Chapter 559 - Competition

Since Ryan and the others never moved too far away from the coast, they didn't find a single underwater dungeon the previous day. However, things changed when they entered the ocean and began to move up North. They quickly found some that were spawning Giant Crabs and Azure Seahorses. Naturally, the Seahorses were hunting them down to extermination.

"Should we clear these dungeons?" Gustavo asked.

"We should do that later, once the Atlantic Ocean is calmer," Bianca replied.

As soon as Bianca said that, all of them felt the approach of some Hydras. Immediately, they divided into groups, and Ryan was the first to attack since he found four Hydras due to Clairvoyance. With the magic copies of his new bow, Ryan caused a lot of damage in the four beasts and slowed down as well. Even though his sole goal was to test their firepower.

When her eyes finally found the monsters, Fernanda fired several Electric Spears. Still, in the end, since they were too eager to test their weapons, Gustavo, Bianca, Carlos, and Paulo dashed toward the monsters and made them split as well.

Ryan changed his position, and from above, he could quickly attack the monsters while making sure Gustavo and the others wouldn't be hit, but in the end, he didn't do it since that wasn't necessary. Although they never used weapons in their draconic forms, they were overpowering the Hydras with their attacks.

"As expected, it is just too weird to see dragons wielding weapons," Ryan thought. "In any case, thanks to those weapons, I noticed that my weapon creation ability reached a level where I can make decent materials that can rival the bodies of monsters such as Hydras, but it isn't enough since they are just Poseidon's pawns."

Just as Paulo had predicted, they managed to defeat the monsters while conserving some energy. Still, the fight and blood spilled attracted other Hydras. This time, Ryan attacked the beasts while using Immobilizing Crossbow and Vital Hunter. He didn't have much time to cause much damage and due to the fact that he focused on attacking all the monsters at the same time. But Ryan did notice that Gustavo and the others killed the monsters a bit faster.

"I guess if I focus on detection and using Immobilizing Crossbow and Vital Hunter, things will proceed faster here," Ryan rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

That seemed pretty boring, but Ryan was fully aware that he wasn't fighting enemies that he could kill in a couple of seconds, not even while using Draconic Transformation. Besides, he always knew that archers mainly played a support role in large-scale battles when both sides of a fight have more or less the same level of strength.

Once the fight was over, Gustavo stored the loot and asked Ryan to teleport Hydras's bodies to land. It was probably a waste to do that since it would take months to dismantle all those bodies and turn them into a weapon at that point in time. Still, at least he didn't want to enrage other Hydras by letting their dead bodies exposed in the ocean.

"As expected, the number of flights increased, but thanks to the weapons and our teamwork, things are proceeding well," Gustavo said. "Since that is the case, let's focus on hunting two thousand Hydras today instead of one thousand."

"You are getting carried away again…" Bianca said.

"Hahaha, my bad," Gustavo laughed and then scratched the back of his head.

Although it was kind of unnerving from Ryan's perspective to see those two acting like a stupid couple, it looked like that was a normal occurrence in that group. The others didn't feel annoyed. They only laughed and shrugged. Regardless, even though Ryan expected that at some point that day, they would face dozens of Hydras at the same time due to the increased number of fights, that never happened. In the end, the largest number of Hydras they faced was only six…

"It is probably because they are too fucking huge, and they need a lot of meat to sustain themselves," Ryan concluded. "Working with others would mean less food for them, after all."

Things got a bit complicated when once again, two bosses showed up to fight. However, thanks to Fernanda's lightning magic and Ryan's debuffs, nothing serious happened. In the end, Gustavo achieved his goal for the day: hunt two thousand Hydras.

Aside from Ryan and Bianca, pretty much everyone looked relieved and satisfied with the result of their hunt. While they knew things would be a bit riskier, Gustavo's party more or less knew now that they could fight back the Hydras, even without Ryan's help. Still, deep down, everyone also knew that their goal to clear the Hydra's dungeon and stop Poseidon's plans seemed too far away from them.

Once again, Ryan toasted some Hydra's meat, ate, and then prepared to sleep for a couple of hours before he left in the middle of the night to hunt again. Despite the power that they obtained in the last two days, Gustavo didn't want to risk his friends' lives hunting at night. In the end, Ryan recognized that as the right choice since there weren't many Hydras to hunt at night. It looked like those monsters liked to let the dungeons spawn monsters throughout the entire night, and then the next day, they would have a reinforced breakfast.

Before Ryan could fall asleep, he noticed Bianca's presence approaching. That was weird. While he didn't talk with others all that much aside from Gustavo, it was obvious that she was the one who certainly wouldn't get along with him.

"Are you going to hunt at night again?" Bianca asked.

"I don't know yet," Ryan replied.

"So, you are planning to go," Bianca said.

"… What is it?" Ryan asked after a long sigh.

"Tell me, what are our chances of clearing the dungeon in time?" Bianca asked. "Considering the strength that you are obtaining by hunting at night as well."

"None," Ryan readily replied.