289. Cycle of Eternity

The instant the spell was articulated in Pronos’ mind, a magic crest spun into existence. It was one that reflected the Hydra’s abilities; the core of the formation resembled nine snakes biting into a single spot together.

The crest revolved then imprinted itself onto the petrified water below. It promptly expanded and covered its whole surface before merging with it. The slab of stone then suddenly shook; its shape twisting.

After a short moment, it began to float up, breaking down into smaller pieces and leaving behind the Kraken’s tentacles, of which the owner stuck its head out of the water.

The spectator watching the two behemoths fight raised an eyebrow at that. “Oh? A World Boss? It must have migrated recently from the recent Reset... A stroke of luck to find it considering its stealth capabilities within the deep waters,” he commented before looking up at the Hydra who was controlling the large volume of stone clouding the sky.

Pronos gradually started feeling the strain of his tired state but soldiered on, he used his parallel thinking skill at its fullest to increase the casting speed of his spell. The rocks melded into a roughly humanoid shape holding a polearm.

At the same time, the Kraken squinted its eyes and without delay, raised all of its tentacles out of the water. It began to manually draw a magic formation on thin air.

The Hydra didn’t even bat an eye at that, he merely gave the last push for his spell to be completed and a bright light swallowed the giant statue. It overtook the sky for a moment and when it died down, the final result was revealed.

A titanic statue depicting a werewolf with nine tails, wielding a glaive and sporting three pairs of wings on its back.

“That is…” The blue-eyed bystander muttered, his eyes widening. If he had to give his opinion, that statue was nothing short of majestic. It was quite clearly based on something the Hydra himself was closely related to and it gave off an aura of boundless power.

Stone of Remembrance was a spell with a varying Tier, from 10 to 1. The short explanation was that it gave form to the user’s mind. It would give birth to a statue of varying strength and abilities based on the model.

“However, this is not enough,” the onlooker continued. “That effigy is indeed formidable. But it is nothing more than a hollow husk if its conjurer cannot make use of it. Precisely so, at this moment, that Hydra does not have enough power left to contend against the Kraken with it.”

As if arriving at the same conclusion, the World Boss in question let out a sneer-like sound. Right after, the magic formation it had been constructing shrunk and activated. A force wave rippled around the Kraken, agitating the water. Then, the water rose in several different spots, growing into mirror constructs of the monster’s tentacles, outlined by an orange hue.

The Kraken moved its appendages, and the larger aquatic versions followed. They spread out and elongated themselves, shooting toward Pronos and the statue hovering over him.

The Hydra watched them approach, eyes calm and calculative. There was no doubt that he needed more time to complete his strategy. But he wasn’t scared.

The explanation showed itself when the tentacles paused. The Kraken let out a pained noise as a cobweb pattern of cyan light shone through its skin, the Eion Poison acting up. The large monster was forced to halt his spell for a short second, redirecting some mana to stop the Eion from further harming his body. 

That small window of time was more than enough. With a loud hiss, Pronos opened his eyes wide and a golden apparition depicting a snake manifested behind him. It filled the area with its light before slowly forming an infinity symbol with its body.

Then, the snake eventually opened its mouth, ready to bite its own tail. In that instant that lasted less than a second, the Kraken felt blindsided and frozen.

That golden snake, without any sort of presence to it, was emitting pressure beyond what words could describe. What this serpent was; it didn’t take much to know.

There weren’t many options to consider once ‘a snake biting its own tail’ appeared. Even more so if infinity was involved; Ouroboros, the actualization of Infinity and the Cycle of Nature.

Pronos had inherited the power of Infinity through his magic. Now, after his Main Path Quest, he had received his first Path Skill. 

The Cycle of Nature was divided into three stages. The first step was the most straightforward, the start of everything; birth.

The golden snake eventually closed its mouth and the skill was fully invoked. Nothing ostentatious happened and the snake disappeared as fast as it had arrived. However, the otherworldly pressure had been replaced with a much more tangible one.

The statue of the werewolf suddenly released enough power to surpass even its very creator. The eyes flared up with a golden and silver light, erasing any trace of inertness. 

The statue’s wings unfurled themselves with fluidity unbecoming of a figure of stone. Some of the feathers even detached themselves like a real being, falling into the water and causing splashes much like what you would expect from massive boulders being dropped into the ocean.

The werewolf then pointed its Guandao at the Kraken, a crystal-like sphere appearing at the tip of the blade. Inside of it, an icy blue energy raged, ready to be released. Anyone who had seen Rakna fight before would have recognized the familiar sight of the Hoarfrost Star.

As for the Kraken and the third party spectating the battle, they didn’t need explanations as to what was going on. The Ouroboros snake had not failed to emit a subliminal-like suggestion into their minds as if demanding them to bow and worship it. 

Pronos had no need to be able to speak. The name of the spell echoed like a harbinger of defeat as if spoken by the world itself.

- [First Cycle of Eternity – Life.] -

The werewolf statue’s eyes flashed brighter for a split second before it thrust its glaive. The blade dug into the crystal and, like being released from its shell, a stream of frost energy erupted out unilaterally in the Kraken’s direction.

The World Boss had been forced out of its daze at the same time. It urgently commanded the water tentacles to concentrate on the incoming attack. The appendages moved swiftly, colliding with the wave of energy.

The impact instantly projected its influence on the surroundings. A circular tsunami was formed but before it could get far, it got frozen in place by the waves of frost energy. The Kraken let out a roar as half of its body was being trapped in ice but it didn’t give up.

The tentacles began pushing harder and the orange hue spread to the frost energy; eroding it. As it stood, the werewolf would lose this clash. However, the statue’s eyes merely flashed again as if to imitate a frown.

The werewolf then used its freehand and pointed a palm to the sky. A crystal object in the form of a five-pointed star appeared above it before being launched into the sky.

Soon, a magic circle bearing Rakna’s crest overtook the sky. “[From Above Cometh…]” The statue chanted, its voice sounding nothing like a human and reminding one of gravel grating against steel.

The Kraken looked up in shock as miniature crystals began to rain down like snow. When the first flake touched the creature’s body, they collectively shone like a starry night sky. After that, it was over.

“[Natcattira Vīḻcci.]”

Silently, and overbearingly, a cascade of light descended from the sky. It swallowed everything in its wake, shimmering in various patterns due to the crystal mixed in with it.

The deluge lasted close to half a minute, and the pillar of light eventually disappeared. It gradually thinned down from the top like a flow of water after the faucet was closed.

When it was entirely gone, the final state of the Kraken was revealed; encased… no, transformed into crystal, the adjoining water frozen solid. Then, after a few silent beats, a crack opened along with the sound that came with it, and everything broke down.

The crystal Kraken collapsed into thousands of small pieces and the ice shortly followed. In the next moment, the ocean water flooded the void left behind, creating a massive whirlpool.

From above, the werewolf statue held its glaive parallel to its body, unmoving. The light of its eyes flickered between bright and dim until it finally turned off completely. The statue lost the aura it exuded as if it had all been an illusion and began to drop. It broke down much like the Kraken had and its pieces sunk into the whirlpool.

Pronos, who had been blown off by the clash of forces, helplessly landed in the water due to having expended all of his power with his final attack. And as he started floating up, the System delivered him the messages telling him that he had killed a World Boss, his level instantly rising by ten and his rewards being given out.

“A skill capable of infusing life into a target…” An unknown voice made the Hydra look away from the fruits of his battle to stare at a small moving island located not far. He had of course noticed it during his fight, but he hadn’t bothered doing anything about it. He was actually surprised it had survived the earlier bout.

“Your expression tells me you are intrigued,” the island’s owner spoke and Pronos blinked, taking in his appearance. The person was, for the lack of a better word, a child. 

As far as appearances went, he looked like a boy barely above the age of ten. He had somewhat spiky and short dark blue hair. His eyes were of the same color, albeit a lighter shade, and he wore a strangely formal attire, adapted to his age and accessorized with a bowtie.

“If you are wondering, I moved my island prior to that final clash,” the boy continued. “I predicted this acrimonious mess you have caused. I, of course, would like to avoid my house being damaged in this manner,” he said with a cold and somewhat severe tone.

Pronos blinked confoundedly. The Hydra had two questions on his mind; why did this boy’s voice sound so deep despite his age, and why… did he have disgust plastered all over his face?

He could tell that the disgust wasn’t directed at him, however. In fact, toward him, it seemed like the unknown boy was polite, even if his tone sounded hostile. Ultimately, Pronos could only come to one conclusion; this person was not disgusted by him... but everything else. It was as if this revulsion was an inherent part of him.

“Anyhow, are you planning to stay there forever?” The boy eventually asked with a scowl.

Pronos tilted his head in confusion.

“What are you looking at me like that for? Hop onto the island if you cannot move. Athens might send a few scouts to know what happened here very soon. You were lucky that there were no deep maritime installations under where you fought, or they would have hounded you down already.”

The Hydra looked around reflexively to see if anyone was coming.

“Regardless, I will be leaving. So, come along if you’d like. I do not want to deal with the authorities interrogating me,” the child uttered. “As for you, are you not a Pet? It is clear you are not a Wilden. Would you not like to avoid bothering your master through your actions?” He added and turned around, headed for the front door of his house.

His words seemed to get a reaction out of Pronos. He nodded before shrinking to his smallest size and slithering up the edge of the island. The instant he was on, the landmass started moving with seemingly no source of energy powering it, but still evidently controlled somehow.

“You can stay until you are rested enough,” the blue-haired boy said as he entered his house. “Make yourself at home. Follow me if you wish, I can offer you coffee… or whatever else a Hydra such as yourself prefers to eat or drink.”

Pronos stared at the stranger’s back for a short moment before shrugging his imaginary shoulders and following after him. He had a good sense for people, and he could feel no danger from this odd child. Furthermore, he looked interesting, so the Hydra happily entered the house.

After going inside, Pronos couldn’t see how the island faded out of existence like a mirage.

AhraManyu

This is one of those chapters I like, but I wish I had written better. Sometimes, the way you write a chapter and how well it ends up being is really fucking up to chance. It comes down to the fact of if it's a good or bad day. The worst is that if you wish to fix or improve that chapter later on, it's super hard. Aah, sad life.