I watched the sinking body, fully aware that the Swamp Hydra was dead. Its qi – or mana – was leaking out at an incredible rate without being replenished, and its body had gone cold. Anyone with a qi sense could see that it was dead.
Hei Ba did not look happy at all. He turned his nine heads to glower at me, and I could swear that if it wasn't for the spirit contract, he would have obliterated me with his golden beams by now. Fortunately for him, he was my summoned spirit beast, or I could just as easily destroy him with my…uh, "Nine Lives Blade Works" (to be decided). Instead, I just dismissed him back to the Abyssal Cavern in my dungeon, leaving him to stew on his own. I wasn't generous that I would let him glare at me all day without feeling annoyed.
Hei Ba needed to learn how to correct that insolent attitude of his. I wasn't expecting him to recognize me as his master because I viewed him as an equal. A comrade. But that didn't mean I was going to put up with his arrogance and hostility. I wasn't a pushover, contrary to what the existences in the fourth dimension believed. I could already hear some of them screaming at me for treating my summoned spirit beasts as allies instead of subordinates, and demanding that I be more "ruthless" and "cruel", putting them in place and using them as weapons instead of treasuring them as friends.
Apparently, edgelords in the fourth dimension hated the idea of friendship. They projected their own antisocial, edgy selves onto the characters they read about, and wanted protagonists to be cheesy loners like themselves. And whenever they saw any protagonists who didn't conform to their projected desires, they would heave abusive and insulting comments. Ugh. I really wish I didn't have to deal with them, but the system continued to bombard me with their weird remarks. Seriously, these manbabies needed to grow up and leave their parents' basements to touch grass or something.
"How…how did you do that?" Morten was gaping at me when I landed back on the damp shore. The Crunchy Crocodiles were all but annihilated, and especially after the demise of their supposedly immortal boss, they were easily routed by vengeful elves. There wasn't much for me to do upon my return. Not that I needed to do anything, because many of the elves were staring at me in awe.
That was quite the change. I was used to them viewing me with contempt and arrogance, but for the first time, they actually held respect and admiration for a lowly human.
"What was with that technique?" Myria was shaking her head in amazement. "How did you eliminate all nine of the Swamp Hydra's heads in one blow?"
"It's supposed to be a sublimation of a sure-kill technique devised to kill something immortal like the Hydra," I explained. "Basically, it's designed to destroy all nine heads at once because that's the only way to counter its high speed regeneration. If you leave even a single head behind, the other eight will regrow. It depends on the damage suffered by the Hydra, so if it only loses one head, that will regenerate instantly, but it will take a longer time to regenerate eight heads. Nonetheless, if there is even one head left, it'll recover eventually. But still, that recovery will be measured in minutes as opposed to several seconds. This technique nullifies its regenerative advantage by eliminating all nine heads instantly."
I was repeating myself twice for some stupid reason, mostly because I was a little nervous. I had never actually executed this technique before, though I had experimented with variations during training. Obviously, I had never named it Nine Lives Blade Works because I didn't want to get into copyright trouble, but I definitely did toy with the idea of shooting multiple arrows at once to destroy several targets simultaneously. I simply adapted it for use against my Hydra enemy.
"Whatever it was, it doesn't change the fact that you saved the Murkwood Village and the lives of everyone living in here." Eliza Sherwood bowed to me with newfound humility. The condescending attitude from before was gone, and she looked slightly chastened. She turned to the others and repeated the gesture. "All of you too. The enemy was a Swamp Hydra, an earth ranked spirit beast that we elves are most likely incapable of defeating, and yet you…you risked your lives to fight alongside us. We can't thank you enough."
"We should help each other whenever the other party is in trouble. It's only natural." Myria waved her off. "Don't worry about it."
"No! You are our saviors! We owe you a debt of gratitude that we can never repay." One of the Murkwood elves stepped forward, an elderly chief by the looks of his fancy robes and grand wooden staff. There was gold embroidered onto the flamboyant white robes, along with light blue runes woven into the cotton fabric. Despite looking a little older than the other elves, he still seemed pretty young. He might be millennia old, but he resembled a middle-aged human with sharp features and very slight wrinkles.
"You were the ones who issued a request to us humans for assistance. We're just doing our jobs. And I'm sure you guys already discussed the terms of rewards, so don't feel indebted." I was raising my hands and trying to persuade them to stop their stiff formality. It just didn't sit right with me.
"That may be so, but most human parties get themselves killed or run away at the first sign of trouble. You're one of the rare few who actually prevailed against an Earth ranked spirit beast or an entire horde of Mystic ranked spirit beasts."
Well, Earth ranked cultivators were fairly rare, so I wasn't surprised that parties of human cultivators or mages had already been annihilated by a monster as powerful as a Swamp Hydra. Certainly, that thing was capable of laying waste to entire parties.
"It's also because most parties don't bother stopping at Murkwood," Eliza said bitterly. "I was actually pleasantly surprised you guys went along with my request. Most of the stronger parties feel that the lower levels of Yggdrasil aren't worth their time and they skip Murkwood and the…uh, less desirable villages."
"Thank you. With the Swamp Hydra gone, it should be a long time before any rogue spirit beasts attack our village." The elf chief was lowering his head. "You have bought us a long reprieve."
"We still haven't tackled the root of the problem yet, though," Morten spoke up, glancing at me and my friends. "Unless we go higher up and see what is causing all these aggressive spirit beasts to go wild, such incidents will repeat themselves."
"I pledge to guide you as high up as you need to go to," Eliza said, placing her hand on her chest and swearing an oath. "I believe that you might be able to help. And obviously, I have an even more invested interest in ensuring that Yggdrasil is free from such threats. This is our home, and I will not rest until I restore peace and safety."
"We will do our best to help achieve that," I assured her.
"In the meantime, you must be exhausted after the battle," the elf chief said and beckoned toward the undamaged portions of the village. I was amazed to see how quickly the elves were repairing and restoring their homes. Using wood magic, they were regrowing demolished houses and sculpting new structures. Even furniture was restored and regrown with magic cast at the flick of their fingers. The shadowy environment of Murkwood was illuminated by verdant light as the soothing natural mana was deftly wielded by the elves to resurrect their homes. "Compared to other elven enclaves in Yggdrasil, I fear that Murkwood isn't very hospitable, but at the very least, we can offer you fresh seafood."
"Yay!" Silvia cheered before any of us could stop her. Pumping a fist into the air, she jumped forward. "We won't hold ourselves back then!"
"Hey, Silvia!" Sylvie chided her sternly. "Don't be rude! Show some restraint!"
"Why, big sis?" Silvia grinned slyly. "Don't you think it's ruder to decline such a kind offer from our hosts? Don't you agree, sis Myria and big bro?"
"Well, I suppose we do need a place to stay for the night." Myria ran her hands along the long strands of her blue hair, removing grit from the fight. She was right. I could see the sun slowly setting and the shadows getting deeper over Murkwood. Lights were being ignited through mystical means all throughout Yggdrasil, and I could see luminous torches glowing in regions atop branches or the trunk above. Definitely not electric lights.
Even with the gentle illumination, there were entire sections shrouded in darkness as night fell, and I was aware of the dangers of trying to climb a mountain-like tree in the dark. So I nodded in agreement.
"Thank you for letting us stay the night."
"No, not at all. It's the least we can do, especially after you saved our village." The village chief was smiling in delight. Elves might be arrogant, but they appeared to be great hosts. That night, we were treated to a sumptuous feast consisting of swamp fishes and crustaceans. Despite their weird looks and the simple cooking methods, they were still pretty delicious.
"Hmm!" Silvia was pleased as she munched on a fish. "This is amazing!"
"I really enjoy this," Sylvie agreed as she nibbled on a section of a fish that she cut away with a knife and a fork. Despite the rustic lifestyle that elves favored, they still used cutlery, plates and other utensils. Interesting.
Myria didn't seem as impressed, probably because she had eaten all sorts of seafood in Atlantis, and as part of the royal family, had renowned chefs cooking every meal, but she politely smiled and enjoyed the food for what it was worth. Morten, in contrast, was so taken aback by the taste and texture that he was speechless.
"Man, this is great!" He finally spoke up after swallowing. "I've never tasted anything like this before!"
"Even at the trading posts?" I asked. He shook his head.
"Nah, even though we could technically buy them, most of the elven delicacies are sold to high end restaurants and five star hotels. Mages like us don't get much of a chance to buy such expensive fare, and even though we can technically afford it, most of us would much rather spend our money on gear and equipment."
That made sense, considering that our very lives depended on the quality of the weapons we wielded against spirit beasts.
Leaning back, I watched my friends enjoy and savor their food with a smile. I had eaten some myself, and was pretty full by now. But more importantly, I was more interested in the notification from the system. It finally deigned to grant me the rewards.
-Congratulations to the user. Quest completed. The user will be granted one hundred ordinary spirit contracts. Advice: Don't use all of them at once. –
"Only ordinary spirit contracts?" I was disappointed. Still, ninety of them? That was quite a lot, but from what I saw so far in Yggdrasil, there weren't ninety ordinary ranked spirit beasts I wanted to make a spirit contract with. I would much rather have the usual fifty ordinary spirit contracts and three Mystic spirit contracts.
That said, the system didn't hand out these rewards for no reason. It must have predicted that there would be a hundred regular spirit beasts that I wanted to make a contract with. Particularly its advice for me not to use all of them at once…
"So how many should I use at a time?"
-This system suggests that you use fifty at a time. –
Wow. I knew it. The system already had everything planned out, and from my experience, it had tailored the spirit contracts to my preferences.
"All right. I'll trust you."
Sighing, I nodded to myself and wondered what lay in store for me tomorrow. For now, I should just relax and enjoy the feast prepared for us by the elves…