Level Eater
Chapter 134

As Jeanne and the others were ascending along the rocky hillside, the monster: a flying sea turtle with wings for arms and legs that appeared on the first layer, attacked.

However, everyone intercepted it from Jeanne's back, and they were able to steadily ascend to the top.

In this way, with the help of Tatsuro and Nana, Jeanne was able to reach the top with less burden on her.

However, there was no point in going to the next level as they had expected, and they all tilted their heads at the same time.

"If it's not here, then where is it?" (Tatsuro)

"I don't want to go all the way down." (Ai)

"I don't like that either..." (Nana)

It was mentally exhausting to see the same scene for so long, so Ai and Nana looked disgusted and began frantically searching for something at the top.

While Jeanne rested, Tatsuro and Cardina used their Dispel magic to see what they could find out.

Then Tatsuro noticed a strange reaction to one of the many chains hanging below.

"Ai, could you please pull the base of this chain up a little?" (Tatsuro)

"Yes!" (Ai)

Ai, who came over with a casual reply, lightly pulled upward on the stake with the chain that Tatsuro had specified.

Then something came up from right under that stake, and Ai pulled it up until it was completely out.

What came out was something like a small doghouse, and when they looked inside, they saw a scale. The plate on the right was in the shape of the monster turtle, and the plate on the left was in the shape of a feather. The plate in the shape of a turtle had a flat pumice stone in the shape of a turtle and was tilted downward, while the plate in the shape of a feather had nothing on it and was tilted upward.

"What is this?" (Tatsuro)

"Maybe it's some kind of gimmick." (Ai)

"Maybe it's a gimmick, but it's a balance…. Something like putting something on this feather-shaped side so that it balances the monster turtle plate.'' (Tatsuro)

"Can we put just anything on it" (Ai)

"It has a pretty elaborate shape, and I feel like the right thing to do is to put something specific on it." (Tatsuro)

"Then, if I were to go with a simple idea. It would be like putting a feather in a feather plate. Also, since it is purposely emphasizing the monster turtle so much, the most likely thing is for us to defeat it and steal the feathers from its limbs.'' (Ai)

"Uh, I wish I could have known that before we ascended." (Tatsuro)

They have killed many monster turtles so far, but they didn't find them very attractive, so they threw away everything except the magic stone, so they didn't have a single feather in their possession.

That means they will have to fly around the rocky hills again and go hunting for turtles.

Tatsuro and Ai were starting to get tired, so this couldn't be more troublesome.

However, perhaps sensing their concern, Cardina began to beckon at Tatsuro, trying to tell him something.

"Cardina, what's up?" (Tatsuro)

"Apparently, Sister Cardina has said she going hunting." (Nana)

"Well, I can't let you go alone." (Tatsuro)

"In that case, I'll go with her. Your body has been on the move all day, and you are tired, so I hope you can rest.'' (Nana)

"Pewee!" (Cardina)

They thought they were normal, but their faces showed signs of fatigue, and the three bodies looked at them with concern.

Tatsuro, on the other hand, looked at his pocket watch to see how long they had been in the dungeon and found that it was already nearly morning, not midnight.

Inside the dungeon, it seemed like morning, day, and night were set for each layer, and this dungeon was always bright as if it were daytime, so he finally realized that his sense of time was off.

Tatsuro was also reminded that this distorted sense of time is another one of the traps of the dungeon.

As expected, it was tough even for the two of them to be in a state of complete exhaustion, so they decided to take a break here today and ask Cardina and Nana to go hunt for Monster Turtles.

And so, as Nana rode down the cliff on Cardina's back, Tatsuro and the others, with their backs to Jeanne, who had "grown up" and was now comfortable at the top of the rocky hill.

Later, when Cardina and the others returned, they picked up the wings of the limbs of the monster turtle corpse and placed them on the feather-shaped plate until the balance was balanced, and completed the task, so today we decided to take a break and have Cardina and Nana go hunting for Patakame.

Then, Nana climbed onto Cardina's back and descended to the cliff, and Ryurou and his friends rested their backs on Jeanne, who had become an adult, and got comfortable on the top of the rocky mountain.

After that, Cardina and his friends came back and collected the feathers from the limbs of Patakame's corpse and placed them on the feather-shaped plate until the balance was balanced, and the moment the turtle-shaped and feather-shaped plates were at the same level. The rocky hill was vibrating slightly, making a deep bass sound.

What's more, when Tatsuro and Cardina jointly casted Dispel magic, a staircase going down was created in the center of the Zenith of the rocky hill.

"So if you want to get to the next level/floor, you have to get off this thing?" (Nana)

"What should we do? Should we go now?" (Tatsuro)

"No. Let's get some sleep and take on the challenge in full condition." (Ai)

"That's fine." (Tatsuro)

"I see. When I get distracted, I suddenly feel sleepy ~ Aaah..." (Ai)

Ai was yawning a lot and had tears in her eyes, so Tatsuro gently wiped them and patted her head, then ate a quick midnight snack, before leaving Cardina and the others to be watch dogs, and went to sleep in the rhino cart for the day.

The scenery remained the same, but the two of them slept from morning until noon, ate a meal, and were in good physical condition, so they decided to go down the stairs that came out.

They had fallen asleep without investigating anything, so Tatsuro was worried about how far it continued, but after descending about five meters, they found themselves in an open room.

And at the very back of that room was the point for the next floor. (T/N: I might refer to dungeon Floors as Dungeon Levels, please note it is the same thing.)

"I thought there would be one more thing, but it ended so quickly." (Tatsuro)

"Pewee" (Cardina)

"I understand. Cardina." (Tatsuro)

"Hmm? Perhaps there's more to it?" (Ai)

"Oh, there are traps all over the room. Apparently, if you don't go through a certain route, all the traps will be activated at once." (Tatsuro)

"Is it a fixed route?" (Ai)

"Yes, it seems like you'll have to walk around instead of rushing through an empty room." (Tatsuro)

"It's too troublesome again. Isn't it okay to fly over it?" (Ai)

"It looks like it won't work unless at least one person steps on the ground properly." (Tatsuro)

"Seriously?" (Ai)

After that, Tatsuro and his team walked on the line drawn with dark magic so as not to stray overboard, walking in a straight line for a distance of 4 to 5 minutes, going left, right, forward, and back.

"Finally, we're here...." (Tatsuro)

"It's a pretty nasty trap to be able to see it right in front of you but not be able to get there..." (Nana)

"It's almost like a mental attack. It's still easier to fight monsters." (Ai)

"I know, right?" (Nana)

"Yes." (Ai)

While complaining to each other, Ai and Nana finally entered the next floor.

And just like that, they spent a whole day on similar floors, and as they got used to them, they conquered them one after another, and Tatsuro and his team had now reached the fourteenth floor.

The atmosphere here has changed from before, and to give an easy-to-understand analogy, it is a maze-like mess of elevated bridges so high that one cannot see the ground, with no fences, and the wind is blowing in every direction. A strong wind was blowing, and if someone fell off the bridge, one would be taken into the sky.

The strong wind was bothersome at first, so Tatsuro decided to hold hands with Ai and recover his magical power while constantly setting up a wind barrier to block the wind.

"It's been about two days since we have entered the dungeon, and we have finally arrived at what looks like the last floor." (Ai)

"If I remember correctly, in a level 3 dungeon, you can go from the 9th floor to the 15th floor that leads to the boss room. The 14th floor was pretty unlucky." (Tatsuro)

"We cleared dungeons in the shortest time before, so it feels like the balance has come here." (Ai)

"But now the end is in sight." (Tatsuro)

"That's right. Well then, let's conquer the final game brilliantly too!" (Ai)

Everyone responded to Ai's call and proceeded through the floor in front of the boss.

Along the way, some pieces of stone were blown away by the strong winds, but Tatsuro's wind protection magic covered them up, and as they were walking along the elevated bridge, which they didn't know how far it went, Cardina noticed the monster's reaction.

"It's flying in this strong wind? It seems small, so what kind of monster is it?" (Tatsuro)

"It's small. I hope it's cute." (Ai)

"No, we have to hunt it..." (Tatsuro)

Even while they were talking about this, the monster that they had not yet seen was rapidly approaching.

So, Tatsuro directed everyone to position themselves in the direction it was coming from, so that they could deal with whatever monster came their way.

Then, the monster came to a position where it could be detected with the naked eye.

It looks exactly like the green-skinned goblin that appears in video games, but its physical size is about 15 cm, and it has something similar to the cute angel wings drawn in the illustration flapping on its back, and dozens of them came together in groups, their mouths twisted into grins as if they were amused.

"Not cute!" (Nana)

"How dare it look like that, and have such cute wings!" (Ai)

"...No, it can't be helped since it's that kind of monster, right?" (Tatsuro)

Although Tatsuro took a little pity on it and followed up with 'a little goblin with wings', but nothing reached the ears of the two of them.

"But, strangely, such small wings can fly in this strong wind." (Tatsuro)

"Isn't that way of flying somewhat similar to Marikka-san's way of flying?" (Ai)

"Oh. If you ask me..." (Tatsuro)

Tatsuro remembered that although Marikka was small, and although it seemed impossible for her to fly with those small wings, she was able to fly just like the sub-dragon Yorn, and was almost unaffected by the wind above.

"Then, maybe that thing is a fairy..." (Nana)

"No, no, no, that's more of a monster than a fairy." (Ai)

"Um...both of you, it's about time for us to engage." (Tatsuro)

"Oops, that's right." (Nana)

"Yes, that's right." (Ai)

"We don't know what kind of attack method they will use yet, so Cardina, please always be on guard against magical attacks." (Tatsuro)

"Pewee!" (Cardina)

"The rest... well, let's take it as it comes." (Tatsuro)

It seemed better to take measures against magic attacks, but since the group didn't seem to be very strong, it seemed more correct for everyone to act at their own discretion. When Tatsuro gave such instructions, the mini-goblins began to attack the surrounding area. They started acting like they were surrounding them.

Then it was expelling a purple scale-like substance from its body, mixing it with the strong winds around it and trying to dye the whole area purple.

However, Tatsuro and his team have wind protection magic, so there was no wind around them, and of course, they had no intention of letting the suspicious scales in there.

So all the scales were effortlessly repelled by the wind, and the purple scales scattered everywhere else, making no sense.

"The attacks were terrifying, and I knew it was a monster after all." (Tatsuro)

If one analyzes what the scale attack does, it seems that it has a powerful sleeping effect, and if a certain amount is inhaled, all creatures that have no resistance will fall asleep.

Tatsuro thought it would be convenient, so he collected the powder in one place from the mini-goblins who were frantically discharging the scale powder even though Tatsuro and his team had not received it yet.

Then, when they had gathered to some extent, Tatsuro mixed low-power lightning with the wind and hit the entire mini goblins, causing them to fall to the ground like mosquitoes sprayed with insecticide.

The power was limited, so not everyone died, but they were paralyzed and did not look like they could move.

So, after gathering them all in one place, Tatsuro released [Level Eater] at one of them.

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Level: 8

Skills: [Complete sleep resistance], [Youkai flight Lv.1], [Sleep scale Powder Lv.1]

[Bite Lv.2]

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(Is it the type of monster that puts you to sleep and then bites you to death? As long as you're careful about the scales, it seems like it'll be fine.)

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Level: 8

Skills: [Complete sleep resistance], [Youkai flight Lv.0], [Sleep scale Powder Lv.0]

[Bite Lv.0]

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Since each of them had so little SP that it was inefficient, Tatsuro used [Level Eater] on only three of them to absorb them, and the rest were taken down by his team.

After clearing away the mini-goblins like that, Tatsuro created a layer of wind around his head to prevent him from inhaling the sleeping scales he had collected and used earth magic to put as much of the powder as possible into a container he had created from light silver ingots.

"It's like a sleeping pill, isn't it?" (Ai)

"Yes. Those mini-goblins had a skill called [Complete Sleep Resistance], so it seems like it would be effective against monsters as well.'' (Tatsuro)

"Ah. That could certainly be convenient." (Ai)

"However, to put it into practice, I would like to test it with other monsters to see how much they need to inhale to make them fall asleep." (Tatsuro)

While saying that, Tatsuro put away the sleep scales in his [Item Box].