Book 3: Chapter 36: The Alchemist's Daughter

Book 3: Chapter 36: The Alchemist's Daughter

Elijah could scarcely see the girl, as she was hidden in the branches, but he certainly heard her scream. He also saw the small fireball she tossed down at the hydra. It hit with a splash of flames, but the spell had very little effect on the monster.

And it was a monster.

Elijah was sure of that. He didn’t know precisely what made it so different or why he recognized it, but he was absolutely certain that the hydra was not of Earth. Of course, given its appearance, that should have been obvious – but the injection of ethera into the ecosystem had mutated much of the native fauna, rendering many creatures unrecognizable. Yet, it was obvious to Elijah – for some inexplicable reason – that that was not the case with the hydra.

Regardless, he didn’t have leave to ponder the situation, because the creature chose that moment to attack. Not the girl, who was out of reach. Rather, it targeted the tree itself, snapping out with its powerful jaws to chip away at the trunk. One head struck. Then the next. And finally, the third, digging deep into the tree, which shook with every impact.

Given what Elijah saw, he knew it wouldn’t be long before the tree fell.

And then, the girl – Bryce – would be defenseless against such a powerful creature. Elijah represented her only chance at survival.

He needed to act, and quickly. Whatever moral quandaries he’d experienced concerning the fate of the hydra faded next to the immediate danger posed to the Alchemist’s daughter. Fortunately, Elijah was in the proper form for a reckless charge. So, without giving it any more thought, he threw himself toward the hydra.

In his lamellar ape form, he was not sneaky. Nor did he pretend to be. Still, the hydra was so focused on its intended prey – and he moved so quickly – that he managed to take it by surprise. He barreled into the monster, sending it tumbling into the water. But it recovered quickly, one of its heads snapping out to latch onto Elijah’s shoulder. He’d used Iron Scales before impact, but the monster’s fangs still managed to pierce his thick hide. He felt the injection of venom burn its way through his flesh, but he was more concerned with the fact that the other two necks had wrapped around him like constrictor snakes.

The pair of struggling titans splashed into the water, where the hydra clearly had an advantage. Its heads continued to snake around him, and when they’d wrapped around his torso a few times, they started biting. The first bite that managed to pierce his scales sent an injection of potent venom scorching through his muscles, eliciting a burbling gasp.

Meanwhile, as they fought for leverage, Elijah struggled to free himself, and to little effect.

Fortunately, he didn’t need to breathe. Otherwise, he might’ve drowned. Even so, he couldn’t keep himself from experiencing a brief moment of panic that the monster continued to use to its advantage, snapping out a dozen times in the space of a few seconds. Some of its bites were turned away by Elijah’s defenses, but more than enough made it through.

He wrestled with the monster, rolling through the water as the increasing volume of poison coursing through his veins became an ever-more-urgent issue. It wasn’t debilitating, but if the fight went on much longer, he knew it would be.

Fortunately, Elijah wasn’t without his own advantages.

He used Rage.

Then, he snapped out, wrapping his jaws around the hydra’s nearest neck. Its flesh parted beneath the force of his mighty bite, and he ripped away a chunk of muscle and scales. The monster went wild, its heads writhing. That gave Elijah just enough room for a gambit. He transformed into his human form, giving himself more space, then kicked off one of the rapidly constricting necks and launched himself free just in time to avoid being crushed.

He sailed through the air, then skipped across the water before thudding into another cypress tree. Most facets of his mind went fuzzy, but a couple remained clear enough to cast a pair of spells. The first was Healing Rain, which dumped rejuvenating precipitation on him. The second was Touch of Nature. The combination of the two healing spells was enough to banish most of the poison, but it didn’t get everything.

Without the enhancement of his Crook of the Serpent Healer, even that would have been nearly impossible, especially in the short time he had available. That highlighted just how useful the new staff was, though he had no time to appreciate his weapon.

Once he was healed, Elijah shifted back to his guardian form. But he didn’t charge the creature. That had proven a bad strategy. So, as the hydra righted itself and faced off against him, he approached carefully, his own tail swaying back and forth in the murky water.

The monster hissed with all three heads, though the one from which he’d taken a bite was clearly wobbly. That was the point of weakness. All he needed to do was finish the job he’d started, and hopefully, the monster would bleed out. Already, it was pouring gallons of blood into the swamp. Elijah just needed to hasten its eventual demise.

But he knew he needed a different strategy, especially when he saw that the blood loss had begun to peter out.

He needed to act fast. So, he bent every facet of his Quartz Mind to thinking of a solution. And with all that brainpower working in his favor, it wasn’t long before he chose a course of action. Once he did, he bunched his muscles, then once again threw himself at the monster. It cocked its heads back, ready to strike. Yet, when Elijah had made it halfway, he leaped high into the air, and the apex of his jump, he switched to his draconid form.

Even as he fell, the creature struck. However, it was incapable of understanding why its formerly huge opponent was now a quarter of its size. So, its attacks were clumsy, ill-timed, and poorly aimed. Moreover, in his draconid form, Elijah was far more dexterous, so when the strikes did come, he had no issues with slapping them aside and using his momentum to launch himself at his target.

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But he didn’t attack the hydra again.

Instead, he kicked off the monster, marking it with Brand of the Stalker, then leaped in the direction of the girl. As he flew through the air, he switched back to his lamellar ape form. He landed only a few feet from the tree and shouted, “Get on my back! Your dad sent me!”

It came out in a roar.

But to her credit, the girl didn’t hesitate. Elijah wasn’t sure if she’d seen his human form, and that was why she trusted him, or if she was just desperate enough to trust a lizard-ape. But she leaped from her branch without delay.

“Fine.”

With that, he resumed his human form. “I’m Elijah,” he said. “And you’re Bryce. Your mom sent me after you.”

“And dad?”

“Fine last I saw him. Should be home by now,” Elijah answered. “Which is our next stop, by the way. Your turn.”

“What?”

“How did you get treed by a hydra?”

“Oh. Well, I was trying to get these herbs and –”

“I know why you came out into the swamp. I’m asking why you picked a fight with that monster,” Elijah elaborated.

“I didn’t.”

“Sure. Then tell me what happened. Why did you go anywhere near it? And don’t tell me you didn’t know it was there. I saw that thing well before it saw me, and I wasn’t even trying to be sneaky.”

“I...uh...I tried to kill it,” she said.

“Really.”

“I thought I stood a chance! I have my archetype and everything!”

“That thing is probably level fifty. Wait. Do monsters have levels? Or just sapients? I mean, it makes sense that they would have levels,” Elijah said, tapping his chin. “I guess I could ask Kurik. I think he intimated that animals did. The orcs definitely. But –”

“What are you talking about?” Bryce asked, her hands on her hips. The girl was tall – even taller than Elijah himself, which really wasn’t that big of an accomplishment – and had the gangly awkwardness of most tall teenagers. Otherwise, she was just a normal-looking kid, with blonde hair she wore in a single braid.

“Just saying that you had absolutely no chance of killing that monster,” he said. “You’re lucky you weren’t immediately eaten. How are you alive, by the way? That poison should have killed you.”

“I had a potion.”

“Ah.”

“It’s a good potion!”

“That’s for sure,” Elijah admitted. Anything that let someone as weak as her survive that venom was powerful. Perhaps Konstantinos was a higher-leveled Alchemist than Elijah had originally thought. “But potion or not – that was still stupid. You realize that, don’t you?”

“Maybe,” she said sullenly. “But I didn’t have a choice. It was...oh, God...”

“What?”

“The reason I attacked it. It was heading toward the house...”

“Shit,” Elijah muttered.

If it had been heading in that direction, it just confirmed that it intended to expand its territory. And Elijah wasn’t willing to let it accomplish that goal. Bessie the alligator was assuredly a great protector, but against the hydra, the beast had no chance.

“Guess we’re doing this, then,” he said. “I hope you’re feeling better, because if that thing started back toward the house as soon as we lost it, I don’t have time to drop you off. And I can’t leave you here.”

The last thing he wanted was to bring a teenager along with him in a fight that would almost assuredly take everything he had. But as he’d said, there wasn’t much choice in the matter. So, after giving Bryce the benefit of two enhancements – Aura of Renewal and Essence of the Boar – he shifted back into his lamellar ape form and said, “Hop on. We’ve got a monster to kill.”