A Journey after a thousand steps

Timeskip (1 year)

I cursed inwardly, ransacking through my hills of thoughts as my brain tried to calm down, my lungs desperately grabbed oxygen and cold sweat flowed like waterfalls along my pale back.

The ground trembled each time the damn monster walked. Avian creatures took off to the skies, flying the hell away from here as the monstrous children of earth charged recklessly, trying to find an exit.

Whereas for me, I just felt pissed as heck. It had taken me 1 freaking MONTH to track down this beast, painstakingly craft anti-venom materials and had to spend one whole WEEK in bed, trying to detoxify myself from the craft. Yet, the author just had to mess it up by waking the monster up a day earlier!

And well, let's just say the monster didn't quite appreciate my entrance.

" If I get through this, I'm so going to beat the author up. ", I grumbled beneath my breath before peeking back at my painstakingly stalked "prey".

7 twirling heads, each of them viciously spouting out their own elemental breath attached to a 30 ft tall body that was comprised of scales so durable that made diamonds look like clay. It's wings unfurled behind it's many heads, flapping angrily, creating furious gales of wind, announcing it's displeasure at the mortal that awoke it from it's slumber.

If you haven't already noticed, the beast is the mythical Hydra, the many headed dragon, Immortal dragon, King of Serpents. . . and the one who managed to piss it off was lil ol' me.

....

....

What? I needed a quick boost to power and the Hydra is connected to a diverse amount of sweet sweet elemental energy. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

"Screeee!", An ear-piercing screech cut me off from my musings as my hands immediately clasped my ears tightly in response. I almost felt my eardrums rupturing from it's tantrum.

Fortunately, the wave of screeching death stopped after a few minutes and it's culprit turned around, blasting everthing into oblivion. I exploited the chance and bolted towards the opposite tree which had a clearer view of the Hydra while carefully laying traps in my wake.

Another thing I forgot to mention was that I possess two abilities or superpowers. One of is as I called it, "[Cosmic manipulation]" which is self explanatory. The other was a VERY toned down version of "omniscience" which, in a nutshell, allows me to see a 360° view, and 'extend' my vision to(currrently) 10m. It also grants me crystal clear vision, and 'ability copy' if the requirements are met.

Now that I think about it, it's basically Rinnegan without all those flashy powers, isn't it? Damn. That goddamned system outdid itself.

" Come out, you damned mortal! ", The Hydra roared out in fury, " You break into my realm, hunted my subjects and dared walk on this King's land?! The audacity! I shall have you grilled! ", The beast roared and continued trampling on anything that stood in it's path. In response, I lightly tapped the ground with my left feet as a cloudy sighn escaped my lips.

The traps that I had laid before, now shone brilliantly before huge tendrils of wood lashed out from the ground as they tried to pin the dragon(who was startled) down. Of course however, it failed in a matter of minutes with the dragon trashing my inexpierenced elemental creation.

But, it's fine. It served it's purpose.

Besides, I wasn't really expecting mere wood to strangle a 30 ft tall multiple headed being that breathes elemental fires that could raze an entire city block on a daily basis.

No. The wood was merely an appetizer, a distraction. I clutched my heart and closed my eyes before whispering a chant.

" [Form 1] "

The familiar cloak of blue embraced me as they melted inside my body, popping my bright blue veins out into view. My eyes turned into it's "demonic sharingan mode" (What? I like the anime) without the tomoes and instead, ancient inscriptions and the colors reversed.

My feet grasped the forest floor with all the force it could muster before pushing slightly and instantly transforming my body into a blue flash aiming at one of the hydra's head.

More specifically, the water elemental head.

My ears picked up a booming crack along the adrenaline-boosted flight which proved the fact that I had broken the sound barrier and readily surpassing it. My fists gleamed red and started to smoke as I called upon the cosmic powers granted to me by the omniverse.

It was heating up gradually and rapidly before reaching the temperature of a minor sun which was enough to cause air to dilate around me. Whereas, I didn't feel anything but comfortable warmth from it.

The beast noticed me leaping towards him and shot various magic beams( to which I dodged gracefully) while roaring out profanities.

" Damned mortal! You finally showed your- ", My fiery fist connected to the( I'll just call it like this for now) "water head" effectively blowing the whole upper face into a mess of watery gore and flesh. Yet, the lower half started to sizzle, signalling the start of it's ungodly regeneration factor.

Reacting quikcly, I didn't stop my motion and continued to rain fiery punches after punches before a shriek from the side caught my attention. My body acted on it's own as it flipped to the back, using the chunks of flesh(which fell out) as it's trampoline.

And thank god for supernatural instincts or else I would have been ash by then, if the green burst of flame was any indication.

The Hydra however, didn't give me any time to rest as it's heads (except the Dark elemental head) continued to shoot barrages of minor meteor-sized fireballs. I blocked and dodged the best I coupd before my "omniscience" picked up a danger warning. I tracked it down and my eyes were immediately met with a horrifying scene.

The Poison and Dark elemental heads seemed to be working together to cast a spell though whatever it was they were doing could be considered an insta kill finisher.

Now then, any heroes, gods or supernatural being out there could tell you that tht two elements simply should not be conjured together. It's basically Magic 101.

Yet, the monster was doing it. Dark and Poison, two of the most nefarious elements along with the Hydra renowed for it's ghastly poison, working together to cast a nefarious spell?

Yup, finisher move it is.

I cursed another profanity silently before taxing my body even more for greater output as my "omniscience" worked my brain to it's maximum limit, trying to keep up with everything around me.( Thank the system for this. If not, I'd already enter Hades realm months ago).

I was about to intercept the Hydra's chant before the cracks in the hydra's body started to gleam black with a ominous hum, contrasting greatly to it's white color while the aforementioned heads smirked in content at finishing it's long chant.

Shit!

It growled out it's chant in ancient greek.

[Μανδύα του φθόνος] (Cloak of envy)

A green mist of (I assume) poison poured out the cracks between it's scales, clouding the sky and earth. I immediately casted a detoxifying, posion-anti barrier around myself and hoped it was enough as my eyes and omniscience(Somehow the mist was interrupting it) stayed vigilant like a hawk. Muttering a chant, ephimeral bladed weapons formed on all sides around me, ready to skewer the bastard to hell or hades realm in this pantheon.

Sssss

" Human, I applaud you for coming this far. But. ", a tail hit my barrier from the side with force of a bulled train, cracking it severly. I tried to channel my cosmic energy into repairing it and quickly filter the mists of poison that was invading it. My powers worked, albeit slowly.

" In the end, " A blast of fire hit me from the top, blowing a crack of space in it. This time the mist didn't invade inside and instead, spread around my barrier like a virus breaking ym connection with it.

Shit, the barrier's not going to hold for much longer. Ahh, I knew I should have picked up on barrier training. I'm so doing that after this.

" You're only human. ", it snarled creepily.

Something inside me screamed to jump, my body obeying as not long after, a trail of multi colored fire burned and froze, creating a massive depression where my place had been. My blades followed me into the air as I willed them to morph into wings, feeling immense fatigue from the energy drain.

After a while, my omniscience commanded my body to dodge to the side. It obeyed without hesitation. Not long after, a beam of concentrated elemental energy blasted through the sky, tearing away the clouds and causing rumbling it's darker version to appear.

" I'm done playing, mortal! It is time for your demise! ", The hydra shrieked in annoyance before charging up another multi-elemental blast, it's water head already up and running.

I laughed and winced at the same time. " Haha, That's weird. That's exactly what I thought, monster. "

I raised my left hand above my head and called upon every ounce of cosmic energy I possesed, the familiar drain accompanying me during the whole process while the hydra looked ready to blow me into Hades' realm.

Fortunately, I was done with my preparations a tad faster.

"[Cosmic Flare!]," I snapped my fingers as a bright flash of light and heat enveloped both of us and decimated everything in a 30 mile radius followed by ungodly minor tornadoes that ripped almost everything apart.

When the tingling of my omniscience died down, I assumed that the Hydra was no more as I flew downwards, feeling pain all over my body. When my feet touched the ground, I almost collapsed in favour of the nausea that hit me like a train.

If this is how Might Guy feel every time he used the eight gates, I definently respect the guy.

Cutting my musings short, I checked over the place and was satisfied when there was no records of a gigantic dragon(other than 7 gleaming crystals). Well, that and a "few" other minor casualities, if the ravaged land was any clue.0

. . .Sacrifices has to be made, indeed. Cutting my thoughts short, I walked over to the crystals and went to work.

" [Devour] ", The elemental energy from the core crystals rushed over to my body which acted as a filter in changing them into Cosmic energy. I felt the same "full" feeling I always did whenever I replenished my cosmic pool. But this was 10 times better, no doubt!

Meanwhile, the air thickened with pressure, the clouds darkened in anger and the crystals cracked before shattering into dust as my body fully digested the delectable energy.

Almost immediately, a warm feeling coursed through my very being, reaching out from the tip of my head to the curls of my toes. Whimpers and moans escaped from my mouth every time the energy ran around inside me. I felt my cosmic pool tripled in size and my body entering a new realm, more specifically, the realm of gods and demons. Whereas my omniscience boosted itself to a whopping radius of 1 kilometres.

Therefore, you can't really blame me for almost whining at the lack of warmth when the energy ran out. I felt the familiar (and uneeded) cold air brush past me, causing my short black hair and war dress to sway about while the forest chimed at the prospect of it's tyrant finally out of existance.

And, I'm glad to have been it's hero too. God, that poison breath was nasty. If I hadn't prepared any anti-posion barriers and cooked up pills just for the occasion, I'd surely be dead a thousand times over. It makes me wonder how cruel Hercules's life must have been.

Granted, the Greek pantheon had always been harsh in their ways, what with Zeus's constant offsprings and poor child conduct, and whatnot. Maybe perhaps it's time I meet them? I had always been interested in the pantheon ever since I was young.

My power level should be decent enough to pay the olympians a visit, wouldn't it? But if that is proven wrong, I might be smite to ash by Zeus. And, the Olympians aren't really known for their hospitality, were they?

But, the benefits...

The risks...

" Haa. . .God's sake. ", a breath of excess cosmic energy escaped my lips, my brain ironically frustrated at me for being indecisive.

Oh well, let's put the bloodthirsty pantheon aside for the moment then. But, I really need some human contact and I doubt I can just go on and fit into mortal society without something going wrong. Yeah, another thing to note about me is that my luck is apparently down the drain, complete and utter shit.

Wait a minute. The Japanese pantheon were kind. . .enough, right?(Ugh! I knew I should have listened to historical facts!) Besides, I always wanted to meet Amaterasu-sama and Yasaka (her fluffy golden tails!). Besides, I need to announce my presence to the world at some point. Looking at my power level that just fit into minor god level(or high class devils), I believe now is the time.

A smirk playfully tugged the edges of my lips. "Well then, it's time to pay Japan a visit. "

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