My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 234: Know Your Place!

The pounding against the walls suddenly stopped when he unleashed his aura. Kace took his time walking forward as he adjusted to the new power that he was capable of producing with each movement. He felt clumsy at first as the elongated legs brought him to a height of six-foot nine inches. What felt like several minutes to Kace as he crossed the space between himself and Grugda was, in reality, only a few seconds. 

Grugda turned immediately as he felt the oppressive aura emerge. Forgetting about supplying mana to his spell in the process. Although the walls still held up, they were no longer being reinforced. What really shocked him was the figure standing next to him with its hand on his shoulder. The creatures had familiar features, but the feeling it gave off just from looking at it was terrifying.

"Kace?" Grugda asked with a reserved and worried tone. Just from how he looked, he could guess that he had used the skill that terrified him again.

"Don't worry, I got this." Kace's tone was full of confidence and pride as he replied to his startled friend. 

Grugda felt the life draining from his body when he realised that Kace was fully in control of such devastating power. The ground cracked with each step that Kace took, spreading like a spider web to the enclosed walls. Kace stared with a before unseen intensity at the cracked walls. It gave the impression that the solid matter was incapable of hiding anything beyond them from his vision.

"Make sure to seal this space back up when I leave. You'll only have a few moments before the poison rushes in." Kace turned to look at his friend as he gave out his solid advice. Only to be confused as to why Grugda was still staring at where he stood a few moments ago.

It was only the sound of Kace's voice that drew Grugda's attention to him. He was still staring at Kace next to him when his voice suddenly sounded out from right next to the wall! 'Afterimages!' That was the sole thought that managed to register in his mind as he absorbed Kace's advice at the same time. He shook his head to regain some clarity, although he was still shaken, he willed himself to gather the mana necessary for the task.

Kace waited until Grugda was ready when he judged that he had enough mana at the ready he leapt headfirst into the roof! The force behind the simple jump was nothing to scoff at. The roof was blown outward when it came into contact with Kace's horns. The sudden acceleration caused a lot of heat to build upon their tips. Giving them a red hot glow that matched with his new appearance. 

Kace took to the skies like he was flying directly upwards. He only began to slow down when his height reached around double the height of the Hydra. He still continued upwards, but it did not last much longer before his fall to earth. As he came down from the height, he could clearly see that the shockwave created blew the surrounding poison cloud away from the shelter. 

Grugda had more than enough time to fix the newly created hole and quickly disappeared from Kace's view. Even though he fell from a great height, his landing was soft. Like he had only jumped a couple of inches instead of tens of metres. Kace nodded at his first full display of physical ability. The Hydra eyed him warily, it no longer had a dominating posture about it.

Something seemed to break in the creature as all five heads suddenly screeched menacingly towards him. Kace recognised what this meant thanks to his new form. It was a direct challenge! It seemed that the Hydra felt like its territory was in danger, so it had to either scare off or defeat the threat.

"Stupid creature. Let me show you the difference between us!" After those words left his mouth with a cocky tone, he followed up with a challenging roar of his own.

It sounded incredibly like a wolf's howl but far more intimidating. The Hydra even flinched at the power contained behind such a display. However, that did not mean it would just roll over and accept its fate. A gurgling and hissing sound escaped from different heads as the Hydra began its attack. 

Kace waited to see what it would try as the poison cloud slowly crept back towards him. He was not concerned about it anymore. All he had to do was hold his breath and make a short sprint to disperse it. However, he was amused by what the Hydra decided to do for its attack. The three central heads spewed out venomous saliva in a wide-ranged arc. Trying to effectively seal his paths of escape.

The remaining two heads decided to shore up the surrounding poison cloud, they kept up a steady stream of the smog to further thicken the environment. It was clear to Kace that it intended to hold him back with the liquid version until the air became so thick with poison that he would be overwhelmed. However, Kace was entirely underwhelmed with its performance.

"Such abilities are wasted on a pathetic beast like you!" He growled as the saliva arced towards him.

It took little more than a sharp wave of his hand to create enough of an airwave to divert the foul liquid before it even came close to his body. The same force continued onwards to blow the new poisonous breath away from him. Leaving the Hydra completely exposed for a moment. The Hydra looked like it was honestly surprised at what had happened, or at least that was what Kace thought.

He stared directly into the eyes of the severed head he held in hands. At that moment the remaining four heads of the Hydra suddenly squealed in pain! Kace had closed the distance between them. Then easily removed the central head with a swipe of the claws on his hand, before successfully retreating to his original position so fast that the Hydra failed to register a single moment of it. 

"Know your place!" Kace growled as the once majestic beast squealed pitifully