As I stared down the nine-headed Hydra, the Captain, somehow the owner of such a mythical creature, pointed at me. "Hydra, kill that intruder for me!" Rather than hissing, the Hydra roared, releasing a greenish breath, causing me to scrunch my face in disgust as I held my breath.
"Go ahead, see how holding your breath will help you against a Hydra's poison!" As the poison fog enveloped me, thick enough to obscure my vision, I could feel it seep into my body through my pores in my skin. I began to feel a bit queasy and uncomfortable, but that was it; the Hydra's poison, which he was so proud of, was nothing more than an annoyance to me.
Although I knew, thanks to my Ichor, I was highly resistant to most things, a Mythical creature's poison should at least be more effective; I was prepared for a terrible sickness, which I'd just cured with [Rebirth], but this was it. Furrowing my brows, I used [Heroes Gaze], analyzing the Hydra's status panel; for a Hydra, its stats were very lackluster, and I outclassed it in every feasible way.
'If not for the skill [Poison Breath] and trait [Immortality] being legendary rank, Finley and his crew could've possibly defeated it. Eh, maybe not, it's still a mythical creature no matter what its stats say.' As I finished analyzing its status panel, I waved my hand, dispersing the poison fog with wind mana.
With the poison fog gone, the queasiness I had felt rapidly vanished, leaving me in peak condition. "I assume that's all?" At my nonchalance, the Captain's expression froze in confusion and fear. "W-Why aren't you convulsing on the floor!? Y-You should've already succumbed to my Hydra's poison!"
"So you are a one-trick pony. Got it." Seeing no point in dragging this on any longer, I used [Spatial Lock] on the Hydra, freezing it in place as I lunged between its necks, landing right before the Captain, who fearfully stepped back. "W-Wait! WAIT! D-Don't kill me! Y-You can have Hydra! P-Please!" As he collapsed to his butt in fear, I raised my hand, clutching Zartha, whom I'd been summoning this entire time, and as for Trina, she stabbed into my back, absorbing the great sword back into me.
'Muu, not cool, Master! The bottom of the ocean is scary!' 'What an annoying, Master.' Internally smirking at their remarks, I hardened my gaze and swung Zartha downwards, bisecting the Captain at the torso.
"So much for that." Muttering softly, I turned around, just in time for the Hydra to finally break from my spatial lock, prompting it to glance at me, then the dead Captain, only for it release a mighty roar, forcing me to cover my ears. "Tsk, so loud."
'A Hydra? What a rare encounter.' "Yeah, tell me about it." Leaping to the side, dodging the Hydra swinging one of its heads at me, I landed on the railing of the ship, nearly falling into the ocean, which would've been bad. 'Eh, A Hydra? Isn't it really small for a Hydra, sister?' 'Yes. It's an adolescent; a fully grown Hydra's poison breath and Immortality would be Mythical.' "Well, lucky me, I suppose."
While the two talked, I leaped around the ship, dodging attacks from the Hydra, which the crew was unable to do; some were being outright crushed, while others would be thrown out into the sea to be devoured by the monsters.
'Do you intend to kill it, Master? A Mythical creature is hard to encounter; you could spend a thousand years and never come across another.' Leaping from the deck, I used [Air Jump] and landed atop one of the smaller masts. "I'd rather not; it feels wrong to kill a Mythical creature. I mean, isn't Mythical just a fancy way of saying endangered?" '... You're not false, Master.'
"Well, with the way things are going, it might just kill itself; if it keeps destroying the boat, it'll become monster food." Since I knew I couldn't just leave it be, I used Hero's Gaze, allowing me to see its vitality or life force stored within its centermost head.
Pushing off the mast, I lunged towards it, decapitating one of its heads before landing on the ground, but I could see its head was already regrowing at an incredible rate. "Damn, such a cheat trait." Dodging its head swipe, I jumped off the air, lunging toward the centermost head; however, as I did so, its vitality left that head and entered into another one.
Decapitating the centermost head created distance, only to watch it regenerate its head. "Huh, I see. So in actuality, to kill a Hydra, you don't have to decapitate every head at once; you just need to kill the head holding its vitality."
Of course, doing such a thing when it could transfer its own vitality between heads would be incredibly difficult, especially if you couldn't see it like me. 'Hmm, well, since this is an adolescence, maybe a fully grown Hydra with a mythical ranked Immortality trait will have nine different vitalities.'
Dodging another attack, I summoned Trina from my body, wielding both my greatswords. 'Well, I don't intend to kill it, so let's just exhaust it; Imortality or not, traits and skills have limits.'
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Six Hours Later
Stabbing Zartha and Trina into the deck, I stood before the exhausted Hydra, which was struggling to regrow its eight other heads. It took an excessively long time, but I'd finally managed to exhaust most of its vitality; well, even now, it was slowly regaining vitality, but it would take some time.
"So, care to talk?" Squatting in front of the defeated Hydra, during the battle, I'd learned to speak its language, so a talk was a must. "What do you want!?" Her voice was cold and venomous, yet had an obvious childish quality. "Nothing much, just want to give you a chance to live." She didn't like that one bite as she tried to bite me.
"I refuse! You expect me, a Hydra, to take the hand of the being that killed my parents!? Never!" "Eh, so you know you're a Hydra?" "Tch, of course! How could I not!?" "Then, don't you know your 'parent' was just a random demon? He was hardly your parent, more like your boss." "Do not try to fool me!"
Sighing, I folded my arms, meeting her defiant gaze. 'Such a hard-headed girl.' "What about your name? He called you Hydra." "That's my name!" "You're a Hydra, and yet your name is 'Hydra'? Please tell me how that makes sense?" My question managed to get through her hard-headedness, but only for a moment. "T-That's my name!"
"Okay, but why were you locked in a hatch? What parent would lock away their child?" "U-Uh, um–" "Did he ever talk to you? Or did he just give you orders? As a matter of fact, do you even know anything about him?" "Y-Yes, I-I kn–" "Also, did he try to give you away to me to spare his life? What parent sacrifices their child to save themselves?" This time, she didn't even try to make excuses and remained silent.
Planting my hand on her nose, causing her flinch, I channeled some of my emotions into her. "Tell me, did you ever share these things with your parent? Kindness, happiness, humor, love. Have you experienced this alongside him?" Looking down at her, she was frozen stiff, eyes wide, as if she were experiencing those emotions for the first time.
"I'll take that as a no… Listen, you don't need to submit to me or anything, hell, I'm even asking you to forgive me for what I did, but I'd love to take you to land so you can live a proper life." Rising to my feet, breaking the connection in the process, she looked up at me, causing me to outstretch my hand towards her.
"If you want, I can leave you here, but you'll just die." Gesturing to the endless ocean surrounding us, she stared at me for a long time before opening her mouth. "F-Fine… But this doesn't change anything; I'll avenge him." Weakly, she raised her head, looking at me with an intense gaze while I smirked. "That's fine."
Reaching into my space pouch, I grabbed a vial of my Ichor and tossed it into her mouth, which she unconsciously swallowed. "W-What was that? My vitality is surging!" "Ah, just my blood." Grabbing Zartha and Trina, absorbing them back into me, I turned back around, only to see she'd already grown all of her heads.
"Now, don't think you can defeat me now that you've healed up. I was purposely keeping you alive, you know; if I'd wanted to, I could've ended your life quickly." At my words, the little bit of defiance I'd seen in her eyes was quickly snuffed.
With the most significant problem now resolved, it was time to address the second. "How do we deal with getting you to land?"