Ruthless V5Ch45-Hail Hydra

James wanted to reply to Luna, but the System message—which also appeared to be about her—had captured his full attention.

[Your subordinate has defeated a Ruler and received the right to become a Ruler!]

What?!

Luna would become a Ruler? What would that mean for the Fisher Kingdom? For her relationship to James and the other residents of the Fisher Kingdom?

But the System message continued, as if intent on answering all his questions.

[Your subordinate chose to remain in a position of submission to her liege, the Fisher King, rather than enter into a state of rebellion and create a rival territory. You now have one Subordinate Ruler, styled Wolf Queen Luna, Ruler of the Charged Air! Obtain additional Subordinate Rulers to unlock special Job progression opportunities.]

Ruler of the Charged Air? I can have Subordinate Rulers? What does that make me? Some kind of long-ass title like an ancient Persian Ruler? I am James Robard, King of Kings, King of Peoples, King of Countries… It was something like that. Look upon my works, ye mighty, and—

My King? Luna’s telepathic voice stopped James’s out-of-control inner monologue in its tracks.

Yes, Luna, I’m here, James sent. You said you have the enemy Ruler now?

I killed her, Luna replied instantly. I have what remains of her body.

What remains? James asked. Are there only pieces? Well, it doesn’t matter. Congratulations on your phenomenal victory for the Fisher Kingdom! I knew you could do it. Could you please grab onto whatever there was of the hydra? Let me know when you’ve done it. I’m going to try something to bring you here…

James hoped that he could transport both Luna and whatever she happened to be in possession of at the time with his Skill. He had not tried it before, but the corpse of the hydra sounded like it might be something exceptionally valuable to him. Transporting Luna while she was in possession of the hydra remains was the only way he could see him getting access to those remains anytime soon.

It would take Luna away from the Royal Fisher Army, but from the occasional reports James had received from them, he believed that they were in fine hands with Dave and the other commanders. Romulus had also fully recovered and was leading the wolf pack in Luna’s stead. And James needed the Wolf Queen more than they did just now.

I will do my best, Luna replied. James could hear her tail wagging in her voice. He could tell she was pleased that James appreciated her contribution. But he also noticed something else that he had pushed to the back of his mind when he heard it in the initial message: pain.

Luna was wounded. Well, naturally she was wounded. She had just fought a Ruler to the death. It was only to be expected. Still, James found another reason to be glad he was bringing Luna here the quickest way possible. He didn’t like that sound in her voice—especially since, now that he had picked up on it, he recognized that she was trying to downplay the pain.

“Kids,” James said loudly.

Indira, Abhi’s little sister, stood up uncertainly.

James wondered how much she would understand if he asked her to quickly leave the room. He’d heard Indira speak in choppy little sentences, but nothing too complex. James wanted the little ones to leave the room—partly because he didn’t want them to see Luna arrive, perhaps severely wounded, and partly because he was a little paranoid that the Ruler’s corpse might still hold some hidden dangers.

Abhi popped his head back into the room suddenly, as if on command.

“D-Dad?” he asked.

“I need you to take the others and get out of here for a little bit,” James said. “I’m about to have some guests who, um, aren’t human.”

“Got it.” Abhi nodded quickly, grabbed up James Junior in one hand, and took Deepak in the other. He looked like he was straining slightly under the weight, but James had no feeling that Abhi would drop the others. “Come on, Indy,” he added to his sister.

The toddler obediently followed him out of the room, and James watched them walk off toward their room.

Once they were out of his line of sight, James used his powers to close the door after them, erected a small earthen barrier to keep the door from being opened from the outside, walling himself in the room—and without further delay, he used the Skill and focused on Luna.

Summon Divine Helper!

James’s hands clasped together as if in prayer. Then he sat in place for several minutes, patiently waiting. He remembered how it had been when he first experimented with the summoning Skill. There was a distinct delay that meant it would absolutely not be saving his life in a pinch anytime soon.

Unless I train it up a lot…

As he had that thought, there was a sudden whooshing sound, and James felt another presence in the room with him. At the same time, in a single, great rush, James felt a huge chunk of his Mana gather up, then dissipate from his body just as suddenly. The sensation was staggering, and he found himself panting in the aftermath.

What was that, half? It was certainly substantially more Mana than he had expended the previous time. Probably it was because Luna was more powerful and larger than the wyvern he had experimented with summoning before. But he would check the amount of power this had cost him in a moment.

First, he rose slowly from the bed and peered down the side of it.

And he saw her, in her bloody and battered state.

Oh my God…

Luna was covered in her own blood, still streaming from dozens of different points of origin, including her eyes, ears, noses, and mouths, as well as assorted cuts and raw patches of flesh. She also wore metal armor of some sort, but James could hardly see the color and texture of it for the streams of red and semi-dried brown everywhere across her fur and the metal itself.

“My King,” she murmured from the central head, her voice muffled by a mouthful of blood. “I brought what you wanted.”

The rightmost head rose, and James saw that there was a massive snakeskin clenched between its teeth. There appeared to be a massive lump in the middle of the skin, but James would investigate what this thing was later.

“Never mind that now,” he said. “I’m glad I brought you here…”

He climbed down from the bed, his movements still slow and laborious, and he began using Laying On Hands.

Luna tried to speak as James healed her injuries, but he shushed her.

“Don’t say anything right now,” he said. “Try to save your strength. You can talk after I’ve finished healing you.”

Right, she sent telepathically. My apologies. I am probably dripping blood all over your floor every time I speak with my jaws. The telepathic method is more natural to me anyway.

“The blood really isn’t the issue, Luna,” James said, trying not to laugh at what she had said. On some level, she really must believe she would be inconveniencing him by bleeding, and he didn’t want to make that strange misperception worse by laughing while she continued to suffer.

He spent thirty seconds healing the most profusely bleeding areas before he spoke again.

“I just don’t want you to make your injuries worse,” he said. “You need to keep your energy for your recovery. Clearly, fighting the Ruler must have taken a lot out of you. I can’t imagine how much pain you must be in.”

It was much more bearable thanks to you, Luna sent. Most of the harm you see was from a dying curse the enemy inflicted on me, but I was apparently protected from the worst of it by your blessing. I thought I might die, but as soon as your power took effect, the pain began to diminish. So, my King, because of you, I will be all right.

“That’s… that’s touching, Luna. I’m glad the blessing helped.”

“I think I can talk now,” she said after another few seconds of healing. The words sounded only slightly pained, and James decided not to argue with her.

“Go ahead,” he said. “If that’s what you want to do.”

Luna spent the next several minutes debriefing James, telling the story of both of her fights with the hydra in detail.

“When I killed her, Silk—the hydra—self-destructed,” Luna said. “Her entire body turned into a noxious black poisonous gas, far deadlier than any poison she had produced while she was alive. That was what your blessing saved me from. Unfortunately, when I found my way back to her body, all that was left of her was this skin and whatever that is inside of it.”

She shook the skin slightly, and James observed the round shape within move along with the snakeskin, more like a bowling ball that the hydra had somehow swallowed than like an organ or something similar that had been inexplicably left behind.

“Excellent,” James said. “I’m glad you brought back what was left of her. I was going to ask you—if it was all right with you—um, if you would mind if I used the remains for my own purposes.”

“It is not as if there is anything there for me to eat,” Luna replied, baring her teeth in a fierce grin. “Besides, all that I have is yours to command, my King. You never need to ask me for anything. Simply command, and I will obey.”

James nodded. “That’s what I would expect you to say, Luna. I just didn’t want to take anything away from you that might be especially useful to you.”

“You are not,” she said.

“Thank you.” James extended his arm—already, he was tired from simply crouching beside Luna and healing her for the last ten minutes or so, but he had enough energy to do this, at least—and held his palm outstretched, pointing it at the massive hydra skin that the wolf had somehow brought him.

Pillage!

It had been a while since he killed anything and had the chance to steal its fundamental strengths from it.

There was a pleasant, almost nostalgic feeling as the hydra’s remains glowed and levitated in the air.

[Eastern Diamondback Hydra’s body processed.]

[You obtained Scale Armor of the Demi-Hydra and a Venom Production Core!]

Interesting…

The skin had altered its form slightly now, to become a sort of skintight scale armor for him, while the lump that had been inside the hydra skin was now out and visible—a hard ball of black and green, glowing slightly in ever-shifting patterns.

But he would examine those items later. He left them on the bed for now. He would have put them in his magic satchel, but he wanted to make absolutely certain neither of them was something that Luna could somehow use before he figured out his own use for the items. Another notification pressed for his attention.

[Designate a target for pillaging: Stats, Skills, Talents, or Titles.]

This thing was a hydra, he thought. From what Luna described, she had some pretty powerful abilities. I need to maximize what I get from her. Definitely not Stats. Probably needs to be either Talents or Titles…

[Talent Obtained: Boundless Vitality of the Hydra!]

A surge of power ran through James’s body, and he knew that he had made the right choice—and perhaps that his Skill had also somehow found exactly the right Talent for him.

“You did great, Luna,” James said, grinning so forcefully that he might have shattered his own teeth.

“Thank you, my—” The wolf yawned, interrupting herself—“King. I think I might need to take a nap now.”

“Please do,” James said. “You’ve earned it.” His hand fell on each of her heads in turn, petting her like the dog that she wasn’t. But Luna was not complaining, and James thought that the head pats, much like the nap, would only help her recovery.

And just as with the nap, she had certainly earned them.

With this Talent, I’m finally ready to face the Panther Queen and her army.

[Boundless Vitality of the Hydra: You have devoted yourself to the way of the legendary Lernaean Hydra, consumed by the quest for True Immortality. You have discovered deep regenerative capabilities to your body and soul. Carry those into each battle and into your quest, enhancing your survivability and fitness for your destined task. This Talent enhances all self-regenerative Skills but renders all such Skills non-transferrable and impossible to defuse if merged with other Skills.]

Yeah, that makes sense.

A quick look at his Status confirmed that three self-healing Skills had actually changed into new Skills that James could tell were superior versions.

Shed Skin had become Shed Flesh, Solar Recovery had become Solar Restoration, and True Regeneration had become Rapid Regeneration.

More important than the names, though, was the feeling James had gotten when he acquired the Talent.

In just a few seconds, James had felt his physical power and energy surge. The improvement was almost as large as what he had experienced over the entire time that had elapsed since the System hammered him and Vidarr. It made sense that his self-healing Skills had been enhanced.

Now James knew in his bones: in a matter of hours, if not minutes, he would finally be completely restored.

There was a ping in his mind as another entity attempted to contact him telepathically.

I’m popular today, he thought, smiling.

James connected with the other mind.