—Swish
It was as if time slowed down as the blonde-haired guy shot his arrow toward Ares, while Alice slowly turned toward Ares with her eyes widened, while the muscular guy with a shield who was blocking Alice's path had a huge grin on his face.
Meanwhile, Ares' expression remained neutral, as if unaffected by the approaching arrow.
And as the arrow approached, he immediately used his skill Location swap!
Swap!
In an instant, his location was switched with the blonde-haired guy, and the arrow pierced his throat instantly, killing the blonde-haired man on the spot.
Ahk!—
!?
Alice and the muscular man were perplexed and had puzzled looks on their faces as they witnessed the sudden, unexpected death of the blonde-haired man.
"Huh?"
!?
The muscular man made a slow turn in the direction of the blonde-haired man's previous position with a horrified expression.
However, even before he had a chance to react, Ares, who was now behind him, swung his sword and severed his head from his body, sending his blood spraying like rain.
And as Alice turned to face the muscular man, she was met by his headless body and his blood sprayed onto her face.
—Spurt!
!?
Alice was still unable to process what had just happened because it all happened so quickly and also because she saw her two former teammates die in front of her.
"...."
"...Ahhhhhh! Stay away from me, please! It wasn't my fault; they made me do it," the pink-haired woman, Victoria, suddenly screamed and hurriedly moved backward, terrified.
"Tch, what did they expect to get out of attempting to murder us? Of course, we don't have to be merciful to them," Silvia remarked as she freed herself from the entanglement.
"...It's hilarious how they ignored the skeleton soldiers as if they were really an illusion," Irethiel said while giggling.
"...."
"I know right?" Silvia concurred as she shook her head with a grin.
Alice quickly uttered after waking up from her trance, "...S-Sir Ares, will you kindly forgive Victoria for me, s-she isn't really a bad person, I think she might have been forced to cooperate with them.
!?
When I heard her, all I did was give Alice a blank stare.
I don't really need the woman named Victoria because I only need one of them alive.
Kheooooooooong!—
Suddenly, we heard a loud, monstrous roar as the ground beneath us started to shake and surface cracks started to appear.
And the horrifying roar of the monster left everyone in a state of shock.
!?
"So, it's here at last!" Ares murmured inwardly.
And immediately after that, the ground cracks widened and water started to leak out of them.
"...."
"...Was that the roar of this gate's boss monster?" Silvia questioned uncomfortably as their feet were now partially submerged in the water that was seeping through the cracks.
"It was, indeed, the boss monster! Be ready, it's about to appear," Ares had forewarned them.
Kheoooooong!
The massive roar could be heard once more.
"I don't want to perish! I don't want to die, please!" The pink-haired girl began crying aloud and came to a halt, her body shaking in fear.
"D-Don't worry, Victoria, you're not going to die. Come on here, Sir Ares is not irrational; together, we can slay this monster and escape through this gate," Alice stated that as she extended her hand toward Victoria.
"...."
"I-Is that really true?" Victoria inquired as she turned toward me with her lifeless eyes, and I simply nodded, so she began to approach Alice slowly.
—Step, Step, Step.
But just as she was about to take Alice's hand in hers, abruptly the ground from her steps separated, causing her to fall.
"VICTORIA!" Alice exclaimed, rushing to grab her hand and keep her from falling.
Kheoooooong!
...But then we saw a monster's head emerge from underwater where Victoria had just fallen.
And we witnessed Victoria immediately torn apart by the monster, who then threw her upper body into the air before chewing and gobbling her whole.
"...."
While this was happening, Alice stood by helplessly as she saw the pink-haired woman being devoured by a monster in front of her.
"N-No, No, this cannot happen!" Alice muttered, her face still fixed on the monster in front of her in horror.
Kheooooong! Kheooooooong!
However, We immediately heard two more monster roars, but they weren't from the monster in front of us.
I rushed toward Alice and moved her away from the spot, bringing her to the ground where the water had not yet reached.
And as soon as I moved Alice from her previous location, we noticed two more monster heads emerge from the water.
Kheooooong!
"...."
"...What in the world is this monster?" Silvia exclaimed as she saw the three-headed monster in front of us.
"...It's the Hydra!" I muttered as my gaze was fixed on the monster in front of us.
It was a serpent-like water beast with three heads, measuring 50-60 meters in length and covered in dragon scales.
The monster was on top of the water and appeared to have four legs.
'It won't be easy because of its poisonous breath,' I thought inwardly.
And defeating it was considered to be extremely difficult.
"...Beware of its poison breath," I warned Silvia as I turned toward her, to which she simply nodded.
Alice continued to be silent while she was still in shock.
'It would have been challenging to defeat this monster if it had been someone else, but... I have an advantage because my element is electricity, which would be effective against him.' I thought to myself inwardly.
And without further ado, I took out my bow and used my static electricity to encircle my arrow with electricity before shooting it at the serpent-like monster in front of me.
Swish!
The arrow blasted one of the hydra's entire head as soon as it struck the middle of its body, which was submerged in water and electrically charged.
Kheeeeong!
Then, as if to confirm the power of the assault, the remaining heads simultaneously screamed in pain.
However, the regeneration of the head was visible, and two new heads sprouted up immediately in place of the one he had just blasted off.
"...."
"...It was exactly what I expected, their regeneration ability is no joke," I muttered.
"Yeah, it appears to be even stronger than vampire regeneration.
Ah wait! where did that fourth head come from?" Silvia remarked.
"...Yeah, that's the tricky part; if we cut off one head, two new heads will grow in its place," I explained.
"...."
"So, how are we supposed to kill it?" Silvia was perplexed.
"...Perhaps we should burn all of its heads at once?" I replied, uncertain.
"Well, I still think your previous attack was pretty effective; we just need to find its weakness," Irethiel stated.
The struggling hydra quickly exhaled poison and covered its immediate surroundings in a poisonous green fog.
But Ares wasn't worried about what was happening. His expression and eyes didn't change, almost as if he had anticipated it.
"Irethiel!" Ares called her out, while Irethiel nodded her head in response, as though she knew what she had to do.
And when the hydra slowly started to approach me to retaliate with complete assurance in its poison and without the slightest sense of threat.
It happened exactly then.
Tuk!
As something pierced into its flesh, and one of the heads screamed in agony once more.
Kyaaaa?
The other hydra heads turned toward the spike in shock. And they were met by an army of skeleton soldiers who stood there unaffected by the poisonous fog.
***