End of the Magic Era

The massive body slowly emerged from the lake, and the countless dark golden patterns on its skin flickered mesmerizingly under the sunlight.

“Hydra!”

Weiss’ horrified shout broke the silence. Even Lin Yun was surprised when he recognized the Hydra, a grave expression appearing on his face.

A Hydra wasn’t an ordinary magic beast…

It had nine different kinds of magic power and was innately gifted in magic. It could only be described as terrifying. This race had once lived alongside Ancient Gods in Noscent, but nowadays, Hydras were already on the verge of extinction.

Without a doubt, every single Hydra was a terrifying existence, and they all stood at the Heaven Rank. And during the peak of the Magic Era, a Hydra called Shudela became known as one of the Four Magic Beast Emperors!

The existing Hydras rarely appeared in Noscent…

And Shudela was among them. Lin Yun was certain that in this era, Shudela was already standing at the peak of the Heaven Rank. It was just that very few people knew of its existence.

It was hardly an exaggeration to say that Shudela was one of the most powerful beings of this era. Shudela wasn’t a mere magic beast… It was one of the rulers of Noscent.

Only during the peak of the Magic Era would the name Shudela gradually surface. At that time, Shudela would become one of the Four Magic Beast Emperors.

During the peak of the Magic Era, magic civilization had developed too much, which affected the existence of magic beasts. The four most powerful magic beasts negotiated with the humans on behalf of the magic beasts. That negotiation would redefine the living space of the magic beasts. Although the magic beasts were still oppressed by the humans after this, they at least had some designated areas to live in.

Lin Yun was truly shocked. He hadn’t expected to meet a genuine Hydra. He remembered that in this era, there were only eight Hydras, and they all lived in different areas of Noscent, each one at the Heaven Rank.

But although the one that appeared before them had a terrifying aura, it was far from having reached the Heaven Rank. Clearly, this Hydra wasn’t one of those eight.

Then, Lin Yun recalled an important piece of information. It was something he had read in the decaying library. Reportedly, the nine heads of the Hydras of the Ancient God Era all would be identical, but during the era of the Chromatic Dragons and Pure-blooded Elves, the numbers of Hydras had steeply declined, which gave rise to mutations… Changes started appearing between their nine heads.

After all, the nine heads of a Hydra represented nine different types of magic. After mutation, if the Hydra specialized in a certain type of magic, that head would grow bigger and bigger.

Obviously, since the Hydra that appeared in front of them had nine identical heads, this was a Hydra from the Ancient God Era. This meant that the power of its nine different types of magic power was balanced, but it wasn’t specialized in any particular one.

Didn’t that mean that this plane had remained stuck at the Ancient Era?

It was strange…

Suddenly, the nine heads of the Hydra let out a deafening roar. As the maws opened, the sharp fangs flickered with cold lights. Nine different types of magic power engulfed everyone.

Most of the people ended up pale from fear, rushing to use all kinds of methods to dodge. At that moment, several Flame Bursts accurately hit one of the heads with a loud rumble, but they only left some marks on that Hydra’s head, apparently not injuring it in the slightest.

But those Flame Bursts actually made the Hydra issue a mournful shout. Those lantern-sized eyes stared at Lin Yun with intense hatred.

The nine heads swept at Lin Yun at an impressive speed. But at this time, a deep Draconic Incantation echoed as Frost Dragon Reina hovered above the Hydra, hurling many Ice Spells down onto those heads. The appearance of the Frost Dragon attracted the attention of the Hydra and it started launching a fierce offensive on Reina.

“Rumble…”

Deafening sounds kept echoing.

After half a minute of struggle, Reina was falling into a disadvantageous position. It seemed quite difficult to deal with the Hydra’s attacks. She was grazed by one of the Hydra’s spells and received a small injury.

Then, a silver silhouette streaked across the sky. It was Lin Yun’s Heaven Puppet. When wielding the Doom Staff, its strength was undoubtedly terrifying. One wave of magic rays alleviated the pressure Reina was under, but despite that, it was still very strenuous for Reina and the Heaven Puppet to handle that Hydra.

Not far in the sky, Arthus and Rhett Watson were foolishly staring at this scene. They had already experienced the power of the Frost Dragon and the puppet, and they had even seen it clearly before they crossed the spatial tear.

But now, the Frost Dragon and the puppet together were unable to handle a Hydra…

Then, just how frightening was that Hydra’s power?

The battle had sunk into a deadlock. The Frost Dragon and the puppet’s attacks were becoming more and more concentrated. The Hydra kept roaring and thrashing about, and although they couldn’t really injure it, they could keep it at bay.

The nine heads suddenly let out a deep, synchronized roar. One of its heads flickered with a dazzling white light as it released a white mist filled with an icy aura.

Everyone felt a chill, as if danger was coming.

“Eternal Frost…”

Even Lin Yun was startled. He was likely the one who understood the best how much trouble they were in. Though the Magic Array, he clearly noticed that the energy of the head flickering with white light was very chaotic. This was how he realized that the Hydra was planning to detonate its head to use Eternal Frost.

This would be a disaster for the group, Lin Yun included…

That definitely wasn’t an exaggeration…

After all, it was a spell so powerful that the Hydra had to sacrifice a head to cast it. Its power could only be described as utterly terrifying.

If the Hydra successfully used it, there was no doubt that everyone would be frozen. Perhaps only powerhouses like Jouyi or Harren would be able to escape.

There was a battle that had been widely talked about during the earlier parts of the peak of the Magic Era. Five Heaven Rank powerhouses once tried to capture a Hydra to research it. Their goal was the weakest Hydra living in Noscent, which had yet to reach the High Rank Heaven Realm.

The five Heaven Ranks had complete confidence in themselves, thinking that catching the Hydra shouldn’t be too difficult.

And it was actually true…

The Hydra was at a complete disadvantage at the start of the fight and was seriously injured by them. But when it was in imminent peril, one of the nine heads used Eternal Frost and froze everything within a few kilometers, including those five Heaven Ranks.

Then…

The story ended there.

Thus, Lin Yun knew that no matter the cost, he had to stop the Hydra.

In an instant, flames raged around his body as he entered his Fire Elemental Incarnation state. With no time to hesitate, he used five Flame Flashes in a row, crossing several hundred meters in an instant while hurriedly incanting, his two Alchemic Mana Whirlpool revolving crazily.

Then…

A strange scene appeared. The Hydra’s huge body was struggling as if it had lost its support. It quickly fell down until it crashed in the lake, disappearing without a trace.

“Disappeared…”

Everyone was stunned by the sudden change. Even Falton and Zeuss, who had stayed out of this, were looking at the lake with serious expressions.

“That’s…”

A cold aura suddenly assaulted everyone, making them look at the lake in shock. The cold aura was being emitted from the lake. The originally calm lake was now a glittering white as countless fragments of ice condensed. An area of several kilometers was now frozen.

The Hydra had disappeared less than ten seconds ago, yet there had been such a shocking change.

At this time, a heavy fog filled everyone’s hearts.

“Shouldn’t that be the innate spell of Hydras, Eternal Frost? If the Hydra hadn’t fallen into the lake, we would have been completely frozen… This is truly frightening.” The 7th Rank Sword Saint from the Watson Family was looking at the lake in a daze, before letting out an alarmed cry. Rhett was in a similar state.

Frost Dragon Reina had returned to her Human Shape and a worried expression appeared on her icy face. “What about him? How did he disappear? This…”

“You are talking about Sir Merlin?” Xiuban slowly said. He then pointed at the frozen lake. “I just saw Sir Merlin and that monster fall in together…”