Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem-Chapter 563: Improper

The Hydra's entire body crumbled, including its head of Usurpation.

At first, Zach thought that the bright smile was because it had found peace. After millennia of suffering, it could finally be released from the torture that was living. It could finally die. That was why it hadn't put up more of a fight. That was why it had let Zach and the others take its heads off like ugly decorations. Maybe it was just done.

But no, that wasn't it.

"You have our thanks."

The Hydra had just shed unnecessary baggage.

Did the different heads and the massive body do anything for it? It was so heavy that its wings could just barely lift it into the air. Its weight distribution was all weird, and the heads could be better at cooperating.

The Hydra was strong, and on a fundamental level, its vessel was close to perfection. The physical makeup of its blood, bones, flesh, and scale was at a level that couldn't be compared to an ordinary lizard. It was even a couple of steps above the Basilisk.

Maybe if it still had its ninth head and balance between its powers and a balanced body, things would have been different. But it didn't, so it needed to look for another way to achieve harmony and reach the next level.

A few thousand years of seclusion hadn't done the Hydra's sanity any good, but it had done wonders for its ability to think about what to do when it got out.

It had thought a lot about what it could do to become stronger.

It hadn't been able to test any of its theories when it was sealed, but it had realized a couple of things.

The first was that almost no other creature had multiple heads, much less nine of them. And the most the Hydra had seen was beings with two or three heads. But to all those beings, those heads were innate. They were born with them.

The Hydra wasn't.

It had made new heads for each of its powers as a way to better learn how to control and master them. It was a good idea, and it worked well, especially when it took a power it couldn't control.

The Hydra could just put that power in a separate head, and the power wouldn't bother it. But when it tried to reach higher, the Hydra was forced to face its limits. That idea was good as long as it didn't need to fight someone stronger than each of its heads.

It was a good idea as long as the Hydra was satisfied with its current strength—as long as it was satisfied with being a big fish in a small pond.

It wasn't. The Hydra wanted more, a lot more than what its current strength could offer it.

So, without hesitation, the Hydra decided to discard its multiple heads and their personalities.

But that didn't mean it got rid of the powers of each head.

The Hydra took back all of the heads' understanding of each power with two exceptions, and harmonized, united, and refined everything. It reduced its unnecessary body size to a fraction of what it was before, removing all the excess and waste, retaining only the best parts of itself.

"It's been a while since we talked like this."

For ease of use, energy usage, movement, and communication, the Hydra took a form popular among most intelligent races, and one that monsters and powerful non-human beings often transformed into.

It took on a humanoid shape. The only things that separated it from an ordinary human were the fragment-like scales on its cheekbones, its vertical pupils, and the leathery grey wings on its back.

The Hydra's long dark grey hair draped over their nude form as it stood with all of itself on full glorious display in the bright morning sun. Their limbs were long and slender, with hints of lean muscle beautifully adorning them, accentuating their curves.

Ozra instinctively reached out to cover Zach's eyes.

"Don't look, young'un!"

Zach smacked away her hand.

"Do you think it's my first time seeing a naked woman?" He asked disdainfully.

Ozra looked at him. He had a point. He was younger than her, but he was still a fully grown adult. It was only natural that he had at least some experience with the opposite gender.

"It is, actually, so let me look."

"..."

"Ah! Hey–Wait—Stop!" Zach raised his arms to defend himself as Ozra started beating him again.

"I was just joking! I'm looking because that's the Hydra, who might or not might want to kill me."

Ozra's hand stopped moving, but only for a second before she tapped Zach atop his head one last time.

"You're lucky that's a good excuse. If I catch you doing something improper during the fight, I'll show you the meaning of improper," Ozra said with a harrumph as she shot Zach a stern look with her arms crossed under the two only soft parts of her body.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" He asked, massaging his sore arms. He continued before Ozra could say yes.

"You're supposed to save the improper stuff for after the fight."

Zach winced, but it didn't hide his smile as Ozra punched him in the side, breaking his posture.

However, they were forced to stop joking around.

The entire Evandiel family, the Maura warriors, the Ugri tribe, their captives, the Arlecch duo, Yan, and Oria, and even the Hydra were looking at them.

Zach straightened up, fixed his clothes, even if they had already fixed themselves, and crossed his arms. There was not a hint of shame on his face. Coincidentally enough, Ozra's expression was similar to Zach's.

They were both unbothered by everyone looking at them weirdly in this tense situation where any number of them might die in a fight that might break out any second.

Eventually, Zach couldn't stand the tension anymore.

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"So, Madam—Miss Hydra. Do you still have plans on destroying the world?" He asked bluntly. This time, Ozra joined the ones staring at him.