CHAPTER 148.

There is just no way…

Amber couldn’t believe her eyes. It was a hydra; the same mythical creature that she kept seeing all throughout the tower, and even though the one before her was essentially a baby, its power was something that made her shake on her spot. All of her senses, every single fiber of her being was telling her one thing and one thing only:

Run.

It felt just like when she met Ax’thra for the first time, a sense of overwhelming dread; of despair. And while Amber wanted to convince herself this was supposed to be a challenge that could be surpassed, she wasn’t so sure. Heroes, after all, always achieved the impossible. Meaning this was ⁠— on paper ⁠— impossible. And while she had done things considered impossible in the past, this time it was different; because for the first time in her life she felt thoroughly inadequate.

Amber instinctively reached for the teleporting rod that the tower had granted her, but as soon as she did, a notification came.

[All means to exit this floor have been disabled.]

That was all it said, but it was enough for her to gulp as she saw the hydra raising its myriad of heads towards the air; numerous elements accumulating within its various maws. A sight that made her pale, because she knew⁠— she understood, that deep down, her power didn’t compare to what this thing could unleash casually.

Within the hydra’s body Amber saw numerous sparkles, like the glittering of jewels; glints of eclectic colors that shimmered inside the dimly lit room, and then the hydra breathed.

Amber teleported. She teleported to the ceiling, digging Cursewelder to hang onto it, as the flooring of the room she was in⁠— exploded. It burst into a myriad of stars as every element imaginable consumed the entirety of the room, melting it away as it turned into a vast glimmering nebulae.

Just… Amber swallowed as the hydra turned towards her. How am I supposed to defeat this thing? No, forget defeating it⁠— surviving was enough of a problem already. The more she thought about it, the more she felt a sense of impending doom. Perhaps it was the surreality of the situation, perhaps it was just how she had built up the monster in her mind, but for a moment she felt herself shutting down.

For the briefest moment she felt helpless. But then, she paused. Because, suddenly, her situation didn’t make sense to her.

Helpless? Me? It was such a ridiculous concept. How?

The hydra breathed again in her direction as she teleported to a wall of the room, the ceiling now being turned into nothingness. The ground looked like a vast galaxy, and the top of the room looked like a sparkling veil of night.

When I feel helpless, does that mean I should roll over and die? Amber frowned. If I meet a Primordial Spirit that wants to kill me like Sid did, will I react the same way? Be scared?

She gritted her teeth, quickly reaching a conclusion.

Of course, I fucking will; being scared is a natural response to overwhelming power, but⁠…

Amber stared at the hydra, feeling now boiling anger for her previous emotions.

“Like hell will I roll over and die for anything that’s not a god⁠— Primordial Exertion.” All her muscles tensed as she raised her sword. “Accursed Strength and Accursed Reigntion.”

Her body reached the peak, and with Essence, she made her skills be used again. Accursed Strength immediately doubled its output two times, Accursed Reignition multiplied her strength multiple times, and Primordial Exertion brought all of it out as she jumped.

The wall exploded and like a bullet she hit the hydra, tackling it with a loud explosion as its pained roar reverberated throughout the room.

Amber didn’t care now. She didn’t care about the fact that this monster made her feel fear like never before; she didn’t care how it made her feel like prey to be hunted; she didn’t care about how much weaker she was; all she cared about was one thing and one thing only:

Pride. Her damn pride wouldn’t allow this unfolding situation to continue any longer. So what if the damn hydra was that much stronger? Was she supposed to just give up and die? Of course not!

Amber screamed, tearing into the hydra’s acidic flesh as her own muscles melted from the blood of the mythical monster. But she didn’t care, even if this was her only chance to kill it she was going to damn use it.

She grunted as the hydra thrashed as she tore into its insides, delving into its massive body. And even though the melting power of its blood increased. Then, the hydra shone. The numerous cores within its body lit up; and through her hazy vision Amber saw them as a sea of stars before they⁠— blasted.

She was ejected out of the hydra’s body and crashed into a wall, breaking through it, and blasting through an innumerable number of stones as her bones cracked.

Amber landed rolling in an unknown chamber, and she coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“I guess it’s not going to be that simple, huh?” She smiled. “That’s fine.”

Needless to say she did have a plan in mind. One that was a bit overly simplistic but one that she was aware would possibly work. And that was to push her limits. Now, this on paper sounded stupid, but by doing it she was basically guaranteed to advance her core and eventually ascend it to the 1st Realm of Stars.

And by doing so, she was guaranteed to kill the hydra. Perhaps she was suddenly being overly confident, but the reason was simple; she had to do it. There was no alternative to killing this mythical being, no 6th Rank skill that would save her; no Essence skill that she had been practicing, no nothing.

No, all she had was her resolve to push her limits and to triumph no matter what. Or at least, she had to try until she died, which wasn’t happening any time soon⁠. And for that, she needed to be hyperaware, and more importantly, realize that at best right now she was evenly matched with the hydra.

Amber frowned. It was too quiet, almost too quiet.

However, it all changed when a black aura surrounded her followed by danger; she tried to teleport out of the way but nothing happened as she cursed.

“Shit⁠—”

The hydra teleported on top of her and slammed. Amber was unable to move as its whole body weight slammed down on her, breaking her neck, her spine, her ribs⁠— which punctured her heart and then the floor below her shattered.

She immediately was sent into a dark room, which wasn’t a huge deal, not when her attributes were so inflated due to her active skills, the problem was the hydra and it’s myriad of cores because⁠—

Amber groaned as her regeneration was forcefully stopped, one of the many cores of the hydra shone upon her with a red light. She had healed enough to stand up, but not enough to do anything else. And that was when she realized her mistake.

I was too passive by waiting for the hydra to come.

“Ugh—”

She barely teleported away with Quick Dash as a rain of ice spears missed her, and then she stumbled as some barely closed wounds reopened. Amber yelped in pain as she immediately urged her Essence, and more specifically God’s Physique to forcefully go past whatever suppression the hydra was using, and heal her, but even then it was slow.

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It was hard to believe that only a single mistake landed her in this state, but it had happened, and now she was in the same situation that she started in: fearing for her life.

She cursed as skeletal hands rose to grab her, bone claws slashed and she barely dodged numerous things as the hydra aimed well over six maws at her and breathed.

The breaths combined mid air as Amber gulped from what she was feeling.

If that thing hits me I’ll most definitely die.

Amber teleported out of the way and the attack hit⁠— the shockwave slammed her through dozens of walls as her organs splattered across various rooms, all while she nearly fainted from the pain she was feeling.

And as she landed like a ragdoll she broke into a coughing fit.

Just… what am I doing? She tightened her hands into a fist.

She had been too passive just after getting blasted away, maybe it was because of a sudden burst of confidence, or because she was thinking, or whatever. But it didn’t matter. This was a fight for her life, and yet she hadn’t given her all right there. She wasn’t even using all of the tools at her disposal either.

Sure, deep down, she was still fearful; hell she had even relived that fear earlier but that didn’t matter.

Amber got up, forcing herself as she exerted her Essence, her body immediately began to shine in a blue hue as her wounds slowly closed; the 2nd Rank of Accursed Recovery also did its best in its suppressed state, and she didn’t stop there as she extended her hand into the air and produced Arkara’s staff.

“I have to get my head out of my ass, and try my best.” She grunted as the staff became covered in purple flames. “Otherwise I’ll fucking die.”

Amber immediately pulled back as a bow-string and two arrows were made, one with a vibrant blue hue and a different one with a ghastly purple flame. Both were arrows filled to the brim with energy, one that carried Essence and the other mana, and Amber teleported out of the way preemptively.

The hydra appeared over the spot where she had just been, and Amber grunted, loosing the arrows.

Primordial Blazing Bolt and Cursed Blazing Bolt⁠—

The two projectiles immediately impacted the hydra before it could reach her, and unleashed a ripping and hellish explosion that destroyed the entire chamber they were in. Perhaps it was the increase in her attributes, perhaps it was her newfound resolve, but Amber didn’t care.

Her inner core slightly cracked, but she needed more.

Amber burst forward towards the hydra, now wielding Cursewelder as she slashed forward, immediately cleaving into one of the heads of the reeling hydra, but it didn’t go all the way through as she spat⁠—

“Fulminating Slash⁠—Wind Cleave!”

The head snapped and the other heads took damage from the following blue explosion as the flames proliferated all around the hydra, some of its cores were beginning to shine to deal with whatever was happening, but Amber knew better than to just let that happen now.

So instead she jumped again and dug her sword deep into her hydra as she whispered a word she had been using for years now.

“Battery.”

The base of the necks of the hydra exploded⁠— burst as the monster cried out with a cacophony of screeches. Its numerous cores flickering and flashing in disarray as Amber triumphantly smirked before making her next move. Right now, she had one goal and one goal only; doing as much damage in the limited time she had.

Amber whispered, “Abyssal Blast.”

A purple explosion engulfed the hydra as it let out an ear-piercing screech, and Amber this time seized her opportunity to kill this monster. While she was tired and still injured, it didn’t matter. Instead, she used Primordial Exertion as her body threatened to fall apart; and with it, her core further cracked.

Right now, she almost felt like she had unlimited Essence, and while that was most certainly not the case, Amber still decided to capitalize on it.

She reached, into her storage ring and replaced her sword for the staff that she had been starting to dislike ⁠— Arkara’s Staff. It felt like a crutch, and maybe that’s what it had been in the past, but right now, it was just a tool for her to push her limits with. She channeled her Essence into it as she stepped back from the hydra who thrashed in pain and anger.

Amber didn’t know if this was going to be enough, but that didn’t matter to her, all that mattered to her right now was pushing her limits. All that mattered was being more. And for that, she has to do her damn best, she had to push herself until she had no life left⁠— she had push every single ounce of strength out of her being.

And for that I have to try harder⁠—

Amber grunted as she felt a sharp pain coming from within her, the green gem of the staff shone in a bright ominous green; one that was pale and reaching towards white. And Amber knew she was in the right direction towards fully cracking her inner core.

But even then I still need more⁠—

Storm of Destruction!

Amber screamed as the whole room was lit in a blue light, a thunderous boom blew through her ear-drums shattering them in an instant as blood splattered. The room itself was torn apart as white streaks destroyed everything they hit, and in the center, the hydra was; its large and lumbering body was ravaged and torn by the lightning, taking the direct brunt of the attack.

The bolts crashed and tore apart its flesh, some were deflected into walls, and others stunned it causing it to thrash and screech. The lightning was strong, and Amber didn’t stop there as she pushed her own blood, her own mana to be turned into Essence once more as she raised Arkara’s Staff into the air.

She had no fancy tricks, no new attack to show off, all there was were her curses and expertise.

A black arrow was formed floating into the air, as she immediately almost threw up just casting it. Black veins appeared all over her body as she started to bleed, but Amber continued on gritting her teeth, as the black arrow was made and then, she launched it.

Arrow of Disintegration⁠—

It flew like a black streak, and in a single moment it hit its target. There was a small explosion as a screech of pain like never before resounded⁠— the chamber that was falling apart shook, and Amber knew, she understood that this was her moment.

She stowed away Arkara’s Staff, and took a step forward, almost stumbling as she felt like death. Matter of fact was, she was still injured from the previous scuffle still; she had just exhausted all of her Essence; she had pushed her core and hurt it; the Curse of Disintegration had just ravaged through her body; and to top it all off, her body was still tired from using Primordial Exertion.

But that didn’t matter, because Amber knew she was close.

She peered into her insides, where she saw a ball of blue light that had spider-web-like cracks all over its surface.

So close…

Amber gritted her teeth and pushed herself forward, jumping onto the struggling hydra as she stabbed her hands into its flesh. First she burned⁠— consuming its lifeblood to restore herself, though that had no visible effect. Then she took a deep breath, the next step was even more simple.

“Now comes… disintegration.”

She pushed her body to generate the curse at the tip of her hands as the hydra screeched in pain. She didn’t know the weak-spot of the lumbering monster, perhaps it didn’t have one, but little by little she was going to whittle it down. She just had to push.

Amber held onto the struggling hydra for her dear life as she drained herself of mana and Essence at a rapid pace, she didn’t know why but converting her mana to Essence was easier than ever before; her regeneration was better than before, and she used it to her advantage as Amber forced herself to gather her Essence and mana.

Condense the curse just like before… She grunted, tearing up from the pain that was the Curse of Disintegration ravaging her body. And then…

The black arrow finished forming within the hydra’s body.

“Unleash it.”

The arrow exploded at her hands, melting them away and blowing a hole into the hydra as the monster’s cores flickered, unable to do anything. And her own core⁠— the white surface covering her nucleus, cracked.

Just a bit more⁠—

“Enough!”

The hydra roared and with a burst of energy, Amber was blasted away, breaking through rock and walls as her insides fell apart. She landed rolling, almost fainting as she felt the wall covering her core shake, God’s Physique did its best to keep her alive.

And at that moment, like dry kindling, her entire body ignited with warmth, and the walls surrounding her core⁠— shattered.

In an instant, she was overflowing with Essence, and yet as she rose from her spot she couldn’t help but pause as the hydra’s voice reverberated all around.

“You insect, disgusting vile being, you are nothing but fuel for my growth!”

The walls inside the chamber burst, they collapsed with a flash of white light as Amber felt danger like never before. And she immediately made a bow with three arrows this time, Essence was much easier to use now, and yet she wasn’t smiling because something was coming. She didn’t even have time to take in the changes that had occurred to her Essence, because right now, all that mattered was one thing and one thing only:

Surviving.

Amber prepared herself and the hydra teleported not too far away from her and roared, shining in a red light. And she fired the arrows towards the monster.

Primordial Blazing Bolt, Cursed Blazing Bolt, Disintegration Arrow⁠—

All three deadly bolts zipped forward with more strength than ever before, and the hydra with all of its heads cocked back, screeched; a blast of red light engulfed everything.

“I’m done entertaining you! So accept your fate, and die!”

The arrows were snuffed out of the air⁠—vanished, the essences throughout the room extinguished, and Amber⁠— collapsed to the ground as she lost control over her Essence. The hydra turned to her with its many heads as she paled.

“Now, perish.”

And it breathed.