Lord Of Beasts

The Boss Monster roared as its enormous body trembled beneath the immense amount of mana flooding through its natural armour.

Although the creature had been wounded and forced backwards several times, it was still an A Rank Monster. A creature of this level did not survive this long by giving up, and it certainly wasn’t going to allow a single opponent to bring it down without a fight.

Its enormous horns ignited with destructive energy, while explosive mana erupted around its claws. The air surrounding its body warped beneath the sheer pressure of its power, and the ground beneath its feet began to crack.

Then it unleashed everything it had left.

A massive wave of explosive energy erupted outward, tearing through the battlefield with enough force to make the sky itself seem to tremble. The remaining terrain was ripped apart as rocks, trees, and chunks of floating land were incinerated.

Mark stood directly before the attack.

For a moment, he didn’t move.

The dark pit inside his body seemed to open wider as dark green energy erupted from him, spreading across his monstrous form like a second skin.

Then Mark charged.

The blast swallowed him; its destructive energy consumed the surrounding terrain, yet something was still moving inside it.

One step.

Then another.

Mark continued forward.

The destructive energy tore through his flesh, but his body responded almost immediately. His muscles tightened, his bones reinforced themselves, and his flesh hardened against the overwhelming force.

At the same time, his senses sharpened as his body desperately processed everything being thrown against it. The same energy that had nearly destroyed him earlier was now becoming something his body had learned to endure.

Mark emerged from the other side.

The Boss Monster stared at him.

For the first time, something resembling fear appeared in its eyes.

Mark burst forward.

The monster met him head-on, and their bodies collided with enough force to produce a deafening explosion.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The impact destroyed what remained of the battlefield around them.

The Boss Monster swung its enormous claw, but Mark slipped beneath it before it could connect. The opposite claw came down immediately afterwards, forcing Mark to twist away, and the creature’s tail followed in the same motion.

Mark jumped over it.

The creature opened its jaws, but Mark moved before the blast could even fire. He was already inside its defences, moving on instinct rather than conscious thought.

His fist struck the damaged armour.

BOOM!

The Boss Monster staggered.

Another punch landed.

BOOM!

Then another.

BOOM!

The fractured armour finally broke apart, exposing the flesh beneath it.

It tried to retreat and create some distance between them, but Mark didn’t allow it. He surged forward and grabbed the Boss Monster’s enormous head with both hands.

The monster thrashed violently, attempting to shake him loose, but Mark held on.

Three beats echoed through his chest.

Thump.

His grip tightened.

Thump.

His muscles surged with power.

THUMP.

The dark green aura exploded outward.

Mark twisted his entire body, using the monster’s own movement against it, and then drove the Boss Monster’s head into the ground.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The earth split apart beneath the impact, forming a massive crater around the creature’s head.

The A Rank Monster attempted to rise.

Mark slammed it down again.

BOOM!

The creature struggled to recover, but Mark struck again.

BOOM!

And again.

BOOM!

The Boss Monster desperately unleashed wave after wave of destructive mana in an attempt to force Mark away.

But he resisted.

Its claws tore through the earth around him, but he ignored them. Its body released another devastating shockwave, and Mark adapted to the force before it could completely overwhelm him. Its horns fired another concentrated beam of energy, but Mark twisted around it and continued his assault.

Even the creature’s armour began to harden as it desperately attempted to withstand Mark’s attacks.

Mark simply struck harder.

He was relentless and continued hacking away at his giant foe.

Soon the Boss Monster’s movements were slower, its attacks weaker, and its patterns even more predictable.

Mark had gone from being overwhelmed by the creature to understanding it. From understanding it, he had learned how to counter it. And now, after everything his body had endured, he was dominating it.

And it wasn’t that it was weak.

Far from it.

Mark had simply adapted, and in this form was even more powerful than the A Rank creature.

He was the real Monster.

The Boss Monster raised its head one last time.

Mark locked eyes with it, his dark eyes empty and devoid of emotion.

There was only hunger.

He then pulled its head backwards, exposing the weakened section of armour one final time. As he did, immense waves of dark green energy wrapped around his other arm.

Then he struck down with all his might.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The Boss Monster went completely still, its enormous giant skull crushed in a single blow.

Silence returned to the battlefield.

Mark stood over the corpse, his chest rising and falling as blood covered his body. The dark green aura continued swirling around his monstrous form.

The A Rank Monster was dead.

Mark had won.

And it hadn’t been easy.

He had been pushed to the brink of death by a creature powerful enough to devastate an entire city. Its explosions had erased sections of the battlefield, its horn blasts had carved through the floating islands, and its mana attacks had possessed enough destructive force to annihilate almost anything caught in them.

Yet Mark had endured it all.

He had adapted to the heat, the explosions, the impact, the destructive mana, and even the monster’s movements. Every attack had taught his body something new, and every injury had forced it to change. In doing so, his body had become something far more dangerous than it had been when the battle began.

The creature standing over the corpse was no longer the same Mark who had entered the Gate.

He was stronger, faster, and even harder to kill.

And perhaps most frighteningly of all, he was still constantly adapting.

Yet Mark didn’t celebrate.

He didn’t look toward the rest of the Gate, nor did he seem to realise that the battle was finally over. His black eyes remained fixed on the enormous corpse beneath him as his head tilted slightly.

The strange hunger inside him had not disappeared.

If anything, it had become stronger.

Mark then did something insane, something that the two A Rank Titled rushing toward him would soon stumble upon...