think] [you're going, making] [your own assumptions, all by yourself?]
I had been prepared to quietly leave, but the Hydra's nine heads threatened me.
It seemed they couldn't stomach backing down like this.
[Negotiation is something] [you do when you're on roughly equal footing...] [Why should we] [have to negotiate with a single human like you...!!]
"I try to let things slide, and this is what I get."
[Hsss!! We're sick of] [being trapped like sinners] [in this land—and now you expect us, the proud] [children of Typhon,] [to bow our heads to a] [puny human like you?!!]
[Keuk, well said. Hey, Orthos, did you think we'd just accept it if you went and fought him alone and told us to be convinced? We were getting bored anyway—let's have a go at him!]
As the Hydra hissed sharply, the Cyclops, who had been bowing, laughed.
The ground shook as he moved.
[Don't do it...! That human who can shine his sword... is strong! And among them, this human is especially strong!]
[Don't] [order me around!! Hsss!!]
The only one among them who had been chopped to pieces, Orthos, barked and tried to dissuade the Hydra.
[Hsss, the reason] [we are here is] [to honor our father, hsss,] [not to grovel at a human's feet!]
[The promise we made with the humans] [before was different. It was because] [we were tired of humans] [fearlessly trampling the forest that we] [frightened them and warned them not to come any further.]
[We are stronger] [than humans. So what is] [that posture of yours... you look as though] [you've surrendered to this] [puny human, don't you!!]
[I'm telling you, this human is different from the others!]
[Hsss!! ][Shut up, coward!] [He's still only a human,] [I'll show you] [once and for all!!]
A transparent liquid sprayed from the Hydra's mouths.
With nine heads, the Hydra had nine mouths, and the liquid erupted from all nine at once in such quantity that the entire view ahead was obscured by the clear fluid.
I knew the identity of that colorless, odorless liquid without anyone having to tell me.
It was the infamous Hydra's venom.
Known as the most horrific poison in the world, a person poisoned by the Hydra's venom would suffer agony beyond imagination before dying.
With an ordinary poison, even without an antidote, those who had reached the ranks of the superhuman or the transcendent could expel it with their own power.
That was because they could control their own bodies to force out or burn away the components of the poison itself.
Ironically, this was precisely why the Hydra's venom was so legendary.
According to surviving records and legends, anyone hit by the Hydra's venom was poisoned without exception, regardless of their realm, and could never escape it.
The principle couldn't be properly explained, but the moment the Hydra's venom struck, it became impossible to expel it from the body, and there was nothing to be done except suffer until death.
In other words, even if I was a Master, if even a single drop of that venom touched me, I would either die, or—unable to die—live out my entire life in agony.
'Orthos had that same attitude at first too, but after getting chopped to pieces once, he's become cooperative now.'
The venom, launched at high speed, drew close enough to touch the tip of my nose.
The Hydra's venom was a terrifying poison against which defense was impossible.
But looked at fundamentally, the Hydra's attack was nothing more than spraying liquid into the air.
It wasn't some wondrous swordsmanship performed with a poisoned dagger, nor did the poison move through the air of its own accord.
It was merely a liquid with liquid properties, splattered into empty space.
It wasn't an attack that defied the laws of this world, like a demon's.
"You really do need to die at least once before you come to your senses, don't you."
The Aura Blade, honed to the extreme, embroidered the void with light.
The solid line of light drawn was calm, but the magnitude of the force that followed was immense.
-Huuuung!!
A beat later than the gleaming line, a sword-gale swept in.
The gale, powerful enough to blow away even boulders, blasted away the Hydra's venom—which was nothing more than liquid—all at once and sent it right back at the Hydra.
[Ugh..! With something like that!]
The transparent liquid splashed right back onto the Hydra's body, but the Hydra was unaffected.
After all, it was poison he himself had produced.
But soon enough, he realized something was wrong.
[Hss...?]
He realized that his words were only coming from a single mouth.
The other eight heads gave no reaction at all.
The slash I had swung hadn't been some half-hearted sweep to clear the venom with a sword-gale.
It had been a precisely aimed sword-aura, clearly shot with intent.
In a single stroke, I had severed all nine heads the Hydra possessed.
The one remaining head was one I had originally cut off too, but it had regenerated so quickly it didn't even realize it had been severed.
'That one must be the immortal head.'
I knew that among the Hydra's nine heads, one was special.
[Hsss! Do you think] [you can kill me with just] [this much!!]
Several of the already severed heads had nearly finished regenerating.
The Hydra instead manipulated the eight severed heads and stretched them toward me.
The heads were regenerating from the severed cross-sections of the necks, but the rapidly writhing necks sent blood laced with deadly poison spraying in all directions in an even more threatening attack.
"Hup!"
But the result was similar to before.
Once more I swung the Aura Blade and unleashed sword-aura—the sharp, devastating aura sheared off all the Hydra's necks, leaving a single solid line of light hanging in the void, and the ensuing sword-gale blasted away all the poison-tainted blood.
[You must know it's useless! Hsss!!]
All the heads were severed again, but the Hydra coolly regenerated them.
"Alright, fine. Let's just go at it."
I did know one way to kill the Hydra from having read the original story.
Was it the only method ever mentioned so far?
But I didn't feel like using that right now.
"Let's see who gets worn out first—me or you—until you're dead."
I didn't want to kill this bastard. I wanted to mess him up so thoroughly that he admitted defeat on his own.
In the darkness where not even moonlight properly reached, countless trails of light were etched.
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Quite a lot of time passed.
So much so that I couldn't quite remember how many hours had gone by, or how many times I had swung my sword.
"What's the matter, you're done already? I've still got plenty left."
[Hss...ssst...]
The rasping cry that had rattled from the Hydra's flicking tongues could no longer be heard in multiples.
That was because all the heads had been severed and only a single one remained.
It wasn't only the necks that had been cut off.
The Hydra's thick body had also been chopped into many pieces.
The ground was littered with the countless remnants of what had been the Hydra.
Around the staggering Hydra, the once-lush earth had been devastated.
The ground, drenched in the extreme poison that had leaked from the Hydra's dismembered body, had seen its plants shrivel and die blackened.
Since for hours upon hours the Hydra's body had never been without a large wound, the unceasingly gushing venom had soaked the earth so horrifically that it had already become a land of death.
The severed heads scattered everywhere were piled up high at the back, venom still leaking from them.
After a while, cutting off the heads felt like harvesting grain, and I got quite a bit of pleasure out of the work.
The first two times I had at least given him a chance to move, but after that, there was none.
I would sever the heads, and as soon as they regenerated, sever them again.
Even if they didn't regenerate, I would sever the body.
The Hydra endlessly repeated the cycle of being cut and regenerated under the relentless onslaught of slashes.
Whenever he tried to do something, that part would get cut off.
No matter how much venom he spewed, it never reached my feet.
After being dismembered like that thousands of times, the Hydra no longer possessed the will to fight.
Even though he still had ample capacity to regenerate, he wasn't regenerating his heads for that very reason.
He was suppressing his own regeneration out of fear of being cut again the moment he did.
He was an immortal creature, but he wasn't dead like an undead.
He wouldn't die, but being a living creature, he had sharply felt the sensation of his body being cut and the pain of being dismembered.
The Hydra spoke falteringly through his one remaining mouth.
[I've... lo...st....]
Right after, his head was cut off again.
[Hsss?!]
It regenerated immediately after being severed, but the pain of the slash surfaced again and the Hydra trembled in fear.
Indifferently having cut off the Hydra's single remaining neck, Atlas raised his Aura Blade and spoke.
"Your tone's still a bit high, isn't it?"
[I've... lost... o strong... human....]
"How nice it would've been if you'd been this cooperative from the start."
Even hearing my growled words, the Hydra seemed incapable of any further thought.
He was still only suppressing his regeneration.
He displayed the fact that he had no will left to fight, and seemed grateful just that his body wasn't being torn apart by slashes right now.
"You were acting like you were going to jump me any second earlier. You're not going to?"
[Eing... I'll pass. I've lost too, I've lost. With the poison scattered like that, I'm too scared to do anything.]
The Cyclops clicked his tongue as he looked at the forest devastated by the poison, the aftermath of the Hydra's fervent battle.
Orthos had long since moved to a spot where the Hydra's venom wouldn't splash—behind me.
"Orthos, since that guy's pointless antics caused me extra trouble, I'm going to need to make a few adjustments."
[...Strong human... what is it... you want?]
As expected, the Hydra was a troublesome opponent.
It might have looked like I took him down incredibly easily, but if even a drop of the venom that bastard had recklessly spewed had touched me, I would have been the one going down.
So letting this slide as is wouldn't be worth the cost.
"I won't touch Typhon's tomb, so you bastards are going to have to assist with my experiments."
I'd been thinking about it ever since I first saw those three.
If I experimented on these guys, wouldn't it help Professor Praha's research?
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"Sunbae, let's go in."
"It's over?"
"No problem at all."
"Haa... that's a relief."
The guy who almost became the seed of a conflict was put to rest too.
The biggest possible problem in the forest had been wrapped up, so tomorrow should be uneventful.
As I turned to head back, Andy discovered something.
"Your luggage has increased by one. What's that you're holding in your hand?"
"This?"
Andy pointed at a small glass bottle I was holding.
Inside the transparent glass bottle was a liquid so unnervingly clear.
"I collected it from deep inside... want to give it a try drinking it?"
"So it's definitely something you must never drink. Don't even use it on the students."
"I wouldn't do that."