New Place to Begin

Hydra

"Okay, we don't have a lot of time," Eunbi breathed, wiping the sweat from her brow. "We've got to down this thing, and fast."

"The heart, we need to hit its heart," Chaewon said, her eyes trained on the hydra only about a hundred yards away.

"Okay, so we need a distraction," Eunchae said, switching out her bow in favor of her bronze shortsword. "Something that will occupy all of the heads while one of us goes in and lands the killing blow."

"I have something." Jimin said, breathing heavily as she ran up to them from the sidelines, where she'd evidently gone to get something from her bag.

Chaewon opened her mouth to question Jimin, but the words caught in her throat when the girl held out her hands, revealing about ten small, brown bags.

"What is that?" Eunbi asked, glancing between Jimin and the monster.

"They're full of extremely volatile powder, and if they come in contact with heat or flame, they will -"

"Grenades!" Ryujin interrupted, a new sort of excitement shining in her eyes.

With a nod, Jimin began to distribute the bags, each of them taking three or four of the things.

"The friction of the impact should be enough to detonate the powder," Jimin explained. "So just throw far and hard."

"Okay," Eunbi nodded, and Chaewon tried not to focus on the heavy footsteps of the hydra as it finally made its way back towards them. She turned towards Chaewon, giving her a nod. "Chaewon, you go for the chest, and we'll try and cover you as best we can."

Chaewon swallowed, but she couldn't find it in herself to protest. Instead, she just nodded at Eunbi, gripping her sword a little tighter and glancing at the bombs locked in her own grasp.

"Alright, let's go!" Ryujin yelled, already turning around and flinging one of the bags at the hydra.

Chaewon could only stare as the bag soared through the air towards one of the monster's heads.

The impact was enough to shake the stadium. The hydra recoiled with a huge roar, and as the smoke cleared, Chaewon didn't hesitate to sprint towards the beast.

The others waited no longer to spread out and throw their own makeshift grenades, and Chaewon's ears rang as the explosions roared across the field, one after the other.

Through the haze of smoke as Chaewon approached, she met eyes with one of the heads, the one that was perched directly in front of the hydra's chest, as if guarding it.

Instead of slowing down or stopping, Chaewon simply grit her teeth and chucked one of the bags towards the thing as hard as she could. She didn't have the best throwing arm, but the resulting explosion was enough to clear the way for her to land the final blow.

The screams of the others echoed around her, but through the smoke and debris, Chaewon could see her opening. The chest of the beast was exposed, the heads occupied with various explosions coming from four different angles.

Clenching her jaw, Chaewon raised her sword, aiming her balde directly in front of her as she finally reached the monster's chest.

The blade sliced through the scales surprisingly easily, and the hydra's screech of pain was almost satisfying. Chaewon didn't hesitate before twisting the blade with a grunt, resulting in another screech.

However, she wasn't positive her blow would be enough to fully take down the beast. So, before the creature could recoil and retreat, Chaewon withdrew her blade and shoved one of the bags into the gash, pushing it as deep as she could. She cringed at the black blood that spurted from the wound and coated her hand and arm.