God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

BANG!

The impact came down hard and fast.

Floki felt his feet buckle under him as he fought to retain his stance.

His tower shield was wide, and he had activated {Frost Aegis}, which allowed his to significantly slow down the Hydra's charge. However, the creature's body was simply to big and powerful. It knew exactly how to use its extreme weight to its advantage.

Not even a second later, the shield was covered in cracks, and a nother second later, it shattered into pieces.

Floki's muscles bulged and several blood vessels on his dominant hand popped like balloons as he handled the full brunt of the creature's jaws.

"Move!" Hunter growled as he dragged Floki back, forcing him to disengage the Hydra, leaving his shield in its mouth.

Planting his left foot into the ground, Hunter let out a grunt as he swung his other fist, delivering a solid right hook into the Hydra's lower jaw.

With such power flowing through his body, in this form, Hunter could very well be compared to a powerful Aether Beast.

The Hydra's head was forced back, and it spat out the shield. Shaking its head, the Hydra angrily charged forward again.

The sand beneath Hunter's feet shifted suddenly.

Hunter jumped just before it could drag him under, but the Hydra was waiting for him, maw open and ready to devour.

Cain's eyes lit up as he saw a chance. His body moved and turned into a bolt of red lightning headed straight for the head of the Hydra.

His sword strike was not beautiful, or flowery. But it was effective, and carried just enough power behind it with his muscles bulged lightly as he invoked the power of Ki flowing within him,

"Red Fire Mutilation!"

The {Scale of the Abyssal Flame} was wrapped in a deadly layer of [Ki fire]. It smashed down onto the Hydra's neck like judgment itself, severing it clean off.

"What the hell?!" Hunter stared up in shock.

Landing on the ground, Cain stared at his sword,

"It's too light..."

Floki stood up, his eyes wide with shock,

"You... How did you do that?"

Cain ignored their questions,

"Let's hurry and assist the others."

Cain turned around just in time to see Lukas dive into the air, the world dimming as a sword of light plunged into the neck of the Hydra, severing its head off as well.

On the other side, Rollo and Luke had already dispatched the head attacking them as well.

Hunter frowned, "There's no way things end here just like that, rig?"

Cain shook his head. Despite having beheaded the Hydra, he didn't sheath his sword.

'If this Hydra is anything like the Hydras from legend, then...'

Just as he feared, and much to his horror, the bloodied necks of the Hydra continue to hover in the air, completely unaffected by the lifeless heads on the ground which were quickly turning into stone.

Cain's eyes hardened,

"The fight is just starting."

From each bloodied stump, three new heads slowly emerged.

They seemed even more frightening and menacing that the old ones.

"Nine heads... Nine new heads..." Luke muttered to himself.

Manny let out a loud laugh,

welcome-to-NovelFire

"That just means more heads to cut down! I was feeling quite rusty back then. I've warmed up a bit!"

Having said that, he dashed forward.

"Hold on!" Luke tried to call out after him, but Manny was already swinging his blades.

His body was enveloped with the aura of wind as he broke the sound barrier multiple times, moving faster than one could see.

His four arms gripped the swords tight, and he jumped, spinning rapidly in the air.

A Hydra head lunged at him, maw wiee open. However, he dodged it cleanly and sliced it clean off the neck.

Another one came for him from beneath, swallowing him whole.

A secomd later, blood spewed forth from the head's ruptured throat as he cleaved and hacked his way through, cutting the head off from the inside out.

"This is fun!" Manny declared, his eyes filled with the radiance of insanity.

Cain sighed to himself, then addressed the rest,

"The creature's regeneration is an issue. Avoid cutting off any heads for now until we can figure something out."

Manny quickly fell into a dilemma as many more heads began lunging at him.

"Damn it! These things are everywhere!" He said through gritted teeth.

Just then, a Hydra head lunged at him, faster than the other heads had been, catching him off guard.

With no space to dodge, he brought his blades forward and tried to parry.

However, his strength was not even marginally enough to hold back a behemoth like the Hydra.

His two false arms were torn right off his body, and his real arms suffered a bit of damage as he was flung back.

"Crap!"

The other heads quickly lunged at him as he had lost his momentum, leaving him without any options.

'I'm dead!' Was the only thought in Manny's head as the smelly fishy breath of the Hydra heads enveloped him.

"This idiot!" Luke said with a sigh as he stabbed through a Hydra head.

Cain called out to him, "Manny! Don't cut any more heads off."

Manny blinked, "Eh? Then how do we kill it?"

Cain shrugged as he swung his sword, blocking a Hydra head.

'Its regeneration is too powerful. If we keep cutting heads off, we'll become overwhelmed eventually.'

The battle became even more grueling. Actively trying not to cut the heads off the creature caused their injuries to pile up and their exhaustion to climb.

Cain swung his sword, creating a deep cut through the creature's jaw. However, the wound quickly healed up.

Cain clicked his tongue,

'What is the point of so much strength and speed if I can't use it...'

Cain wondered if it wouldn't be best to just cut all the heads off at once and see what happens.

When the idea was planted in his mind, it continued to brew.

'Perhaps this is how we kill this damned thing. Still... Cutting all these heads off at once. Is that possible?'

The barrage from the heads continued to climb in intensity. The sharp, pillar-luke fangs of the Hydra mercilessly chomped down, ready to claim their lives the moment they made even a single slip up.

Cain could easily see things going south. Still, they all managed to stay alive up till now despite so many close shaves with death in a single battle.

Grabbing into a head, Hunter grunted under the strain of keeping the jaws close. He called out to Cain,

"We can't do this for much longer. This isn't good!

Cain jumped out of the way, avoiding a head that came crashing down at him. Shaking the sand from his head, he called out to Hunter,

"I have an idea, but we all have to do this together, or it will not work. If we fail, we all die here."

Hunter put more strength into his arms, and with a final push, he twisted hard, cracking the neck of the Hydra, killing off that head. Soon, three more would take its place, but he was desperate.

He retreated a few steps, panting heavily,

"I... I can't retain this form any longer. Whatever plans you have, get in with it already!" Hunter said through gritted teeth.

Cain sighed to himself. He could see that every one of them was trying their best to keep fighting, but they were quickly getting overwhelmed.

He looked up, 'This beast... Is quite scary. I've never faced something like this before. I don't even know if the plan will work. If something like this is allowed to reach Tier 2, what type of destruction will it bring with it?'

He turned to Hunter,

"Connect our minds."

Hunter nodded,

Cain quickly relayed his plan.

Lukas frowned, 'And you are certain of this plan?' He thought as he stabbed both of the eyes of a single head in quick succession, effectively blinding it. Two other heads quickly lunged towards him, intent on tearing him apart, but he quickly dodged out of the way.

He blinded one seemed to have one last fight as it's body rocketed forward like a spring. Its jaws clamped down on one of his legs.

Lukas' eyes opened up wide as he let out a loud scream.

Before the damage could get any worse, he quickly slashed the creature's head off.

Falling to the ground, he pried its mouth open.

His leg was bleeding profusely.

"Crap! Damn it!" Lukas cursed through his teeth. Although his regeneration would kick in any moment, he didn't have that luxury as many more heads were already rushing at him.

He quickly pulled a healing potion from his inventory and chugged it as he dashed away to escape the onslaught.

"Cain! I don't care anymore! Whatever plan you have, just get it over with."

His eyes were bloodshot, "If we die here, then we die."

Cain could only smile wryly.

Their situation was beyond perilous. Still, he could sense with the fervour they all fought with that none of them planned on throwing in the towel just yet.

It was almost as if they believed he could pull out a miracle from nothing.

He chuckled to himself, 'How frustrating.'

He sucked in a deep breath,

'I might be able to do it. It might be possible.'

Right now, the {Stone-Blood Hydra Collosus} didn't resemble a regular beast anymore. Rather, it was more of a grotesque abomination than anything else.

All the heads slithered and coiled around one another, forming a terrifyingly disgusting-looking anomaly.

The vitality of the b ast was no joke. Cain couldn't even count how many heads it had at this point.

He grinned to himself,

"If you are getting serious, then I might do so as well, no?"

His body began to change...

He had been scared to use this skill for many reasons. One, his strength and agility stats were now far greater than his control stat, meaning of he lost control, there was a Hugh chance he might put the others in danger as well.

Still, now that things had gotten to this stage, they would die either way if he didn't do anything.

So it was best for him to act now, then think about the consequences later.

A layer of Demon Matter coated his body and his soul, transforming him fundamental.

Until he became something that was no longer human, yet wasn't a Devil as well...

An Asura straight from hell...