Lord of Annihilation

Feeling the familiar dizziness of teleportation gradually recede and the blinding curtain of whiteness surrounding her disappear; the first sensation that was picked up by her senses was the sound of the wind howling.

Snapping her eyes open, Olivia immediately made sense of her situation.

'I'm…falling!' 

Looking at the boiling bog of foulness quickly approaching her as she fell, Olivia hurriedly retrieved Thorn from her sheathe and instructed, "Thorn! Fly!"

Answering with a tremble and a low hum, Thorn immediately released its energy according to its mistress' instruction. Rotating once on its axis and stabilizing itself, it used its energy to arrest the momentum of the fall before eventually coming to a stop.

Olivia, now hanging off her sword while gripping its body with both her hands, pulled herself up and climbed onto its body. Having practiced flying and balancing on her sword over the last two weeks, she stood upon its narrow-body with no trouble.

"Phew, that was close," Olivia sighed in relief and wiped the sweat gathered on her forehead. She then looked at Thorn and thanked, "Nice one, Thorn!"

The sword replied happily with a low hum.

"Now then, let's take a look at where we are," voicing to herself, Olivia controlled Thorn to fly forward slowly.

Currently, she was flying a few hundred meters above a foggy, dark swamp. Her soul senses did nothing to help her as its range was restricted to within 30m of her body. As such, Olivia had to mostly rely on her eyes and ears.

Having listened to the explanation from Lu'uf, Olivia possessed a basic understanding of the trial, 'The Twelve Labors', and the various challenges within.

As such, she knew that her current challenge was to 'Slay the Nine-Headed Hydra.'

Recollecting the information she had learned from Lucius about the Hydra race, and the information received from Lu'uf, Olivia's face changed to sport an expression of solemnity and suppressed excitement.

'The Nemean Lion was only a Low-Level Stage 3 Wild Beast with no Domain or any troublesome abilities. Slaying it with Thorn was not very challenging. This second Labor, however…will be a bit difficult.'

'According to the information gained from the old man, the Nine-Headed Hydra is a Peak-Level Stage 3 beast. Although it doesn't possess a Domain, it does have a couple of annoying abilities…'

'Instantaneous regeneration, tremendous vitality, nine separate heads capable of spewing pressurized water or poison, or even both…my, my, this should be the toughest one I've fought yet, huh?'

For a Peak-Level Stage 2 being to fight against a Peak-Level Stage 3 Wild Beast. Even merely saying those words together in the same sentence makes it sound fake and nonsensical.

Yet, here she was, living it.

'Okay now, serious time.' 

Wiping away the smile from her face, Olivia started to seriously consider her chances.

'Since Wild Beasts do not possess Domains, I wouldn't face that soul-crushing suppression. Of course, its higher quality soul power will still be able to partially restrain and immobilize me, but it shouldn't be an issue for as long as I have my Field active.'

'Now, if I were to have my Field expanded up to its complete 30m boundary, I will have enough soul power to fight at full strength for 5-8 minutes. Of course, after this period of time, I will fall into a state of weakness and frailty. Worst case scenario, I will faint from over-drafting my soul power.'

'The optimal way to fight this monster is to have my Field expanded up to the 10m mark. This will provide me with enough soul power to fight at full strength for thirty minutes. This period can be further extended depending on how efficient I am with my attacks.'

'Still, with my current level of strength, I have no shot at cutting down its tremendous vitality in just thirty minutes. I will run out of energy before that monster's HP hits the 80% mark.'

Folding her arms underneath her ample chest, Olivia continued with her ponders. Her forehead was increasingly occupied with creases before her expression turned into a full-blown frown.

'Of course, all of my previous speculations relies on the fact that I'll be able to get close enough to deal damage to that monster. Not only is there a humongous size difference, but I'm also outnumbered nine-to-one by its heads.'

'Not to mention, there is also its corrosive poison.'

Closing her eyes, Olivia scoured her memories of Lucius' lessons while simulating a mock battle within her mind. All of this was done while a part of her attention was dedicated to controlling Thorn and searching the surroundings for the Nine-Headed Hydra.

Olivia's recent 'training' with Ka'lor'ah had taught her how to split her mind and independently parallel think. This further boosted her prowess to a whole new level, allowing her to consider more variables in the same amount of time.

'Lucius wouldn't bring me to this trail if he wasn't confident of my abilities. As such, I should have what it takes to defeat this monster.'

Olivia's confidence in her abilities stemmed from the absolute confidence that she held in Lucius. Knowing him, he wouldn't bring her here to waste time if he wasn't sure of her ability.

'Hydras…Hydras…what am I missing here?' 

'Its three hearts are the weakest parts of its body. Destroying those hearts would effectively cripple the monster and save me a lot of trouble by seriously reducing its rate of regeneration. However…'

'My body is nowhere near strong enough to withstand the prolonged corrosion of its poisonous blood. Anything over a few accidental drops sticking for more than fifteen seconds would start destroying my body.'

The strengthening bath in Riker's house had not only loosened her bottleneck to ascend to the next Stage, but had also passively refined her physique and improved her body. 

Not only had Olivia grown more shapely and beautiful, but her body had also been toughened making her vastly superior to any average human. 

She had denser muscles, stronger bones, smoother skin, and was impervious to 99% of humanity's illnesses and afflictions.

While the smallest drop of the Hydra's corrosive and poisonous blood would have killed her originally, Olivia now possessed the leisure to tank a few drops before being subjected to harm. 

'Not to mention, there are those metal-like scales that I have to go past. Thorn would be able to easily cut through them, but I will only be able to remotely control him. Destroying more than a single heart in one shot is impossible.'

'However, if I don't do it in one shot, the destroyed heart will regenerate. Ugh, what a headache,' Olivia sighed and massaged her forehead.

'What do I do? How am I supposed to overpower this mon—!!' 

Olivia's eyes suddenly shot open and her moving body came to a stop. A flash of inspiration suddenly struck her mind, parting the dense fog of confusion and showing her the path to victory.

With her deep, violet eyes glowing with piercing brightness, Olivia's slim lips curved to form an enchanting yet confident smile.

"I'm such an idiot…" she quietly muttered to herself.

'My approach was completely wrong. The correct answer lies in not overpowering the beast but rather…'

"Hehehe, I almost forgot where my true strength lies," Olivia cackled, evilly.

----------

In the area of the Third Labor. 

A pillar of white light manifested somewhere in the middle of a large, grassy plain. A figure dressed in black wearing a scythe on his back appeared in the middle of the light pillar. 

Waiting for the pillar to disappear, Lucius then opened his eyes and looked around.

'A flat grass plain that endlessly stretches. This is the location of the Third Labor, huh,' he mused.

He then looked at his right hand while clenching his fists. Feeling the renewed sense of power hidden within, Lucius took a look inside his mindspace.

Scanning the clouds of soul power, he thought to himself, 'My soul power has been replenished. How convenient.' 

The pillar of white light which transported the participants to their subsequent labors not only had the power of random teleportation but also had the additional effect of topping of one's soul power and stamina.

This enabled the participant to return to their peak states in every Labor and granted them a better chance at completing the trials.

'It's been an hour since I entered this trial. Olivia should have reached the Second Labor, right?' Lucius pondered.

The First Labor only took him seven minutes to complete. The Second Labor, however, engaged Lucius for around fifty minutes. 

This was because Lucius had intentionally suppressed his full strength in a bid to improve his abilities and Domain completion. Thanks to his efforts, Lucius' Domain was now at 94% completion. 

When he realized that he could no longer rapidly improve or gain tangible experience from the Nine-Headed Hydra, Lucius had deployed his Domain and instantly slew it. 

Now having moved to the site of the next Labor, Lucius pondered about his student.

'With her current ability and that Living Weapon, penetrating the golden hide and slaying the Nemean Lion should be fairly easy for her, albeit being a little time-consuming.'

'The Second Labor, however, will not be so easy,' Lucius' eyes glowed with sharpness.

Having personally trained her for four years, no one had a better understanding of Olivia's strength than Lucius. He knew her exact combat ability and the exact limits of her strength.

That being said, Lucius also knew this.

'There is no possible way for her to win in a direct confrontation against the Nine-Headed Hydra. Even if she manages to perfectly fight; evading every single attack, grasping every single opportunity, and exploiting every single weakness, she does not possess the stamina or the soul power to outlast that beast.'

'But then again, fighting it head-on is a foolish and inefficient decision.'

The way of the Killer stated that one had to be efficient when killing an opponent. No wastage of any kind was tolerated.

Over the four years of their training, Lucius had made sure to hammer this concept into Olivia. He molded her attacks, her movements, her energy control, and even her thoughts during combat to be as efficient and effective as possible.

For as long as the ends are met, the means do not matter. What matters is for the means to be the most efficient means possible.

This was the reason why Lucius did not discourage Olivia from using her intelligence to scheme and plot against her opponents to their demise. He even asked Ka'lor'ah to impart her teachings and experience to her, raising Olivia's skill in this sphere.

Pure combat strength was important but wasn't absolutely necessary.

Beings like Ka'lor'ah, who stood at the apex of Stage 7, did not possess much in terms of individual combat prowess. However, they possessed endless armies and other methods to supplement this weakness.

The path of every powerhouse was unique and no two powerhouses were the same.

Lucius, who managed to ascend to the top of the Universe with only his strength, was an anomaly. A unique existence with no precedents and probably no subsequent.

Shrugging his shoulder, Lucius concluded, 'Well, I can only hope that she remembers where her true strength lies.'

'Now then, for my Third Labor…'

Locking his eyes on a certain brown-colored dot that stayed an unfathomable distance away, Lucius confirmed his target and prepared.

'…let's catch this annoying thing.'