SSS Awakening: I Can Class Change at will

The water erupted.

A wall of black lake water surged upward, crashing outward in every direction. Waves slammed against the shoreline, flooding the ground beneath Mirage’s hooves. The horse braced himself, his legs locking against the sudden tide.

From the center of the upheaval, it rose.

The first head broke the surface. Massive. Scaled in dark green so deep it was nearly black, each scale the size of Moon’s palm.

Before the first could fully break out, the second head emerged beside it. Then the third. Then the fourth. The neck was thick as a tree trunk, corded with scales as it lifted higher. Water cascaded off its massive body pouring down the sides like a waterfall in reverse.

Four skulls, each one armed with a jaw that could swallow Moon whole, rose above the lake on four necks that swayed independently of each other. Their eyes were pale yellow, slitted, and every single one of them was locked onto Moon.

Standing at nearly five meters tall, and Moon could barely see the heads of the serpent, the mist almost obscuring it.

The water around its legs churned violently, dark currents spiraling around its massive frame as if the lake itself was orbiting the creature.

Eight yellow eyes stared down at the rider and horse on the shore.

Suddenly, all four mouths opened simultaneously and released a layered, dissonant scream, four voices at four different pitches hitting Moon’s eardrums at the same time. The pressure wave flattened the mist around them for a brief instant, giving Moon a flash of the lake’s full expanse before the fog rushed back in.

Mirage staggered. Moon gripped the horse’s armor and steadied himself.

Without hesitation, Moon activated his Curse skill. He pushed it toward the hydra with everything he had, aiming for the nearest head, trying to find a foothold in its mind.

For a moment, Moon felt like the connection had begun, but almost immediately after, the connection was abruptly stopped. ‘The spiritual energy gap is too large, and the curse is designed for human minds. To affect beasts at this level, I would need to be significantly stronger, or the skill would need to evolve further.’ Moon came to the most reasonable conclusion to his skill’s failure.

Moon filed the conclusion away and tried for the second time. Unexpectedly, the attempt was worse, the connection cut off at a faster rate. Moon abandoned the thought of attempting at agin. There was no point wasting mana on something that wouldn’t work.

“Move!” Moon commanded, and Mirage surged to the left along the shoreline. Staying in one position against a creature with four heads was suicide.

Shortly after Mirage moved, the first head lunged downward, jaws wide. Moon and Mirage dodged sideways as the skull cratered the earth where they had been standing. Moon’s face furrowed as he caught a whiff of the foul, pungent stench that came out of the hydra’s mouth. Before the head could retract, the second one swung horizontally, its neck sweeping like a whip aimed at knocking them off their feet. Moon ducked flat against Mirage’s back and the neck passed over them with inches to spare.

The third head wasn’t idle, Its mouth opened and a highly pressurized stream of water shot from its throat like a jet!

It carved through the ground in a straight line, splitting the earth and slicing clean through one of the dead trees before approaching Moon. The trunk toppled silently into the mist.

Observing the power behind the attack, Moon couldn’t take his chances. Fire began to form in his left hand. Once Ignite had formed, he sent it hurling towards jet of water.

The two collided, and mist erupted from the attack, increasing the mist within the area. Moon did not lower his guard down. In fact, it increased, he stored his sword in his storage ring, and brought out his staff.

He couldn’t get close to the hydra, water was its territory, and fighting it within it…was nothing short of foolish. Fire and earth began to form up as Moon created his hybrid pseudo-magma attack, dozens molten rocks the size of a basketball began to form before he sent them hurling towards the sillheoute of the hydra.

Meanwhile, behind the mist, one of the heads decided to submerge itself into the water. The water around it began to rotate, forming a vortex that pulled at the shoreline. Mud, stones, and debris were dragged toward the lake’s edge, and the ground beneath Mirage’s hooves began to soften and slide.

Moon redirected Mirage further inland, away from the eroding shore. But before they could get far, the first head struck again, punching down from above, through the mist, like a hammer. Moon rolled off Mirage’s back and hit the ground running as the skull smashed into the earth behind him.

The second head tracked his movement and spat a spinning disc of compressed water that sliced through the air horizontally. Moon threw himself flat and the disc passed over him, embedding itself into a tree trunk with enough force to cut halfway through.

He was back on his feet in an instant, lightning already crackling in his hands. He couldn’t take this lightly, this was a powerful beast, really powerful.

Purple lightning began to form the shape of a wolf. In the span of a few seconds, the purple lightning Raiju was ready to be unleashed, and Moon did not hesitate, unleashing the fast monster in fury.

Purple flashed in the mist, and the heads immediately felt the danger. The attack that had been brewing by the neck continued as the three other necks defended it.

The three of them cast out their own pressurized jets, but to their shock, the Raiju moved!

Their attacks missed it completely. The Raiju crossed the distance, and within a moment, it was just a meter away from the second head.

With no time to cast their spells, the three heads could only work together to try and mitigate the damage by rolling their necks around each other, like microfibers of a muscle.