Hydra.
In any fantasy game, novel, or medium, it’s a monster that frequently appears. Also, in the fifth act of Darkin subjugation, it was the worst mid-boss encounter you could face. This was because the resources required to deal with it were monumental.
At the end of the fifth act, a player character who had reached superhuman levels could still be instantly dissolved by its deadly venom. It possessed monstrous strength and size, unmatched by any ordinary strength stats, and its rapid regeneration made a troll seem insignificant by comparison.
At a glance, one might mistake it for being similar to the basilisk previously hunted. However, the true terror of the Hydra lay elsewhere.
Boom—!
As they crossed through the gate, the sight of the serpent’s numerous ‘heads’ writhing over the buildings became evident.
There it was.
That was the primary reason the Hydra was classified as a calamity.
With as many heads as lives, it would regenerate instantly unless all the heads were removed at once. Moreover, its blood contained a fatal toxin that was lethal even upon contact.
Its sheer size made previously hunted wyverns and basilisks appear like infants in comparison.
Considering this was effectively the second act of the main quest, encountering such a creature was nearly impossible. If this were a game, the obvious choice would be to flee without hesitation.
But this was reality.
‘I can’t just reboot and start over because the route got a bit tangled…’
Reality was indeed grimmer than any poorly designed game.
“Six heads…? Are we supposed to sever all of them…!”
“Consider yourself lucky, Princess.”
Delphina, sharp as ever, immediately grasped the strategy to defeat the Hydra and was horrified. Taking no time, Khan calmly poured cold water on her realization and gripped his dragon-slaying sword tighter.
“At least this one hasn’t fully matured yet.”
Leaving the shocked princess behind, Khan propelled himself forward.
Perhaps due to its serpent-like appearance, the Hydra in the ‘Midland Quest’ world was classified as a wyvern and could control other monsters. As a result, nordic was already half overrun by monsters. The Hydra had likely summoned every creature from Necar Mountain within its reach.
‘And there’ll be others caught in the chaos.’
Three powerful presences resonated within his instincts. Other creatures from the depths, similar to the Hydra, had likely emerged. As Ron had once mentioned, just one could decimate hundreds of mercenaries.
“Warrior! We will clear a path!”
“Stay behind me.”
Judging that preserving Khan’s strength was paramount, the two paladins sprang forward. With their divine power bursting forth, they embodied the very essence of “taunt tanking.”
The monsters, which had been devouring mercenaries and civilians while tearing through buildings, suddenly fixed their gaze on the radiant presence of the paladins. It seemed they were more intent on saving lives than merely creating a path.
As the blinding light enveloped the multitude of monsters filling Nordic’s streets, Aries and Leo disappeared from view. However, none of the party members were concerned for them.
The average claws and fangs of the monsters couldn’t even scratch the paladins’ divine barriers. Besides, Leo was destined to become a future calamity, and Aries was set to be an apostle of the Goddess of Justice.
Crunch—!!
Every time the pure white spheres collided with the grotesque monsters, it was the monsters that were crushed and obliterated. With a force far surpassing a knight’s lance charge, they pulverized the monsters by the dozens.
“Keh-he-he…!”
Just then, a monster with a menacing face that seemed to boast, ‘I’m the strong one,’ made its appearance. It was the source of the overwhelming presence Khan had sensed earlier and was strong enough to make Khan instinctively ready his axe.
But the axe never left Khan’s grip.
Bang—!
As suddenly as it appeared, the monster vanished. Taking advantage of the monster’s focus on the paladins’ radiance, Maya had driven the stored impact from ‘Yorun’s Spear,’ accumulated during previous wyvern battles, into the monster’s body, causing it to explode in a single blow.
Although it was an achievement due to the weapon’s power, Maya’s accomplishment could not be undermined. If it had been the arrogant Maya from before, she would have sought any chance to decapitate the Hydra herself.
However, after meeting Khan and wading through countless hellish battlefields with him, even she had to grow. She had no choice but to adapt to such an environment. Moreover, overcoming her innate nature itself was a remarkable growth.
“Lord, proceed!”
Maya’s shout was reliable. It almost made one momentarily forget her peculiar quirks.
‘Incredible…!’
Trailing at the rear under Maxim’s protection, Delphina marveled at the battle unfolding before her.
She knew they were strong, having ruthlessly slaughtered wyverns in a short time, but seeing them fight in person was a different matter altogether. Their true strength was beyond mere imagination and speculation.
Growing up among the elite guards of the kingdom, her standards for strength were naturally high.
And the result?
‘Each one of them is on par with the Royal Guards. No, perhaps they’re even more…!’
She had thought so, but their strength exceeded her wildest dreams.
Aware of the high average combat capability among paladins raised in the Empire’s stronghold, she understood the rarity of their numbers.
But there were limits. Young paladins, who appeared barely in their early twenties, surpassing the kingdom’s Royal Guards in strength?
The vast difference between the Empire and the border kingdoms was staggering. Delphina couldn’t help but feel dizzy at the sheer enormity of it.
What was even harder to believe was that a daughter from a kingdom’s knightly family, with an ordinary body, was keeping up with these monsters.
She’d even managed to instantly kill a creature from the depths with a single strike.
‘If only such a genius had become a knight of the kingdom…’
Of course, Maya wasn’t as extraordinarily talented as Delphina imagined. She had merely exhausted all the stored impact from battling two wyverns alongside Aries in that one moment. Delphina was mistaken in her high estimation.
Thus, without realizing it, Maya had left an impression on Princess Delphina as ‘the extraordinary genius the kingdom had missed.’
“Princess! It’s dangerous to go any further!”
By the time their party had successfully fought their way to the largest building in Nordic, the mayor’s mansion, which was now being actively destroyed by the Hydra, Maxim urged Delphina to halt.
Despite stopping, Delphina harbored a glimmer of hope.
If these warriors were so incredibly strong, how powerful must Khan be, the one they placed such blind faith in?
‘Maybe…maybe things will turn out easier than I thought…?’
But that hope was immediately shattered.
Boom—!!!
With just a swing of one of its massive heads, half of the mansion collapsed. It then bulldozed the rest of the mansion with its body, all six heads writhing menacingly.
All this destruction in just a few seconds.
How could they possibly defeat such a beast? Could they even harm it? Could they pierce those thick wyvern-like scales and cut off all six heads? Delphina felt a despair she had never known, causing her to take an involuntary step back.
‘No…!’
Barbarians are all exceptional warriors. She had learned how astonishing they were through Pashantu, the champion of the Black Wing Duke.
Moreover, the unparalleled strength of Khan, whom her formidable allies trusted implicitly, must be even greater than Pashantu’s.
‘But this isn’t right…!’
However, there are walls that simply cannot be breached. If Khan’s strength truly transcended human limits like that of genuine superhumans, things might be different. But Khan was a barbarian from Hoarfrost Gorge.
He was not blessed with mana that could elevate humans beyond their natural limits. While his physical strength surpassed that of an ordinary human, his potential ceiling remained far lower—a reality of his inferior race.
‘The opponent is simply too daunting…!’
The barbarian’s brute strength? Inexplicable senses? Fearless tenacity? These traits only hold value against opponents within a similar range. Could such qualities truly impact a monstrous creature of this magnitude?
Delphina lowered her head in despair.
“P-Princess…?!”
Seeing Delphina’s rare, despondent expression stunned Maxim, her dutiful knight. However, contrary to his fears, Delphina’s despair was fleeting.
‘This began as my independent action to stop Alan from the start.’
Determination rekindled in Delphina’s eyes.
Despite her diluted royal bloodline, unlike her brothers and half-brother Alan who inherited strong blood, she resolved to awaken the forbidden power within it—if it meant risking her life, then so be it.
“Everyone, beware of the rain.”
“…Rain?”
Khan’s low warning pierced through their thoughts, causing Delphina to look up in shock once more.
What Khan meant by “rain” became clear, and she urgently conjured a fiery barrier above her head.
Somehow, Khan had climbed atop one of the Hydra’s heads and was raising his sword high. If it were merely that, it wouldn’t have caused Delphina to gape in such astonishment.
‘What is that sword…?!’
The sight of Khan standing defiantly atop the Hydra, wielding an otherworldly blade, left Delphina—and everyone else—completely awestruck. The weapon shimmered with an unearthly brilliance, clearly not just any ordinary sword.
Khan’s presence loomed larger than life, dwarfing the enormity of the Hydra beneath him. The impending confrontation between his impossible strength and the Hydra’s monstrous might was a scene straight from legends.
It wasn’t mana, aura, or divine power.
It was just an endlessly ominous red energy. The moment Delphina saw the sword thickly enveloped in that red aura, she felt a fear greater than when she had faced the Hydra.
And she was certain.
That red cursed sword was the Hydra’s natural enemy. No, perhaps it was the bane of all dragonkind…!
“────!”
Recognizing the danger of the red cursed sword just like Delphina, the Hydra roared, and its other heads simultaneously lunged at Khan to devour him. But—
『Brooch of the Wind Spirit’s Blessing』
Khan, having activated the buff from the brooch Maya had acquired from the black market along with the ‘Precious Jewel of Mortalia,’ was faster.
The dragon-slaying sword traced a red trajectory, smoothly severing the Hydra’s heads. And as Khan descended,
Swoosh!
The neck of the headless Hydra erupted in a geyser of blood, soaking the ground of Nordic.
***
『Dragonslayer Sword Draupnir』
– A cursed sword imbued with the grudge of dragons. Currently, it is divided into multiple replicas and unable to display its full potential.
– (new!) The grudge has absorbed the power of the void and regained its strength.
‘Curse of Dragonslaying’ is now active.
– (new!) Curse of Dragonslaying: Additional damage is applied against dragon-type enemies.