The Beginning Of A Five Year Agony-Chapter 53: The Seven headed Hydra’s Lair

But as he turned back, he saw a massive eyeball looking at him...

But Samuel noticed something...

The massive eyeball in the wall was not a part of the rock... it was one of seven. Slowly, majestically, and colossal, it began to reveal itself. Its immense body, scaled and sinuous, coiled within the vast underwater chamber, previously hidden by the gloom and its deceptive stillness. One by one, its seven heads emerged from the rock wall, each topped with a single, glowing red eye, their serpentine necks extending towards Samuel. The head he had just seen was just one of many. Each head was as large as a small submarine, its jaws lined with rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Samuel’s heightened senses immediately registered the creature’s immense arcane essence, a deep, ancient essence that radiated through the water. He was still retaining essence from his and the mermaid’s battle, his essence slightly depleted. He knew this was going to be a prolonged fight for him...

The Hydra moved first, its central head lunging at Samuel. Its massive jaws opened wide, attempting to swallow him whole. Samuel, reacting instantly, activated "Periodic Poltergeist," vanishing from its sight. The Hydra’s jaws snapped shut on empty water, the force of its bite creating a powerful current that buffeted Samuel, even in his invisible state...

He moved...reappeared above one of the Hydra’s heads, leveraging the sheer size of the chamber to his advantage. He immediately activated "Hand of War," channeling dark red energy into his fists... He slammed both hands down onto the Hydra’s tough, scaly head. The impact sent vibrations through the colossal creature’s body, and the Hydra roared in pain, a sound that resonated as a low-frequency hum through the water, causing ripples on the surface far above...

The Hydra thrashed, its other six heads whipping through the water, creating powerful currents that threatened to disorient Samuel... freёweɓnovel_com

He used his shield, Faith-Keeper, to brace himself against the turbulent water, absorbing the kinetic energy. He aimed the shield at one of the Hydra’s eyes and unleashed a concentrated beam of stored kinetic energy. The beam struck, blinding that eye, but the sheer scale of the Hydra meant one blinded eye was a minor inconvenience...

Samuel knew he couldn’t take on all seven heads at once. He needed to be systematic. He reactivated "Periodic Poltergeist" and vanished again. The Hydra’s remaining eyes scanned the underwater depths, trying to locate him...

He reappeared directly in front of one of the side heads. As it lunged, he unleashed "Cry of a God," a focused burst of energy directly into its open mouth. The energy tore through the inside of the head, causing it to explode outwards. Greenish-blue blood, thick and viscous, poured into the water, momentarily clouding his vision.

But the Hydra was ancient and powerful. From the severed neck, two new heads immediately began to grow, regenerating at an alarming rate. Samuel cursed inwardly. This was a classic Hydra. For every head cut, two would grow back. He couldn’t just brute force this.

He needed to change his strategy. He called Aegirion to his hand, then activated "Art of War." Aegirion transformed into its towering knight form, its dark green energy radiating through the water, creating a sphere of visibility around Samuel. "Aegirion, target their necks, but don’t sever them fully. Cripple the muscle, not the bone," Samuel commanded. He needed to disable them without triggering regeneration.

Aegirion moved, a massive, swift, dark green blur in the water, slashing at the base of one of the Hydra’s heads. Its massive sword cut deep, severing muscle and nerve, but stopping just short of the spine. The head went limp, its eye dimming, but it remained attached. Another head lunged at Aegirion, its jaws snapping. Aegirion pivoted, its sword swinging in a powerful arc, striking the Hydra’s jaw and shattering several of its teeth.

Meanwhile, Samuel, still invisible with "Periodic Poltergeist," used the distraction created by Aegirion. He swam rapidly towards the Hydra’s main body, aiming for the soft underbelly where its colossal mass connected to the cavern floor. He activated "Hand of War" again, focusing immense power into his fists. He slammed his fists into the Hydra’s underside repeatedly, trying to tear through its thick hide. Each impact sent tremors through the creature, but its scales were incredibly resilient.

The Hydra, enraged, began to spin its immense body, creating a devastating whirlpool that dragged at Samuel and Aegirion. Samuel was forced to deactivate "Periodic Poltergeist" as the powerful currents threatened to rip him apart. He braced himself with his shield, digging his heels into the cavern floor, resisting the pull. Aegirion, caught in the vortex, struggled to maintain its footing, its knight form straining against the water’s force...

Three of the Hydra’s heads, though one was now limp from Aegirion’s precise strike, lunged simultaneously at Samuel, their jaws wide. Samuel used his shield to parry the first attack, deflecting the head with a powerful shove...

He then spun, deactivating "Art of War," using Aegirion in its blade form, which he had called back to his hand, to slash across the eyes of the second and third heads as they came close. The attacks blinded them temporarily, but they would regenerate quickly.

He needed to find a core, a central point of weakness. This creature was too large, too resilient. Simply disabling heads wouldn’t work forever, and "ASH To All" was still out of reach...

Samuel began to notice something subtle in the water. As the Hydra thrashed, small, faint glowing lines appeared on its scales, almost like energy pathways beneath its skin...

He realized these were conduits, channels of its arcane essence, connecting its heads to its main body...

Activate "Art of War." Busts of dark green energy...

"Aegirion! Focus on the glowing lines on its body! Cut into them, sever them completely!" Samuel shouted, his voice muffled by the water, but relayed telepathically to his blade...

Aegirion, responding to his command, began to shift its attacks from the heads to the body, aiming its massive sword at these faint glowing lines. It struck with precision, creating deep gashes that glowed with the Hydra’s internal shocked essence...

The Hydra roared again, a sound of genuine pain and agony this time, as its arcane essence was disrupted....

One of the active heads, realizing Samuel’s strategy, lunged at him, its jaws snapping. Samuel activated "Cry of a God" again, but this time he held the energy within his body, charging it... As the head came close, he released the energy in a burst; it could not explode the head, but it created a powerful concussive wave that pushed the head back, buying him precious seconds...

He then darted forward, grabbing the Hydra by one of its still-functional serpentine heads. He used the Hydra’s own momentum against it, swinging the massive head like a baseball club and slamming it into another one of the moving heads... The two heads collided with sickening force, both recoiling in pain...

Samuel knew this was a war of attrition, and he needed a way to cripple the entire creature, not just its parts... He needed a way to force a weakness from this ancient beast...

The Hydra retaliated with a furious burst of speed and velocity underwater, its entire body coiling and uncoiling, whipping through the vast underwater chamber. The water churned into a maelstrom, throwing Samuel against the cavern walls... He activated his shield, bracing against the impact, but the sheer force of the water hammered him relentlessly against his will... Aegirion, still in knight form, struggled against the current, its movements impeded by the density of the water...

Samuel saw his chance. The Hydra’s wild movements exposed more of the glowing essence lines on its body. He needed to cripple its overall energy flow... He disengaged his shield for a split second, allowing the current to propel him forward, then reactivated it, using the momentum to slam into one of the Hydra’s heads...

"Aegirion! Disrupt the essence flow!" Samuel commanded. He synchronized his movement with his blade knight form...

As Samuel slammed the head into a nearby rock formation, causing fissures in the cavern, Aegirion struck with incredible precision at a nexus essence point where several glowing lines converged... The massive sword sliced deep, not severing, but cutting a wide, wound that glowed intensely before dimming out...

The Hydra roars in pain, a high-pitched, guttural sound that vibrated painfully through the water, even affecting Samuel’s internal organs... The two heads that had been growing back from the previous explosion suddenly withered and receded, failing to fully form. This was it for Samuel. Disruption of its energy network was the key...

Enraged by the pain and the failure of its regeneration, its remaining active heads launched a coordinated attack...

Three heads lunged from different directions, their jaws snapping shut simultaneously where Samuel had been moments before...

Samuel, relying on his enhanced senses and raw speed, twisted his body, evading the attacks by mere inches...

He felt the cold rush of water as their teeth missed him...

This chapter is updat𝙚d by f(r)eew𝒆bn(o)vel.com