The small village that neighbored the Keynal Strip looked like a ghost town to Yuki. All of the inhabitants had been evacuated somewhere that Yuki didn’t know. She followed the corporal to a hotel that stood in the middle of the silent city, Akira by her side.

In the hotel, the entire squadron had assembled. Soldiers were strewn about in small groups as they sat on the floor and chatted with each other. With a quick count, Yuki found that most of the squads had retained their numbers. Excluding the ones lost in the squad Yuki was with, only two others were missing.

‘The hydra must have scared away most powerful monsters,’ Yuki thought. 

“Corporal Yager has returned,” the person Yuki assumed as the squadron leader announced, a hint of an accent playing at the tip of the man’s tongue. The man hurried over toward the entrance of the hotel and gave Carol a quick look over. “Are you alright? No injuries anywhere?”

“I’m fine, Lieutenant,” Carol replied.

“I’m glad to hear that,” the lieutenant replied, his eye brows loosening and shoulders relaxing. He glanced over to Yuki and Akira who stood a bit behind Carol and frowned. “Who are your two friends here?”

Yuki didn’t reply. Carol most likely had an explanation ready to explain Akira and Yuki’s presence.

“They’re passing hunters that came by to help me,” Carol replied. “Without their help, I don’t think I would have gotten out of there.”

“Hunters? Are they friends with that young lady over there?” the lieutenant asked, gesturing toward Erica who was now making her way toward them. 

‘She’s probably older than him,’ Yuki thought.

“Yes,” Carol nodded. “But they’ve seen the hydra, so I would recommend working with them. They’re quite strong.”

“We can put them under mercenaries,” the lieutenant said. He made eye contact with Yuki. “What payment would you like to receive?”

“What can you pay me?” Yuki asked.

“Standard contract. This would be considered high risk, so two gold per person.”

“I’ll take it,” Yuki said. “Do you have the agreement for me to sign? It has a nondisclosure clause, correct?”

“That’s correct,” the lieutenant nodded. “Do you have any problems with that?”

“None.”

“Then wait a moment. I’ll bring up the agreement,” he said. 

The lieutenant went to a long coffee table that sat in the right side of the hotel lobby and picked up a tablet. With a few deft taps and swipes, he came back to the door with the tablet in hand.

“Here it is,” the lieutenant said. He handed the device to Yuki. “Just write your name and your team members, and sign. You can select your payment option there as well.”

Yuki did as told, putting in alternative identities that Uriel had made for them. It came in handy at times for signing documents like these. When she was done, she gave the tablet back to the lieutenant.

“Welcome aboard,” the lieutenant said, putting a hand out. Yuki shook it with a firm grip. “You can refer to me as Lieutenant Mason. I see here your name is Zero?”

“Correct,” Yuki nodded. 

“Interesting name, but I’ve seen some others that make you wonder what was going on in their parent’s heads,” Mason said. “One name went something like an X followed by some weirdly fused letters and a couple of numbers.”

“How would one pronounce that?” 

“Beats me,” the lieutenant shrugged. “Come on then. We’re about to start a debrief now that Car—Corporal Yager is here.”

The man turned and took a seat at a long meeting table where other officers had gathered already. Carol took her place while Erica caught up with Yuki and Akira. 

“How was it?” Erica asked, her voice low.

“The fight?” Yuki said. Erica nodded. “It was something. Very much something.”

“How strong was it?” 

“Very strong. Might be too strong,” Yuki sighed. “Honestly, as long as it stays in the forest, I would say to just not bother it. It’s not something we can defeat without a concerted effort with an army.”

“Really?” Erica said, her eyebrows rising. “I guess it is a rank S monster. Every other rank S monster that Libra had to deal with involved a small army.”

“Zero, did you notice anything that was special about the hydra?” Akira asked.

“I did. But I’ll be telling everyone that since I think they should know what they’re getting themselves into,” Yuki replied. 

“Alright.”

The three found a clear spot to settle down in while they waited for the lieutenant to start the debrief. Yuna was sitting a few feet away from them, her eyes staring off into the distance. Yuki wondered about what she was thinking about.

“Alright alright,” the lieutenant said. The sound of his voice quieted the room. “Let’s begin. I’ve already notified HQ about the situation around here, so they’ll be sending in their orders within the hour most likely. Before then, I want to see if there’s anything else we need to discuss here.”

His fingers tapped on the table as he thought to himself for a moment.

“First, I’ll repeat everything that we know for those of you that are unaware right now. There is a rank S monster that has marked a large section of the Keynal Strip as its territory. From our reports, it’s a seven headed hydra. Information on the monster is lacking at this time. Corporal Yager, your squad was the one to make contact with the monster. What can you tell us?”

Carol leaned forward, resting her arm on the table as she made eye contact with everyone that sat around it.

“First thing I can say is that the hydra isn’t something to be messed around with,” she said. “Of course, that’s obvious since that thing is a rank S monster, but I feel like I should repeat the point since I know there will be a few of you that think you can take it on. You can’t.”

There was a somber silence that followed her words.

“Now, about the monster,” Carol continued. “From what I saw, it seems to be able to mask its presence somewhat. Luckily, it doesn’t seem as good as that centipede. But, it still makes it more difficult to deal with.”

“It can stealth? How well exactly?” the lieutenant asked.

“Well, you probably won’t feel its mana signature until it’s a few hundred meters away, and it’ll be really weak until it’s right on you.”

“That is problematic. How did you know that it was approaching your squad?”

“I got a warning from one of my soldiers,” Carol said. “Private Yuna. She told me that she felt something approaching.”

“Even though it was stealthed?” 

A sound cut through the discussion before Carol could answer. The attention of the room turned toward Yuki who was raising a hand.

“I was the one who told her,” Yuki said. “I told her to tell the corporal since I wasn’t sure if the corporal would listen to me.”

“Then how did you detect the hydra?” the lieutenant asked.

“I have an earth affinity, so I can detect vibrations caused by various creatures as they step on the land,” Yuki explained. “I noticed something extremely large approaching the squad, and deduced that it was the hydra.”

“I see. But that brings up another thing I was wondering about,” the lieutenant said with a stroke of his chin. “Corporal Yager. How exactly did you find the hydra?”

“Scouting mission,” Carol replied. “I sent some people out to look around our camp area. They ran into the hydra’s den by accident.”

“I see.”

“Lieutenant,” Yuki said. Mason glanced over at her and waved at her to continue. “Since you seem to want to know about the hydra, let me tell you my own observations as a seasoned hunter.”

“I’m all ears.”

“First is that the hydra has seven heads. That makes it considerably more powerful than any in history. Second, it’s rank S, so it’s physical abilities are much higher than most other monsters. Thirdly, its scales that cover it are extremely effective armor. While supporting Corporal Yager and my partner here in fighting the hydra, I noticed that many attacks barely scratched the monster’s scales. That is not to say that it’s invincible, but physical attacks would quite powerful to injure it.”

“Anything else?” The Lieutenant asked as his fingers flew on the screen of his tablet.

“Yes. And in fact, this last observation is the most important one of them all,” Yuki said. She looked directly in Lieutenant Mason’s eyes as she spoke. “Each of the hydra’s heads had different colored irises. The colors were red, brown, dark green, light green, dark blue, light blue, and yellow. The hydra also has a powerful attack in the form of a blast of mana that is infused with elemental magic.”

“Elemental magic,” the lieutenant repeated.

“Yes. And not just one type of element. The blast that I saw contained two elements. Fire and ice. The heads that fired that blast had red and light blue eyes. I don’t believe that’s a coincidence.”

“Are you suggesting that the red eyed head used fire magic and the light blue used ice?” the lieutenant asked.

“That is exactly what I’m suggesting,” Yuki nodded. “But there’s more than that. The hydra has seven heads with seven different colors. There are seven elements. We’ve already confirmed that it can use two elements.”

“You’re saying that this hydra can use every element?” a man who sat at the table said. His eyebrows had shot up.

“That is exactly what I’m saying.”

“That is worrying if that is the case,” the lieutenant frowned. His finger hesitated over his tablet. “Corporal Yager. How much of this can you corroborate?”

“I can certainly tell you that the hydra’s scales are very tough and that the heads each had different colored eyes,” she replied. “I don’t know the exact colors. I can also confirm that the blast attack from the monster was indeed elemental in nature.”

“I see.” The lieutenant pressed down on his tablet, a grim look settling on his face. “I’ve sent an updated report to headquarters. Is there anything else that anyone would like to discuss? Possible weaknesses for the monster? Possible attack strategies?”

“I might,” Yuki said. The lieutenant’s head snapped towards her. “But it’s not a weakness. It’s advice. Leave the hydra alone.”

“A rank S monster is not something that we can simply leave alone,” the lieutenant said.

“I know it would be difficult for you to ignore such a beast, but not as difficult as it would be to fight it,” she replied. “Right now, that hydra isn’t interested in leaving its territory. It’s content as is. But if you go in there and antagonize it, then you better be aware of what you’re going to start. That monster cannot be defeated by you or this entire squadron.”

Yuki leaned forward onto the table and gave the lieutenant a cool gaze.

“You're going to need an army, Lieutenant Mason. And then maybe. Maybe. You can defeat it.”