Chef in the Apocalypse

Ben and Amber utilized their increased stats to sprint around the large body of the Hydra, avoiding the gazes of the eight intimidating heads. Thankfully, Colin and his big mouth were enough to direct the monsters’ attention, giving them some breathing room.

"Which one do we go for first?" Ben looked to his right, and asked.

Amber wore a serious expression, contemplating the situation. They had only seen the abilities of two heads so far, the flame head and the poisonous head. "Let’s just go for the closest one for now." she ended up replying.

It was then that Jackie’s Ice lance burst through one of the heads, causing flesh and blood to be blasted everywhere. Amber and Ben’s jaws widened in shock, not expecting the sudden turn of events, after all, her and Zane had thrown their attacks out earlier and done no damage.

Yet it was too soon to celebrate. They watched on as a head which seemed a little smaller than the others and pure white, breathed a gentle light onto the injured head, causing its wounds to heal. "Are you serious?" Ben commented, "They have a f*cking healer?"

"Kill that one first!" a shout sounded from Jayce and Colin’s direction.

"Don’t need to tell us twice," Amber murmured, staring daggers at the elegant white snake head.

With that the two wasted no time, making a beeline towards the white head, drawing as little attention to themselves as they could. The other heads were not idle in the meantime, hissing and striking towards Jayce and the others with ferocity.

Ben felt a chilly air emanate outwards, causing him to shiver involuntarily. Then a searing hot flame followed shortly after, before a noxious mist flowed out en masse.

He focused his mind, keeping his attention on the most troublesome healing head of the Hydra. The other party members had entrusted him with being the main source of damage while they took the brunt of the offense from the monster.

Ben gripped his hands on the sword tighter, it was usually himself and Paul who shared the front lines with Colin, being the main source of melee damage for their party. However, now that Paul had... passed on, he would take up the mantle of his fallen brother and wear it proudly.

Seeing Ben’s serious face, Amber’s expression softened a little. She had recently gotten into a relationship with Ben as they had shared a lot of the same interests, not to mention she found him attractive and heroic. She used to dislike his almost childish antics between him and Paul, however now that only one remained, she realized that she may have just been jealous.

Amber strengthened her resolve, they would destroy this final monster and successfully defend Bastion from the Beast Tide. As they got closer to their unaware target, she moved her fingers silently, gathering up some mana in advance so she could cauterize the wound as quickly as possible.

When they had reached within a few meters of the white head, Ben pushed off of the ground with tremendous strength flying over 6 meters in a single bound. He was unsure if he could slice directly through the tough skin, so he decided to make the cut closer to the head where the body was not as thick.

Although this put him in a bit more danger, he couldn’t afford to give up this opportunity that Jayce and the others had given them.

"Huup!" Ben used all of his strength and weight to send his sword slashing down mightily just below the white head of the Hydra. He felt little resistance as the blade cleanly sliced through the neck of the white headed snake.

He quickly turned his head in mid-air, just to make sure that he had finished the job. As he was falling, he saw the elegant head stare directly at him, fury hidden beneath its intelligent eyes. "Shit!" Ben cursed, a feeling of dread forming within the pit of his stomach. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

However, in the next moment the head began to fall down to the ground slowly, as if in slow motion it’s gaze still locked onto his own. Amber was fast, taking the opportunity to send a torrent of flames onto the fresh wound created by Ben and his sword.

The smell of roasting flesh entered his nostrils as Amber cauterized the wound, preventing any chance of the head regenerating. The other seven heads that were preoccupied with Jayce and the others let out a roar of pain and fury, quickly turning their attention to the head which had been removed.

"Shit. Run!" Ben yelled, dashing forward to grab Amber into his arms and leave.

The remaining heads of the Hydra struck out towards the two ants that dared to harm its most beloved head. Flames, Ice, noxious gas and wind blades struck out in their direction, causing the hairs to stand up on the nape of Ben’s neck as he ran with all his might.

Jayce did not stay idle, it was now the time to take out another one of the heads. He turned to the party "Jackie, I’m going to take out the flame head. Freeze the wound with your coldest spell. Everyone else, follow my lead."

With a flick of his wrist, Jayce disappeared, using the Master of Stealth ability granted by his Bloodfang Dagger. The others looked at each other for a moment before following behind, ready to react to whatever happened next.

Suddenly, the deafening sound of an explosion rang out, startling not only the group but also the Hydra itself. Flesh and blood rained down coating the already blood-filled plains with an even more pungent smell.

ROAR!

[6x Critical strike has been activated]

"Jackie!" Jayce called out with urgency.

"On it" she responded.

Channeling her mana into the Goblin Staff, she pressed forward, sending a freezing wave of Ice towards the horrifying wound that Jayce had just created. As soon as the Ice made contact, the skin began to shrivel before being encased by ice at least 2 feet thick.