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Chapter 578.5: 1 Point of Divinity
Yaya clearly sensed that Hydra's already unstable mind was fading rapidly.
Her insight came from recent study into the sixth surgical transformation.
"Crimson Corruption" and "Dragon Frenzy Enchantment" were remarkably similar.
Crimson Corruption was just more "impatient!"
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Bones inside Hydra creaked strangely.
Its severed heads were regenerating faster and faster.
The fine, fish-biting fangs were falling out.
Blood-red, savage fangs burst violently from its gums.
Despite the "vitality" of this scene, Yaya could feel Hydra's life force slipping away.
Its gaping maw screamed more and more meaninglessly.
Its forelimbs, once useless for support, sprouted thick, blood-red limbs before their eyes.
This grotesque mutation mirrored the night Matthew first arrived in this world, when the Crimson Moon's power still lingered.
Above Hydra's head, a corruption meter visibly rose.
The twisted moonlight seemed to converge on Hydra.
The Leviathans hunting mutated sea beasts all sensed dread.
Especially the huge Leviathan couple, who stared in horror at Hydra's twisted form.
Even the corpse of Legendary Leviathan Akun twitched faintly.
As though something alive was about to "hatch" inside.
Guilt filled Archie's eyes. His voice trembled with regret:
"So it had already been corrupted by the Crimson Moon... No wonder Akun fell so easily..."
Miaoye sighed and nuzzled him, softly reassuring:
"Who could've guessed the Crimson Moon left such a trick after that night?"
"But it's not too late. Before Hydra fully changes, we must kill it and alert the others..."
"There must be more remnants out there!"
Little Menglan blinked in confusion, unsure what was happening.
She only felt the roaring Hydra becoming more terrifying, making her instinctively want to flee.
Yaya flapped her wings and soared.
She locked eyes on Hydra, now bathed in crimson moonlight, her wariness and dread intensifying.
Just as she hesitated, Matthew stepped before her.
Wearing thunder magic armor, he looked at Hydra-Jordan, now at 82% aberration, and spoke mentally to Yaya:
"Just as we 'learned' before—aberration is terrifying, but it disrupts the host's balance and abilities."
Having performed over a thousand surgeries, Yaya's eyes lit up.
Exactly!
Aberration comes at a price!
The stronger Hydra's mutation, the weaker its power!
Yaya let out a sharp cry. Her vast form spun and dove.
Hydra, sensing the threat, raised its nine now-thicker heads. Its crimson eyes locked on Yaya.
Its last sliver of consciousness, consumed by madness, became fuel for this monstrous body.
Without this fight, the process would've taken over ten years.
Until a new mind fully replaced Jordan.
The new Jordan would become the herald of the "Crimson Calamity."
Now, the beast-like Hydra sensed Yaya's killing intent.
On instinct, it used its strongest weapon—Chaos Storm!
Its nine twisted heads spewed destructive breaths wildly.
Such chaos!
Fitting chaos!
The terrifying storm locked onto Yaya in a grotesque stance.
It let out a final, vengeful roar in Jordan's name!
Everyone held their breath, watching the storm of chaotic breaths hurtle toward Yaya.
"Dodge!"
Little Menglan cried inwardly, just like the tense soldiers aboard the ships.
But Yaya didn't dodge. The full-powered storm had sealed every escape.
In her sapphire eyes shimmered mercy and calm. The dark ring on her chest pulsed with gray light.
"Time, heed my command!"
Boom!
The destructive storm erupted.
Thunderclouds thousands of meters high were blown apart by the devastation.
Feeling the blast against his armor, Matthew looked at Yaya's vanished position, then at the smoldering Hydra, smiling faintly:
"My turn."
Whoosh!
Matthew turned into a streak of blue light, riding a bolt of lightning to strike the now-bloated Hydra!
Though smaller in size, Matthew had no disadvantage.
The massive Hydra roared like a wild beast.
Matthew's large demon blade had already cleaved into its neck.
Violent lightning surged from him, coursing into Hydra.
The gaping jaws froze in place.
By the time it broke free from paralysis, Matthew had already circled behind its neck.
30 points of Extraordinary Strength, fully unleashed.
The buzzing Great Demon Blade carved out a deadly arc.
Crunch!
The white head was brutally severed.
The mutated Hydra, shrieking in chaos, had its remaining eight heads lunge all at once.
To Matthew's eyes, what looked like an inescapable threat was riddled with flaws.
Ever since he reached high-tier in his class, his mastery of temporal power had reached new heights.
Just like Yaya had entered the flow of time, Matthew too could apply time magic to himself.
Time Acceleration!
Matthew moved like a lightning-shadow, arriving beneath Hydra's brown, sleep-gas-spewing head in an instant.
As the other heads lunged wildly, Matthew's blade was already slicing forth.
Slash!
Thick, resilient scales still couldn't block the Great Demon Blade made from the fangs of a Catachan Demon.
The monomolecular, serrated edge, powered by 30 points of strength, cut straight through its neck.
The other heads snapped toward him—but to Matthew, they were far too slow.
34 points in Legendary Agility + 34 points in Legendary Constitution.
That allowed Matthew's body to withstand multiple bursts of time acceleration.
Bullying Hydra, whose agility barely exceeded 20 points, was laughably easy.
Even the berserk, mindless mutated Hydra—
Still instinctively sought speed.
Its once-thick necks became thinner and longer, enabling faster bites.
To counter the Great Blade's destructive force—
The lower half of its necks grew even thicker and more fortified.
Hydra's mutated form adapted rapidly.
It began to catch up to Matthew's reactions.
But what the twisted creature failed to realize—
Was that the mutation's direction had been subtly guided by Matthew, making its large body even more bloated.
Its already-unwieldy lower half underwent passive mutation-enhancement without taking any hits.
So, once the guided aberration took hold—
Matthew decisively changed tactics, targeting Hydra's enlarged lower body.
Each slash of the Great Demon Blade left a vivid, bloody reminder.
"I'm right here!"
No matter how it twisted, the bloated Hydra couldn't keep up with Matthew's agile steps.
Its turning ability had vanished without a trace as its mass increased.
In a bid to catch Matthew—
The mutated Hydra had to stretch its necks even longer, trying to make its heads more "flexible."
This was the "price" it paid for "victory."
But soon, the aberrant Hydra faced a new dilemma!
All nine necks had become too long—and while chasing Matthew, they tangled together easily.
Faced with obstruction from its own necks, its deranged heads bit down without hesitation.
That one bite sparked a ridiculous mess.
Right before Matthew's eyes, the mutated Hydra started biting itself.
A hilariously absurd scene played out in such a terrifying battlefield.
Even the cloaked soldiers looked on in fanatic awe.
This fearsome, grotesque beast looked like a clumsy toddler in front of Matthew.
Every one of its moves had already been accounted for in Matthew's plan.
Of course, for Matthew to pit his small, slightly-above-average body against Hydra's 16-meter monstrosity—
Was even riskier than dancing on a blade's edge.
Just one bite from any of those heads could mean instant serious injury.
So Matthew never gave the mutated Hydra a chance to recover!
While several of its heads fought among themselves, he pulled back to a distance of 50 meters.
As electric light surged across his body, 500 mana condensed into a terrifying bolt of thunder, tearing through the crimson night sky.
"-236!"
A stunning damage value, but it only shaved off about one-fourth of Hydra's mutated health.
And within just seven or eight breaths, nearly half of that lost health had already regenerated.
Crack!
The mutated Hydra, its body smoking, tore through its charred shell, revealing thick, gleaming, patterned scales beneath.
Watching this, Matthew smacked his lips in disappointment. Feeling a subtle discomfort in his body, he muttered:
"If I had you as a test subject, the surgical modification experiments would progress much faster..."
Indeed, even Matthew's mad-scientist thoughts were as eccentric as ever.
Just as he finished speaking, a growing black shadow began to loom over the mutated Hydra.
Just as it shook off the thunder paralysis—Yaya, returned from the flow of time, unleashed a deadly flame breath!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Thousands of degrees of scorching heat roasted the Hydra aberration into a blackened crisp in seconds.
The terrifying creature wasn't dead yet—within the charred shell, violent mutations were still taking place.
The writhing mass of flesh displayed an astonishing survival instinct.
By consuming and destroying the Hydra's undead-bloodline, it rebuilt itself through plunder.
The more it stole, the greater the loss.
The more it mutated, the less it resisted the flames' searing damage.
Yaya's "Deep Breath," fully charged with damage, inflicted a monstrous 1200 points!
The mutated form shrank to one-third its original size.
The red-glowing lump of flesh still pulsed with life.
It writhed continuously—
Most soldiers had already been ordered back to the ship.
Archie and Miaoye swam up, looking solemnly at Yaya and Matthew floating above the water:
"It can't be killed. Leave it to us. We'll take it to the End..."
Ding!
A crisp, melodious chime echoed into the hearts of every living being.
All the Leviathans turned their gaze—their black-and-white eyes reflecting dazzling golden light.
While everyone was mesmerized by the glow—
Matthew and Yaya were already outside the reef zone, unpacking materials for a ritual circle.
The soft golden radiance slowly faded.
Within the holy brilliance, protected by Temple Knight Commander Sun Sheng, Mira stepped to the deck of the Big Fish.
A mysterious, graceful aura surrounded her—elusive and sublime.
She stepped forward lightly, about to leave the deck—
When a black-and-white figure silently intercepted her step.
Big-eyed little Menglan blinked blankly, her head full of questions.
Who am I?
How did I get here?
Though dazed, little Menglan still had a bit of smarts and dutifully carried Mira and Sun Sheng toward Matthew and Yaya.
Archie and Miaoye, barely containing their shock, stared excitedly at the faint golden-glowing "Mira."
What kind of day was today?
"Mira" looked at the ritual array and gave Matthew a knowing glance.
She raised her hand gracefully, pointing at the aberrant remains about to hatch.
One finger.
The expected cataclysm never came.
Instead, under the soft-glowing ritual circle, the twisted mass of flesh slowly turned to dust.
A final chorus of warped wails and whispers faded on the wind.
Matthew and Yaya stared at the three brilliant golden lights, eyes full of unconcealed desire.
Only the two of them could see that golden glow.
Well, Mira too.
The slightly larger golden light landed in Mira's palm.
The other two, with a wave of her hand, flew into Matthew and Yaya's foreheads.
"Ding, you have obtained 1 point of Divinity!"
Matthew's heart trembled. Looking at the now-normal Mira, disbelief flickered in his eyes.
He had expected to gain 1 point of Divine Power to raise his divine power cap.
But instead, he had received a precious point of Divinity.
Divinity served many purposes—
Most important of all, it allowed others to "believe."
Divinity was essential for the birth of a deity!
Recalling Mira's earlier gaze, Matthew chose not to overthink.
"I was already a follower of the Goddess of Magic. What's wrong with hugging her thigh a little?"
But Matthew underestimated the shock this scene caused.
While undergoing purification, most Bay Territory soldiers showed no signs of corruption.
It was the curious Leviathans who, after some explanation, had little Menglan request a purchase.
Matthew personally witnessed each Leviathan downing no fewer than 100 Purification Potions.
After some painful howls, they gradually returned to normal.
The strange scene sparked renewed curiosity in Matthew about the supposedly "extinct" Leviathans.
Especially when he learned the Leviathan couple wanted little Menglan to travel with Yaya—he readily agreed.
His quick agreement came from the Leviathans' desire to establish trade with Bay Territory.
They needed Purification Potions, dried cod, and corpses of Wokou pirates.
Yes, especially the third item!
The bodies of Wokou pirates held great meaning for Leviathans.
In little Menglan's words: "Every year, to get their corpses, we migrate north and attack their warships."
Matthew found their focused revenge quite intriguing.
When Matthew arrived at the reef cluster's center to discuss trade with Archie and Miaoye, he witnessed a startling scene.
Over a hundred Wokou corpses, acquired via trade, were strewn outside a bottomless abyss.
A massive octopus with mutated tentacles slowly emerged from the depths, heading toward the corpses.
At that moment, the Leviathan couple opened their mouths in unison!
Watching the limp, collapsed octopus, Matthew's mind filled with doubts:
"So these damned Wokou pirates... were just bait?"
Chapter 632 - Chapter 578.5: 1 Point of Divinity
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