"Byulya... Sister?" Bewilderment washed over Hongfeng’s face.
Byulya peered at her and let out a cheeky laugh. "What’s with you? Why are you so skinny? I haven’t seen you in ages."
"More importantly, how did you get here, sister!"
Byulya shrugged. "Being a Kizen professor sure has its perks. I asked the underlings to prep a teleportation magic circle to the grasslands, and they actually pulled it off."
After hearing from Sasha’s group that Simon was in the grasslands, Byulya immediately took the magic circle to the upper prairie. When she reached the communal settlement where the local tribe stayed during this season, she found it completely deserted. Only broken food jars and dried bloodstains remained.
Sensing trouble, Byulya followed the scent down into the lower prairie. An unidentified magic that made the forest come alive had blocked her path, but she smashed through the obstacles, venturing deep into the lower region until she spotted the strange snakes and followed them here.
"It’s huge," Byulya placed a hand over her brow and let out a sharp whistle. "A Kundar Hydra? No, it looks stronger than that."
"It’s the summon of the Ancient Undead, Mur."
"What? Mur? That monster actually existed?"
Watching the two women stand side by side, Simon couldn’t help but think that despite their polar opposite personalities, twins were still twins.
"By the way, who are you?" Byulya’s gaze suddenly snapped to Simon.
Caught off guard, he answered without thinking. [I am the Commander of the great 7th Legion!]
’I definitely chose the wrong persona.’
Desperate to hide his identity, he had tried to adopt a dignified, imposing persona completely unlike his usual self. But because he wasn’t used to it, he kept blurting out ridiculous, over-the-top lines.
"Oh, to think I’d meet the man of the hour right here." Seemingly buying it for now, Byulya flashed a grin, revealing a row of shark-like teeth.
Still, he couldn’t let his guard down. Wary of her sharp, animalistic intuition, Simon exuded Pier’s jet-black aura from his entire body, doing everything he could to mask his true presence. He could only hope the overwhelming aura of an Ancient Undead would throw off her senses.
Hongfeng stepped in to explain. "Az I zaid earlier, the culprit behind thiz zituation iz the Ancient Undead, Mur. The 7th Legion Commander here came to catch him."
Byulya clicked her tongue and glared back at Simon. "Mr. Legion Commander! Isn’t the world falling into chaos and all this mess happening because you can’t manage your own subordinate undead? Huh?"
"Zizter, he haz nothing to do with Mur," Hongfeng said. "The previouz 7th Legion Commander merely pozzezzed Mur for a zhort time."
"Previous or current, the 7th Legion is the root of the problem either way!"
Listening to their bickering, Simon sweat profusely inside Pier’s skull helmet. In truth, he wasn’t entirely unrelated. After all, that very previous Legion Commander was his father.
’Anyway, it feels like Professor Hongfeng’s Continental language has gotten much more fluent since Professor Byulya arrived...’
"Anyway!" Byulya smashed her fists together with a loud smack and stepped forward.
The massive snake flicked its tongue, glaring down at the humans, while Mur floated above it, his red robes fluttering in the wind.
"So we just need to wipe them all out, right?"
Kizen’s Combat Magic Professor, Hongfeng. Kizen’s Venomology Professor, Byulya. And the current Commander of the 7th Legion of Betrayal. The sight of three of the continent’s Renowned powerhouses gathered in one place, staring down a common enemy, was a magnificent spectacle.
Mur narrowed his eyes. [I didn’t want to face the three of you at the same time, but I have no choice.]
He extended his arm. [Kill them all.]
The Hydra’s heads pulled back taut like bowstrings, then lunged forward, leaving a blur of afterimages at a speed nearly impossible to track with the naked eye. The three of them kicked off the ground simultaneously, scattering in different directions as the Hydra’s heads slammed into the earth, carving massive trenches where they had just been standing.
"Pretty fast." Byulya grinned and threw off her coat. The black fabric fluttered high into the sky, revealing her frayed shorts and bandaged torso.
"Here I go."
Secretions began to erupt from her sweat glands. In an instant, her entire body was coated in a peculiar, viscous liquid, as if she had taken a mud shower. Purple, mint, pink—a vibrant array of colorful secretions. They were beautiful, like freshly squeezed paint, but in reality, they were highly lethal poisons, extremely fatal to any living creature.
As she thrust her arms forward, the toxins moved as if alive, taking physical shape.
’Venomous Whip’
Swinging her arm over her head, she sent the liquid surging forward. It wrapped around the Hydra’s body like tentacles. The beast raised its heads, twisting its massive frame in agony. The Hydra’s scales hissed and cracked, melting like candy, petrifying, and charring all at once.
Even ’Venomous Whip’, a basic Venomology skill, possessed an entirely different level of destructive power when wielded by Byulya. While the Hydra thrashed in pain, Hongfeng soared into the high heavens like a bird. She had no wings. Reaching the clouds with a single leap, she crossed her arms over her shoulders and brought her legs together.
Closing her eyes, she entered a state of absolute serenity.
’Hongfeng Original—Twin Wings’
Her body plummeted silently, generating a massive ripple in the atmosphere. She became a human bullet. Only the massive, circular shockwave of displaced air erupting around her hinted at the sheer destructive power of her descent. She scored a direct hit on the Hydra’s head, unleashing a ferocious, booming impact that shook the earth.
As the Hydra’s head plummeted to the ground, Byulya glanced to the side and shouted. "Now’s your chance! Mr. Legion Commander!"
Simon was already sprinting forward, wielding the Greatsword of Ruin. The tip of the blade gleamed sharply, catching the sunlight.
’See the space!’
This was the opening the two professors had created for him. Mistakes were not allowed. Measuring the distance to the Hydra’s neck, he focused his perception on the space itself rather than the living creature.
’I’ll cut it!’
With a deafening clang, the white sword swung upward. The Hydra’s head, as massive as a building, flew into the air, revealing a gruesome, severed cross-section. The headless body of the Hydra collapsed with a heavy rumble, kicking up another massive shockwave of dirt and debris. Simon, Hongfeng, and Byulya leaped back, escaping the blast radius.
"Kyahaha! It’s not even that big of a deal!" Byulya laughed boisterously, looking up at the sky. "Is this all you’ve got, Ancient Undead?!"
Mur silently clenched his open hand into a fist.
The entire jungle began to quake violently. The ground around the trio erupted as the Hydra’s heads thrust upward once again. They had just severed one, but alongside the remaining nine, a staggering six additional heads had sprouted from the earth.
"They’re lining up and rushing over just asking to be killed."
Despite the sudden shift in numbers, the three of them remained perfectly calm. Byulya rubbed her palms against her thighs, then began kneading her hands together. "Here, an antidote. It’s not perfect yet, but it’ll at least keep you from dropping dead from the Hydra’s poison."
Resting on her palm were colorful, pea-sized pills. Hongfeng frowned slightly, but evidently deciding it was better than nothing, she picked one up and swallowed it. Byulya then offered an antidote to Simon.
"You take one too, Mr. Legion Commander. Ah, if you’re suspicious because it’s from another necromancer..."
Simon snatched it without a word, lifting his helmet just enough to pop the pill into his mouth.
"Oh," Byulya grinned, clearly pleased. "You’re bolder than you look, Mr. Legion Commander."
"Here they come," Hongfeng warned. The six Hydra heads lunged in their direction simultaneously.
Simon’s heart fluttered with excitement.
The professors he had always learned from and looked up to in class—to think the day would come when he would fight back-to-back with Hongfeng and Byulya. The Eildar Hydra’s offensive was undoubtedly powerful, but these two were stronger. Fighting alongside them, Simon took down the heads one by one, destroying them with methodical precision.
Swinging his sword in a wide arc, Simon slid across the dirt to bleed off his momentum and casually rested the Greatsword of Ruin on his shoulder. At the exact same moment, a snake head the size of a small village crashed down from the sky, slamming into the ground with a deafening roar.
"Is it over?!" Byulya asked, wiping her mouth.
In an instant, all six heads had been completely dealt with. Those two were truly amazing. Fighting alongside them made it abundantly clear. Even while borrowing the power of an Ancient Undead, just keeping up with their rhythm was a struggle.
"Hey, Mr. Legion Commander. You’re not already tired, are you?"
[Cut the nonsense,] Simon retorted.
’Ah, thinking about it again, I definitely chose the wrong persona.’
"Hahaha! I bet!" Byulya laughed uproariously.
Simon turned his head to check on Hongfeng. She stood in place, taking deep, measured breaths to calm herself. In truth, she was the biggest monster among them. Having been held captive by Mur for over a month, unable to eat or move properly, how could she single-handedly throw off his bindings on the very day she was freed and fight to this extent?
Her physical resilience was nothing short of superhuman, far surpassing the limits of a normal human physique.
"What are you going to do now, Ancient Undead?" Byulya asked, looking up at the sky. "Are you going to step up yourself? Or are you going to bring out the remaining three snakes to fight?"
Mur remained floating silently in the air, completely still.
If an Ancient Undead of his caliber had coordinated an attack with his summon, the Eildar Hydra, it would have been incredibly troublesome. Yet, he merely stood by and watched his beast get one-sidedly beaten.
[Those two aren’t the only options.] He waved his hand. [Rise again.]
At his command, the headless Hydra corpses collapsed on the ground suddenly stood upright. Their scales began to undulate and ripple grotesquely.
’Molting? No...!’
With a sickening squelch, the heads of young snakes burst forth from the severed cross-sections of their necks, glowing a vivid, newborn crimson. In an instant, scales rapidly grew and covered their flesh, returning them to the exact form of the massive serpents they had just fought. The seven Hydras they had painstakingly defeated had come back to life.
’How...!’ Simon’s hands trembled. ’I even severed some of them directly with the Greatsword of Ruin! How did they all come back to life?’
[I knew that if I started making my move, you would undoubtedly follow, Pier.] Mur’s eyes glinted as he stared directly at Simon. [Did you think I wouldn’t have prepared a countermeasure for that sword? This isn’t regeneration; it is rebirth.]
The Hydra’s heads let out a deafening, unified roar.
[Unless you sever all the heads at once, you cannot kill the Eildar Hydra.]
To make matters worse, the Hydras turned their massive bodies and began to slither away, scattering in all directions.
[Of course, as time passes, the number of heads will only increase.] Muttering those parting words, Mur’s body melted into the air and vanished. [I wish you luck.]
"I won’t mizz you!"
’Hongfeng Original—Fixed Bayonet’
She swung her arm to slash Mur, but he disappeared before the blow could land. As her attack sliced through empty air, Hongfeng bit her lip in frustration.
"We have to sever all ten of them at once to kill it?" Byulya scratched her head vigorously. "That’s practically the same as being unkillable, then."
Just then, Pier spoke to Simon in his mind. Pier knew Mur well, and he had seen many of his techniques firsthand. After quickly organizing Pier’s thoughts, Simon spoke up.
[Claiming that we must sever all the heads at once to kill it is a deception.]
Hongfeng and Byulya turned their attention to Simon.
[About twenty minutes passed after we severed the first head. Only then were all the heads reborn simultaneously.]
"In other wordz," Hongfeng picked up where he left off, "we have to zever all the Hydra’z headz within twenty minutez."
[That is what I believe.]
Hearing this, Byulya crossed her arms. "That’s way too tricky. Is there no main body connecting those heads? Like, if we destroy the core, we can crush all ten heads at once."
[There is none. They are merely connected as a single entity through dark magic; they do not share a physical main body.]
"Then we need to get out of the grasslands and call for backup. Since there are ten heads, we need to gather at least ten people to face them simultaneously..."
"No," Hongfeng shook her head. "Az time pazzez, the number of headz will increaze. Up to a hundred."
"If they all zpread far and wide, it will become the worzt kind of monzter—one that can never be defeated. I can’t even imagine what kind of evil deedz an Ancient Undead with malize toward the world would commit with it." Strength entered her eyes. "We muzt catch it now. Now iz the bezt time, and the leazt difficult moment."
Hearing those words, Byulya chuckled. "Alright, then let’s do this."
She held up three fingers. "Each person takes three heads. From the moment I give the signal, we have twenty minutes. Within that time, each of us is responsible for taking out three heads alone."
[What about the last one?] Simon asked.
"What else? The first person to finish off their three heads will have to take care of the last one too."
In truth, the basic premise itself made for an incredibly grueling mission. Up until now, two Kizen professors and a Legion Commander had combined their strength to eliminate the Hydra’s heads one by one. But now, they had to handle three or more heads alone within twenty minutes? The difficulty had just multiplied several times over.
’More than anything...’ Simon turned his head.
Hongfeng, who hadn’t been able to eat or drink properly for over a month, had reached her limit a long time ago. She was only standing here right now because she had already surpassed her limits time and time again. Could she really destroy three heads all by herself within such a strict time limit?
"Let’z do that." Despite sweating profusely, Hongfeng offered a determined smile.
Meanwhile.
"Simon! Where are you? Simon!"
"Answer if you can hear us!"
The student council members were wandering through the dark temple ruins, each holding a lantern. A serious problem had arisen. The exit collapsing due to Hongfeng’s sudden escape was one issue, but Simon, who had lured the monsters away, was nowhere to be seen.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Dick muttered, a cold sweat forming on his brow as he carried the prairie girl on his back. Meirin, her face pale, was sweeping her lantern beam across the darkened corners. "Do you think Professor Hongfeng is safe? It looked like she was suddenly cursed..."
"Don’t worry too much about the professor, Kami," Meirin said bravely. "She asked me to cast an Awakening Magic Circle on her before she lost her reason. She must have had a plan."
"Ah!" A startled gasp suddenly escaped Kamibarez’s lips.
"What’s wrong, Kami?"
"O-Over there...!"
Dick and Meirin hurriedly ran over to her side. Through a massive gap in the collapsed wall of the temple, they could see the sunlight and the scenery outside.
And right then...
With a heavy, scraping hiss, the body of an indescribably massive snake slithered past the opening, casting a terrifying shadow over them.

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