[ Somewhere in the mountains, North of Rosenburg… ]

"Grawr!" The three-headed hydra roared at the five adventurers.

This beast was the final monster of an instance dungeon that opened a few days ago. The guild was unsure about the severity of the chaos corruption in this area, thanks to being far off the beaten path.

That was one of the reasons why they were so surprised when a group of five new adventurers, led by a summoned hero called Suzuki, took the job and wandered into the mountains.

Now, after more than thirty minutes of unceasing slaughter, they stood before the venomous hydra.

"Hm!" Suzuki smiled at the beast. "I was expecting something larger."

"What?!" Stevie burst out with fear. "This beast is at least five times our size! Even Stoneman is a dwarf compared to it, when actually he is a titan!"

The grey giant raised his large club and laughed.

He was a wall of muscle, a ferocious display of manly beauty!

And still, as smart as a spider on drugs.

"Hah! Small boy is scared!"

Stevie trembled from anxiety. None of them seemed to realize the power of the beast they were up against.

He felt a hand lay on his shoulder. He turned around to see the Wrick, their marksman, give him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, kiddo! I'm not going to let that beast hurt you. Stay back and try to aim your crossbow at the hydra's eyes!"

Stevie was still as anxious as before, but the gunman made him feel a bit safer. He nodded and reloaded the bow attached to his wrist.

The hydra raised its three heads into the sky and roared. Flame spurred forth from the middle head's mouth, while toxic gas came out from the two on the sides.

This beast's power was on par with a level thirty adventurer.

Still, the low-rank heroes did not back down!

Suzuki and Stoneman rushed forth with weapons in hand, while Wrick and Stevie circled the beast from a distance.

The hydra lowered its middle head to ignite the two melee attackers.

Suzuki jumped out of the flame's path and continued his charge. But Stoneman… He charged straight through the fire!

"Hehe, spicy!" Stoneman chuckled, feeling but a slight tickle on his skin.

In truth, his health slowly diminished by this attack, however, he had way too much to care about it!

[ HP: 50/50 ] –> [ HP: 38/50 ]

Wrick kneeled down and aimed his pistol at the hydra's eye. Once it lowered its head to spur fire, Wrick held his breath, and when he was sure about the shot…

Bang!

The bullet broke through the air, blinding the hydra's middle head.

"Gotcha!" He celebrated, then quickly ran as the other head spurred toxic gas towards him.

On the other side, the hydra lowered its head before Suzuki and roared out toxic gas.

Suzuki raised his snow katana into the air. It shone with a blinding light that brightened even more on Suzuki's command.

"Snow Dragon's Gust!"

Suzuki slashed his sword in the air and sent forth a sharp blast of wind. His attack met with the hydra's toxic gas and sliced it in two. The attack traveled further to the hydra's face and cut deep into its flesh, making the monster recoil in pain.

"Heh!" Suzuki chuckled. "Stevie, shoot out its eye! Blind it until I get close!

Stevie was a few meters behind him, and as he heard Suzuki's command, his heart almost burst out of his chest. His fears grew even more now that he was tasked with something so important.

"O-Okay!" He stopped to get a better aim on his weapon.

The hydra's head danced around as it cried out in pain. It was hard to see its small eyes, which gave him an even worse time.

Stevie gritted his teeth. He tried very hard to calm his shaking hands and not miss this shot.

"Come on… Come on…!"

He pulled the rope attached to his fist and an arrow shot through the air. It flew straight at the hydra's eye, which it missed just by a few meters.

"N-No…" Stevie froze as the arrow missed and dealt no damage.

Suzuki saw that too. Stevie knew it because of the venomous frown on his face.

However, it did not matter.

Stoneman raised his large, burning club and smashed it into the hydra's skull.

"Graaawr!" The three heads cried out in unison as they all felt that incredible blow.

This gave Suzuki enough time to jump onto his hydra's head and prepare both of his weapons for a lethal attack.

"Thunder Dragon's Blizzard Storm!" He roared before sending an incredible attack right down the beast's neck.

The attack blew straight through the hydra's neck, beheading it instantly!

The large, toxic head fell to the ground and dispersed in a cloud of blue pixels. The other end of the hydra caught on fire, viciously burning its flesh.

The other two heads roared out in pain. They knew it was the end, and as a last-ditch effort, they decided to take as many with them as they could.

The toxic head that could still see aimed at Wrick and shot out its remaining gas.

Wrick could have easily dodged this attack, however, the fiery head aimed at him and shot forth a pillar of fire. As the toxic gas and the powerful fire met, they exploded in a burst of light, blowing away everything in sight!

Stevie was launched at the nearest wall, much like Suzuki and Stoneman. They were not caught in the blast and suffered no greater wounds.

But Wrick was not so lucky. As the light subsided and the heroes could finally hear again, the violent screams of Wrick were heard from the other side.

The blast blew off half of his leg and one of his arms. He lay in a pool of blood, screaming in disbelief and shock.

Stevie rushed to the man and tore off his shirt.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god…"

He wrapped cloths around the screaming man's wounds, but the bleeding was too rough. They needed to take him to a hospital immediately, or else he would die from bleeding out.

"Just kill me!" Wrick screamed as he wiggled around.

"D-Don't worry! We will take you to a hospital! That's right! An exit to the dungeon should open soon and Stoneman will take you to a nearby hospital!"

However, he was in for a surprise.

An exit portal opened at the other end of the dungeon hall. It looked like a window, peeking out to the harmless field where they entered from.

Stevie was relieved. He turned to Stoneman to help him pick up Wright, but when he did that…

"Portal open!" Stoneman rejoiced. "Stoneman won't miss favorite show!"

Just like that, the two-and-a-half-meter tall giant rushed out of the dungeon with a speed that rivaled even his fighting performance.

"W-What…" Stevie muttered in disbelief.

Just like that, Stoneman abandoned the group. Once again, he was left alone with a screaming man in his hands.

Searching around for any kind of help, he noticed something unbelievable.

Black Tea was sitting in the corner of the large hall, having a tea party with some of her many dolls. She seemed unbothered by the screaming Wrick, pouring tea for her dolls with the utmost peace.

"W-What are you doing? Hey!" Stevie waved at Black Tea.

The girl looked at him with expressionless eyes. She looked down at Wrick, then back to the boy.

"Death is a natural part of life." She said before returning to her dolls.

Stevie was shocked. He wanted to scream with the girl, and for a moment, he considered using his weapon to threaten her.

Before he could have done that, Suzuki put the bleeding Wright on his back and approached the exit portal.

"Don't worry, Stevie! I will take care of him."

Stevie's eyes lit up with hope. Even when his other teammates abandoned him, Suzuki proved to be reliable once more.

Suzuki reached out his hand and summoned something from his inventory. It was a small red gem. Light was flickering from the inside, like a firefly searching for an escape.

"Take this!" Suzuki gave it to the boy. "This gem contains the hydra's soul. It's useless for us, but the guild needs this to know we did the job. Can I trust you with handing it to them?"

Stevie gazed at the magnificent gem. Could a soul really be contained in something so small?

Nonetheless, he accepted Suzuki's request with a determined smile.

"You can trust me, Mister Suzuki!"

"Good!" He walked out the portal. "Now run back to Rosenburg and give them the gem! I'll take Wrick to a nearby settlement! Hopefully they can heal his wounds…"

Suzuki left.

The walls of the dungeon began to shake. Now that its core monster, the hydra was killed, this corrupted realm had nothing else to fuel its existence.

Stevie looked around one last time, taking in the dungeon's beauty. Then, he left to report back to the heroes' guild.