Reborn As An Evolving Monster

Chapter 13 The Chimera

?In front of Mark were four [D-] Ranked Monsters.

'That was my Rank as an "Infernal Hound Skeleton". Shouldn't be worried..'

Mark studied the Monsters.

'But it's different. Unlike how I was, their high Rank stems from their physical strength. Mine came from my Skills.'

He quickly got up.

'It's been a while since I last fought alone...' Mark thought.

The Monster that had just punched him tried slamming its fists on his shoulders.

Mark dodged the attack by stepping sideways and stabbing the Monster's chest with his claws.

'Huh... Alright.'

To Mark's surprise, only his claws penetrated the enemy's body.

He had expected his whole hand to do so.

Tiny drops of blood went down the Elite Mutated Gorilla's body.

It tried punching Mark once more.

The Monster's fist traveled extremely fast towards Mark's face.

The latter dodged by a hair's breadth before hitting the Monster's elbow with great strength.

Crack-

The Elite Mutated Gorilla growled from the pain it felt as its right arm was broken.

Mark jumped back.

'My claws are no good. Good thing they're not coming at once...'

Indeed, the other three Monsters were spectating from afar, as if waiting for their turn.

'Let's focus on this one for now.'

A wide smile could be seen on Mark's face.

'That was the first time I felt pain in a while by the way. Since I used to be a skeleton and all...'

The Monster got down on all fours and started running towards Mark.

A Fire Bomb appeared in front of Mark as he ran forward.

Only once the two were about 3 meters apart, was the Fire Bomb launched.

It exploded in the Monster's face.

The attack didn't hurt much, but the smoke created was enough to blind the enemy for a second.

That second was enough for Mark's sharp fangs to sink deep into the Monster's thick neck.

[You have defeated one Elite Mutated Gorilla. 800 Gold Coins and 1600Experience Points earned.]

'Which one next?'

A huge chunk of the Monster's neck was in his mouth.

The three remaining Elit Mutated Gorillas stared at Mark as he swallowed the stolen part of their fallen comrade's neck.

They hit the ground with their fists.

The next second, two of them started fighting.

'Fighting to decide who's next, huh? Fine by me-'

Suddenly, the third enemy came running towards Mark.

The two grabbed each other's hands in a showdown of strength.

Mark was definitely more agile than the Elite Mutated Gorillas.

He tried squeezing the Monster's hands, but he could not break them.

The other two Elite Mutated Gorillas noticed their companion's trickery and stopped fighting.

'I guess our Strength Stats are about the same. But I have this...!'

Mark's poisonous tail, which resembled that of a scorpion, penetrated the side of the Monster's neck.

Massive amounts of poison started entering its body right away.

The Elite Mutated Gorilla tried to break free, but Mark did not let go until the other Monsters had closed the distance.

Mark quickly jumped back.

The three Monsters followed him.

'You can try all you want...'

All Mark did was dodge and jump away.

'But you won't land a hit.'

Seconds later, the poisoned Elite Mutated Gorilla fell to the ground.

Only then, did Mark stop running.

'Two down, two left. Come at me.'

The next instant,

Fwoosh-

A dark shadow passed between the two Elite Mutated Gorillas.

Their necks were slashed.

It was not a fatal injury, but still a dangerous one.

'Took you long enough.'

Red bombs of Abyssal Fire exploded on the two Elite Mutated Gorillas.

Kalès joined the bunch by slamming his fists on the Monsters.

They fell to the ground right away.

Mark looked at his Underlings.

They were covered in blood, but not heavily injured.

'The Monsters in the forest didn't let you get here easily, huh?'

Still, Mark let them take care of the remaining Elite Mutated Gorillas while he devoured one of the fallen ones.

After that, they were dealt with, Mark revived two of the Monsters and fused them together.

A red gorilla with what looked like horns going out of its shoulders was born.

'Huh...'

[Unique Abyssal Mutated Gorilla[D].]

'Yeah. It does look unique...'

The group kept walking away from the cave that Mark considered his base.

They found many many Monsters.

Great Mutated Crocodiles that were as big as buses, Great Thunder Eagles that could shoot thunderbolts and even massive turtles that could stand on two legs were the norm on the Ninth Floor.

Of course, all in the way were slaughtered and devoured.

...

'Already? Either this Floor is a joke or I'm too strong... Can't complain though. Better being too strong than too weak.'

In front of the group, were the huge doors that separated them from the Boss Room.

'Mmm. Let's do this.'

They entered.

Right away,

FWOOSH-

A huge Fire Ball was launched towards them.

Thankfully, every Underling and Mark could dodge the attack.

'Shit...'

Still, he couldn't help but feel like he had lost the initiative, as his Underlings had scattered away from the doors they had come in from.

Mark turned in the direction the attack had come from.

There, he found a Monster that made him doubt his own eyes.

It stood on four legs, covered with green scales.

It had the posture of a tiger.

The Monster had a tail that resembled that of a giant lizard.

Its head was that of a lion's.

A majestic mane was on its neck.

Its chest, stomach and back were protected by a tough-looking shell, similar to a turtle's.

The Monster spread its huge wings.

Yellow shiny eyes stared directly at Mark.

'The Floor's Guardian. A Chimera, huh?'

This Boss Room was a lot larger than the previous one.

Its ceiling was also much higher.

[Ninth Floor's Guardian.]

'Yeah. I got that already.'

In front of Mark and his Underlings, stood a 25 meters tall Monster.

It was bigger than any Monster Mark had previously encountered.

'Even that crab king or the great crocodile Monsters are small in comparison...'

The Guardian looked at Mark with its fierce eyes without moving.

It stood proud and tall.

'After making the first move, it's now waiting? Cer, start the attack! Light, attack from the sides whenever you can.'

Immediately, three Abyssal Bombs were shot.

With a flick of the Guardian's tail, the incoming bombs exploded.

The Chimera had lost the tip of its tail, but,

'Serves you right-'

The next second, that tail started growing back.

'It regenerates fast. Wonder if it's just the tail or its whole body... Let's start!'

Mark, Kalès and the new Unique Abyssal Mutated Gorilla Underling ran towards the Guardian.

Bat flew towards its head, trying to either catch its attention or insert venom through a weak point.

Light was stealthily getting closer.

Cer stayed behind the rest, firing Abyssal Bombs again and again.

The Chimera Monster looked at the ants in front of it with great disdain.

After waiting for the enemies to get close enough, the Guardian used its tail to sweep the whole area in front of it.

The gorilla Underling was about to get hit by that tail when he turned his body, tackling the incoming tail with his shoulder.

As his Abyssal Horns were located on his shoulders, they penetrated the tail and made the chimera retract it.

Still, the tail's momentum pushed the Underling aside.

'Nice...'

Mark, who was more agile than Kalès, arrived at the Monster's feet first.

He went under the Guardian.

'Let's aim... For your stomach!'

Using all his strength to jump with his arms raised high,

'Fuck.'

Mark's claws barely managed to scratch the Guardian's tough shell.

As he fell back down, the Monster lowered its head and shot a Fire Ball below its body.

But that was expected.

Mark used his Skill "Stone Armor".

It temporarily covered his body with hard protective stones.

Meanwhile, Kalès had jumped towards the Guardian's head and grabbed its majestic mane.

The next instant, fangs appeared from the darkness and sank into the Chimera's neck.

Bat started injecting his venom.

'Going well enough...' Mark thought as the burnt protective rocks fell from his body.

The Ninth Floor's Guardian shook its head.

It spread its wide wings.

'Seriously, in here...?'

The Chimera took off.

Due to the pressure, Kalès could not hold onto its mane.

The room was big enough for the Monster to fly, but it didn't have much space to move.

It started attacking by shooting more Fire Balls.

Mark raised his arm.

Twelve black arrows appeared and quickly flew towards the flying target.

Each one of them hit the Guardian's body.

On the other hand, Kalès was hit by one of the Chimera's Fire Balls.

Another Fire Ball burnt part of Light's body.

'We're taking damage. Health Points of everyone? Retreat. Focus on dodging those Fire Balls for now.'

[ Your HP: 570/600

Cer: 780/780.

Light: 380/510.

Bat: 170/170.

Kalès: 3500/3900

Unique Abyssal Mutated Gorilla: 960/1200

]

'Alright. I'll buy 5 Mana Potions.'

The blue potions appeared and Mark swallowed them one by one as he ran and dodged the Fire Balls.

Cer, Mark and Bat were the only ones who could both attack and dodge.

Although Bat did have it easier, as he was glued to the Chimera's body, injecting his venom without even being noticed.

Fire Balls, Corrupting Arrows and Abyssal Bombs were shot back and forth.

After about two full minutes, the huge Monster stopped flapping its wings and landed on the ground.

Black blood was flowing down its nose.

'Attack!'

The Chimera folded its wings and launched itself towards Kalès.

The Monster's huge paw landed on the latter's strong arms.

It tried to squish him like a bug.

But Kalès was stronger than the Chimera had expected.

He managed to push its paw back.

'Good one-'

The next instant, Mark, who was standing behind Kalès, was taken by the Chimera's fangs.

'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!'

The sharp fangs were sinking into Mark's stomach.

The latter tried using his arms to spread open the Guardian's jaw, but the difference in strength was obvious.

'Shit! You all attack!! AGHH!'

Mark couldn't use his "Stone Armor" Skill either, as he had used all his Mana Points to shoot "Corrupting Arrows".

He managed to stop the Chimera from biting into his body any further, but his Endurance Points were draining fast.

Light climbed up the Guardian's body and started slashing its neck repeatedly.

Cer shot Abyssal Bombs towards its eyes.

The pain only made the Chimera bite down harder.

'Fuck! Kalès! Use that Life Force Stream!'

BOUM-

Only after the red stream of energy appeared, was Mark freed from the Chimera's fangs.

He quickly jumped away while healing himself using Healing Potions.

ROAR-

A huge hole through the Chimera's body was left by Kalès' attack.

Its diameter was about two meters.

Mark could see the other side of the room by looking through the hole in the Guardian's body.

'Shit...'

The attack had been shot at the Monster's shell, the most protected part.

'If you had shot its head... Tsk. I guess I might have been hit too then. Still, the neck would have been...'

The Guardian was enraged.

It roared loudly and a yellow aura covered its entire body.

'Kalès, step back. The second phase is starting, I guess? Tsk, this is the only real damage we managed to inflict for now is-'

Suddenly, lightning bolts appeared on the Guardian's wings, claws and tail.

The Guardian flapped its wings towards Cer.

'Move away-'

Two lightning bolts were shot.

As could be expected from lightning bolts, their speed was insanely high.

Even though Cer tried dodging, both hit his body.

[Your Underling has returned to the dead.]