I Died and Became a Noble's Heir-Chapter 457: Two Words

The Hydra’s heads swiveled frantically, trying to identify which direction offered the best chance of a breakthrough.

The eastern quadrant had slightly fewer demons.

The western side included more Dread rank creatures and fewer Nightmare-rank entities.

The northern approach had a small gap where terrain made formation slightly looser.

Three possible escape routes. Three desperate gambles that might allow survival if executed perfectly, and luck favored the bold.

The central head made its decision and roared the command to the other eight. The Hydra’s massive body coiled tighter, muscles bunching in preparation for an explosive charge that would attempt to smash through the demon army’s eastern quadrant, driven by sheer momentum and violence.

It was a terrible plan. The odds of success were minimal. But staying meant certain death, and even a one percent chance of survival was better than zero.

The Hydra tensed for the charge, nine heads tracking the demons that stood between it and potential freedom.

Then Jack raised his right hand, palm facing the Hydra, and spoke a single word that sealed the creature’s fate:

"Branded."

A small bolt of red lightning erupted from Jack’s palm.

Nothing like the massive arrow he’d fired at Stormfang. A thin stream of electrical energy as thick as his finger.

The bolt crossed the distance between Jack and the Hydra in a fraction of a second, moving too fast to dodge.

The lightning struck the Hydra’s central body, right where all nine necks connected to the main torso.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. The bolt discharged its energy and dissipated, leaving no visible wound, no apparent damage.

A small scorch mark on scales that had endured far worse punishment.

Then the mark began to glow.

Red lightning spread from the impact point in intricate patterns, forming a symbol that resembled a stylized lightning bolt six inches across.

The mark seared itself into the Hydra’s scales with light bright enough to be visible even in the wasteland’s perpetual twilight.

The Hydra screamed.

Not from pain. The branding itself wasn’t particularly agonizing, but it was from the sudden awareness of what had just happened.

The mark pulsed with Jack’s magical signature, creating a tether the creature could feel like a wire around its throat, tightening with every heartbeat.

Tagged for death with absolute certainty.

The Hydra understood instinctively what the mark meant, even without knowing the specific mechanics.

Every attack that followed would be more severe. Every strike would find its target.

The normal rules of combat had just become irrelevant.

The demon army reached fifty feet from the corpse pile and stopped, maintaining their encirclement but not advancing further.

They weren’t attacking. They stood there like sentinels waiting for orders.

The Hydra’s nine heads swiveled toward Jack, their expressions a mix of hatred, fear, and genuine confusion.

Why brand it but not attack? Why mark it for death but hold the army back?

What was he waiting for?

Jack’s smile widened behind his visor as he felt the familiar sensation of his other bound creatures responding to mental commands sent through the Soul Link.

The Alpha Shadowfang Panther and Voidweaver stirring from their positions, ready to join the hunt.

The ninety-three Mistborn flowing through shadows and approaching from directions the Hydra wouldn’t detect until it was too late.

But those creatures weren’t the surprise Jack had prepared.

They were just additional pressure. Extra threats to overwhelm the Hydra’s ability to defend itself.

The real surprise was still hidden.

Still waiting beneath the corpse pile for the perfect moment to reveal itself.

Jack reached for the Chain of Soul Warden, feeling it materialize in response to his will. The black metal links appeared in the air before him, thrumming with power that had bound over a hundred creatures already and would bind hundreds more before this floor was conquered.

The Hydra saw the chain and its eyes widened with recognition.

It knew what that artifact meant. Every being in Tarturus Spire knew the stories about necromancers who could bind the dead to service, who could raise armies from battlefields, who could turn slaughter into recruitment.

The nine-headed serpent’s gaze shifted from Jack to the corpse pile beneath him. Two hundred ninety-seven minotaur bodies were arranged in a massive mound that Jack sat atop like a throne.

Understanding crashed over it like ice water. The corpses weren’t bait. They were the army.

The Hydra tried to charge. To execute its desperate escape attempt before whatever Jack was planning could come to fruition.

All nine heads roared in unison as the creature’s massive body uncoiled, preparing to smash through the demon army’s eastern quadrant with everything it had.

But before the Hydra could move more than a few feet, before its charge could build the momentum needed to break through, Jack spoke two words that changed everything:

"Soul Bind."

The Chain of Soul Warden split.

What had been a single length of black metal links suddenly fragmented into two hundred forty-seven separate strands, each one glowing with red lightning as they reached toward different corpses scattered across the pile.

The chains moved with purpose, seeking out souls that still lingered near bodies too recently dead to have fully departed.

The Hydra watched this happen with all nine heads simultaneously, frozen between flight and fight as it witnessed necromancy on a scale that defied comprehension.

[Soul Binding Initiated]

[Targets: 247 Minotaurs]

[Status: Deceased - Various States of Integrity]

[Binding Cost: 50,000 Death Tokens per soul]

[Total Cost: 12,350,000 Death Tokens]

[Current Death Tokens: 57,547,250]

[Proceed with binding?]

[YES] or [NO]

’Yes’

[Purchase confirmed: 12,350,000 Death Tokens spent]

[Current Death Tokens: 45,197,250]

[Binding in progress...]

The chains pulsed with energy as they completed their connections, each strand anchoring a minotaur soul with bonds that rewrote fundamental nature. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Confusion became absolute loyalty. Independence became perfect obedience. Free will became unified purpose under Jack’s command.

Two hundred forty-seven souls bound in the span of ten seconds.

The Hydra’s charge finally broke free from paralysis. All nine heads roared as the creature launched itself toward the eastern quadrant of the demon encirclement, its massive body moving with desperate speed despite the brand burning on its scales.

The demons in that section braced for impact, claws and weapons raised, bodies positioned to absorb the charge and drag the Hydra down through sheer numbers.

But the Hydra never reached them.

The corpse pile exploded.

Bodies that had been carefully stacked and arranged suddenly erupted outward in all directions as the creatures hidden beneath them burst free.

One thousand demons emerged from within the mountain of minotaur corpses; their timing was perfect, and their positioning was devastating.

The Hydra was fifteen feet from the pile when demons erupted from directly beneath it. Creatures that had been buried under flesh and bone for hours, waiting in absolute silence for Jack’s signal.

Claws raked across the Hydra’s underbelly, where scales were thinner. Teeth found flesh between armored sections.

Weapons struck with coordinated precision at vulnerable points.

The Branded mark on the Hydra’s body pulsed with red light.

Every attack that landed dealt triple damage.

Claws that would normally leave shallow scratches instead tore through scales and into muscle.

Bites that would have been painful but survivable instead severed tendons and crushed bones. Weapons that would have glanced off armor instead punched through completely.

The Hydra’s charge broke as agony overwhelmed momentum.

A/N: Sorry for having to take a LOA. I came down with the flu and due to medical conditions I have, it lasts longer and makes me useless. This Note will not affect coin price. And Bonus Chapter will be out shortly.