The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 116

Typhon

The first Monster,

the parent of all Monsters,

the god of Monsters.

An ancient being that existed even in the oldest records of mankind.

With skin so tough it can’t be pierced by the Aura Blade, a giant wrapped in darkness and shadows, claws that tear everything apart,

Typhon embodies all the terrifying descriptions of this world and symbolizes the era of Monsters.

When he was alive, other races were careful around Monsters.

He wasn’t just a beast, hunted unilaterally like now; he ruled his own society.

[Th.. this land is where Father Typhon’s remains rest. We are guarding this land.]

“So this is the Black Forest…”

The once-mighty Monster, Typhon, died long ago.

One day, he suddenly passed away.

The ground where Typhon, who spread shadows and darkness, was buried was as black as the legends say.

It’s been so long since Typhon died that proper records are scarce, and stories vary by country and race.

The Church claims he was killed by a holy knight called by the gods, while beastmen say it was a Dragon’s Beastman who did him in; among the Elves, there’s a tale of a young Elf boy who shot his heart with an arrow made from the World Tree’s branches.

Legends about Typhon’s death are as numerous as the number of countries and races.

Scholars have suggested that all races banded together to defeat Typhon, but this theory has never been widely accepted.

If that many races had gathered, there would be records to prove it.

“If this is such a place, I won’t come back any further…”

[Shh! Where do you think you’re wandering off to alone?]

I tried to leave peacefully, but the nine heads of the Hydra threatened me.

It seems they couldn’t tolerate me backing away like this.

[Negotiation happens when both parties are on the same level… Why do we have to negotiate with a lone human?!!]

“I’m only trying to let it slide.”

[Hiss!! Being trapped like a sinner within this land is exhausting, but to lower our heads to such a small human?!!]

[Kekek, well said. Hey Orthos, did you think we would just accept your words? I was bored anyway, so let’s have a go!]

As the Hydra lashed out at me, the Cyclops who had been bent over started laughing.

When he moved, the ground shook.

[No! That human with the shining sword… he’s strong! Especially that one is strong!]

[Don’t order me around!! Hiss!!]

Orthos, who had been the only one seriously injured, barked to stop the Hydra.

[Hiss, we are here] [to honor Father, not to bow our heads to a human!]

[The promise we made to humans was different. We warned them not to desecrate the forest anymore because they are getting on our nerves!]

[We are stronger than humans. But with your posture… Doesn’t it look like you’re yielding to that small human?!!]

[That human is not like other humans!]

[Hiss!! You’re just a coward! I’ll show you that he’s still just a human!]

A transparent liquid burst forth from the Hydra’s mouth.

As nine mouths spewed forth, the amount was significant enough to obscure everything in a veil of transparent liquid.

Of course, everyone knows what that colorless, odorless liquid is.

It’s the infamous Hydra’s poison.

Anyone who gets poisoned by the Hydra, known to have the most horrific poison in the world, suffers unimaginable pain until death.

Typically, beings of superhuman or transcendent caliber can dispel poisons even if there is no antidote.

They can control their bodies to push out or burn away the components of the poison.

Interestingly, the legend of the Hydra’s poison is famous for this reason.

According to various accounts, those struck by Hydra poison became uncontrollably intoxicated, no matter their level or strength, and could not escape its clutches.

It’s impossible to explain how this phenomenon works precisely, but the moment one is hit by Hydra’s poison, they can’t expel it from their bodies, suffering in agony until they die.

In other words, even if I were to call myself Master, just a drop of that poisonous liquid would be enough for me to either die or live forever plagued by torment.

‘Orthos had that attitude too at first, but after being wounded, he became cooperative.’

Quickly launched poison droplets drew near.

Hydra’s poison was an unbeatable terror.

However, fundamentally, the Hydra’s attack was just scattering the liquid into the air.

Rather than performing some bizarre swordsmanship with a dagger coated in poison, the liquid wasn’t moving on its own either.

It was merely a liquid spread into the air, nothing supernatural that defied the laws of this world.

“Does it take dying once for me to come to my senses?”

The fully realized Aura Blade painted light in midair.

The line of light drawn was calm, but the subsequent wave of power was enormous.

– Whoooom!!

The shimmering line of light was followed by a powerful sword pressure that sent the Hydra’s poison, just a liquid, flying back toward it.

[Ugh..! You’re using this to fight back!]

The transparent liquid splashed right back onto the Hydra, but he was unaffected.

It was his own poison.

However, soon he realized something strange.

[Hiss…?]

He noticed that his words were coming from only one mouth.

The other eight heads showed no reaction at all.

The slash he had made wasn’t an aimless swing to push away the poison; it was a distinctly targeted and precisely dispatched sword energy.

With a single strike, I severed all nine heads that the Hydra possessed.

The remaining head that once was hacked off had regenerated in an instant, unaware it had even been cut.

‘That head probably doesn’t die.’

I knew one of the Hydra’s nine heads was special.

[Hiss! Did you think you could kill me with just this much?!!]

The regeneration of the severed heads was already nearly complete.

The Hydra was actually manipulating the severed eight heads to lunge at me.

As the necks rapidly regenerated from the cut, they splattered the highly toxic blood all around, increasing the threat of their assault.

“Gah!”

Yet again, the result was the same.

I swung the Aura Blade once more, releasing a wave of sword energy that beheaded the Hydra again, leaving nothing but a trace of light in the air while the following gust of sword pressure dispersed all the blood mixed with poison.

[You should know this is futile! Hiss!!]

Yet again, all heads were severed, but the Hydra leisurely regenerated them.

“Sure, let’s give it a go.”

I knew a method to kill the Hydra from reading the original work.

The one and only method ever mentioned?

But I didn’t want to use that just yet.

“Let’s see who tires first; you or I, until one of us drops dead.”

I wanted not just to kill him, but to ruin him, forcing him to admit defeat.

In the darkness where even the moonlight couldn’t slip through, countless trails of light etched themselves into the air.

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A considerable amount of time passed.

I lost track of how many hours had gone by, or how many times I’d swung my sword.

“What’s up? Are you done yet? I’m still going strong.”

[Hiss…]

The sound of the Hydra’s tongue slithering out was no longer heard in multiple voices.

All of his heads had been severed except for one.

It wasn’t just the heads that had been severed.

The Hydra’s thick body had also been cleaved into several pieces.

The ground was now littered with countless remnants of what was once a Hydra.

The once fertile land around the struggling Hydra had turned desolate.

The earth soaked with the deadly toxin that poured endlessly from the Hydra had become a land of death, where even the plants turned black and withered.

There hadn’t been a moment when the Hydra’s body wasn’t riddled with substantial wounds over the past few hours, so the land soaked in its constantly oozing poison had already become the land of death.

Severed heads scattered all around piled up behind me, still leaking poison.

From the moment I began, cutting off those heads felt like harvesting grains; I found quite the satisfaction in it.

In the first two attempts, I gave him some breathing space, but after that, there was no such mercy.

I severed the heads, only to cut them off the moment they regenerated.

Even without regeneration, I targeted the torso directly.

The Hydra was endlessly slashed and had been through a never-ending cycle of being cleaved and regrown.

Whenever he tried to do something, that part would be sliced off.

No matter how much poison he spewed, it never reached my feet.

After thousands of severing attacks, the Hydra no longer had the will to fight.

Still, he had plenty of regeneration capacity, but the reason his heads weren’t regenerating was that he feared being immediately cut again.

Although he was an immortal being, he had not died like the undead.

He wouldn’t die, but as a living being, he felt the sensation of his body being hacked apart and experienced the accompanying pain in his bones.

The Hydra groaned with his remaining head.

[I…have…lost…]

Immediately afterward, another head was severed.

[Hiss?!]

As soon as it was cut, it reattached, but the agony of being slashed again threw the Hydra into a state of fear.

Calmly, Atlas, who had cut off the last remaining head, raised the Aura Blade and spoke.

“Still got something to say?”

[I have… lost… you are a strong… human….]

“It would’ve been nice if you’d been this cooperative from the start.”

Despite my growling words, it seemed the Hydra had lost all thoughts.

He was merely suppressing his regeneration.

The fact that he showed no will to fight was enough of a relief that he wasn’t currently all chopped up by my slashes.

“You were acting like you’d leap at me at any moment, but you’re not going to do it now?”

[Ugh… I give up. I lost. Seeing the poison spread like this, what could I possibly do?]

The Cyclops smacked his lips at the sight of the world turned into chaos by the Hydra’s deadly venom.

Orthos was already positioned behind me, trying to avoid the Hydro’s poisonous spray…

“Orthos, since you caused unnecessary trouble, I’ll need to make some adjustments.”

[…Strong human… what do you… want?]

Indeed, the Hydra was a bothersome opponent.

It seemed I had easily defeated him, but if even a drop of his poison landed on me, I’d have been the one to collapse.

Thus, just letting this go wouldn’t balance out.

“I won’t touch Typhon’s grave, but you guys need to help me with my experiment.”

I had been thinking this since I first saw the three of them.


Maybe experiments with them could help Professor Praha’s research?

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“Let’s head in, Senpai.”

“Is it done?”

“Everything seems fine.”

“Ah… that’s a relief.”

I managed to suppress what could have been a seed of discord.

With the largest potential issue in the forest settled, tomorrow should go smoothly.

As I turned to leave, Andy discovered something.

“Hey, you got a new burden; what’s that thing in your hand?”

“This?”

Andy pointed at a small glass vial I was holding.

Inside the clear vial was an uncomfortably too-transparent liquid.

“I collected it from deep within; want to try it?”

“You never want to drink that. Just use it for the students.”

“I wouldn’t do something like that.”