Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Zach's barriers cracked under the Hydra's echoing roar and cry. Mandra's magic array broke down in several places. Soara lost her concentration for a moment. Alzara almost fell off the barrier flying her toward Lexi.

Zach's expression didn't change. Mandra fixed her array. Soara regained concentration in less than a moment. Alzara held on until she dropped down next to Lexi, whom she picked up and carried away. The cold and exhaustion were getting to her, but it was far from enough to make her stop.

It would take far more than that to make the SS-rank Desert Witch even lose a pace. Her long legs carried them as far away as quickly as possible.

They both had done what they could in the fight against the Hydra. Now, Alzara's job was ensuring Lexi's safety. Lexi's job was to survive.

As long as they did that, Zach, Yanael, Soara, and Mandra could focus on the fight against the Hydra.

Zach locked eyes with Yanael as they fell headfirst toward the Hydra, building speed and momentum.

Zach glanced down. The Hydra's eight heads were weaving back and forth like seaweed as it regained its senses and control over its body. Each one was like a big snake.

It was odd.

He knew each head—even the entire Hydra—was not bigger than the Basilisk had been. But at the same time, the Hydra gave him the impression of reaching the sky. It was smaller than it appeared to be, despite being a gigantic monster. It didn't make sense. But he didn't have time to ponder that.

"Clear the way," he ordered.

The eight swiveling heads were in the way.

Right now, as the Hydra was shaking off the remnants of the seal and regaining its bearings after being sealed for so long was their best shot at landing a solid blow.

Yanael's four wings burst out, and her halo became the focal point of the sacred energy blossoming around her. She flapped her wings and let her swordarm hang by her side as she shot toward the Hydra like a comet, surrounded by her energy.

Yanael's energy looked like golden flames as it welled up and empowered her, but they were as far from fire as they could get. They drew a line of gold through the air like an inky brush stroke.

Zach watched in awe for a moment before slowly bringing his hands together.

The curse energy alone and the world essence energy alone wouldn't be enough to damage the Hydra, at least not severely. It was strong enough to shake the entire floor just by stomping around and stabilizing itself.

It would take the end of the world to bring it down in one hit.

That was exactly the kind of power Zach was aiming for. If there was something in his arsenal that could mimic that kind of power, it was the fully activated world essence energy concentrated and turned into a one-time attack combined with something as destructive and corrosive as the concentrate of all of Alzara's curse energy.

Zach felt it as soon as his hands as the airspace of the energies in each of his hands touched. Neither energy wanted this. They resisted fiercely enough to shoot sparks into his palms. His fingers twitched and jittered both from pain and the sparks of energy themselves.

Zach ignored it. It was do or die, and he was not going to die, at least not without taking the Hydra down with him.

The two energies sizzled like water in hot oil as he pressed them together.

He was struggling, even with his bulging muscles that amazed Lexi, he could barely get the two energies to touch. They were like two magnets pointing at each other with the same pole.

But just getting them to touch wasn't enough. He needed to combine them to draw out as much power as possible from this volatile reaction.

Zach dared to shift his gaze for a split second.

He was close.

Yanael had grabbed the heads' attention and cleared a path to the Hydra's lizard-like body. He had at most five seconds before he needed to be ready.

He pulled apart his hands a little before suddenly pushing them all the way together. His palms were pressed flat against each other, only a thin sheet of compressed energy between them.

He slowly pulled his hands apart again. As he did so, the sheet of energy transformed back into a ball. It glowed bright purple like a miniature cursed sun.

Zach felt his hands erode and deteriorate as he held the ball. It once again reminded him of the Basilisk. His hands had been like this after he broke himself out of the petrification. But they hadn't gotten worse after that. They had healed when he activated his world essence energy fully, at least temporarily. They were still a mess afterward, partly thanks to his body being a mess.

But while it didn't do much for the rest of his body, consuming the clay-like lump he Extracted from the Basilisk's brain had helped his hands. It had also helped get an even sturdier outer layer of his body.

But right now, nothing was stopping the cursed energy from degrading his hands out of existence. Zach doubted there was anything that would make them return, considering this was in part due to the world essence energy.

Fortunately, he didn't have to carry the ball for long before he could hand it over to the Hydra.

He stretched his hands above his head, pointing the palms and the miniature purple sun at the Hydra's back. At the same time, he made the world essence energy inside his body well up and surge through his body in a torrent.

Just smacking the ball into the Hydra was just the first part.

He had to survive, too.

After that, he had to make space for Mandra's attack.

And then, the fight would begin.

Zach braced himself for impact.