Chapter 134: Battle With A Three-Headed Hydra
The creature was a towering serpent-like monstrosity with a writhing, scaled body that spanned nearly 50 feet in length.
Its enormous body was covered in dark green, iridescent scales that shimmered like steel under the arena's lights.
Each scale seemed tough enough to deflect the harshest swords and arrows.
At the forefront of this creature's terror were its three heads—each mounted on a thick, muscular neck rising like towering serpents.
Each head was unique in its ferocity, with yellow eyes glinting malevolently, staring down at Nolan with primal hunger.
Their fang-filled maws dripped with toxic, acidic saliva, hissing and snapping at the air, eager to tear him apart.
What was worse, however, was the fact that Nolan could sense something abnormal about those heads.
He didn't know what it was, but they gave him chills, especially the one in the center. Its eyes looked so intelligent it was as though Nolan were fighting an ancient, cunning mind.
"This won't be easy..."
[Main Quest Activated!]
[Defeat the Three-Headed Hydra!]
[Rewards: +2 Level-Up Cards.]
"But it'll be worth it," Nolan muttered, seeing the system notification.
The hydra's movements were fluid and terrifyingly swift. Its snake-like form glided over the arena with deadly grace, and its eyes never left Nolan's body. In the next instant, it attacked!
RIIIIIIIIIPPPP!
The sound of the air being torn apart rang out as the left head fired a powerful beam of purple energy.
But this time, Nolan was already familiar with its speed and quickly burst to the side, barely dodging the beam, which chased after him but soon halted.
SCREEEEECH!
A powerful sonic noise came forth from the third head, slamming into Nolan immediately. He found himself tumbling uncontrollably across the ground.
"Shit!" he screamed, his senses disoriented. He couldn't even tell the difference between the sky and the ground.
But his instincts were sharp enough to warn him of something rapidly heading his way. Nolan quickly bowed his head to the ground at the last second.
Something narrowly shot over his head, scraping a bit of his hair in its passing before it splattered against the wall.
As Nolan regained his balance, he darted to the side.
Unconsciously, his eyes moved toward where the strange blue liquid had splattered on the wall.
He was shocked by what he saw.
The wall where the liquid had landed was emitting steam, and Nolan watched as a hole burned through it, his eyes widening in fear.
If that had landed on his face, his fate would've been unknown. But most likely, it would have definitely been corroded in, and burnt up all his facial features.
It would have been a miracle if he survived.
"Its middle head can spit out corrosive liquid," Nolan muttered to himself as he immediately rose up and quickly began running away.
SCREEEEECH!
A second later, another incredibly loud sonic screech was sent toward him.
Nolan felt the dizziness returning, but this time, he was fast enough to escape it.
Soon, another gigantic beam of purple light shot forth with speed toward Nolan, destroying the walls of the arena.
Cracks filled the smoky, burning battlefield.
The hydra never moved from its position since the beginning of the battle, not even once.
Yet, Nolan had never stopped running either.
And so, a stalemate occurred, with Nolan able to outmaneuver its attacks while the hydra relentlessly pursued him.
But Nolan knew a truth buried deep in his mind: he couldn't run forever. He didn't have Divine Essence like the ordinary Celestial Heirs making him quicker to be exhausted.
Eventually, his physical strength would be exhausted, and he would be nothing more than a sitting duck.
Due to that, Nolan began analyzing the creature and the best approach to ending its life.
"It has three heads. Two of those heads, I can sense, lack intelligence." He mused looking at the two heads which he could sense lack their own control, Instead being controlled by the other two heads.
The middle head, however, controls the other two.
The right head spits out that destructive purple beam of energy, and the middle one spits corrosive chemicals.
The left head, the third one, causes sonic booms that disorient my senses."
"Additionally, it has a weakness, which is that only one head can attack at a particular time."
"There's also a total of three seconds before the next head activates, during which the other two heads' abilities are unavailable,"
Nolan analyzed, his eyes narrowing as he dodged another scorching beam of energy and quickly avoided a splash of corrosive liquid.
"I understand it. I'll kill it!" Nolan declared with determination. In the next instant, he changed his stance, and in a blur, ran with his fastest speed toward the creature.
SCREEEEECH!
Immediately, the hydra blasted out a loud, powerful sonic scream to disorient its opponent, but Nolan dodged it.
He slammed his leg onto the floor, cracking open a crater, which he disappeared into.
And once he landed underground, he immediately slashed forward with his blade, cleaving apart the earth, until he instantly jumped out of the ground—right below the hydra, which was caught off guard by Nolan's sudden reappearance.
Still, the hydra didn't hesitate for even a second as it spewed violet energy directly onto Nolan, covering his entire vision.
BOOOOOOOOM!
The entire ground shook violently from the collision of the purple energy, but when the dust settled, the hydra's third head narrowed as it found nothing within the crater.
Not even a trace of flesh.
RIIIIIIIIIIIP!
In the next instant, the sound of a blade cleaving through something rang out, followed by two loud and painful screeches.
Nolan landed back onto the ground, twenty meters away, and behind him lay the severed head of the hydra.
"With its intelligent head gone, the rest should be simple," Nolan mused to himself. But his expression changed instantly, horror flashing in his eyes, as he saw the hydra undergoing a new transformation.
"What!? WHAT THE HELL?!" Nolan screamed in shock as he watched the impossible.