Chapter 99: The King of Poison

—“Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting.”

Approaching and then retreating, as if being followed by an annoying fly or mosquito, Hydra was unable to control its frustration towards the existence that clung to itself.

The breath of poison was erased by an unknown blast of energy.

If it tried to crush with its teeth, it would escape like a monkey and if it tried to strike with its tail, it would soar like a bird. Ordinary creatures could not approach Hydra’s fierce poison, but this human attacked without a hint of fear.

Unable to endure the unpleasant feeling that surged from its chest, Hydra loudly roared with anger.

Its eight heads stretched straight towards the sky, causing the ground to shake with a thundering noise.

The roar of a dragon, Dragon Roar. The roar carrying the magic of a dragon was not just “sound.” It was a “magic” that suppressed the hearts of those who hear it, and it was a sonic weapon that could destroy an army of thousands with just one roar.

That much power was contained in just one roar. The power of an eight-fold roar, using all eight heads, was already in the realm of divine instruments. If one was exposed to it close-by, even a human’s soul and body would be erased without a trace—but.

“It’s full of gaps, foolish.”

The human, who was exposed to the roar at close range, did not show any signs of enduring it, and instead brandished a black weapon with a sneer on their face.

The eight heads were stretched towards the sky to roar. The human’s attack directly hit the vulnerable neck and cut off one of the heads.

The remaining seven mouths let out a voice of anger like distant thunder.

Hydra, being made of flesh and blood that was even poisonous, does not have the concept of touch. Therefore, it does not feel pain even if its head is cut off. The wound will regenerate immediately and does not affect its fighting power.

However, the human’s attack still gave an unpleasant feeling. This wasn’t just a recent issue. This had been going on since the human appeared. The fact that the reason was unknown only made Hydra more frustrated.

As if to release that frustration, Hydra’s seven mouths simultaneously breathed out poisonous breath.

It should have been nearly impossible to avoid the poisonous breath that was being released from various angles, straight ahead, from above, from the right, and from the left, but the human easily dodged it by jumping.

However, this was exactly what hydra had planned.

The human, who was now flying in the air, was targeted by a strong tail that was making a loud noise. The thick tail was like that of a lower-ranked dragon. The human couldn’t dodge it since it was now in the air, unlike when it was on the ground, or so it seemed. The human seemed to have no choice but to take the hit—or so it was thought.

“Ruuoooooo!?”

The one who let out a roar of agony was the Hydra that attacked.

The tail, which tried to hit the human with an unavoidable speed and power, was cut off by a single blow from the black sword that the human swung.

A large amount of flesh and blood scattered from the wound and poured onto the surroundings, naturally attacking the attacker as splashes, but the fierce poison that melted even the bones did not take effect.

It was because the invisible barrier shield that protected the human’s body prevented the splashes from sticking.

“Hahaha! Directly cutting is more satisfying! And, even if blood splashes back, it can be prevented with a good defense. Now, there’s no need to cut from a distance anymore.”

–Anyway, if you get poisoned, just cut off the affected area and regenerate.

The human’s voice that said this while laughing comfortably did not reach the Hydra. That’s beside the point.

The Hydra had never shown any discomfort or let out a roar, no matter how many heads it had cut off. The reason it let out a roar of agony now was because it felt clearly the sensation of having a part of itself eaten in the moment its tail was cut off.

Again, there is no such thing as sensation for the Hydra. However, that feeling could only be described as pain.

“Gruuiiiii!”

With a particularly high-pitched voice, the Hydra slammed all seven of its tails remaining after the one that was just cut off into the ground with all its power.

Now, the ground had turned into a sea of poison – or rather, the surface of the water scattered the poison as if it had exploded from the impact of the powerful tails. The scattered poison itself played the role of an attack, but the Hydra’s aim was not that. The Hydra pounded its tails to gain lift, in other words, to soar into the sky.

“Whoa!?”

Was this not expected? A voice of surprise leaked from the human’s mouth.

In front of the human, the body of the Hydra, like a mountain, rose high into the sky, leaving the water surface. The water surface shook greatly from the separation of water, showing a raging sea like a storm. If the human was riding on a boat or a board, they would have fallen into the water.

However, the human stood calmly on the violently surging water surface. Even against the high waves of poison generated by the separation of water, they cut them down instantly with the black sword by swinging it.

These were the best and fastest responses to the Hydra’s unexpected behavior, but there was more to the intentions of the mythical species.

At that time, the body of the Hydra was already directly above the human.

It was a spectacular sight to see the body of the Hydra, like a mountain, floating clearly in the sky, but if it rises, it must fall according to the natural law of gravity. And no matter how much life force the human has, or how resistant they are to poison, they will not survive if they are under the weight of a huge mass.

Stepping on an ant-like insect and crushing it with their body was the Hydra’s goal.

Even if the insect avoided being stepped on, the flooding of poison generated by the shock of landing would be incomparable to when it left the water. Whether the insect died of poison or drowned, it was all the same to the Hydra.

In contrast, the human said, “It’s kind of you to expose your own weaknesses. “

He was laughing with his left hand raised above his head. The Hydra in the sky couldn’t perceive his bizarre behavior, so it couldn’t respond to the next action taken by the human.

“I’ll give my enemy an embrace of death – Flame Princess.”

The fifth level fire magic of the ken was released. A total of seven flame arms appeared in response. Their thickness was reminiscent of a large tree that had lived for hundreds of years, and they roared as they attacked the Hydra from above, aiming for its belly.

If it were an ordinary dragon, this level of flame would have been deflected by its scales. However, the scales of the Hydra, which were already rotten and poisonous all over its body, had lost the hardness of normal dragon scales. Furthermore, it had been proven that attacks by flames could prevent regeneration.

The wounds above its belly could be dealt with by the Hydra itself tearing open the wound, but if it was the wound at the bottom of its belly, that would be difficult. Of course, it was impossible to perform any skillful feats like changing its posture in the air to avoid the magic.

“Gluooooohhhhh!?!”

The Hydra, which had been hit by the flame magic in the same place a total of seven times in a row, let out a huge scream from its mouth. Even though it didn’t feel any pain, the sensation of having its belly pierced and its organs burned couldn’t have been pleasant.

The Flame Princess’s magic pierced the Hydra’s torso like a spear, creating a deep vertical hole. Because it was an attack by fire, regeneration didn’t even start. The decisive blow was the sharp thrust made by the human, which created a large hole in the Hydra’s torso. The human jumped into the hole to escape the Hydra’s crushing press, avoiding the impact of hitting the water as well. They then succeeded in escaping outside.

The human, who was now standing calmly on the Hydra’s scales without any fear, trembled slightly and laughed as if shouting out, “Hahaha! As expected of a dragon species, as expected of a phantasmal species! Just making one hole in their body has raised my level to 13 in no time! I can fight for hours, no, for dozens of hours like this…no, please fight! Please don’t run away, and please don’t die too easily, you Poison King!!”

The meaning of these words was still unknown to the Hydra, but it could sense that it was being heavily insulted.

Insolent, insolent, insolent.

A flame of anger was ignited in the Hydra’s chest.

It couldn’t tolerate an existence that would destroy itself. Following its self-preservation, the mystical creature awoke and began to act according to a feeling that was similar yet different from self-preservation, called ‘anger.’

It was an event that shouldn’t have happened, like a tornado changing its course due to anger or an earthquake changing its intensity due to anger.

It was the moment when the mystical creature, which was destined to destroy the human species in the world, bared its fangs to kill one person.