“Ok, ok. Everyone, listen up.”

Once all the teams had arrived and everyone had eaten, Nora addressed the crowd.

“You know why you’re here, and it isn’t to eat.”

Nora showed a self-deprecating smile.

“…Hopefully, anyway.”

Most of the raiders laughed and the mood became even lighter than before. A total of four teams, including Theo’s had been recruited by Nora. All of them were no-name teams with limited experience in the third layer.

Theo narrowed his eyes as the crowd gave Nora their undivided attention. These naïve yet competent people would be perfect distractions for the hydra.

“Right now, my partner is scouting Rainy’s location. When he finishes, we’ll head out. The strategy is simple. Rainy has seven heads and I want each team to focus on restraining one of them. Linderman and I will take the other three.”

The outlaw spun his spoon, but he didn’t raise a complaint. This plan practically guaranteed that Nora’s team would be the highest contributors. He’d expected something like this, but there was no point in arguing. Nora had set all of this up, so she had the privilege to decide how they’d fight.

Of course, if his team killed their designated head quickly, then Theo could tackle a second under the pretense of easing Nora’s burden.

“Our plan is simple, but Rainy isn’t. The old girl has a lot of tricks up her…scales…and I’ll take this chance to teach you about them. I even have a ‘veteran’ hydra fighter to help out.”

As Nora walked away from the table, Mavis’s hair twitched.

“…Theo.” It whispered. “We should…leave.”

“What? Why?”

Nora approached the man chained to the signpost and knelt down. Once she undid his restraints, she stepped back as he tore the sack off his face.

“You’ll pay dearly for this, woman.”

“Oh, how funny.” Nora smirked. “He says the same thing before and after being chained up.”

Nora took some gear out of her storage crystal and waited while the captive equipped himself. After donning his white coat and checking his saber, Yale turned to face the crowd.

Then his jaw dropped.

Theo’s did as well.

Vivian looked a little confused while Mavis was shaking.

Yale’s hand immediately went for his saber, but Nora grabbed his wrist.

“Everyone’s nice and mellow, so don’t cause a scene.”

The young master struggled for a moment, but then he froze in place. Nora’s red eye glinted as she patted him on the shoulder.

“Play nice, ok?”

Lowering his head, Yale replied. “…Alright.”

The two of them walked back to the table and sat down together. Lacing her fingers, Nora addressed the crowd.

“Back to the boss, Rainy has a few attacks that you’ll need to watch out for. Tell them what you’ve learned, Yale.”

Yale clenched his fists, but he eventually spoke.

“The Torrent Guardian…”

“-Rainy.” Nora corrected.

“The Torrent Guardian is extremely dangerous. Besides her heads, she also has four strong legs and a dexterous tail. If you get clawed by her, even plate armor might not save you.”

Yale scowled as he continued.

“Those water bullets are her favorite attack. If you wait until she spits one out, you won’t be able to dodge. Her heads make a very distinct motion before firing. They rear back and shake slightly, almost like a drake before it shoots a fireball.”

“How many drakes have you seen, rich boy?”

Yale glared at Nora.

“Plenty of captive ones.”

Nora’s expression remained flat as she waved her hand, signaling for him to continue.

“The Torrent Guardian’s defense is also formidable. It’s nearly impossible to cut through her scales without enchantments. But, frankly, that doesn’t matter when she has seven heads guarding her. Hydra heads can move independently of each other, so you’ll have to restrain or outmaneuver them to deal any damage.”

Leaning back, Yale fixed his eyes on Theo and then, after some internal deliberation, moved them to Nora.

“That’s all I have to say.”

“Thank you, Yale.” Nora nodded approvingly. “Beyond that, Rainy’s precipitation will be a nuisance. It dulls noise, making it hard to communicate. The ground will become slippery and visibility will be reduced. Overall, she’s quite the monster. But her rewards should be equally impressive.”

Nora scanned the crowd and smiled when she saw that none of them had lost their nerve.

“Linderman should be back any minute now, so get ready to head out. Does anyone have any questions?”

A random team leader raised their hand.

“Um, is this ‘veteran’ going to be fighting with us?”

Nora shook her head.

“We have a separate agreement. He won’t help us.”

“I’ll be fighting on my own.” Yale said, folding his arms. “I agreed to share this information because it isn’t relevant to you. When I kill the hydra, you’ll understand that this meeting was just a farce.”

The other raiders stared at Yale like he’d grown a second head. Then, they laughed. Besides Theo’s group and Nora, everyone laughed at him. Yale turned his head away in an aloof manner, but Mavis noticed that his hands were shaking.

- - -

Sadness, anger, pain, regret and most of all…fear.

After Galt died, these emotions pressed down on Yale. They tore him apart like the talons of a beast. At first, he had wanted to carry Galt’s body out of the first layer. But because of the maze’s persistent scavengers, that became an impossible task. Yale reluctantly buried his mentor’s body and set out for the surface. He found a bright opening one day later, but it wasn’t an exit. Just like Theo, he’d stumbled onto the second layer by accident.

To Yale’s surprise, some part of him was elated.

His family had forbidden him to go beyond the first layer. That was why he’d been so desperate to find the masked outlaw. A powerful opponent that only lived in the first layer was like a dream come true.

His body moved before his mind. Yale crossed the threshold and entered the second layer.

On the mountain path, his first night was nearly his last. The moon turned red and he was assaulted by several bloodthirsty monsters. But he survived. Yale even made a breakthrough with his swordsmanship. Knowing that he was truly fighting alone forced him to break his bad habits.

Galt would have been proud of his pupil’s compact and fluid movements, or so Yale told himself.

After the blood moon, Yale grew bored of the second layer. The monsters simply couldn’t keep up with his enchantments. He pushed to reach the third layer as quickly as he could. Madness borne out of fear kept his enthusiasm high, and he trained both his swordplay and mana cycling with reckless abandon. By the time Yale entered the third layer, he could already use two extra pieces of gear from his storage.

Many of the third layer’s beasts were a disappointment. Creatures like moss panthers weren’t actually stronger than monsters in the second layer, they were just trickier.

Yale sighed as rain began to fall, but his adrenaline shot to new levels when he saw what had caused it. He attacked the hydra without thinking and was forced to run away. After taking a day to recover, Yale challenged it again. And again. And again.

Though he hated to admit it, Yale was no match for the boss monster. He could barely damage it, and that damage was usually healed by their next engagement. The Torrent Guardian’s incredible vitality could compete with his best healing enchantments.

Yale continued to train, and he continued to lose. After about a week, he lost to Nora as well. His negotiations with the heterochromatic raider were unpleasant, but the two eventually came to an agreement. If he shared what he knew, then Nora would give him one final shot. Yale still tried to run off and fight the hydra again, but Nora brought him back and chained him to a signpost.

Yale endured the humiliation and waited.

He waited because this was what he’d always wanted. Free from his family’s obligations, he was challenging a monster that didn’t lose out to ones from Galt’s stories. Even without the Wallace name, killing this hydra would make him famous. Or, at the very least, it would make him into a man that his mentor could be proud of.

Like a man praying to a dying flame, Yale repeated that notion over and over in his head. Without that desire, he feared that he would truly go insane.

“Ok, everyone take five.” Nora shouted over the rain. “Watch how this guy fights, if you want. Just don’t get too close.”

A few raiders chuckled at her implication. To them, Yale’s fight was just a short interlude before the main event.

Drawing his saber with one hand and his mentor’s sword with the other, Yale stepped towards the hydra.

Fourteen eyes shot open as the hydra sensed someone approach. Seven tree-like necks rose and arched. Its glistening purple scales tapped out an endless rhythm as they were struck by the rain.

Yale forced a smile.

“It’s only been a week but…did you miss me?”

A single head snarled in response. Then, bullets began to fly.

*Pshooo*

*Pshooo*

*Pshooo*

If it was the Yale that Theo had fought in the first layer, he would have been fatally wounded. If it was the Yale that had just entered the third layer, he would have survived by the skin of his teeth. Now, though, this volley was just a warm-up for the both of them.

Yale’s coat and boots shone as he layered their speed enhancing effects. After dodging a few more projectiles, Yale stopped when he was about five meters from the hydra. Several heads rushed towards him. Backing up, Yale drew them away from the others. The heads eventually reached their limit and began to pull back, and that was when Yale lunged forward.

His saber flashed as he cut into one of the beast’s seven faces. The head hissed furiously, but Yale was scowling as well. He’d been aiming for its eye, but it had turned at the last second.

*Pshooo*

*Pshooo*

*Pshooo*

The Torrent Guardian launched another salvo.

Yale just barely managed to dodge, only to find that another head had been waiting for him. Combining the strength enhancing enchantments on his coat and gloves, Yale thrust Galt’s sword into the roof of the hydra’s mouth. At the same time, he buried his saber in its lower jaw. His arms screamed in protest as he held its mouth open.

Unfortunately, managing one head was his limit. The other heads arched back and shook slightly as they approached him.

*Pshooo*

A blast of compressed water finally hit its mark. Yale barely had a chance to use his defensive enchantments before he was sent flying. His legs trembled, but he forced himself to stand quickly. Several bullets followed him as he tried to take refuge behind some trees

*Pshooo*

Another attack hit him head-on.

With its flexible necks, the hydra was used to sniping prey from behind cover.

*Pshooo*

*Pshooo*

*Pshooo*

*Pshooo*

Despite his powerful enchantments and rare healing tools, Yale was unable to weather the hydra’s assault. Blood streamed down his arms as he struggled to lift his blades. As the hydra drew closer, he sighed and dropped them. Yale retrieved a small glowing stone from his storage and crushed it. His body seemed to transform into light as he shot backwards. Within seconds, he was over a dozen meters away.

The other raiders saw where he’d landed, but no one went to help him.

As the stone’s light faded, Yale stumbled and fell on the ground. His head was spinning, and his body couldn’t find the strength to stand. He closed his eyes and resigned to recover in this shameful position.

Several minutes later, his eyes shot open. Yale slowly lifted his head and searched for the hydra, but he could only hear it in the distance. He bit his lip when he realized that Nora had ordered her teams to attack.

His chance was over.

“Good fight.”

Yale froze as he heard someone clapping behind him. The slow applause came at a strange rhythm that seemed at odds with the falling rain. Either this person was deaf, or he simply refused to follow something else’s lead.

Yale’s eyes widened as he turned his head. The man cut an intimidating figure with his dark leather armor and heavy black cloak. Two steely blue eyes appraised the young master while the rest of the man’s features were covered by a black bandanna.

“Who…Who are you?” Yale breathed.

The figure stopped clapping.

“Right now, I’m just a veteran watching the younger generation. You can call me Ravens.”

Yale’s blood ran cold. His addled mind couldn’t dredge up the significance behind that name, but it filled him with dread.

“There is something I would like to know.” Ravens continued. “I know that you have a reason to hate the outlaw named Theo and the masked woman by his side. Why did you ignore them?”

Yale hesitated, but he didn’t dare stay silent.

“Because I would have lost my chance to defeat the hydra. Galt, my mentor, died because I forced us into a dangerous fight. I wouldn’t mind killing the low-life that murdered him, but that won’t get me what I really want.”

“Your, let’s charitably call it heroic, fight with that boss. That’s what you wanted?”

“I…” Yale trailed off.

Ravens sighed as he raised one fist.

“Recognizing your faults and moving forward…Most people would say that’s admirable.”

He pointed it at Yale.

“But you’re just lying to yourself.”

Ravens opened his palm to reveal a shimmering crystal. When Yale squinted, he could see figures moving inside of it.

“I recorded this because it was extremely interesting. Would you like to see?”

“I-I don’t really…”

“Would you like to see how your mentor died?”