My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 227: Laying In Wait

It took a little over a week of travelling for the group to reach the edge of the swamp. It was at that point that the Tu'Thrag tribe retreated into the shadow world. Kace and Grugda theorised that the Hydra might not even appear if it sensed too large of a group in its territory. Kace looked out over the swamp and remembered the various poisonous flora in the area. 'Thank god I'm immune to it.'

"Drink. This." Grugda said as he removed one of the bones hanging from his waist. He snapped the top end of it off as he held it upright. Revealing a brownish liquid inside of it.

Kace did not hesitate as he took the concoction from Grugda. He was certain it was something meant to counteract the poison from the Hydra and other fauna. It went down in a single gulp, leaving a particularly nasty aftertaste in his mouth. Kace wanted to complain about the taste, but he decided not to. He did not want Grugda to take it the wrong way.

Having finished the preparations, the duo casually stepped into the murky waters. As they treaded further in, the swamp water soon rose to the height of Kace's chest. 'We'll need to lure it to one of the small islands. Fighting it while in the water would be suicidal.' Kace activated his Tracking ability to try and have a better understanding of their surroundings.

The only two scents that he could see were his and Grugda's. Which either meant that there were no animals around or the swamp water was interfering with their scent if they were underwater. 'Guess that won't help us too much then.' Kace sighed when he realised that they could not find the Hydra that way.

Grugda took the lead since he knew the vast majority of the swamp. He could think of two or three places that might be its hunting ground. The general plan was to follow it after its hunt for food back to its lair. Hopefully, they would be able to take it by surprise as it slept. Any kind of advantage they could gain would be critical in such a dangerous fight. 

They moved slowly as Grugda had told him that the swamp's predators hunted using the ripples caused in the water. Minimising their movements was essential if they did not want to alert their prey that new hunters were around. Time passed slowly as they trudged through the muck and thick water. Dampening their morale. Every now and then they would stumble as they found a sudden part that went deeper than their current foothold.

Grugda suddenly paused and pointed towards a certain direction in the swamp. Kace immediately understood that they were drawing near to one of the potential hunting grounds. They stayed as silent as possible as they carefully made their way in that direction. The sound of insects and a few splashes of the water managed to reach them.

'Hm, insects usually go quite if they sense a dangerous presence. I doubt we'll be lucky enough for it to be here.' Kace followed Grugda's lead onto a nearby island that filled with a type of bush-like plant. Grugda lay down on the ground and crawled underneath the plant to use it as cover. Signalling that Kace should so the same.

The branches of the bush tugged at his hair and armour. Making him curse a few times with earned him a few irritated looks from Grugda. He knew he had to be silent, but he could not himself! It was just too irritating. Grugda came to a halt, stopping their advance. He reached out with his large, slender hands and peeled back part of the push.

That sight reminded Kace of the old women that would hide behind their curtains and peel a small part back to be nosy about what was going on outside. He almost burst into laughter at the thought but did everything he could to suppress it. Kace followed the example that the Eljein had set and copied his movements. As he peeled back another part of the bush, the sight of the Hydra's potential prey came into view.

They were giant crab-like like beasts and Kace could not help but compare their shells to the one that Grugda wore on his back when they first met. Their pincers were large enough to cush a full-grown man with ease, and they stood upright when they were not in the water. It gave them quite a height since they no longer looked like the crabs that Kace was used to at that point.

He estimated that they were at least seven foot tall for the adults. While the younger ones were maybe around six foot. They would certainly be dangerous to hunt unless you could overcome their natural defences. After all, they could probably end the battle in one move if they got a hold of their prey. Neither of them moved, they resolved themselves to wait there for at least a day to see if the Hydra made an appearance. 

Nobody could tell them how often a Hydra would have to eat, or if it had hibernation patterns. This meant that they might have to spend quite a lot of time just patiently waiting for its appearance. If that approach failed, then they would have to actively seek out its lair. Just in case it was in the middle of hibernating. Kace did not really want to spend months in the swamp waiting for it to wake up after all.

Hours passed with nothing happening. The moon had risen and night had descended on them. Apparently, these crabs were not nocturnal creatures as they all made their way to a nearby island. They dug holes out of the muddy earth close to the water and lay down inside of them. Their shells were still exposed, which just made them look like large rocks. It was a pretty good camouflage in Kace's mind. 

As the night progressed, an almost serpentine sound filled the air around them. The insects that were making plenty of noise suddenly went silent. A wide smile broke out on Kace's face as he heard this. 'It's here'