Erza's figure pierced through the shattered ice curtain, her ice sword pointed directly at Hydra's chest.
A ruthless glint flashed in Hydra's eyes. He twisted his body sharply, narrowly avoiding the fatal blow.
The ice sword grazed his shoulder, drawing a spray of blood.
Hydra grunted, and the lake water beneath him quickly enveloped him. Amidst the rising mist, his wound healed at a visible rate.
"Your recovery ability is quite surprising," Erza said coldly, raising her ice sword again.
Hydra didn't reply. He raised his hands to his chest, and the ripple-shaped magic circle expanded once more. The mist on the lake surface quickly condensed into countless water snakes, rushing towards Erza from all directions.
These water snakes had distinct scales, their bodies writhing, and their fangs exposed in the air, like real water snakes.
Erza's gaze remained calm. She crouched slightly, holding her ice sword horizontally in front of her.
Just as the water snakes were about to pounce, she spun her body, and the ice sword created a massive ice whirlwind.
The water snakes were caught in the ice whirlwind, instantly frozen into ice sculptures, then shattered into countless ice fragments.
"As I said, as long as I'm wearing this armor, your attacks are meaningless against me," Erza's voice was cold and firm as she charged towards Hydra again.
A malicious glint flashed in Hydra's eyes. His clones surged out again, attempting to block Erza's assault.
However, Erza's ice sword was like the Grim Reaper's scythe; each swing took out a clone.
Hydra's main body was forced to retreat continuously, manipulating the lake water beneath him to form water curtains, trying to slow Erza's approach.
Erza's eyes narrowed slightly. Using her forward momentum, she slashed her ice sword sharply across the water's surface.
An icy blue magical aura emanated from the blade, and the lake surface instantly froze. A hard layer of ice rapidly spread towards Hydra.
Hydra's expression was grim, his snake-like golden pupils constricting to pinpricks.
Erza was originally sprinting across the ice, about to reach Hydra.
The ice layer on the lake suddenly exploded, and countless sharp ice shards flew upwards.
Erza had no choice but to quickly wield her long sword to block the ice shards.
Hydra seized the opportunity, plunging his main body's hands into the water. Pale knuckles glowed with an eerie blue light, and a translucent white magic circle opened on the water's surface: "White Snake Strangling Array!"
The entire West Lake suddenly boiled, the lake water seemingly coming alive. Three hundred-meter-long water spouts rose from the ground.
These water spouts had dense snake scale patterns on their surfaces, each carrying a raging torrent of water powerful enough to tear steel, and they converged on Erza in a triangular formation.
The ice layer was crushed into powder the moment the spouts passed, and the lakebed's silt was pulled into the sky, forming a murky vortex.
"Magic of this scale..." Erza's pupils contracted, and spiral water patterns appeared on the surface of her Sea King Armor.
She raised her ice sword above her head, and a brilliant icy blue light sphere condensed at the tip of the sword: "Sea King's Wrath!"
The moment the light sphere erupted, tens of thousands of ice crystal blades shot out in a fan shape.
The blades collided with the spouts, emitting a harsh, metallic grinding sound. The ice crystals were constantly shattered and then regenerated under the impetus of magic.
Erza advanced rapidly, stepping on the constantly freezing and shattering ice surface. The fin-like decorations of her Sea King Armor left emerald light trails behind her.
Three Hydra clones suddenly shot out from the spouts. They were enveloped in rapidly rotating water blades, crashing into Erza like three cannonballs.
The instant the ice sword made contact with the water shield, blinding sparks erupted. Erza spun her body, creating an ice storm that shredded the three clones into a sky full of mist.
But more clones continuously emerged from the spouts, each holding a snake-shaped spear condensed from high-pressure water.
"Endless clone magic..." A fierce glint flashed in Erza's eyes, and her ice sword suddenly erupted with bone-chilling cold.
An ice surface with a ten-meter diameter froze beneath her feet, and she held her sword with both hands in a thrusting stance: "Pierce!"
A torrent of emerald magic spewed from the sword tip, and the clones in its path were instantly frozen into ice sculptures upon contact with the light stream.
The light stream pierced directly through the cores of the three water spouts. Hydra's main body, who was casting the spell, spat out a large mouthful of blood, and a bowl-sized penetrating wound appeared on his chest.
However, the floating snake scales suddenly ignited. As three of them turned to ashes, Hydra's fatal wound completely healed.
"Snake scales can act as substitutes?" Erza narrowed her eyes slightly, noticing the scales floating around him rotating in a specific pattern.
She suddenly swung her sword at the empty space to her left. Hydra's distorted face suddenly appeared in the previously empty spot - he had hidden his main body in the refraction of the water, using clones as a diversion.
Exposed, Hydra retreated rapidly, forming complex hand seals in front of his chest.
The entire West Lake suddenly stilled, and all the floating water droplets solidified into countless prisms.
These prisms reflected dazzling light off each other, and Erza's vision was instantly engulfed by the strong light.
Dozens of clones took the opportunity to pounce from different angles. All their water snake spears transformed into highly poisonous purplish-green.
"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!"
At the critical moment, Erza's body erupted with dazzling golden light.
The silver armor instantly changed into platinum armor adorned with sacred runes, and twelve swords of light spread out behind her in a wheel shape.
The clones' poisonous spears shattered against the light sword barrier. Erza raised her right hand, and the light sword wheel began to spin at high speed.
"Heaven's Wheel: Blumenblatt!"
Countless swords of light poured down like a torrential rain, each precisely piercing the clones' foreheads.
The prism array shattered in the sacred light, and Hydra's painful groan came from beneath the lake - the light swords pierced through the water, forcing his main body, hidden underwater, to emerge.
Hydra, at this moment, was no longer calm; his pale skin was covered in charred burns.
He frantically tore at his left arm, and the entire arm suddenly burst into hundreds of snake scales. These scales formed a giant translucent magic circle in the air: "White Snake Water Prison!"
The entire volume of West Lake's water was frantically drained, forming a giant water sphere with a diameter of five hundred meters above their heads.
Countless tormented faces appeared on the surface of the water sphere, and the hissing of millions of venomous snakes emanated from within.
Hydra, bleeding from all seven orifices, laughed maniacally as he swung his arm down: "Drown!"
"Is this your full power?" Facing the deathly water sphere that blotted out the sky and pressed down, Erza put away all her armor.
"Then I'll crush you head-on!"
Under Hydra's stunned gaze, Erza gripped a suddenly appearing pitch-black greatsword. Scarlet karmic flames ignited on the blade, and a ferocious black and red armor appeared on her: "Requip: Purgatory Armor!"
The moment the greatsword swung, a scarlet fire phoenix soared into the sky.
The collision of water and fire caused a violent explosion, and boiling steam enveloped the entire battlefield.
When the mist dissipated, on the exposed mud of the lakebed, Erza's sword tip was pressed against Hydra's throat.
All the substitute snake scales had long since turned to ashes, and for the first time, an emotion called fear appeared in the golden vertical pupils of the White Snake Mage.
"How many sets of armor do you have?"
"Enough to cut down all evil." Erza flicked her wrist, and the sword light arced like a new moon.
Hydra's body slowly split into two. This time, no snake scales could block the fatal blow for him.
The waters of West Lake crashed down from the sky, refracting a rainbow of colors in the sunlight, as if playing a final elegy for the defeated.
-------------------------------
I've already uploaded 40 chapters of this story on Patreon!
If you enjoy it, come check out the latest chapters in advance.
[patreon.com/TripleCrown07]
Thank you so much for your support!!!
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"