Talia hung in the air. Caught in the deadly gaze.

The full, focused attention of the Gorgon-Hydra's central head washed over her. A wave of petrifying energy.

Her skin began to shimmer with faint- stony grey. Her movements slowed. Her face frozen in horror.

She was dying. Turning to stone from the inside out.

'Shit. If she dies now, we lose. I need her alive. I need all of them alive to win this.'

The plan was collapsing.

But in that moment clarity washed over him.

The Manacore Pendant on his chest. A massive reserve of power waiting.

He was no longer just the leader giving orders. He was the storm itself.

"Talia!" he roared. "Don't you fucking die on me!"

He drew upon the vast ocean of mana within him. The doubled pool granted by the pendant.

A powerful rush like lightning in his veins.

He reached for his summons. His collection of the dead. And he pulled.

FWOOSH!

The ground erupted in shadow.

First came the Guardian. The ghostly Wardcrafter.

It appeared not beside Dante. But directly in front of Talia. A shimmering shield of dark energy.

It raised its spectral arms. A Phantom Ward snapped into existence between her and the Hydra's gaze.

CRACK!

The petrifying energy slammed into the ward. The shield cracked instantly. Spiderwebs of light racing across its surface.

But it held. Bought her a second.

'Good. One second is all I need.'

Next, the two Juggernauts.

From the black mud, two massive forms rose.

The Crimson Juggernaut. Derek's ghost. Crackling with crimson aura. Its shadow greatsword glowing with hate.

Beside it, the Orc Champion. Larger. More brutish. Raw physical power made manifest.

"Engage!" Dante commanded.

The two massive shadows charged.

They slammed into the main body of the Gorgon-Hydra.

The S-rank beast staggered back. Its central head's focus broke. Forced to deal with the two monstrous ghosts tearing at its side.

Talia, freed from the gaze, dropped from the monster's throat.

Shliick!

Her daggers ripped free from the King Scale. She landed on ice. Her body trembling. A faint grey color still clinging to her skin.

"The poison..." she gasped. "It's in."

She scrambled back toward safety.

'Perfect. Phase two complete. Now we just need to not die while killing this thing.'

The battle fell into pure chaos.

The Hydra was a storm of violence. Its seven heads striking like lightning.

One head snapped at the Orc Champion. Fangs scraping against shadowy hide.

SCREEE!

Another spat corrosive venom at Derek's summon. The Crimson Juggernaut raised its greatsword. Letting the acid sizzle harmlessly against spectral steel.

His puppets were anvils. Designed to absorb the monster's fury.

But even they were taking damage.

Dante could feel the drain on his mana. A constant and mainly the massive outflow. Pouring energy to keep their forms solid.

The Orc Champion's arm was nearly torn off by a vicious bite. The Crimson Juggernaut's aura flickered as a lashing tail sent it stumbling.

"We're not doing enough!" Masha yelled. Her face pale as she repaired a shattered ice wall. "It's barely even hurt!"

"Then we hurt it harder!" Dante roared back. "Everyone! Attack! Aim for the wound on its throat! Don't stop until it's dead!"

'Clever tricks are over. Now it's brute force and acceptable losses.'

His team unleashed hell.

Lana was a whirlwind. Her Verdant Iron Staff became a blur. Extending and retracting. Smashing into the Hydra's necks.

Jin, his cloak shimmering as it pushed away toxic fog, darted in and out. His sword targeting the joints where heads met body.

Erica became the heart of their assault.

"Kael, on me!" she screamed.

She gathered her power. Her hands forming a spear of pure, white-hot plasma. While Kael helped her her perfectly by wrapping it in his lightning magic.

Two identical lances of searing energy shot across the swamp. They struck the Hydra's side. Not at the wound. At the same single scale.

The first lance made the scale glow cherry-red. The second, striking the superheated point, punched through.

SIZZLE!

ROOOOAR!

The Gorgon-Hydra let out a roar of pain that shook the swamp.

One of its heads whipped around. Spat a stream of venom at Erica.

But Eric was there. His tower shield intercepting the corrosive stream.

Hiiisssss!

The metal hissed and smoked. The Buckler of Sparks discharging uselessly. But the shield held.

Behind him, Rina's hands glowed. Her life energy pouring into him. Mending the damage.

'They're working well together. Good. I trained them well. Molded them into proper weapons.'

The battle became a desperate rhythm.

His Juggernauts would hit and hold. Creating openings. Masha would control the area. Limiting the beast's movement. Then the others would pour fire into the openings.

They were landing blows. Drawing blood.

Drip. Drip.

But the Hydra's regeneration, though slowed, was still active. For every scale they broke, another hardened. For every wound they made, the flesh would slowly knit back together.

They were in a race against a creature that could not die.

"It's still healing!" Jin yelled. Dodging a lashing tail that shattered the ground. "We're not doing enough damage!"

He was right. They were fighting a battle they couldn't win. Against a being with near-infinite stamina.

They needed to end this. Now.

'I need a bigger opening. A fatal wound. Something that overwhelms its regeneration completely.'

Dante's mind raced. Analyzing. Calculating.

'The poison slowed its healing. But not enough. We're damaging it, but it's regenerating faster than we can kill it.'

'Wait. The King Scale. Talia pierced it. That's where the poison entered. That's the source of its regeneration.'

'If I can force more poison into that wound. Overwhelm the system completely...'

His eyes snapped to the swamp around them. The stagnant, toxic water. The rotting vegetation. The corpses of creatures that had died in this place.

'This entire swamp is poisonous. And I control water.'

A brilliant, terrible plan formed.

"Everyone! Fall back behind the ice walls! Now!" Dante roared.

They didn't question. They retreated.

Dante held out both hands. His left still wearing the Ring of the Maelstrom. His right channeling his necromantic power.

'I need to combine them. Water control and death magic. Force the swamp itself into that wound.'

He pulled on the ring's power. The black, stagnant water of the entire swamp began to churn. To rise. To swirl.

But he didn't create a whirlpool. He created something worse.

The water rose in a massive, churning column. And as it rose, Dante poured his necromantic energy into it. The essence of decay. Of rot. Of death itself.

The water turned black. Not the natural black of mud. But the deep, absolute black of pure necrosis.

'Derek. Wardcraft user. I don't need them as fighters anymore. I need them as fuel.'

"Derek. And you. Into the water. Now."

The two obeyed without hesitation. They charged into the swirling column of corrupted water.

And Dante unsummoned them. Their spectral forms dissolved. Their essence, their death, their hatred, all of it mixing into the poisoned water.

The column turned darker. More viscous. More deadly.

The Hydra sensed the danger. Its remaining heads tried to turn. Tried to escape.

But it was too slow. Too wounded. Too focused on the pain in its throat.

"Masha! Freeze it in place!"

Ice erupted from the ground. Not walls this time. Thick sheets of ice covering the Hydra's lower body. Locking it in position.

The beast roared. Thrashed. But it couldn't move.

Dante gritted his teeth. Sweat pouring down his face. His mana reserves dropping dangerously low.

'One shot. I get one shot at this.'

He thrust both hands forward.

The massive column of corrupted, necrotic water surged forward like a living thing. A serpent of pure death attacking a dying god like being.

It slammed into the Hydra's throat. Into the wound. Into the pierced King Scale.

The force was immense. The pressure enormous. The corrupted water forced its way deep into the beast's body.

Carrying with it the concentrated essence of death and poison from the entire swamp. From Dante's dissolved summons. From his necromantic power.

The Gorgon-Hydra's body convulsed. Its scales began to crack. Black veins spread across its entire form.

'Now. While the poison overwhelms it. While its regeneration fails. End it.'

"NOW!" Dante bellowed. His voice raw. His mana reserves plunging dangerously low. "Hit the wound! Everything you have!"

What followed was brutal slaughter.

Erica and Kael unleashed a continuous barrage of their powers. Lana's staff became a battering ram. Striking the same point over and over. Jin's sword finding every crack and tear in the mangled flesh.

The Hydra screamed. Thrashed. Bled.

But it was still standing. Wounded. Blind. Roaring in agony.

Still alive.

'It's not enough. It's still not fucking enough. What does it take to kill this thing?'

Dante looked at his last Juggernaut. The Orc Champion. It was already fading. His mana too low to keep it solid.

He had one shot left. Himself.

'Fine. If they can't finish it, I will. I didn't come this far to fail now.'

He held out his hand. Palm up. He drew on the last bits of his power. The final reserves granted by the Manacore Pendant.

A sphere of darkness formed above his palm. Shot through with crackling violet lightning.

It was not fire or ice. It was pure, unfiltered death. The very essence of his necromantic power given form.

'This is everything I have left. If this doesn't kill it, we're all dead.'

The Gorgon-Hydra's central head, its ruby eye now dim and clouded, sensed the new threat. It turned its gaze toward him.

Dante smiled. A bloody triumphant smile.

"Look at me, you bastard," he whispered.

He hurled the sphere.

It moved with unstoppable purpose. A miniature black hole drinking the light around it.

It sailed past the flailing heads. Past the desperate attacks of his team. And entered the gaping wound in the serpent's throat.

For a moment, there was silence.

Then the Gorgon-Hydra's body went rigid. A network of black, dead veins spread from the wound. Racing across its scales. Turning them a dull, lifeless grey.

The light in its remaining five eyes flickered. Died. Its roars stopped.

With a final, shuddering groan that shook the entire swamp, the colossal body of the S-rank Gorgon-Hydra collapsed.

CRASH!

It crashed into the mud with a tidal wave of black water. Dead.

They had done it.

They stood there. Panting. Bleeding. Covered in mud and venom. The clearing was silent. Save for their own ragged breathing.

They had fought an S-rank monster. And they had won.

'I did it. I actually did it. S-rank monster. Dead. And I'm still alive.'

Dante swayed on his feet. The world turning grey at the edges. His mana reserves hit absolute zero.

Before the darkness could take him, he felt arms around him. Holding him up.

He looked to see Erica and Lana. One on each side. Their own exhaustion forgotten.

Their faces were a mixture of terror, relief, and deep, soul-shaking awe.

They were looking at him not as a leader. But as the monster who had just slain a god.

'Good. Let them see what I am. Let them fear me. Let them worship me.'

'Because I'm not done yet. Not even close.'

The darkness took him then. But even as consciousness faded, Dante smiled.

He had won.

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