Hydra's Magic Stone
The Sand Soldiers' attacks inflicted a fairly deep wound on the succubus.
Despite being a monster, the succubus was sensitive to injuries.
Perhaps it was because the succubus was female.
Either way, it was a golden opportunity for Zeon.
Now that Kaeshu's sole weakness—the succubus—had been confirmed, it was time to focus the assault.
“Chaat!”
Zeon launched a Sand Missile at the succubus and detonated a Cremoa. Kaeshu immediately coiled up to shield her.
Pew-pew-pew!
Zeon's attacks bounced harmlessly off Kaeshu's tough scales. But he felt no disappointment.
He had anticipated this much.
The greatest lesson he'd absorbed while trailing Dayton was the art of envisioning the big picture.
From the battle's outset, he mapped the finale in his mind and advanced step by step.
Thanks to Dayton's brutal trials, Zeon had mastered steering fights to his advantage.
First step: divert the nine heads' attention.
Pew!
Suddenly, the sand beneath Kaeshu's coiled body erupted into the air.
A thick dust cloud billowed up, blinding Kaeshu.
Though shielded by its force field, Kaeshu instinctively squeezed its eyes shut against the choking haze.
In that instant, Zeon vanished.
Step two of his plan: concealment.
He swam through the sand, slipping inside Kaeshu's coils.
Kaeshu remained oblivious to his maneuver.
The Sand Soldiers hammering from outside had scattered its focus.
That was step three.
Sss...
Zeon silently breached the sand and emerged.
Right in the heart of Kaeshu's coiled form.
The succubus's eyes flew wide at his abrupt appearance.
Zeon seized the moment and unleashed Cremoa.
Boom!
The blast hurled countless sand orbs at the succubus.
“Kyaaak!”
She shrieked as the powerful explosion tore into her.
Her enveloping force field flickered and dispersed for a split second.
Zeon pounced, firing a Sand Blaster.
The high-pressure sand stream packed even greater punch in tight confines.
Pew!
It slammed into the succubus point-blank.
A massive hole gaped in her abdomen. Yet the chimera-fused succubus clung to life.
Kaeshu's horrifying regeneration knit the wound shut in seconds.
She raised her bowed head, snarling venomously.
“You think this will kill me?”
“I know better. No chance.”
“What?”
Zeon's voice rang out from inches away.
As she jerked her head up, there he stood—right in her face.
He'd closed the gap with Sand Step after the Sand Blaster.
Step six complete.
Now, the final seventh step.
Zeon ignited Sand Mixer infused with Exion.
A standard Sand Mixer was devastating enough, but laced with Exion, its power doubled.
Exion wasn't limitless, so vast areas were out of reach. But against a pinpoint target like the succubus? Perfect.
Graaaaaang!
The Exion-laced sand whirled at ferocious speed.
“Kyaaaak!”
The succubus wailed in agony.
Her flesh shredded away on the sands. Smooth skin vanished, exposing raw crimson meat.
She fought to regenerate with the hydra's superhuman prowess, but Sand Mixer offered no mercy.
Kuwoooo!
Too late, Kaeshu's nine heads sensed the peril and reared up.
They surged toward the succubus at terrifying velocity.
Zeon snapped his fingers and murmured.
Snap!
“Self-destruct! Sand Soldiers.”
Ten Sand Soldiers detonated mid-air in unison.
A skill Zeon had recently devised.
He'd drilled relentlessly after realizing their suicide blasts could cripple monsters—and today marked its debut.
Kwaaaang!
Krooo!
The devastation flung even Kaeshu's colossal heads in wild disarray.
Zeon ground the succubus down to bare bone amid the chaos.
Her death shrieks drowned in the vortex's roar.
Zeon's complexion drained ashen.
He'd burned through every drop of mana in a flash.
Sand Mixer, summoning and detonating Sand Soldiers, Cremoa—all gluttons for mana. Chain-casting them? Inevitable depletion.
But Zeon had Elura's Tear.
The cheat item that refilled all mana once daily.
He triggered it, mana surging back full in an instant.
Kwagak!
The succubus erased in a blink.
Kaeshu's nine heads—scattered by the blasts—fixed murderous glares on Zeon.
Forced fusion by Hai Elton or not, the succubus's death—body and soul intertwined—ignited Kaeshu's fury.
Each head glowed with distinct hues.
Phase two.
Phase two in name only; this was the true brawl.
Small consolation: sans brainiac succubus, Kaeshu's reactions might dull.
But defying expectations, the heads synchronized their skills.
Kuuung!
Air thickened; crushing pressure bore down on Zeon.
Even airborne sand plumes slammed earthward.
“Grav…ity control?”
Zeon's face contorted.
Gravity manipulation ranked among the trickiest, mightiest skills.
Nary an Awakener in Neo Seoul could wield it. Though none matched Kaeshu's scale.
It amplified gravity across the vast cavern.
Three, four times normal weight pinned Zeon.
Meantime, one head brimmed with flames.
Zeon clocked the skill instantly.
“Breath?”
No dragon-tier devastation, but ashing him? Trivial.
Brain in overdrive, his gaze snagged on Kaeshu's severed tail.
The succubus fusion site moments prior.
No hesitation—Zeon hurled toward it.
Pressure crushed, but Exion shielding let him push through.
The instant he hit the tail, hellfire breath swallowed his former spot.
Kwaaaa!
Sand at Kaeshu's base vitrified instantly.
Zeon burrowed into the stump without pause.
Kwagagak!
Exion spun drill-like around him.
Flesh inside shredded from within.
Wracked by agony, Kaeshu rampaged.
Bang! Kwaang!
Nine heads caromed off walls, knotted in frenzy.
Chimera rebirth aside, pain registered fully.
Hai Elton boasted optimal fusion, but succubus bonding birthed fatal flaws.
Kaeshu lashed its tail blindly, pulverizing stone.
Zeon tumbled wildly but held poise, mastering Exion.
Kwaaaa!
He bored deeper, accelerating.
One head, pain-overloaded, chomped its own tail.
Kwajik!
Titanic fangs rent deep.
Force field? Useless against self-mutilation.
Zeon evaded the maw, plunging further.
Now into the core body.
Impenetrable scales failed utterly.
Kwagagak!
Zeon maxed Exion's spin.
Mana hemorrhaged, but teeth gritted, he endured.
Falter here, and death.
C-rank slaying near-S-rank beast? Internal sabotage only path.
Zeon's endgame masterstroke.
Pressure redoubled, muscles vise-gripping.
Zeon ground forward.
Vessels burst in eyes, sinews warped—yet onward.
Distance unknown.
Limit loomed.
Mana from Elura's Tear tapped dry anew; iron-forged body groaned.
Exion's frenzy lagged; strides faltered visibly.
Still, no halt.
Mana abuse and fatigue crumbling him.
Kaeshu's blood—virulent toxin—hastened ruin.
Flesh sloughed, bones bared; torment tidal.
Motion pure hell.
Zeon refused surrender.
Breath meant motion.
Motion meant no stop.
Each torturous step, something gleamed.
Torso-sized orb, radiant blaze.
Zeon knew at once.
Hydra's magic stone?
Rare, but monsters yielded them.
Unlike mines, these oft bore the beast's essence.
Absorbers sometimes claimed skills.
Prime beasts upped odds for prime skills—yet lottery abysmal; few Awakeners scored.
Skill or no, no alternatives.
Zeon stretched for it. Agony eclipsed all prior.
“Kraaak!”
He convulsed, howling.
Touch unleashed tsunami energy.
Scorching blaze rampaged internally.
No reserves to tame the alien surge.
“Kuaaa!”
Eyes rolled white; screams peaked.
Body ablaze.
Detach? Magnet-stuck immovable.
Zeon blacked out, hand fused.
Energy flooded post-collapse.
Time blurred.
Stone dimmed; influx ceased.
Then, stir in the corpse-still Zeon.
Putrid flesh sloughed; fresh regenerated.
Sallow face flushed; halted heart thrummed.
Zeon gasped awake.
“Puha! Not dead?”
Prone, he assessed.
Mana brimmed; bone-deep gashes pristine. Vitality overflowed.
Wrist tingled.
Lying, he shed gauntlet. Sixth rank line aglow.
“What? Skipped B-rank—straight A-rank?”
Stunned by the metamorphosis.
Volcanic power churned within.
Past mana a pond; now oceanic.
Hai Elton's guardian hydra—elite specimen.
Super regen, gravity mastery, breath—arsenal elite.
Zeon grasped: he'd claimed super regeneration.
Proof: total wound reversal.
Affinity blocked gravity/breath, but this sufficed.
“Misfortune flipped to fortune?”