At this point, he could no longer tell exactly how much time had passed since the battle with the boss had begun.

All he knew was that he had developed a sweet and interesting technique to force the boss to lower its guard. Ragebait.

It seemed the Aurax were just like humans when it came to aging, and teenagers were known for being unable to control their emotions, acting recklessly when under pressure and especially when mocked.

If he had realised this earlier, the battle would have ended far faster.

Regardless, he was glad he had learned it.

BOOM!

Grabbing two clones by their hands, the Aurax swung them violently and smashed their bodies into the ground until they died and dispersed into nothingness.

Its face burned red with rage, and its eyes glowed with an animalistic killing intent.

"You!"

It barked as it sprang toward Marlon.

Its speed was still fast, though slightly slower than it had been at the beginning.

Marlon, on the other hand, refilled his stamina with a power-boosting potion and became even stronger and faster than he had been at his prime.

With all the necessary skills activated, he evaded the attack and caused his opponent to lose its footing.

He twisted his body instantly and threw a punch, even though he knew it would be caught, as the Aurax's reaction speed was not something to underestimate.

Still, it was worth trying.

Before the Aurax could counterattack, he sidestepped swiftly to another position, forcing it to grit its teeth, regain its balance completely, and swing at him again.

Thunderous clashes erupted.

The hall descended into chaos, debris flying everywhere as thick dust clouds formed.

Most of the doorways had collapsed due to the destruction, and all the torches had gone out as well.

Yet the two beings continued without care, indifferent to the condition of their arena.

One fought to reclaim its pride.

The other fought to survive.

Several minutes passed.

The cooldown of his skill ended once more, and he did not hesitate to activate it.

Even though the hall was already dark and tense, the aura emanating from his fist made it feel as though an even greater darkness swallowed the room, even if only for a brief moment.

Time seemed to slow as the attack connected.

Marlon's dark, mist-like fist pierced through the air in slow motion as it closed in on the Aurax's chest, which was now only inches away.

With its teeth clenched tightly, the boss twisted its body in an unnatural manner, its eyes locked onto the attack with absolute focus, as though looking away for even a second would mean death.

Well, it would.

Regardless, with its unnatural flexibility, it avoided death for the tenth time since their fight began.

The expression on its face turned uglier, making it appear far older than before.

"Lucky again."

Marlon's taunting voice rang out as he leapt several feet backward to steady himself.

This time, he had come even closer to killing it.

His suspicions from the start had been correct.

"I will kill you, human!"

The boss's crazed roar echoed throughout the ruined hall.

"I will kill you, your friends, and when I leave this place, I will slaughter your entire race!"

It was obvious it was furious.

Yet Marlon remained unfazed by the threat.

"You know, there is someone out there who would pulverise you with ease. I am a thousand times weaker than him, and yet you are struggling to kill me."

His mocking tone only poured fuel onto the fire.

The two of them fell into a fierce exchange of words, one responding with blind hatred and the other remaining calm and composed.

In its rage, the Aurax ended up revealing more information than it should have, giving Marlon the chance to refine his plan.

And without wasting another moment, they clashed again.

An hour and even more destruction later, the two stood exhausted. One was mentally drained, the other physically strained, yet neither showed any sign of backing down.

The cooldown for Punch of Death had ended, but Marlon chose not to use it. During their exchange, the boss had claimed it could time the attack.

Now, he needed to rely on other tricks.

Unknowingly, at that exact moment, Bola woke up.

The first thing that greeted him was the stench of dust filling his nose, making it hard to breathe. Then, a series of violent explosions completely wiped away his grogginess.

He instantly recalled what had happened, how he had lost consciousness with just a snap of the boss's fingers.

"Boss is still fighting!"

The realization struck him.

Listening closely to the exchange between the Aurax and Marlon, he quickly deduced what was happening.

"This cursed place took my beloved brother. The least I can do is ensure its ruler dies, even if it costs me my life."

Without hesitating, he decided to help.

While keeping the boss occupied, Marlon noticed Bola waking up through his eclipse vision.

At first, he did not think much of it. There was no way Bola could help, or so he believed, until his mind caught onto one crucial detail.

Earth.

'If he creates turbulence beneath the boss, it will lose balance. Then I can send in my clones to do the needful and finish it with Punch of Death.'

It was a simple plan.

But executing it would be anything but easy.

One thing was certain. The boss would kill Bola if it learned of his interference.

"Damn you!"

The Aurax sensed that Marlon's attention was divided, and its rage skyrocketed. The human was toying with it.

"Come on, you want my attention that badly? I'm sure you were meant to be a virgin in your world."

Marlon taunted.

At the same time, he summoned several clones and positioned them discreetly around the area while the boss was not paying attention.

"Or are there only males in your world? Meaning you all do sword fights?"

He continued ragebaiting it, successfully drawing its attention away from his preparation.

Marlon sent one of his clones toward Bola.

Through the clone, he spoke and quickly shared his plan with the gangster.

This consumed a large portion of his focus.

A heavy punch slammed into his abdomen.

Marlon coughed as his body bent from the impact, but the pain was absorbed thanks to Adamant Body.

"So it is true, you lot are gay. That explains your unclassy behaviour."

"Damn you!"

"Come on, hit me with all you've got!"

Marlon barked at the top of his lungs.

That was the signal. The one he had shared with Bola.

Hearing the scream, Bola placed his hand on the ground and shut his eyes. He connected with the surroundings, spreading his senses as he pinpointed their location.

Then, using his earth manipulation and pouring all the aether in his reserves into it, he sent violent waves of disturbance through the ground toward them.

The earth shook.

Like an earthquake, the area around Marlon and the enraged boss trembled violently.

The boss's entire focus was on Marlon, and in its rage, it failed to sense what was coming.

It tripped just as it was about to strike.

Its eyes widened in confusion as its balance suddenly collapsed.

"What?!"

Before it could regain itself,

Around a dozen clones surrounded it in a matter of seconds.

Some threw themselves at it without hesitation, turning into mindless cannon fodder, while others attempted to grip its body and restrain its movements.

Unlike the mini boss, the boss reacted much faster and immediately attacked the clones, killing several of them in the process.

But then,

Chains forged from the ground burst upward and wrapped around its feet, disorienting it even further.

This was Bola and Clarissa's doing.

The healer had awakened beside Bola. Using her innate scanning skill, which worked like a form of X ray, she observed everything happening around them.

She quickly understood the situation and cast a skill on Bola that boosted his endurance and focus while reducing the aether output required to maintain his ability.

With her support, Bola was able to create the chains that now clenched tightly around the boss's feet.

Marlon did not waste time.

Seeing the opening, he instantly appeared before the boss, his movement so fast it resembled teleportation.

He delivered the Punch of Death.

The clones tightened their grip around the boss.

Some were immediately destroyed as it struggled violently, its strength erupting in a final desperate attempt to break free. The chains forged from the ground shattered one after another, cracks spreading through the floor beneath its feet.

But it was already too late.

From the boss's perspective, Marlon's fist rushed toward it like a falling meteor, wrapped in dark mist and carrying a pressure that made breathing difficult.

"Noooooooooo!!!"

Its blood curdling scream echoed through the hall as it poured everything it had left into resisting. Muscles bulged, veins throbbed, and its body twisted unnaturally as it tried to escape death one last time.

It failed.

The Punch of Death connected.

The effect was immediate and emotionless.

The boss's body aged at an alarming rate. Its flesh withered and cracked as though decades passed in seconds. In the next moment, it collapsed into countless specks of dark matter, which slowly dispersed into the air and vanished.

Even to an all powerful race, death was still absolute.

[ You've slain the boss ]

The robotic voice announced instantly.

At the same time, the dark hall lit up as ancient runes carved into the cave walls came to life, their cold glow illuminating the battlefield and marking the end of its ruler.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.