CHAPTER 150.

This insect.

This thing…

This HUMAN…

The hydra screeched in anger. It was utterly ridiculous; this situation was ridiculous. The human had an inexhaustible well of Essence, and for an incredibly infuriating reason; it was burning its lifespan. All while undergoing some sort of change that the hydra did not completely understand. It had seen it before; its ancestors had seen it before, but even then it never understood it.

So few beings would undergo that, so few chosen ones would have the chance to ascend and yet this human before it was one of them? One of those people that would go on to change the world? A candidate to be a god? A weak and pitiful being in a lesser world no less?

It just didn’t understand; it couldn’t understand. It was a human. A lesser thing. A being heralding from Vir where it currently was. Such a being should stand no chance against it even in spite of its weakened form, and yet here she was. This human was…

“You will regret this!” the hydra bellowed as it went flying into a different room.

… pushing it back.

It might have been merely a newling, but armed with the knowledge of its ancestors it was wise beyond its time. And to it, to the hydra, nothing that was happening made sense. The human knowing Essence was strange, but not unheard of, the human being a candidate to be a god was also not unheard of, a human burning their own lifespan for Essence was not unheard of; but all of it happening in Vir? From a human that was by no means strong enough to be in Ill’hine?

It was impossibility.

For starters; the human didn’t even seem aware of what it was doing, and that fact alone angered it. It angered the hydra to no extent. It was a ruler, it was a being meant to destroy and take down the gods. Yet it was struggling against a mere human that didn’t understand its actions? It was unbelievable.

Not only that but it was actually beginning to get tired, it had used so much of its Essence already only to fail time and time again to kill this insect. It was totally and completely unacceptable.

“Enough!”

With a blast of its Essence everything within range was evaporated and the human was launched back, breaking through numerous walls. It was a hard thing to kill; and while it had made the mistake of missing its opportunity to kill it once, it wouldn’t do it again. Never again. It was going to squash this thing at once.

The hydra teleported on top of the human and raised its numerous maws. While the human had been able to interfere with its Essence there was no way it could do it repeatedly, and that was the hydra’s advantage. One it planned on exploiting.

The hydra breathed and the human slashed; cutting the Essence in the air and eliminating the breath. At the same time the human coughed up a mouthful of blood as she chuckled. For a moment, the hydra was stunned before the human teleported atop of it and raised a flaming multi-colored sword, one that was filled to the brim with Essence.

“Two can play that game!”

Along with its voice the hydra erased the Essence in the air. The human struck and its sword did barely anything as the hydra whipped, striking the human away with its tail. The hit shattered every bone in the human’s body as it was sent flying, ripping through the environment. Then, the hydra teleported with a burst of Essence and immediately flared its many cores.

It was going to end this thing that dared stand up to it.

The hydra appeared, its maws ripping with light as it fired immediately, it fired according to its senses; straight at the human. It was going to end everything here and now. It wasn’t taking any chances⁠—

The attack disappeared.

The human threw up a mouthful of blood and the hydra exploded with boiling anger.

“You insect!” it bellowed, stomping down upon the human. “You are merely delaying the inevitable!”

The human in response merely grunted, and with incredible strength it held on causing the hydra to feel even more frustrated. It didn’t understand why it tried to fight back despite its inevitable demise; why it clung so desperately to its life when it was a doomed fight to begin with. It was just causing it to waste its precious Essence; nothing short of an insult.

“Heathen!” the hydra screamed and used its newly returned Essence to this time enhance its physical strength, stomping down on the human for good.

In an instant, the human broke through the floor as a pained yelp echoed. Ascension may have allowed her to grow stronger in a short period of time, and maybe she would have continued to grow stronger if the hydra allowed this to continue; but it was done with this.

The hydra gathered its Essence, perhaps the human could have shut it down, but it didn’t matter because it was prepared. It breathed, and like clockwork, the human erased it. It was as expected, something that made the hydra feel nothing but glee, because it was over.

Its tail struck forward as it shifted into a sharp needle, it pierced into the human causing the human to scream as the hydra laughed. Its cackle echoed as it hefted the human up into the air, launching it up high as it opened its maws wide. It was over.

It saw the way the human’s expression went wide; how its beady eyes dilated, registering that the battle was over; and it laughed.

Goodbye⁠—

And the human punched with its right hand as the hydra screeched from primal pain; it was the damn Curse of Disintegration it used, but it didn’t matter. The hydra recovered almost instantly as it turned only to see the human in front of one of its heads, smiling. It wore a ring with the twin moons of Vir shining brightly.

“Open wide.”

And she punched, exploding numerous heads in an instant and sending the hydra reeling back in pain. The impact was strong, stronger than anything the human had thrown at it so far. It didn’t make sense, hadn’t the human just been injured? Hadn’t the human been tired? Wasn’t it about to die?

The hydra shook its head, and recovered itself. None of that mattered, none of those doubts mattered, the human would soon meet its end. It let out an ear-piercing roar to push back the insect, but all that happened instead was its roar⁠— disappeared. It was erased by the human due to its Essence contents, and before it could react, the hydra was punched.

Its eyes widened. A hole was blown through its chest as it was launched back and into the air, flying several meters.

What? What just happened?

Its mind reeled, uncomprehending of the situation, and before it could react, it happened again, almost causing it to topple right then and there as its blood was shed. It didn’t make sense. The human shouldn’t have had the ability to do this; not anymore.

The hydra tried to stand but it was quickly batted straight into the ground by a powerful kick.

Once more, it didn’t understand what was happening. And as it kept being pummeled into the ground the more confused it grew. None of the knowledge it could glean from its ancestors helped it, nothing did, and this confusion only grew as it tried to think of an explanation. It needed something to figure out what was happening; to think of a way to counteract it, but nothing came up.

Unless? There was something. The process of ascension. But shouldn’t it be slower than this? If the human’s strength just kept on growing because of its incessant Essence consumption then that meant that it would soon be overwhelmed. It couldn’t let that happen no matter what.

So that meant that it itself had to go above and beyond for this; even if it hurt its own cores it was something that had to be done. After all, as a mighty being itself, it couldn’t allow the human to put an end to its life. No matter what.

“Humannn!”

The hydra unleashed an ear-piercing and Essence-filled bellow that destroyed its surroundings, launching the human far back. Regardless of price, this was its battle to win, even the memories of its ancestors agreed with that. And so, the hydra bounded after the tiny insect that dared try to overshadow its greatness.

It teleported on top of its enemy and immediately raised its maws as the Essence within its being was roused. It blasted forward from its numerous maws with iridescent light, and as expected the human erased it. The attack vanished into thin air and all the hydra did in response was exert itself.

Another of its cores forcefully engaged as its body was filled with strength, and it immediately whipped its tail towards the human, but in response the insect lifted its arm and whispered⁠—

“Battery.”

In an instant the hydra’s tail was blown apart as the monster screeched. It hurt. But at the same time, this was an opportunity. The hydra immediately moved its Essence, forcing it again, the human had just done its party trick, and now it had used an important ability. Now, it was time to destroy it.

Numerous cores of the hydra shone as they immediately entered overdrive and lightly damaged themselves, its whole body being wrapped in iridescent light that was soon to explode. The light in a split second reached its apex and all the human could do was lift its arm and⁠— it flicked.

What?

The Essence was erased as the human nearly collapsed from whatever recoil it suffered. But even then, this time the hydra was stunned. Time and time again this thing kept on doing the impossible, time and time again it showed capabilities that it shouldn’t possess. Time and time again it won out in the exchanges it had for the hydra. Just how? Why? The hydra couldn’t understand it, but this time instead of feeling anger, it felt something else for the first time in its life.

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An unsettling feeling.

It didn’t know what it was, but now, it felt that its victory was no longer assured. Now, it felt a deep need to squash this human; not out of pride, but because it couldn’t understand it. And every fiber of its being was telling it that if it didn’t kill it, it would regret it.

“You!”

Essence exploded into the surroundings as the human was blasted back. The insect’s regeneration seemed limitless, but it didn’t matter. The hydra had to kill this thing no matter what.

It immediately lifted its many maws to fire upon it, to blast it into the afterlife, but in response the human pulled out a flaming bow and fired three black bolts at it, causing it to screech and lose control for a moment, but it didn’t last long as it moved its Essence to put an end to this.

It had to put an end to the human.

All of its cores shone in a bright light, and the human in response erased its Essence. The hydra staggered, before shouting as it forcefully brought it all back.

It immediately prepared an attack to end it all.

It didn’t know why it felt this way; why all of the sudden its primal directive became to annihilate the cockroach that had challenged it, but the idea of letting it live wasn’t a good one. This human had potential, more potential than any other human in the memories of its ancestors, enough potential to eventually fight its kin at full strength.

And that idea, letting that happen, made the hydra shudder.

It made it feel…

Fear.

The hydra lifted its maws, and to its surprise the human didn’t erase its Essence, meaning the attack was going to be fired off.

Finally. The hydra felt relief. Finally this human is going to die⁠—

And the human teleported before it and punched. It was stronger than ever before, sending the hydra flying and crashing through numerous walls as it lost control of its Essence. Its mind reeled, uncomprehending of the human’s strength. For a moment it lost consciousness, but as its many eyes opened and saw its blood pooling it understood what had been happening.

The human wasn’t growing exponentially stronger, in a way that the hydra couldn’t stop. In fact, the human was actually weaker than when the battle had started even with its ascension aiding it. The reason the hydra was being pushed back was because it was… exhausted. The heads it had lost had yet to regenerate, its Essence was at an all time low, and it itself was at the gates of death.

But it didn’t want to die.

It couldn’t die.

It had a great future ahead, and yet this human was about to kill it. This amazingly talented human. Even if the hydra now admitted the difference between the two, it still wanted to live. Just like the human that so desperately clung to its life, it too wanted to live.

It had so much to live for. So many lives to take and it had yet to experience what its ancestors had experienced.

It had to live.

“AAAAAGH!”

An ear piercing screech echoed as it unleashed all of its Essence, in an instant the human was pushed away from dealing the finishing blow as the hydra regenerated. Then it turned only to see the panting human staring at it defiantly, having no intention to erase its Essence, perhaps it couldn’t anymore, the hydra didn’t know, nor did it care.

Only one thing mattered right now, and that was killing this human so it could live. The hydra no longer feared the human, or what it was, or its lack of understanding, because its fear for death was many times greater.

“You won’t kill me,” it panted looking at the human that never spoke directly to it. “I won’t let you kill me.”

She frowned. “I share the same sentiment.”

Her voice was barely a whisper in the large cave, but that was enough for the hydra to understand.

Only one of the two could walk out of here alive. Even if they allied, this prison where they were wouldn’t allow it. Perhaps it was something that both of them were acutely aware of, or perhaps it was something only it understood, but it didn’t matter. Nothing of the sort mattered. Instead, the hydra enhanced its physical abilities; unfortunately catching the human with projectiles was difficult so all it could really do was bludgeon it to death and pin it.

Its eyes narrowed upon the human, who also shared the same feeling.

I’m not going to die here.

Now, with all of its remaining Essence, the hydra pushed forward, arriving before the human as it whipped its tail. The human responded in kind, slashing back as both of them entered a deadlock, but unlike the human, it had an edge. It understood Essence better than the human could ever understand it.

And so, it flared its Essence once more, straining its innards further, but in exchange it gained even more strength.

The human was whipped and sent flying away, then the hydra chased and once more tried to stomp it, but the human deftly dodged.

This body… Its body was just way too damn big to have the dexterity to deal with the human.

With a primal roar, it increased its speed as it began to fight the human on even grounds, its claws grew in size as it began to push the human back. And soon, the human began to incur injuries, and even though the human was losing it didn’t run. And the hydra could see it in the human’s gaze. In her gaze.

The resolve to carry this out till the end. It was truly admirable.

The hydra respected her, it respected the human now, which is why it gave it its all and spared no effort in making sure it was the winner. It was a battle that it would pass down as one of its memories to future hydras, but for now it had to win it. Because even now, victory was⁠—

One of its legs went flying, cut away from her sword.

⁠— uncertain.

So the hydra pushed itself further as its body began to break apart, the human didn’t seem to be doing any better. Hundreds of blows were exchanged, the hydra received hundreds of cuts and the human dozens of broken bones, but both regenerated themselves as the dance of death continued. Perhaps due to its large size it should have been at a disadvantage, but thanks to Essence it could increase its speed to be faster than the human.

Except, it would soon run out of Essence. Unfortunately, only those undergoing ascension could sacrifice their lifespan for Essence.

It had to end this now.

The hydra stomped on the ground, breaking through it and sending the human into the air, and then it gathered its remaining Essence into all of its cores as its body began to shine once more, and this time, the human’s expression truly shifted into horror as she lifted a red sword.

“Goodbye brave warrior.”

“Shit⁠—”

And the hydra unleashed its attack as a rippling explosion engulfed the surroundings.

* * *

The god of the tower was angry.

Or so that’s what every mercenary present said as the ground kept on rumbling. In fact, they were praying for forgiveness all around her. The peach-fuzz haired elf didn’t understand it, unlike most people she could actually sense something; something deep within the earth, and this something truly terrified her.

And yet, this being seemed to have been locked in battle with something. Frei had no idea of what was happening, after all, there was zero chance that Amber was responsible for this.

But even then, she refused to run, because Amber was still down there. So, instead, Frei waited patiently. She waited as the battle continued on, as the energies shifted, and even as the ground further shook, but eventually something caused her to want to run. A sense of impending doom from an attack that was about to occur, and she wasn’t the only one to sense it.

“We’ve angered the primordial!”

“Please forgive us!”

“Run!”

But by that point, it was too late to run.

At that moment, beams of light erupted in all directions from the dirt, destroying the surroundings in an instant, as Frei was forced to dodge, barely saving her life; and then, the light vanished as soon as it came.

Just like that, the battle between monsters had ended, and Frei couldn’t help but swallow, because regardless of which being won; the surviving thing below was truly a terrifying thing.

Yet, she still prayed for Amber’s survival, and for her to not encounter this beast.

That was all she could do.

That was the only thing she could do.

* * *

It was over.

The hydra wanted to laugh, but instead it simply lay there at the gates of death. Because it had lost.

It stared ahead as it saw the bloodied human walk out, holding two swords that were about to fall apart. Perhaps its attack had been way too weak, it hadn’t been able to use much Essence after all, or maybe it just wasn’t concentrated enough so it didn’t hit the human hard enough, but regardless of the reason for its defeat it had lost, and now it was going to die.

It stared at the approaching human and couldn’t help but chuckle as all but one of its heads dried out.

“Human⁠— No, mighty warrior,” it spoke. “What is your name?”

The human stood before it, lifting her broken sword as she answered with a hardened expression.

“Amber.”

The hydra closed its eyes.

“I see, I shall remember your glorious name. Congratulations on finishing your ascension. But there is one thing I must tell you…”

Then taking a final breath it began to speak.

“Amber, your lifespan is…”

“I don’t have much left, right?” she said. “I know, only I just now realized it.”

“Indeed, you traded it all for Essence, so use my levels to save yourself.”

Following its words, the broken sword went through its head, marking the end of its life as its body began to rot. Slowly, but surely all of its body began to shrivel as the last of its Essence was drained. But just before it lost consciousness, it mustered a final whisper for the human to hear.

“Amber, it was an honor to die at your hands. Your strength befits a crown.”

And with that, the hydra died.

* * *

[You have defeated a [Newling Primordial Hydra. Lvl. 338].]

For defeating an enemy 100 levels above your own, you have received bonus experience!

…

[You have reached level 233. 15 stat points awarded.]

+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]

…

[You have reached level 240. 15 stat points awarded.]

+5 Vitality +5 Strength +5 Dexterity.]

It was over.

Amber collapsed panting before the gigantic monster. She was on the verge of passing out, and yet she couldn’t help but think back on the final words of the hydra, they were… nice. Not only that, but the hydra had been aware of the fact that her Ascension finished. But it had also known about the thing she only realized at the end of the fight.

The fact that she had basically burned through her life for Essence; all for the sake of winning that fight.

A sigh left her, before she closed her eyes. “Though ten years is more than enough for me to get my next advancement.”

In the end, she wasn’t worried about that; not unless she was thrown into another situation where she needed to forcefully draw Essence out of her being. Which was unlikely to happen before her next Class Advancement. But even then, she was tired; and for good reason, she had done the impossible.

“And I got great rewards,” she whispered with a smile.

Do you wish to complete your Ascension now?

A voice echoed in her mind; it was akin to an advancement, which hopefully would help her in the whole life expectancy department, but now wasn’t the time to check it out. Because there was something else, something that appealed to her more at this very moment. After all, it was what she had been chasing after.

She had become a hero.

[The Shattered Tower acknowledges you as a hero, granting you the opportunity to take an item from the second floor of its treasury.

Would you like to go to the treasury now?]

This was what she had wanted all along, and soon she would go to the third floor after this, she was sure of it.

And so, Amber smiled.

“Yes.”