"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
RUMBLE!
The colossal cavern violently shook as the Hydra reared its massive six heads. This wasn't just a monster; it was a labyrinth boss explicitly designed to wipe out entire parties of high-level heroes. The air grew thick and suffocating, choked by a toxic brew of fire, frost, and corrosive acid pooling in its massive jaws.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The massive stone doors slammed shut behind them. They were trapped. Escape was impossible.
Yue tried to muster her confidence. She firmly believed they could handle anything as long as they were together. In the worst-case scenario, she could rely on her overwhelming talent; she knew she was the strongest magic caster in existence. Yet, even with her incredible mana reserves, completely blocking a simultaneous six-element breath attack from a beast of this magnitude seemed impossible.
"Suzuki..."
Seeing the Hydra prime its lethal breath, she prepared to give her absolute all. She stepped in front of him, raising her small, pale hands, ready to pour every last drop of her vitality into a desperate, crimson barrier. She was fully prepared to let the Hydra vaporize her just to buy him the three seconds he needed to survive.
It was a grand, tragic, beautifully romantic sacrifice, yet—
Flick!
"Ouch!"
Yue clutched her forehead, tears instantly pricking the corners of her eyes. "It hurts! What are you doing?!"
They were literally seconds away from annihilation, so what the hell was wrong with him?!
"Follow my lead." Suzuki let out a helpless sigh, stepping past her with complete calm. "Don't worry. I will end this."
"..."
Yue stared in a daze at his broad back. She wasn't sure why, but the moment he spoke, all her anxiety vanished. She suddenly felt like... they could easily do this.
"Okay."
The Hydra, however, wasn't willing to wait. It roared, all six heads snapping forward to unleash a devastating, apocalyptic barrage of elemental breath—fire, absolute-zero ice, flesh-melting acid, and crackling lightning—all converging directly at the center of the room!
BOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOOM! BOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOM!
Suzuki didn't even flinch. He calmly drew his dagger—a flawless blade forged from unique labyrinth metals—and activated his Swordmaster job skill, [Aura Blade]. The steel was instantly coated in a highly compressed layer of violent mana, exponentially extending its reach and cutting power.
At this exact moment, he went all out. Every single combatant job he had hoarded was activated simultaneously, synchronizing to dismantle this monstrosity as swiftly as possible.
"Handle those breath attacks for me. Just follow my instructions."
Yue's crimson eyes glowed with absolute authority. "Yes."
She didn't even bother dodging. Standing her ground in her pristine white coat, she unleashed a localized, absolute counter-barrage. Guided by Suzuki's precise commands, she fired concentrated typhoons to scatter the poison gas, absolute-zero ice to freeze the incoming fire, and towering earth spikes to ground and absorb the lightning. She perfectly nullified every single breath attack mid-air, creating a massive, blinding smokescreen of steam.
What is happening?
Yue wasn't entirely sure, but she felt like she was operating at absolute absolute peak condition. It was as if she could do literally anything. Was it because she had consumed his bodily fluids earlier? Remembering how delicious he tasted and how it affected her, she was convinced that had to be the reason.
Wrong!
If Suzuki knew what Yue was thinking, he would have instantly corrected her. The real reason she could focus so perfectly and output 120% of her power was entirely due to the [Manager]. Besides optimizing Suzuki's own combat efficiency so he could fight with minimal effort, the system could also network with his allies, drastically improving their conditions and syncing their reaction times to his.
That was the true source of Yue's current absolute perfection. Though... to be fair, his potent blood, the high-quality food from his Online Shopping, and their intimate time in the penthouse certainly hadn't hurt her evolution.
But the battle was far from over.
The Hydra was completely blinded by the thick steam—and that was Suzuki's cue to strike!
Activating [Presence Concealment] and absolute [Thermal Vision], Suzuki vanished into the fog. He triggered the Swordmaster skill [Flash Step], a technique that granted explosive, straight-line speed bordering on teleportation. Unlike an Assassin's Shadow Step, which prioritized stealth and circular evasion, Flash Step was pure, aggressive momentum. He used it to instantly close the gap, aiming to deliver a decisive strike before the colossal beast could even draw another breath.
Combined with his currently monstrous physical stats, the Hydra simply couldn't track him!
Yet, the beast wasn't weak. This was a biological weapon created by the Mavericks—a group of rebels who dared to wage war against a God. If it were weak, how could it ever challenge the divine?
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
Sensing the danger through pure instinct, the Hydra reacted. It violently swung one of its multi-ton jaws, aiming to crush Suzuki mid-air!
But Suzuki didn't try to block the overwhelming force. Utilizing the evasive, circular footwork of [Silat], he pivoted flawlessly on his heel mid-sprint, shifting his center of gravity and letting the massive, teeth-filled maw slam uselessly into the bedrock mere inches from his body.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!
"Now, it's my turn."
The Hydra's scales were harder than mythril, but Suzuki could see its structural weaknesses. He leaped onto the beast's snout and sprinted straight up its thick neck, his eyes locked onto the microscopic gaps between the armor—the cervical vertebrae joints.
"Now."
He didn't hack wildly. With a single, beautifully fluid motion, he drove his aura-coated blade directly into the joint, crossing his arms and violently ripping outward.
RRRRRR-IP!
He cleanly severed the spinal cord and vocal cords in a fraction of a second. The colossal green head went completely limp, collapsing heavily to the cavern floor.
BOOOOOOM!!!
But did that mean he had won? As long as he cut off the heads, would it die?
No. The Hydra possessed a terrifying regenerative ability. The moment it lost a head, the stump would instantly rapidly mutate, sprouting two more in its place. Suzuki, however, knew this from the very beginning. He had already jumped off the collapsing neck and was sprinting toward the next one, not even bothering to look back. He simply called out an order mid-air.
"Cauterize the cut. Don't let it heal."
Yue, completely devoted to his exact rhythm, was already casting. The exact microsecond Suzuki's blade left the Hydra's neck, a pinpoint, ultra-compressed lance of Azure Flame struck the bloody stump.
TZZZZZZZZZT!
The extreme, concentrated heat instantly flash-fried the cellular structure, permanently sealing the wound and preventing the Hydra from regenerating.
Slice. Burn. Slice. Burn.
It became a terrifying, metronomic rhythm of death. Suzuki used Flash Step to teleport between the blind spots of the thrashing heads, applying devastating Silat joint-locks to the smaller necks to break their momentum, before cleanly decapitating them with Swordmaster precision. Every single time a head fell, Yue's blue flames flawlessly sealed the wound.
Within sixty seconds, the legendary, multi-headed beast was reduced to a single, panicked central head attached to a massive, bleeding torso. Realizing it was entirely outmatched, the supposed 'calamity' tried to retreat, lumbering backward in terror.
"I will kill it."
Suzuki used his acrobatic momentum to launch himself off the cavern wall, rocketing like a missile directly toward the Hydra's massive chest plate.
BOOOOOOOOM!
He sheathed his dagger mid-air. He didn't need to cut through the heavy chest armor. Instead, he slammed his polished Oxford shoe directly into the beast's chest to halt his momentum, then pressed his bare right hand flat against its thickest, strongest scale.
"[Snatch]!"
He activated the skill at maximum, point-blank capacity. He didn't steal its mana, nor did he steal its physical stats. Bypassing the physical armor entirely, he violently ripped its conceptual "Vitality Core" straight out of its body.
A blinding, golden tether of pure life force was violently yanked from the Hydra's chest and absorbed directly into his palm.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—"
The Hydra's eyes instantly rolled back into its skull. Its massive heart stopped mid-beat, entirely drained of the energy required to function. The colossal labyrinth boss crashed heavily to the floor, dead, shaking the entire cavern one final time.
RUMBLE!
"Now, it's finished."
Suzuki didn't bother striking a victory pose. He casually dusted off his suit, adjusted his cuffs, and looked over at Yue, who was floating down from her vantage point.
"What's wrong? Let's go."
Yue landed softly, her pristine white trench coat still completely spotless. She walked up to him, entirely ignoring the apocalyptic, bleeding carcass behind them. Her crimson eyes were glowing with a heavy, euphoric addiction. She had just watched the man she loved physically dismantle a mythic beast with nothing but a dagger and his bare hands, completely and utterly dominating the battlefield.
"Suzuki, you are amazing!"
She stepped directly into his personal space, gently wrapping her arms around his waist. She looked up at him, her beautiful face flushed with a terrifyingly deep obsession. Licking her tender lips, she whispered, "Should we start the celebration now?"
She didn't get a verbal answer. Instead, she felt a large, warm hand land gently on top of her head before she was effortlessly scooped up into his arms.
"Princess dress?" he reminded her.
"Yeah." Her voice was a soft, sultry purr as she lightly traced her fingernail over his chest.
"Let's go."
Just like a classic hero who had defeated the world-ending calamity and won the heart of the princess, Suzuki claimed his victory. But unlike those standard heroes, he skipped the grand parade and took his princess straight to the penthouse~!