[Your Title "Monster Hunter" stares at the monstrous prey!]
Immediately, the Monster's body started shivering.
One of the two had been assigned Prey.
Which could only mean that the other was Predator.
Mark remained on the ceiling, unsure what to do.
The instant Zephyr held his spear with two hands, something had changed.
Something about him.
Something about the whole situation.
A switch.
Zephyr didn't feel like an "Examiner" anymore.
But rather, like an "Executioner".
The Aura that had confirmed the existence of that "Switch" had faded away, but Mark couldn't just move past it.
'Do your best to kill me... Do your best to kill me...' He thought back to Zephyr's words and internally repeated them for a bit.
What was he supposed to do?
Zephyr wasn't using some kind of special Active or Magic Skill.
There wasn't any trick to his strength or speed.
Nothing.
It was simply...
"If you won't come, I will." Zephyr declared.
An overwhelming difference in Stats.
Only then, did the Monster push itself off the ceiling.
"Quit trying to fight like a Human."
Twitch-
Mark's body started falling from the ceiling, and his thoughts raced.
'Your best to kill me... Like a Human...? Final Test... How Monsters fight...'
Mark had gone through dozens...
No.
Hundreds upon hundreds of fights since being Reborn.
Against hundreds upon hundreds of enemies.
Against hundreds upon hundreds of Monsters.
The way Humans fight? Why would he know anything about that? How could he know anything about that?
The only way he knew, the only one he had experienced, was the way of Monsters.
But then what did Zephyr's words mean-
Suddenly, it clicked.
As far as Mark could tell, there were three ways of using the Berserker Skill.
One. Short Bursts.
Two, Focus. This method seemed to increase Mark's Strength the most.
Three-
'Go wild...'
His feet touched the ground.
'My instincts.'
Zephyr's body immediately tensed up.
He tightened his grip around the spear.
The Monster had closed the distance.
Fast.
Faster than it was before.
Faster than Zephyr had expected.
A swing of his spear.
The Monster swiftly lowered its body, letting the weapon cut the air above.
A sidekick landed on its body.
The Monster was launched, but with a spin of its body in mid-air, its momentum was lessened.
Landing on both hands and feet, the Monster managed to eventually kill that momentum.
Zephyr opened his mouth, but before he could utter the word, the Monster ran forward.
The same sequence took place thrice more.
Every time, the Monster was launched away.
Every time, it approached as soon as the momentum it had been launched with died.
[Your Title "Monster Hunter" is staring at...]
Zephyr took a deep breath in.
The one in front of him wasn't a Monster.
But the one he was supposed to Test.
No, that's not quite right.
Zephyr couldn't afford to see him as a Monster.
Otherwise, a fair Test would be impossible.
But the fact that his Title was butting in was more than proof enough.
'You're making this rather difficult.'
With the unyielding sturdiness and innate thirst for blood found in Monsters and Beasts, Mark reached for Zephyr's body again and again.
With a kick, the Monster was cast away once more.
"You better not be losing your mind."
The Monster began its approach for the tenth time.
Zephyr repeated the sentence.
Only then did Mark hear it.
"I'm not."
"Good."
Mark blinked, and his back hit the wall.
ARGHH-
Clench-
"What now?" Zephyr asked, his hand wrapped around Monster's throat, pinning it against the wall.
With all his might, Mark tried undoing the grip.
He couldn't.
With his claws, he tried slashing.
He couldn't. The Armor around Zephyr's body didn't seem to leave any holes in his defense.
Mark opened his mouth.
It only took an instant for the hand that previously couldn't be moved to let go of his throat and close his mouth shut.
His body felt a bit freer, and just when his legs were about to leave the ground,
"You're getting nervous. That's no good. Don't tell me you've never found yourself in a similar position throughout this entire Dungeon?"
The question made Mark let his guard down for a second.
A second was much more than he could afford.
ARGHHH-
Zephyr slowly stepped backwards, as Mark's arm, cut off at the elbow, fell to the ground.
"Nervousness, fear, doubt... Those aren't traits Monsters have."
Heaps of blood exited the Monster's wound as it roared and growled.
"I'll beat them out of you."
The Monster, close to hyperventilating, stared with hateful eyes.
A second before it charged forward,
"Grab it."
The Monster charged nevertheless.
A front kick landed on its sternum, launching it to the wall once more and making it gasp for air.
"Grab it, Monster."
"What the fuck... Do you-"
A punch to the face.
"Grab it."
A punch to the stomach.
The Monster fell to its knees.
"Grab it." The Monster was reminded.
It did just do.
"Now attach it back on."
The Monster raised its gaze, dazed and confused.
"Now."
Mark's shaking hand brought the arm he had lost closer to the bleeding wound.
Once they connected,
Advanced Body Reconstruction-
A second later, Mark could move the hand he had lost.
"Growing a new one would cost a lot more than reattaching the one you've lost. The less time passes between you losing it and reattaching it, the lesser the price."
Mark stared silently.
"Reattaching it later wouldn't have been possible though. You can't let the bleeding cease, or the lost arm die."
He lowered his gaze towards the arm he had lost seconds earlier.
"So I can just-"
"Yes." Zephyr interrupted. "Just as you would expect from a Monster."
Mark stared.
The expression on Zephyr's face was hidden, but the hint of repulsion in his tone...
"You're the Evolving Monster, aren't you?"
The Monster remained silent.
Zephyr took hold of his spear with both hands.
"Then I'll need you to Evolve. Right here. Right now."
"That's not how-"
Mark barely managed to move his head to the side in time to leave space for the spear to pierce the wall.
"That's not how what?"
Mark pushed himself off, moved away from the wall, and jumped back.
"That's not how it works."
A slight smile appeared on Zephyr's hidden face.
"Then tell me, Evolving Monster. How does it work?"
Mark's muscles were twitching, ready to fire off at any moment.
Meanwhile, Zephyr lay the heel of his spear on the ground.
"How does it work?" He asked again.
Mark didn't answer.
"You hold that Title, yet can't tell how it works? How it operates? Or are you just unwilling to share?"
The Evolving Monster remained silent.
"I see." Zephyr raised his spear off the ground. "I'll mutilate you until you're able, or willing, to answer."
Shiver-
The Armored Man launched himself forward, and did exactly as his warning foretold.
...
On the other side of the Boss Room's walls.
Push-
Push-
Push-
"Don't rush me. I'm trying, alright?"
The space separating the Boss Room's doors was filled by a violent typhoon, blocking both entry and exit.
A typhoon Elisa knew she couldn't pass through.
Push-
Push-
"You're going to have to stop, or I really won't be able to do it."
The Moonlit Feline took its paws off Elisa's thighs and stepped back.
Krista sat down.
Elisa turned back to face the wall in front of her.
The wall next to the Boss Room's doors.
'Alright...'
She was seated on her bent knees.
Elisa put her palm against the brick wall and closed her eyes.
'Focus... On the Wind... Focus...' She repeated to herself.
And the Wind around Elisa started, slowly, moving in two distinct directions.
One, towards the brick wall.
The other, towards the typhoon that blocked the entry.
'If my Wind... Can make it through the somehow...'
The typhoon was too violent and rough.
Keeping track of her Wind as it passed through seemed like an impossible task.
But making her Wind pass through whatever space there may or may not be between the bricks that made up the wall proved just as complicated.
Between some bricks, there was space.
Between others, there wasn't any.
Wall, ceiling, floor.
Elisa had to use all of them while keeping track of the different strands of Wind, the different passages they had already taken, and the different combinations she had already tried.
An impossibly large maze with an infinite number of possible combinations.
Still, she tried.
Because there was nothing else she could do.
And with a bit of luck, she could succeed.
With a bit of luck, her Wind would enter the Boss Room.
With a bit of luck, her Wind would be able to read what was happening inside.
With a bit of luck, her Wind would be able to tell what was going on between those two.
Because that was all Elisa could do.
With a bit of luck, she would be able to tell what was going on between Mark and the Armored Man.
Between...
Elisa's connection with her Wind was suddenly cut off.
Stand up, Devourer. I shall be your Final Test-
The reason I am here and the reason you were brought here are completely different-
She clenched both her teeth and hands.
"Fuck... Fuck!"
