"This may not have been the best idea!" I shout, as I dive behind cover. The others, trying their best to stay out of range, say nothing, as Ray holds her swords before her in a block that seems to generate a shield, just in time for the blast of poison and miasma to slam into it, the power of her twin blades blocking the whole thing, luckily, before the stream ran out of power, and she rolled over the large rock, landing beside me.

"Gee, you think?" she said sarcastically, and before I could respond, the catgirl, who was less than half my size, grabbed me, and with startling ease, dragged me from my hiding spot, just in time for one of the heads to slam so hard into the ground on the other side of the stone that it seemed to explode. The debris and dust showed, had we stayed, I would have been flattened, and I silently thanked her, as we rushed towards where Shadow and Souka were behind another large rock.

The thing attacking us roared…somehow. Like, I was still not certain HOW it made most of its vocalizations, given it was nothing but bones. Bones that clattered and clacked as they moved, the long neck, connected by bolts of black lightning, the energy moving it, pulling it backwards, and then coming up, as one of the other heads slammed down, Fast dodging it, having baited the thing out.

The moment it smashed into the ground, burying itself for a moment, Strong rushed in, his hands glowing with power as he smashed them down into the bone, the thick skull cracking, and then shattering under the assault as the pair quickly rushed away, just as two more of the head slammed down on either side of the one they'd smashed to piece, whereupon Lucia smacked those two with bolts of thunder that shattered them.

And as before, whether sliced into thin strips by Ray's blades, crushed under Souka's hammer, or just now, literally turned into powder by the combined efforts of those three, the heads reformed. The dust flew into a small cyclone, and like a puzzle, knitted back together into the three heads, which then pulled back towards the main body, as the trio rushed just behind another stone, as more shots of toxic sludge spewed forth from the other heads.

This gorge, between the capital and Thud, about a three day journey, so not all that far, had once been the same AS Thud, a trade, rest, and resupply stop just outside the capital. Of course, that had been more than half a millennia ago, but back then it had been the place where dozens of merchants, dukes, and others plied their trade, in a spot said to be one of the safest in the world, thanks to the high walls, and small entry points.

It had stood against a Wave, or so the legends went, falling right onto it. Monsters had poured in, but their limitless numbers were blunted by the stone and rock, so thick and strong that even their power couldn't serve to break it. It was a victory for the people of the entire world, and it showed the spirit that went into the building of an ever expanding nation, the spirit that would see them grow to one of the most powerful on the planet.

And then the hydra had come. The back of the valley had a small lake, a natural pool of crystal clear water that was obviously coming from somewhere in the surrounding mountains, but somehow a full grown hydra had slipped in. Mind, it wasn't like, classical greek hydra, with two heads growing for every one you chopped off, but more just a seven headed snake beast with some water magic.

That was selling it a bit short. The thing's heads were each the size of a horse, and it was able to blast water out from its mouths that was boiling so hot it turned to steam the moment it struck something, usually stripping the flesh down to the bones of whatever it struck. Worse, it was able to regenerate with a speed that meant doing damage was all but impossible, even as it struck out.

That one monster had driven the people from the gorge, forcing them away, and leaving them to seal the place up. It was centuries of people coming in with different plans to kill it, from sealing it in ice, to burying it with rocks, all of which failed, and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of adventurers and soldiers, before finally, it was felled by some idiot with a really great idea for how to kill it.

A necrotic poison, something that apparently worked with dark magic and some other things that caused the flesh to rot away, even taking away its regeneration factor. He went in, and was never heard from again, but soon, a foul odor crept out from the place, and then, nothing, and so a team was sent in by the crown, and they discovered that the fool's plan had indeed worked to kill the hydra.

The problem was, it was a boss level monster of sorts, like a dragon or a greater chimera, and so, killing it didn't exactly kill it. It instead changed it. The thing's flesh had rotted from its bones, but those bones were bond together with the same dark magic that had killed it, and now its flesh pooled beneath it, exuding the poison that had slain it into the waters in which it dwelled, allowing it to fire sprays of the stuff at will.

It was cool to watch too, it would rear back its head, and then the water would lift up through the bones in its body, a torrent rising up the neck bones, and then shooting out of the head. If it hadn't been so deadly, I would have probably tried to keep it firing just to watch, but given the stuff was literally doing more damage than our whole party could take at once, I kept my distance.

Luckily, the thing was stupid. Undead could retain intelligence, according to Lucia, but most were rendered all but mindless in the change from living to living impaired. This had been a dumb beast even when it WAS alive, and now, it just sat in the lake of poisons, and attacked anyone who came into the gorge. For the last two hundred years there'd been maybe a dozen tries to dislodge it, and all had ended in a rout.

Our party was faring a little better than average. We were alive after almost an hour, after all, and none of us were even significantly damaged. That was mostly thanks to Rem's defense, Shadow and mine's teleport, and Fast's speed. Lucia, being a magic user, had mostly kept back, and Souka, other than a few assists, had been the same. That was better than anyone else even when this thing was alive.

But we weren't winning either. Another charge proved that as we baited out the poison, and then had all seven heads strike the ground nearby, with Lucia then hammering them with ice blocks that crushed them beneath them, sealing them up, only for them to shatter and free themselves again, with a roar, and then spit up small streams of poison, forcing us back again, and diving behind the nearby stones.

The problem was simple, of course. The hydra had a core, we could even see it, shining beneath the bones on its back. But that back was over the lake of toxic sludge, and even touching that would instantly kill most beings, even with resistances. Worse, the thing moved and rolled every time a head surged forward, meaning even if we could get someone onto the hydra's back, it wouldn't be a stable position, and that bone was a meter or more thick.

The other problem was, even dead, the thing had fantastic regeneration. Our damage did little to even move the HP gauge it had, and worse, it would actually repair the damage to the bone just as quickly, lines of dark magic knitting it back together. All in all, a terrible sort of opponent, and even with plans, I was starting to think discretion might be the better part of valor in this case.

"Everyone! Back to the big rock!" I shouted loudly, and then used (Blink) to get out in front of the thing, firing a few shots of low power, in order to keep its focus on me. The heads shot some of the poison my way, but with (Blink) I was easily able to dodge out of the way, as my MP was one of the few resources I had that regenerated quickly, allowing me to keep flashing all over the place, until the others were where they needed to be, and I joined them.

"Okay, so…this is not working," I said, as I looked around at my party. Everyone had full HP, luckily, and the buffs I'd given them to start with were holding up well, but MP was starting to run out for Lucia and Shadow, and the others simply looked exhausted, having been running around for an hour or more just to keep ahead of this.

"An understatement that one. But it's still better than I've ever heard of anyone doing against this thing," admitted Ray as she poked her head out, and looked at it, as the eyeless skulls moved all around, not seeing her tiny face as she slid back down.

"I have one more play to make, but I'm open to other suggestions, as this is going to be dangerous, so if anyone has any ideas, lay them on the table now," I said, and got mostly blank stares back. Smashing the heads to powder had been Fast's idea, Lucia had said to freeze them, and Ray had given us one about trying to hit the body from a distance, which worked…but it regenerated the same as the heads, so it had done little good.

"I think we're tapped for ideas, so what's your plan, Hero?" asked Souka after no one said anything, and I nodded, and laid out my idea. They went from curious, to nervously glancing at each other, to very confident this wouldn't work, but I assured them this was an idea that I thought had merit, but it would take all of us to make it work. If they didn't feel up to trying it, we could retreat, and forget about this opponent for now.

They looked at each other, and Strong, with a nod to his brothers, stood up, looking ready to do this. A sign they trusted me, which was nice, as Lucia, Ray, and Souka all hefted their weapons up, ready to give this a shot. With that done, I nodded back, and pointed to each of the women in turn, giving them specific instructions, as I told the three brothers where to stand, and then crouched down, telling them to get ready.

The three brothers striped themselves down to their fur. Fast took off the sandals, the other two removed cloaks, and even the vambraces that allowed so much of Strong's ranged power. It was a costly disrobing, as their stats, even with bonuses, were simply not as good as when they wore the gear, but we'd already seen this next part wasn't exactly kind to things wrapped around their bodies.

"Go!" I shouted, and the moment that word left my throat, they went, Ray first, her sword flashing as she did some kind of Paladin skill that brought all the attention of the local monsters to her, the hydra's seven skulls spinning around, and their mouths opening up, as poison began to shoot up the necks, the bones rattling as it passed them by.

Lucia was next, her wand flashing as she quickly did her incantation, and then let loose with it, draining her MP pool as she used her new (Consecutive Cast) skill to rapid fire with it. Instantly ice blocks froze in the lower part of the hydra's bony necks, blocking the poison, and making them gag and cough, for some reason. It was enough, however, as Ray dove back behind the boulder, and the brothers and I surged out in front.

"Forgive the phrasing, fellas, but I've always wanted to say this," I said as I focused on them and stretched out with my magical senses. (Domino) saw me take hold of strands of their life force, and then 'knot' them together, linking the three brothers, as I shifted my Bow into its (Stage 2) mixed with (Precision) form, as this next thing was as of this moment my most costly boost.

"Magic bow! Make my minions grow! (Up Scale Arrow)!" I cried out as loudly as I could, and then loosed the boost, right into the small of Strong's back. It was a shimmer bolt of silver, and it drove itself into the fur of the lion, who wavered a little on his feet, his brothers doing the same, and then, without a noise, the three bodies before me began to swell and grow, their forms surging upwards.

We'd tested this a day ago, on the trip here, with me using (Precision) on Strong. At the time, my best boost was double size, and it had given him a huge boost in power, as his physical and magical attacks both soared upwards, along with his HP. His defenses, and his mobility, were untouched, which oddly made him look like he was moving slower even when we measured it and he still covered the same amount of ground.

Since then, I'd been pushing myself, using the boost skill at every opportunity so it would level up, and its gain was incredible. At this point, while it was costly, I could increase the size of someone a full order of magnitude, and they got a proportional increase in attack power in all categories. Of course, as we'd seen, that wasn't always the best, given they were bigger targets too, but it had been helpful.

Now, with the three linked in soul, the increase in scale came to all of them, and at ten times their size, they moved slower than ever before, or so it seemed, but they moved with enough force that you could feel the air around them moving with them, the backwash of wind tugging at me even as I dove behind the rock, and with a mumble, turned on my (Void Gaze), and looked up.

My spells, as it turned out, gained no levels from simple use, and thus not only grew no better, but I couldn't unlock more. Still, the three I had were good enough, and watching, I saw ghostly visions of the hydra's heads as they flailed about, and then, with a suddenness, surged forward. The moment I saw them, I put my hands to my mouth, and shouted up at the giants.

"Shadow, left, Fast, right, Strong, roar now!" I cried out as loudly as I could, and then watched as the massive titans before me moved at my orders. The cheetah, swift as ever, even if you could see him move now, dove to the side just as some of the heads surged at him, and then ninja tiger did the same, pulling his hands up to his face, and seeming to whisper something to them, before vanishing in black smoke, that the heads then rammed into.

The middle one, however, roared out as the heads came near. (Proud) a pseudo-earth attribute attack, blew in front of him, the heads that had intended to strike him instead slamming into the solid wall of sound in front of him, all three withering from the strike, and then falling to the ground, leaving him to rush forward, and just as I told him, he slammed his feet down into them, holding them beneath his mass.

The heads, larger than us, were small enough to the lion for him to hold all three beneath his tread, and then, with a grunt, he reached to the side, and as the other heads tried to pull back, he grappled them instead, catching them at the base of the skulls, and then holding them tightly against each other, creating an almost amusing image, as he had the necks, vertebrate connected by crackling black lightning, held in his grip.

Without a word, Shadow moved, his body, not as swift as Fast's, but still agile enough to allow him to leap onto the twisted necks on either side that Strong was holding, and then, with a silent roar, he ran down them like ropes, dancing from one foothold to the next, the hydra trying to squirm, to wriggle out from beneath it, and failing thanks to Strong's power, who held the beast as still as possible.

The moment he reached the main body, Shadow leapt onto it, and then, with another handsign, we all watched as the stripes on his back began to rise from his body, becoming cords of pure darkness that ended in sharp, gleaming spears, like polished obsidian. They began to wail-on the creatures back, meter thick bone being beaten, hard, by even thicker cords of darkness that pounded again and again.

When we heard it, the sudden powerful crack, we cheered, even as the hydra's HP bar continued to fluctuate. It went up, down, and up again, as Strong, smiling, used (King's Flare) to surround his body in flames, the aura doing damage to match what Shadow was doing, but neither did enough to take the creature down to more than half health, before it leapt back to full again.

That was fine, as the crack we'd heard was enough to signal Fast, his body leaning down, still towering over us, but allowing him to reach the ground, and then punching at it, his fists seeming to vanish into the earth, before appearing over the back of the hydra, joining in with Shadow's tendrils, increasing the damage, but more importantly, keeping the crack from closing up, as they drove it down deeper.

Finally, with a great crunch, the backplate of the hydra's body snapped in two, and with her blades, Ray began to dance, chanting something as she empowered the two, and then slashed out, waves of light and darkness coming from her weapons, and turning into crescents flying over the poison lake, just as Shadow vanished and reappeared behind us, and Fast, with both hands, reached into the breach on the hydra's back and ripped out its heart.

The heart was a crystal. According to my party, it grew with the age of the beast in question, starting out small, like the size of a small fruit, and then going from there. It was the core of any boss monster, and those that lived a few decades could have a pretty good sized one. This one, as it happened, was half the size of my body, and you could visibly see it in Fast's hands as he hauled it from within the thing.

Lines of lightning kept it connected to the beast, fueling it, and it roared mightily, now actually moving Strong, despite his mass, and forcing the poison up its necks so powerfully that the ice blocks were beginning to crack. An instant more, and the thing might have escaped, leading to a problem for us, but that instant did not come, as Ray's slashes reached the lightning connecting the heart to the rest.

The first slammed home with a loud crackle, like lightning meeting lightning, and causing a sort of negative effect to fill my vision, before the second strike struck home as well, and with a great blast, the link to the heart came undone, tossing Fast backwards, as he fell onto his big butt, which knocked the rest of us down on the ground onto ours, but he held the heart of the beast in his grip as he pulled his hands back to him.

Like that, a half a millennia old monster died. The bones clattered and crackled with dark magic for just one moment longer, before they fall to the earth, and went still, and poison waters of the lake finally, for the first time in memory, settled down, leaving us to stand up, and give a loud cheer…louder from the three brothers…two brothers since Shadow didn't, but still, it was a nice feeling, to have overcome something like that, and a good beginning to our quest.