HEX: Aspect Of The Void

"Yes, Boss!" Shamac said with a determined smile.

The Hydra tilted its three heads as it focused on the three of us, prepared to devour its prey. Shamac stepped forward, leaving the rest of us behind him to attack the monster.

Since its tail blocked the entrance, there is no means of escape from the room unless it is beaten. We won't be needing that though.

The Hydra suddenly lunged one of its three heads to attack Shamac, who steadily approached it. The giant face crashed into the mossy ground, causing debris to fly everywhere due to the impact.

Shamac appeared beside the head, having successfully evaded the strike. The eyes of the Hydra went to Shamac and quickly turned its head to sweep through and crash on him.

He back-flipped and quickly transformed into a bird, flying above the reach of the monster's giant body. Using his newly acquired wings, he soared above, close to the ceiling, and then dived back down, propelling himself to the remaining two heads of the Hydra.

They immediately looked up and noticed his descent. They both opened their mouths and hissed at him.

"Haaaaaa"

Suddenly, gas came out of both their mouths, with varying colors of green and purple, they proceeded like clouds of smoke and swept through the air, burying Shamac within their contents.

The greenish-purple vapor filled the area of the ceiling and below and we all observed how the ceiling corroded as the gas touched it. The structure started breaking down and appeared to be melting.

"It's acid?!" Talia exclaimed.

"No… Shamac…" Ana muttered, looking worried.

These girls can't be serious.

"It's not just acid. Each head of the hydra has different breaths. One breathes out acid, the other is poison… The green and purple smoke is a combination of the two.

"W-What?! Isn't that too much?!" Talia let out in concern.

No, it isn't. I suppose it's understandable that they are worried. After all, I trained them separately. However, their worry for Shamac is misplaced. The reason is simple…

"I-Is that… Shamac?" Talia muttered as she looked up and saw a figure coming from the smoke.

With darkness covering his entire body like a cloak, he appeared from the extremely dangerous vapor unscathed. Since he had shapeshifted back into his regular form, he descended from his height and landed safely on the ground without any difficulty.

The shadow which covered his body retracted and returned underneath him. With his real body revealed, he didn't have any damaged look, meaning he had been unharmed by the corrosive attacks of the Hydra.

At this point, the head which was on the ground reunited with the remaining two, and so the three all glared at Shamac. Its focus was no longer on us since we didn't bother it.

"So that's what he was trying to do…" Ana said with observation.

"Oh? Did she notice?" I found myself thinking.

"He used the first strike opportunity to distance himself from us and made all the three heads attack him in succession. This way their attention has shifted from us and are now on him." Ana continued.

Well, she's not wrong. But that's not all he did. I thought she had picked it up, but she didn't notice after all. Shamac's first move was evasion and scouting. He didn't render a single attack, even though he could.

I can only think of one reason he did it.

"Let's keep our eyes peeled. You're going to see something interesting soon enough." I smiled.

Shamac exhaled deeply as he stared at the three-headed beast. It bared its fangs at Shamac, ready to launch another barrage of attacks. However, the look on his face showed that he wouldn't be playing tag with the massive snake anymore.

"I've gotten the structure already. Anatomy, shape, size, properties… All information are complete. Conditions have been satisfied. Now then, let us begin the real fight." Shamac said as it locked eyes with the monster.

A deadly aura began to emit from him as he glared at the beast, the killing intent was too obvious. The Hydra reacted to this state of Shamac and recognized him as an immediate threat.

Without any moment's delay, the Hydra took in deep breaths, puffing up its throat areas. This indicated that they wanted to pour out their deadly vials upon Shamac. Since they sensed his malevolence, they wanted to end it quickly before

The three heads poured out a massive wave of poison, acid, and fire. As it rained down, all heading toward Shamac where he stood, the young Shifter merely smiled. His face gleamed with excitement as his lips opened slightly to utter words.

"…MODEL: HYDRA…"

The threefold deadly elements landed on the area where Shamac stood and devastated the expanse. A massive explosion of flames mixed in corrosive elements burst through and created a deafening pressure. The waves of the blast spread across to where we stayed, so I used Hex to create a barrier to protect the girls from the poison and acids that splattered and spread all around the room.

The explosion died down, sizzling into the smoke that came afterward.

"This huge blast… Just from a Floor 4 Boss… It's way more powerful compared to the Chimera I faced." Talia said in wonder.

Of course, the difference in difficulty between floors is very wide. That's why so far, the Adventurers who challenge this Dungeon mostly retire after advancing a few floors.

But…

"So that's the best you can do…?!" Shamac's voice sounded

The mist made by the earlier bombardment of the monster's attacks began to clear. A dark silhouette was visible within the cloud. It was not that of a human. Its long appearance, with its large and massive structure, coupled with three intersections emanating from a single trunk, made the girls strain their eyes to see what the mysterious apparition was.

"It looks… Almost like a…" Talia muttered.

Suddenly, a great gust of wind blew, clearing away the smoke, restoring sight to everyone present.

Their eyes bulged and mouths opened slightly at the sight before them. It was a second Hydra. It was just as large as the first, long, with three heads and a menacing face. The scales all around it were detailed as well, like a perfect duplicate. However, one thing was different.

"That's a shadow isn't it?!" Ana exclaimed.

Yes, it is.

Shamac stood at the center of the coiling second Hydra, with its dark color and purple scale lines evident on the body, the huge mass of pure darkness slithered about and faced the original.

"Shamac needs accurate and detailed information of something before he can transform into it" I muttered.

"T-Then that means, his evasion tactics were just so he could buy time and fully understand the Hydra's structure...?" Ana turned to me in realization.

Indeed. Throughout our training, I ensured to drill the concepts of Shifting into Shamac. He took both pills I gave him and raised his efficiency and total mass of his shadow. In the past, his shadow wouldn't have been enough to create such a big monster, but now… He isn't even using up to half of its total mass.

"Let's go, Hydra. I want to see who is more superior. You or my Shadow construct!" Shamac grinned.

"Hisssss!!!!" The Hydra let out in rage.

"Oh? Why are you mad? I was nice enough to make a sparring partner, just for you. What do you think? It's completely identical to you, no?" He said with a demeaning tone.

The Hydra immediately charged at the Hydra Shadow construct of Shamac to rip to shreds. With great speed, its long body sped, and due to its mass, the force built up was devastating.

"No, you don't!"

As it approached, Shamac immediately controlled his Hydra to twist itself, evading the bash of the opponent, while also using its dark body to wrap itself around the monster.

"In the end, you're just a beast… You can't be a match.

Nice one, Shamac. But that won't be enough. It's a mistake to restrain the Hydra.

"Haaaaa!!!"

The Hydra suddenly released a corrosive element from its skin, dealing damage to Shamac's shadow. The liquid substance it generated from its pores were also slimy, allowing the monster to slip away.

"Tch" Shamac grunted with dissatisfaction.

The Hydra leaped away and stuck itself to the ceiling, by drying off the slimy liquid which had become sticky at this point.

"What is it doing?" Talia muttered.

"By increasing its body temperature, the Hydra can secret corrosive liquid from its pores, after some time, it dries off and become sticky. This usually leads to molting." I explained.

Now then, Shamac, what will you do?

The three mouths of the monster opened widely and brought out massive amounts of the contents they had. It was double the previous amount, targeted at Shamac's construct.

"I don't think so," Shamac said.

He brought forth another mass of shadow from underneath him and used it as a shield, blocking off the offense the monster pulled.

"BOOOOM!!!!"

A much larger explosion sounded, causing the room to quake in its wake. With the shield blocking his construct, the explosion was redirected to the Hydra, causing it to suffer damage.

"Hiiiiiiik!!!" The monster screeched in pain, falling from the ceiling where it stuck itself.

It landed on its belly, causing a massive crash. The body of the monster throbbed, as it suffered from burns caused by its attack.

"Skreeee…."

As the monster continued to struggle on the floor, wiggling its huge body, Shamac advanced slowly, with his Hydra behind him.

"Now, now… Don't die on me yet. We're just getting started"

His face depicted a sadistic smile as he watched the injured creature squirm in pain.. This was the Shamac of the present… Merciless.