Viscous, acidic blood spills out of a neck-stump. The 112th one.
Former King of the Maverick adventurers, Aldis. Retired, and exhausted.
More importantly; he's just tired of the weird shit happening as of late.
Together with his partner, Falias, a wolf-dog hybrid, He severed each of its heads. He realized right away that this monster was a descendant of the famed "HYDRA" from the ancient past. But, it was strange.
He first used his unique blade that comes with mana negation properties, but all that severed were the descendant's breath attacks as well as the dimming of its scales. Next He tried severing each head in hopes of identifying where the immortal one lay hidden among the four, but, the heads just grew in doubles and their regeneration rate remained the same! Then he tried burning the neck-stumps in order to sear any attempts at healing, even dodging the acidic blood meanwhile. It's regeneration instantly continued, unheeded. Falias gathered wind mana around itself and charged into one of the now-plentiful heads like a missile, tearing apart its insides and ripping its heart out of its chest with a pair of wind-generated teeth. The heart was replaced. REPLACED. Its chest wound closed up as well.
This creature was...weird. It was clearly not on the same level as a HYDRA, yet...it seemed immortal, and unbeatable. At least its heads didn't grow past 8.
---
MRAAA! MRA MEOW MRA! (STUPIDS! NOW THE LIGHT MOVED!!!)
Eep! The dog is looking at me! Did-Did it hear me?
Ah, I give up. I lay lifelessly, squished between two boys fighting. That's right. I have been caught.
Rei was ordered to grab Roy and run, which he did. Roy wanted to struggle, but Rei sucker punched him and dragged him back, running towards Saria's mother, watching from the village entrance. That is, until he saw me.
"Ah. MEOWTICUS! STAY AWAY!"
MRAAH! WHO'S MEOWTICUS?!
He dropped Roy like a sack of potatoes and ran to me, grabbed me, then pivoted his foot and dashed back to Roy who already took off. Rei seems to have some weird technique where he imbues mana into his feet and physically enhances them. I have to learn that.
Rei pounced on Roy, and they began arguing, which leads to now. Huh? Why is that dog coming over?
"REI! GET OFF'A ME! Please... that's my dad out there!"
"Stupid! Your dad's the strongest in this village! Stop getting in his way, dammit! What can someone as weak as you, or even I, do?! If you go out there, You'll get 'im KILLED protecting you! And if he dies...we ALL die!"
"I won't die, I won't! Somehow... I'll slay that monster! Deep down, I know I can, somehow! But-But my dad will! He's gonna-!!"
"That's selfish NONSENSE! You're letting your emotions RUN your actions-- exactly was Mr. Aldis said NOT to do!"
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"Just...let GO ALREADY! YOU can sit here complaining instead of acting because he's not YOUR father! If you HAD any parents, you'd never let them-"
MRA!
"Aaah!"
"Gah! Why me too?!"
My claws reflexively extend and scratch Roy's chin, as well as Rei's fist, since he was swinging at Roy the same moment.
Hehe, oops, it was a two-for one. B-But in my defense, I reflexively scratched them because I was bothered! Never ridicule someone's origins! Also, Rei needs to be more understandin- OOF!
"Nya!"
HEY! DON'T DROP-
...me? Why, hello there...hehe, Falias. Hehe, such a...hulking, towering mass of...dog. Just looming over me, intimidatingly, rather than helping its master fight the chameleon hydra-thingie.
"Woof.(Brat. What was it you saw? What light?)"
"Me...Meow...?(The...moving light)"
Oooh, this is why I don't like dogs anymore. They're so, intimidating! I can't tell what it's thinking, as its eyes glisten like it just resolved some whacky decision in its mind. Just go back to the battlefield already and-
Nya?
...
"HEY! YOU TWO BRATS!! IS THIS A TIME TO FIGHT?! GET OVER HERE!! Why did the CAT of all things need to stop you two from fighting during a DISASTER?! ROY! Apologize! Don't you dare speak ill of another's parents being dead - no excuses! You and Saria both know what it feels to lose a parent! And Rei! Be more understanding! His father is-"
"I KNOW! I...know. I was insensitive. Sorry, Ma'am. Thanks for stopping me, Meowticu...Meowticus?"
"Rei...I-I am so, so sorry for saying such a... I mean, my stupid mouth again, just-- as usual! I'm sorr-"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. More importantly, where's Meowticus?"
...
"NYAAA~ MEOW MRAA... *Sniffle* (PWEASE~ HWELP MWE... *Sniffle*)"
This ugly dog grabbed the back of my fur in its nasty, disgusting, slobber-filled teeth and started running!
Eh! Eh! Hnnng! I can't reach it with my claws! Stupid long-necked dog!
"Ah! Falias! NO! You can't-"
"OI! YOU DUMB MUTT, GIVE ME BACK MY CAT!!!"
Hwelp me... This dumb canine probably wants to feed me to it...
*Sniffle*
Hurry...
...
...
...
HURRY UP ALREADY! WHY ARE YOU BOTH SO SLOW?!
Ah, too late. Oh. My. Cat-God why's it so flapping huge!! I'm barely the size of the tip of one of its claws! GYAHH! Its creepy eyes are looking at us!
*Plop*
"Hm? Falias...? *Haah* *Haah* Where did y...er, why did you bring Rei's unnamed cat?"
Woof. (He saw a light. Explain, brat.)
"...Mra mra mra? Pfft, meow. (You mean you can't see it? Pfft. Dumb dog)."
*Bonk*
"NYA!!(OW!!)"
"Woof.(Explain. What is this light that you see?)"
"Mra mra mra mra! MRAH! (The stupid, squiggly light in its Adam's apple that dodges that guy's sword all the time! DUH!)"
Without waiting for its human partner to speak, it grabbed me with its icky teeth and threw me on it's back.
"Woof.(You guide. I kill.)"
What do you mean gui-AAAAAAAAHHH!!!
"NYAAA!(AAAHH!)
No...why does my life always suck so much!!
*Sniff*
Please... I don't wanna die...
Maybe... maybe if I think of this as an adv-adventure... It's okay...I'll be okay...
"Woof. (Guide. Otherwise, we both die.)"
I peek one beautifully large eye out and see, blurs. It seems this dog is moving so fast and dodging the chameleon hydra thing that I can't tell where I am. Ah, we stopped. We're on its shoulder and the dog is coated in Wind mana or something that seems to draw mana from inside the dog, and the mana in the air.
"Mra...meow.(There...up there.)"
"Woof.(Got it. Hold tight.)"
Still attached to its Adam's apple, almost as if the light sensed the dog's mana, it began wiggling again.
Falias was faster. It drew wind into its maw and projected a set of spiraling wind fangs, each aerial tooth rotated at such speeds that the air surrounding tore away as a humming was produced.
*CHOMP!*
*Splurt!*
The beast seemed shocked. SO were my kidnapper and I. out of the wound flew not only a sea of acidic blood waterfalling towards us, but the BIGGEST, GROSSEST grubworm or MAGGOT I've ever seen! It was almost taller than me! EW...that was the bright white light?
More importantly, THE BLOOD! NYAAA! NOOO!
Falias's wind fang thingie scattered most of it, but some blood was falling towards me off of that maggot! Kidnapper Falias was falling a small distance away from me! Blood didn't touch it due to it protecting itself, but what about me?!
"Woof!(I told you to hold tight! Giving me more w-?)"
I flew off a bit farther than kidnapper seems to have predicted. That blood, I know it melts! I saw it melt those boulders!
Please... not again! I don't wanna die! I wanna live!
Hm? Why does my body feel tired, suddenly? Mana is circulating from the nearby forest towards me...is kidnapper protecting me? It feels...nice.
*Gasp*
The mana is turning into a grey-purple flame! It's small, but it's protecting me, it's burning away the blood! And it's-ah. The fire is following the blood towards the maggot, burning it.
Wow, maybe that dog isn't terrible. I wanna learn how to do that! And the wind stuff too! I'll call them doggy-sensei!
Hm? Why is Doggy-sensei staring at me like I'm weird.
"...Woof-(That flame...also, for a few seconds, you seemed to have two tai-)"
"MEOWTICUS!"
Ah, Doggy-sensei couldn't finish talking 'cause of dumb Rei snatching me and running away like he was a footballer that stole the ball.
*NYAWWN*
...So sleepy suddenly.
I wonder what they'll do...about the other three squiggling lights...in the monster...

