Lord of Annihilation

Waiting for the curtain of light surrounding him to dissipate, Lucius opened his eyes and calmly surveyed his new location. 

Currently, he was standing atop a rock pillar that was barely five meters in diameter. Underneath the pillar was an endlessly vast swampland filled with bubbling, acid-green waters. Filth and mud floated on the surface of the water releasing a scent that was absolutely revolting. 

Turning to look at the sky, Lucius found it covered with dense, dark clouds which greatly limited light. Thus, the swamp had the added effect of eerie darkness which coupled with the omnipresent grey fog that surrounded the swamp greatly limited visibility.

Releasing his soul power, Lucius extended his soul senses to cover a thirty-kilometer radius around. This was the limit of the Boundary extensible at the Stage 3 realm.

'Life-Stealing Crabs, Low-Level Stage 3. No threats.'

The feedback from his soul senses informed him of the hundreds of Life-Stealing Crabs swimming in the swamp. At his current level of strength, these creatures were hardly of any danger to him.

'The Second Labor is to slay the Nine-Headed Hydra at the Peak-Level Stage 3 realm,' 

Recalling information about the Second Labor, Lucius started to move. Invoking the power of flight, Lucius calmly flew over the swamplands while scanning the thirty-kilometer radius for signs of the Hydra. 

The Nine-Headed Hydra was a Grade 5 Wild Beast and was a descendent of the Immortal Hydra which in turn was a Grade 6 Wild Beast. 

Nine-Headed Hydra's were born with Low-Level Stage 3 strength and had the potential to reach Low-Level Stage 5. However, this was an extremely rare case as most Nine-Headed Hydra's only managed to reach the Stage 4 realm during their lives.

As the name suggests, a Nine-Headed Hydra had nine individual reptilian heads capable of spewing Water-based and Poison-based attacks, and sometimes even the combination of the two. Each head shared a single will and could act in tandem with the others. Destroying a head would not affect the overall intelligence of the monster.

Like all Hydra variants, the Nine-Headed Hydra also possessed racial traits like extremely potent regeneration bordering on immortality and impenetrable scales. Their bodies were also extremely large, ranging from seven-hundred-meters in scale to almost three kilometers. 

Naturally, the larger the creature, the higher was its Stage.

Born in poisons swamps, the Nine-Headed Hydra was extremely nimble within the water and could be said to possess near-perfect levels of understanding of its dominion. Fighting Hydras underwater is inadvisable unless one is of a higher Stage.

The above series of information flashed through Lucius' head as he recalled his knowledge about the Hydras.

Normally, facing a Peak-Level Stage 3 beast was a challenge even if one was in the same realm themselves. This was especially the case while facing a beast like the Nine-Headed Hydra which had multiple traits. This difficulty was further compounded by the fact that one had to battle it in its natural terrain.

Generally, to face any Wild Beast of similar power levels was a challenging task for individuals. This was because an individual's stamina and soul power were greatly limited when compared to a Wild Beast. The latter also often had unique, annoying racial traits which only made the hunt all the more difficult.

Naturally, Lucius did not belong to his classification. He was an abnormal hack that did not conform to common sense.

'With all the creatures that I've eaten so far, my Poison Resistance should be high enough to ignore the Hydra's corrosive poison. Of course, this is assuming that I get hit.'

'Its regeneration should also pose no trouble since [Annihilation Energy] would simply keep eating away at it. As long as I hit it enough times, killing it will be simple.'

'The only challenge is to keep it from running away. While I could use my Domain and instantly kill it, that would be too boring,' Lucius sighed.

To tell the truth, most of the Twelve Labors were too simple for Lucius and hardly possessed any challenge to him. The only reason why he was even here was to provide Olivia with the opportunity to ascend.

Originally, he intended for Olivia to be the only person to undertake the trails while he and Ka'lor'ah would remain outside with the other spectators. 

However, when he had met with the Giant King Klytius to register Olivia's name, the latter had requested for him to join the trails. While Lucius had initially wanted to deny, he then reluctantly agreed as he did not want to lose the Giant's recognition and lose the opportunity.

Gaining their recognition was both easy and incredibly difficult as it largely depended on the whim of the Giants. 

Most would gain their recognition after completing a difficult task for the Giants. This was how many non-Giant participants, like Lu'uf, managed to enter the trails.

Rarely, the Giants themselves would offer the opportunity to eager participants simply because the former found them interesting. This was the case with Lucius. 

In fact, King Klytius had found Lucius so interesting that he offered him two slots for his participation.

All in all, Lucius was participating for the sake of it and did not expect to gain much from the Trails.

After a few dozen minutes of searching, Lucius faintly felt an immense life force radiating from a distance. What was interesting was that his instincts warned him of a faint sense of danger from that direction.

'Danger?' Lucius immediately grew interested and rushed in that direction.

After about a minute of flying, his soul senses picked up the enormous amount of life force lying dormant in the bottom of the swamp. Judging from the shape of the life force, Lucius recognized it to be a Nine-Headed Hydra.

Flying at an altitude of a thousand meters above the swamp, Lucius' indifferent eyes shone with a bright glint. A trace of excitement could be felt within his cold aura, as he looked at the still waters beneath him.

As he read the aura of the creature below him, Lucius remarked, 'Low-Level Stage 4, a recently ascended one in that.'

Retrieving the scythe which was mounted to his back, Lucius assumed his combat stance and started to move.

'[Dance of the Death God: Second Movement]'

Swinging his scythe downwards with all of his strength, he watched as an enormous blade of [Annihilation Energy] split the swampy waters in two and headed towards the slumbering beast.

'Slash.'

GROOOOWL!!!

An earth-shattering growl exploded from the enraged beast as the attack cut of two of its Nine-Heads. The remaining seven instantly locked their eyes on the puny creature floating in the sky and radiated a fearsome murderous intent.

Energy exploded from within the Hydra, instantly dispersing the majority of Lucius' [Annihilation Energy] and regenerating one of the fallen heads in a matter of seconds.

ROOOAAARRRR!!!

Throwing a sonic attack towards the damnable attacker, the Hydra jumped out of the swamps and reached towards Lucius with its enormous maws.

Looking at the beast coming towards him, an unconscious smile formed on Lucius' face.

'Now this is interesting.'

----------

"Only seven minutes to complete the First Labor?! He cut through the impenetrable hide of the Lion like butter!!" 

"Look, he's already in the Second Labor and has found the Hydra!!"

"Whoa!! That's a Low-Level Stage 4 beast! What is it still doing inside the trail grounds?! Wait--!!"

"He's challenging a Stage 4 beast?!! Is he mad?!"

Exclamations clamored within an elaborately decorated viewing room as hundreds of individuals, Giants and non-Giants alike, viewed the scene on the main screen before them.

In the large screen floating at the center of the viewing hall, the scene of Lucius battling the Stage 4 Nine-Headed Hydra was being broadcasted.

Meanwhile, inside a private room reversed for the Giant Royalty, Ka'lor'ah who was accompanied by Klytius and his family, watched as this massive 'behemoth' sitting beside her broke into a burst of excited laughter.

"Hahaha!! He's much stronger than I initially expected! Look at him fight that Stage 4 beast to a standstill!"

King Klytius hit the armrest of his seat and continued with excitement, "I knew he was special from the moment I laid my eyes on him. Looks like my decision to teleport him to the area of the Stage 4 beast was the right choice! I haven't seen such an exciting match in ages!"

Ka'lor'ah, whose ears threatened to explode from his boisterous laughs, wryly smiled looking at this scene. From the moment Lucius and Olivia entered the trial grounds, she had been following this Giant at his behest.

For some odd reason, this Giant beside her has seemed to have taken an interest in Lucius and was actively involving himself in the trail.

"Giant King Klytius, may I ask why you're interested in my friend?" Ka'lor'ah asked in a polite tone.

Hearing her question, King Klytius turned to look at the minuscule Faerie-like creature sitting next to him and boisterously replied.

"Why? Because I find him unique and interesting! There is something about your friend that draws my eyes towards him."

Hearing his reply, Ka'lor'ah mentally sighed and thought to herself, 'Giants, a bunch of unpredictable creatures that act in accordance to their whims.'

She then turned her gaze towards one of the smaller screens at the side and looked at Olivia fighting the Nemean Lion. 

A smile appeared on her face as she thought, 'Well, Lil' Ollie seems to be progressing well. She might have a chance at ascending by the end of this.'

"HAHAHA! What a strong attack! He beheaded six of its heads in a single motion!!" Klytius broke into another fit of laughter.