Pronos swam through the depths of Atlantis at high speed, his nine heads not hindering him in the slightest. He had developed a skill purely for amphibious movement and to some extent, he was faster underwater than on land.

After roaming for about an hour, the Hydra caught sight of large bulbous fish approaching with their mouths wide open, their multiple rows of teeth on display. They were too weak to realize they were alienating something far more powerful than them.

Before they could even react, Pronos extended three of his heads and killed them all off in one bite without trouble. Then, casually, he chewed on his impromptu meal while looking around with his other heads.

It was then that he spotted something curious. He tilted his heads and swallowed his food before propelling himself forward. At the same time, a magic circle marked by an infinity sign enveloped him and decreased the friction factor of his body.

He accelerated even further and his heads showed unusual grins as he reached his target. Without delay, a giant tentacle emerged from the dark depths at incredible speed; too fast for the Hydra to dodge.

But he had no such intent in the first place. Pronos’ nine pairs of eyes instantly snapped toward the incoming appendage and shone green and silver. The tentacle promptly slowed down, almost to a halt, and the Hydra dashed forward, closing into the massive creature resting on an elevation of the ocean floor bare of submarine cities.

A guttural roar, muffled by the waters, spread in the form of ripples as a Kraken-like creature faced its offender. Its circular mouth revealed itself, powering up a sphere of auburn energy.

Pronos responded in kind, using his nine heads to charge an azure stone of energy. Heat radiated from it in waves, producing short-lived steam explosions.

Then, the two behemoths released their attacks at the same time. A beam of orangish energy shot out of the Kraken’s mouth and the Eion Fission Stone was engulfed. However, the beam of energy didn’t go further as the atomic explosion occurred inside of it.

An expanding surge of orange and blue energy briskly overtook the maritime space.

* * *

At the same time, at the surface, a fair distance away from New Athens, the city being nearly but a spot on the horizon, a small-sized island was floating unperturbed. The modest mansion on top of it was built in an old traditional style; like a house in a fantastical fable for children.

Inside, a figure was sitting at a desk, the oval window illuminating the room and the many books and shelves lining up the walls or cluttering the floor. He was writing on a paper with a quill when he abruptly paused. Then, a tremor coursed through his home.

“…what is it this time?” He muttered, his voice sounding noticeably deep but with an oddly childish under-tone. He stood from his seat and took off his round glasses, revealing dark blue eyes.

He walked to the window and looked outside just in time to see a pillar of energy burst out from under water. “…pardon?”

* * *

Pronos was pushed away by the blast, his organs thoroughly crushed, and one of his heads even blown off. But the damages quickly were repaired and the head grew back as new.

This kind of self-harming combat strategy was something the Hydra was even better suited at than his master. His regeneration was above most creatures and as long as one of his heads remained, he would not die.

As such, he charged right back at his opponent. The Kraken had also not come out unscathed but compared to the Hydra, the damage could be considered inexistent. Other than cuts and burns, it had no other injury and certainly nothing fatal.

Pronos was fine with that. He was aware that he was testing his mettle against something stronger than him by more than just a few levels. In fact, he felt ecstatic. Perhaps Rakna had rubbed off on him… no, it wasn’t that. His thirst for battle was much higher than the werewolf.

It was in his nature.

Taking advantage of the turmoil the Kraken probably was in, Pronos opened the dam of his mana pool and activated his own version of Call of Fangs. Dozens of serpents promptly appeared from the Hydra’s vicinity. Unlike the shadow element that Rakna’s initial wolves were summoned with, the default ones for Pronos were of the water element; perfect for maritime combat.

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However, that did not matter to the Hydra. Immediately after summoning his serpents, he focused his petrifying eyes on all of them and since they were his, they offered no resistance. They turned into stone in the blink of an eye and instead of sinking, their eyes suddenly mirrored the ones of Pronos. They suddenly became faster and stronger despite their conditions.

This was another idea meant for Pronos’ Sub-Path. He would summon serpents to petrify with his Nirvana Skill and then use his Sub-Path Skill; Puppeteer of Stone. They would become sturdier thanks to the stone and faster due to the fact he mentally controlled their movements. To make it better, even turned to stone, Pronos was able to employ his summons’ magic due to them being creations of his.

And finally, his Puppeteer of Stone skill made the statues he controlled more powerful depending on how strong he himself was. In summary, this combination was a candidate for one of the most powerful army-creation abilities in the System.

The stone serpents rapidly surrounded the Kraken, attacking his tentacles and pinning them down as best as they could. As they performed their duty, Pronos charged in toward the Kraken’s head whilst having his Infinity of Stone perpetually shining in his eyes. At the same time, he used five of his heads to create green magic circles that quickly blended in with the water.

Pronos intended to unleash one of his strongest spells at point-blank in order to end this fight as fast as possible. Otherwise, there was no way his mana reserves or even his psychic energy could last long enough while fighting an enemy that much stronger than him.

But he had to abandon the idea as soon as the giant sea creature invoked its magic. The water around began to twist to its will and turn into cyclones.

The closest stone serpents were crushed or blown to bits before reforming themselves away from the raging swirls. Pronos squinted his eyes and used Kinetic Accel, his favorite Infinity spell, to forcefully change his course of movement.

Instead of continuing his charge, he made an instantaneous 90° turn downward right when the Kraken began its retaliation. It swung all its tentacles in his direction, an orange glow surrounding them, and launched several blades of energy.

Considering how there was also an independent membrane of water around them, it probably was something along the lines of a Union Magic spell.

Pronos was barely able to dodge them; they tracked him as he moved. He managed to counter one by sacrificing one of his heads while biting into it, he also dodged a few of them, but the rest opened gashes across his body, one of his necks being nearly severed too.

Then, the Kraken let out a rumbling of infuriation and deployed its aura. Waves of mana erupted and the cyclones promptly got stronger before changing shape. The currents tightened and began to look like drills, an orange hue emanating from them.

If those hit, Pronos might literally find himself ground to dust. The Hydra quietly squinted his eyes and glanced at his injuries as one of his heads strayed from the others. The injuries he had suffered from the orange energy were healing slower than normal.

The multiple minds offered by his Nirvana Skill conjectured the Kraken’s ability while he focused on his next move at the same time. Corrosion? Rust? Erosion? A Destruction-Class Magic Element.

As Pronos came to that conclusion, he was already readying his next spell, slowly and gradually channeling his mana for what came next. However, until then, he would need time as well as an opening. And both could be attained soon…

The Hydra eventually grinned and unexpectedly charged forward again. The Kraken had a short-lived doubt about his intention but it couldn’t cancel its spell now. It was about to be fired off when something unexpected happened.

The ocean water abruptly changed color, a dark green tint mixing with it. It was as if a veil had been lifted. The Kraken would have ignored it if it was not for how it was suddenly unable to move; its body going numb.

That’s the only opening Pronos needed. He immediately focused his Infinity Magic and triggered his Flash Step to dash into the Kraken’s close space before it recovered. The poison he had set up earlier was a delay cast, spread unnoticed through the water and further scattered by the cyclones’ spinning currents acting like mixers.

However, such a spell was as simple as it was frail. It was diluted and easy to overcome. But despite that, its unpredictable factor was plenty effective.

Pronos opened his maws wide open right as his destroyed head regenerated fully. He then sank his fangs into the Kraken as deep as he could and his entire body began to glow, cyan veins bulging across his necks, the Eion poison known as the Molten Worm being injected into the monster.

The Kraken’s eyes flared with anger as the poison invaded its body. The Wilden forcefully broke through the paralyzing poison, expunging it with a burst of energy. The water undulated outward like a shockwave, countless air bubbles appeared and popped as Pronos was shoved away.

Regardless, his goal had been achieved. The Eion poison had been injected and even if its advance could be stunted with mana, as long as the victim itself wasn’t aware of that fact, they would eventually experience their downfall by their own hands.

However, the Kraken still had plenty of strength to spare. Taking advantage of the defenseless state of the Hydra, it extended one tentacle and pointed it at him. A magic formation appeared at the tip and a sphere of water began to be compressed in front of it.

Its creation barely took a few seconds and Pronos couldn’t steady himself in time. Instead, he let out a mental command, and all of his stone serpents combined into one large slab, pushing him off to the side.

On cue, the Kraken released the spell, and a terrifyingly pressurized stream of water, borderline approaching a similar state of matter as plasma due to how charged it was with mana, reached the stone defense in a blink. It pierced through, taking away a chunk of Pronos’ body with it.

But due to the serpents’ efforts, it wasn’t deadly, and the spell was deviated, making its way to the surface at massive speeds. Immediately after, the Hydra took a hold of himself and without delay, used Infinity to accelerate upward as if to follow the spell.

* * *

On the surface, the inhabitant of the small island had stepped out of his house just in time to see a stream of water shoot out like a supersonic geyser. It was powerful enough to reach the sky and punch a hole through the clouds.

The unknown individual’s deep blue eyes observed the occurrence calmly before focusing on the ocean itself. Shortly after, a creature with nine heads jumped out with an infinity symbol flickering on its back.

Then, it conjured a pair of gaseous-looking wings, flying off. It reached about a hundred meters up in the air and turned around, concentrating its nine pairs of glowing eyes to glare at the water.

“This feeling… petrification?” The island’s owner mused and then it happened, a large area of the ocean’s surface promptly solidified into a block of bluish stone. It was proportioned correctly enough for it to start floating instead of sinking. “Liquids too… I see. Quite mighty.”

Soon after, giant tentacles pierced through the stone as if chasing the Hydra. The latter grinned at the sight, seemingly pleased with it.

Pronos set his plan in motion with the first step. He channeled nearly all his remaining mana for the sake of a spell; one pertaining to the newest magic element he had learned.

‘[Remembrance of Stone.]’