Marcus stared down the Gluttonous Spirit Eater without a hint of hesitance in his gaze as he pushed off the ground and launched himself towards the floating behemoth.
The three kilometers of distance between them was covered in only an instant.
When Marcus was close enough to strike, he slashed down with his scythe with movements so fast he appeared to be a blur.
Despite its large size, the Gluttonous Spirit Eater could move deceptively quickly and moved out of the way of Marcus' opening strike and retailed with one of its own.
"Whoa there!" Marcus cry out as his monstrous foe's four claws reached out to ensnare him.
By kicking off of a platform he created in midair with the mana barrier skill, he leapt back in time to avoid being hit.
Still as the claws sliced through the air in front of him, he could feel the tremendous power behind them.
"Okay, let's see how you handle magic next."
Marcus' body began crackling with electricity and several bolts of lightning flew off of him all at once as he cast the tier five lightning magic spell voltaic bombardment.
This was more of a test of the Gluttonous Spirit Eaters abilities rather than a true attack, but Marcus was surprised when his opponent easily dealt with the spell.
Simply by opening its mouth and releasing a roar, the Spirit Eater was able to disperse Marcus' magic.
The monster then began to inhale like a vacuum and drew Marcus towards it.
'Shit!'
Even as he attempted to escape the powerful suction, Marcus found himself losing ground. Whatever ability the Gluttonous Spirit Eater was using, it was not merely relying on its lungs to suck in air.
'It's drawing in my spiritual energy, and it feels like I'm tethered to it somehow. No wonder this thing is considered a spirit's natural enemy.' Marcus thought while grimacing.
Slowly but surely, he was being pulled into his enemy's gaping maw despite his fierce resistance to escape. And all the while, his strength was being sapped away.
Of course, Marcus was not just going to give up and allow himself to be eaten. He figured that so long as it was using this ability to lock him down and draw him in, it could not roar and disperse his magic.
'Phoenix Fire.'
'Rending Void.'
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Simultaneously Marcus cast a tier seven fire magic spell and tier six darkness magic spell.
Both were incredibly powerful and could obliterate anything that stood in their paths.
Yet, to Marcus' surprise, the Gluttonous Spirit Eater did not attempt to dodge or block his magic. Instead, it unleashed a powerful attack of its own as a counter.
For just a moment, Marcus felt the force pulling him towards the waiting jaws of the Spirt Eater cease, before a massive beam of energy erupted from its mouth.
Marcus watched his two spells become engulfed in the blast and had only an instant to hastily defend himself.
'Stalwart Full Moon.'
Using one of the eight techniques of the moon style he had learned from the special dungeon; Marcus created a spherical domain around himself and rapidly swung his scythe to disperse the attack that had enveloped him.
Once the blast had finally passed him by, Marcus collapsed to his knees in midair. His left side was gouged out and his arm was missing. Despite his best efforts, he had failed to fully block his adversary's breath attack.
Seeing that its prey was weakened, the Gluttonous Spirit Eater lunged forwards with its mouth opened wide and ready to swallow Marcus.
'Lightspeed Movement.'
At the last moment Marcus activated his fastest movement type ability and turned himself into a beam of light.
In a single motion that looked almost like teleportation, he appeared on the ground below where he had been before.
As time went by, Marcus was proving to be the superior of the two. He had far greater longevity thanks to his Ultimate refresh Supreme skill, and even though he was losing more spiritual energy than he was stealing, his mana thief skill was rapidly draining another of his enemy's core powers.
Soon enough the Gluttonous Spirit Eater realized that the true reason for its disadvantage was Marcus' Deathly Dominion. Just being in this space strengthened its prey while weakening it.
"Don't think that I'm going to let you get away."
"Iron Colossus."
As the Spirit Eater tried to break free, Marcus tightened his grip with his Tendrils of Shadows and cast a tier eight iron magic spell.
A towering, moving statue of iron formed from Marcus' mana, and with both hands it reached out and grabbed the enormous monster that was intent on eating its master.
Exactly like an eel that had been pulled out of water, the Gluttonous Spirt Eater squirmed to escape from the Iron Colossus grip.
It bit, clawed, and wrapped its tail round the constructs' neck, but to no avail. The damage it could do was minimal while still entangled with Marcus and having to focus on their battle.
"I don't really like to use this one, but it's time to end this."
Unleashing his normally locked away Soul Devour, Marcus began eating away at the Gluttonous Spirit Eater using every tool at his disposal.
Thankfully it was not a particularly intelligent creature, and the only strong part of its ego was a powerful hunger.
"Yes, I feel your hunger! So let me eat you!" Marcus raved. His sanity seeming to slip as he indulged in the power of his most dangerous unique skill.
He was not fighting back against the influence of the soul he was consuming and instead allowed it to further empower him. There was no need for resistance now so long as he reined the power in once the battle was over.
Within a few seconds the ethereal chains wrapped around Marcus broke apart. The energy drain between the two of them had now become one sided.
In a last desperate bid to win, The Gluttonous Spirit Eater summoned up the last of its strength an fired another enormous beam from its mouth.
"Eclipse Meteor."
Meeting power with power, Marcus burst forth with all of the light and darkness energy he could and enveloped himself in it.
Then he shot forwards like a bullet into the blast coming his way.
Without slowing down Marcus cut through the beam and reached the monster's mouth.
Just as the Gluttonous Spirit Eater wished it swallowed Marcus whole, though, not in the way it expected.
The immense power that had coalesced around Marcus' body erupted into a massive explosion within the monster's body.
Like a balloon being filled with air, it expanded until it reached capacity and popped.
Chunks of the Gluttonous Spirit Eater's body flew in every direction, and a shower of blood rained down upon the forest below.
'That's enough.'
Slapping himself in the face with both hands, Marcus pushed away the euphoric feeling that accompanied the use of Soul Devour.
Without his judgment being clouded he dismissed the unique skill.
"Yeah, I'm glad I didn't fight that thing near a populated area." Marcus muttered as he gazed down at the destroyed landscape below.
He had done his best to minimize damage to the surroundings, but a fight against a powerful foe higher level than him was bound to have some collateral damage.
Now that the fight was over, Marcus felt a wave of fatigue come over him. He had held almost nothing back, and even his endurance could not last long when fighting at full power.
"I can't really stick around here to rest though." Marcus said with a sigh.
A distance away from him, Marcus could see Lilia and his beast companions finishing off the last of the Ravenous Spirit Eaters. The four of them had already been watching over him for three days, so he could not very well have them wait here any longer.
With his evolution now completed, it was time to head back to Borealia's capital. There were several things that he needed to take care of before heading off on his next journey. It was nearly time for him to pay his debt to the vampire Aurelia and whomever her master was.