A scaly head fell to the ground, dissolving into dust. The stump left in place of the neck froze solid into ice; no blood flowed to thaw it.
The other heads paused, and all of them turned simultaneously to the perpetrator.
Nathan who was caught like a deer in front of headlights gulped loudly.
Bam!
With a metallic clang, he deflected a blow from the Hydra and moved in closer, pressing the attack. He could vaguely feel losing the feeling in his fingers and his palm began to pain uncontrollably. The chill from the axe blade was reaching out to his skin. He had forgotten to make himself immune to the cold.
More heads snapped at him, one spewing poison onto him. He jumped off the wall and slashed through another head of the snake, the stump freezing solid again and he landed on the left side of the closed tunnel.
9 more heads to go. He thought. The blade of the axe had stopped glowing, instead now it was frozen in a thin layer of ice. He had his shield out the entire time, fending blows and making counters when possible. Any time he felt a head was about to spew poison, he maneuvered through the heads by jumping off the wall. The Hydra seemed like it was having a really difficult time keeping up.
While each of its attacks was deadly, the shield protected him from all of them.
Slice!
Crackle!
Another head fell to the ground. Only 5 more were left now. It was now that Nathan had begun to realize why the Hydra wasn't able to catch him very well. His frost explosion had made the already serpent colder, slowing down its movements. Then, each subsequent hit had only served to make it colder and colder.
Eventually, the Hydra started to retreat; but Nathan pressed the attack. His axe sliced through another head and one of them shot back to spew poison. In a moment of luck, Nathan blocked the poisonous breath with his shield. Instantly, he felt the shield tremble and heat up under the effect of the poison. A single drop landed on his shoes and the boot began to melt. With a click of his tongue, his hand instinctively reacted, slamming the flat side of his axe into his shoe, freezing the drop of venom solid and preventing it from getting to his skin.
He heard Reuben and Freddy cheering him on above and the young demigod picked up another large piece of debris from the floor. How he had gotten that strength, Nathan did not know. He figured that Reuben's godly parent must've been a very strong god.
The debris landed on top of one of the heads and Nathan did not waste the opportunity. With another slash, the head lopped right off. And with so few left, it was not a if, but a when.
Another minute of careful fighting while avoiding its poison and bites, Nathan stood over a pile of dust, among which laid a single head of a snake. The pleasant sound of the notification flashed in his ears.
[You have gained 570 Customization Points!]
"Holy shit..." He said, breathing heavily. With the Hydra finally dead, he dropped to the ground and groaned heavily. The adrenaline finally wore off and he felt pain all over his body. His right arm with which he held the axe had no sensation anymore and his whole arm was numb. The fight had been closer than he'd liked it to be.
If the situation had stretched on any longer, he would have dropped the axe and have no way to finish the Hydra. And with the cold searing through his body, the Hydra would have finished him off even with the shield.
He took a look at his gauntlet and found that the top layer had been partially decolourized. That made him do a double take, since the top most layer was the place where the Celestial Bronze was most prominently present.
"Big bro! You beat the monster!" Reuben's voice broke him out of his inner thoughts. The squirrel jumped down from above, looking at him in wonder and confusion.
'You... actually beat the Hydra?' It squeaked.
"Of course." Nathan gave a weak grin.
Reuben cheered from above, his joyful and excited laugh ringing into their ears. Freddy let out a relieved sigh, his shoulders dropping down.
'Guess I was worried for nothin'.'
"Worried? You were worried about me?" Nathan raised a brow.
'Heh. Yeah, right. Worried 'bout the kid. Who'd be worried for a mortal.'
Nathan chuckled. "You sound like a tsundere."
'A what?' The squirrel tilted his head, ears flopping cutely. Nathan felt an urge to pet the squirrel and at the same time, a sudden irritation and the desire to kick something.
He shook his head and looked at his points.
[Customization Points: 612.5]
He had 112.5 points before, and 570 had been added after. That meant the frozen embers upgrade had taken 70 points.
Thank fuck I ran into that monster horde earlier. I'd be completely dead otherwise. He thought. Having the close brush with death was great and all, but he had better stuff to do now.
He got off the ground, groaning in pain as each breath made the sensation in his limbs and digits return. He picked up the trophy and then looked up at the young demigod, whose face was stroked with tears and grime and flashed a gentle smile.
"Let's get outta here, Reuben."
...
The rest of the journey went without any hiccups. The three of them walked out of a cave somewhere, and then took a moment to adjust to the lighting. The sunlight streaked in fingers of gold through the dense canopy and the fresh smell of morning dew lingered on the leaves.
"Finally outside." Nathan said. Suddenly, he felt something hug him from behind. He looked back, finding Reuben with his face buried into his back.
Nathan felt his lips tug into a smile and he kneeled down before him.
"Hey." He said. "Hey, it's okay. You're okay now. You're safe."
Reuben sniffed away his snot met his eyes.
"Big bro... thank you..." He began to cry again.
Nathan hugged him to his chest and felt a strange tug in his chest. It was... like a slight heaviness. Difficult to explain.
By the side, Freddy watched with a grin, two of his teeth peeking through his mouth.
"You're such a crybaby." Nathan joked.
"I'm not a crybaby!" Reuben shot back, got out of the hug and turned his head away. "I'm not a crybaby.." He repeated, quieter this time.
"Alright, alright." Nathan got up and ruffled his dirty hair. "You're not a crybaby. Now let's get out of here. We're finally getting back to civilization."
Freddy leaped upwards into the trees and cackled like a madman.
'Wonderful! We can finally prepare for the battle to end all battles!'
"We're NOT preparing for Ragnarök." Nathan gave him a dry look and hoisted Reuben over his shoulders. The kid let out a small yelp but held his head once he got on there. "The station shouldn't be far. Though we'll still need to travel for some hours on a motorcycle so be ready."
With that, they headed off towards the direction the compass had pointed them in.
...
Turns out, Nathan had been in the Labyrinth for 2 weeks, or so the ranger told him. He had barely spent 24 hours in there.
Luckily, because he had not exceeded the he had said he would be camping in the woods, his vehicle hadn't been removed from the premises and he had yet to be declared missing in the forest or dead for good.
Reuben hid in the trees while Nathan talked to the ranger. They couldn't exactly have a kid all covered in dirt, mud and a little blood come over and say he had found him.
There would have been an investigation if that happened. Nathan wished to avoid that if possible, until he figured out what to do with the boy.
And so, after some talking, Nathan left and came to the parking lot. There were more cars parked here than before, and Reuben jumped over the metal fence into the parking lot.
Nathan looked him over and got into thought.
"I didn't get a good look at you when he were in the Labyrinth but you really look like you've seen better days." He said with a chuckle.
Reuben looked at himself and looked up at him with an unamused expression. He was not impressed with Nathan's humor.
Freddy laughed aloud seeing his face and climbed onto the back of the motorcycle.
'This thing is too slow. I can travel across America in a day.'
"That's slow considering who your father is." Nathan got himself and Reuben onto the vehicle and revved the engine. It had not been used in some time so it took a while, but they were on the road eventually.
As they left the woods behind, Nathan looked back at Reuben who was clutching onto his shirt with a big smile on his face. He seemed to be enjoying his first ever motorbike ride. He looked like those dogs who stuck their head out of cars and enjoyed the wind flopping across their tongues.
Freddy ran alongside them on the road, his fluffy tail leaving a beam of light behind him as it always did.
"First order of business. Some fresh clothes."
...
...
...
A/N: I took the official Godly Parent Quiz and apparently, I'm an Aphrodite Kid. I guess I better hope I have charmspeak.
Take the quiz and share who your godly parent is.