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49 | tea and the hydra

This place was one of despair.

For Galatea, this forest was all too familiar. The Forest of Desponia, Fiore's most dangerous forest. Home to creatures who feasted on the hearts of men and wished nothing but destruction.

And what exactly was Galatea and Erza doing, trudging through the god-awful forest? Well, the mission that Galatea was assigned to do was to take down a rogue Hydra that had been spotted by the Magic Council's survey lacrimas. It been going undetected up until now, and when the Magic Council finally spotted it they panicked. Apparently it was the largest Hydra they had seen to date and they needed to take care of it before the rest of the magical community found out about it.

"This is the densest forest I've ever been in." Erza said as she walked behind Galatea, who was cutting them a path with her machete.

"Yeah this place is not easy to travel through." Galatea said, continuing to cut through the undergrowth.

"Have you been in this forest before?" Erza asked, curiosity lacing her tone.

"Yes. I travelled around Fiore for awhile before joining a Guild." Galatea explained.

The delved back into silence again as Galatea continued cutting through the underbrush. As they got further and further into the forest, the scent of death and rotting something continued to invade their nostrils. After what seemed like much more than two hours, they finally reached the base of the mountain where the Hydra lay.

"I'll go in." Galatea said, "I'll send out a flare if I need assistance."

"Very well." Erza nodded. "I'm here to support you if necessary."

Galatea gave Erza another nod before sheathing her machete. She took off her backpack and set it next to Erza. She did a quick pat down of her gear before slowly walking towards the cave.

Alright Tea, deep breaths. You can do this.

Galatea concentrated, relying on her advanced eyesight to navigate through the dark. She took another step forward, which she immediately regretted.

It smelled fucking terrible in here.

It would smell bad to the normal person, but to a dragonslayer, it smelled positively rancid. It was like if a whole playground of children all started vomiting after eating a lunch of beans, and then someone cut open a bunch of durian. Add some rotting corpses and that would be an accurate description of what Galatea was suffering.

So, naturally, it was no surprise that Galatea absolutely booked it out the cave, dry heaving. Erza looked at her a little confused and concerned.

"Is something wrong?" Erza asked.

"God... that place... smells... horrible." Galatea wheezed.

Just then, a sickening hiss and cry came from the direction of the the cave Galatea had just run out of. She turned slowly to see a monstrous creature coming out of the cave. It was the Hydra they had been searching for, and one look at it told Galatea exactly why the Magic Council was nervous about it.

It was the largest Hydra she had ever seen, with at least 100 heads all hissing and whipping around. It's body was large and fat, equally rivalling the hecatoncheires she faced in her Elite Mage trial.

"Oh fuck." Galatea said, quickly preparing herself. Her fists in an instant were coated in magic.

She had to be careful and think critically. Hydra's were incredibly dangerous creatures, and encountering one un-prepared was a death sentence. For every head you chopped off, two more would grow in its place. Not to mention, one of the hundreds of heads was immortal. It's blood was also venomous, so she had to be extra careful.