Reborn As An Evolving Monster

Chapter 9 To Revive Or Devour?

?Black blood was flowing down the Guardian's face.

From its eyes, nose and mouth, it was bleeding.

'Finally. This means my Skill has corrupted all of its blood and most of its organs...'

Suddenly, a red ball of energy was formed in front of the Guardian's mouth.

'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Mark thought as he moved away.

The Boss Monster opened its mouth wide.

'What is it doing...'

The Guardian swallowed the ball of energy.

The next instant, the Monster seemed to be in excruciating pain as it fell to its knees.

'Alright! Die!'

Mark sprinted towards the fallen enemy.

His Guards did the same.

Once Mark was about ten meters away from the Boss Monster, he got a certain feeling.

'I'm going...

The Guardian suddenly raised its head.

'...To die, aren't I?'

The Boss Monster opened its mouth and,

BOOM-

An extremely powerful stream of red energy was shot towards Mark.

He tried jumping away, but it was too late.

As the stream of energy was about to turn Mark's weak and fragile bones to dust, something appeared in front of him.

A wide back hid him from the bright stream of energy.

'What are you...'

Mark froze in place.

The Monster in front of him had a black horn and four raised arms.

It was his Four-Armed Abyssal Guard, Sin.

'Doing...?'

Sin's hands and arms were slowly being incinerated.

Mark's mind suddenlw went blank.

The next second, a Two-Headed Abyssal Wolf and an Abyssal Dark Wolf stood in front of Mark.

'Don't... Stand there. I can't... See him...'

After a bit, the light that was emitted by the stream of energy faded.

Light and Cer turned back towards their Lord.

Both their heads and forelegs were burnt to a crisp.

Half their skull was visible.

Sin, on the other hand,

[One of your Guards has returned to the dead.]

Was nowhere to be found.

The only thing that Mark could see beyond his two remaining Guards was the Guardian throwing up more black blood.

The next instant, it fell to the ground.

[You have defeated The Tenth Floor's Guardian. 2500 Gold Coins and 5000Experience Points earned.]

[You have defeated a Guardian.]

[You have been awarded 3 Skill Points.]

[You can now access the Dungeon's Ninth Floor.]

Mark didn't read the messages.

Instead, he stared at the spot Sin had been standing seconds ago.

'I feel... Strange.'

A nostalgic emotion.

One Mark hadn't experienced in a while.

'The same way I felt... Seeing that woman in my dream. I can't remember her face or... Who she was but-'

Mark's thoughts were immediately interrupted.

[The weaker Monsters from the Ninth Floor will descend into the Tenth Floor.]

[The Monsters will fight to determine which one has the right to become the Tenth Floor's Guardian.]

'When will they do that?'

[In 5hours.]

'...'

Mark walked towars the spot Sin stood on a minute earlier.

'I'm shocked, he sacrificed himself for me... The other two were ready to do the same. I knew they were on my side, but...'

[Guards only live to defend their Lord.]

'Yeah... I guess.'

Mark walked towards the Guardian's dead body.

'Should I eat it to evolve soon... Or make it my Guard?'

He thought about it for a bit but couldn't come up with the right answer.

'You guys stay here for a bit until your Health Points are back at full. After that, go hunt some Orcs and stuff.'

? The two Guards obeyed.

'I really want this guy as my Guard, but I also need a stronger body. Being a bunch of bones was good at first, but Skeletons have a very low Vigor Stat. My Health Points are too low. Tsk... I even have fewer Health Points than every one of my Guards. I guess I just have to evolve... But then, maybe having this guy as a Guard will make hunting and devouring Monsters from the Ninth Floor a lot easier. After all, it should be stronger than the ones above, right? Devouring this guy probably won't be enough for me to evolve anyway. But turning it into my Guard means an instant increase in strength!'

Mark walked towards the unmoving body, ready to bring it back to life.

'Oh wait... I got Skill Points, right?'

[You currently possess 3 Skill Points.]

'Alright. Three is good.'

Mark looked at the list of Skills he had.

He hesitated between many Skills, but narrowed it down to 5 Skills.

They were:

Demon Senses[D], Infernal Breath[E+], Corrupting Bomb[E+], Abyssal Unification[C], and of course Evolving Guards of The Abyss[B+].

'The first one makes noticing enemies and attacks a lot easier. The two after that are my main offensive Skills. The other two strengthen my Guards, making them either stronger or more numerous...'

Mark made his choice a few minutes later.

[You have used one Skill Point.]

[Your Skill "Corrupting Bomb" is evolving...]

[Your Magic Skill "Corrupting Bomb[E+]" has evolved into "Corrupting Arrow[D]".]

'Not bad. The Skill will wound the enemy before starting to corrupt its blood using the wound it created as the poison's entrance point...'

[You have used one Skill Point.]

[Your Skill "Abyssal Unification" is evolving...]

[Your Magic Skill "Abyssal Unification[C]" has evolved into "Abyssal Fusion[B-]".]

'So now I can fuse three Monsters together... I can also add a third Monster to Unified Monsters already made up of 2 Monsters... Still can't fuse Unified Monster together which sucks...'

[You have used one Skill Point.]

[Your Skill "Evolving Guards of The Abyss" is evolving...]

[Your Magic Skill "Evolving Guards of The Abyss[B+]" has evolved into "Evolving Abyssal Underlings [A-]".]

'Now I can have 5 Guards... Guess they're called Underlings now... Sin will be remembered as the only Guard I ever had, I guess...'

Mark walked around for a bit.

'Now, what should I do? Add the Guardian to one of my other Underlings, or just turn it into one? Probably the latter. It's obviously strong enough on its own.'

Seconds later,

[You have turned the 10th Floor's Guardian into your Abyssal Underling.]

[Please name your Abyssal Underling.]

'I have to name it? Why?'

The huge Monster stood up.

Its wounds were healed and the black blood that covered its body had disappeared.

Three black horns were on its head.

Its skin turned red with a couple of black stripes on its neck and chest.

The iron armor, that protected its legs, was still there.

'Mm. So you're on my side now? I can't get used to how quicklw they switch.'

[You will.]

Mark stared at the Ex-Guardian.

'You're the first of 10 Guardians, huh? I don't really like you since you cost me a Guard. Although... I didn't really care about Sin. He was just an Orc and an Ogre fused after all, but his gesture was pretty cool. I hope you will be as cool as he was, Kalès. From Heracles, kind of... Since you're strong and all.'

[You have bestowed the name Kalès upon one of your Underlings.]

The huge Monster took a knee in front of Mark.

'Show me his Status.'

[ Name: Kalès

Species & Level: Unique Abyssal Orc Chief Lv1 (0/5000Exp)

HP: 3500/3500

Endurance: 1000/1000

Mana Points: 500/500

Stats: Strength: 95

Agility: 30

Sense: 25

Vigor: 350

Endurance: 100

Mana: 50

Skill(s): Fire Ball.

Fire Bullet.

Life Force Stream.

]

'5000 Experience Points just to turn Level 2... Those Stats... Yeah, Sin had no chance against you. Life Force Stream? That's what you used before... The Skill uses up 100% of your remaining Mana Points, 100% of your remaining Endurance Points and 90% of your remaining Health Points for that attack? That's crazy... Must be why my corruption killed you after you lost so many HP... Although that attack would have easily killed me. Never use it without my permission.'

Kalès nodded and got up.

'Mmm... Cer and Light won't Evolve this way. Should I fuse them with Monsters from the Ninth Floor? Wouldn't it be better to just fuse Ninth Floor Monsters together? Cer, bring me a dead black wolf. Light... Ummm... What should I fuse you with? Bring me whatever you feel like being fused with. Kalès, go bring me three Orcs or three Ogres.'

Kalès obeyed right away.

'Wait. Take your weapon.'

...

A bit later, in front of Mark were one Black Wolf, three Orcs, three Ogres and two Gray Wolves.

'Really, Light? You want to be fused with Gray Wolves? I guess that's okay... Kalès, I asked for three Ogres OR three Orcs...'

Mark thought about how to fuse the Monsters.

'I should have revived Kalès later. While having five Underlings is great, the fifth one won't be fused...'

Mark started by reviving the Black Wolf that Cer had brought and fused it with the latter.

[You have used Abyssal Fusion.]

[You have given birth to a new Abyssal Monster.]

[Your new Underling is a "Three-Headed Abyssal Wolf[E]".]

Cer looked the same, except that a third head was formed.

He had also gotten bigger.

'Nice. I'll check the Stats later.'

Mark then proceeded to fuse an Ogre and an Orc together.

'While Ogres are stronger than Orcs, Orcs are more agile. I'd like to go with two Orcs and an Ogre, but the Self-Healing Skill is pretty important.'

The result of the "Abyssal Fusion" was different this time.

[Your new Underling is a "Resistant Abyssal Orc[E]".]

'Resistant Orc, huh? It has the Skill "Rapid HP Regeneration" which is great. This is perfect. I'll add a second Orc to the mix.'

[Your new Underling is an "Elite Abyssal Orc[E]".]

The Monster had a single black horn on the side of its face.

It was bigger than other Orcs, stronger and more agile.

'It still has that Skill. This is the perfect outcome I guess. I'll think of a name later.'

Mark turned towards the two dead Gray Wolves.

He revived one of them, fused it with Light before reviving the second one and fusing it once again.

The result was not what Mark had expected.

He didn't know what to expect really.

[You have used Abyssal Fusion.]

[You have given birth to a new Abyssal Monster.]

[Your new Underling is an "Elite Abyssal Dark Wolf[E]".]

'So by using weaker Monsters that resemble the original one, I can make Elite Monsters...'

Light looked exactly the same, except that his stats had increased a lot.

Mark looked at his five Underlings.

Cer, the Three-Headed Abyssal Wolf looked like a creature straight from hell.

Light, the Elite Abyssal Dark Wolf was the Elite Version of an Evolved Monster.

Kalès was an Ex-Guardian who didn't get fused, which meant that he could still get stronger.

The unnamed Elite Abyssal Orc with fast HP regeneration and high Stats was obviously a Monster to fear.

The fifth Underling was an Abyssal Ogre that was bound to either be replaced or fused with stronger Monsters.

'How many Evolution Points do I have?'

[You currently possess 4350 Evolution Points.]

'Alright. Let's go to the next Floor and get some more.'