Christian did not have the time to help his team overcome his fear. He immediately used his Parseltongue skill to communicate with this divine creature. "Great Hydra, I didn't mean to intrude on your territory."

"You can speak our tongue?" the Hydra asked. "Only a few of you, humans, can speak our tongue. Hmmm, why do you look so familiar?"

"We met a while ago."

"Is that so? All of you humans look the same to us. I'm surprised I even remember you," the hydra continued. "Regardless, I was instructed to eat you. On account of your speaking our tongue, I will give you a running head start."

"Wait, Lord Hydra," Christian said. He can use Parseltongue to control small to medium-sized snakes, but at larger sizes, he needs to convince them to help him. "Humans are not tasty. Please, spare us."

"You're wrong. Humans are one of the best delicacies."

Christian's lips twitched. "That may be so, but I would prefer it if you did not eat me."

"But I'm hungry, and someone told me to eat whoever comes near me. I can't disobey them."

"How about this?" Christian swiftly said. "I have a few pieces of meat in my bag. I can give you as much as you want." He slowly took out the ant meat from his bag. It would be cost-effective to exchange the team's life for all their food reserve.

"Armor ant? Those creatures taste horrible. I think I'll eat you instead."

"I'm sad we couldn't solve this issue peacefully," Christian said in Greek, confusing the hydra. He then activated the Switch Charm. Two enormous eyeballs appeared on his palm, while the ant meat appeared where the hydra's eyes should have been. While the beast screamed in agony as its head flailed everywhere, Christian's arm almost fell off because of how heavy just its eyeballs were. He luckily reacted swiftly enough and threw them away.

Christian then took advantage of this situation to control the water, forming a dome around the group. He focused his mind to control the dome, allowing it to fly into the distance. His team was still frozen, but he didn't have time to attend to that now.

Christian hadn't flown far when the water dome shook before breaking apart, leaving the team to fall into the water. He held on tightly to his wand as he swam to the surface. He looked in the distance and saw a second hydra head looking at them with the ferocity of an apex predator. The creature looked at the second head that was bleeding profusely before focusing on Christian's team.

The snake opened its mouth, conjuring a significant amount of water. Christian analyzed that the hydra was about to fire a breath attack. Luckily for him, he was in an ocean with ample water to manipulate. He pointed his wand to use the Water Controlling Charm to create a tall water curtain more than 30 meters tall. He then froze the water with his left hand, creating a frozen barrier.

Boom!

The ice barrier trembled, but it survived. Christian knew time was of the essence, so he created five more ice barriers before surveying the area. Kallista and Lucretia had regained their bearings and swam to the surface. "Where is Xin'er?"

"I—"

"She doesn't know how to swim?" Kallista asked. "I'll go get her."

"No, I'll do it," Lucretia immediately said. But while they were arguing, Christian had already brought her up by summoning her clothes. He observed her pale expression and figured she might have ingested a lot of water, so he tried to control it with a charm. As the water floated out of her nose, Xin'er opened her eyes while coughing violently.

Christian did not wait for her to regain her senses. He bound everybody together with conjured ropes before casting the Feather-Light Charm on them to reduce their weight. "Lucretia: sword." She followed his direction, and Christian tied the rope to the sword.

"Depulso!" The sword flew in the distance with great force, bringing everyone with it. However, Christian did not stop. He kept casting Depulso to push them forward, ignoring the wail and bombardment of the hydra. After flying for a few minutes, Christian discovered he was no longer above an icean, but in a misty area.

He levitated the team to land slowly on the ground. "I'm getting tired of this place," Christian complained. He only survived the hydra because of the boost from Kallista's Hymn Magic, and now, he was still having a headache with the environment.

Christian looked around: "Be on the lookout. I'm not detecting anything with Revelio —"

"Watch out," Kallista yelled as she pushed Lucretia away. At the exact moment, something penetrated her shoulder. Christian still had the Supersensory Charm's effect on him, so his body moved to catch the creature as it tried to rush into the mist. He captured it inside a protective charm before rushing to Kallista.

"Lucretia, surround us with earth walls," he ordered as he helped her. Lucrutia was still in shock, not understanding what was happening. However, she moved after hearing Christian's words.

"It pierced straight through your shoulder," Christian commented as he looked at the marble-sized hole in Kallista's shoulder. Such an injury was beyond his ability, so he fed her five vitaseeds, stopped the bleeding, and healed the bones before bandaging the wound.

"You must do with this level of treatment for now," Christian said.

"That's more than enough," Kallista said casually before standing up. Christian noticed she did not wince in pain, not even once. He did not comment on that as he focused on the group: "What are we facing?"

"We are in a Swordfly's lair," Xin'er said, holding the shield charm that captured the creature that attacked them.

"Swordfly?"

"Their bodies are sharper than enchanted swords, and they fly at extreme speed," Xin'er explained as she showed the metallic fly inside the shield. "The worst part is their lair is a poison mist that can hide them from normal or magic detection."

"Can I blow the mist?"

"You can try, but I'm not sure," Xin'er said truthfully.

"Then, we need a backup plan," Christian nodded before casting Supersensory Charm on everybody. With increased senses and reflexes, they will have a better chance at surviving this mist. He also cast his most powerful shield charm to protect everybody.

"Alright, Lucretia, you can lower the walls."

Lucretia nodded before stamping on the ground. The walls surrounding them slowly descended into the soil. The team was on their highest alert as Christian used the Venti Charm to blow the mist away. However, his attempt was futile as nothing happened.

"We are using Plan B," Christian said as everyone got in formation with Kallista and Xin'er in the middle. Then, they walked toward the golden light in the distance. Numerous sparks flew from the shield as it bounced off the Swordflies. For a moment, Christian thought they would be safe. But no, one swordfly penetrated his shield as it was a hot knife cutting through butter.

The creature's target was Xin'er, but her reaction speed allowed her to cut it with a swift swing of her knife. "Focus. My shield is not entirely useless since it can't slow them down somewhat," Christian commented as they continued their journey. More and more swordflies attacked them, and after a while, these creatures started acting intelligently by focusing their attack on Kallista, the injured one of the team.

Unfortunately for them, even with one hand injured, she showed she was not to be outdone. With a weapon summoned from Lucretia, she killed as many swordflies as dared target them.

After a trek of more than thirty minutes, the team walked out of the mist to find themselves before a poisonous area. Christian immediately tried to blow the purple gas before him, but once again, this act proved to be useless. So, he decided to use the Bubble Charm to prevent anyone from breathing the gas.

"Can I try something?" Kallista suddenly asked. She looked intently at the gas and swallowed her saliva.

"By all means," Christian said. He would love for his team to solve his problem. Kallista hesitated briefly before approaching the gas. She took a deep breath before opening her mouth and inhaling. The group looked in as she swallowed the poisonous gas.

"What are you doing?" Christian yelled as he rushed to her. However, he realized she was perfectly intact. She checked her body, and there were no signs of poison. "I didn't know Veelas could digest magical poisons." However, as soon as he said these words, he realized they were stupid.

"We don't," Kallista said.

"Then?"

"I had the urge or feeling I could absorb the poison, and I tried. It seems my feelings were correct."

Christian was quiet. Veelas did not have such an ability, but Acromantulas did. "Is this the result of the previous treatment?"

"I think so," Kallista said, her voice slightly excited.

"We should have someone check you after leaving this place," Christian suggested.

"What's there to check? I feel great," Kallista said. Such an ability was immensely beneficial to her, so she was happy to have it.

"What if there are other problems?"

"I'll deal with them when they come."

"Regardless, I would feel better if we had someone check on you," Christian said.

"And who is going to check? Do you think human healers will go out of their way to treat me?"

Christian frowned: "The library should have healers, right? After all, they are the one who accepts all participants."

"They do, but I can guarantee that these people will do the bare minimum," Kallista replied. "As long as I look physically alright, they will not go the extra mile to check on my condition."

"Alright, don't be pessimistic. I'll find a way to make them treat you," Christian reassured as he patted her shoulder. He looked around, finally having the time to check his surroundings.