Level Eater
Chapter 165

Though it had turned out quite differently from the initial fish-catching plan, Tatsuro and his companions felt their motivation returning as they found themselves surrounded by an abundance of what seemed to be one of the three required items.

"Here they come!" (Tatsuro)

"Alright, Jeanne, Athena!" (Ai)

"Neigh!" (Jeanne)

"Yes, sir!" (Athena)

Responding to Ai's voice, who sensed the enemy was about to move, Tatsuro, with the help of Jeanne and Athena, created a lightning storm enhanced by light magic, surrounding the small island they were standing on.

Just as they thought they could relax momentarily, the giant moray eels plunged into the storm, heedless of the light and lightning enveloping it.

As everyone was shocked by this, the eels twisted their bodies forcefully, pushing through the storm.

"Gyuruoooooruu!"

"It looks like they're taking some damage, but it's not very effective." (Tatsuro)

"They seem to be resistant to lightning magic." (Ai)

"Brrrr."

While they were calmly analyzing the situation, the five closest eels emerged from the storm, their bodies scorched by electricity, and lunged at Tatsuro and the others from all directions.

However, Ai and the others were already prepared to intercept them.

"We've been waiting for this... Ha!" (Ai)

First, Ai launched an energy slash from the jeweled sword in her right hand, cutting off the head of the one in front. With her left hand, she manipulated two spears from her celestial bow, accurately piercing the foreheads of two others and destroying their brains.

"Leah! Now's the time!" (Nana)

"Yes. Nana!" (Leah)

As for the remaining two, Nana cast a curse magic to slow their movements.

At that moment, Leah overlaid the giant hammer she received from Tatsuro with a reddish-brown hammer of the same size and shape created by her [Forging Technique], unifying them. She then enveloped it in reddish-brown flames.

She then struck the ground with it. The reddish-brown flames covering the giant hammer transferred to the earth and spread, creating a fire circle one meter in diameter.

Stepping forward with her right foot, she swung the hammer down to the ground again, and the once-solid ground changed shape like a swamp, sinking in.

"Haaaa!" (Leah)

With a battle cry, Leah swung the hammer diagonally towards the slowly approaching giant moray eels.

The ground, wrapped in reddish-brown flames, stuck to the swung hammer and stretched out like mochi.

By the time she finished swinging the hammer, the peeled earth had already transformed, becoming a large arc-shaped blade. When Leah extinguished the reddish-brown flames, it was fixed in that shape.

At that moment, Nana lifted the slow curse, returning the eels to their normal speed.

The eels, which had been straining to move forward with all their might, were now propelled towards the earthblade Leah had created. Their own momentum caused their bodies to be horizontally sliced in two.

"It worked perfectly!" (Leah)

"Nice timing!" (Nana)

The two high-fived, cheering for the success of their first collaborative technique.

Shaken by how quickly five of them were killed, the eel side halted the individuals that were about to approach and distanced themselves from Tatsuro and his group.

"Are they trying to run away?" (Ai)

"No, it looks like they're going to use magic. Cardina, please analyze it!" (Tatsuro)

"Pewee!" (Cardina)

"Tatsuro-san! It seems to be lightning magic!" (Leah)

"It's amazing that you can tell before it's cast... Athena, let's work on defense together!" (Tatsuro)

"Understood!" (Athena)

With Tatsuro's magic vision, he could see the signs of magic being used, but he couldn't tell what kind of magic it was until it was actually cast.

Yet, Leah's eyes could discern what kind of magic was coming just from the signs of its activation. There couldn't be a greater advantage than this.

Tatsuro sensed magic power similar to lightning magic gathering in the sky. While boosting with light magic, he and Athena also cast lightning magic, creating an electric net to divert the opponent's lightning outward.

Meanwhile, Jeanne and Nana switched the outer storm wall to a storm of slowing curses.

During this time, Leah was going around hammering the earth, creating arc-shaped blades in a 360-degree circle, just like before.

Then, dozens of eels simultaneously activated their magic, dropping countless bolts of lightning toward the small island where Tatsuro and the others were.

However, all of these were intercepted by Tatsuro and Athena's magic and redirected to the lake's surface, ending harmlessly.

"Whoa, that would have been tough if I was alone." (Tatsuro)

"Yeah, it's a stark reminder of the power of numbers." (Ai)

"Pewee." (Cardina)

"Looks like the analysis is complete." (Athena)

"I see, thank you. But from what I can tell, at my current level of Wood magic, I don't think I can fully recreate the inverse phase of that... Here they come again." (Tatsuro)

"Sigh, this is quite tiring." (Athena)

As lightning was unleashed again, this time Tatsuro, along with Cardina, used Wood and Dispel magic to create an inverse phase spell. While not perfect, it weakened the lightning. Simultaneously, he and Athena repeated the magic to deflect the lightning as before.

This slightly increased Tatsuro's burden, but overall it became easier, so the analysis wasn't in vain.

"Hmm. For the pedestal, the one I killed with a spear to the forehead is clean, so that should work." (Ai)

"You're right, that one should do. Let's put it in the [Item Box]." (Tatsuro)

The giant moray eel that Ai had killed had washed up on the small island, so they retrieved one.

Meanwhile, there was movement on the other side.

Realizing that neither their charges nor their lightning were effective, the eels floated on the lake surface for a while, looking confused. Eventually, two-thirds of them returned to the lake bottom, leaving only those who couldn't bear to give up their prey.

"Their numbers have decreased. Is it manageable with just Athena now?" (Tatsuro)

"It's less than half of what it was before, so no problem!" (Athena)

"In that case, I'll leave this to you for a bit. I'm going back to the pedestal to check if the one Ai killed earlier will work." (Tatsuro)

"If that one doesn't work, we'll need to catch the remaining ones more cleanly." (Athena)

"That's right. Well then, I'll be quick." (Tatsuro)

Saying that Tatsuro rushed to the stone structure and immediately entered, standing before the pedestal.

(Huh, how am I supposed to offer this to the pedestal?) (Tatsuro)

The eel from earlier was too big to fit inside this small structure. As he was thinking about going back to ask Leah, he casually touched the pedestal, and suddenly, Tatsuro's system screen opened.

|Specified material confirmed in Item Box.|

|Do you want to offer it to the dungeon?|

|Yes / No|

(So it's a system-mediated pattern after all. This might mean there's some connection between the system and the dungeon.)

Naturally, he selected "Yes" here, and particles of light arose from Tatsuro's body, being absorbed into the pedestal.

Then, the image of the eel (which he had mistaken for a snake) carved on the pedestal disappeared.

"That's one cleared. If they're not in the lake, where are the fish?" (Tatsuro)

Muttering such things to himself, Tatsuro hurried back to everyone.

By the time Tatsuro returned, there were only two eels left.

The curse storm created by Jeanne and Nana's combined magic had been lifted, and the lake around the small island was filled with eel corpses.

The crucial two remaining eels were being cornered by Ai and Athena's tag team, unable to escape or attack.

Ai and Athena were hopping across the lake surface on platforms made of shields, a bit far away, so Tatsuro reported the current situation through telepathy.

"Hey. We've successfully cleared one." (Tatsuro)

"Really? Then, what should we do with these two?" (Ai)

"If you can capture them alive, I'd like to use [Level Eater], but if that seems impossible, just finish them off." (Tatsuro)

"Got it!" (Ai)

After replying to Tatsuro, Ai also reported the current situation to Athena, who was chasing the eels with her.

"We've cleared one!" (Ai)

"Oh, that's great!" (Athena)

"He says if possible, we should capture the remaining two alive!" (Ai)

"Then I'll drive them towards the island, so please take care of them in one shot!" (Athena)

"Roger that!" (Ai)

Since they were big and inconvenient to carry, Athena used Ai's energy shields as footholds to chase and herd the eels, guiding them toward the island under her own power.

The two eels, rather than facing these seemingly unbeatable opponents, seemed to think the ones on the island looked weaker and actively headed toward Tatsuro and the others.

"They're coming on their own, aren't they?" (Athena)

"I wonder if they're just stupid, going into enemy territory on their own?" (Ai)

Ai and the others couldn't understand the monsters' thinking, so they followed behind to the limit while doubting their actions. When they were just short of the island, Ai suddenly raised her [Body Strengthening] level to 10. (T/N: Author's mistake here, her skill was already at Lv10, check Chapter 138)

With one step of her right foot, she leaped diagonally upward, soaring above the head of the giant eel in front. With one step of her left foot, she used [Air Walk] to kick off the sky and fall, striking the eel's crown with a restrained punch.

This single blow cracked the eel's skull, causing it to lose consciousness in a near-death state with its eyes rolled back.

The moment the other eel turned towards its suddenly fallen comrade, not understanding the situation, Ai, who was under its jaw, kicked upwards, shattering its jawbone and leaving it convulsing and unconscious with a mangled mouth. At that moment:

|Skill: Martial Arts Lv.10 acquired.|

|Title: [Master of the Body] acquired.|

"Oh?" (Ai)

"What's wrong, Ai?" (Tatsuro)

Tatsuro asked worriedly as Ai landed in front of him, tilting her head.

She then explained about the announcements she had just heard.

However, before they could say anything about it, Athena warned them that the monsters would die if they didn't hurry, so they decided to prioritize using [Level Eater] for now.

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Level: 37

Skills: [Bite Lv.5], [Lightning Strike Lv.4], [Lightning Resistance Lv.5]

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(As I thought, it was thanks to their lightning resistance that they could push through that storm. Having resistance to all attributes of a specific magic type, rather than just one spell, could be troublesome for magic users.)

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Level: 37

Skills: [Bite Lv.0], [Lightning Strike Lv.0], [Lightning Resistance Lv.0]

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They were able to successfully absorb SP from the other eel with a similar level and skill composition before it died, and then Athena and Leah, who were lower level, delivered the final blow.