Vanitas leaped off the ground and stood level with the seven heads of the hydra.
The seven heads opened and spikes rained on him once again. He, still in the air, parried every single spike with ease.
The hydra closed its seven mouths and Vanitas dropped to the ground as he lost his upward momentum.
Recognizing that the spikes would have no effect on Vanitas, this time the hydra opened its mouth and the black, miasmic water started forming inside their jaws.
Vanitas didn't waste any time and rushed in at the hydra.
'I don't have any ways to protect myself against it. I don't have any defensive methods to use here. If even a drop of that liquid touches me, I will get burnt. I have to do something before they could shoot it at me.'
He jumped once again and landed on the neck of the biggest head among the seven heads. He lopped off its head with one single strike and the body of the hydra shook. He held on to the neck with the missing head and then chopped off the remaining heads one by one.
Within less than a minute, all seven heads of the gigantic hydra had been cut clean off. Only their long neck wriggled in pain and separation, as their body stood their ground.
Vanitas quickly returned to where the others were.
"Amazing. You defeated the hydra with such ease." Dominique said that while looking at Vanitas in awe.
"It has not yet been defeated."
"Huh?" Dominique couldn't believe what she had heard.
"But you cut their head, didn't you?" Then she realized something.
Monsters like these will die if their heart is pierced or their head is lopped off. The hydra had all of its seven heads lopped off but even then it hadn't disappeared into black ash. That meant it was not dead yet.
"But how can that be possible?!"
"The hydra, in a sense, is immortal. No matter how many times you cut its head, it will regenerate it again and again."
"Regenerative powers?"
Dominique had heard that some monsters had regenerative powers. And the hydra in front of her was one such monster. That meant no matter how many times one cut its head off, it will not die. Fear gripped Dominique's heart and she couldn't help but feel that it was unfair and it was cruel.
'If it can regenerate no matter how many times it's cut, then how are we supposed to win against it?' Dominique thought and then her eyes widened when she realized something else.
"H-Heart!" She screamed. "It's heart! It can regenerate its head but maybe it can't do the same with its heart. Why don't we try destroying its heart?"
There was a chance that it could regenerate its heart in the same way but they had to try something if they wanted to get out of here. If luck was on their side, maybe it will end up working.
However, with this monster, it wasn't going to work.
Vanitas shook his head sideways.
"No, it won't work."
"Why?"
"Because it doesn't even have a heart."
She was stunned once again.
'What is he saying? For any living being, the heart is a very important organ. It plays a crucial role in keeping someone alive by pumping blood and other various metabolic activities through its help. If there is no heart then, how can the hydra be alive?' She questioned herself and looked at the headless hydra. Then she realized something.
"There is no blood...?"
The hydra had all seven of its head cut but not even a single drop of blood had oozed out.
"Yeah. The hydra doesn't have blood. It doesn't need blood to survive."
"And that's why it doesn't need the heart." Dominique connected the dots.
If there is no blood to pump or regulate, then there was no need for the heart.
Dominique didn't even know what to say anymore. It had regenerative abilities so they couldn't kill it by beheading it. It didn't have a heart so piercing and destroying its heart was also not an option. That meant that there was no way for them to defeat it.
Hitting that realization, Dominique felt the blood drain from her face.
Vanitas saw the hopeless expression Dominique had on her. He wanted to tell that there was a way to defeat the hydra easily but said way was something Vanitas couldn't use without repercussions.
"Listen here, Dominique, Eleanor," Vanitas called out to the two girls. The other girl, Elina, was almost about to pass out due to blood loss and fatigue and was being tended to by Eleanor until she was called by Vanitas.
"You two carry Elina and head back, immediately. One of you will carry the girl and one will fight against the other monsters that get in the way. I will stay here and stall time for you guys to escape."
A protest immediately came out of Eleanor's mouth. "But -"
However, anticipating this, Vanitas cut her short by raising his right hand up.
"Don't worry. The hydra takes time to regenerate. Once you two are out of here safely, I will behead it once again and then escape myself."
Hearing that, Eleanor sighed with relief. She was worried that he will have to fight against this monster all alone without having any way to defeat it. But, as Vanitas pointed out, the headless hydra had yet to fully regenerate its seven heads. Right now, all she saw on the place where once the heads rested were bubbling masses of flesh and muscle.
"Got it."
"Yes," Eleanor said and Dominique nodded, although she was still gripped with unease.
Dominique then carried Elina and Eleanor moved in front of them, acting as their bodyguard.
The three girls started moving and by this time, the hydra had already regenerated its seven heads.
The spikes started raining and some even started spewing black balls of water at him. He snaked his way around to dodge the deadly liquid while parrying the spikes.
He turned his head slightly back. The three of them will soon leave his line of sight.
'In about ten minutes, they should be out of here. That means I need to hold out for ten more minutes.'
However, things were going to take a turn for the worst.
The hydra had given up on using spikes and now was moving with swiftness despite its heavy body to crush Vanitas underneath its foot.
Vanitas dodged and then sliced at its legs with his sword.
Part of its leg was separated from the body and the hydra screamed in pain.
Taking it as an opportunity, he climbed to its neck from its body and managed to slice two of its head off before he landed on the ground to defend himself against the water and the spikes.
Just as he landed, however, he heard the scream of monsters behind him.
He turned back and saw that a large number of monsters had gathered and surrounded the three girls.
There was every sort of monster there. A goblin, an orc, and even a chimera were flying overhead. Putting aside the types and varieties of the monsters there, what scared Vanitas the most was the sheer number of them. They numbered in hundreds. Maybe there were even thousands of them.
How had so many of them gathered at this place?
Because of them, the trio had no chance of getting out of here. Against a small number, they may have been able to do something but against this number, it was all hopeless.
The hydra had already regenerated its two lost heads and had once again begun its assault on Vanitas.
He fought against the hydra while thinking of possible ways to get out of this situation without relying on his demon's true power.
*****
It had all happened too suddenly to make what and how it had started but now they were thrust into an almost impossible battle that they couldn't avoid.
Eleanor swung around her scythe that cleaved the heads of around ten goblins in an instant. However, she was offered no reprieve as two orcs immediately jumped on her.
She jump backward and swung her scythe around as black miasma started forming on her blade.
"Wind of Chaos!" She screamed and a black vortex of wind shot from her scythe toward the two orcs who were running toward her. The fast-moving wind with the power of a demon imbued blasted a hole in the chest of the two orcs and continued unabated for a while as it killed more of the incoming monsters.
By now, Eleanor was sure that she had killed more than fifty monsters. But she felt that she hadn't even managed to kill a single one of them. The number of monsters showed no sign of decreasing. It appeared the same as when they had attacked first. In fact, she felt as if the numbers were only increasing.
"At this rate..." She left the rest unsaid.
Inside her mind, she had one thought. 'If only Vanitas were here...' But she knew expecting him to help them right now was not possible. At a distance, she could see Vanitas fight against an even greater foe. With him keeping the hydra at bay, she couldn't expect him to save her from this predicament. She herself had to do something about it.
But, she wasn't even allowed time to think of a solution as more monsters came rushing at her from all sides.
As she swung her scythe once again, she looked at Dominique, who was keeping the chimera at bay with her blood swords.
The chimera was not just a single monster. It was a combination of monsters and even regular wild animals. It had the head of a lion with a single horn sprouting in the middle. It had the body of what felt like the upper half of a human with the sharp talons of a hydra. It had long wings on its two flanks and was flying overhead with their help. A long and sharp tail extended from its end that was longer than its body and there was a small mouth-like thing at the end of the tail from which it was spewing fire.
Dominique had manifested her blood sword and was continuously firing it at the chimera to keep it from getting close to her and Eleanor. Elina, who was gravely injured, was also keeping Dominique safe from its fire by erecting a demonic barrier. Her condition wasn't good and she was paling by the second. Dominique knew that she wouldn't last long. When she lost the last of her strength, the barrier will become undone, and then Dominique will be exposed to the dangerous fire of the chimera. Not to mention, she herself was on the verge of passing out from using up too much of her blood. She wasn't sure she could keep it up much longer.
"Guh!" Suddenly, she vomited out blood from her mouth and her knees gave in. With her left knee now on the ground, she did her best to keep up her blood sword.
Just then, Elina lost the last of her strength, and then she lost consciousness for good this time.
The barrier came undone and the flame from the chimera approached her. She moved her body to the left and managed to escape the full brunt of the fire however, her right hand took a good hit. The part where the fire had touched her was burnt in an instant and intense pain shot up to her brain. She gritted her teeth to endure the pain. But, it was becoming too much. The chimera launched fire once again. She tried to dodge again but her knees gave out completely. She ordered her brain to move its leg, but it wouldn't budge. The fire approached closer.
'Oh, I am done for.' She thought. But the fire was consumed by a vortex of black wind before it could touch her.
She immediately knew what had happened.
She looked around and, as expected, found Eleanor at a distance, with her scythe pointed toward where Dominique was. She was panting heavily and her clothes were torn in different places. Even the beautiful skin underneath was marred with wounds and scars from the battle.
Dominique was thankful to Eleanor for saving her from the chimera's attack. But before she could say anything, a gorilla-like creature that had sharp claws in its two hands attacked her from behind.
Dominique was about to yell at her but Eleanor noticed it before she could say anything. The creature raised its hand and swung it diagonally down at her defenseless back.
Eleanor somehow managed to dodge but not without any damage. The marks of its sharp claws were imprinted on Eleanor's shoulder and blood trickled down from it. Not paying any mind to the pain, she slashed at the creature and killed it.
When Eleanor turned around, she saw that Dominique was also on the verge of passing out. She was barely able to open her eyes and only three of her blood swords were hovering around her that looked weaker in comparison to her blood swords before.
Eleanor rushed towards her as fast as she could while releasing another vortex of wind to quell the fire from the chimera.
She stood in front of the two injured members to protect them from any danger. Her legs were shaking. She was scared. Anyone would if they found themselves in this situation where the odds were stacked against them and there was no way to turn the situation over. She was afraid and she could already envision her death in this hopeless situation.
Then, she closed her eyes. The scenes of that tragedy replayed in her mind. Her father, her mother, and her sister fought desperately to protect her while all she did was cry and hide behind them, and eventually, she had forsaken them to their death. The guilt of that time rose up in her body and along with the guilt, a resolve to not repeat that same mistake gripped her mind and heart.
When she opened her eyes back, they burned with passion. She had a fierce determination that she will protect these two. Even if it costs her own life. She will never let anyone die ever again. Not because of her inability and cowardice.