[Shadow Sovereign's Second Try!] Elden Ring x Male Reader

Rykard, Godly Hydra Apophis - 2

Rya stumbled over herself, "Ah, but my necklace —"

Melina bowed her head patiently. "I promise your necklace will be retrieved. But for now, your life is more important." Melina gestured to the massive creature, clearly showing how much damage it was doing.

Rya stared, a little bit in utter shock, a bit in reverence. It was like a deity had come down and was enacting judgement, only to be stopped by one lone man. She didn't know which side she revered more. Melina called out to her once, and Rya was pulled back down to reality.

She nodded frantically. She was scared out of her mind, and she valued her necklace more than her life itself, but she also knew how futile everything would be if her life was snuffed out. She could tell that Melina and Millicent could have quite easily left her to die, but they hadn't.

So, she followed Melina and Millicent as they continued onward, even as she let out small yelps as the Shadows cleared a path around them.

Millicent stared at Melina's small back and tiny shoulder as she moved forward, each step filled with determination. She couldn't help but admire that determination. In a way, it truly reminded her of Malenia.

-----

(Y/n) and Salem slid backwards as her magical shield fell over them. Around them, the ground was scorched down to nothing but dead earth. Radahn landed behind them after Rykard launched him away, and Salem extended her shield over him.

For a moment, (Y/n) panted, annoyed. He clicked his tongue. "So, he's got magic, lava, poison, and rancor... and Gluttony, so he gets stronger the more he eats. Damn, is it this annoying to fight me?"

As if to highlight (Y/n)'s words, a yellow light built up within one of the mouths and shot out, covering the magical barrier with yellow flames. He grimaced, "And frenzy, fun."

Despite his reactions, (Y/n) hadn't lost much ground in his bout against the titanic dragon. The massive variety of attacks Rykard boasted was offset by the variety of the Shadow Army.

Because of Salem's Dragon Empress status, she was not to be trifled with, especially when fighting against a dragon, which Rykard was. His magic was mostly canceled out against her, and his lava could do very little with her fire immunity.

His poison and rancor were the only things that needed to be watched out for, but the poison was halted by Radahn's gravity magic. The rancor was the only skill that was dangerous no matter what because it was souls that were being used.

Against (Y/n)'s Shadows, souls were arguably the strongest threats around. But, so far, Radahn and Salem avoided anything more than a few times getting destroyed, which meant (Y/n)'s mana was still in fantastic condition. Besides, while his Shadows were weakened against the rancor, it bounced off of him near harmlessly.

But despite Rykard being unable to hurt them much, the nine-headed dragon also wasn't in a position where he was injured much. Even while using Legacy, Rykard's regeneration was quite noteworthy, which annoyed (Y/n) like hell.

"I'd think negating regeneration was in the whole 'Successor of Destined Death' bit of all these powers. I guess not though," he huffed, silently jabbing at the Darkness who offered him his abilities. He was undeniably thankful, but he couldn't stop his annoyance.

As Rykard took a step back as if he was resizing (Y/n), the Shadow Sovereign took the opportunity to relook over the situation. His attacks were doing a miniscule amount of damage, he couldn't fuse together his Shadows because they were busy helping around the Lake, and as time passed Rykard would only get harder to kill.

"We need to kill him in one shot, or else he's just gonna keep regenerating," (Y/n) tsked, glancing towards Salem and Radahn without taking his attention away from Rykard's slithery form. "Have any ideas?"