Teaming up

Mark opened his mouth as he stared at the flying Inferior Demon.

'Let's start with this.'

Three spheres of venom appeared in front of his open mouth.

The Inferior Demon swiftly cut a Winged Kobold's neck. And at the same time, two of those Venomous Bombs hit its back.

'I wonder how many it'll take to bring it down...'

Mark shot another three.

This time, all of them hit the Monster's body.

The next second, it turned towards Mark.

Its piercing gaze made the Modified Black Wolf Skeleton freeze.

'Found me already-'

The Inferior Demon extended a hand towards Mark.

A Fire Ball was formed in front of that hand.

Aimed at Mark, the attack flew at a very fast pace.

The Inferior Demon's focus was elsewhere, And a Winged Kobold did not miss the opportunity.

The flying Monster started falling to the ground.

One of its wings hit the ground.

Mark had jumped sideways to dodge the attack, but,

[You have lost 10 Health Points.]

'Shit. I thought that dodging it would be enough...'

The bones on his side had small cracks all over.

'The whole area around the point of impact is burnt...' He noted.

Mark hadn't taken into consideration the fact that Fire Ball would explode once it hit the ground.

While he hadn't been burnt, the shockwave following the explosion had been strong enough to damage his body.

The Inferior Demon hit the ground.

It immediately stood up.

Since it had lost the advantage of being in the air far above, the other Monsters weren't simple moving targets anymore.

The Small Golems, the Ogres, and the Orcs finally found a chance to join the fight.

An Orc sprinted towards the Inferior Demon's back.

It threw a punch with all its strength.

But the diabolical creature, much more agile, dodged the attack with ease.

The Inferior Demon's claws pierced the Orc's heart.

Its whole hand had penetrated that Orc's chest.

The Monster pulled its hand back mercilessly, and great amounts of green blood spurted.

'In one hit, huh? Seriously?' Mark asked himself as he stared at the falling Orc.

The Inferior Demon extended an arm to its right side.

Mark, who was standing behind the Demon, sprinted forward.

Three consecutive Fire Balls were shot at a Small Golem.

BOOM-

Its body was destroyed on the spot.

Flick-

Mark's heavy tail hit the Demon's side, launching it a couple of meters away.

'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Mark cursed internally as he sprinted away.

He quickly hid behind a Small Golem.

The Infernal Demon rolled on the ground before shooting Fire Balls towards that same Small Golem.

An Orc took advantage of the opening and slammed its fists on the Inferior Demon's shoulders.

'Good!'

The Demon's body hit the ground.

While the Inferior Demon was sturdy and strong, it was relatively light in weight.

As the Small Golem in front of Mark fell, five spheres of venom were shot one by one.

The small devil dealt with the Orc as if it had been a simple Goblin.

But as it did, Venomous Bombs rained down on its body.

The Inferior Demon did not seem impressed by the attack.

It hadn't even bothered moving out of the way.

Instead, the Inferior Demon launched itself forward.

'It's...'

Mark shot spheres of venom at the incoming Monster. An attempt at slowing it down.

'Too fast!!'

Mark turned his body sideways.

The Inferior Demon did not care one bit and kept running forward.

Every Venomous Bomb shot by Mark had hit the target's upper body.

In total, 9 spheres of venom had hit its body.

The Inferior Demon arrived in front of Mark, and the latter tried to attack with his tail.

The Monster retaliated by using its sharp claws.

[Your Passive Skill "Tail Flick[F]" has evolved into the Passive Skill "Heavy Tail Flick[E]".]

A second later,

[You have lost 30 Health Points.]

'Seriously...?'

Shatter-

The big rock that constituted the tip of Mark's tail had been crushed.

'How are those claws not breaking...? They're tougher than rocks...?'

Mark immediately jumped away to create some distance.

'Two Healing Potions! Fuck... With that speed, it'll reach me any second now!'

The potions appeared in the air.

Mark grabbed them with his mouth, hurriedly shattered the glass bottles, and swallowed the liquid.

His tail started slowly regenerating.

'What...?'

Unlike what he had expected, the Inferior Demon hadn't followed him.

A second later, he understood why.

The [E+] Rank Monster was coughing up blue blood.

'The venom... Finally... It's paralyzed and poisoned...'

Without wasting an additional second, Mark launched himself forward. But an Orc had already moved closer towards the paralyzed Monster.

'This f#cker...! Don't steal my kill!' Mark cursed internally and ran even faster.

But he couldn't catch up.

The Orc pulled its arm back, prepared to give a punch containing all of its strength.

The Infernal Demon's stomach was hit with great strength, but its body didn't move from the spot it was on.

Slash-

A second later, the Orc's decapitated head was rolling on the ground.

Mark would have gulped if he could.

'It wasn't paralyzed...?'

He instinctively took a step back.

'Just poisoned...? No... Maybe its lower body is paralyzed?'

That seemed to be the case, as the Monster raised an arm towards Mark, ready to shoot its deadly Fire Balls.

Mark immediately started running in circles around the Inferior Demon.

A series of explosions left multiple holes in the ground, but not one Fire Ball hit its target.

Mark positioned himself behind the Demon's back.

Two Ogres had been taken down by the explosions, even though the attacks had not been aimed at them.

The only Monsters left were Mark, the Inferior Demon, one Winged Kobold, and one Small Golem.

'Let's attack from here...'

Mark used the remaining of his Mana Points to shoot more Venomous Bombs at the Inferior Demon.

And as the last sphere of venom hit its body, the Monster suddenly turned around.

'Was it bluffing by acting like it had been paralyzed? Good thing that Orc got there before me. Otherwise, that would have been-'

Mark couldn't finish his thought.

The Monster had disappeared from the spot it had been standing on.

In a heartbeat, the Demon's hateful yellow eyes appeared in front of him.

And he couldn't do a thing.

'I'm dead. If I take a hit head-on... I'm dead!'

The Inferior Demon pulled its arm back, ready to shatter Mark's fragile body.

'These bones won't be able to-'

But then,

'Wha-'

The Monster fell to its knees.

It threw up massive amounts of blue blood.

The light in its eyes was starting to fade.

Mark stared for a bit.

Surprise and relief mixed.

'So it used the last of its strength to close the distance...'

Mark's heavy tail collided with the Monster's head.

'But the more it moved, the faster the poison spread.'

Mark's newly acquired "Heavy Tail Flick[E]" Passive Skill increased by 40% the damage inflicted by Tail Attacks.

The Monster's head hit the ground.

Pieces of debris flew up.

Mark walked closer with great caution.

'Is it alive? Of course, it is. Since I didn't get a notification about Experience Points...'

The Monster was lying on its stomach, its one remaining wing folded on its back.

A second time, a heavy tail hit the Monster's head.

The ground beneath its head cracked.

The heavy tail hit the same spot a third time.

[You have defeated an Inferior Demon. 500 Gold Coins and 1000 Experience Points earned.]

[You have leveled up!]

The Demon's skull had been crushed.

Mark would have sighed if he could.

'Finally. Its Health Points were high, despite its body being on the smaller side. All that venom was barely enough to keep it from moving...'

A strong, but slow punch was suddenly thrown from above.

Mark dodged at the last instant by jumping sideways.

'Not even a moment to breathe, huh? Even though we were a team just moments ago?'

It was the remaining Small Golem.

Mark ran away from the two Monsters left alive, until his Mana Points regenerated.

He shot the Winged Kobold first, as it was attacking the Small Golem, too occupied to notice him.

Following that, the Small Golem was easily taken care of.

The only Monster left standing, was Mark.

And in front of him, lay a magnificent feast.

...

After devouring the Monsters, Mark continued the loop(♀).

He found a couple of Gray Wolves and Goblins.

After a bit, Mark was back at the area he was at before entering the circular corridor.

'That was... Not what I'd expected. Anyways, Evolution Points?'

[You currently possess 9445 Evolution Points.]

An incredibly high amount.

It was justified though, as Mark had devoured more than 20 Orcs, 15 Small Golems, 10 Ogres, and 10 Winged Kobolds.

Plus other lower-ranked Monsters.

And of course, the Inferior Demon that had given him 540 Evolution Points at once.

'Holy sh... That's way too much! I should evolve, right? I should? But what if I can beat the Floor's Guardian and evolve then?'

Mark's greed started growing.

'If I can do that, then...'

He snapped out of it a second later.

'That would be impossible. I wouldn't even be able to beat an Inferior Demon 1-on-1, let alone a Guardian that's supposed to be the strongest Monster on this Floor...'

Mark walked towards the crossroad(♀).

'It's supposed to be the strongest...'

Monsters were rare.

Many of them couldn't even sense Mark, thanks to his Passive Skill "Assassin's Movements[E]".

'I will evolve in that room where the Orc had put me. That Orc... Oh that Orc... If it hadn't fed me all of those... Haha!'

Mark started running.

'I'm so excited!'

After a bit, he entered the room.

It was empty and dark.

'Perfect. I hope I'll only pass out for a bit... Oh, any new Skills available?'

[Yes.]

'Can I get buy those Skills after evolving?'

[Yes.]

'I'll check them out later then. Gotta keep my Evolution Points. Alright. Show me those Evolutions!'

[You can Evolve into:

1) Great Bear Skeleton.

2) Skeleton Mage.

3) Weakened Inferior Demon.

4) Four-Armed Ogre.

5) Giant Skeleton.

6) Infernal Hound Skeleton.

7) Great Black Wolf.

]

'Oh! Wow! So many choices! Let's dissect them one by one. Great Bear Skeleton is obvious. I'd get the skeleton of a big bear. Great Strength but low Agility. I would probably keep the low Vigor Stat I have now though. It wouldn't use too many Evolution Points since I would still be a Skeleton. Mmm...'

Still, Mark wasn't too fond of that option.

'Skeleton Mage sounds good. I'll be back on two feet which I wouldn't mind and my Mana Stat will increase. I probably will be able to obtain new Magic Skills too.'

Skeleton Mage was definitely a route Mark could see himself taking.

'Weakened Inferior Demon is a no. It had lots of Health Points and its claws were nothing to laugh at, but a weakened version might be too weak! It's not specified how much weaker it is so I don't want to gamble. It's probably weakened since I've only devoured one of them. Mm... Further Evolutions might be good though. But I need immediate strength, since I've already explored the whole Floor...'

This option could have been a good choice in the long run.

Still, a great foe was waiting for Mark.

The Guardian whose strength was supposedly higher than that of an Inferior Demon.

Fighting as a "Weakened" version, therefore, seemed like a bad option.

Mark did not know it was the case, but the Boss Monster was much, much stronger.

'As a Four-Armed Ogre, I would probably look like some kind of god of war and destruction, but Ogres are big and not that strong. Their regenerative ability is really cool, but that's just a Skill. The Giant Skeleton probably interests me the least. It'll use up all my Evolution Points to make me huge, turning me into a big target for Monsters to team up against. I probably would be slow too.'

The two options interested Mark the least.

'Infernal Hound Skeleton is interesting. I've never seen an Infernal Hound on this floor. It, for sure, has a drop of the demon's blood in it. Had I not devoured the Inferior Demon, I probably would not have gotten this Evolution Option. It must be pretty good. Although, hounds are just dogs, right? So I'll probably get smaller. Finally, Great Black Wolf is a stronger bigger version of the Black Wolf... No thanks...'

Mark sat on the ground, the same way any other four-legged Monster would have.

He was truly accustomed to his new form.

'It really is between the Skeleton Mage, the Infernal Hound Skeleton and the Weakened Inferior Demon... I guess. No. Not the demon. Not only is it Inferior, but it's also Weakened. The final two contestants are the Infernal Dog's Skeleton and the Skeleton Mage.'

[Understood.]

[You can Evolve into:

1) Skeleton Mage.

2) Infernal Dog's Skeleton.

]

'Wait, are you serious? Did you just delete the other options?'

[Only two options are available.]

'Son of a...'

A bit later, Mark made his choice.

His consciousness faded.

'Not... Again...'

The bones that composed Mark's body were broken and rearranged.

His body got smaller than before.

Flames engulfed the skeleton for a second.

The color of the bones that made up the body slowly changed.

They were painted black.

A sole red stripe made its way from the Skeleton's head to the tip of its tail, passing by its spine.

***

"It's me, Mina! I'm coming in." 

A gentle voice.

Mark opened his eyes.

'This...? Again...?'

The same room.

White sheets.

Machines.

A window from which rays of light could enter.

Mark couldn't move his body.

He couldn't even turn his gaze towards the woman.

"Glad you're still here." A woman said cheerfully, as she entered the room.

Suddenly, Mark's gaze started moving.

'Huh? Still here? When I was... I was just... Where was I again? I can't remember-'

"Yeah, well. Can't really leave now, can I?"

'Did my lips just move? I didn't mean to say that... What's... What's going on??'

And once that gaze fell on the woman, pure shock and surprise overtook Mark.

'She... She's...!'

***

An hour later,

[Congratulations!]

[You have developed the Passive Skill: "Infernal Senses[E+]".]

[Two Skills of yours have merged.]

[Your Passive Skills "Infernal Senses[E+]" and "Acute Senses[E]" have merged to form a new Passive Skill.]

[You have developed the Passive Skill: "Demonic Senses[D]".]

[You have developed the Magic Skill: "Infernal's Corrupted Touch[E+]".]

[You have developed the Magic Skill: "Infernal Breath[E+]".]

[You have developed the Passive Skill: "Intimidating Stare[E]".]

[You have developed the Passive Skill: "Burning Claws[E]".]

[Your Magic Skill Venomous Bomb[E] has evolved into the Magic Skill "Corrupting Bomb[E+]".]

The Monster woke up from its slumber.

And its eyes shone red.

[You have evolved into an "Infernal Hound Skeleton[D-]".]