129 Teamwork. (2/2)
The hydra unleashed a thunderous roar, thin blades of wind decimating the area and slicing through the strings, the earth a short distance beneath Xiong Xieren rising up and trying to trap him in a coffin. But just as the earth rose up, Tian Zheng arrived next to it with a thunderous explosion, the earth in his previous position scorched black and torn apart from when he used a fierce explosion to propel himself forward.
He twisted his body slightly to gather all his strength in his left arm, delivering a heavy punch to the rising earth. His fist created a shockwave as it moved, the earth disintegrating the moment his fist made contact with it. Several consecutive explosions rang out through the area after he delivered his punch, the explosions traveling through the air and growing a little stronger each time until they finally collided with the wounded right front leg of the hydra, cracking the single bone that kept the leg connected to its body.
The hydra growled in anger and pain, dark clouds gathering in the sky above the area and pelting the earth with violet bolts of lightning. Most of the lightning bolts were heading for Xiong Xieren, who had just lost the support of his strings and was about to fall to the ground. But before the bolts of lightning could hit him, a breeze blew through the area, pushing Xiong Xieren forward and turning into a platform he could move on.
More and more blades of wind and bolts of lightning came for Xiong Xieren, but Yuan Peng rode a light breeze and intercepted the attacks, freezing the bolts of lightning and negating the wind by countering it with some of his own, perfectly defending Xiong Xieren. The last two heads of the hydra also started to unleash attacks, the crimson head causing the air to grow scorching hot as several sun-like orbs of fire appeared and started to spit out flaming tornadoes and smaller orbs of fire that quickly grew in size. The lightly brown head affected the area around them, the wooden splinters in the area rapidly growing into entangling roots that were covered in thick spikes. Several of the wooden splinters even rose up from the ground and started to fly around the area, splitting into smaller pieces that then grew into entangling vines or sharp weapons when they were close to someone.
Tian Zheng stomped the ground with all his might, thick cracks spreading through the area as pillars of magma burst out from the ground and gathered into a molten sun above his head. The molten sun attracted the surrounding fire, forcing all of it to come for Tian Zheng and preventing it from stopping Xiong Xieren. Tian Zhen used his left arm to deal with the surrounding earth at the same time, shattering and blocking any attack that the hydra was trying to launch.
Tian Zheng dealt with the fire and the earth while Yuan Peng dealt with the wind and lightning, leaving the wood to Cui Xiuying. Her pouch filled with Demonic beasts was destroyed, but she still had her own strength to rely on, her chest and stomach bulging out as she took a deep breath. She opened her mouth and let out a deafening roar, a visible shockwave extending from her body and pulverizing any wood in the area. While roaring she also took out her crescent moon-shaped blade, throwing it with all her might.
The blade flew through the air in a simple arch, producing a faint whistling sound as it moved. The whistling sound continuously changed in pitch, growing more high-pitched when the blade flew past thicker pieces of wood, resulting in all the wood around the blade to disintegrate. The blade would vibrate faintly on the rare occasions that a piece of wood did manage to touch it, the wood quickly disintegrating. Now that she wasn't using her Demonic beasts to fight, Li Yang could finally discern what laws Cui Xiuying cultivated, sound and vibration. Just like with the law of motion and speed, sound and vibration were two laws that shared a close bond that made it so that most people who cultivated one had some insight into the other.
With the support of the others, it didn't take long for Xiong Xieren to reach the hydra, the energy around his trident already so thick that it had turned into a white mist. He jumped off the wind that Yuan Peng had used to send him forward, raising his trident high and bringing it down on the dark brown head of the hydra.
The hydra reacted almost as fast as lightning, raising its head and opening its maw, blocking the trident with the sharp teeth lining its upper jaw. The teeth started to slowly corrode away, but at least it had managed to block the attack, or so it seemed at least. The moment the attack was blocked, Xiong Xieren's lips curved up slightly.
”Psyche.”
Xiong Xieren pushed the base of his trident forward and lodged it in the mouth of the hydra so that it couldn't freely close its mouth. He then let himself fall downwards and grabbed onto the edge of the hydra's mouth and used his grasp to swing himself forward and upwards, arriving right beside the eye of the hydra.
He clenched his left fist and punched out with all his might, a hazy white mist surrounding his fist as it dug into the eye of the hydra, rupturing it and causing it to spray out a milky-white liquid. The hydra immediately let out a pained roar as its eye was ruptured and the law of corrosion started to wreak havoc inside its head, the five different elements it was unleashing growing even stronger and becoming frenzied.
Xiong Xieren was flung away as the hydra shook its head, Cui Xiuying's waist was impaled by a small shard of wood that had gotten through her defenses, Yuan Peng spat out a large amount of blood when a bolt of lightning managed to resist his ice and crashed into his chest, and the glove on Tian Zheng's left hand fell apart as he blocked another thick pillar of earth that was rising up, a cracking sound resounding from three of his fingers. They had all shown great strength, but the hydra was still a deadly foe, even when it was wounded like this.
But they had done their job, they had distracted the hydra so much that it failed to notice a slight ripple in space appearing just above the stump that remained of its green head. Li Yang appeared from the ripple and fell onto the stump, falling into the hole that connected that head with the hydra's stomach. He quickly slid into the body of the hydra, sliding along the intestines as he got closer and closer to the hydra's stomach. Li Yang's eyes were closed as he slid deeper and deeper, his ears perked as he listened for a certain sound.
And before long, he heard the heavy and chaotic beating of a pained and panicked heart. His eyes shot open and his golden sword appeared in his grasp, a faint black light surrounding the edge of the blade as he slashed open the intestines of the hydra. He wasn't confident that his fire and lightning would be enough to damage the hydra's intestines enough so he used a trace amount of his law of destruction to carve a way to the beating heart.
Despite the now thoroughly panicked and frightened tossing and turning of the hydra, he quickly arrived in front of the beating heart, which was almost three times as large as him. He immediately stabbed into it with his sword, a black light erupting from the tip and turning into a miniature black hole directly in the center of the hydra's heart.
The heart seemed to implode as it was sucked into the black hole, Li Yang quickly undoing the black hole once he was certain that the hydra was dead. The law of destruction was volatile and horrific, the slightest mishap would result in it going rampant and killing both him and everything around him, he had to be very careful when and how he used it.
Once the black hole vanished, all the energy that was about to be eaten by it had nothing pulling on it anymore, resulting in it quickly pulling back and going rampant now that the hydra was no longer controlling it. The energy tore through the body of the hydra, causing more and more of the energy remaining in the hydra's body to turn rampant and follow with the rest of the energy. Before long, the body of the hydra exploded under the rampant energy, Li Yang soaring through the air for a bit before being caught by Fang Ying. He muttered a quiet complaint, blood,guts, and other foul-smelling liquids covering his body.
”And this, my dear, is why I hate this way of killing someone.”