'Light, Fiery. Come back in.'
The Underlings turned into spheres of energy and entered the Familiar Necklace.
'The rest of you, attack.' Mark ordered while hovering above the circular platform.
His four remaining Underlings ran towards the Guardian.
The latter roared loudly, showings its numerous sharp fangs.
The fastest of Mark's Underlings jumped up and towards the Guardian's head.
Meanwhile, Mark held a black spear tightly.
Just as the Boss Monster was about to swallow the Underling whole, it noticed an incoming attack.
The Guardian quickly pulled back and dived underwater once more.
It swiftly circled around the arena, while staring at Mark with its yellow eyes.
'Tsk. It's cautious of me now...'
Mark folded his wings.
He landed on the platform and started walking towards its edge.
'Seems like I'll have to fight underwater after all. I'm not completely used to it yet, but...'
Arriving at the edge, Mark quickly dived head first.
'I've fought plenty of big guys on this Floor already.'
Mark and the Guardian were now both underwater.
Each was staring at the other.
Each cautiously studied the other's movements carefully.
Facing such a great opponent, Mark started feeling excited.
His confidence was unwavering.
Mark was confident in both the Skills he had acquired and the strength he had built.
But, his opponent's strength wasn't negligible.
After all, a single attack has been enough to wipe out three of the best Underlings he could make using combinations of the previous Floors' Monsters.
'If I take that attack head-on, it would cause trouble. I can survive two, maybe three of those...'
At that thought, Mark showed his teeth.
Red Aura quickly covered his entire body.
'Once I beat it up enough, it'll probably go on land. There, you'll finish it.' Mark telepathically ordered his Underlings.
The Guardian, seeing such a relaxed expression, couldn't help but, ever so slightly, move its body backward.
The gesture wasn't even enough to be called a movement.
The Boss Monster had simply shifted its center of gravity back by a few centimeters.
But for Mark, whose "Advanced Kinetic Vision" Passive Skill was active, such seemingly trivial actions could not be described as such.
At the sight of the Guardian's wavering, Mark immediately snapped his tail.
A tail flick so powerful that it seemed a great explosion had taken place underwater.
The force was such that Mark's body was quickly launched forward.
Waves slammed on the Boss Room's walls.
With the combination of both Passive Skills, "Sonic Tail Flick[B+]" and "Underwater Propulsion[E]", Mark instantly found himself in front of the Guardian's head.
Its pupils widened.
Slash-
The Guardian's eye was injured.
Just as Mark was about to go for its other eye, the Boss Monster curled up its spine.
A tail pierced through the water.
It was slammed onto Mark's body.
"AGH-"
He was launched outside of the water.
Before Mark's body hit the Boss Room's wall, he spread his wings and gained his balance back.
'Damn! That was a heavy hit.' Mark thought, a grin on his face.
With his black demonic wings spread wide, he hovered in the air as he stared at the under water Guardian.
And the latter stared back.
'It moves quickly. Its strength is high, just as you would expect from a Monster of its size.'
A second black spear appeared in Mark's hand, as he glided towards the water.
'By lowering the amount of Mana poured in, I managed to make a weaker version than Dark Corrupted Spear, but stronger than Corrupting Javelin. l should probably not make more than three of these though...'
Seeing the approaching enemy, the Guardian opened its mouth.
An electric ball of energy shined brightly before it was fired with great speed.
'I'll have to pierce its body with. I can't throw it like I used to...' Mark thought as he gracefully turned his body sideways.
The attack passed by him.
He folded his wings.
And as Mark's body hit the water, the electric attack hit the ceiling.
A great explosion followed, but Mark did not give it any mind.
He moved his tail swiftly, approaching the Boss Monster.
But unknowingly to Mark, the crystals on the Guardian's back were shining brightly.
Mark snapped his tail.
The Guardian opened its mouth and roared underwater.
'I'll shut you up!' The approaching Mark thought, aiming to pierce the Monster's remaining eye with the weapon made of solidified Corrupting Poison.
But as soon as Mark got close, with perfect timing,
'AGHHH!'
A net of blue lightning bolts enveloped the Guardian's body as it roared.
Mark, who had propelled himself with great speed, couldn't stop his body from slamming onto the lightning net.
His body shook uncontrollably.
His muscles ached.
His scales were burnt and damaged.
Massive amounts of Aura exited his body, dulling the pain and protecting him.
For about 5 seconds, Mark had to endure massive pain as his body was burnt.
Once the net of lightning faded, large amounts of blood started flowing towards the surface.
He tried moving, but couldn't.
'Shit... The damage... Wasn't... enough? The attack... Paralyzes... Too??'
The Guardian stared at its prey with wide eyes.
Convinced it had emerged victorious, it opened its mouth wide.
'Fuck. FUCK!'
The next second, Mark's upper body was inside the Monster's mouth.
The Guardian shut its mouth with great strength.
At least, it tried to.
Before the Monster had closed its mouth, a layer of Aura enveloped Mark's body.
It was easily pierced through.
But once it had been pierced through, the Guardian's head couldn't move anymore.
'Son of a bitch. Forcing me into such a desperate position...'
Mark had activated a Magic Skill.
Frozen Land [C+].
Indiscriminately, Mark had frozen everything around him.
Which meant freezing the water around him and the Guardian's body.
Everything in a radius of about 25 meters was frozen solid.
Both the Guardian and Mark, were entrapped in a sphere of ice.
The Guardian immediately felt threatened.
While both could not move, the attacker wasn't alone.
The Boss Monster wanted to free itself as quickly as possible.
The light emitted by crystals on the Guardian's back shone through the ice.
Mark, on the other hand, managed to break the ice that was blocking him thanks to his powerful tail.
He moved away, while the Guardian used its Magic Skill once again.
Once Mark was out of the attack's range, he turned back.
'I wonder... If it can move during that attack-'
Mark's eyes widened, as he stared at the net of blue lightning that engulfed the Boss Monster.
The Skill destroyed all the ice around the Guardian's body.
But, through a hole in that net, passed a black spear.
It pierced the Monster's body, before turning into a black liquid.
The liquid immediately started entering the Guardian's wound.
Noticing that it had taken damage, the Monster roared loudly before raising its gaze.
'A wound like that is barely anything for you, right?'
Once again, Mark stared at the Guardian from above.
'This much Corrupting Poison won't be enough to take it down. It's too big for one of these to be enough...' He thought as he flew towards the large circular platform in the middle of the room.
Mark landed and stood there while keeping an eye on the Guardian.
He was trying to recover both Health and Mana Points.
'I'll buy some time this way. I can easily dodge its range attack. I'll recover a bit, while I let the Corrupting Poison damage it as much as-'
Mark's thoughts were interrupted.
A bored expression appeared on his face.
'For real?'
The Guardian's head left the water.
Its two front legs followed.
Before long, its whole body was on the platform.
'So you want to fight on land? Throwing away your advantage... How foolish-'
Suddenly, the Guardian's body started shrinking.
It shrunk and shrunk, until it was about 7 meters long.
Mark's eyes widened and a smile appeared on his face.
'Is it abandoning its size and strength for agility?'
The Guardian's body started changing, morphing into something different.
The Monster stood on two legs.
Standing at about 2 meters tall, it was as tall as Mark.
The Guardian's form had completely changed.
Its right arm, legs, and shoulders were covered in blue sturdy scales.
Its left arm and back, were covered by crystals.
Sharp and deadly crystals.
The Monster had a large tail and sharp claws.
Its head, on the other hand, was that of a Human. Leaving aside the two small blue horns on it, of course.
'Same as the Sixth Floor's Guardian?'
Mark's excitement surged even higher than earlier.
'If I can devour this guy, then...'
Red Aura immediately engulfed his body.
But then,
"As this Floor's Guardian, I won't show any mercy."
At those words, Mark froze.
'He can... Talk?'
The amount of Aura around Mark's body doubled.
'Yeah... More than ever...' Mark thought.
He launched himself towards the Monster.
'More than any other Guardian I've encountered...'
The Boss Monster's fist collided with Mark's.
Cracks immediately appeared on the floor below the two.
'I want him.' Mark thought as he looked into the Guardian's deep green eyes.