"A Task I won't be able to accomplish?"
"That's right. Do your best to kill me. That's your Task."
"Nia didn't tell me anything about this."
"Nia? Ah. General Draconia, you mean? She was right not to then."
"How so?"
Zephyr put his helmet back on.
"I trust the General's judgment."
Mark remained silent for a moment.
"Then, in the end, this is just like any other encounter with a Guardian..."
His eyes were burning with resolve.
"I just have to kill you."
Chuckles made their way outside the helmet, despite the wearer's best efforts to suppress them.
"That's right."
Purple Aura started oozing out of Mark's body.
"Don't have to tell me twice-"
Just when Mark was about to charge in, Zephyr lowered his body.
"I interrupted your fight earlier. I thought you would have been done by now but... Well, that's my mistake."
He took hold of the Guardian's unmoving body.
That's when it hit Mark.
The Guardian he had been struggling against.
The Guardian whose body he could barely move.
The Guardian he could barely damage.
The Boss Monster, that seemed to have an endless amount of Health points.
It lay unmoving.
Crushed.
Killed in a single hit.
No.
Killed simply from the impact of Zephyr landing on it.
Mark's thigh muscles started twitching uncontrollably.
That's the kind of Monster that stood in front of him.
The kind that could kill a Guardian without even meaning to.
Zephyr's armor-clad hand grasped the unmoving Boss Monster.
By that hand, the Guardian's whole body was lifted.
Light. Weightless? A few pounds at most, is what it seemed to weigh.
But Mark knew that wasn't the case.
Zephyr was simply strong enough to make it look that way.
With a swift motion, the Guardian's body was thrown at Mark.
The muscles over the latter's body contracted right away.
Was Zephyr using the Guardian's body as a diversion? A way to move out of Mark's field of vision?
Mark immediately lowered his body to keep his eyes on the target.
But that target didn't move a finger.
Thump-
At his feet, the Guardian's unmoving body fell.
"Eat."
"Huh?"
Mark's gaze did not leave Zephyr. Not even for a second.
"Or Devour, I should say."
He kept staring. Silently. Suspiciously.
The next second, Zephyr turned around.
He took a few steps away, before taking a seat on a huge piece of rubble.
A portion that used to be part of the fallen pillars inside the Boss Room.
Pillars that hadn't fallen during Mark's fight with the Guardian. Not by the explosion created by Elisa and the Fire Spirit, and not by the Guardian's powerful attacks.
"I need you to be at your best. Otherwise, the Test would hold no value."
'This some kind of joke?' Mark asked himself.
He didn't move.
"Go on. I'll wait." Zephyr said as he placed his spear to his side.
Without moving his gaze, Mark's hand slowly, and carefully, reached for the Guardian's body.
'I can't devour it... Should I just use my Devouring Architecture Skill? But then-'
[Your Title "Evolving Monster" is looking at you.]
'...?'
[Your Title "Devourer" looks at you.]
[Your Title "Devourer" swallows the Skill "Devouring Architecture[S]".]
'You fucking what?'
His Titles working against him was the last thing Mark needed.
Frustration. Anxiety.
He let neither show.
[Your Title "Evolving Monster" reminds you that your left arm is hungry.]
'I know it's filled with Corruption or whatever but... How am I supposed to...?'
[Your Title "Devourer" says that you shouldn't sweat the details.]
'Sweat the...?!'
"You're cautious. 1 point."
Mark's left hand reached for the Guardian's body.
The next second, it turned into a sphere of energy.
A dark sphere of energy.
At its sight, Mark's heart rate shot up.
[Your Title "Devourer" laughs out loud.]
[Your Title "Evolving Monster" chuckles.]
Reluctantly, Mark swallowed the dark sphere.
His body immediately tensed up.
A massive amount of heat was produced inside Mark.
Zephyr stared.
'His Titles, huh? Devourer and Evolving Monster. Let's what they're capable of-'
Suddenly, the Candidate's twitching body curled up.
Only then, did Mark's gaze move away from Zephyr.
An intense headache that lasted for the short duration of five seconds.
"Anything wrong-"
Zephyr's words were interrupted by Mark's sudden jerk of his head.
Thankfully the former's facial expression was hidden behind his helmet, as he was met by the Devourer's monstrous face.
For three seconds, dark tears flowed down Mark's eyes. They were hard to see, due to the dark lines going down his eyes and upper body.
Mark opened his mouth and took a deep breath.
A semi-transparent dark mist exited his mouth.
"Never felt better." The Devourer declared, its muscles twitching.
[Your Vigor Stat has greatly increased!]
[Your Endurance Stat has greatly increased!]
[Your Strength Stat has increased!]
[Your Agility Stat has increased!]
[Your Mana Stat has greatly increased!]
Vigor, Strength, Agility, Mana, Endurance.
Practically every Stat that Mark had at his disposal, apart from his Sense Stat. A Stat that couldn't be expected to increase after Devouring a blind Monster.
Each of those five Stats had increased substantially.
As one might expect. The Guardian's Stats were incredibly high after all.
But there was something else.
Something different.
Something, that, for better or worse, was higher than those Stats.
The amount of Corruption running through the Guardian's body.
"Good." Zephyr grabbed his spear.
He turned into upside down and drove it into the ground.
"Do your best to kill me. Show me everything you're capable of."
Suddenly, Zephyr disappeared, leaving the ground below him damaged even further than it already was.
Just as suddenly, he appeared in front of Mark.
"Your Test begins now."
His eyes were barely able to follow Zephyr's movement.
Superior Kinetic Vision-
Mark cursed internally.
The Guardian had been defeated by Zephyr.
Three Skill Points had been stolen from him.
Additionally, the usual messages about a Reward for Devouring a Guardian had not appeared.
Something that did not even cross Mark's mind, as he dodged Zephyr's armor-clad fist.
Meanwhile, outside the Boss Room, Elisa and Krista stood in front of its entry.
A wall of violent winds barred passage.
"Even I wouldn't be able to make it through this..." Elisa whispered.
Krista lay on the ground.
She closed her eyes, and focused her hearing.
'He talked... He really talked... Huh... Since when could he? And why didn't he?' Elisa asked herself as she took a seat next to Krista.
She asked herself that, even though there was a different question that perturbed her.
A question she didn't want to ask.
An answer she didn't want to get.
