Chef in the Apocalypse

The Hydra let out a pained roar, its remaining 6 heads flailing around in agony. Jayce and the others quickly left the vicinity of the thrashing heads to avoid being taken out in the crossfire.

Ben reunited with Jayce and the rest, his face matted with sweat after running for his life with Amber held in a princess carry. "That was way too close." He said, placing his cargo down carefully before wiping away the sweat on his brow.

Jayce nodded, making the most of the brief respite they had while the Hydra was distracted by the pain. "When the Hydra stops flailing, we’ll revert to our original plan. Ben and Amber, take out the head that shoots out the poisonous gasses. Once you’ve taken it out the cooldown for my stealth should have reset."

"Yes Leader." Everyone responded, their confidence overflowing.

"Which head are you going to take out boss?" Colin asked.

Jayce pondered for a moment, "Probably the Ice head. Which will leave us with the wind, and two which haven’t revealed their abilities yet." It was safer to take out the heads which had revealed their abilities, he did not want to take any chances.

Just as he finished his words, the Hydra stopped in place, finally regaining its sanity after being lost within its agony. It’s remaining 6 heads turned towards Jayce and the party once again, the hate and loathing within its eyes blazed like an inferno.

"Go!" Jayce shouted hoarsely, prompting everyone to move in synchrony.

This time, the Hydra focused on Ben and Amber as they ran to the west, completely disregarding Colin.

"Oi! Over here Medusa" Colin shouted, banging his club against his platinum shield. The words themselves weren’t that attention grabbing, however the taunt skill that he used more than made up for it.

With Colin’s increased stats, there was no monster below level 70 that would be able to resist his taunt. The Hydra’s heads snapped towards him, bringing down all of their fury towards his now lanky frame.

Unexpectedly, a bolt of lightning flashed from one of the heads, stunning Colin for a moment and causing his hair to stand up on end. He blinked a few times, his brain trying to decipher if he had taken any damage.

Yet by the time he had finally snapped out of his reverie, the Ice head was already upon him, sending a frost breath towards his body. Colin slammed down his shield, preventing his legs from being frozen in place and becoming a sitting duck.

Zane and Jackie followed up, sending their arrows and Ice lances towards the Ice head, forcing it to stop channeling its Icy breath. Zane’s shooting skills had increased drastically with the boosts in his stats, not to mention the sheer speed and strength his arrows now generated.

Two arrows sailed straight into the open eyes of the Ice head, their shafts digging all the way until only the fletchings remained visible. Jackie’s Ice lances also hit their marks, drilling holes through the side of the snakes mouth and causing it to recoil in pain.

Now blinded, the snake began to throw itself around in a panic, sending its Icy breath in every direction. A burst of cold air whistled past Ben and Amber as they stealthily moved behind the beast, the close call causing Ben to thank his lucky stars that they weren’t hit.

He was now close enough to strike the poisonous head, however the erratic movements of the Ice head were making it difficult to pick a suitable time to make the attack. Amber also saw that they were in an awkward position, and began to wrack her brain for a suitable plan. After a moment, she tapped Ben on the shoulder and resolutely said, "Go on my signal."

Ben nodded , trusting her judgment completely. Channeling her mana into her hands, Amber’s eyes followed the movements of the Ice head, her eyes locked in deep concentration.

"Now!" she shouted, sending a wall of fire in a straight line, carving a path towards the poisonous head.

He didn’t need to be told twice, he bent low to the ground and kicked off with tremendous force, opting to take the same approach as the last time. Once again Ben twisted his body, using his weight and increased strength to send his sword down, slicing its head clean off.

Amber redirected her flames, catching the now headless neck of the poisonous head and cauterizing the wound quickly and efficiently. They were like a well oiled machine, working together seamlessly.

Before they could celebrate, Ben preemptively began to run like mad as soon as his feet touched the ground, expecting to be bombarded with another round of attacks. Sweeping Amber up once more, he hightailed it out of there.

Amber, who had once again been collected like a princess, giggled. "I always wanted to be swept off my feet by a man."

Instead of answering back with a funny quip or a romantic phrase, Ben was too busy trying to dodge the incoming lightning bolts and wind blades that were being fired at him by the irate Hydra heads. Sucking in big breaths while Amber sat comfortably in his arms.

’Whatever happened to equality?’ he complained inwardly, running for his life once again.

The Hydra’s aggro had been broken once more by the removal of the poisonous head, forcing Ben and Amber to escape with their tails between their legs once again. Jayce didn’t even need to voice his intentions, merely giving a sidelong glance to the party members and receiving a nod. Such was their cohesiveness.

Jayce activated his Stealth ability which had already come off cooldown, and headed towards the most troublesome head — The lightning head.

[6x Critical strike has been activated]

Like a serious bout of deja vu, the head of the Hydra exploded at the point of Jayce’s Bloodfang Dagger, sending flesh and blood spraying outwards in all directions. Without prompting, Jackie once again cast her freezing mist, turning the wound into a large block of ice. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"This is getting to be a little too easy." Colin laughed, checking out the remaining 4 heads which seemed to be in a trance.

For some reason, Jayce also felt that way. From the fear on Macies face, and her warnings to Jayce, he really felt like the final boss was nothing much. However, he didn’t realize just how strong his Dinner Rush and Domain abilities were when used together.

Not only had his stats doubled, and his party members’ stats increased by 150%; His domain skill also reduced the stats of hostile monsters and beings within its radius. All these factors grouped together only meant that the gap in strength between themselves and the Boss monster had been completely overthrown.

The Hydra was actually unreasonably strong, a direct result of outside interference. Meaning it had strength that should not be possible, at least at his point of time in the Apocalypse.

However, this was something that Jayce would have no way of knowing. Therefore, when he saw how easy the fight had been, he automatically became skeptical, keeping an eye out for anything that could go wrong.