“Halt!” one shouted when he saw Ren climbing the slope. “What the hell…?”
“It’s the lucky mushroom boy!” another guard recognized him, his expression transforming from surprise to anger. “Why were you prowling in the lower levels. This time you really…!”
The wall behind Ren exploded.
The hydra emerged from the dust like a nightmare made real, its two heads covered in blood from the beasts it had devoured along the way.
One last effort. One final sprint.
Ren had finished climbing the slope, having gained ground on the beast despite his exhaustion as the beast wasn’t in much better condition than him.
“Run! It’s a gold rank hydra!” Ren’s voice cracked with desperation and fatigue.
The guards exchanged skeptical looks.
At this level, barely 150 meters deep, the idea of a gold rank beast was as absurd as finding a dragon sunbathing in the academy garden.
“Impossible,” whispered the supervisor, his expression changing from disbelief to horrified recognition. “A diamond hydra. But they live more than a thousand meters deep…”
The guards barely had time to process his words when the supervisor grabbed his arm, his ice penguin partially manifesting.
The hydra roared, the sound making the mana lamps crack. One of its heads turned toward the guards while the other kept its gaze fixed on Ren.
The other two guards instinctively backed away. Their beasts, an earth bear and a rock mongoose fully manifested. Both beasts were bronze rank 2, their power significant in normal circumstances but dwarfed by the terror before them.
“Block the entrance!” ordered the supervisor while pulling Ren backward. His voice carried the authority of someone used to commanding in crisis situations. “We need to evacuate!”
Knowledge flowed while Ren observed the guards’ beasts. Earth and rock control… The supervisor’s ice penguin, silver 2, was also a beast with ranged control capability.
‘Maybe they’re prepared for dead abyss beasts, to contain hordes,’ Ren understood.
The placement of the checkpoint, the specific combination of beasts, it wasn’t random.
They’re designed for the very unlikely case of a horde; hordes only come from the dead abyss but loose monsters from the hordes are rarely found in the caves too… that’s why they fear hordes in the caves.
‘But they must only be here to buy time while reinforcements arrive if dead abyss’ beasts ever filter into the caves. To block the path.’
“Wait!” Ren resisted when the supervisor tried to drag him further back, an idea crystallizing in his mind. “Don’t take me yet! Your ice, you can use it to slow it down!”
“What?”
“The slope!” Ren pointed to the ascending tunnel while the other guards began controlling earth and rock barriers. “If you freeze the climb it’ll be harder for it to scale!”
The supervisor hesitated only for an instant. “Hydras shoot light rays don’t be an idiot and come…!”
“Look!” Ren pointed. “Its movements are slower. It only has about ten minutes of energy left at this height, it won’t waste power on rays!”
The supervisor evaluated the suggestion in an instant. His penguin fully manifested, beginning to cover the steep climb with a thick layer of ice.
“More ice!” shouted Ren. “It needs to be thick enough!”
The ice layer grew as they ascended, becoming thicker with each breath from the penguin.
“Now!” he ordered his subordinates. “Block the entrance!”
The earth bear and rock mongoose created layered barriers, compacted earth reinforced with rock formations.
The sound of rock being pulverized approached. The hydra was breaking up the slope a bit to get better footing.
It roared again, but the sound was weaker. Without access to new prey, each movement brought it closer to exhaustion.
The hydra hit the blockade but couldn’t break it, its strength no longer the same.
“It won’t cross!” Ren shouted over the noise. “Without prey to feed on, each movement weakens it more!”
Another hit, weaker than the previous one. The hydra was losing strength.
“It’s giving up,” murmured one of the guards while the impacts grew progressively feebler, hope creeping into his voice.
Silence fell suddenly. The guards exchanged cautious looks.
“Did it leave?” asked the one with the mongoose.
Ren felt something was wrong, it was too soon for the hydra to abandon its pursuit after investing so much energy. Knowledge screamed a warning in his mind, calculating that it should still have enough power for one last…
“GET DOWN!” he shouted, already diving for the ground.
The power ray pierced the barriers as if they were paper, passing over their heads and leaving a trail of molten rock on the ceiling. The barrier had failed.
“Damn we’re dead!”
After that, only silence reigned.
“No… It’s over,” said Ren as they slowly stood. “That ray used the last of its energy. It needs to return to its vein now.”
The echoes of the hydra’s slow departing steps confirmed his words. The beast was descending, deeper and deeper, where the increase in mana or eating other beasts would keep it alive.
The supervisor turned to Ren, his expression a mixture of relief and suspicion. “You have a lot to explain, boy.”
But Ren had fainted, his mouth foaming and his veins glowing, unmistakable sign of mana poisoning. The mushrooms in his hair flickered weakly, barely processing the dense ambient energy.
“Damn!” the supervisor caught Ren’s limp form before it hit the ground, noting the dangerous heat radiating from his small body. “We need to get him out of here and give him medicine fast!”
“Peter!” he pointed to the mongoose guard. “Stay on watch!”
“What? Why me?” Peter looked nervously toward the tunnel where the hydra had disappeared, his mongoose hugging his legs. “What if the hydra…”
“The hydra is already going to the depths!” the supervisor was already running toward the exit with Ren in his arms. “Shut up and watch!”
“But… but…” Marco hugged his manifested mongoose tighter, both guard and beast trembling slightly.
“We’ll be back soon!” shouted the supervisor while disappearing up the upper tunnel with the bear guard.
“That doesn’t make me feel better!” Marco shouted into the empty tunnel, his voice echoing mockingly back at him.
The mongoose made a sound that suspiciously resembled laughter.
“Don’t pretend, you don’t want to be here either!” Marcus accused his beast, which tried to look dignified despite its obvious nervousness.
A distant echo made them both jump.
“See? Even you’re nervous!” Marco pressed against the wall. “Though if anyone asks, we’ll say we maintained a stoic and brave watch.”
A new echo made them both jump and hug each other.
“But that doesn’t mean we have to be in the middle of the tunnel! We can watch perfectly fine from behind that rock!”