Here we go...

The willows shook, and a huge reptilian head burst through the hanging leaves, momentarily looking as if it had dreadlocks. Any humor the moment had was lost on John as he threw himself into a dive roll to avoid being snapped up in the razor-fanged jaws of the creature. He pulled himself upright just in time to see Erica sidestep a second head with a bit more grace. They both braced themselves as more heads emerged from the mess of jungle and the hydra stomped into view.

Jungle Hydra
Level 11 Beast
473/600 hp
0/0 mp
Status Effects: Regenerating (1 head)

Five-headed in total, each ugly maw resembled a gigantic eel. They were completely smooth, with dull green-grey scales, except for the spined fin that rose from the top of each head. Needle teeth like daggers stuck haphazardly out of each mouth, and red reptilian eyes focused on both of them simultaneously. The lower body of the creature appeared sluggish at a glance but could move disturbingly quickly. It wasn't unharmed, however. Next to the furthest-right head was a bleeding stump, courtesy of Erica's massive axe.

Three of the remaining heads eyed her angrily, while two focused on the lesser target, John. He'd been... less successful with his whip. The monster's scales made it a nearly impotent weapon, but it was large enough that he couldn't really miss. He had other uses however. The blood bubbling up from the hydra's stump tried to draw back into the creature's body but immediately came gushing forth again. Rend had proven itself rather effective in halting their foe's regeneration.

Unfortunately, that same effectiveness required him to save the mana he had. At 57 mp, he could cast Rend approximately four more times, and there were five heads left. In the little chance they'd had to shout at one another while running for their lives, both he and Erica could only hope the creature would stay down if it lost all of them simultaneously. Otherwise they'd have to keep fighting until he gained enough for the final cast.

A head surged at him, snapping at his waist and narrowly missing. John cracked his whip at its scales for a measly 6 damage. It was annoyingly easy to lose track of where the hydra was. The color of its scales blended effectively with the greenery, which was one of the reasons they'd drawn it out to the clearing.

John heard a scream of fury and the crack of thunder, and a flash of light erupted beside him. As soon as it was safe, John looked over at his companion. Her tattoos re-appeared in a flash of brilliant blue, glowing against her skin, and her hair stood on end from the surging electricity that visibly ran across her body.

Wrath of Thor (19:59 remaining)

The blade of her axe whirled in an arc of crackling steel **** and cleaved straight through the creature's jaw. The lower half of the mouth fell to the ground with a thud, and John nearly threw a cast of Rend in its direction.

"Not yet!" Erica shouted, her voice echoing like a thunderclap, "Dodge!"

John snapped his focus back to his opponents and narrowly missed having his arm devoured by another attack. The fangs grazed his shoulder, tearing another rip in his armor. -9 hp. He winced and resisted the urge to slap a hand over the gouge. Gamer's Body would prevent any actual injury or bleeding. He'd only waste essential seconds to build distance between him and the hydra.

"John!" Erica's voice pulled his attention back, and he caught the instant her weapon sliced through one of the beast's necks like butter. Now it was time.

Rend effectively cauterized the stump, lessening their problems by one... but the head that had been de-jawed had regenerated. Instead of going after Erica again, it turned to join the two hunting John. Clearly the monster had realized the source of its problems.

Two heads had been hard enough to dodge; three were nearly impossible. He managed to duck under one and narrowly avoid the second attack, but then the creature whipped its necks to the side. The ground vanished from under him, and John flew several feet before landing painfully on the rock. He bounced once. -15 hp.

The instant his senses were back, John pulled the potion from his inventory and started downing it. He nearly choked, but swallowed enough to recover some of the damage done before he had to dodge again.

I swear, if this fight doesn't level up Evasion...

He tried to think of something colorfully rude, but found it immensely difficult to do so with a hydra hellbent on eating him. All three heads lunged at once, and John knew he was toast.

Blazing red text layered across his vision in lines, a rune, repeated dozens of times over.

"Get down!"

John didn't need a second warning, he went prone and the runes erupted in fire. Scorching heat washed over him, and John imagined the tips of his hair sizzling. For the hydra, three heads bathed in the firestorm, things were much, much worse. It recoiled away from them both, leaving Erica to lunge forward with **** at her fingertips.

The axe swept across the air, spinning in her hands as it bisected flesh and bone. One head dropped to the ground near John and he gagged a bit when he saw it; facial scales had been burned away, exposing blackened meat and bone. Instead, he focused on his job. Three... no two heads down, one having whipped away at the last second. Two casts of Rend. Each landed perfectly on target and left them with an equal number of serpentine jaws to battle.

John cracked his whip at the uninjured head, striking it somewhere along the throat. It turned to look at him. Then...

Erica screamed.

The remaining burned head had turned its dodge into a counter-attack, and its fangs were buried in her leg. She was frozen, stunned by the attack. His body moved before his mind had fully thought out what it was he was going to do, there was still another head, and if Erica didn't get free...

John ran towards Erica, whipping at the last head as it tried to coil around him. His attack didn't bounce off the scales, not this time. With the last minute or so of constant narrow escapes from the hydra's attacks, John was primed for a vicious Riposte. Raw energy infused his weapon as he struck, expecting to wound the beast and draw its attention. Instead...

Riposte - Wrap (Jungle Hydra)
32 damage!
Entangled (00:30 Remaining)

The length of the whip wrapped around the creature's head and miraculously held. Unfortunately for John, he was still holding onto the other end when the creature reeled back in pain. His strength pitifully low in comparison to the hydra, he was yanked from the ground and flung through the air towards the flailing head. A really, really stupid idea came to mind.

John let go of the whip, switching to his secondary weapon. The unremarkable steel dagger materialized in his hand just as he hit the side of the creature's wrangled neck, and John stabbed it as hard as he could. Next, he did his best not to be thrown halfway across the cave. Colors blurred together as he was jerked back and forth, minor damage popups raining around him.

-1 hp.
1 damage.
-1 hp.
1 damage.
-1 hp...

A green-grey blur with white lines streaked past, and John wondered if the hydra would be willing to bite its own head off just to kill him. Well, if that was how he died... at least it'd be awesome. Something brown slapped against the scales beside his hand. John instinctively grabbed it.

The whip. Maybe...

He pulled, and the beast's flailing slowed. Then a maw of razor-sharp teeth lunged towards him.

John yanked his dagger free and stabbed it further along the neck, pulling it back towards him as hard as he could. At least he'd cut the damn thing's throat before it ate him. Except the expected never came. No fangs pulling him to a grisly demise, no pain or damage popups. Just a shriek of pure, unadulterated rage and the sound of metal singing through the air. The head that lunged at him flew into the trees, spattering his armor lightly with a spray of blood, and John looked down to see Erica.

She was... to put it very lightly, angry. More accurately, she was a literal avatar of **** and ****. Her axe was buried blade-deep in the latest stump it'd inflicted upon the creature, and she was actively pushing it deeper. John didn't want to see what would happen when the hydra started regenerating with that inside of it. Fortunately, he didn't have to. The head he was 'riding' had slowed and was starting to slump. Blood loss had taken its toll, especially with all the extra stab wounds John had added in his panic. As it fell towards the ground, he prepared himself for a rough landing and tried jumping off at the last second.

It didn't quite work. He managed to get free, but his dagger was still buried in the creature's throat, and his whip was still coiled around its neck. John stumbled as he landed and barely managed to keep upright. Instinctively, he turned to face the hydra, expecting at least one ravenous head to snap out at him. No attack came; their combined **** had overwhelmed the thing's regenerative capabilities. There was only a body and...

Erica.

The girl hadn't stopped, resorting to futilely punching the monster's corpse. Her arms and legs were slick with blood. John wasn't sure if it was hers or the hydra's, the dull brown color was deeply concerning.

"Erica! It's ok, it's dead!" he walked closer to her, and called out her name.

She turned, and John froze. Erica's eyes were all wrong, whites completely black and irises deeply crimson, but... she blinked. She stopped. She calmed down. Slowly, her natural color returned, and the shadow cleared.

"Cool," she managed with a weak smile and collapsed.