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<996 – High Hydra (1)>

Vacation slips away in the blink of an eye.

Time flew by while we devoured the remaining events left at the Chairman’s main house.

“This is a scam. To spend half of vacation training and the other half in hibernation is outrageous.”

“Oknodie you jerk! Give us our vacation back!”

“Give it back!”

Next to the dazed Arcadia, Dorothy and Titosso grabbed Oknodie by the collar and shook him back and forth.

“Aww. Just forgive me for getting a pet.”

From under the hoods of the two, a Mini Hydra peeked out.

Actually, one was showing curiosity, another was busy nibbling at the hoodie, and the last one was struggling to stay awake.

“One-third of you is a spirit!”

“Not cute!”

Mini Hydra.

Inside, oddly enough, a spirit had nested.

It wasn’t intentional from the start, but one Mini Hydra that had come out of an artwork sparked an innovation.

“Hmm. Oknodie, looks like something fun happened? A spirit has nested inside a Hydra.”

“What? Hey, what do you mean by that?”

– It’s a reverse jackpot.

“What reverse jackpot?”

– It’s a body transplant with Homunculus which is tough at first but can turn into a Giant Monster with royal potential towards the end. The unfulfilled dream of a swordsman will be realized by becoming a Giant Monster.

“!!”

Anyone who has experience in the Tomb of the Sword knows it’s impossible to defeat a Sword Saint alone as a swordsman.

The absurd solution of inhabiting a Giant Monster is also why the spirit could give up the swordsman’s dream.

– I swung my sword to the point of unconsciousness for my whole life. In the Tomb of the Sword, I swung my sword for an additional ten lifetimes. Now I want to be rewarded for my life. I want to do what I desire freely, enjoying the fruits of my labor away from the sword.

For a baby Hydra, already destined for royal potential, to inhabit a Mini Hydra was a perfect opportunity to fulfill the spirit’s long-held desire.

The accident Oknodie carelessly caused, which led to cramming Mini Hydras into a piece of art, resulted in this unexpected outcome.

“Huh. That guy is really something.”

“Why didn’t we think of that?”

Other spirits also couldn’t hide their disappointment.

Having lived in the same hell for the same remaining life, the Ghost Swordsmen were all exhausted.

This was a chance for them.

An opportunity to enjoy their last life with an upgrade.

Staying as a spirit for too long is not a good thing.

Oknodie’s board game taught them that.

Without a body, when swept away by great power, one cannot protect oneself without a vessel or a home for their soul.

In this era, where the God of Void has fallen, the stability of spacetime has collapsed, and dungeons that were sleeping in the cracks of space are appearing everywhere in all dimensions.

No one knows whether the monsters that would regard the centuries-trained Ghost Swordsmen as a snack would wake up in a hidden dungeon somewhere.

“Hey, can we inhabit other beings too?”

“If there are three heads, it should be a three-person occupancy.”

– Get lost! This body is mine. Even if there are three heads, it’s still infantile. There’s a limit to the soul’s capacity!

The words of the pioneering Hydra Swordsman were correct.

Though the Mini Hydra has a promised return of its king and a future waiting for its growth, right now, it’s still a weak baby.

Even containing one soul is a bit tight.

Considering that the souls of the Ghost Swordsmen have reached a high level from their hundreds of years of life, it was even more so.

Eventually, the spirits reached out to other Mini Hydras with a sense of regret, and something bizarre occurred.

“Huh? Huh?”

“Wow, look at this guy?”

The Mini Hydra’s body actively accepted the souls of spirits that had no intent to harm!

With three heads and three personalities not fully developed yet, the Mini Hydra that experienced the extreme environment of the summer felt the need for power.

Some of them grew a little more in different time scales of summer to about 1cm, while others were roughly the size of a gold coin, ranging from 30mm to 40mm, and there were even ones that grew between 3cm to 4cm.

However, their souls were still woefully inadequate compared to their bodies.

Then came the souls of the Ghost Swordsmen!

The Mini Hydras instinctively felt.

If we accept that, we can become incredibly strong in a short time.

Survival is guaranteed no matter where we crash land in the summer.

Thus, the three heads began a battle of wits.

If we just lose one soul, we could invite one of those in, right?

The most developed soul in the middle head oppressed one of the side heads.

You can die instead of us!

The side head’s soul sadly accepted its fate, feeling crushed in terms of capacity.

– Hmm? No thanks.

Of course, the Ghost Swordsmen had pride too.

They wouldn’t think of renting a space to mere infants.

If one head were to be consumed, it had to be the central, largest head.

Thanks to this, the souls of the central head got pushed aside by the Ghosts and ended up being devoured by the Hydra heads of the sides, vanishing in sorrow.

It could be called the foolish betrayal of the Hydra’s so-called pro-Ghost faction.

– Give me center view.

– The middle one is plump.

– If I’m going to live here, it better have a large brain capacity.

Thus began the belated mass migration of spirits that seeped into Mini Hydra.

As a result, Mini Hydras embedded with consciousness were produced in large numbers.

Among them, two selected Dorothy and Titosso to be their Hydra patrons.

“We think you’re cute.”

“Thanks to you, we could come out of summer.”

“We’ll take good care of your meals.”

Unlike the second years who were whining, the third years treated their selected Mini Hydras like revered ancestors.

Without them, the time spent rolling around in summer would have been immensely longer.

They had earned a huge favor, deserving the treatment of the clan’s guardian deity.

“Still, I’m glad we visited Oknodie’s house. It was tough at first, but we’ve gotten stronger and gained a pet and guardian deity with Giant Monster potential, right?”

“That’s true.”

When you think about it, it’s not such a bad thing.

You could even say it’s a fateful encounter.

How common are Giant Monsters that are strong?

As long as they get through their growth phase, they’ll easily reach the seventh tier.

If they survive beyond a century, they’ll rise to the eighth tier.

Once you’ve got such a sturdy body of a Giant Monster, it’s easy to manage, and living together is even possible, so this really feels like having a family guardian deity.

“Hey, all’s good, but it’s way too hard to recognize the Hydras among our fellow family members who’ve suffered in the same way.”

“Isn’t there a way to cherish this memory?”

“I know!”

Oknodie, the source of chaos, rushed up to the students who wanted to build connections and share stories across grades for a small afterparty without a hint of shame.

But the kind third years accepted it anyway, thinking, good is good.

“What’s the idea?”

“Let’s exchange secret handshakes only we can recognize!”

“For example?”

Oknodie climbed up on a chair, matched heights, and whispered with joined hands.

“Hi Hydra.”

“!”

A clearly suspicious conversation that Hydra owners couldn’t possibly misunderstand!

Upon hearing the shocking code phrase, a third-year immediately raised a concern.

“What if by accident we pass the code to the wrong person and attract suspicious looks?”

“Just say it’s a game where Foundation scholarship students exchange secret languages!”

“Indeed, such a method!”

The third years were wowed by Oknodie’s unexpected idea.

Now that the Foundation was dismantled, it sounded plausible enough that the secret language used by all former Foundation scholarship students could exist.

Just kidding, right?

You’re really not a scholarship student, are you?

Although they might receive suspicious glances, how many people would genuinely suspect someone who’s merely been invited to Oknodie’s house during summer, received a bit of special training, grown slightly stronger, and got a personal Mini Giant Monster?

With Oknodie’s generous disposition in mind, the real scholarship students must have endured even greater trials.

“Right?”

“That’s right! The members of the Organization that Plays with Oknodie who weren’t invited to the mansion are busy rushing around. They’re looking for unclaimed hidden gimmicks or treasures, resolving quests. All we did was eat and leisurely train in the mansion—it’s too harsh to treat us like subordinates!”

“…Doesn’t it feel like we’re actually in a better position? Is that just me? It must be just me.”

Wahyhiemhai Foundation.

The successor organization seemed closer to the High Hydra Group that unites through Hydra rather than to the Organization that Plays with Oknodie or the Errand Running Organization – Scholarship Secret Society.

But that would be left for future generations to evaluate.

The parties involved were merely preparing for their return home.

It was then that one student, recalling an event they had forgotten, grilled Oknodie.

“Hey! What are you going to do about that?”

“About what?”

“The Bikini Armor Contest!”

Ah, right.

Oknodie picked up a communication magic tool.

Today, the Dark Empress Masugaki, who was diligently working on her shadow empire’s dark meta development, received a call.

“Hey there♡ Sorry for the late check-up♡”

“Sorry! By the way, what happened to that Bikini Contest we talked about before?”

“We officially declared that the Bikini Contest can only be held in the empire by law. If it’s held abroad, it’s illegal♡ We’ll reward anyone who reports it with a bounty and bombard the contest site♡”

Jigoku’s eyes widened.

“Wait, does that mean even the contest held by pirates…?”

“I sank the entire island for not listening♡”

Thanks to the information provided by the pirates who sold out their comrades for the bounty, news terribly awaited them: the contest site and all participating pirates from various nations had been brought to justice by the empire’s fleet and were now fish food.

 

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