Losing four of its seven heads in a short time, the Hydra went into a Frenzied State and began attacking anything that moved at random. Finding it difficult to do anything now, all Paul and company could do was dodge incoming attacks while they looked for an opening. Keeping track of time for them on my cell, I warned the group that they had thirty seconds left right as the timer rolled over.
“Paul, we need to make a move now!”, Tallhand shouted, using his Earth Magic to sink the Hydra into the ground, “My shoddy tactic is only going to buy us a minute or two at best. Please tell me you have a plan.”
“I am trying to think of something, but it is pretty difficult to think and dodge at the same time.”, Paul said, trying not to let his frustration show in his tone, “Ghislaine, is there any way you can get behind this thing and attack from the rear?”
“I can try, cover me!”, Ghislaine shouted, as Geese through a strange stone at the Hydra’s head.
In an instant, a bright flash of light covered the area blinding anyone who did not shield their eyes. Roaring out in pain, the Hydra began flailing its heads and tail around wildly trying to defend itself. Flicking a blinded Ghislaine away with its tail, she skipped across the floor a few times before slamming into a boulder.
“Ghislaine!!”, Elinalise cried, “Are you okay!?”
“I…I am…fine…”, she wheezed, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
Using Healing Magic on her, I repaired her broken bones and told her to be more careful. Thanking me for healing her, she picked up her blade and made a second attempt on the Hydra. No longer blinded, the Hydra immediately locked onto Ghislaine and began snapping its maw at her forcing Ghislaine back.
“I cannot get close.”, Ghislaine said, having run around the beast twice now, “Cole, do you have any suggestions?”
“Ghislaine, we can do this without his help!”, Paul commented, annoyed that she was asking for aid already, “We can figure this out together!”
Glancing over at him with annoyance, his colleagues were beginning to get fed up with his obsession with defeating Hydra without Cole’s intervention. Initially believing he had some sort of ace up his sleeve if things did not go well, all of them were angry that he had absolutely nothing ready for this. Sensing the discourse brewing between them, I decided to give them a friendly suggestion.
“If only you could make it think you were somewhere else.”, I said, hoping Tallhand would piece it together.
Confused by what I meant for a second, Tallhand quickly realized what I was suggesting.
“Illusion Magic!! I completely forgot about it!!”, Tallhand shouted, having only ever used such spells in a laboratory, “Everyone, cover me for a few moments!!”
Stepping back from the Hydra, as his colleagues closed ranks, Tallhand began preparing the spell in his mind. Recalling an incantation he had learned previously, he began reciting the spell while focusing on the beast’s eyes. Channeling as much power as he could into the magic, the Dwarf blasted the Hydra in the eyes causing it to scream in anger. Shaking its heads to shake the daze off, a hazy fog began covering its eyes as the illusion began to take hold.
Watching an image of them start running around it, the Hydra attempted to turn around but found that it could not move. Growling and hissing with frustration, it wriggled around trying to break free of its bindings. After several moments of struggling, the beast violently broke out of its shackles and quickly turned its back to the party.
Getting the opening they needed, Paul told everyone to move in for the kill. Racing out in front Ghislaine and Elinalise lept onto the Hydra’s back before launching themselves at the two outer necks. Bringing up the rear, Paul unleashed the strongest slash he could on the middle head wanting to end this here and now.
“Come on!”, Paul cried, “Give me Zenith back now!!”
“Time to end this!”, Ghislaine roared, “Let her go!!”
“I am ready to get out of this shithole!”, Elinalise laughed, grinning ear to ear.
Wrapping their blades in flames, three of them let out a battle cry and swung their blades together. Watching Ghislaine and Paul slice through the necks with minimal effort, Elinalise was unfortunately not so lucky. As soon as her blade made contact with the Hydra’s scales, her blade exploded into a billion pieces.
“My sword!!”, Elinalise screamed, as tiny cuts began bleeding all over her face, “No!!”
Before Ghislaine or Paul realized that she had failed to slice the last neck, the timer on my phone started to sound. Clearing the alert on my phone, I told everyone that its cooldown had run its course just as the beast’s scales began to shimmer again with magic. Snapping out of its illusion, the Hydra began bucking like a horse and knocked the three of them off its back.
“Fuck, retreat!!”, Paul shouted, grabbing Ghislaine and Elinalise by the wrist and dragging them away in a hurry, “Fall back!!”
“Eat this!”, Geese spat, launching an explosive fire arrow at it to get its attention.
Causally avoiding the attack, the Hydra began to glow as it focused on Elinalise, Ghislaine, and Paul. Sensing that something bad was about to happen, Paul glanced over his shoulder and realized it was going to use one of its signature attacks on them.
“BREATH ATTACK INCOMING!!”, Paul spat, snapping Elinalise out of her funk.
Tossing Ghislaine behind a boulder, Paul took Elinalise with him behind a slightly larger boulder. Following his example, Geese and Tallhand dove for cover just before the Hydra unleashed a torrent of acid and poison all over the area. Hugging their cover for dear life, Ghislaine screamed as some of the acid splashed onto her tail.
“Fucking hell!”, she hissed, clutching her tail tightly, “You bastard, I am going to enjoy eating you!!”
“Ghislaine, focus!”, Paul shouted, scooting away from a pool of acid, “As soon as its attack stops, Geese, take a shot at its head. Tallhand, when that arrow gets close hit it with any spell that will trigger it to explode. We have to get it to discharge its ability before we can charge in again.”
“That is easier said than done!!”, Geese shrieked, watching his cover get smaller and smaller, “Hydra’s can rapidly fire this attack one after the other, that will not work!”
“I can raise a barrier in front of you!”, Tallhand assured him, “Take the shot then move to better cover!”
Letting out a groan, Geese did as they asked and jumped out of his hiding place. Raising a barrier in front of him just as the Hydra hurled another volley of acid at him, the liquid splashed against the barrier and began eating away at it.
“Eek!! The barrier is failing!!”, Geese screamed.
“Hurry up!!”, Tallhand shouted, feeling his mana depleting rapidly as he tried to maintain the barrier.
Aiming the crossbow at the Hydra’s head, Geese was lining up the shot when Tallhand’s mana ran out. Watching the barrier dissolve almost immediately, he let out a scream as his life flashed before his eyes. Before it reached him though, I erected a barrier of light that was immune to acid around Geese. Watching the liquid run down the sides of the barrier, the poor guy collapsed to the ground clutching his chest in fear.
Placing barriers over the others as well, it was clear that they were no longer in any shape to engage the Hydra. Stepping in for them, I teleported in front of the Hydra and decapitated it with a Gigawatt Blade. Unable to regenerate any longer, the beast died causing the Magic Crystals in the room to shatter as the treasure horde began to spawn. As the boss was dead, its acid and poison immediately vanished allowing Paul’s group to move safely again. Rising from the ground with an angry face, Paul glared at me upset that I had stepped in.
“Come on, we could have handled it!!”, Paul protested.
“If the first thing out of your mouth is lecturing me, no wonder your team does not respect you.”, I said, with a scowl, “Your priority should be Geese who is petrified, Tallhand who is experiencing Mana Depletion Sickness, and Ghislaine who burned part of her tail. Shut up and go look Geese and Tallhand, I will tend to Ghislaine.”
Leaving it at that, Paul walked away letting me tend to her wound in peace. Using magic to quickly remedy the problem, she let out a sigh of relief as she did not want to have a bald patch on her tail. Helping her to her feet, Ghislaine thanked me for stepping in to save them at the last moment. Touching the boulder she had been hiding behind, the rock crumbled away showing just how close she was to death.
“I am sorry Paul is being an ass.”, she stated, with a sigh, “He should hopefully calm down soon.”
“Hopefully…or I might bury him here and bring Lilia and Zenith a well-behaved doppelganger of Paul.”, I chuckled, much to Ghislaine’s enjoyment, “Elinalise, you okay?”
“Y…yeah…”, she said, holding the hilt of her broken blade, “I…I will be fine.”
“Do you need me to Rewind the blade?”, I inquired.
“Rewind?”, she asked, with a confused look, “What is that?”
Reversing the damage done to her blade before her eyes, Elinalise sat there wide-eyed in disbelief. Thanking me repeatedly for fixing her blade, she swore to repay me somehow as the sword meant quite a lot to her.
Losing four of its seven heads in a short time, the Hydra went into a Frenzied State and began attacking anything that moved at random. Finding it difficult to do anything now, all Paul and company could do was dodge incoming attacks while they looked for an opening. Keeping track of time for them on my cell, I warned the group that they had thirty seconds left right as the timer rolled over.
“Paul, we need to make a move now!”, Tallhand shouted, using his Earth Magic to sink the Hydra into the ground, “My shoddy tactic is only going to buy us a minute or two at best. Please tell me you have a plan.”
“I am trying to think of something, but it is pretty difficult to think and dodge at the same time.”, Paul said, trying not to let his frustration show in his tone, “Ghislaine, is there any way you can get behind this thing and attack from the rear?”
“I can try, cover me!”, Ghislaine shouted, as Geese through a strange stone at the Hydra’s head.
In an instant, a bright flash of light covered the area blinding anyone who did not shield their eyes. Roaring out in pain, the Hydra began flailing its heads and tail around wildly trying to defend itself. Flicking a blinded Ghislaine away with its tail, she skipped across the floor a few times before slamming into a boulder.
“Ghislaine!!”, Elinalise cried, “Are you okay!?”
“I…I am…fine…”, she wheezed, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
Using Healing Magic on her, I repaired her broken bones and told her to be more careful. Thanking me for healing her, she picked up her blade and made a second attempt on the Hydra. No longer blinded, the Hydra immediately locked onto Ghislaine and began snapping its maw at her forcing Ghislaine back.
“I cannot get close.”, Ghislaine said, having run around the beast twice now, “Cole, do you have any suggestions?”
“Ghislaine, we can do this without his help!”, Paul commented, annoyed that she was asking for aid already, “We can figure this out together!”
Glancing over at him with annoyance, his colleagues were beginning to get fed up with his obsession with defeating Hydra without Cole’s intervention. Initially believing he had some sort of ace up his sleeve if things did not go well, all of them were angry that he had absolutely nothing ready for this. Sensing the discourse brewing between them, I decided to give them a friendly suggestion.
“If only you could make it think you were somewhere else.”, I said, hoping Tallhand would piece it together.
Confused by what I meant for a second, Tallhand quickly realized what I was suggesting.
“Illusion Magic!! I completely forgot about it!!”, Tallhand shouted, having only ever used such spells in a laboratory, “Everyone, cover me for a few moments!!”
Stepping back from the Hydra, as his colleagues closed ranks, Tallhand began preparing the spell in his mind. Recalling an incantation he had learned previously, he began reciting the spell while focusing on the beast’s eyes. Channeling as much power as he could into the magic, the Dwarf blasted the Hydra in the eyes causing it to scream in anger. Shaking its heads to shake the daze off, a hazy fog began covering its eyes as the illusion began to take hold.
Watching an image of them start running around it, the Hydra attempted to turn around but found that it could not move. Growling and hissing with frustration, it wriggled around trying to break free of its bindings. After several moments of struggling, the beast violently broke out of its shackles and quickly turned its back to the party.
Getting the opening they needed, Paul told everyone to move in for the kill. Racing out in front Ghislaine and Elinalise lept onto the Hydra’s back before launching themselves at the two outer necks. Bringing up the rear, Paul unleashed the strongest slash he could on the middle head wanting to end this here and now.
“Come on!”, Paul cried, “Give me Zenith back now!!”
“Time to end this!”, Ghislaine roared, “Let her go!!”
“I am ready to get out of this shithole!”, Elinalise laughed, grinning ear to ear.
Wrapping their blades in flames, three of them let out a battle cry and swung their blades together. Watching Ghislaine and Paul slice through the necks with minimal effort, Elinalise was unfortunately not so lucky. As soon as her blade made contact with the Hydra’s scales, her blade exploded into a billion pieces.
“My sword!!”, Elinalise screamed, as tiny cuts began bleeding all over her face, “No!!”
Before Ghislaine or Paul realized that she had failed to slice the last neck, the timer on my phone started to sound. Clearing the alert on my phone, I told everyone that its cooldown had run its course just as the beast’s scales began to shimmer again with magic. Snapping out of its illusion, the Hydra began bucking like a horse and knocked the three of them off its back.
“Fuck, retreat!!”, Paul shouted, grabbing Ghislaine and Elinalise by the wrist and dragging them away in a hurry, “Fall back!!”
“Eat this!”, Geese spat, launching an explosive fire arrow at it to get its attention.
Causally avoiding the attack, the Hydra began to glow as it focused on Elinalise, Ghislaine, and Paul. Sensing that something bad was about to happen, Paul glanced over his shoulder and realized it was going to use one of its signature attacks on them.
“BREATH ATTACK INCOMING!!”, Paul spat, snapping Elinalise out of her funk.
Tossing Ghislaine behind a boulder, Paul took Elinalise with him behind a slightly larger boulder. Following his example, Geese and Tallhand dove for cover just before the Hydra unleashed a torrent of acid and poison all over the area. Hugging their cover for dear life, Ghislaine screamed as some of the acid splashed onto her tail.
“Fucking hell!”, she hissed, clutching her tail tightly, “You bastard, I am going to enjoy eating you!!”
“Ghislaine, focus!”, Paul shouted, scooting away from a pool of acid, “As soon as its attack stops, Geese, take a shot at its head. Tallhand, when that arrow gets close hit it with any spell that will trigger it to explode. We have to get it to discharge its ability before we can charge in again.”
“That is easier said than done!!”, Geese shrieked, watching his cover get smaller and smaller, “Hydra’s can rapidly fire this attack one after the other, that will not work!”
“I can raise a barrier in front of you!”, Tallhand assured him, “Take the shot then move to better cover!”
Letting out a groan, Geese did as they asked and jumped out of his hiding place. Raising a barrier in front of him just as the Hydra hurled another volley of acid at him, the liquid splashed against the barrier and began eating away at it.
“Eek!! The barrier is failing!!”, Geese screamed.
“Hurry up!!”, Tallhand shouted, feeling his mana depleting rapidly as he tried to maintain the barrier.
Aiming the crossbow at the Hydra’s head, Geese was lining up the shot when Tallhand’s mana ran out. Watching the barrier dissolve almost immediately, he let out a scream as his life flashed before his eyes. Before it reached him though, I erected a barrier of light that was immune to acid around Geese. Watching the liquid run down the sides of the barrier, the poor guy collapsed to the ground clutching his chest in fear.
Placing barriers over the others as well, it was clear that they were no longer in any shape to engage the Hydra. Stepping in for them, I teleported in front of the Hydra and decapitated it with a Gigawatt Blade. Unable to regenerate any longer, the beast died causing the Magic Crystals in the room to shatter as the treasure horde began to spawn. As the boss was dead, its acid and poison immediately vanished allowing Paul’s group to move safely again. Rising from the ground with an angry face, Paul glared at me upset that I had stepped in.
“Come on, we could have handled it!!”, Paul protested.
“If the first thing out of your mouth is lecturing me, no wonder your team does not respect you.”, I said, with a scowl, “Your priority should be Geese who is petrified, Tallhand who is experiencing Mana Depletion Sickness, and Ghislaine who burned part of her tail. Shut up and go look Geese and Tallhand, I will tend to Ghislaine.”
Leaving it at that, Paul walked away letting me tend to her wound in peace. Using magic to quickly remedy the problem, she let out a sigh of relief as she did not want to have a bald patch on her tail. Helping her to her feet, Ghislaine thanked me for stepping in to save them at the last moment. Touching the boulder she had been hiding behind, the rock crumbled away showing just how close she was to death.
“I am sorry Paul is being an ass.”, she stated, with a sigh, “He should hopefully calm down soon.”
“Hopefully…or I might bury him here and bring Lilia and Zenith a well-behaved doppelganger of Paul.”, I chuckled, much to Ghislaine’s enjoyment, “Elinalise, you okay?”
“Y…yeah…”, she said, holding the hilt of her broken blade, “I…I will be fine.”
“Do you need me to Rewind the blade?”, I inquired.
“Rewind?”, she asked, with a confused look, “What is that?”
Reversing the damage done to her blade before her eyes, Elinalise sat there wide-eyed in disbelief. Thanking me repeatedly for fixing her blade, she swore to repay me somehow as the sword meant quite a lot to her.
