Following Mark's Unique Evolution, back on the Fifth Floor, he's devoured plenty of Monsters larger than himself.
Which is why, without realizing it, his body had gradually grown a bit taller and larger.
Tch-
Another fist barely dodged.
Still, compared to Zephyr who stood at about three meters tall, Mark's size was nothing impressive.
Punch-
Punch-
Punch-
Mark focused on his vision to dodge the successive incoming attacks.
Zephyr's reach was greater than his, which made counterattacking complicated.
Plus, whether it was because of the former's imposing stature and build or not, Mark continuously stepped backwards as he dodged.
Slowly but surely, his back approached the wall.
But that wasn't the least of Mark's problems.
Before that back could even reach the wall, he braced for the incoming impact.
Guh-
A powerful punch to the stomach.
Mark was pushed back a handful of meters and his feet remained on the ground.
'Tsk.' He clicked his tongue, obviously annoyed.
The impact was way different from the last time Mark was hit.
He wasn't sure whether the difference was caused by the increase in Stat that followed Devouring the Guardian, or because Zephyr was taking it easy on him.
The difference was enormous.
And so Mark couldn't help but assume the latter was the reason.
His back was inches away from the wall.
"You're not taking this seriously."
Mark was tired of hearing such criticism.
"Good. It shows that you are at least at this level."
His eyebrow twitched.
"What's that supposed to-"
"It means that we're upping the difficulty."
"Upping the-"
BAM-
CRACK-
A front kick that used all of Zephyr momentum.
His iron-clad foot hit the wall, and multiple large pieces or rubble immediately fell.
"Seems like you're taking it a bit more seriously." Zephyr commented.
The purple Aura that oozed out of Mark's body wasn't hard to notice.
'Just this much should be... No. I'll go further for now.'
[Your Skill "Berserk[SS]" is activating!]
[Your Endurance Stat temporarily increases by 40%.]
[Your Agility Stat temporarily increases by 20%]
[Your Strength Stat temporarily increases by 10%.]
Immediately, Mark felt chills run all over his body.
In his "Base Form", his Stats had increased a lot.
This increase, in turn, only amplified the "Berserker" Skill's effect.
It doesn't increase the user's Stat by a certain amount.
No.
The increase in Stats is proportional to the user's Stats.
A smile was drawn on Mark's face as he pulled his arms back and slightly raised his fists.
'The stronger I become...'
His feet hit the ground repeatedly with such speed and power that even Zephyr was pleasant, though slightly, surprised.
'The strong the Skill gets!'
In an instant, Mark closed the distance.
And he was determined not to stay on the defensive much longer.
Taking full advantage of his longer reach, Zephyr threw a wicked fast left hook.
Mark lowered his body and dodged towards the inside.
His left fist tingled on its way. It craved landing on Zephyr's chin.
The latter moved his head to the side, leaving just enough place for the approaching fist to miss closely. Despite turning his head slightly, his eyes, of course, remained fixated on Mark.
The uppercut had missed target, and left a huge area undefended.
A punch directed at Mark's left side.
But before Zephyr's punch could land, Mark's left hand touched the former's helmet.
Freeze-
Immediately, a thick layer of ice covered the entire armored fighter's body.
Mark quickly brought his left arm to his side as he pulled his right one back.
A punch thrown will all his strength landed on Zephyr's frozen chest.
Upon impact, the ice broke, as if it had been no thicker than a glass wall.
Mark couldn't tell whether it was his punch that had broken it, or Zephyr by simply moving his body.
Once again, he assumed the latter.
The smile on his face widened.
He had finally landed a hit.
"Good. I was waiting for you to use Magic." Zephyr said, without stepping back.
"You wanted me to use everything I had, right?"
"That's right." He answered, before raising his armor-clad fists once more.
A thirty-second slugfest followed.
The two did nothing but throw punches at the other and dodge.
Slowly but surely, Mark felt he was losing his edge as he was forced to step backwards more and more.
But he didn't want to lose his edge.
He didn't want the brawl to end.
And there was only one way he could think of to recover the balance.
[You have used one Skill Point.]
[Your Skill "Superior Kinetic Vision" is evolving...]
[Your Title "Devourer" wants you to be hungrier!]
[Your Title "Evolving Monster" wants you to be greedier!]
Mark could barely read the messages as he fought.
In truth, he did his best to ignore them.
Otherwise, there would be no way for him to dodge the consecutive and almost mechanical attacks thrown his way.
[Your Title "Evolving Monster" accelerates your Skill's growth.]
[Your Passive Skill "Superior Kinetic Vision[B]" is rapidly evolving!]
'I'll need you to get fucking faster!'
Mark cursed, but his tone was much different than one might think.
He wanted the Skill to finish its Evolution faster.
Not because he was scared.
Not because he was anxious.
But because he, truly and genuinely, took joy in the slugfest he was engaging in.
[Your Passive Skill "Superior Kinetic Vision[B]" has evolved into the Passive Skill "Combative Eyes[A]".]
The next second, everything changed, and a punch to the stomach sent Mark to the wall behind him.
"You let your guard down. 1 point deducted."
Mark chuckled as he breathed heavily.
'With these eyes...!'
Every attack from Zephyr was powerful enough to make him cough up blood or gasp for air.
"Your body froze suddenly. Why?"
"Is it your job to care?"
"Hm. It's not. But for your benefit, you should answer when I ask."
"Ha!"
Mark pushed himself off the wall.
"I was surprised for a moment. That's all."
"Then..."
"Let's get back to it!"
A Test.
A slugfest where one didn't use his spear, and the other his claws.
A contest.
A match.
A Test.
Not a fight to the death.
Mark enjoyed that very much.
Unfortunately, the Test wouldn't remain this way for much longer.
