Thanks to the addition of Rudy, Paul’s party is able to reach the final level of the labyrinth where the guardian dwells: a mammoth, many-headed hydra. Behind it is Zenith, encased in crystal. Paul can’t keep his cool, and rushes in, but Rudy and Roxy’s ranged magic bounces right off the hydra’s scales, Lize is injured, and the heads Paul lops off soon grow back.
The party retreats through the teleportation circle used to get to the boss, and Paul isn’t happy. He grabs Rudy by the scruff and can’t understand why he’s so calm. Rudy simply says losing his temper won’t help matters. The party members sit in a circle and discuss things. Roxy believes the boss to be a manatite hydra; magic will only work at close range.
So be it. The party returns to the hydra, and while Paul hacks at the heads with Lize and Talhand, Rudy draws much closer and uses flames to burn the stumps, hoping the Greek legend paves the way to victory. Sure enough, once the stump is burned the heads won’t regenerate, but they have to be vigilant that the hydra doesn’t bite its own neck below the burned part in order to regain its lost heads.
It’s a brutal, kinetic battle; one of the best Mushoku Tensei has animated, and it’s an absolute barn-burning thrill ride. Rudy has to draw far closer than he’s used to to the target for his magic to be effective, and at one point he’s a sitting duck for the hydra when Paul kicks him out of the way and takes the blow in his place. Eventually, the last head is chopped off, and Roxy does the honor of burning it, resulting in the body of the headless hydra falling to the ground.
It’s a victory, but a costly one. Paul is dead, using his last moments to smile as Rudy stands nearby. Rudy’s left arm was ripped off, and while he’s able to use Shining Magic to close the wound, regrowing that hand is either impossible or extremely difficult, and in any case beyond his current means. More pressingly, he rescued his mother at the cost of losing his father. It’s not so much a victory as a trade.
The return trip to Rapan is understandably a somber one, as the party walks without saying a word to each other. Even though it’s clear Roxy wants to say something to comfort Rudy, she remains tight-lipped. As the credits roll, Lilia welcomes the party back and is delighted beyond believe for her lady Zenith to be back. It’s only when she asks where Paul is that her expression changes to one of excruciating grief. It’s a heartbreaking tour-de-force of showing, not telling.
What did Paul and Rudy’s left hand buy them? His mother is alive and after four days she wakes, but she seems to have lost the her ability to speak. It’s also arguable whether she recognizes her firstborn son, on whom she hasn’t laid eyes in over a decade.
But it has to be enough. Rudy may be an extremely powerful mage, and may even get his left hand back, but he can’t turn back time or bring Paul back. He simply has to be content with the fact that one of his parents still lives, and neither she nor Rudy would be alive without Paul’s sacrifice. But for one brief and fleeting moment, the Greyrat family was fully accounted for.
