Seeker 225

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Chapter 225. Hydra

Simultaneously, a purple liquid spewed forth from its 5 mouths. 

Those grotesque fluids intersected and mixed, forming a single attack that assaulted us. 

I raised my shield in defense. 

But I couldn't completely block it, and the liquid bathed my entire body.

"Guuuuh...!"

A stinging pain coursed through my entire body, and I felt a negative impact on my condition. 

It was probably a special ability called Poison Breath. 

It's similar to Fire Dragon's Fire Breathes fire.

This attack involved spewing venom. 

The damage wasn't insignificant, but it wasn't a fatal blow either.

Looking around, it seemed that Kazane-san and Griffin had also been exposed to the poison.

But they didn't seem to be critically wounded either. 

I considered healing, but right now, with my spear in hand, facing the Hydra up close, it wasn't the right time.

I charged my right hand with the power of my skills and unleashed it.

"Take this, [Three Strikes]!"

"Here's a little something in return! Haaaaah!"

"Kwaaaaah!"

My 3 consecutive spear strikes, Kazane-san's 2 short sword daggers, and Griffin's continuous attacks with its claws and beak pierced Hydra's heads and body one after another.

"One more for good measure! [Flame Lance]!"

Additionally, Yuzuki launched a second fiery spear, which burned one of the Hydra's heads. 

Despite its agonized cries, Hydra retaliated by biting towards us.

At the same time, the Hydra's entire body shimmered, and its wounds began to heal somewhat. 

Out of the 5 heads attacking us, 3 came towards me. 

The remaining two seemed to attack Kazane-san and Griffin, but I didn't have time to confirm.

I successfully evaded 1 head that attempted to bite my head by quickly moving my upper body to the left. 

It was almost a reflex response.

That might have been the effect of the skill [Evasion Enhancement], which I had learned a long time ago. 

The head coming from the left was deflected and blocked with my shield.

Surprisingly, both evading and blocking were going well.

However, it was inevitable that I couldn't avoid the attack from the right side: the third head bit into my side.

"Guuuh...! Wait, what?"

Strangely, I felt no pain from this bite attack. 

It seemed that Gaia Armor prevented Hydra's fangs from penetrating and reduced the damage to zero.

I recalled Yuzuki mentioning that the Hydra's attack power was 45. 

I had thought it was quite low for a boss of this class, but it seemed to be accurate.

Well, Hydra compensated for its low individual head attack power with the sheer number of heads and attacks. 

If each head had the attack power of a dragon or giant, it would be a much more challenging situation.

Afraid of my counterattack with the spear, the head that had bitten me quickly retreated. 

I also stepped back to gain some distance and assessed the situation.

Kazane-san also appeared to have evaded the attack and was now keeping a distance from Hydra.

Griffin had been firmly bitten and wounded.

But for now, it seemed not too serious.

 With this in mind...

"Yuzuki, what's the remaining HP of the Hydra?"

"It's at 310! It keeps healing by 100 points every time it glows!"

"So, it has a regeneration ability."

During the moments when it spat poison and when its five heads attacked, the entire body of Hydra emitted a faint glow. 

It was recovering at quite a fast rate, 100 points at a time. 

That was a pretty troublesome regeneration ability.

At this speed, it might be tough for an average group of skilled adventurers to whittle it down. 

Fortunately, we already possessed combat capabilities that set us apart from your typical group of adventurers.

In fact, we had managed to reduce the initial 1000 HP of the Hydra to this state in just about ten seconds. 

With our abilities, we could handle this.

"We'll keep pushing! [Three Strikes]!"

"Understood! Haaaah!"

"I'm with you! [Flame Lance]!"

"Kwaa, Kwaaah!"

In the end, we continued our all-out assault and managed to completely reduce Hydra's HP. 

A few seconds later, the monster had vanished. The subjugation mission was a success.

As usual, a notification sound chimed, and a message box appeared.

───────────────────────

Mission Defeat one Hydra Completed!

All party members gain 20,000 experience points!

New mission unlocked: Defeat 3 Lesser Demons (Gain 50,000 experience points)!

Musou Daichi leveled up to 41!

Yuzuki Hotaru leveled up to 43!

Current experience points:

Musou Daichi... 63,7634/63,7868 (Next level: 234 points)

Kodachi Kazane... 62,3926/63,7868 (Next level: 13,942 points)

Yuzuki Hotaru... 73,2301/81,3032 (Next level: 8,0731 points)

───────────────────────

It was a shame Yuzuki ended up delivering the finishing blow again.

That meant that the experience points for defeating Hydra also went to Yuzuki, further increasing the gap between her with Kazane-san, and me. 

I would have preferred to control the damage, but I didn't have the luxury.

We'd need to adjust the experience points distribution when we had more room for it.

On the other hand, the female adventurer we had rescued...

"Th-this is incredible... It can't be, it's a Hydra... and you guys defeated it so easily..."

She stood behind us, utterly stunned, her eyes wide in disbelief. 

Well, it was a pretty normal reaction.

I walked over to the female adventurer and extended a hand to help her.