According to Jin, the monster on the bottom floor—which they also thought was the dungeon boss—was a hydra. They’d tried fighting it a few times already but couldn’t find a way to defeat it, so they’d retreated every time. The problem was the monster’s insane regeneration abilities. It would heal itself back to full health before they could do any meaningful damage.
“A hydra, eh? Now that brings back memories... How many heads are we talking?” Gramps asked.
“Nine.”
Gramps raised an eyebrow at that. He told us the biggest hydra he’d ever taken down had eight heads, and even that had been considered the biggest hydra on record.
“Nine heads... The one I fought that had eight heads was its own nightmare,” he admitted.
“So that’s why we were hoping to get some advice either from you, Master Merlin, since you’ve already taken down an eight-headed hydra before,” Jin said, “or from Tenma, since he’s famous for crazy, off-the-wall strategies.”
There was something in Jin’s reasoning that didn’t sit well with me, so I protested. But not only did Jin and his group look confused at my reaction, even Gramps gave me a look as if to say I was the one being weird.
“Setting that aside for now... In my case, I won by brute-forcing it with magic and relying heavily on magical devices. But the real reason I came out on top was because of sheer luck. My spells just happened to hit it in the right spots, and my magical devices worked better than I expected. Honestly, even now, I’m amazed I actually defeated the thing,” Gramps admitted.
“What were the magical devices you used back then?”
“You don’t really see them around these days. One of them was like an overpowered version of that thing... What was it called, again? That exploding knife the guy Tenma fought in the tournament used. Anyway, even that knife was considered rare, and the one I used was way stronger. On top of that, mine was modified, which is now completely banned,” Gramps explained.
Jin and the others looked visibly disappointed to hear that. I was guessing that Gramps was talking about the knife Chaos had used—the one that had blown off his arm. Depending on how it was used, it could certainly be a handy weapon, but I doubted throwing even ten or twenty of those at a nine-headed hydra would make a dent at all.
But what caught my attention in Gramps’s story was how he’d said that they were now banned. I asked him why. He told me it was because of two reasons: First, the tool was dangerously powerful for its size, making it perfect for assassinations; and secondly, if you modded one to boost its output, even a small bump could set it off. Gramps had only avoided disaster because he’d been lucky and because he’d mostly kept it sealed away in his magic bag. He said he’d broken out into a cold sweat once he’d realized just how close he’d been to blowing himself up.
“So basically, as long as you keep it in a magic bag, the risk of accidental explosions is pretty l—”
“Don’t you dare even think about making one!” Gramps yelled, cutting me off before I could even finish my sentence.
“I know that. All right, if magical devices won’t work, then what about a bunch of golems? I could give you a bunch...for the right price,” I offered.
The group turned me down, however. They said it wouldn’t be as satisfying if they didn’t beat the boss with their own strength.
“I guess that makes sense,” I nodded.
“We really appreciate the offer, but it wouldn’t sit right with us if we went that route,” Jin said. Galatt and the others agreed with him.
Yeah. I guess if they beat it with methods they don’t agree with, then what’s the point of being adventurers? I mentally kicked myself for suggesting it at all and then started trying to think about other ideas.
“Tell me more about its regeneration abilities,” Gramps said.
“Well, let’s say we spent an hour chipping away at it. In that same hour, it’d heal itself back to full health.”
Gramps nodded. “That certainly is troublesome.”
If it healed as fast as they could damage it, no wonder it was so tough to defeat. A hydra’s recovery power certainly had its limits, but if their attacks weren’t outpacing that regeneration, they were gonna lose. It was the same as having infinite HP and Regen.
“What if you hit it with something that keeps dealing damage over time, even when you’re taking a breather?” I asked. “If you can keep the damage constant, even a nine-headed hydra will go down eventually.”
“Well, if we could do that, we wouldn’t be here asking for help!” Jin snapped back, clearly thinking I was just messing around.
“Hang on, Jin! If Tenma’s saying something that sounds nuts, that might be just what we’re after! That’s why we wanted to ask his advice, remember? Crazy ideas are his thing!”
“Yeah, Tenma wouldn’t be making jokes at a time like this! He may be rotten, but he’s not a demon!”
“Yeah, Tenma’s not that rotten!”
“Will you three be quiet for a second?!” I yelled.
The three of them immediately realized what they’d just said and panicked.
Jin grabbed both my shoulders and started shaking me. “Tenma, I don’t care what you do to these idiots later; just tell me if you’ve got an idea!”
“All right already, calm down! What I was thinking is this—you could try firing a bunch of harpoon-type weapons into the hydra’s body. As long as those harpoons stay put, they’ll keep doing damage,” I suggested.
Even a tiny splinter could hurt for days if it were lodged in deep enough. The principle here was the same. If they could use something bigger and deadlier, it could keep applying damage to the hydra from inside the wound.