Chapter 7 – Around That Time, Sword of Lightning II

「Found it!」

Several hours after they left the guild, finished their self-introduction already, together with the newly joined healer Laila, Margulus and his party found the hydra they failed to kill yesterday.
Hydra had an unmatched regenerative ability compared to a human, so after a day, their injury would heal to an extent.

However, while there was no scratch on its body, the two heads that were cut off by Raust early in their previous encounter had not regenerated at all.
In addition, it was in a deep sleep, indicating that it was still deeply fatigued.

「… If it’s like that, then we can surely do this!」

Seeing the state of the hydra, Margulus, confident in his victory, smiled.
Unlike yesterday, today Margulus was in a perfect condition.
On top of that, his enemy was still wounded.
All things considered, there is no way we will lose, he thought.
That was why he was going to give a signal to start the attack right away…

「Okay, let’s-」

「I’m sorry, may I ask you something before we start?」

Cutting off Margulus’ order was Laila.
In an instant, Margulus turned his eyes toward Laila, a hint of displeasure was in his eyes.
Strength escaped from Laila’s legs, but not discouraged by that, she still continued to ask.

「I’m sorry if I shouldn’t saying anything now, but can I ask for your confirmation?」

「Confirmation, for what?」

「That depend on whether or not you have medicine.」

「Medicine……」

Hearing Laila’s question, a certain memory emerged in Margulus’ mind.
When they were going to subjugate the hydra, Raust told him there was a certain medicine to get rid of hydra’s poison that they should buy.
But, once he knew how high the price of that medicine, he didn’t purchase the medicine, this time too, he had no intention to buy that medicine.
After all, victory is guaranteed.
There is no need for insurance like that.

「I have panacea, but……」

「Ahhh yeah, I know! Don’t worry, we all have one, so this conversation is over!」

… And so, Margulus forcibly told Laila to shut her mouth.
For a moment, question marks showed up on Sarveria and Armia’s faces who didn’t know anything about any medicine, but they didn’t say anything because they thought if their leader said they didn’t need it, then they didn’t need one.

「But, can you check one-」

Whether it was because she couldn’t believe Margulus or something else, Laila tried to ask once again, but Margulus was no longer willing to hear anything from her.

「Our opponent is sleeping! Now is a good opportunity.」

「Roger that!」

「Yes! I understand!」

「Kh!」

The next moment, Margulus acted as if he couldn’t hear Laila’s question and ran out with a greatsword in his hand.
Laila could only bite her lips seeing Margulus’s and the others attitude.

「… Even though it’s important.」

After such words leaked from her mouth, she chased after Margulus and the others.

◆ ◆ ◇

「Fshaaaaa!」

And the second confrontation with the hydra began.

「Alright! This thing is clearly weaker! Here I come!」

At first, Margulus entered the battle with an apparent smile.
After all, the hydra was obviously weaker than when they fought it yesterday.
Apparently, its physical strength was limited to a great extent, the hydra’s movement was lackluster.

「Fshaaaaaaa!」

「Agh!」

「Sarveria!」

… But that confidence was gone in just a few minutes.

Unable to parry the tail, Sarveria was thrown off. Margulus shouted reflexively.
A response came from her answering Margulus, but it was clear that it was not a minor injury.

「Sarveria-san!」

「Ahh, Laila, please…」

Laila, noticing Sarveria’s state, came to her side and then applied healing magic on her.
… However, Laila’s complexion also didn’t look good as she applied the healing magic.
After all, in just a few minutes, Margulus and Sarveria were injured again and again, making her used a great amount of magic.
As a result, Laila was no longer using 《Area Heal》, a long-distance healing magic.

「What’s your deal! Why don’t you use 《Area Heal》 anymore!?」

「Because this is sufficient, now stop the hydra!」

It was totally couldn’t be helped, but Margulus didn’t try to understand and instead moaned.
After all, when Raust was still present, long-distance healing magic was always a common sense.
Raust was unable to use any intermediate healing magic like 《Area Heal》, instead, he treated his injured comrade by shooting out his 《Heal》.

「Useless!」

That was why, Margulus with his common sense, insulted Laila instead.

…… Without noticing Raust was the abnormal one.

「Fshaaaa!」

「Gahhhh!」

「Leader!」

That exchange made a big gap in Margulus’ defense, the hydra flung him off with its tail.
Margulus managed to escape with only minor injury thanks to the armor he equipped.

「Fshaaa!」

「Shit!」

However, the hydra didn’t give Margulus any breathing time.
The hydra fired off an elementary level earth attribute magic 《Pebble》, fist-sized stones flew toward Margulus.
Somehow, Margulus avoided fatal wounds by using his great sword as a shield, however, one of those stones hit the shoulder part of his armor.
「Gahh!」

Margulus leaked a scream from the dull pains in his shoulder.
Considering the pain, the wound was not that big, but that pain stopped Margulus’ movement for a moment.
In the middle of combat like this, it was such an obvious gap…

「Fshaaaaaaa!」

「A-Ahhh-」

… When Margulus noticed, it was already too late.
Margulus was stunned by the sight of the hydra who was looking down at himself, convinced of its victory.

「The fuck!」

And in that helpless situation, what came out from Margulus’ mouth was an idle complaint.

「Why am I become tattered because of that thing! We’re supposed to win! Why! That useless fucker is gone already, this quest should be easy! He was the one who attacked the hydra first, and then he was just running around!」

Margulus miserably spat out his pathetic complaints while the hydra looked at him with apathetic eyes.
In fact, he didn’t notice that what caused the hydra major wound was Raust’s attack and Armia’s magic.
And those words didn’t reach the hydra.
Looking at Margulus akin to looking at trash, the hydra opened its mouth to kill him.

「Spirits, come and protect us!」

「Fsaa?」

… But Margulus was saved by the action of a certain person there.

「Fshaaaaa!」

As if it forgot about Margulus, the hydra sent its sight to the rearguard.

「Hear our wishes, show us a glimpse of great power-」

There, was Armia who chanted the chant of grand magic.
At the previous encounter, Armia had use grand magic without hesitation, but this time, she didn’t do that and only use restraining magic.
The reason was that Margulus and Sarveria alone would be unable to stop the hydra which would start aiming at Armia if she tried to use grand magic.
That was why, Armia who didn’t cast grand magic until now, purposely used it to help the helpless Margulus.

「Fshaaaa!」

And so, the hydra started to move toward Armia.

「Damnit!」

Somehow, Margulus was able to land a blow to the hydra, but it was not enough to stop its movement.

「Ah……」

「Fshaaa!」

And then, the hydra’s poison struck Armia’s foot.

I just reminded from a comment in previous chapter about poison and venom, I’m aware they’re different and I should really edit all of them, will do so when I actually have access to PC, editing that many text in this tablet PC is hard, so just mentally replace poison with venom, or don’t mind the different.

A little blooper, when I was editing this, there was 2 instance which tempted me to just leave it and later apologize because I mistyped, but decided to fix it anyway and put this note instead

Both are the same typo, basically, I type Margulus’ name twice in the later part of this chapter (where he was helpless already) as Margululs, really tempted to leave it like that, but reader’s comfort is my number one priority so, nope