As Hydra, his pet, and Irina walked down the corridor, there was no crack to be seen in the walls. It was completely different from the previous room, there wasn’t any markings of giants or monsters nor were there any brave warriors to fight them off. The only thing was sleek walls with a blue flame torch every dozen of feet. The corridor was long and straight, though it didn’t give off the impression of endless and after a few minutes that could already tell they were near the end.

“This place is so mysterious. It’s as if it was built just as a temple to protect from the darkness. Whatever’s deep inside must be of incredible importance.”

“….I have no idea but I can tell this place isn’t going to be simple.”

-Pan has found an item

‘Oh Pan you’re working hard to get me rich!’

“Good job Pan!”

As Hydra was thinking and saying two completely different things, Pan was crying happily while being praised. Irina could tell that the relationship between these two were close enough to be called family. Though neither Pan nor Irina knew the truth behind why Hydra was so excited to get an item. Although it was true that Hydra thought of Pan as a family, as he never once had a pet Pan had definitely fulfilled that role perfectly for him. It was just a bonus that Pan could pick up random loot. After bending down, Hydra picked up the item from Pan. The form was dusty and had a soft feeling to it and when Hydra slightly squeezed it his palm suddenly felt warm, it was a peculiar feeling that felt the dust was still alive. Then Hydra continued to identify it.

“What did Pan find?”

“It was the ashes of these flames. Apparently this can be rekindled.”

“…That is amazing.”

“I’d say.”

“Aroo?”
“No worries good job Pan, keep it up~”

“Aroo!”

As the conversation continued they finally reached the exit. Upon reaching the exit they were not bombarded by a bright light nor darkness, instead a soft light filled the cavern. The room was still lit by blue flames, and it would be impossible to utilize any of Hydra’s skills including [Shadow Arm] as to why he needed to use those skills was because of the first thing they noticed when entering. They were tall at least being 10 feet tall with grey skin. Their bodies were elliptical however their shoulders were more broad giving it a wider rectangular feeling. They had long skinny legs and arms, if anyone were to ask how the creature stood up under its weight it would be unknown. There were spectacular crystals growing on its back and head. They have given a slight shine and felt similar to the blue flame torches. Its mouth was wide and could even swallow Irina and Hydra whole. They were unsure of what the inside of the mouth looked like but they didn’t want to scare themselves by thinking so they just quietly muttered between themselves.

“What is that?”

“One second I’ll identify it.”

“identify!”

“That’s what it said.”

“Guess it’s a ‘shoot first ask questions later’ kinda moment?”

“You know me best!”

As they joked around Irina had already knocked an arrow in her bow. Because the [Crugling]s were spread out it was easy to aggro one at a time. If on the other hand they were squished together Hydra and Irina would have not even attempted to fight it. While Irina is a higher level fighting many monsters at the same time was simply not worthwhile. Not only was Hydra required to hold the aggro so Irina could shoot without worries, he was a lower level than the monsters by half and would undoubtedly fall if he was swarmed. After Hydra’s fall it would be Irina next off and Irina would not be able to come back. This was something Hydra was not willing to risk thus one at a time was the only outcome. As waited patiently for Hydra to make the first move they both nodded to signal they were ready. Right after that, Hydra bolted off towards the [Crugling], as the monster had its back facing to Hydra he rushed straight towards it with no problems. Hydra who had been eyeing the monster the entire time thinking where the most damage could be acc.u.mulated. Hydra thought about his options and decided between two points. It was either the kneecap that sustained the heavy load of the monster or the crystals that were most likely the energy source that provided its strength. As Hydra could not reach the crystals, he opted towards the kneecap.

Slash!

As a heavy hit was struck upon the monsters kneecap a window popped up

‘Nice, already around a tenth of the health.’

“Irina focus the kneecaps or try for the crystals which ever you find to be most effective.”

“Alright!”

As the monster was just turning around, Irina released the arrow. The arrow flew through the air is if the target was pulling the arrow towards it. Before the [Crugling] had time to even react fully it was already struck with an arrow at the largest crystal on its back.

‘Good’

But the monster was now angry and finally found its target that disrupted its peace.

“RARRRRRRRRHHHHHHH”

It roared towards Hydra showing off its thousands of teeth that could grind Pan to dust in a mere second. It’s roar was only the start and now it was already swinging its tiny arm. Because Hydra didn’t know of its strength he was not determined to block this strike especially without having gear and being lower level. The monster swung with all its might with the height difference it ended up being a diagonal slash. Hydra completely dropped his body to the ground, as the monster swung with huge amount of strength it had hidden the wind current left by the swing actually lifted Hydra off the ground and threw him off to the side.

‘Holy c.r.a.p. Thank G.o.d I decided to dodge!’

Hydra was at profusely sweating and if it wasn’t for the fact that the wind that blew the sweat away the moment it perspired he may have been drenched. Hydra’s first response would be to warn Irina, but he didn’t have time for that. Usually the monster would take time to recover from its gigantic swing, however that was only the case if Hydra wasn’t swept up by the after effects. Thus it had recovered and was already preparing for another swing. Hydra wasn’t about to allow the same situation to happen again. So instead of dropping this time as the swing came he dove underneath the giant. Because the leg’s were small there was an excess amount of room underneath the creature but even Hydra didn’t know if this action was brave or foolish until he tried it. As he dove and rolled into a kneeling stance she slashed at the kneecap again.

‘Okay, one step at a time!’

The beast roared in anger and rose both of its hands in the air to crush Hydra below it. However it seemed to have forgotten about the archer behind it. Another arrow flew off and with a ding it struck the same crystal again.

At this point the situation was turning grim for the monster. But as the monster grew angrier it decided to use another method fight.

The area around the crystal started to distort as electricity could be seen crackling about. The energy gathered in one spot and at this time Hydra had a bad feeling, he rushed away from the monster creating the largest distance he could in the shortest amount of time. Just then the contained energy was released. Electric shocks were shot out and the strands of electricity blew up any area that it made contact with. Unfortunately Hydra was no better and he was struck by a strand of electricity.[

‘My G.o.d that was nearly half my health for one bolt of electricity!”

“Hydra!”

As Irina called out she herself started to get serious to allow Hydra the time to recover.

“[Hawk Shot]!”

As the arrow left the arrow it felt as if the moment it left it had already disappeared from sight. Hydra watched this sight and the air from the arrow pushed all the air away and Irina’s hair fluttered in the back. But that wasn’t the part that Hydra was amazed about. As the arrow flew a pair of wings formed onto the arrow. The silver light blew through the air and slammed into the [Crugling]’s kneecap. As it was struck with a huge blow the [Crugling] was unable to withstand the blow and crumbled as it fell towards its hurt knee cap.

“Now Hydra!”

Hydra didn’t even need to be told as soon as he noticed the [Crugling] was about to fall he was already running towards it. As the monster had now face planted into the ground, Hydra jumped onto his back near the crystals. As he slashed the crystals multiple windows popped up.

As Hydra struck out for his third time, the monster was trying to stabilize itself. Hydra noticing this would naturally not give it the option to stand up.

“Take this!”

Hydra jumped and slammed down piercing the sword straight into the [Crugling]’s head.

As the monster roared, it could do nothing but await its demise. After being stunned and having less than 500 health, another arrow struck and Hydra slashed another few more times. The monster then cried weakly as it’s body started to turn into particles.

Irina rushed over when and worriedly called out to Hydra.

“Hydra are you okay?”

“Yeah, it was strong. Luckily I ran soon after noticing it was gathering energy. It should be an easy fight as long as we be careful of that shock skill.”

“Sounds good. But still I’m amazed you’re quite nimble.”

“I should be saying I’m amazed that [HawkShot] skill was incredible!”

“It’s a skill pa.s.sed down through my family. It takes advantage of a weakness to apply crowd control.”

“Still, now that I know why didn’t you use it earlier?”

“Oh I just wanted to see how you truly fought a strong opponent. After all as my savior if you couldn’t fight an opponent like that equally I would be ashamed to follow you!”

“I regret asking….”

“Hehehe”

“Forget it, let’s check the drops.”

Hydra depressed walked towards the few drops left by the [Crugling]. As he got closer his depression only turned into bliss. Surprising in the pile were a pair of boots! As he rushed over to check the item he quickly identified it.

“My first pair of boots!”