The Cursed Prince

Fortunately, when Mars thought he was at a dead-end, help came.

"Hey!!! Watch out! The hydra's head might grow back!" Gewen's voice rang and soon Mars saw his friend dashed with his horse from the west. He came together with a knight holding a torch to light the way.

Mars quickly moved back from the hydra and dashed his horse to approach Gewen. When it saw the enemy retreated, the hydra hissed and slithered after him. 

"It's behind you!" Gewen shouted to his friend. "You can cut the heads, I will pour the eagle's blood on the neck stump to stop the new heads from regrowing."

Right at that moment, Mars noticed the dead eagle tied to the stick on Gewen's hand. His chest immediately felt light. That was such a good idea!

He remembered how his man, whose eye was plucked by the blood-red eagle earlier, suffered a condition like he was attacked by an extremely strong sulphuric acid.

His eye socket and then his whole face were burned so badly and it corroded at high speed. Mars had to kill the man out of mercy, to end his suffering.

He looked at Gewen with a newfound appreciation. The prince didn't know this friend of his could come up with such a brilliant idea.

Was Gewen smarter than he looked? Where did he hide that brain all these years?

SWOOSH!

Mars turned his horse around and immediately charged at the incoming hydra. Now that Gewen had told Mars his plan to stop the monster's heads from regrowing, the prince felt confident he could defeat the hydra by cutting all the heads, one by one.

After Snow got close to the hydra, Mars swung his long sword and cut the head that was closest to him. The head fell and blood immediately spurted from the neck stump. It was a clean cut.

"NOW! Gewen now!!"

Mars retreated and gave way to his friend who immediately slashed the dead eagle's head with his sword and dashed toward the hydra who was enraged and growled furiously.

Gewen swung the stick toward the hydra and made sure the eagle's blood smeared on the hydra's neck stump before he quickly retreated too.

"It works!" He gushed when he saw the hydra  writhing in pain and its other six heads roared in anger. The neck that had been splashed by the red eagle's blood seemed to emit smoke and slowly melted like it was being burned by a very strong acid.

"Cut off its head again!" Gewen exclaimed excitedly. "It still has six more!"

Mars nodded. He dashed his horse and circled the monster several times, making the hydra look confused and dizzy. Every time Mars moved around, its six remaining heads followed his movement.

Then he turned around and moved, pretending to attack the hydra's heart.

The creature would follow his movements to the left, or right. Not long after, the six necks and heads became intertwined and got stuck.

Gewen stared in awe at his best friend's intelligence and prowess. However, he was not in awe for long. He realized he had to do his part too.

So, Gewen kept his distance and prepared so that he could immediately smear the red eagle's blood on the hydra after Mars slashed the monster's head one by one.

SWOOSH!

SWOOSH!

After the six hydra's necks and heads were entangled, it was now easy for Mars to finish off this monster. He jumped high and slashed at the first head, which immediately rolled to the ground.

After he landed, Mars immediately turned around and slashed at the second head. The hydra was furious and tried to untangle its many necks so that it could retaliate against the prince's attack.

However, Gewen was already moving very quickly. He jumped swiftly and smeared the red eagle's blood on the two neck stumps which Mars had just slashed.

The two necks immediately smoked and slowly corroded. The blood and corroded flesh mixed together made a really ghastly sight.

Now, the hydra was in a lot of pain and could no longer focus its attention on attacking the enemy. Mars attacked again with a slash of his sword and cut off the remaining heads.

Gewen also did a great job. Quickly and agilely he had closed the possibility of the hydra's head to be able to grow back. And finally... the big monster fell hard to the ground, surrounded by its own pool of blood.

After all of its heads were cut off and its necks smeared by the red eagle's blood and they slowly melted, the hydra finally collapsed and died.

Gewen and Mars are catching their breaths after the long, intense fight. The two of them got off their horses and sat on the ground, trying to compose themselves.

"You knew that its head can grow back?" Mars asked Gewen after he could catch his breath.

His friend nodded. "Yeah... Elmer told me..."

"What?" Mars frowned. "Why didn't he tell me?"

Gewen, still panting for breath, waved his hand and replied, "He only remembered after we came out of the forest. He said it was just a rumor he heard anyway. He wasn't sure if the hydra would indeed be able to regrow its head once it was cut. There hasn't been a single person he knows who's ever met a hydra in person."

"Oh ... no wonder," said Mars. He had also never heard that a hydra's head could grow back after being cut off… let alone growing two at once.

Naturally, this was not known to many people. Apparently, very few people had met this monster in person and lived to tell what they saw.

"So Elmer told you to use the red eagle's blood?" Mars asked again.

Now everything seemed to make sense. He knew that Gewen couldn't possibly think of such a brilliant tactic like what he did just now. Apparently, it was Elmer who told him.

Gewen nodded. "Yes. Luckily I came and brought this dead eagle with me. Apparently, the rumor was right."

"Thank you," said Mars. He closed his eyes and took a long deep breath.

The fight just now was quite tiring. He was grateful that Gewen had helped him. If the hydra were an ordinary monster, Mars was sure he would be able to defeat it in a fight.

However, with the hydra's head continuously growing back after being cut off… Mars wasn't sure he would be able to survive if the battle continued under such circumstances, much less kill the monster.

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>>>>>>

From the author:

If you haven't read "The Cursed King", now is a good time to start. You will be able to read this story from a different angle.

"The Cursed King" is basically this same story but from Maxim's perspective, and it ran at the same timeline as "The Cursed Prince".

I plan to publish 2 chapters per day for TCP and TCK starting July. Right now, I am preparing for TCK to reach the climax before it can go premium.

So, in July, you will read this story 4 chapters per day (divided into two books, TCP and TCK). You will meet Maxim, the Leoraleis, and the source behind the curse that befell Emmelyn.

Are you excited??

xx