Chapter 787 - Taming the Fifth Year - Immovable - 5

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Chapter 787: Chapter 787 - Taming the Fifth Year - Immovable - 5 Ren remembered the surprise on the faces of teachers and students alike when the second head had first appeared. Because everyone "knew" that hydras could only accumulate heads in their wild form, when they reached absurdly deep depths where pressure, heat and mana density allowed such development. The few whose eggs had been found and which had bonded to human tamers, "domesticated" beasts, were supposedly limited to a single head permanently through some fundamental restriction. Except they weren’t actually limited at all. They only needed someone to find the appropriate cultivation method to overcome that "perceived" limitation that everyone had accepted as the absolute truth. And Ren had cultivated his hydra perfectly for breaking that barrier. Even more than perfectly in execution. Refining its complete elemental control that shouldn’t exist in its lineage through the standard evolution. Pushing it in many ways far beyond what others believed possible for the species. The second head had been the indisputable result of Ren’s knowledge of cultivation. Proving that old perceptions were just incorrect assumptions, not natural law. That the limits everyone accepted as absolute truth were simply a lack of understanding about the proper development. As always, Ren had broken the expectations that constrained most others. The two-headed hydra had been talked about extensively for a good while after its reveal. Conversations in the academy hallways between students. Topic of debate among professors who studied beast cultivation. Example cited alongside Taro’s enormous beetle when discussing unexplored potential in beast development. But after the initial commotion settled... The hydra hadn’t had many opportunities to truly shine and demonstrate its capabilities. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖 Most discussion had remained speculation rather than observation. In the mid-semester exam everyone had wanted to see it in action with great anticipation but... Ren’s previous attack group had been so large and so dominant in their coordination. So many powerful beasts manifested simultaneously created a presence that eclipsed individual contributions or simply didn’t allow them space to demonstrate their powers. The hydra had participated in those battles, yes. Had contributed in team fights. Had demonstrated some of its power in the group context. But it hadn’t needed to use much of its true power or acted in a moment that was truly its own. Hadn’t shown what it was capable of when it had Ren’s complete attention focused on it alone. And it also hadn’t displayed its new multi-elemental capacity like the mantis had been doing just now. Because the hydra had also absorbed effects from the jade mana exposure. Had also developed control over multiple elements through that transformative process. Not at the same level as the wolverine which specialized in elemental manipulation. But sufficient given its much higher mana level and development to leave the mantis considerably behind in raw power. Sufficient to surprise many with what would come now. Sufficient to make clear that Ren’s elemental versatility wasn’t limited to a single beast in his arsenal. ’It’s time for putting two beasts of the same size to confront each other,’ Ren decided finally after considering matchup options. The hyena was enormous in stature. The hydra also matched that scale. It would be a different kind of fight from what spectators had witnessed. Not speed versus power. Not flexibility versus regeneration. Size versus size. Power versus power. And Ren wanted to see how his hydra handled that type of direct confrontation against an equally massive opponent. But first... satisfying the initial curiosity that his curious mind demanded. First he wanted one final data acquisition before committing to the main strategy. Master Lin raised her hand with the ceremonial gesture. "Begin." The hyena opened its massive throat in preparation. The sound that emerged made several spectators cover their ears instinctively despite their distance from the arena. It wasn’t a normal scream like the ones other beasts produced. Wasn’t a roar or growl. It was a maddening pure vibration that traveled through the air like a visible physical wave, distorting everything it touched through sheer sonic force. Ren had already given an order to the mantis before the sound could reach across the distance. "Maximum speed,control at level two... Test strike." The mantis had used the combination of fire and wind before for its maximum revealed propulsion. Heat expanding the air behind it in controlled explosions. Wind channeling that expansion in specific directions with precisión, gaining propulsion that launched it like a projectile toward its target. It wasn’t lightning yet through complete elemental fusion. Wasn’t the level three elemental control of combining the elements fully into electricity that would reveal true mastery. But it was fast regardless. Incredibly fast by any standard measurement. The mantis shot toward the hyena like a blur, almost impossible to track visually even for enhanced observers. The hyena’s sound wave reached it at the midway point between starting positions. The impact would have shattered normal beasts completely. The vibration entering its body, making organs vibrate out of synchronization, destroying internal structures through the resonance damage. But the mantis created a small vacuum around itself as a defensive technique. Air being evacuated in a semi-sphere with a half-meter empty space from the mantis exoskeleton. Without air as medium, sound couldn’t travel appropriately through the empty space. It wasn’t perfect protection against the attack. The sphere distorted from the enormous velocity of movement and some vibration still passed through the imperfect vacuum. The mantis suffered sharp pain from the partial exposure. But the defense was sufficient for its purpose. The mantis reached the hyena despite the sonic assault. Its blade-arms already manifested, gleaming with the concentrated and explosive wind and fire power for maximum impact. And struck with full force. But not at the inflated throat as it had targeted... The hyena managed to rotate in time and covered it with the bone of its foreleg in a defensive reflex. The blade-arms impacted the bone armor on the hyena’s side with a force that should have penetrated the harder shells of Gold rank Pyroclast-Shell Bears. For a fraction of a second, contact was established between weapons and armor. And then Ren deactivated the mantis voluntarily. The beast dissolved into mana particles, returning to its storage space in Ren’s chest. Disappearing from the field before any counterattack could land.

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