Chapter 529: The Powerful Reinforcement We Found
On the mountain east of Axel lies an exceptionally vast lake.
Within this lake dwells a monster known as the "Hydra," a creature that has existed here for decades—one so powerful that no one has ever managed to defeat it in all these years.
Rumors say even the kingdom's knights have attempted to subjugate it multiple times, yet they still couldn't handle the thing.
Fortunately, this monster only appears once every ten years, so its threat is minimal, and the royal knights have left it be.
Now.
At the lake's edge, Eiji stood with his staff in hand.
"BOOM!"
With an explosive sound, the tranquil lake surface shattered entirely, sending waves splashing outward.
Amid the spray, a massive monster emerged from the depths, letting out a deafening roar.
It was a colossal white serpent over dozens of meters long, with eight heads in total. Each maw gaped wide, its crimson vertical pupils brimming with fury.
According to guild intel, the Hydra was a highly unique monster—one that spent ten years absorbing mana from the ley lines. Only after saturating itself with magic would it leave the lake and wreak havoc on the surface.
Once its rampage ended, it would return to the lake to slumber and absorb mana once more, repeating this cycle over a dozen times already.
But today, despite it not yet being the decade's end, someone had rudely awakened it, filling it with uncontrollable rage.
Airi descended from the sky, her pale, delicate body swaying like a serpent as she landed gracefully on the shore. Droplets still clung to her long hair, making her appear radiantly beautiful.
Then, with a light step, Eiji floated effortlessly forward.
As if gravity held no sway over him, he walked across the water with ease. With just a tap of his staff, one of the Hydra's heads burst into a mist of blood.
Airi shuddered at the sight.
If he wanted to, Eiji could probably just as easily obliterate her with that staff, couldn't he?
His strength was truly unfathomable—the more she learned about him, the deeper the mystery became, plunging her into ever-greater despair.
In the blink of an eye, the Hydra had already lost three or four heads.
Terrified, the monster recoiled from Eiji as if he were venomous, twisting its massive body to dive back into the lake.
"Oh no, you don!"
Eiji snorted lightly.
Then, with one hand, he seized the Hydra's tail. Though its scales were slick, his fingers dug in like iron nails as he hoisted its entire body onto his shoulder.
With a thunderous boom that shook the air, the Hydra's colossal form was hurled onto the shore.
"This thing can regenerate!" Airi remarked with a smirk, watching as the Hydra's lost heads gradually regrew.
"You have to drain all its mana to kill it for good!"
At her words, Eiji flicked a finger.
Golden blades of light shot from his fingertips, encircling the Hydra and piercing through its heads repeatedly, exploding them over and over.
One minute later, after being killed dozens of times, the Hydra finally breathed its last.
The entire battle had been completely one-sided.
"Supposedly, the bounty on this thing rivals that of a Demon King Army officer?"
Eiji glanced at his adventurer card.
The level had already reached 29, and skill points had accumulated to around seventy. The experience points given were quite generous.
"This monster has lived for many years and is extremely powerful. With its strong regenerative abilities, even the entire Belzerg Kingdom couldn't do anything about it."
Airi explained it this way.
Over the past few decades, there had been adventurers strong enough to be considered bugs, but none could deal with the Hydra. Yet today, this monster was effortlessly taken down by the two of them as if they were playing around.
Airi knew she couldn't have done it alone. She was certain that if she went all out, she could overpower it in combat, but she had no way to counter its regeneration.
Unless she could kill it several times in one second like Eiji, there was no way to defeat this monster.
From a pure strength perspective, this thing truly lived up to the title of Demon King.
"Your swimsuit really has no appeal at all."
"At least my legs look good, don't they?"
Airi retorted indignantly before stubbornly putting her clothes back on.
She had spent half of yesterday picking out a swimsuit, hoping to completely mesmerize him, but it had no effect whatsoever. Instead, she got mocked again.
Does this jerk really believe that no chest means no worth?
A woman's legs are the things you can enjoy for a lifetime—do you even get that?!
"What about the guild? Have you notified them to collect the corpse? Leaving such a huge body out for too long could easily cause a plague."
"They're already waiting at the foot of the mountain."
Aside from supporting adventurers in their quests, the guild was also responsible for retrieving monster corpses. They would then pay the adventurers the procurement fee minus the transportation costs, making things very convenient in many ways.
"Congratulations, Mr. Nangou."
Luna approached with the guild staff, staring at the Hydra's corpse in utter astonishment.
"This is yet another out-of-bounds quest completed by you, the delicate Level 1 mage. The Hydra is even more troublesome than the Demon King Army's executives!"
She smiled warmly.
Whether it was the griffon, the manticore, or the Hydra, these were all long-neglected quests that had piled up over the years—the kind no one would ever take.
"Ah, as a delicate Level 1 mage, all I can do is take on these ignored quests."
Eiji sighed, his face full of melancholy.
"Heh…"
Luna's eye twitched.
The ignored quests are the hardest ones, okay?
It's precisely because they're safe that those quests are in high demand!
"By the way, Mr. Nangou, there's actually something I wanted to tell you."
Luna composed herself and put on a mysterious expression.
"In three days, our guild in Axel will organize an expedition to the castle in the northern outskirts to subdue the Demon King Army's executive, the Headless Knight Beldia!"
"Are you trying to get yourselves killed?"
"This operation will have a very powerful adventurer participating—an outsider we specifically sought out. We're certain they can defeat the Headless Knight!"
"Is that so?"
Eiji's gaze sharpened.
"Who is this outsider you've brought in?"
"I'm afraid I'll have to keep that a secret for now!"
Luna playfully closed one eye. "If you're interested, you can come to the guild hall on the morning of the third day to find out!"
With that, Luna began directing the staff to transport the Hydra's corpse.
"An outsider? Who could it be?"
Eiji fell deep into thought.
"It's hard to say."
Airi walked over, her expression growing solemn.
"Beldia's strength is certainly impressive, but he's not quite top-tier. Those cheat-reincarnators at the top of the kingdom's adventurer rankings—each of them has the ability to challenge him..."
The number of reincarnators still alive isn't small, and every one of them possesses extraordinary cheat-like abilities, fully capable of killing Beldia.
"It seems we'll have to go there after all."
Eiji said thoughtfully.
Airi also nodded gravely.