Chapter 75 - A Glimpse Across a Thousand Years

Shan, who had briefly lost consciousness, was bewildered to discover that his vision had split into several separate views.

One looked over the muddy wetlands, another examined a severed leg, and another watched the knights lurking nearby...

There were seven views in all, with two heads having been severed. Three legs remained after the loss of one, and a long tail stretched out behind him. Dull sensations of cutting, stabbing, and burning pain reached him from all over his body.

Through those sensations, Shan realized he was perceiving the world from the hydra's perspective.

'Have I somehow entered its body?'

Yet he could not control the body at will. All he could do was watch the world from within, borrowing its senses. Nor was he merely sharing its five senses: the hydra's rage and fear felt as vivid as his own.

"Stab it!"

"Bring fire! Cauterize the wound!"

The human knights swarming in from every direction were as persistent and despicable as a colony of ants. They relentlessly attacked openings that were difficult to defend, and despite their tiny size, their beetle-like iron shells made them impossible to crush. Even the venom, whose smell alone should have rendered them unconscious, scarcely worked.

As the creature lashed its tail irritably, Shan used one of the seven views to locate his own body. He found himself not on its rump, but a short distance away, glaring at him—the hydra.

By any measure, he looked nothing like someone who had lost consciousness. In other words, what he was seeing was not the present, but the recent past. At a guess, a few dozen seconds to a minute earlier at most...

The moment he recognized that, the world abruptly shifted.

Now the hydra was roaming the wetlands alone, all nine heads intact. Monsters lurking nearby fled at the sound of its footsteps.

The emotion welling up inside it was joy. Joy at having recently feasted on a vast quantity of human flesh. Joy at roaming freely across the wide-open land. Joy at melting and destroying a great fortress...

The creature's perspective continued carrying Shan further into the past: to the destruction of the western fortress in Treva's domain, to another stretch of roaming the wetlands, and finally to the moment it emerged from the cave.

Unexpectedly, the creature had been deeply moved as it first left the cave and looked up at the pitch-black night sky. To think that a monster he had assumed took pleasure only in slaughter and destruction could admire a view and rejoice in it.

At the same time, for some unknown reason, it harbored a trace of fear. Several heads kept checking to either side and behind it, on guard for something that might appear.

Sharing its emotions, Shan understood why the hydra had never returned to the cave. It had felt horribly confined, trapped in that cramped space for all that time. Why it had not simply come out sooner, though, he could not tell... Perhaps it had something to do with the fear it felt.

'Then did we even need to come hunt it?'

The thought suddenly occurred to him, but that was only with the benefit of knowing the truth. Since they had had no way of knowing when it might return, hunting it had still been the right decision. They also had to take responsibility for its rampage through the wetlands—and obtain its magic stone while they were at it.

With that thought, his viewpoint shifted a little further back.

The hydra made its way through the cave, far too narrow for its bulk, searching for alchemical waste that had drifted far downstream. It stayed holed up in its nest, enjoying the feast the river carried down to it.

And before that... it had simply waited. Eating monsters that crawled up from downstream, sometimes eating humans who came from the opposite direction.

For an endlessly long time.

Although time swept past relatively quickly, enduring such long stretches without the slightest change was unbearably tedious. Simple-minded monster or not, he could scarcely imagine how it had endured all those years.

The creature itself had evidently not been entirely comfortable either. At times it writhed with boredom, yet it never dared leave the cave. Though Shan could not identify it precisely, there was something outside that it feared.

After what felt like hours, perhaps days spent inside the cave—likely hundreds of years in actual time, perhaps even a thousand—he finally saw a time before the hydra had entered it.

The creature was fleeing, five of its heads gone.

Monsters of every kind lay strewn around it, including several fairly well-known varieties. Cockatrices, basilisks, wyverns, gargoyles...

One surviving head was looking backward, allowing Shan a clear view of whoever had committed this slaughter.

A lone knight in a winged helmet and silver-gray plate armor, wielding a long two-handed sword.

The visor concealed the knight's features, but Shan immediately recognized him. A brilliant halo streamed from behind his armor, illuminating everything around him.

'Could that be Emperor Baren?'

Founder of the Arman Empire, savior of humanity, consort of the Goddess. Only depictions of that man were permitted to include such a halo.

Now Shan knew why. It was not simply a way of emphasizing his greatness. They had actually painted him exactly as he appeared!

For a moment, Shan thought how delighted Roden and Sherin would be to learn this. Then his eyes widened as he watched Emperor Baren swing his sword and bisect a troll in a single blow.

'Wow...'

From the moment he stepped forward until the blade emerged from the flesh, the entire flow of his strength went into the strike without a single wasted motion.

Just as it did when Shan himself swung.

Nor had he achieved this by tirelessly practicing a few particular techniques, as other knights did. His subsequent movements, his casual evasions, his next attack—everything was executed with perfect efficiency, never contrary to the principles governing it.

Emperor Baren had clearly reached the same level as Shan. Perhaps he had even been born with the same kind of talent.

On top of that, perhaps because of his armor, his physical capabilities far surpassed human limits. Every running stride and leap was as explosive as if charged with spirit, and any monster his sword caught was severed in a single blow. Such a feat would have been utterly impossible without an endless supply of spirit and stamina.

Shan thought he understood what the hydra had feared. However ferocious a large monster might be, it could only feel terror after barely escaping a monster like that with its life.

'Come to think of it, the monsters the emperor is killing have magical patterns on their bodies too, just like this one.'

There were occasional creatures without them mixed in, but most of the powerful ones had magical patterns inscribed on their bodies.

Before he could ponder why, the hydra's perspective shifted further into the past.

Now it was wandering a wasteland alongside those companions he had just seen Emperor Baren slaughter, their bodies covered in magical patterns like its own.

They showed none of the territorial instincts large monsters normally possessed. Instead, they responded to one another and cooperated as though they were comrades. They spent idyllic days eating passing humans and smaller monsters, and playing with one another.

The humans they occasionally encountered all wore crude leather clothing and looked utterly uncivilized. They seemed to belong to primitive tribal societies from before the empire's founding.

After a few more minutes by Shan's reckoning—likely dozens or hundreds of days in reality—time rewound to the creature escaping some underground facility, together with the companions he had just seen.

People who appeared to inhabit the facility tried to stop them, thrusting out strange rods, only to be slaughtered helplessly. Curiously, though, all the guards wore far more sophisticated clothing than the people he had seen earlier, and possessed distinctly Altoan features.

Shan instinctively realized where and when he was. What he had seen earlier was a thousand years ago, when Emperor Baren founded the Arman Empire. A civilization that had flourished even before that could only be...

'The Alto Empire.'

What he was witnessing was the fall of the Alto Empire, the era everyone longed to understand. A nation that had reached the pinnacle of magical civilization before being destroyed by the Goddess's wrath, an object of admiration and mingled love and hatred for every Altoan.

Before the realization could send a shiver through him, his viewpoint jumped further back, to the hydra confined in an enormous prison. Neither its venom, which dissolved anything, nor attacks using the sheer mass of its huge body could breach it.

Two people were conversing beyond the bars: a man of about forty who looked like a researcher, and an old man with a neatly groomed white beard. Both of the researcher's eyes had inverted coloring, but the old man showed none of the distinctive Altoan features.

"Fortunately, the implantation seems to have succeeded. I heard hydras were difficult to infuse with magic because of their regenerative abilities."

"Yes. In addition to reducing its instinctive hostility toward other specimens so they can be housed together without trouble, we added biological analysis and the newly developed information-recording magic."

"Information recording?"

"It stores the monster's experiences so they can be reviewed. We can directly experience what they sense during experiments, and if one is caught after attempting an escape, we can find out how it escaped and prevent a recurrence. It's quite useful. I hear there are plans to refine it for security purposes soon, too."

"Oh...? Might I try it myself?"

"Of course. You'll need access authorization. Is there an object you use frequently, Regional Administrator?"

"Here. My most treasured possession."

The old man extended his hand, and astonishingly, the silver ring on his finger transformed into a sword.

Shan was stunned. Learning that this old man owned A Thousand Forms was surprising enough, but even more astonishing was the fact that he had shrunk it to the size of a ring. Because of the problem of mass, that was utterly impossible for Shan as he was now.

'How in the world?'

The researcher touched A Thousand Forms and murmured something. The old man nodded, opened the barred door, and stepped inside.

Startled, the hydra opened its jaws wide and roared threateningly, but the old man walked calmly up to it, utterly unperturbed, and pricked its leg with his sword.

At that, Shan's consciousness flashed white once more.

* * *

'... Ah.'

Back in his own body, Shan briefly felt an immense sense of loss at how drastically his field of vision had narrowed, and how pitifully small his body had become. After living in the hydra's body for what felt like dozens of days or more, adjusting to being human again was not easy.

As though seizing on the opening this created, one of the hydra's heads lunged at him, jaws wide.

"Ugh!"

No longer comfortable controlling his body, Shan failed to react as quickly as before, and the creature's jaws clamped around his torso. Its mouth was so enormous that the crushing pressure bore down on his armpits above and his shins below.

The knights cried out in horror.

"Sir Shan!"

"Save the Lord Guardian!"

Its jaws grinding, the hydra bit down with all its strength on the most troublesome of its foes, finally caught, and flooded its mouth with venom. Agonizing, burning pain spread through Shan's body as the poison seeped in.

Fortunately, the armor containing the ogre's magic stone withstood even the hydra's bite and deadly venom to some extent.

Gritting his teeth, Shan forced the jaws apart with both arms, which he had barely managed to wedge between them as they closed. The monstrous strength granted by the magic stones set in his chest aided him.

The effort created the tiniest opening. Without missing it, Shan gave a small leap and curled up.

SNAP!

The hydra's teeth clacked together.

"D-did it eat him?"

That was how it looked to everyone, but their alarm lasted only a moment. From inside, Guardian of the East shone a fierce blue and tore through the hydra's lower jaw.

Escaping drenched in its blood, Shan kicked off its body, leaped down, and rolled across the ground.

"Neutralizer! Pour neutralizer over Sir Shan!"

Keeping his eyes closed, Shan heard approaching footsteps and quickly folded his armor back into a breastplate. Neutralizer poured over his exposed body, foaming against the blood and venom sizzling over his skin.

"Hah..."

His burned body throbbed as if aflame, but fortunately, he was not beyond fighting. When he sprang to his feet, the knights and squires around him stared in horror.

"S-Sir Shan! Please fall back and receive treatment! You're badly hurt!"

"I'm fine. More importantly, I've found its weak points. I can barely speak, so shout what I say to the others."

In a rasping voice, Shan explained where the hydra's hearts were. One in the neck of the central head, one at the junction of the third neck and head from the left, one in the very center of its torso, one where its tail joined its rump, and one on the right side of its chest...

Unless all of them were destroyed, the hydra would keep moving even if every head was severed. Perhaps because he had just felt as though he had become the hydra, he knew this with absolute clarity.

Or perhaps it was thanks to the "biological analysis" magic the researcher had mentioned...

When the knights received Shan's instructions and shifted the focus of their attacks, the hydra immediately grew defensive. The creatures that had openly targeted only its heads were now earnestly probing its weak points, and it felt threatened.

After a brief rest, Shan deployed his armor around his entire body once more and charged at the hydra. His whole body burned, but fortunately, his eyes were unharmed, thanks to his having squeezed them shut the instant the blood splashed over him.

[◇◇◇◇◆----!]

At the sight of Shan charging toward it, the hydra reacted almost convulsively and whipped its body around.

He had an inkling why. The many magical patterns on its body had previously kept it from clearly detecting the magical presence of A Thousand Forms. After their recent contact, however, it could probably sense it distinctly.

Perhaps because he had shared the monster's body for so long, Shan understood it better than anyone else. Absurdly, he even felt a trace of affection for it now. Of course, that did not change the fact that they had to kill or be killed.

Despite being far less physically capable than before, Shan evaded the hydra's spurting venom, its forelegs swinging so wildly it nearly toppled, and its snapping jaws with greater ease. He could see exactly how it would attack and what it would use as a weapon.

While Shan kept its attention at the front, Ravana and Roden finally succeeded in severing a second leg. With its left hind leg gone in addition to its previously severed right foreleg, the creature could no longer remain standing.

As the hydra sank down, another knight rushed over to cauterize the stump of its left hind leg with a torch. He discarded the torch, now drained of flammable liquid, and shouted,

"That's the last of the cauterizing torches!"

It would have been good to bring more, but the fuel was made from such expensive ingredients that they had had little choice. Still, preventing the easy regeneration of a foreleg, a hind leg, and four heads was more than enough return on the investment.

The knights continued wearing the creature down, concentrating their attacks on the vital points Shan had revealed. Most of their magical devices carried enchantments that inhibited regeneration, slowing its recovery further and further.

Moreover, as with trolls, its extraordinary regeneration depended on bodily resources—specifically, burning fat. Every time it healed another wound, they could see the thick fat of its belly dwindling away.

Before long, Shan pierced the heart in the middle of the central neck, leaving that head limp. A knight's spear pierced the heart near its rump, disabling that one as well.

With every heart destroyed, the hydra's movements became noticeably more sluggish, and its many heads lost their former agility. Its hearts also served as auxiliary brains that governed the heads.

Some ten minutes later, Shan finally extended Heart Destroyer to its full length and drove it into the heart at the center of the creature's torso. The hydra collapsed without so much as a scream. Its body swelled, then subsided as it breathed its last.

"We did it!"

"Damn it, what a tenacious bastard..."

The knights who had fought looked more sick of the ordeal than joyful. Ordinarily, a hydra would have been judged equal to or slightly stronger than a cockatrice or basilisk, and a little weaker than an ogre. But perhaps because its long years had allowed it to grow to more than twice the size of an ordinary hydra, its strength had been absurd.

Contrary to the prediction that their force was more than sufficient, even somewhat excessive, the hunt would have failed without the Lord Guardian. The thought came instinctively to many of them.

"Let's start harvesting the carcass! Collect as much blood as you can!"

Despite his exhaustion, Roden shouted his orders, and the others immediately obeyed. Some soldiers who had remained at the rear took antidotes and brought over several prepared containers, specially made to hold hydra blood.

They also had to strip off its scales, naturally durable and extraordinarily resistant to poison, and sever heads to use as trophies.

Then Shan, who was receiving treatment from a priest, interjected.

"Tell them to draw those patterns before they strip off the scales."

"Pardon?"

"The ones that were glowing on its body."

Now that he knew they were not meaningless decorations, he could not let them be lost. Removing the hide whole and reconstructing them was far too impractical. At the very least, they ought to make reasonably accurate drawings so Sherin could analyze them later.

While the mage drew and the soldiers stripped the scaly hide from the heads, the knights split open the belly and searched through the entrails for its magic stone.

The stone they soon discovered was, in all seriousness, larger than an average person. Magic stones might be much lighter than ordinary gems, but something this size still had to weigh hundreds of kilograms.

Several knights worked together to roll it out onto the ground, then pondered their predicament.

"How in the world are we going to carry this?"

"Good question..."

On level ground, at least, they could have used horses and a cart, but that was difficult in the middle of a swamp. After considerable deliberation, they rolled the stone onto a net woven from a large quantity of the tough vines growing nearby. With long poles and about eight people working together, they managed to make it transportable.

While the relatively unhurt members of the party toiled to collect their spoils, Shan received intensive treatment from the priests. After invoking the Goddess's name and performing one healing miracle after another, a priest spoke between gasps.

"For now, I've done everything I can, Sir Shan."

"Thank you."

"I'm sorry. My abilities are inadequate..."

A look at his reflection in a nearby pool made the reason for the apology clear. His once reasonably clear-featured face had been hideously distorted by burns in several places, leaving him looking monstrous.

If this was the best the priest could do, even continued treatment was unlikely to improve it much. His body already bore plenty of scars, but his face had remained fairly unmarked. Now, he supposed, there was certainly no chance of anyone calling him handsome again.

Should he count himself fortunate that at least he would not look weak?

"Might I speak with you a moment, Sir Shan?"

Viscount Treva, who had withdrawn far to the rear, cautiously approached him. His face held a complicated mixture of awe and fear.

"Please speak, Viscount."

"First... allow me to express my sincere admiration for your valor. I never dared imagine that a single human being could be so strong."

Armed with magical devices, all the Pales knights had displayed strength beyond their own abilities, but Shan had been exceptional even among them. Though he had been caught in the creature's jaws once—and escaped by his own efforts—he had otherwise allowed not a single attack to land, all but subjecting the hydra to a one-sided beating.

Of course, having just witnessed Emperor Baren's overwhelming prowess, Shan found little to be impressed by. That Knight King, who had scarcely seemed human, would have cut down a mere hydra like this without the slightest difficulty.

Still, a compliment was a compliment, so Shan nodded and expressed his thanks.

"Thank you. You praise me too highly."

"On that subject, wouldn't it be rather difficult for your present numbers to transport all the materials from the hydra?"

"I was already thinking we would have to make several trips."

More than anything else, the hydra's scaly hide was thicker and heavier than he had expected. They were at the point of needing to establish a nearby base and hire people, so the viscount's cooperation was already necessary.

Hearing this, the viscount readily nodded.

"That is precisely what I wished to discuss. I can mobilize more than enough people to carry heavy loads, and I will cooperate to the fullest. It is only right to offer at least this much consideration to the heroes who hunted the hydra."

"I gratefully accept your kindness, Viscount."

"Furthermore, several of your heroes have suffered burns, yourself included. One of the priests in my domain possesses truly remarkable divine power. He is a match even for the cardinals of the Holy See."

That meant he might even be able to heal their severe burns. The cardinals were the most accomplished priests of the Old Faith, scarcely inferior to the pope himself. Who would have imagined someone of that caliber lived in such a remote place?

Rather than thanking him for the unexpected kindness, Shan simply looked at the viscount. He was still unused to dealing with people, but even he knew that an offer like this came with an expectation of something in return.

Ideally, he ought to have Roden beside him for this sort of negotiation, but his friend was busy organizing the harvested materials. It should be fine to hear the man out and withhold his answer for now.

"What is it you want?"

Viscount Treva made a choking sound at the utterly blunt question, so far removed from the elegant negotiations of the nobility. Flustered for a moment, he cleared his throat and regained his composure before replying.

"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say I want something... but in return for my kindness, I would like an opportunity to visit Princess Sherin."