Chapter 135: The Hydra's Terror
With surprise and horror, Nolan watched as the severed head, which was on the ground, faded away into ashes.
Then, the stump of the Hydra's head immediately began growing once more.
But this time, instead of a single head, four were growing out.
Shocked, Nolan watched as a total of four heads emerged from the Hydra's stump.
Not only had his move of severing a single head failed miserably, but the Hydra had even added additional heads, leaving Nolan dumbstruck.
Only now did Nolan remember the true myth that surrounded the hydras and stated about them in his past lives.
And that was the Hydra's terrific ability of being able to grow a new head once one had been caught of.
Nolan had absolutely forgotten about that and now it was too late. The previous three headed hydra had turned into a four headed hydra and its eight yellow eyes were now flashing with an incredible amount of Killing intent.
"I'm screwed!"
SCREEECH!
A powerful screech jolted Nolan from his shock as he tried to immediately run but failed.
The sonic wave managed to throw him off his balance and sending him flying into the distance.
RIIIIIIIiP!
Instantly, the sound of the air parting resonated through the arena.
Nolan's eyes widened in shock as a destructive energy of purple light appeared right before his chest, and then...
BANG!
A horrific force slammed into his chest, sending him tumbling backward at terrifying speed until...
BOOM!
A deep crater appeared on the arena wall as Nolan's body smashed into it, sliding down amidst splashes of red blood that covered the wall behind him.
The Hydra's sinister gaze locked onto the seemingly unconscious Nolan, and without wasting a second, the new Hydra opened its mouth.
Strange flaming red runic lines appeared all over its neck, and then it raised its head toward the sky.
In the next instant, Nolan's groggy and blurry vision snapped open as he felt his spine tingling from perceived danger.
Quickly, he rose to his feet, looking up into the air, only to find a runic portal forming above his head.
"Is that...?" Nolan had yet to complete his words when a large pillar of flames burst out of the portal, roughly scorching his body.
An agonized scream escaped his lips.
The flame torrent continued for ten seconds straight, causing the ground around the area to melt as the flames engulfed the entire surroundings.
Fifteen seconds later, the smoke surrounding the attack zone disappeared, revealing a figure.
The figure of an individual, with blackened skin, knelt on a single knee.
Smoke radiated out from his fully burnt body, and white gas puffed out of his lips.
He held a dangling chain in his right hand.
Nolan fiercely raised his head to look at the new Hydra heads, whose eyes flashed with a sinister glint.
It was clear to Nolan what the creature's power was, but the Hydra didn't give him a chance to rest.
It instantly spat out corrosive saliva, and Nolan quickly jumped away from where he stood.
Barely evading the acidic spit, the Hydra continued chasing him around with each of its destructive abilities.
Weakened by the earlier flame attack, Nolan was struggling to keep up. His burns worsened the longer he dealt with the Hydra's attacks.
TSSSSHHH!
The sound of his shoulder corroding rang out. Nolan gritted his teeth from the pain as thoughts echoed in his head.
"I need to end this fast!"
But in the back of his mind, Nolan felt fear creeping in.
Severing the Hydra's heads seemed to only call forth more.
And if the Hydra grew five heads, who knew if he could handle it any longer?
Now, he was afraid to even attack the Hydra at all, as it might lead to it sprouting another head.
That would be the end of him.
"Damn it!" Nolan cursed in his head, trying to figure out how to solve this issue. Then, a thought came to him.
Of course, he knew the Hydra couldn't be immortal. There had to be a way to kill it.
The most reasonable method seemed to be severing all its heads, one by one, until it was dead.
But he had tried that already, and it had failed.
That made Nolan consider another idea.
What if he sliced off all of the Hydra's heads in one swift stroke?
Would the creature be able to regrow every single head quickly? To Nolan, it seemed that the Hydra's ability to regrow its heads most likely exhausted its Mythic Vitality.
If he severed a single head, the creature could likely regrow it and generate a new one naturally from ts abundance of Mythic Vitality.
But what if he severed all the heads in a single stroke? Would the Hydra possess enough energy to regrow every single head? Or would it die instantly due to having no heads at all?
The idea magnified more and more in Nolan's mind as he kept running around the arena.
The thought of himself being overwhelmed finally prompted him to take the risk.
If he succeeded and the Hydra couldn't regrow all of its heads, it would be defeated, and Nolan would have successfully passed this test.
But if, on the contrary, the Hydra was able to recover all of its heads, then it would possess eight heads—each with its own unique and destructive abilities.
If that happened, his chances of survival would be nil, and he would be eliminated from the trial.
Whatever choice it was, Nolan was willing to risk it.
After all, if he simply kept running around like this, he would eventually be exhausted physically.
By then, he would be nothing more than a sitting duck for the Hydra.
"Now the question is, how do I sever every single head with a single swift stroke?"
As he dodged a destructive beam, the sound of something jingling reached his earsa and Nolan focused his attention, turning to look at his fiery chains.
"Time to end this..."