The Systems Challenge-Chapter 410: The Hydra part 3

Elmo wasn't going to lie. The fact that the hydra was able to tear at the cauterized part of the neck in order to get the heads to regrow didn't make him feel any better. Though, he did wonder if it was because they weren't fully engaging the heads.

Even as two new heads grew out of the stump of the old head in a matter of minutes, the lengths of the neck didn't seem to change, which meant the new heads were limited from what they could do apart from each other. Making Elmo feel like there was a chance they still could turn this around. Despite the blow to their morale when that happened.

As far as Elmo could tell, this hydra's body had more of a serpentine quality than that of a dragon, which is what he'd always imagined a hydra would have. Which meant it's tail was essentially an extension of its body, despite the fact that the tail didn't extend any farther than the heads.

Also, Patricia freezing the ground certainly took the hydra's terrain advantage away from it, or at least mostly leveled the playing field, since the hydra didn't seem to have any issues with the ice, such as slipping on it like they were having. Other than clearly not liking the cold, that is. Which made Elmo wonder if maybe it was cold blooded. Not that he could think of that fact helping them much, since the temperature surrounding them was starting to warm up again as the sun continued to rise above the horizon.

Elmo hadn't noticed his spells having much of an effect, which made him wonder just how high its HP was. Plus, it aggravated him that he couldn't check himself because it was able to somehow block his spell that would have let him see its stats. He also noticed that he wasn't able to get any MP through his Absorb spell, so he doubted that he'd be able to use it to replenish his MP like he'd gotten in the habit of doing against opponents.

The only thing that his spells seemed to do was to annoy the heads. Not that he could think of what good that would do, as even when Elwin cut off another head, Elmo tried distracting the heads with a barrage of his spells, but they ignored them completely, even the fire ones, and went straight for the cauterized neck.

Not that Elwin slowed down. He stepped in closer to the hydra and swung his sword to cut the neck of the head that he'd cut off previously, but this time lower, which in turn took out two heads, with Patrick blasting flames on the stump moments after Elwin cleared it, even as the hydra regrew two heads at the same speed as before on the other stump. Although, it did seem like the necks had to be a certain length from the body before they would grow a head from the neck.

Elmo felt like he was more of an observer at this point than anything else. The only ones who seemed to be able to sever the hydra's heads were Kim and Elwin, and only because their swords were long enough to cut all the way through their heads. Even Jonas' daggers weren't long enough to even reach the bone that Elmo could see through the charred flesh. Maybe if Sonya turned into a dragon again she could, but as a wolf, she kind of got herself stuck in the mu, combined with her clothing, and was focused more on that.

Elwin seemed like he was gaining ground. That the lower down he severed one, or more, of the hydra's heads the more time it took each of the heads to take out the cauterization of the neck that Patrick caused moments later. As while one of the heads tried to regrow two more, Elwin was systematically severing the heads faster than they could regrow.

However, Elmo wasn't sure if Elwin would be able to keep the pace up before he wore himself out. Especially since he was noticeably moving slower than before. Elmo looked towards Kim and saw that she was in the process of lopping off heads as well. Though, one big difference between her and Elwin was the fact that with her blade engulfed in its own flames, she didn't need someone else to help her keep the heads from regrowing, other than to keep the hydra heads from attacking the stumps to remove the cauterization.

As Kim moved, Elmo felt a surge of hope as it was clear between Kim and Elwin, that they'd soon have taken care of all the heads, even as the hydra struggled to keep them regrowing as fast as it could.

When there was only one head left, the hydra seemed to try to change tactics. Namely, it sought means for it to run. It almost seemed like it tried to do a backflip into the bog behind it, but its body was stuck in the ice too much for it to accomplish that. Instead, it merely fell on its back on the ice and tried righting itself while trying to flee at the same time.

Yet, as Kim swung her sword down on the hydras head, a single moment after Elwin did the same, Elmo say the body stiffen, as if it felt that blow more than any of the other hits it'd taken so far in the battle. Though, even after the last head was cauterized, it was clear the hydra was still struggling. Elmo couldn't stay what might happen next, such as if maybe it'd try to scrape the cauterized part of the necks of the ice to continue the fight, but he could see that happening in his mind while he waited to see what occurred next.

Then suddenly, it was clear the fight was over as the body slumped to the ground. Elmo wasn't sure if it had died or if it was waiting to see what they did to it. Since it clearly couldn't see or hear, if it was still alive that is. Elmo wasn't sure what to do about it, but Elwin seemed to have his own ideas as he stabbed his sword down to its hilt into the body of the hydra before pulling it out and repeating the process.

"What're you doing?" Patrick asked, sounding more curious than anything else.

"Checking to see if any part of it is still alive," Elwin replied casually, as if he did this thing all the time. "I've fought hydras before that attacked us later after it found a way to start regrowing heads."

Elmo wasn't sure if that really could happen here, but he didn't like the idea of the hydra coming after them again after that fight. As while he couldn't say there wasn't a chance that they'd have to face another hydra as they crossed this bog, he certainly didn't want to face this one again if anything could be done to prevent it from emerging and continuing its attack on them. If only so that he would be able to know if things did go badly for them later, they could still try to retreat in this direction.

"What'll you do if it is?" Bart asked, almost like he thought the might be a test on that later.

"Then I'll start by trying to find its heart," Elwin answered as he stabbed the hydra's body again. "Though, it's hard to tell where it is with hydras, as each one seems to have it in a different location."

"How will you know if its really dead?" Sonya asked as she finally managed to pull herself onto the ice and shift back in to a human. "I mean, all you're doing is stabbing it randomly. You might as well try finding its heart now while you're at it, then."

Elwin shrugged as he pulled his sword out. "Maybe, but usually there's a few key points that will make it start moving if you know where they are."

"And you do?" Kim asked, though Elmo got the feeling she wasn't buying his story. Or at least not completely.

"Well, for most hydras," Elwin replied. "Though, I can't say I've encountered one that burrows through bogs before."

Kim rolled her eyes, her expression clearly mocking Elwin. "Then don't let us keep you," she said. "We'll just make our way on from here."

"Uh, I think I should rest," Patricia commented. "Freezing so much of the ground pretty much tapped me out."

"It probably would help us make better time if we let her rest," Elin commented. "That way she can freeze a path for us so we don't have to deal with so much of the bog again."

Kim sighed, sounding rather exasperated. Elmo was glad that he wasn't the one who'd mentioned that. Though, he doubted that he'd have brought it up, no matter how good of an idea it seemed in his mind. If only to avoid getting on Kim's bad side.

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"How long would you suggest we wait?" Kim asked, sounding like she was making a huge concession with her question. "We don't know how much time we have to just wait around."

"Maybe you like walking through the bog, but I'd rather walk on frozen ground," Elin declared, glaring at Kim.

Elmo wasn't sure which was worse. He hoped that it wouldn't be anything that would drag him into whatever was going on between them.

However, unlike what Elmo had expected, Kim merely shook her head, patted Elin on the head, and turned back towards the one piece of dry land they knew of.

"We can wait until noon," she said, almost making it a declaration. "Then we'll head out. I don't want to be in this miserable place more than I absolutely have to."