When he thought about how Joshua would feel once he learned of the unfortunate way his girlfriend had been killed, and how the others would react when they realized the terror and pain the victims had experienced before dying, it only caused the anger within him to surge even further.

As a result, he made the clones deal with the Aurax even more brutally.

Whenever the Aurax was on the verge of losing consciousness or completely breaking down, Marlon would stop.

He would wait for a few minutes, allowing its innate recovery and regeneration to activate, and once it reached a certain point, he would resume beating it again.

He repeated this process for a long time until he was finally satisfied.

Even when the Aurax was already battered beyond recognition and writhing in pain, he used Punch of Death.

The aura of death enveloped the area, and this time it appeared to be far stronger than usual. Marlon deduced that it was due to his overwhelming rage, but he did not bother thinking too deeply about it.

He saw the fear clearly reflected in the eyes of the Aurax, and he enjoyed its shrill cries as it struggled desperately to break free from the grip of the clones.

Seeing this, Marlon smirked.

He had discovered another way to torture it, a psychological one.

Punch of Death would not activate unless he uses it on a target, nor would it end unless he deactivated it with his mind.

So he allowed the skill to stall for about two minutes before deactivating it.

While the Aurax was still reeling from the terror and mental shock, his clones resumed pummeling it mercilessly.

They beat it for twenty minutes, then allowed it to recover for ten minutes, and then resumed once again.

By the time they repeated this routine twice, the cooldown for Punch of Death had already ended, and Marlon used it again.

He took pleasure in the terror etched onto the Aurax's face before letting the clones resume their routine once more.

He repeated this process several times.

By then, the Aurax could no longer speak. It could only shriek, cry, and produce distorted sounds to express its emotions.

They performed the routine a total of five times, and by that point, the Aurax was utterly ruined, both psychologically and physically.

It stared at Marlon with a lifeless expression on its face.

It was so exhausted that even displaying emotions had become an incredibly difficult task.

"How do you feel?"

It was now Marlon's turn to taunt, and he did so without restraint.

He had always been good at cursing, and when it came to humiliating others, whether human or monster, he could confidently say that no one did it better than him.

At this moment, he even found himself appreciating the skill.

He continued taunting the Aurax until he was finally satisfied.

Only then did he decide to let it rest in eternal damnation.

He activated Punch of Death and killed it instantly.

As expected, a true core dropped onto the ground. It was larger than an index-1 core but slightly smaller than an index-2 core.

He stared at it for a moment before bending down to pick it up.

Just as he expected, there was no pain when he touched it, meaning there were no memory fragments attached to it.

He stored the core inside his inventory.

He would make use of it later.

For the final time, he surveyed his surroundings with a calm expression.

The area was nothing but a chaotic mess of dust and blood.

Scattered body parts littered the ground, adding an ominous and haunting layer to the scene.

He let out a heavy sigh before turning his gaze toward the corpse of the young woman.

Walking over, he gently covered her eyes with his hand.

Then he lifted her body from the ground, carrying her in a princess carry as he exited the area.

Field-type danger-zones usually took anywhere from a few minutes to several hours to disappear after being cleared, which was why the red barrier was still active.

Nonetheless, while it remained active, anyone, even non-hunters, could freely enter and exit the zone.

=====

Sandra and the others grew increasingly worried when the sounds coming from inside the danger-zone suddenly died down completely.

"Did he survive?" Kelvin, the archer, was the first to voice his concern.

Naturally, none of his comrades could respond.

Clarissa clasped her hands together in front of her chest in a praying gesture as she stared at the field-type danger-zone, silently hoping for a miracle.

If Marlon died, she was not sure she could endure it.

She had already lost too much during this mission, and one more loss would surely shatter her completely.

Not far from them, Joshua could be seen sitting on the ground with his head buried between his knees, crying silently.

Caleb stood beside him, but even as his close friend, he found himself at a loss for words to comfort him.

"Look…"

Sandra noticed a change in the red magic barrier and immediately drew everyone's attention toward it.

Every single person, including the grief-stricken Joshua, turned their gaze toward the danger-zone.

At that very moment, Marlon emerged with steady steps, holding another person in his arms.

Joshua scanned the two of them, and his eyes widened in shock as he stood up from the ground to get a clearer look.

"Alexa!"

Letting out a heart-wrenching cry, he sprinted toward them.

He stopped right in front of Marlon.

Marlon halted and asked in a gentle tone, "Is she your girlfriend?"

Joshua did not respond.

His lips trembled, and his eyes grew moist as he reached out to take the body of the girl Marlon had already deduced to be his girlfriend.

"WAAAA! I told you not to come…"

He cried uncontrollably.

"Our marriage is only two weeks from now."

He collapsed onto the ground with her body cradled gently in his arms, staring at her face with love, a love he would now have to bury along with her and the memories they had shared.

The others lowered their heads, silently shedding tears.

Marlon watched the scene, his own heart experiencing the same heart-rending pain.

However, remaining in such an emotionally suffocating environment was not something he could endure.

He could not bear it.

So he decided to handle the remaining three portals and bring the mission to an end.

====

The first portal he stepped into led to a frozen land similar to the one they had faced during the entrance examination, but far larger in scale, and the monsters there were significantly stronger.

Even the weakest among them could wield both ice and wind magic simultaneously, and they possessed immense physical strength as well, making them formidable opponents.

Within this frozen land existed a curse that affected everyone who entered, continuously chipping away at their health points. The only way to recover lost health was by slaying monsters.

As a result, most of the hunters inside were already reduced to their last twenty percent of health by the time Marlon entered, and only a few fortunate ones who had prepared healing potions managed to stay above fifty percent.

The frozen land posed no real challenge to Marlon.

He slaughtered every monster he encountered with ease, and after several hours, he finally discovered the portal's boss.

Fortunately, it was not an Aurax this time, but an Ice Titan.

It was twice as massive as the Great Serpigon and far faster as well.

However, with a single Punch of Death, the boss was annihilated.

Marlon reached level 101 and finally became a C-rank hunter.

With his breakthrough, he unlocked two new skills.

Both were area-of-effect skills.

[ Venom Quake (B-rank, Active) ]

The user strikes the ground with immense force, releasing a venom-infused shockwave that spreads outward in a circular radius. All enemies within range suffer physical damage of up to X10 and venom buildup, causing brief disorientation and reduced movement stability.

Cooldown: 60 seconds

Requires: 1000 Aether Points

As the others harvested the monster core from the boss, Marlon read the skill description, and a smile slowly crept onto his face.

'Finally, my first area-of-effect skill, and it has excellent effects,' he thought.

Then he moved on to read the second skill.

[ Fear (B-rank, Active) ]

Upon activation, the user releases an oppressive aura that affects all opponents within a close radius. Enemies of B-rank and below experience intense psychological pressure, causing uncontrollable trembling. Affected targets lose fifty percent composure, while attack power and attack speed are reduced by thirty percent for five minutes.

Cooldown: 20 minutes

Requires: 1000 Aether Points

This skill was clearly linked to his Absolute Attack talent, while the first was tied to his Venom Vanguard.

Both were unique skills.

Seeing them, he appreciated the decision he had made to enter this portal first.

And with that same thought, he used Swap and instantly exchanged positions with another clone inside a different portal.

Without waiting even a second, he began spreading chaos in the bloodscape.

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