Chapter 245: How To Kill A Hydra (3)

Chapter 245_ How To Kill A Hydra (3)

Raegis, feeling the surge of adrenaline coursing through her veins, hopped lightly on her feet, warming up her muscles for the coming onslaught. Her feline agility and predatory instincts were honed to perfection, and she was ready to demonstrate her prowess. Stepping hard onto the tree trunk beneath her, she propelled herself forward with explosive force, her muscles coiled like a tightly wound spring.

"Mm!” Raegis harrumphed, a confident smirk on her lips as she launched herself forward, becoming a blur of motion as she streaked towards the Hydra with incredible speed. Amelia had done such great a job that her bull-like charge forward had gone unnoticed by the anguished Multi-Headed Hydra.

In a few seconds, Raegis arrived at the foot of the Multi-Headed Hydra, and brandished her steel, which glewed both white and silver. “It’s too big.” And, she focused. She channeled the energy within her, the silver energy that was unique to her and only her, before opening her eyes. 

Her sword was a bright silvery white now, almost glowing as bright as the morning sun. The silver energy from her was coming off in waves, and unfortunately for her, her energy was too great of a threat for the Hydra to not notice it.

One of the heads that was more or less unaffected by Amelia’s great spell, coiled it’s head back to see that there was a glowing, little ant with her little tooth-pick. But, it noticed something was wrong when it sensed a strong, strong purification energy within her tooth-pick. 

Without hesitation, the scales on it’s head started to shiver before it retched at the little ant, coughing up a ball of venomous acid straight down. 

But Raegis was no ordinary woman. Her reflexes were finely honed, her instincts sharp. 

She yelled, calling forth her signature skill. “COUNTER!”

With a resounding CLANG that echoed through the air, she deflected the venomous ball back at the Hydra with precise timing and technique. The venom splattered against the creature's scales, causing it to screech in even greater agony.

“SHRIEEEEEK!”

Apparently, the creature was not so resistant to it’s own skills. Raegis took note of that with a chilling smile as she continued to ran forward, running vertically up the large creature’s leg, before leaping onto it’s massive rump. 

Then, she pointed her glowing sword at the multiple heads that were now locked in on her. The creature was starting to recover from Amelia’s grand spell. 

“Your head is mine!”

***

Willow, witnessing the exchange from his vantage point, marveled at Raegis's skill. 

The impact of Raegis's body colliding with the Hydra resonated through the air, a deafening crash that reverberated through the surrounding forest. Two heads were severed in an instant, the result of Raegis's well-executed strike. As she landed with a cat-like grace on the back of the Multi-Headed Hydra, the sheer audacity of her move sent a surge of excitement through the trio.

Willow's heart pounded in his chest as he watched Raegis’s fight. The creature was starting to tussle, trying to shake the dangerous beastkin on it’s back but Raegis simply balanced herself on the creature's colossal form. The Hydra writhed beneath her, its remaining heads lashing out in disoriented fury.

As the Hydra thrashed beneath Raegis's formidable presence, Willow landed gracefully beside Amelia who looked absolutely spent. 

“This might be the first time you got mana-sickness, huh?” Willow joked, as he laid his hands on top of Amelia’s head. “[Heal].” A white glow appeared on her forehead.

“I’m recovering. . .mana?” Amelia let out in coughs. 

“My skill’s pretty neat, isn’t it?” Willow smiled, before his expression started to turn serious. “I need you to recover quickly. Raegis’s holding off the battle for now, but if you don’t hurry up, she’s going to be overwhelmed in a couple of minutes.”

Amelia gritted her teeth, as she looked at where the beast-kin was fighting. Her expression twisted for a couple of moments, before she admitted. “She’s strong.”

“Yup,” Willow said. 

“If it wasn’t for how beastly she is, even for a member of the beast race, she would be improving a lot more, a lot faster,” Amelia said, getting up slightly, now that she was almost healed completely. “Your heal’s as amazing as ever, Willow.”

After a couple of seconds, Willow felt that Amelia was pretty much healed up. “Can you stand?”

Amelia took a deep breath, before gripping onto her staff and stood up, albeit a little bit weakly. 

“Good gal,” Willow said. “Your body’s pretty much recovered physically, but any other part, you’ll have to grit your teeth and carry on.”

Amelia smiled at her crush, but waved him off. “I’m healed. My mana’s already at half-capacity as well.” She closed her eyes, double-checking her mana pool. “Yes, I’m good to go now.”

“Alright then,” Willow clapped the elf on the back. “Time to move on to the next stage of the plan-”

“Wait,” Amelia stopped him. She turned her focus to Willow, recognizing the need to support their valiant fighters. Drawing upon her mana once again, she began to weave a spell of protection. The same invisible shield of air that had enveloped Raegis now encased Willow, adding an extra layer of defense to his already formidable abilities. “That should help prevent any lesser damage to your being.”

Willow’s lips curled into a smile. Looks like this quest to take down the Hydra was the right choice since it was making Amelia progress this much. “Thank you, Ame.” With a surge of chi flowing through him, Willow felt his power amplify. He exuded an aura of confidence as he prepared to join the fray.

 “Well then, I’ll be going,” Willow said. “You remember the plan, yes?”

Amelia nodded. 

“Alright.” The world turned white in Willow’s eyes, as he flashed."Ciao!" he called out, his voice carrying a touch of excitement and bravado. In an instant, he launched himself towards the Hydra, his movements a blur of agility and precision.

Amelia's lips curled into a determined smile as she looked at Willow’s disappearing figure. "I'll do my best," she affirmed, her voice resolute. 

***

Willow arrived on top of the Multi-Headed Hydra’s back in a couple of minutes, joining Raegis in her fight against the many heads. Unlike Raegis however, the Hydra seemed to deem Willow, or rather his [Emblem]’s skills too dangerous as a being of chaos, and immediately redirected most of its attention on Willow.

“Raegis, take care of the heads with the nasty personality,” Willow yelled at Raegis, as he dodged a bolt of lightning spat at him. He looked at the head that just did that, and it was laughing at him. 

“I’m killing you first,” Willow smiled wryly. He took out a dagger from his ankle-sheath before covering it with a butt-load of [Purify]. “Eat this!” And then, he threw it with a chi-infused arm, and the technique of a professional dagger-thrower. 

“KRIEEEK!” All The lightning-head could do was shriek as the dagger hit it straight in its forehead, purifying the head immediately. 

Willow nodded to himself, satisfied. The fucking arrogant ass bitch deserved it. 

***

From afar, Amelia had just finished casting her spell. “ᚢᚾ ᚠᚨᚱ. Wind.” Willow had specifically told her not to cast any large-scale spells, and only to cast spells that would assist the two fighters, or otherwise interrupt the heads in their attacks. 

And, that was exactly what she did. In front of her, wind compressed, morphing to that of little birds, birds that were as swift as the wind, and as sharp as steel, before they duplicated as two wind-birds changed to four, and four changed to eight, and continued to duplicate all the way to a hundred. 

Funnily enough, since there was an abundance of the element of wind, and the fact that it wasn’t too hard to create this, only a tenth of her mana pool had been used.

“Fly true,” Amelia pointed her staff at the multiple heads of the Hydra, as the wind-birds swooshed to the Hydra. One of the wind-birds honed in on a head that had targeted Willow from behind. The projectile soared through the air, leaving only a whistling sound in its wake before suddenly the maws of the head had been severed, as a deafening shriek of pain followed. 

The head recoiled in pain, its menacing jaws thwarted in their attempt to consume Willow. Amelia's feat elicited a surge of exhilaration within her, knowing that she had played her part in protecting their formidable leader.

Amelia allowed a brief smile to cross her lips. She had found her rhythm, her focus unwavering, before waving over at Willow who had mouthed the words 'thank you' as he turned around, and focused back onto his fight.

***

***

As the battle raged on, Willow focused all of his senses to the fullest so as not to be engulfed by one of the many heads of the Multi-Headed Hydra. The exhilaration of Amelia's successful attack mingled with a sense of foreboding. Deep down, he knew that their current momentum was only temporary. The Multi-Headed Hydra possessed a hidden trump card—an ability that would activate once it was reduced to 50 heads.

Willow, keenly aware of the impending threat, continued to move with swift precision, his every strike aimed at severing the Hydra's heads. The creature's screeches of agony echoed through the forest as its dominion diminished. Yet, in the back of Willow's mind, he knew that the real battle had yet to begin.

With each head Willow severed, he mentally counted down, keeping track of the Hydra's diminishing numbers. Twenty heads had already fallen, leaving 80 remaining. The moment was fast approaching for the next phase of their plan.

"Raegis! Stage two!" Willow's voice rang out, urgency and determination intertwining in his words. He locked eyes with Amelia, their silent communication conveying the need for coordinated action. They had to draw the Hydra's attention away from Amelia, allowing her to concentrate without interruption.