Dragon’s Bloodline

Wow~

Maal let out a sound when we were transferred to the next floor, since it reminded her of her hometowns forest.

But if you looked closely, the density of the undergrowth, trees, and ivy that filled the open spaces were all very high.

The ninth floor was a jungle.

But its pretty strange.

Serge muttered. Of the six, Ria and Carlos were raised in a city. Though with her previous lifes knowledge, Ria also knew about woods and forests.

There arent any insects. I cant hear any birds or beasts either.

Compared to the image of a jungle in Rias head, this was different. Above all, it wasnt hot.

Were in the labyrinth for sure.

Maals eyes could see the movement of magical power, in other words she could see the movements of demons. They wouldnt be surprised by an attack from poor visibility.

There were small and normal vipers, still enough to be hazardous.

Detoxification magic would take an active role and Maals knife would also prove useful.

This place is a little odd.

Carlos spoke this time. Other than when they first invaded the floor, they hadnt seen any walls.

Leaves grew thickly overhead, blocking out the source of light. Since he was a man that had lived in a city resembling a labyrinth since birth, he felt something wrong.

Wait a bit then, Ill check it out with magic.

Serge focused, configuring a magic he hadnt used thus far. It wasnt a magic meant to be used in a labyrinth, but it would probably be effective on this floor.

It was a magic meant to understand an area centered on himself. Each time it touched an obstacle it grew a little more ambiguous after that, but it didnt seem to hit a wall.

After spending more than ten minutes of searching, Serge found it was a huge circular room.

The center is open. There may be a swamp there.

There were various places with water other than the center of the floor. Along with the demons that relied on surprise attacks, there were many monitor lizards and amphibians that lived on the waterside.

Honestly though, the strength of the demons on the eighth floor were higher.

Is the Hydra in the center?

Ria lead the way with Gig, making an open path with her machete. She passed Gig a matching machete.

Since the Hydra is a disaster class creature, theres been a detailed investigation done on it.

Lulu described the characteristics of the Hydra; it was the same as Ria guessed with the knowledge of her previous life.

A serpent with eight heads. Both its blood and breath were toxic.

It had tremendous regenerative ability, able to quickly regrow within several several minutes even if it lost a head.

The jungle opened up and the large swamp came into view.

The soil here is solid, Id say its fitting for a battle. But there isnt much distance from the swamp huh?

Theres a suitable spot over there.

Going to a spot a little to the left, we reached an open grassy area. Its like this was meant for fighting no, this place might actually be meant to fight in.

As youd expect, there was no way to beat the Hydra in water. Even Ria thought that would be reckless. It was difficult to cut something with a katana underwater.

The moving group watched the swamp, but the Hydra didnt come out even after waiting.

Maybe we should look for the mirror for now?

Serge clapped his hands together and asked, but they didnt know where that crucial mirror was. It might be in the middle of the swamp, but since the plants growing in the water were tall, their view was blocked.

I dont want to get wet

Though Lulu said so really reluctantly, they didnt have a choice without a path.

Lets check it out. Itd be good if there was a path to the mirror.

Serge examined the area with Spacial Grasp again. It consumed a lot of magical power compared to normal magic and was difficult to use.

Just about at the opposite side of the open area, there was a narrow path that continued towards a small island in the middle of the swamp. The mirror might be there.

But dont attack the Hydra, its dangerous to approach it.

They had no choice but to attack it in the end. In that case, how do they lure it?

We could kill a demon, it might be lured out by the blood.

Killing a giant crocodile in the water, they ate it for the time being. The crocodiles meat was delicious.

Alright, leave the rest to me now. Come and get me, Hydra!

Before long, a shadow manifested under the waters surface.

Making a sizzling sound, the head of a gigantic serpent appeared.

Continually making that sizzling sound, more serpent heads appeared.

Eight heads.

H-huge

Carlos groaned involuntarily. It wasnt an exaggeration saying that it could swallow a horse whole.

This disaster class creature could destroy an entire waterfront town. Its overwhelming strength could take out the entire military strength of something at the level of a small country.

Fireball!

Rias magic exploded towards the Hydra. Without showing any damage at all, its heads appeared from within the smoke.

Follow theplan!

Ria shouted, wielding the nodachi. Shouts responded to her call.

The extended battle began.

Gig changed weapons from the warhammer he specialized in to a battleaxe. As the warhammer was a blunt type weapon, even if hed damaged the Hydra with it, it wouldnt have been able to sever the all-important heads.

Though he was a little unaccustomed with it, he was able to skillfully try to sever the heads. Carlos intercepted the heads heading to them to bite with his shield. Maal occasionally shot arrows towards the Hydras eyes.

It took the three people to attack a head one at a time.

Ria clad her longsword in flames and went to work. If she burned the wounds, the Hydra knew it would take longer to heal itself. So even though she tried to behead it, other heads would attack, not giving her any opportunities.

She cut and burned, sliced and burned. Nevertheless, since it recovered little by little, even though shed attacked it many times, she wasnt able to land a decisive blow.

Still, it was the right choice for her to switch weapons. With the katanas length, it would have done less damage to it.

Lulu and Serge were properly using recovery and fire magic. The wounds Gig and Carlos inflicted on it were scorched by the fire magic. Though fire didnt seem effective when it was used directly on its scales, as expected, its wounds didnt have any defensive strength.

Little by little, tiny amounts at a time, the Hydras movements dulled. Though up to this point, theyd also received many attacks. Drinking magic restoration potions, Lulu and Serge both used healing and detoxification magic.

However, that balance was smashed in an instant.

Haaaaaah-!

Rias attack just about cut off a head. Pushed her katana further into it as the fire dove into the wound, she lopped off its head completely.

First one!

Though the number of heads only decreased by one, the balance tilted towards Rias group instantly.

Excalibur!

Though he hadnt amassed enough magical power, Serges magic was still able to partially sever a head. Ria followed up his attack, severing the second head.

Flamethrower.

Lulu fired off flames. Though it just barely hit Rias hair, due to her Heat Resistance there wasnt even any charring.

From then on Rias attacks increasingly used magic.

Though she could obviously wield her katana and swing it, in order for Serge to use Excalibur, she exploded fireballs in its wounds.

At any rate, when talking about who had the most magical power in the party, it was her. So to save magic recovery potions, it was best for Ria to be responsible for cauterizing the wounds.

Maal drew its attention and both Carlos and Gig exhausted the heads, while Serge cut them off. Ria would then sear the wounds. Lulu focused on healing.

Somewhere along the way, they grew into a steady workflow-like pace.

Before long, there was only one huge head remaining.

Though there was a theory of this last neck being invulnerable in her previous life, according to the subjugation records it wasnt like that.

Continuing to earnestly wear it down, they injured and burned it.

By chaining their attacks, the Hydras blood flowed, certainly weakening.

Carlos stopped a fang attack in the end and Serges magic decided it. The head was amputated.

Everyones breathing was rough.

To say nothing of the warriors that had been moving around, the magicians had also been pushed to their limits, moreover repeatedly healing to the limit.

This meat is poisonous. Its a shame, but we cant eat it

After taking a bite of meat that she had roasted just right, she spat it out. Though she had Poison Resistance, that didnt mean she liked eating poisoned food.

Even though shed ran around the outer part of the battlefield, Maal still had most of her endurance left over, so she distributed endurance recovery potions to the warriors.

Cutting up the Hydras gigantic body with an axe, Ria took out the magic crystal.

The huge crystal was practically the size of a persons head.

(Just how much money is that worth? At least more expensive than me.)

Thought Maal.

Nee-chan, cut off the tail. The tips bone should be able to be processed into a sword.

Along with that, you should be able to gather a deadly poison from its liver. Since its dangerous for us, please do it.

Because its blood was toxic, Maal couldnt skin it.

After that, itd be nice to turn its hide into armor.

Taking almost the same amount of time theyd spent on fighting, Ria harvested the Hydras materials.

Well then, though weve reached our temporary goal

In the open area thatd become a battlefield, Ria spoke. Probably because they were wary of the Hydras poison, monsters didnt approach.

After coming this far, how could we not take a look at the tenth floor?

Serge was eager. Everyone else as well, there was no one who wanted to return.

We still have about half of our recovery potions remaining. Depending on the type of enemies on the tenth floor, we might be able to defeat the tenth floor?

Even Lulu, who had the least combat desire among the group, decided they could.

Same with me, I really want to see the tenth floor.

Even the weakest, Maal, expressed her opinion.

The thing that had no records, the final floor.

There hasnt been anyone to beat it, or at least if they have theyve kept their mouths shut about it. For at least these two hundred years, there has been no record of it being beaten.

Alright then, lets go.

Without being worked up, Ria declared.

The group of explorers stepped foot into

the completely unknown floor.