Lord of Caldera - Chapter 185

Chapter 185: Chapter 185

“Damn it!” Sylas cursed as he rolled across the ground. The Hydra’s heads slammed into the ground with force that would have shattered rock. Despite the repeated impact, it seemed unphased, relentlessly attacking.

There’s no time to swing my sword!

Sylas’s face twisted in frustration as he dodged again. If it had been five heads, he might have managed a stance and struck back. Six or seven, perhaps he could have made a reckless attempt. But with nine heads, the Hydra’s relentless assault gave him no moment to breathe.

At least the poison doesn’t affect me, he thought.

The Hydra had not only tried to bite him but also unleashed venomous fumes and droplets of poison. Fortunately, as Sylas had hoped, the poison had no effect on him. The Hydra, however, seemed to have noticed this. Rather than continuing with poison, it attacked him solely with brute force.

Crash!

“Damn it!” Sylas muttered, biting his lip as he rolled once more. This couldn’t continue. He would need to take a hit if he wanted a chance to counterattack.

Then, an opportunity presented itself.

The Hydra, visibly enraged, thrust three of its heads toward him simultaneously. Sylas narrowly dodged the attack, gaining a brief window to strike.

Now’s my chance!

Sylas steadied his stance and swung the Flame Sword. The Hydra flinched, attempting to pull its heads back, but it was already within range of the shockwave.

Slash!

Two of the massive heads bore deep diagonal gashes. Though the cuts didn’t reach their cores, they were severe enough to leave both heads out of commission.

“Got you!” Sylas shouted triumphantly. Fewer heads meant fewer attacks, which could turn the fight in his favor.

But his hope was short-lived.

Ssssss.

“Regeneration?!”

This was absurd. What kind of mutation gave a creature this colossal body, teleportation abilities, and regeneration?

“Enough already…” Sylas muttered.

The Hydra, furious, struck again. This time, there was no room to dodge. Acting on instinct, Sylas raised his sword to block.

If it had been a bite, he would have been dead, but this was more of a blunt slam with one of its heads. Still, the impact was far from gentle.

Crash!

“Argh!” Sylas gasped as he hit the ground, pain lancing through his back. Air escaped his lungs, leaving him breathless. An ordinary person would have had their bones crushed entirely. Struggling to rise, he found the Hydra had no intention of letting up.

Crash, crash, crash!

“Gah!”

All nine heads pounded him in succession, intent on crushing him completely. With each blow, his consciousness grew dimmer. Was this the end? Was he truly going to die here because of one misfortunate twist?

That thought faded quickly.

Boom!

With a final, resounding crash, the Hydra’s heads struck his body, and Sylas’s awareness slipped into darkness.

Sylas found himself staring blankly into the void. There was no pain. The Hydra was gone. Only an endless darkness surrounded him.

Am I dead?

Had he wasted his second chance? Did this mean there would be no third? Was this truly the afterlife?

Thoughts spiraled through his mind, and as he slumped in the dark, something suddenly shifted.

Whistling wind.

Snowfields?

Pristine white snow covered the landscape before him. He knew instinctively this wasn’t the Northern snowfields but rather a place that no longer existed. Somehow, he knew this without a doubt.

Lying in the snow was the body of a dragon, a vision of unparalleled beauty that made even the Flame Dragon and Hydra pale in comparison.

Beautiful.

The dragon’s scales sparkled like gems, and its form exuded an aura of perfect power and majesty. Yet, it lay torn apart, clearly slain in a brutal struggle. Kneeling beside it was a young boy, sobbing as he clung to the dragon’s corpse.

“Mother…”

The boy, with dark brown hair and violet eyes, wept without restraint, embracing the dragon’s lifeless body. They were mother and child. Though Sylas knew it was impossible, he instinctively understood that the dragon was the boy’s parent.

The vision changed again.

“Please, spare me! Please, I beg you!”

A dragon with the same majestic appearance was pleading for its life, speaking in human words.

“This was not my decision alone! Everyone agreed! I only followed the will of my kin! Please!”

Slash.

The plea was cut short as a sword cleaved through the dragon’s head. The strike erased all trace of the dragon’s head, leaving only a silent, bloody aftermath. The shockwave from the attack reminded Sylas of something he had seen before.

“Kill the dragons.”

The words were cold, almost terrifying. Sylas instinctively took a step back, and his foot bumped into something.

Turning, he saw a mountain of dragon corpses, not just one but dozens. Maybe more. Each dragon had possessed a power that dwarfed the Hydra he had just faced.

Kill the dragons.

He turned back, and there stood a young man with dark brown hair and violet eyes, his face burning with a deep, consuming hatred.

Kill the dragons.

Almost unconsciously, Sylas found himself repeating the man’s words.

“Kill… the dragons?”

As he echoed the phrase, a shudder ran through him. His heart, his blood, every vein in his body pulsed with a fierce energy.

Kill the dragons.

The man repeated the phrase, and with each repetition, something within Sylas changed. The man’s anger became tangible, coursing through Sylas’s veins as though his own blood resonated with it.

Kill the dragons.

“Kill… the dragons…”

Kill the dragons!

“Kill the dragons…”

The man’s figure gradually faded, as did the landscape around him. Only the words echoed in Sylas’s ears, reverberating like a haunting refrain.

Kill the dragons. Kill the dragons. Kill the dragons.

As his consciousness teetered on the edge, Sylas clung to the faintest thread of self-awareness and murmured, “I… will kill… the dragons.”

A silence fell over everything. And in that profound stillness, Sylas spoke once more.

“Grant me the power to kill the dragons.”

Ancestor Leonik.

At that final invocation, the world shattered.