Ah. Yeah, uh… I see how it is.
Turning around, I run back into the river. It’s littered with corpses, but the five-headed hydra doesn’t seem to mind as it leaps in right alongside me.
But it’s not like I’m actually trying to escape. No, it just so happens that the river is a lot better for me to fight in. As I expected, the hydra doesn’t seem too hot on the heat, but that won’t kill it. However, I happen to know something that probably will.
As soon as we’re both in the river, I dive down and start swimming. From above, the large hydra can’t possibly see me, or smell me, or even feel me. I’m basically invisible. But I can remember where it is. Swimming around it, I get close enough to latch onto one of its back legs, where I instantly go for the hamstrings and the heel, chewing through so fast that it doesn’t even have time to react before its leg goes down for the count. And then, as one of its heads begins to blindly snap at me through the blood, I jump off and swim for the next leg, where I repeat the process. Now it’s on its knees, most of its belly exposed to the blood. I could go for it straight away, but that’s too easy.
Instead, I go for its arms instead. One of its heads succeeds in grabbing hold of one of my legs, but I’m willing to sacrifice it. Like a lizard severing its tail, I simultaneously break and slash along my thigh until the whole thing pops off. I’m bleeding like crazy, but it’s not like I’ll die, so, eh.
Then I go back into the blood and remove the support of its arms, forcing the whole body of the hydra to fall into the blood, each and every one of its five heads screeching in pain. Apparently, though, it’s a bit more pragmatic than originally thought, because it decides to sacrifice four of its heads to keep a bit of its body above the blood. But that just gives me four heads to bite off.
As I now find out, the hydra is not the sort that is capable of growing out its heads. If it was, I’d probably be screwed, so I’m glad that that is the case.
With its only supports gone, the body of the hydra falls into the blood.
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And now, I finally stand up and out of the blood. I’m not sure which tolerance to thank, but as I’ve discovered, I can currently hold my breath for well over twenty minutes. Neat, huh? Anyways, the final head of the hydra is growling up at me, but I kind of don’t care.
Hm. This hide… It’s way too nice to give away to the system. Yeah, I need to be able to keep this. Walking around the hydra, I grab hold of its tail and drag it up onto land, where I start skinning it and dissecting it bit by bit. The meat will get sold anyways, so I make sure to munch it. The whole river-of-boiling-blood thing means that some parts are actually cooked, which is extremely yummy. Warm food! Delightful.
After an hour or so, I finally have the whole skin in my inventory, at which point I give the hydra its final beheading.
<[Level Up]>
Strength has increased by 4. Stamina has increased by 2. Magic Power has increased by 1. Disassemble has increased by 1. Burn Resistance has increased by 1. Heat Resistance has increased by 1. Oxygen Deficiency Resistance has increased by 1. Drowning Resistance has increased by 1.> points for clearing the floor. You have received an additional 1 000 points for being the first to clear the floor.> you will receive an additional reward.> the additional reward has been traded for 5 000 points.> <5 Gods have shown a positive response to you. You have obtained 5 000 points.> <45 Gods have shown a negative response to you. 45 000 points have been deducted.> the floor clear reward has been traded for 1 000 points.> Even fewer this time, huh? I don’t know why I would expect anything else. Still, it’s nice to get a level up. I guess this is when the floor—