He gritted his teeth, trying to track it by sound alone.
A sudden surge—boom!—something massive tore through the water.
Raito twisted his body, barely dodging, but a sharp pain ripped through his left arm. One of the Hydra’s fangs had grazed him, fracturing the bone.
"Ah—!" His scream turned into bubbles. His arm hung limp, useless.
He tried to swim upward, but another vibration pulsed beneath him—faster, heavier.
The second head struck. Its teeth clamped onto his leg, crunching bone and muscle in one motion.
[Warning: User’s Vitality Critically Low]
[Severe Blood Loss Detected]
[If user does not escape, death is imminent.]
The voice echoed inside his head now. The system had switched to direct neural communication, aware that he could no longer hear through the chaos.
"Is this it?" he thought bitterly as pain blurred his senses. "I can’t defeat an S-Rank monster... not ..."
The Hydra’s enormous mouth opened below him, glowing faintly with black venom. Its gaping maw drew closer, pulling him toward it.
"So this is how it ends... I couldn’t change anything..."
[System Override: Emergency Survival Protocol Triggered]
[Hidden Skill Activation Detected – "Purple Thunder Mist"]
[Condition: Near-Death State]
[Note: Skill not yet unlocked. Temporary access granted for survival.]
Raito’s dimming vision flared violet. The water around him began to hum.
"What... is this?" he whispered weakly.
[Purple Thunder Mist – Temporary Activation Confirmed]
"This... this is it."
Raito’s voice trembled as his vision cleared, glowing faintly under the violet storm surrounding him. "This is the same feeling I had when I first awakened my DMF power... when I used my first Tria-Skill."
The energy coursing through his body was overwhelming—raw, unstable, alive. His skin shimmered with arcs of purple light, and the entire lake seemed to hum in response.
"So this... is what it feels like to have too much power surging through me."
He steadied himself in the water, sinking slightly before forcing his body upright. The currents bent around him as violet streams coiled over his limbs, dancing like lightning-made flesh.
[Skill Effect: Regeneration Initiated]
[Healing – Bones: Restored]
[Healing – Ligaments: Restored]
[Healing – Blood Flow Stabilized]
A faint gasp escaped his lips as his broken arm straightened with a flash of light. The pain vanished. His crushed leg realigned, muscle reforming under the glow. His entire body pulsed once—then settled, calm and whole again.
The storm began to fade, but the aura around him did not. It condensed instead—focused, refined, and still thrumming with lethal power.
That was when another notification appeared before him, glimmering through the mist:
[Weapon Creation Complete – Scorpion Stinger Dagger]
[Item automatically transferred to user’s inventory]
Raito opened his palm. A flash of red light formed in his hand, and the new dagger materialized—sleek, black-edged, with faint violet veins pulsing beneath its surface.
"Beautiful..." he whispered. "The Scorpion Stinger. It’s done."
He switched daggers, sliding his old weapon back into its sheath and gripping the new one tightly. "Wow... it’s lighter... sharper too." He gave it a swift spin, slicing through the air. "This is sharper than my Speedster Inferno Claw. And the edge... it’s unreal."
The Hydra stirred in the depths ahead. All three of its heads moved cautiously now, the water trembling around them. It sensed the change—the danger radiating from him.
Raito raised the dagger slightly, and for the first time, the Hydra hesitated.
"Yeah," he said quietly, a faint smile touching his lips. "You can feel it too, can’t you? Something’s different now."
Purple sparks crackled at the edges of his weapon, dancing across the blade like veins of living electricity.
"This time," Raito whispered, lowering his stance, "it’s my turn."
This time, Raito didn’t hesitate.
The lightning that coursed through his veins made every movement blur. In the blink of an eye, he darted forward—cutting through the water like a streak of violet light.
He twisted his body mid-swim and kicked the enormous head of the Hydra closest to him. The impact sent a deep shockwave through the water, blasting the creature backward.
Before it could recover, Raito was already moving. He shot toward the second head, his figure trailing lines of purple energy behind him.
The Hydra saw him coming. Its mouth opened wide, teeth like rows of swords waiting to tear him apart.
But Raito was faster. Latest content publıshed on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✶𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✶𝕟𝕖𝕥
He raised his dagger, lightning surging along the blade until it glowed white-hot beneath the water. Then—he slashed.
The Scorpion Stinger cut cleanly through the creature’s mouth. Blood and venom burst into the water, and the head split open down the middle. The Hydra’s scream echoed like thunder, shaking the entire dungeon floor.
[Critical Strike – 10,420 Damage]
The wound began to regenerate immediately, scales crawling together as flesh reformed.
"Tch... so it’s already healing," Raito muttered.
The third head lunged toward him, moving to protect the others. Raito turned sharply and kicked, his heel slamming into its jaw and forcing it back.
He exhaled sharply and slid his left dagger back into his inventory. Raising his hand, he focused—light gathered at his palm, growing brighter and heavier with every passing second.
[Skill Conversion: Purple Thunder Mist – Focus Mode]
A ball of violet lightning began to form, pulsing violently in the water. The temperature spiked—the lake began to boil, bubbles rising like steam in slow motion.
"Let’s see you survive this."
He thrust his arm forward. The orb detonated into a column of lightning that surged through the water, expanding and branching like living thunder.
The Hydra screamed. Its massive body convulsed as purple light tore through its scales, burning its flesh from the inside. One of the heads—the same that had taken the earlier blow—was vaporized entirely, reduced to ash in seconds.
[Hydra Head Destroyed – Permanent Damage Inflicted]
The other two heads writhed in agony, regenerating the wounds they could, though far slower now.
Raito floated in the boiling water, dagger in hand, lightning still flickering across his body.
"I see..." he said under his breath, eyes glowing faintly violet. "So even an S-Rank monster bleeds the same when cut deep enough."