NOVEL NEXT Chapter 564: Intentions
Even the Hydra herself was a little taken aback by Zach's bluntness. She blinked once.
"Our intentions were never to destroy the world, but you know how it is. Do you care for the insects and bacteria you trample with every step you take?" The Hydra smiled with a tilt of her head, her pearly white fangs gleaming.
The others' reactions upon hearing those words were mixed. Some realized that the Hydra considered them the same way they thought about ants and accepted it. It wasn't strange. The Hydra had the strength and right to have such a mind.
It could be used to their advantage.
Others realized the same thing but rejected the notion. They were angered by it.
"Yes, actually. I make sure to take care when I walk just for that reason." One person was unbothered by it and focused on the literal meaning of the Hydra's words. It was Zach.
"If I can't avoid walking over an ant or whatever it may be, I make sure to give it a barrier that I can walk on instead."
"..."
"Zach, have you ever been told you don't know how to read the room?" Ozra asked, dumbfounded.
"Yes, but I don't see what that has to do with this. We're not inside right now, and the closest thing to a room is on the other side of these ruins."
"..."
"Ahem. I am just joking, of course. Mostly. What are your intentions, then?" He turned to the Hydra again.
She shrugged lightly with one shoulder.
"I'm hungry."
"A few thousand years in the ice will do that to a person."
"...A few thousand…" The Hydra echoed in a murmur. "We weren't that far off, then."
Zach was the only one who understood the depth of those words. The others didn't care much or were merely a little impressed that she had kept track of the time for so long.
Zach was still under the rightful assumption that the Hydra's seal was similar to when he was petrified by the Basilisk. He knew how difficult it was to keep track of time when all of one's senses were sealed. With only one's thoughts, it was almost impossible to measure time accurately.
His eyes widened. The Hydra's mental strength was greater than he thought.
"Well, I don't know if you like fowl, but I offer these two to you," Zach said while pointing at the Arlecch duo. He didn't know what they had done or why, but they had fought Yan, Oria, and Lahso. That meant they were bad guys. But they would become good guys in his book if they could pacify the ravenous Hydra.
The Hydra just smiled and looked straight into Zach's eyes.
"You know it, don't you? You managed to acquire our ability somehow, after all. We can feel it sprouting inside you. That's not at all what we want." She moved for the first time. She took a step forward.
She was finally accustomed to how her current body worked. Every last fiber strand of muscle, joint, and nerve was under her control now. She could move as she pleased.
"Those two have nothing to offer me." She appeared right in front of Zach, and she put her hands on either side of Zach's head as she looked into his eyes with a bright expression that made Zach doubt whether she had really retained her sanity or not.
"But you, on the other hand…! We wonder what will happen if we eat you!" She said excitedly, her mouth a wild grin. Before she could open that maw wide and devour Zach, a delicate-but-not-delicate fist rammed into the side of the Hydra's head with enough force to knock her away from Zach.
Ozra snorted as she stood in front of Zach.
"Feel free to fall to your knees in gratitude," she said cockily but without tearing here eyes away from the Hydra, who was unaffected by the hit.
"Sure, but she wasn't going to eat me."
"She wasn't?" Ozra turned around.
"I wasn't?" The Hydra's eyebrows were raised as she looked at Zach, shocked by his confident proclamation about what she was going to do.
"Yeah. You said it yourself, didn't you? My Usurpation is still growing. I could see it in your eyes. You gave me quite the close-up, after all. You're curious." Zach was familiar with that breed of curiosity. It was the same as his. It was about something different since it didn't have anything to do with summoning.
But the Hydra was interested in how he got her ability of Usurpation, and how it would grow in the future.
The Hydra's lips curved into a deep smile. She realized Zach was right. She was curious about the young red-haired man who reminded her of herself while at the same time being her opposite.
"That's right. But don't you think that we will kill you after seeing that smug face?"
Zach's expression froze.
"If you tell us how you got our ability, we'll spare you." A little out of practice with the whole talking thing, the Hydra went straight for making a deal to get what she wanted.
Zach realized that she desperately wanted to know. He could have used it to negotiate if not for the fact that the Hydra was very strong. He also wasn't sure what he wanted that could be negotiated.
The Hydra's desperation would have worked against her against someone more insidious than Zach.
"I am pretty sure I inherited it from your second Child."
The Hydra stared at Zach for a while before blinking. She opened her eyes and stared at him again.
Ozra grabbed Zach by the collar and yanked him back as a blood-red flame scorched the place he had just been in. She hadn't moved a finger. It looked like the ground had suddenly caught on fire as if the world was punishing Zach for speaking nonsense.
"It seems you don't take us seriously," The Hydra said, the smile on her face the temperative opposite of her searing flames. It sent chills down Zach's confused spine.