Kazuma finds himself before Eris once more, having died in the battle with the hydra. When he wakes up naked, reeking, and covered in intestinal slime, he learns Darkness let the monster swallow her in order to rescue him. Back home as he washes off the funk, Kazuma can sense something is troubling Darkness, and cheers her up through gentle needling of her obligation to protect Axel from the hydra.
In the Cute Megumin x Kazuma moment of the week, Megumin declares that of course she’d want to avenge the fact that Kazuma was killed by the hydra (even if Eris brought him right back). As Darkness and Megumin go back to the hydra again and again, blast it with Explosion, then return home, Kazuma summons the whole guild to help Darkness bring the beast down.
The thieves and their Bind skills combined with the archers and wizards all work together as a cohesive unit as Darkness uses her Decoy skill to distract the hydra. Kazuma uses his Drain ability to further weaken the hulking beast. With a foe this big and powerful, Kazuma realized it would take far more than the four of them to bring it down.
In the midst of the battle Kazuma is almost crushed by the hyrda’s sprawling body, but he’s saved by Darkness. Kazuma then provides negative reinforcement of the kind Darkness just can’t get enough of, which combined with Kazuma’s repeated Drain Touches and Aqua casting Blessings all over the place, end up putting the hydra on the ropes.
The wizards, led by Yunyun and Megumin, put an exclamation point on the battle by blowing the hydra away with a particularly violent Explosion, the culmination of hundreds of previous spells. Everyone in Kazuma’s party had a role to play in this battle, not to mention the other Axel adventuers. It’s a stunning victory, but it’s less about securing territory and far more about affirming the bonds between good friends and the community at large.
When Kazuma, Aqua, and Megumin return home after a long night of bubbly-drinking and carousing, Darkness is nowhere to be found. The hydra turned out to be her One Last Job, as she declares that due to the “complex” situation with her family she is leaving the party and returning home. Wait, what?!
KonoSuba is a cruel mistress, delivering so much wholesome camaraderie only to reduce the party by one quarter in the end. It’s a gut punch, but not an irreversible one. Who’s to say Kazuma, Aqua, and Megumin won’t scour the lands for Darkness’ whereabouts and insist upon aiding her in whatever task she felt compelled to abandon the party to fulfill?
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