Awakening: Reincarnating With the SSS-Level Extraction Talent

The chamber grew silent for a moment as the Hydra stared down Alex, its three heads snapping menacingly.

Its scale-covered body radiated an oppressive aura, each movement causing the air to tremble.

[Three-Headed Hydra, Guardian of the Heart of Calamity, Tier 7 Level 700 Mythical Boss.]

Alex's breathing was ragged as he took a few cautious steps backward.

This was not a battle he could win. Not now. Not alone.

The Hydra roared, its three heads unleashing an earth-shaking bellow that made Alex instinctively cover his ears.

The sound reverberated through his chest, making his entire body ache.

Fire Meteor!

Alex reacted on instinct, summoning one of his strongest spells.

A blazing meteor streaked through the air, crashing into the Hydra's chest with a deafening explosion.

The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the chamber, yet as the smoke cleared, the Hydra stood untouched.

-1

A single point of damage.

Hundreds of millions of health points, unparalleled speed, and now, even his strongest attacks barely registered.

"This is bad… really bad…" he muttered, glancing around the chamber for an escape route.

"World Map," Alex called out, summoning the navigation panel in desperation.

He frantically tapped on the dot marking [Arceus' Tower], hoping against hope for a way out.

[You cannot teleport while inside of this area.]

"Of course not," Alex cursed, slamming the panel away.

The Hydra took a step forward, its glowing red eyes fixed on him, filled with malicious intent.

"Alphox!" he shouted, trying to summo, his companion.

[Alphox needs rest before being summoned back.]

"Shit!" His strongest ally was still recovering from the Hydra's earlier bite.

"Death Call!" Alex yelled, his voice filled with desperation.

The [Undead King] materialized in front of him, its tattered black robe swirling with ethereal energy.

The skeletal figure looked at the Hydra, its hollow eyes glowing faintly with unease.

"We aren't beating that thing, human," the Undead King stated bluntly, gesturing toward the towering beast.

"I don't care! Just hold it off for 10 seconds. No… make it 5!" Alex barked.

The Undead King sighed, lifting its bony hands to summon skeletal appendages from the ground.

Hundreds of bone-like hands erupted from the chamber floor, wrapping tightly around the Hydra's legs and necks.

"Go!" the Undead King snarled before disappearing.

Alex didn't waste a second, bolting toward the chamber's exit, his agility stat boosting his speed to a blur and his [Shadow Veil] skill activating to reduce his detectability.

"Yes!" he thought as the door loomed ahead.

For a moment, hope flickered in his chest. He might just make it.

Snap!

The Hydra tore through the skeletal bindings as if they were paper, its massive body surging forward with impossible speed.

Alex barely had time to react before one of the Hydra's heads lunged at him.

"FUCK—"

"Three-Bite!" the Hydra hissed, its center head lunging forward.

The first bite connected.

But the Hydra's attack wasn't just physical.

[Soul Attack detected.]

Alex's HP didn't drop to zero—it plummeted to 1, and then the real pain began.

It wasn't his body that hurt; it was something deeper.

A searing pain unlike anything he'd ever experienced shot through him.

It wasn't his body—it was his soul.

"Gah!" He fell to his knees, clutching his chest as a notification appeared.

Soul attacks weren't like normal ones.

They bypassed physical defenses entirely.

With each hit, the damage targeted a person's soul directly.

A second head struck, jaws snapping against Alex's side.

His knees buckled as the torment doubled, his vision darkening. Sweat dripped down his face as he gasped for breath. "I'm... going to die."

His vision blurred, and his movements slowed.

He was at his limit. If the Hydra struck one more time, it would be over. Truly over.

"This is it…" Alex whispered, "I might as well try something else..."

His fingers trembled as he clutched the Artifact Container in his inventory. His mind raced back to Arceus' warning:

"Do not touch the Heart of Calamity directly. It will annihilate you. Bring it to me safely."

Alex gritted his teeth, glaring up at the towering Hydra. "Who cares if I bring it safely if I'm already dead forever?"

The Hydra closed in, its glowing eyes locking onto him, ready to deliver the finishing blow.

Without hesitation, Alex gripped the [Artifact Container] as he took it out from his inventory.

"Sorry, Arceus," he muttered under his breath. He hurled the container toward the Hydra, the glowing orb spinning through the air.

[Snap your fingers to release the artifact.]

"Let's see what happens when you piss off the Calamity itself!" Alex growled.

With every ounce of strength left in his body, he snapped his fingers.

The moment the artifact was released, the air around the chamber changed.

The Hydra froze mid-strike, its three heads rearing back as an otherworldly pressure filled the room.

The [Heart of Calamity] floated in the air, pulsating with unimaginable energy.

A crimson glow radiated outward, enveloping the entire chamber.

The walls trembled, cracks spreading like wildfire as the sheer force of the artifact's power destabilized the area.

The Hydra roared in panic, its three heads snapping at the orb, but it was too late.

The moment the Heart of Calamity made contact with the beast, everything stopped.

The oppressive roars, the tremors in the chamber, even Alex's ragged breathing—all fell into a deafening silence.

The Hydra's massive form shuddered, its glowing eyes widening in shock as the artifact sank into its flesh.

For a split second, Alex dared to think the Heart might destroy the creature outright, erasing its overwhelming presence.

And then, the impossible happened.

The Hydra's body began to disintegrate.

Not in the way Alex expected—no fiery explosion or violent eruption of energy.

Instead, the creature seemed to dissolve into nothingness, its scales, flesh, and aura being sucked into the artifact like smoke into a vacuum.

The Hydra's massive frame flickered, its three heads snapping erratically as they tried to resist the pull.

"No… way," Alex whispered, his voice barely audible.

The once-unstoppable guardian of the chamber—the monster that had pushed him to the brink—was being consumed entirely.

Within moments, the Hydra was gone.

Completely.

Not even a single scale remained.

The chamber trembled violently as the artifact pulsed with raw energy, its crimson glow now almost blinding.

The ground beneath it cracked and splintered, releasing bursts of heat and light as the Heart absorbed the last remnants of the Hydra's existence.

Alex stumbled back, his legs giving out as the oppressive force of the artifact grew stronger.

BOOM!

A shockwave erupted from the Heart, sending Alex flying across the chamber. He slammed into the wall, but not receiving any damage.

The explosion shattered the chamber's walls, massive chunks of rock falling from above as the entire structure threatened to collapse.

Alex lay motionless for a moment, his body battered and his soul still aching from the Hydra's earlier attacks.

Dust and debris settled around him, and the heat from the artifact's energy made the air nearly unbearable to breathe.

But he was alive.

Barely.

Groaning, Alex pushed himself onto his hands and knees.

Every movement felt like dragging a boulder, but he forced himself to look toward the center of the room.

There it was.

The Heart of Calamity, no longer floating but resting on the fractured ground.

It pulsed violently, its crimson light dimming and brightening in irregular intervals, as if it were… alive.

The artifact had just consumed a Tier 7 Mythical boss without hesitation.

He didn't even want to imagine what would happen if it lost control.

"…What the hell have I done?" he muttered, his voice hoarse as he approached the artifact.