Leonidas dodged around a snapping head with every iota of his Agility Attribute in overdrive. Hisses and snarls from the Hydra’s heads filled his ears, and he felt his [Psionic Focus] working in overdrive to maintain his extrasensory spatial awareness relative to the septuple-threat creature he was in contest with.

  His advantages were easy enough to note: he was faster, smaller, and more agile than the Hydra. Conversely, the creature was tougher, stronger, and had more avenues of attack thanks to its myriad heads.

  Its tail, as well, was a concern; for even a single hit from its razored edges would likely result in grievous injury—even with the protection of his [Archon’s Warplate] to safeguard his body.

  How in the hell anyone thought a Hydra was an equitable matchup was beyond him.

  Two more attacks came from the left and right as Leonidas closed distance and he launched himself off his feet, trusting both in his enhanced spatial awareness and his elevated flexibility to dodge between a pair of snapping heads and land in a rough combat roll near the Hydra’s stomping feet.

  The creature’s heads rotated to track him and Leonidas darted close to its body, lifting his [Archon’s Psiblade] and cleaving into the side of the Hydra with a swordforce-assisted strike.

  The crowd roared its approval.

  Seven heads hissed in pained unison, and Leonidas darted backward and threw himself over a reflexive tail-swipe—listening to the air whine from the force and speed of the attack, and then landing upon the arena floor with a crash of steel against stone.

  Move, damn it, move!

  His body was already responding while he raged at himself, and Leonidas threw himself to his feet to gain distance while looking back at the results of his attack. As expected, his use of [Psionic Swordforce] had cut cleanly through the Hydra’s scales—but the damage, despite the blow, was negligible.

  Or rather, it was already healing.

  What blood he’d spilled, shining faintly with threads of bioluminescent green liquid, was already drying while the creature’s wound started to steam and close while he watched. He had certainly pissed off the not-so-mythical creature, but actually harming it would be far harder than just striking it with his [Archon’s Psiblade].

  His [Cataclysm Core] roared within his solar plexus, and he smiled grimly.

  Good thing I have another weapon to try, then.

  Leonidas continued to sprint to gain distance, and summoned a [Psi Potion] from his [Spatial Storage Ring]. His eyes remained locked on the Hydra, which was even then lumbering around to chase him with angry hisses of hatred, and he slammed up his helmet’s visor. Instead of risking de-summoning his helmet, he simply tore the cork of the potion out with his teeth and sucked it down while keeping his helmet in place.

  His psi ticked back up to almost full—barring the passive drain of his swordforce—and Leonidas tossed the potion bottle back into his storage ring.

  The energy of his [Cataclysm Core] could probably impede the Hydra’s healing, he reasoned, but to what extent was unknown. Would it explode violently on contact with the creature’s physiology, like it had with the Hobgoblins and Hive Tyrant?

  The chances were high, but he needed certainty. He also couldn’t risk outright destroying one of the heads, lest it spawn two or even three more.

  If I can’t cut them off, he reasoned while turning to face the charging Hydra, perhaps I can kill them while leaving them in-tact.

  One good stab could, in theory, kill a single head.

  The hard part, of course, was landing the blow.

  Each of the Hydra’s heads was as large as a rottweiler, even ignoring the necks, and were attached to a body large enough to rival a bull elephant.

  Before any of that, though, he needed to confirm the effect of his mana—and calm the hell down.

  Leonidas exhaled slowly to steady his racing heart, and worked to quickly center himself the way Ceruviel had taught him as the Hydra bore down on him; each of its footsteps rattling the earth. Dust and loose pebbles quivered on the stone beneath its titanic weight, and the acrid stench of its bioluminescent blood still lingered in the air—a scorching, chemical tang that burned his nostrils.

  “That is just fucking disgusting…” he muttered while cycling his mana and psi.

  He gripped his [Archon’s Psiblade] tighter and, when the Hydra crossed within a dozen yards of him, surged forward—angling his charge toward the Hydra’s left flank. He picked the spot due to its opposition to the first attack he’d landed, while hoping to deceive the malicious intellect he saw gleaming in its multitudinous sets of eyes.

  The creature did not fail to notice his attempt to close.

  Two of the Hydra’s heads hissed in response to his charge, lunging toward him in a coordinated strike.

  Leonidas sidestepped the first, ducked under the second, and then snapped up his left hand to conjure a wall of [Psionic Force] in front of a sneaking third strike. When the tertiary head impacted it, he felt his psi drop precipitously in response, and saw the creature’s head smash into the wall of compressed power hard enough to bloody its nose and send it cross-eyed.

  “Yeah!” he called impulsively as he put on speed, “go fuck yourself, scaley!”

  The crowd roared and laughed its approval of his words, and even the announcer let out a cackle of approval.

  “IT APPEARS THE BLACK KNIGHT REMAINS UNDAUNTED!” she cajoled, while her grin was audible. “LET US SEE HOW LONG THAT LASTS!”

  The Hydra roared in rage at Leonidas, and it was already repositioning to give its heads the right angle to attack.

  He took advantage of his superior mobility while he still could.

  [Chivalric Charge] activated in a burst of motion, and he surged forward in a blur and whomp of displaced space.

  Leonidas’ Strength Attribute met his Agility the moment his charge ended, and he launched himself up and forward while leaning into his Dexterity to guide his hands. Two seconds later, he impaled his sword into the Hydra’s left shoulder joint, driving the amethyst glow of his [Archon’s Psiblade] deep into its flesh in a spray of blood; both vital red and luminescent emerald.

  The response was instantaneous.

  The Hydra’s heads shrieked—a high-pitched, almost grating chorus of pain that tore from its serpentine throats as if it had been struck by lightning.

  “Eat this, you fucking monster,” Leonidas spat at the same time as his [Cataclysm Core] snarled to full power within him, and he unleashed his mana through his weapon.

  He felt the exact moment his core’s power reacted with the monster’s biology.

  A magmatic eruption of destructive power radiated outward from the point of impact, racing through the Hydra’s body with visible corrosion, like veins of wildfire in dry timber.

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  Its wound didn’t just bleed—it burned. Acrid, sulfuric smoke erupted from around his sword, and Leonidas hacked a cough around the overwhelming stench.

  Thick, dark-purple scales and lilac flesh blackened around the cut as if charred by invisible flames, and the wound, which had only seconds earlier been steaming in preparation to close; abruptly stopped healing altogether.

  The bioluminescent glow in its exposed muscle and sinew flickered, dimming like a fading glow stick, before extinguishing completely.

  Leonidas left his sword impaled in the Hydra and scrambled up its hide, fully aware that its thrashing screams of agony would only distract it for so long. He grit his teeth, sprinted across its body, and leaped from its back with windmilling arms to crash into the arena floor with a loss of ten health, and a sharp pain in his ankle the System cheerfully informed him was a minor sprain.

  Behind him, he could hear the Hydra still screaming while simultaneously trying to reposition to chase after him.

  The crowd’s collective gasp, meanwhile, turned into a rolling wave of cheers as realization set in and he sailed free of the giant beast’s back.

  He wasn’t just hurting the Hydra.

  He was denying it its most terrifying advantage.

  “ACHILLES STRIKES TRUE!” the Announcer boomed, her voice crackling with excitement. “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, AGAINST ALL ODDS, HE’S DONE IT! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE DUSK-LORD HAS BEEN TEACHING HIM, BUT AN UNTEMPERED JUST LANDED A LASTING HIT ON A TIER TWO HYDRA!”

  The Hydra was furious now—its movements less measured, and far more erratic. The loss of its natural healing had driven it into a blind frenzy. It also packed on the speed; seemingly abandoning a measured approach out of sheer, animal rage at the wound. One of its heads was attempting to snatch at the sword hilt awkwardly impaled in one of the few spots it couldn’t easily reach, and the rest were fixed on him with murderous intensity that burned within his [Psionic Focus].

  He barely had time to process that realization before the tail came for him.

  His spatial awareness screamed a warning a split second before impact, and Leonidas threw himself sideways and conjured a [Psionic Shield] just as the bladed tip of the Hydra’s tail slammed into the barrier, shattered it, and then glanced off his side.

  He felt something inside of him crack.

  BOOM.

  The impact of its tail cracked the arena floor, sending deep fissures spider webbing outward like broken glass. Stone chunks erupted from the ground, raining dust and debris across the mini-colosseum as the crowd gasped and shrieked in fear of the creature’s fury.

  Leonidas, meanwhile, was sent hurtling across the arena just from the power of the glancing blow, and barely had time to protect his head before he smashed into the stone near the center of the arena. Metal screeched and his body screamed in protest to the rolling, tumbling, and multitudinous impacts from the sheer force behind the hit.

  He’d lost nearly a third of his health from the initial blow alone.

  Leonidas dismissed his helmet on instinct the moment he came to a halt, and barely had time to pull himself up to all fours before vomiting blood, bile, and breakfast onto the stones below him. Air was heaved into his lungs after his stomach emptied, and Leonidas turned back toward the Hydra in a fugue.

  One of his eyes was bloodied from the impact with half-blurred vision, and he distantly realized his health was still dropping steadily—albeit slowly. Worse, something in his body felt wrong—broken and displaced. His right side wasn’t responding properly.

  “F-Fuck…” he snarled through bloodied lips.

  Leonidas let his gaze automatically shift toward the Hydra’s tail as its heads shrieked at him, and he observed as the creature worked to wrench the appendage free from the crater it had caused.

  A thought struck him in that moment, as well as a memory of the Arena’s layout.

  That thing is strong enough to shatter the floor…

  His gaze darted toward the cracks spreading across the surface of the arena.

  The arena floor wasn’t entirely solid, he knew that from his lessons with Ceruviel—it was built over a reinforced underground containment zone for storage and beast holding.

  If the floor was already fractured, then with enough force, it could be broken.

  Leonidas slowly let a bloody grin spread across his lips. “Game on, fucko,” he rasped.

  The Hydra finally managed to extricate its tail at that moment, and its eyes transfixed themselves on him when it did.

  Leonidas did not need to second guess his next course of action.

  He scrambled to his feet, gave the Hydra the finger, and he ran.

  [Chivalric Charge] activated once again, and Leonidas blitzed onward toward the center of the arena. His ability combined with his natural speed advantage gave him precious seconds of distance, and he took the chance to withdraw both his last [Psi Potion] and two of his [Health Potion]s; uncorking and drinking all three as quickly as possible—even while holding back another wave of vomit from the remnants of his earlier expulsion.

  The Hydra barely gave him enough time, but its lumbering gait was enough.

  By the point that it reached him, his health was no longer dropping, and he felt his body responding properly again—at least, it was no longer actively impeding him. Full function was still another matter entirely.

  With a rattling hiss, the Hydra closed the last of the distance and reared back before lunging after him, massive claws gouging deep furrows into the stone as it charged.

  Leonidas pushed his Agility Attribute to its limit, leaned into his [Psionic Focus], and weaved between the monster’s snapping jaws with every iota of speed and physical conditioning he possessed; narrowly avoiding its fangs each time they came for him—and the near-guaranteed death that even one blow promised.

  He moved in a careful circle, allowing the creature’s attacks to smash its heads into the arena floor with a BOOM of impact to accompany each strike. Leonidas felt his heart racing as he cycled mana in his body, and relied on the surging power of his cataclysm mana to keep him one step ahead—one small, precious second faster than each lunging snakehead.

  Four attacked at once, and he cranked out another [Chivalric Charge] to dodge, while surging in a straight line away from the Hydra at a 90 degree angle. The beast’s heads screamed in fury, and its tail lashed up and out to smash into the arena floor in fury.

  The crack of the stone was like music to his ears.

  Leonidas came to a halt some distance away from the Hydra, turned, glanced down at the arena floor, and then looked back up to the Hydra and raised both arms wide. When he did, he made sure to show himself panting in exhaustion, and spoke in a voice that was every bit as raw and raspy as it sounded.

  “COME AT ME, YOU MYTHOLOGICAL CUNT!”

  The Hydra’s eyes widened in fury, and despite its cunning, animal hatred warred with predatory caution and hatred won out.

  His perceived exhaustion was exactly what the creature had been waiting for.

  Leonidas surged Psi and Cataclysm Mana together in his Core in readiness.

  The Hydra charged toward him, across the cracked stone, and reared its heads back to strike.

  The instant before they attacked, Leonidas pushed all but five points of his Psi into his [Psionic Force], while amplifying it with two thirds of his cataclysm mana.

  A force of pure, blistering destruction exploded into being at the Hydra’s feet.

  The weakened stone gave way instantly.

  With a deafening CRACK of artificial thunder, the arena floor collapsed beneath the Hydra.

  The beast roared in shock as its own weight and limited motion pulled it backward into the crack of darkness behind it, and it screamed in fury as it tumbled bodily into the containment chamber beneath the arena with a THUMP of impact.

  Dust and stone fled outward in a cloud of debris from the destruction.

  The entire arena, from the floor to the stands, shook from the impact.

  Leonidas threw himself backward and barely managed to avoid succumbing to the widening maw of the broken floor as more of it collapsed, his heart thundering in his chest as he looked down into the dim chasm where the Hydra now lay, half-buried in rubble and writhing in fury.

  A beat of muted shock followed from the crowd and announcer alike.

  “Fuck you, asshole,” Leonidas said, his voice echoing in the deafening silence.

  And then the crowd exploded into a chorus of shrieking approval.

  “ACHILLES! ACHILLES! ACHILLES!”

  Leonidas exhaled a slow breath, his chest rising and falling with some measure of returning control. He wasn’t done yet. The Hydra was still alive, and that meant he still had a fight to win—but now he could do it somewhere it lacked the ability to wield its body properly. The chamber below them was compact, and that meant that while he would be in close quarters the entire time, the Hydra would similarly have extremely restricted mobility.

  A grunt followed and he climbed to his feet, pulling out all of his remaining potions—three Mana and one Health— and rolling his shoulders as he gazed down at the struggling beast below.

  Its serpentine necks flailed as it worked to free itself from the debris.

  Leonidas called upon his Cataclysm Mana once more, and cycled it rapidly.

  All four potions were downed, and he extended his right hand; summoning his bastard sword in a flash-crackle of scarlet lightning. His head rose, and he turned toward the Royal Box, where Ceruviel and Aylar were watching him unblinkingly.

  “See you soon!” he called with a hidden smirk, and lifted his sword in salute.

  “IS THE MAD BASTARD ACTUALLY GOING TO FOLLOW IT?!” the announcer shouted.

  Leonidas looked down at the Hydra and tightened his grip on his sword.

  “Leeroy fucking Jenkins,” he whispered to himself, and without another word, stepped off the ledge into the darkness below.

  The crowd’s howl of approval was deafening.