Ten minutes later…
Not far from Hydra in Yufei City, two purple humanoid armored soldiers appeared. Rulu stood before them and called out loudly: "The person controlling Hydra from behind the scenes should be somewhere in this city — most likely hiding nearby. Kallen, you and the Suzaku Guard Captain go search the area around Hydra now, but do not make any contact with Hydra itself. Report back immediately if anything comes up. Understood?"
Kallen replied: "Got it."
The Suzaku Guard Captain said: "I only take orders from Lord Euphemia, but since this plan was your idea, Mr. Qin, and you did save my life once — I'll follow your lead this time."
"If there are no objections, let's move out."
Kallen and the Suzaku Guard Captain immediately piloted their humanoid armored soldiers toward Hydra. Using Hydra as their center point, they moved swiftly through Yufei City, scanning the surroundings in an attempt to locate the person secretly controlling the beast.
To their disappointment, however, after searching the area around Hydra for quite some time, they found no one suspicious. The Suzaku Guard Captain said: "Nothing on my end. What's the situation on yours?"
Kallen, searching nearby, replied: "Same here — nothing."
The Suzaku Guard Captain said: "Looks like this approach isn't working. At this rate, we'll never find the person pulling Hydra's strings. Maybe he isn't in this area at all."
Rulu held up his communicator and said: "No — he should be close by. He must be hiding somewhere. We need to find a way to draw him out."
Kallen said: "But how? The city is in complete chaos right now. If that guy just keeps hiding, we'll never find him no matter how long we search."
The Suzaku Guard Captain said: "I have an idea. If we engage the beast in combat, that person might show himself — and then we can track him down."
"You mean fight the beast?" Kallen glanced at the massive nine-headed serpent in the distance. Even encased in her solid armor, she felt a chill run through her. "I'm not fighting that thing. If someone's going, it's you."
"That works. I'll engage the beast in combat — you two focus on finding whoever is controlling Hydra from behind the scenes." Without waiting for Rulu or Kallen to respond, the Suzaku Guard Captain immediately charged straight toward Hydra.
*This Suzaku Guard Captain is not only highly capable — he's quick-witted too,* Rulu thought. In truth, he had been about to suggest exactly that — having Kallen and the Suzaku Guard Captain engage Hydra to force the hidden controller to act. He hadn't expected the Suzaku Guard Captain to say it first.
The Suzaku Guard Captain reached Hydra in moments and swung the laser short-sword on his right arm, slashing into the serpent's body. Hydra sensed the attack and immediately turned all eight of its heads toward him, lunging to bite.
The Suzaku Guard Captain swiftly retreated, using rapid movement to dodge Hydra's strikes. His skill in piloting the humanoid armored soldier was exceptional — his movements razor-sharp — and he evaded the vast majority of Hydra's attacks. Combined with his armor's protection, the beast's assault dealt him little harm.
"Any sign of him yet?" the Suzaku Guard Captain called out. By now he had been engaged with Hydra for over ten minutes, during which Rulu and Kallen had been continuously searching the surrounding area, trying to locate the person secretly directing the beast.
Kallen said: "No — nothing on my end."
Rulu said: "Same here. The beast may not feel sufficiently threatened yet, giving that person no reason to issue new commands. To flush him out, we need to put this creature in real danger."
"My thoughts exactly," the Suzaku Guard Captain said. Then, abruptly, he stopped running and stood completely still. Hydra closed in fast — one of the great serpent heads curved around him, trying to coil its massive body around him and trap him.
The Suzaku Guard Captain leapt sharply upward, breaking free of Hydra's coiling attack and landing on the serpent's body. Four grappling hooks shot from his chest plate, wrapping around the neck of the head that had just attacked him.
Using the hooks to brace himself on Hydra's body, he moved rapidly along the serpent toward its head, finally stopping at the neck. He raised the silver short-sword on his right arm and drove it downward with full force. With a sharp hiss, the silver blade plunged deep into Hydra's flesh.
The struck serpent's body convulsed violently. The Suzaku Guard Captain had aimed directly for the heart. The serpent seemed to suffer tremendous damage — it began thrashing wildly, desperate to throw him off.
The Suzaku Guard Captain pressed himself flat against the serpent's body, gripping it with both hands and feet, anchoring himself further with the grappling hooks. He drove the silver short-sword into the heart again and again, delivering relentless blows.
His assault was devastatingly effective. Though Hydra possessed rapid regeneration, the ceaseless stabs to its vital heart wore it down fast. Within minutes, the stricken serpent's strength had fallen sharply — its thrashing slowed in both speed and frequency. It was clearly struggling to hold on.
Throughout this time, Hydra's other seven heads attempted to bite or spit venom at the Suzaku Guard Captain, but because he remained pinned tightly to the serpent's body — and the creature was writhing so violently — these attacks not only failed to reach him but actually inflicted considerable damage on the very serpent they were trying to protect.
Watching this, Kallen couldn't help but exclaim in admiration: "That Suzaku Guard Captain is incredible — he's actually suppressing the beast all on his own."
Rulu said: "We need to watch the area around Hydra very closely. The person controlling it from behind the scenes should be making his move any moment now."
Suddenly, a strange piping sound rang out near Hydra. At its sound, the battered serpent ceased struggling. A few seconds passed — then the strange piping came again, and Hydra moved. The great beast surged forward and hurled itself at a large stone structure roughly twenty meters tall standing in Yufei City.
With a thunderous crash, Hydra's massive body smashed a gaping hole through the stone building. The structure collapsed under the violent impact, and enormous chunks of stone rained down — onto Hydra's body, and onto the Suzaku Guard Captain clinging to it.
Struck by the falling boulders, the Suzaku Guard Captain seemed to take a tremendous blow. His body lurched, and he nearly fell from the serpent's back — but his reflexes were extraordinary. He instantly drove his short-sword into the serpent's body and clung on with everything he had, barely keeping himself from being thrown off.
At the sight of this, Kallen cried out in alarm: "That's bad — the Suzaku Guard Captain looks like he's in danger! That beast is so cunning — it actually came up with something like that to deal with him."
Rulu said: "No — that idea came from the person controlling Hydra. I thought I heard a strange sound near Hydra just now. That person is probably using that sound to command the beast. I have to find him fast." As he spoke, Rulu moved quickly through the city, heading in the direction from which the strange piping had come.