Genetic Ascension

Chapter 1919: Do You?

Sylas fell to a knee. The splotches of black that had colored his vision came back even fiercer than before, but this time, there was no recovering. He couldnʼt even begin to push back against it. It was like the entire world had been overturned from little more than the push of a Will.

ʼNo. Not just a Will. The Will of a dead Hydra.ʼ

Sylas clenched his teeth.

Despite his situation he could tell with a thought that it was the Hydra speaking to him and not the World Serpent. He had no idea how the Hydra managed to protect a piece of its Will, but there must not be much of it left given the decomposed state of its body.

It was hard to fathom just how much relentless Will one had to have to even be willing to maintain their Will in such a situation. How many people could keep their wits about them while they were quite literally being digested even if it meant a small chance at success.

Given that the Hydra had been something even the World Serpent needed to go into hibernation to finish digesting, one could imagine just how long it had taken. Yet, it was actually still holding on.

But what Sylas couldnʼt let go of was the fact that it was just a dead, broken sliver of a Will, and yet it had forced him to a knee.

It hardly seemed like the Hydra was trying to do that either. All it had done was spoken.

”So fragile.” The Hydra chortled. It seemed to be amused. Who knew, maybe it had been looking out into the world and seeing nothing but its inevitable death on the horizon for so long that even this was entertaining to it.

Surprisingly, though, it had grasped back significantly more this time.

”For a mortal, you are quite bold. You sneak into the belly of a World Serpent, learn from the strongest stomach acid in all of existence, dissect my very own body, and then look to just pat your ass and leave.”

Sylas wasnʼt sure if it was an illusion, but in holding back, it felt like fewer voices were layering atop of one another, as though the Hydra had restrained its other heads considerably.

Given how restrained the Hydra was being, Sylas felt that he just might be able to slip away. But if he messed up, or if that was exactly what the Hydra didnʼt want to happen, then wouldnʼt he be killing himself?

This Hydra could kill him whenever it so pleased. It was probably struggling to not do that right now. Who knew what would happen if it was enraged instead of entertained?

Sylas didnʼt like this feeling. It had been a very long time since he was well and truly helpless to do anything.

There was no plan or secret machination that he could use to get himself out of this outside of just directly gambling his life.

Was his spatial control faster? Or was the reaction time of an S-tier Hydra?

Sylas already knew the answer to that question, but it didnʼt stop him from clinging to the possibility. He couldnʼt possibly just give up and die, right?

Blood leaked from his ears in endless, relentless waves, his eyes following suit. About the only thing that wasnʼt bleeding was his mouth oddly enough, but the urge to vomit up his guts was wrecking his very being.

”Tell me, Mortal boy. How is it that a Human like you is so good at Rune Mastery? I highly doubt the Mortal Realm has any masters capable of teaching you. No, more importantly, how did you make it to the Beast Heaven in the first place? There are humans here, but none smell particularly like you... you smell of another Heaven...”

The more the Hydra voiced, the more fascinated it seemed to become.

Sylas tried to steady his breathing. Infinite Glassvolt―the moniker he decided to give his evolved Aether— circulated through him, slowly eating at the pressure that was suffocating him so much.

This was the power of Infinite Glassvolt. It was infinitely better in application when it was within his body though it was also more powerful on the outside.

However, even with its ability to sacrifice itself to challenge stronger Wills, even as a sliver of a Will the Hydra was too much.

”No need to be so aggressive, Iʼm already dying anyway. Why donʼt you tell me what you plan to do with my Raceʼs Genes? Youʼre not a beast, and you donʼt follow any Path of the Hydra. You smell of a Serpent-kind, but youʼre not exactly that either. You kind of smell like the Apes and Scorpions too. Are you just collecting Beast Wills? Ambitious, are you?

”I guess that makes sense. Iʼd probably be as arrogant as you too if I was a Mortal who managed to reach True Rune Creation. I think even in the God Realm the number whoʼve done it as young as you are less than ten, and all of them were at least of the C-tier when they managed it.

”That said, us Beasts are particularly bad Rune Masters. Who knows, maybe in those Humanoid Heavens youʼre average.”

Sylas frowned. He had been under the impression that Beasts couldnʼt be Rune Masters at all. In fact, he was pretty sure they couldnʼt be.

How did the Beast Heaven not only have them, but have ten at his level?

No. Not at his level. They were clearly inferior in all but their Will. If he had had their training, teaching, and resources, he wouldnʼt have even needed to reach the E-tier before he stepped into this level, let alone the C-tier.

Sylas found himself getting frustrated. There was still a bit of a chink in his armor from that flash of Greed earlier and he had been too focused on speed to deal with it completely.

Why was he wasting thought on something so useless?

”Do you want to live?” Sylas spoke out through gritted teeth.