128 Down to five. (2/2)
The hydra was now down to only six heads, the only thing remaining of the green head being a jagged stump. It seemed like Tian Zheng and the others came to the same conclusion as Li Yang and Fang Ying, that the green head likely had the element of life, killing the hydra while that head remained would be very hard. There were a few other wounds covering the body of the hydra, its right front leg was barely hanging onto its body, only remaining connected thanks to a bit of bone.
But Xiong Xieren and the others were not unscathed after wounding the hydra like this. Xiong Xieren had lost three of his humanoid puppets, only the one carrying a shield remaining intact, his left arm was also trembling lightly while holding onto his weapon, Li Yang guessed that the bone in the arm might be completely shattered. The left side of Yuan Peng's waist was nearly completely crushed, as if a large hand had squeezed down on it, resulting in large amounts of blood and some crushed organs to leak out from his mouth.
Tian Zheng's right arm was hanging limply at his side, his hand crushed into a mangled mess along with the glove that used to cover it, he also had a rather deep cut on his forehead, the blood running out of it getting in his eyes and forcing him to repeatedly wipe it away. But the one who was the worst off was Cui Xiuying, everything below the elbow on her left arm was completely gone. The cut was clean and straight, the flesh so scorched that no blood was dripping from the wound. Li Yang couldn't see her arm anywhere, nor could he sense any sources of heat that might be the arm, it was likely already turned to ash. The pouch at her waist was also ruined, several thin roots that coiled around each other piercing through the pouch and into her waist, blood periodically running down the coiled roots.
Everyone here was a prodigy and extremely strong, Xiong Xieren alone could match someone at the middle stage of the Primordial Rune realm, and that was without using any of his puppets. For the four of them to end up like that despite working together, it showed just how strong the hydra, a Divine Beast that had almost reached the late stage of the Primordial Rune realm, truly was.
Li Yang and Fang Ying didn't stop when they reached the area, they headed directly for the hydra. It was already wounded quite badly, but they still had to be careful, so they kept an eye on each other while dashing. The hydra turned its blue head towards them, opening its maw and unleashing a thick torrent of violet lightning, the air around the lightning getting so hot that it started to burn and sear away at everything it touched.
Li Yang stepped in front of Fang Ying, arcs of golden lightning erupting from his body and quickly gathering together, coiling around each other as they gathered around his blade. He stabbed out with his blade and clashed with the torrent of violet lightning, a thunderous explosion sounding out as the violet lightning was forced to stop. But even though Li Yang temporarily stopped the lightning, his arm was slowly getting pushed back, the violet lightning swallowing his golden lightning.
Above azure lightning was crimson, and above that was violet, with golden lightning following right behind it, as for what came after golden lightning, Li Yang had no idea, he had never reached that stage. His golden lightning was of a higher quality than the violet lightning, but the violet lightning was supported by far more energy than his golden lightning, the difference in quality could not make up for the difference in power. But that didn't matter to Li Yang, he simply stretched out his left arm and spread his fingers.
The air around the other five heads of the hydra suddenly grew chilly, even the Qi in the air starting to stagnate as ice quickly formed on the eyes of the hydra, its vision turning blurry and indistinct as a result. The hydra swiftly roared, putting more energy into its lightning while also shattering the ice on its eyes. The torrent of lightning finally pushed aside Li Yang's sword, heading directly for him like a furious tidal wave.
The air and Qi at Li Yang's side froze, giving him a platform he could kick off so that he could move to the side to dodge the torrent of lightning. Even with the increase to his speed thanks to Zhao Feng's boost, the torrent of lightning still swallowed his right arm and foot, the smell of roasting flesh quickly reaching his nose. But Li Yang didn't care, he had never entertained the notion that he would be very useful during this fight, he was still a bit too weak in his current state. But he had done what he could, what he should, he had distracted the hydra and bought time for Fang Ying.
Because of the ice that had frozen its eyes and stolen its attention, the hydra was slow to react when Fang Ying appeared behind it, jumping out of a ripple in space. She was already mid-swing with her sword, it was too late for the hydra to stop her now, it could only do its best to defend with all its might, its scales turning various shades of brown as its entire body seemed to grow larger and heavier.
Fang Ying's sword drew a simple arch through the air, countless wounds appearing on the heads of the hydra as Fang Ying cut the very space that the hydra was occupying. But her attack didn't stop there, it kept on going. The blood of the hydra turned against it the moment the cuts appeared on its necks, the blood close to the cut wounds started to wreak havoc on the veins and flesh of the hydra. Parts of its necks bulged outward for a short moment before suddenly sinking inward, as if they were imploding under the rampaging blood.
The hydra tried to move the one head that was slightly better off than the rest, the turquoise head, to counterattack and force Fang Ying to stop. But the entire left half of the head started to sag the moment it tried to move, the muscles turning completely numb and losing all strength. The hydra thought it had cleansed all the poison Fang Ying had invaded her with earlier, but that was only a ruse, a trick she had kept up her sleeve for just a situation like this.
Fang Ying vanished the moment the turquoise head started to move, appearing out of a ripple in space right next to the head the moment the left side of it started to sag under her poison. She stabbed her sword into the neck of the hydra, all the blood in the neck moving toward her blade and becoming part of her attack. Space beneath Fang Ying's feet hardened and allowed her to run through the air, running a circle around the hydra while keeping her blade inside the hydra's neck, cutting a neat circle around the neck.
She stomped the hardened space with her left foot the moment she completed a full circle around the neck, her foot bouncing off the hardened space and allowing her to deliver a sideways kick to the neck of the hydra with all her might. Normally this wouldn't do too much, but now she had cut around the entire neck, the blood of the hydra wreaking havoc on the insides of the neck.
The kick made contact with the hydra's neck, completely tearing off the hydra's head and sending it flying a short distance away, the pained roar of the hydra hurting the ears of everyone in the area. A now nearly completely pale Fang Ying quickly vanished into another ripple in space, appearing next to Li Yang and grabbing onto him before teleporting away, this time appearing by Tian Zheng and the others. Li Yang clenched his scorched and trembling right arm, casting a calm sideways glance at Tian Zheng.
”There, we made up for being a bit late, now let's work together to finish off this thing.”