The world blazed white as the lightning gathered in the hydra's jaws.

Wade felt the charge in the air, the hair on his arms rising, every instinct in his body screaming at him to move.

He couldn't. His legs were locked in ice. His hands were frozen in place. And his heartbeat echoed in his ears like thunder.

He didn't think. He simply acted.

Bone Wings.

With a sickening crack, something inside him tore open. A surge of agony shot down his spine as pale bone erupted from his back in jagged arcs.

For a heartbeat, he thought the pain would break him. Then the wings spread wide.

The sheer force of their eruption shattered the frost around him, blasting shards of ice in all directions.

Wade gasped as sensation flooded back into his limbs.

The lightning bolt tore through the air a second later, but Wade was no longer there.

With a beat of his bone wings, he shot skyward, the bolt flashing past under his boots and smashing into the ground, leaving a smoking crater where he'd been.

Wade rose higher, circling above the hydra. The Bone Wings were fast, far faster than he'd expected.

Wind howled past his ears as he twisted in midair, keeping himself aloft.

Below, the hydra reared back, its four heads snapping upward to track him.

The bone-spike head tilted first, its eyes glowing with malice. Then the barrage began.

Bone shards the size of swords exploded upward from its mouth, whistling through the air.

Wade darted left, right, spiraling, diving, climbing, each movement narrowly avoiding the deadly storm.

The shards whizzed past him, slicing the air where his wings had been moments earlier.

"Too close," he muttered under his breath, his eyes scanning the beast below.

He could see the cracks he'd left earlier, in the ribs and in the leg bones, but none were deep enough to be fatal. He needed more power.

Then he felt it. The drain.

His mana bar flickered in his mind's eye, a steady downward spiral.

The wings were beautiful, yes, but they were hungry. Too hungry. Each beat of them devoured mana like wildfire.

"Guess that's enough air time," Wade gritted out, his teeth bared in frustration.

He folded his wings in, diving.

The wind screamed past him as he plummeted towards the hydra's back.

Just as one of its heads swung upward to snap at him, he teleported, reappearing mid-dive above the creature's spine.

He landed hard, boots slamming into bone, Toothpick gripped tightly in both hands.

The creature roared, twisting violently, trying to throw him off, but Wade clung to its spine.

"Let's see how you like this!" he shouted.

He thrust a hand forward and cast Bone Spike.

Dozens of jagged spikes of white bone shot from his palm, piercing the hydra's upper necks.

The creature howled in fury, two of its heads whipping around to try and bite at him.

The fire head opened its maw, flames bursting outward in a torrent of molten orange.

Wade didn't dodge. He simply absorbed the flames.

Fire Conversion!

The flames struck him and vanished. The exhaustion in his bones vanished in an instant, replaced by a flood of raw speed.

The fire's energy became his own.

"Now we're talking."

He dashed along the hydra's back in a blur, his speed multiplied twofold.

Each step cracked bone beneath his boots as he ran, dodging snapping jaws and spearing heads.

He jumped, slashing at a neck joint with Toothpick, then used Fireburst point-blank.

The explosion sent fragments of the creature's spine scattering.

The hydra staggered. Wade extended his free hand again, summoning another Bone Spike.

It shot straight through one of the hydra's eyes, punching through its skull.

Another head turned toward him, spitting lightning, and he rolled, the bolt grazing his shoulder.

His speed boost was gone.

He retaliated with a Fireburst directly into the hydra head's gaping mouth.

The resulting explosion sent the head detonating into fragments, bone and ash raining across the colosseum floor.

The hydra thrashed wildly now, its remaining heads screeching in fury, but Wade didn't stop.

His mana was running low again, he could feel it, but the rhythm of battle had him in its grasp.

He leapt high, wings flaring open again for one last push.

With a roar, he dove straight at the center of the beast's chest, where faint cracks revealed a pulsing light. Its core.

He slammed Toothpick down. The blade struck bone, bit deep, and stuck.

Wade's teeth clenched as the hydra screeched.

Then he raised his free hand, fire gathering in his palm, and unleashed Fireburst.

The explosion tore through the chest cavity, flames consuming the hydra from within.

The entire creature convulsed, its remaining heads arching in agony as fractures spread through its skeleton.

Then, with a deafening crash, the entire body collapsed, bones scattering like falling pillars.

Silence fell.

Then the system messages began flooding in.

[Congratulations! Boss defeated and dungeon cleared!]

[Exit Stone generated.]

[Congratulations! You have slain: Skeletal Hydra!]

Wade exhaled, lowering Toothpick and letting it rest against his shoulder.

Then another message blinked into view.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]

[Level: 9↑]

[+5 unassigned stat points]

He chuckled softly, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Guess I earned that one."

The hydra's skeletal remains shimmered, fading away into pale dust that drifted upward like fireflies.

In their place, several bright glows appeared on the cracked arena floor. Loot drops.

Wade walked toward them, still breathing hard. The first was a large chest, trimmed with faint gold. He knelt, opening it.

Inside, he found coins, neatly stacked, glinting under the fading arena light.

[Loot acquired: 5,000 coins]

He smiled, sending the chest to his inventory.

Next were two faintly glowing skill stones resting on the ground beside it.

He picked them up, the skill information appearing before him.

[Bone Wings]

[Allows the user to manifest skeletal wings for short-duration flight or gliding.]

[Requirements: 70 Strength, 50 Constitution, 50 Perception, 50 Agility]

[Cost: 3 Mana per second]

He laughed softly. "More wings, huh? Guess I can make a killing off these."

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