Fallen Temple [2]

[James's Pov]

"So, that's the boss? It... looks a bit bigger than I expected."

"Mm. It's... quite big."

Having entered the room, my sights were quickly met by a giant wall of green leathery skin, glistening in the glow of the torches all around the huge circular room.

Looking closer, one could see the almost dragon-like body lying on the floor, and three necks resembling long snakes were cuddling together, ending up with three reptilian heads.

Yes, the boss of the Fallen Temple was the hydra, and, for some reason, it was fast asleep even while my bodies entered the room.

With our scythes already in our hands, it was hard to know what the best approach would be right now, but what I did know was that there was no way I wouldn't use this opening to the fullest.

Thinking for a bit, it didn't take long until I made a decision about how we would start the fight.

Dashing forward with sub-me, we instantly aimed our weapons at the three necks, intent on severing at least two of them before the boss could react.

"Hupp!"

"Grr..."

*Sching! BOOM!*

*GROOOOAAARRR!*

The huge body quickly started to move, its huge size creating reverberations following through the floor and walls, making our sights blur a bit because of the vibrations. Now wanting to get tangled up with the now mostly headless monster, we jumped back.

Purple blood was spraying into the air from the two necks that had lost their heads, and the last remaining snake head roared in anger from losing his brothers. Seeing the boss finally reaching its full stature, sub-me couldn't stop himself from speaking our thoughts.

"Man, that's one big boy."

It was truly huge, and although I already knew this, seeing it standing up with its neck raised like a snake reacting to a flute, it still appeared that I had underestimated its size.

Then, the blood instantly coagulated on the severed necks, and in the next second purple bubbles emerged from the necks. It wasn't a huge surprise, as the hydra was famous for regenerating, and therefore it wouldn't take long until two new heads would be constructed from its wounds.

"[Chains of Mist]."

Raising one arm each on both of my bodies, two misty chains quickly emerged from our hands. Although the huge monster tried to swipe the mist away with its head, they didn't care, just following along their designated paths.

A moment later, the chains had circled around the injured necks.

"[Detonate]."

*BOOOM!*

*NYAAAARRRGHHH!

Pieces of flesh exploded out into the air as the necks were now completely obliterated, and the one remaining head screamed once more.

There was no way I would allow the boss to recover, even if I had to go against the clichés of this kind of battle. Why would I want to create a situation where I had the upper hand first, just to allow it to become a battle of stamina and endurance?

No, it was much more efficient to keep piling on attacks when it had to focus its energy on regenerating, most likely being unable to do so while at the same time going on the offensive.

At this point, the snake head also appeared to have understood my intention, now getting desperate enough to attack before trying to find time to heal itself.

*Sccchhhh!*

Opening its mouth, a large glob of green came flying at my main body. However, once again, I wasn't about to play around during this fight.

*Sizzle!*

With my wings instantly appearing, I just dodged to the side, with more than enough time to see how the floor started to 'burn' the floor, even to the point of creating a small dent as it melted.

Just like in the game, the hydra could spit acid to execute ranged attacks, and just like in the game, I wasn't too keen on doing something stupid like trying to block it.

Taking advantage of what the boss thought of as a small opening, with one of my bodies dodging, the necks that had now completely disappeared, only appearing as two bleeding holes on the green body, started to bubble again.

"Moron... [Orb of Mist - 2x]"

'[Detonate].'

*BOOM!*

A similar scene happened once again, as sub-me stopped its regeneration by launching two orbs of mist at its wounds, now creating small craters of flesh on its body. As the hydra was violently swinging its sole head in pain, I knew that it was time to start thinking about my real objective in coming here.

Would one be able to attain something as legendary as the Elven Tear just by killing a [C]-rank boss monster? No, or at least that wasn't the case in the game.

In the game, you had to keep it alive and make it yield to you in order to obtain it, as it was hidden within its own body. If you killed it, it wouldn't spit it out.

"Hmm... Wait, can't we just cut open its stomach?"

Sub-me suddenly said something that I should have already thought about before coming here but had completely passed my thoughts. Truly, there was apparently no reason why we couldn't just kill it and go for a bit of a fleshy treasure hunt.

Yet, something inside of me was hesitating, even though it was just a monster.

At first, I thought it had something to do with Zero, but after a couple of seconds of thinking about it, it was clear that it wasn't.

"No, we don't know what will happen to the Tear if we kill it. We also don't know if the Tear will respawn with the hydra, or if the hydra will respawn at all."

The Fallen Temple was located on the western side of Mensch, deeply buried within a large mountain range known as the Harz. So no one knew about this place but us. Ah, not quite, there was another person who should also know about this place if she played through the game.

"Yeah, she really is a strange one, isn't she?"

Sophie Red, the girl who should know just as much as me about the game. Although a lot of things were different, there were now enough things to prove that it was still quite similar.

Artifacts, items, Manuals, etc. They were all quite similar to the game, and some of these could be found in the same place as well. So, why wasn't that girl going around looking for things like I did?

Granted, we had been stuck inside of the academy and last year I wouldn't have dared to venture out like this either. But now we were both strong enough to be within the upper echelon of hunters, with me being a bit more of an outlier.

*GRAAARRGHHH!*

"Ah, right. You're still here. Please, quiet down for a bit. [Chain of Mist]"

When the hydra was about to launch one last desperate attack, wanting to bite sub-me to death, both of my bodies sent out two more chains that quickly latched themselves around the last remaining green neck.

Though it was limited, the hydra still had some intelligence, and it wasn't hard for it to realize what kind of situation it was in. Around its neck was the weird magic that had demolished its other necks in an instant, and now it knew that the same could happen with its last.

So, seemingly understanding what I was saying, it did quiet down. In fact, it even lowered its head to the ground, and a tear fell from one of its eyes.

"Oh! So snakes can cry, after all?"

It was quite an interesting display, but I had a feeling that I already knew what this was about.

The hydra had given up, knowing that it didn't stand much of a chance against me, and therefore it prostrated itself in front of us. In other words, it tried its best to show its sincerity.

Unable to help myself, I walked forward to the huge head and put my hand on it. Though it flinched a bit, it was too scared to do anything. "Good boy. Or maybe it's a girl? Whatever. So, you want to live?"

In its eyes, I could see it somehow understanding me once again, as it bobbed its head a bit up and down.

Taking off my mask, I allowed it to see the big smile on my face, the huge grin I had after knowing that I was now in full control of the monstrosity in front of me.

"So some monsters can even communicate with humans? Interesting... Now, would you please spit out what I came for? That thing inside of your belly."

When I pointed toward its stomach, I could almost see its face paling for a second, a second in which it believed me to do something with my mist. However, a moment later it realized what I meant.

Taking a few steps back, I allowed it space to open its mouth, from which a silver glow started to emerge.

*Guagh!*

Hulking just once, a silvery gem the size of a toddler came out from its mouth, and even from a distance, I could feel the immense power within it.

"Bingo."