Losing four out of eight wasn't a small matter—especially when what was lost were heads.
A certain famous gourmet once said that the first step in preparing most creatures for consumption was to remove their heads. As for how you cooked the rest, that depended entirely on personal technique.
So, a Yamata no Orochi that had truly lost its head becoming violently enraged was perfectly normal. Amid its furious roars, a flash of vivid red lit up within its remaining four heads, almost instantly dyeing its entire body a nauseating shade of blood-red.
Of course, this wasn't just a change in appearance or some stylistic shift—it was genuine rage. And there was a reason the transformation came so fast. The three severed heads exploded apart and fused back onto its body, giving off a strong sense of "waste not, want not."
This made Allen curse nonstop in his heart as he dodged the creature's retaliatory strikes. It doesn't grow a new head every time one's cut off—but this disgusting trick of recycling its lost parts is downright shameless. Thankfully, the effects didn't stack. Otherwise, what the hell would even be the point of fighting anymore?
Under a sky filled with crashing fire rain, the Yamata no Orochi's blood spread rapidly, accompanied by a wave of foul stench. The once-solid ground had already turned into a muddy swamp reeking of blood. Half a meter deep, yet splashing nearly two meters high, waves of blood surged as hissss— corrosive sounds rang out without end.
"What kind of sick joke is this? Is this thing a walking blood bank? Where's it even getting all this blood to waste?!" Allen grabbed the fox—who was still dazed after watching him decapitate three heads in one go—and retreated at full speed. Something felt seriously off. Better to pull back first and see what kind of trick this snake was planning.
Sure enough, his instincts were spot-on. Just after Allen retreated, the Yamata no Orochi finally used its rage-fueled power to break completely free from its seal. In the next instant, its body began to expand without limit. The wooden shrine was crushed beneath it like a sandcastle struck by a tidal wave. The monster rapidly occupied every inch of empty space in the main burial chamber—moving even faster than Allen could retreat while dragging the fox along, forcing him to pick up the pace.
Only when they reached the entrance did Allen pause briefly. He scooped up his spoils, stuffed them into his pocket, and swiftly sealed the bag. No way in hell was he leaving anything behind for that still-growing monstrosity.
As the Yamata no Orochi drew closer and closer behind him, Allen flicked his wand. A medium-sized magic circle appeared in the distance. The instant he ran through it, the formation activated—and in the very next second, both he and the fox reappeared outside the tomb.
Yes. That's right.
Allen ran.
He had to run—damn it, the other side was straight-up cheating!
This was supposed to be a back-and-forth fight, but the enemy suddenly pulled out an unavoidable flesh-based attack—literally crushing you to death with its body!
Have you no humanity?!
Can't we just play nice anymore?!
Was killing a boss really that easy? Could you have some shame?! You're not just fighting—you're demolishing the entire arena and forcing the player out of the map!
You could grow a few more heads and we could keep fighting just fine! Even switching terrain to gain an advantage would be forgivable—but completely filling the battlefield so there's nowhere left to fight? How is anyone supposed to deal with that?!
So yes, Allen cursing up a storm was entirely understandable.
Which was exactly why he got mercilessly mocked.
The fox stared at him with an expression that screamed are you stupid?, leaving Allen momentarily speechless.
"Don't tell me you don't know how big the Yamata no Orochi's true body is," she said. "It was forcibly compressed by the seal. Of course it's going to return to its original size once freed."
Allen wasn't exactly familiar with that bit of lore, but the logic made sense. Otherwise, explaining Hagrid's half-giant bloodline—passed down from a giant mother—would be pretty difficult.¹
"Alright, fine. I admit it—I really don't know," Allen said. "So… just how big is it, exactly?"
"About the size of eight mountain peaks and eight valleys combined—" The fox seemed to want to gesture with her hands.
But she lowered them again almost immediately.
...
Looking at the tomb carved directly out of the mountain before him, Allen silently multiplied it by eight in his head.
Fight my ass! Let's go back and call in the cavalry!One of its teeth is bigger than me!
The fox seemed to guess his thoughts and shook her head. "Not this mountain. But according to the records—"
She didn't get to finish.
A screeching sound like fingernails scraping against a blackboard echoed from the mountain, making one desperately want to cover their ears. Cracks spread rapidly across the rock face.
The once-refined and majestic sculpture began to shake violently, then collapsed as the mountain itself split apart. Countless mechanisms hidden within the tomb were triggered at once. Brilliant magic played the biggest role in the mountain's destruction.
Amid the dust clouds and flying debris—visibility reduced to almost nothing—a frenzied figure thrust its heads outward.
One.
Two.
…
Five.
If there wasn't a second Yamata no Orochi here, then the situation before them proved one thing beyond doubt—
Unfortunately, the Yamata no Orochi's regeneration worked on its heads as well. Don't even think about slowly killing it through attrition.
As several torrents of blood sprayed out, the obscured view suddenly cleared.
Which was terrible news—because the blood was still corroding every inch of ground it touched.
While retreating at high speed and dodging the splattering blood, Allen still found the mood to joke.
"Alright, I've got good news and bad news," he said. "The bad news is that this thing is way bigger than I expected. Much bigger than what I originally planned to kill."
Before the fox could react, Allen continued.
"But the good news? We've got plenty of space now to finish it off!"
As he spoke, a massive pale-yellow, crescent-moon-shaped spell formed in front of him. After less than a second of suspension, it shot straight toward the still-roaring Yamata no Orochi—aimed at the smallest, newest head.
A shrill wail rang out.
Without sufficient scales to protect it, the newly regenerated head was absurdly fragile—like tofu sliced by a sharp blade. As the magic swept past, blood exploded outward once more, followed by the heavy crash of a gigantic severed head hitting the ground.
Perfect. The results of the earlier battle had been preserved.
Meanwhile, the fox showed no surprise at all. She rushed to Allen's side and caught him from behind as he nearly collapsed from magical exhaustion.
That chain of attacks had completely drained Allen's magic—and for a wizard, that was incredibly dangerous. It left them frighteningly weak.
If a main damage dealer went down, how were they supposed to keep fighting?
The fox had zero confidence in cleaning up the mess this bastard had caused on her own, so she immediately prepared to drag Allen away and run. But before she could act, she saw him pull out a small, sparkling blue vial and gulp it down in one go.