Apinsig
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Chapter 294 Homesteading in a fantasy world
🕑 Added 2023-08-16 15:00:10 +0000 UTCThe room shook from the roars of the five-headed hydra as they welcomed back their last head. The battle resumed immediately, but the red head was now a lot more caution with its attacks, especially when confronting the pesky insect-like adversary it was up against.
The five party members grew concerned; their initial strategy of incapacitating the fire heads without severing them entirely had crumbled. It appeared that even when taunted, the older heads would attempt to sever the incapacitated head completely, negating all their efforts.
Quick communication messages were exchanged among the group. They soon realized that trying to disable all the heads simultaneously was beyond their capabilities. Throughout their discussion, the hydra unleashed a barrage of elemental attacks, each aimed at eliminating a challenger.
Rich, having the most time on his hands, tested the hydra's body’s resilience. His flying slashes, even when imbued with core energy didn’t even leave a scratch. On one occasion, he managed to get close enough to strike the hydra's body with his blade, but for the first time, his blade failed to leave even a scrape.
The hydra, aware of its vulnerability, had long ago developed an ability to render its body nearly invulnerable, provided it remained stationary. Its five heads, length and flexible, didn't require the body to turn to launch attacks in all directions.
At present, all five heads were fixated on distant opponents who had spread out sufficiently, ensuring that they could not make use the use the devastating combination attacks they could make. The few accidental combination attacks lucky for the five party members weren’t as lethal as they could be.
The room resembled a dazzling light show, with abilities and magic illuminating the space every few seconds. The hydra's breath attacks, while dangerous, were also mesmerizing. These beams of power typically sliced through anything in their path. However, this time there were two exceptions.
Luana's shields could withstand even the most potent lightning strikes, while Rich simply tanked the fire attacks with his body. The rest of the group had to be more cautious, relying primarily on dodging.
Adam had honed his healing skills throughout this dungeon. One of the benefits he'd acquired was the ability to channel his knowledge into his body faster than he could heal anyone else. This ability enabled him to manage the toxic areas left by the green head's attacks with little effort.
He was still exploring the limits of this ability, but he was certain that he needed to enhance his offensive capabilities. Rich truly had been correct that he needed more attacking power. Without the scrolls Horus provided, his damage to the head was minimal.
Arabella found battling the wind head frustrating. While she could maintain a safe distance, the wind attacks could still reach her. The more significant challenge was ensuring her arrows reached the head without being deflected by the torrents of air controlled by the head.
Despite these challenges, her target looked like a pincushion, and she noticed its movements slowing. Previously, this would have been a cause for celebration, but now she realized that all her efforts would soon be undone. Regardless, she persisted, taking solace in the fact that her enchanted quiver ensured she'd never run out of arrows.
Horus was having an absolutely terrible time. While his defenses and mobility were sufficient to keep him alive, he could barely inflict any damage. To make matters worse, the water that the head used was freezing cold.
The head had only approached him a few times, and the few attacks Horus managed to make weren't enough to significantly slow down the head. Horus was also the one who was using up more of his energy than anyone else, and because of that, he already needed to drink a second portion, with seven potions being his limit.
Luana was having a wonderful time. She was able to fully channel her magic. However, every attack the lightning head made was potentially deadly, so she couldn’t afford a single mistake. Using her new staff, she continuously attacked with conjured metal rods that pierced deep into the head.
She had slowed down quite a bit; otherwise, she would have already disabled the head and would have had to fight a new one when other heads ripped the current one out. The damage had slowed the head down, allowing her to think about other solutions to the bigger problem of actually taking down this mythic monster.
Rich was increasingly annoyed. The red head was more cautious now, but with the incredible sword in his hand, he had already brought the second red head close to its death. "Fuck it!" all heard as Rich screamed and rushed in to seize an opportunity when the red head extended itself a little too much.
This time, he almost cut through the head completely. Almost immediately, two other heads bit into the red head, tearing it off to allow another head to take its place. In under 10 seconds, a new red head regenerated. They all roared once again, resuming their attacks.
They had hoped the regeneration would slow down, but nothing of the sort happened. Even before Luana's lightning head was too damaged to continue fighting, the water and fire heads bit into it, ripping it in half, allowing another one to grow fully healed and capable of fighting better than the damaged one.
It seemed like a hopeless situation, having to fight a monster that couldn't truly be hurt while their own resources continued to dwindle. Horus and Adam were the first to start to break after their heads were torn apart by the other heads, and they had to face a fully healed head once again.
But this time, Rich, not wanting to give up just yet, had been using his eyes to their fullest. He found a different source of power inside the hydra, not the energy or mana coursing through it, but something else. When the wind head was replaced for the second time, he noticed how that source of power diminished ever so slightly.
The room echoed with a powerful roar, but this time it was Rich, not the hydra, making the noise. The very next moment, he exploded with energy, causing a light show similar to the hydra's most powerful elemental attacks.
He activated every one of his abilities that could aid in an attack and launched a flying slash that cut through the lightning head and the water head simultaneously. The battle paused for a moment, as none had expected such ferocity and power.
The very next moment, the two heads began to regenerate. However, Rich, having observed a decrease in the hydra's power reservoir with each regeneration, began to laugh maniacally. "How was Rich the first to break?" Adam inquired through their communication channel.
"I'm not broken," Rich responded, "but I've discovered they can't regenerate endlessly. I'll start cutting them down at every opportunity. Just support me and keep us all going." Rich then charged forward, getting close to the heads that were hesitant to use strong elemental attacks near their own necks, leaving them with no choice but to engage him in melee combat.
It wasn't a straightforward battle, as any one of those attacks could swallow Rich whole. However, he began to sever the heads of the hydra one by one, watching them regrow but knowing there was an end to this madness.
The others didn't fully grasp what Rich meant, as they couldn't perceive what he saw. Yet, over the course of two months, they had come to trust him, especially in combat. The dynamics of the battle shifted, and while all the heads remained focused on their respective adversaries, this allowed him to land more effective blows on the different heads of the hydra.
