As it stepped out, it observed the humans before it with an estranged expression, as though carefully gauging their individual strength. When its gaze shifted past the others, there were faint hints of disdain, which gradually turned serious as its eyes landed on the group of humans who looked strangely similar to one another.

After scanning each of the twenty clones one after the other, its gaze finally settled on their owner—Marlon—and an unmistakable look of interest appeared on its face.

As though acknowledging his existence as an opponent, the boss suddenly made its move.

It happened in the blink of an eye, and in the next instant, it had already appeared behind Marlon.

Marlon's danger sense rang instantaneously. His eyes widened as every fiber of his being focused solely on defending himself.

With a swift dash, he reappeared at another location and quickly turned toward where he had just been standing, only to see the boss already there, looking at him with the same interested expression on its face—akin to a child who had just found a brand-new toy.

Disgust churned within him at the look the humanoid monster sent his way, but at the same time, a chill crept down his spine. That sensation deepened as fragments of memory surfaced in his mind, revealing the terrifying kind of power it could wield if it were older.

But before he could fully process those thoughts, the boss suddenly shifted its attention toward the nearby clones and moved in their direction.

With a brief mental command from Marlon, all the clones sprang to life and swarmed toward the boss from every side.

However, the boss was far more than they could handle.

Appearing directly in front of a group of clones, it casually swept its hand. With that single motion alone, three clones were beheaded, dying instantly before they even realized what had happened.

Without wasting a single moment, the boss swept toward the remaining ones, dealing immense damage on a scale that was almost unimaginable.

The only clones that survived—though left with ghastly and mangled injuries—were the six who had consumed the power-boosting potions. Aside from them, all the others were slain in the blink of an eye.

[ Clone 3 has been killed ]

..

[ Clone 17 has been killed ]

Notifications continued flashing before Marlon's eyes as the boss slaughtered even more of his clones without pause.

The frown on his face deepened as he attempted to use Inspection one last time, hoping to glimpse even a fragment of information about the boss's abilities or power level. However, his vision was once again filled entirely with question marks, and not a single detail was revealed.

This made him wonder whether this particular race had some kind of connection to the system itself.

"That is a thought for another time."

Gritting his teeth, he focused all his attention back on the boss, which had just finished off yet another clone. A clear look of thrill now appeared on its face as it slowly turned toward Marlon.

He watched as its lips widened, forming what looked disturbingly like a smile.

"T-this…"

He couldn't tell what was going on inside its head.

But one thing was absolutely certain.

This thing was not to be played with.

Even so, confusion gnawed at him. Despite everything, the boss had only targeted his clones and had deliberately spared the others, even though they were standing nearby.

Clarissa and Emma were practically bathed in the blood of his clones, a clear sign of how close they had been to the slaughter, yet they remained completely unscathed.

It's only targeting me!

The realization struck him all at once.

And as if it had perfectly understood his thoughts, the boss's smile widened even further.

Then it tilted its head to the side, the look on its face playful, mocking, and openly provoking.

Moments later, it slowly stretched its hand forward and curled two fingers inward, signaling for him to "come here."

Silence followed.

And within that silence, Marlon's confusion only surged.

"COME!"

A single phrase was uttered by the boss.

Its voice sounded just how it looked, but with far more intensity due to its presence and the silence of the hall.

Everyone shivered as they heard its voice, Marlon included.

It was strange to hear monsters speak, especially human language.

Although there had been a few monsters in the last fifty years who could speak Jody like humans, they were usually S-rank and above, and all of them were boss monsters.

This one in front of them was also a boss.

But it should only be B-rank at most.

Or else…

Marlon's eyes widened.

Could this one be an S-rank?

"I am not."

And then, strangely, the monster responded to the question in his mind.

It startled him, but he knew not to lose his cool at a time like this, especially as the monster seemed to be more intelligent than he had expected.

Maybe they could strike a conversation? he wondered.

And as if understanding his thoughts, the boss nodded.

"I can feel the presence of one of my kin from you."

The boss finally uttered a longer statement, its language skills unbelievably clear, as though it were a human.

It continued, "Interesting. Now I can't help but wonder how you managed to obtain it. Are you one of those interdimensional thieves?"

Marlon could not reply immediately.

He paused for a few seconds before responding, ensuring his thoughts aligned with what he said to prevent the boss from reading them again.

"I did not steal it," he responded.

"Haha, I can already tell." The boss chuckled playfully, sounding even more childish than earlier.

"You fought one of us and presumably won, and based on the intensity of the presence on you, I can tell it hasn't been long. Nevertheless, there is no corpse around here, so I can only wonder how you killed them."

"That is because nothing remained."

Marlon's voice was as stable as he could manage.

"Interesting. You're pretty skilled for a weak race like humans," the boss nodded with an impressed tone.

"If it were another situation, I would've taken you as my new pet, completing my series. But unfortunately, we're in a scenario where one of us has to die for the other to proceed forward."

The boss was pretty talkative, but it was to be expected, especially considering it was a teenager.

He simply allowed it to speak before asking the question that bothered him, which was who it was and what their race was.

Nonetheless, before it answered, it suddenly snapped its fingers and, instantaneously, the remaining hunters in the room collapsed.

At the same time, thousands of corpses on the ground turned to golden dust and vanished, making the vast hall pretty vacant.

Marlon's eyes widened as he observed what took place before him, and before he could act, the boss casually told him his people were alright.

It simply did not want them hearing the information it was about to spill.

Only then did it continue.

"My race? We are the Aurax, but other planets have given us titles like the World Takers, Golden Tyrants, Black Crown, even Horned Gods." Its voice held pride as it puffed out its chest while speaking.

"As for my name, I haven't reached the power index level to possess one."

Even though it had just confessed it was weak, there was no shame in its voice.

Marlon processed its words. He recalled that when he consumed the true core earlier, it was graded with an index, and apparently the mini-boss was an Index-1, making him wonder about the index of the boss.

But before he plunged into solving this mystery, he dug out as much information as he could from the boss.

He asked about its world, their connection with Arden, and plenty of other things.

"You're too weak to know."

A simple answer that shattered all the pride Marlon held in his abilities.

"I thought as much."

It was the same thing Axel Storm had told him. Now he could only conclude that he hadn't been holding back information that day, but was simply protecting him.

He turned to the boss.

"You said our situation only wants one of us alive?"

The boss nodded, an interested smile on its face.

"We have to fight, but since you're a courageous and interesting human, I will go easy on you and play with you for some time before killing you," it said playfully.

Its voice didn't sound threatening, but its words were.

Marlon felt immensely objectified at that moment.

But at the same time, he readied himself.

It was a do-or-die battle.

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