Level Eater
Chapter 170

After obtaining what seemed to be the final required monster corpse, Tatsuro, and his companions flew to the small island with the pedestal in the lake.

As soon as Tatsuro touched the pedestal, the system automatically activated.

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Specified materials are confirmed in the Infinite Item Field.

Do you wish to offer them to the dungeon?

Yes / No

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Of course, He pressed "Yes" here, successfully handing over the final required monster.

Then, just like before, the fruit image engraved on the pedestal disappeared, and the pedestal itself crumbled like sand with a "whoosh" sound.

This meant that Tatsuro and his team had cleared all the challenges, so the path to the next level should open.

However, there was no sign of anything happening, no matter how long they waited.

"Huh? Nothing's happening. Did we make a mistake somewhere?" (Tatsuro)

"No, I don't think that's possible..." (Ai)

"Right. The image on the pedestal disappeared and it crumbled properly." (Tatsuro)

As Tatsuro and the others were examining the area around the pedestal in confusion, Athena, who happened to look outside, called out.

"Dad, Mom, look outside!" (Athena)

"Outside?" (Tatsuro)

"What is it?" (Ai)

When they rushed to the entrance to see what was going on, they found that the area that used to be forest had disappeared, and a huge glowing pool now surrounded the lake.

"So that's what it was." (Tatsuro)

"It's huge!" (Ai)

"No wonder we couldn't find anything by searching this room." (Tatsuro)

"I've heard that anything can happen in a dungeon, but seeing it first-hand really proves that those words weren't an exaggeration." (Ai)

Having confirmed the point of passage to the next level, everyone was relieved that their treasure-hunting game hadn't been in vain.

"Alright, let's rest for today. It's probably around evening now, and we don't know if the next level will be a place where we can relax. So it's better if we spend one more night here before going to the next level." (Tatsuro)

"I see. It's already that late, huh? Without night coming, our sense of time really gets messed up." (Ai)

"Indeed, I completely lost track of time around the third day." (Leah)

"Oh? I didn't really feel that way." (Athena)

"Me neither. I guess that's because we're magical beings?" (Nana)

It seemed that Cardina and Jeanne hadn't lost their sense of time that much either.

Tatsuro was impressed that they were not only resistant to heat and cold but also to such things, thinking once again how adaptable and valuable they were.

"Well then, let's eat for now. Leah after I'm done replenishing Cardina and the others' magical power, I'll help out too. What should we do?" (Tatsuro)

"Ah, if that's the case, could we cook the rice?" (Leah)

"Got it." (Ai)

"I'll help with something too" (Athena)

"Then, Ai-san, could you..." (Leah)

With Leah as the commander, everyone began efficiently carrying out their assigned roles.

Tatsuro first moved today's ingredients from the [Infinite Item Field] to Leah's [Item Box], then immediately called Cardina and the others to replenish their magical power.

Then, he started preparing to cook the rice.

Thanks to the [Infinite Item Field] that had been activated yesterday, allowing unlimited storage, Tatsuro had manipulated time while they were sleeping and mass-cultivated rice from his world, taking advantage of its strong reproductive ability. As a result, Tatsuro now had several years' worth of rice.

Although he thought it was probably unnecessary to have so much, Tatsuro took out several fist-sized rice grains from among them, put them into a rice-splitting container he had casually created with magic, and started pounding them into small pieces with a small hammer.

Once that was done, based on the data from the last few times he had cooked rice, he input the adjustment for fire magic with curse magic and heated the water-filled pot on a plate he had attached underneath.

He then stored it in the [Infinite Item Field], manipulated time, and cooked it in an instant. He stopped time to maintain the freshly cooked state and informed Leah and the others that it was ready.

The result was fried eel meat and dragon meat, rice, salad, and juice squeezed from fruits.

Although the seasoning of the fried food was different from Tatsuro's world, it was delicious in its own way, so they ate their fill with satisfaction.

After filling their stomachs and taking a quick bath, Tatsuro decided to use up the SP he had before going to the next level, while in the tent he had set up to sleep with Ai.

"With what I absorbed from the giant eel this morning, I've earned quite a bit, so I have 293 SP. I think I'll go with Life Magic at level 8 and Lightning Magic at level 10, for a total of 265." (Tatsuro)

"That's the maximum level of Life Magic you can give to Nana-chan right now, plus Athena-chan's title effect, right?" (Ai)

"Yeah. I want to prioritize things that will strengthen not just me, but the other girls as well." (Tatsuro)

"Mm, I think that's good." (Ai)

"Alright, I'll take them then." (Tatsuro)

So Tatsuro increased the levels of Life Magic and Lightning Magic, leaving him with 28 SP remaining.

|You have acquired the title "Master of Lightning".|

First, he called Nana to update her Life Magic factor, and he wanted to update Athena's Lightning Magic as well, but for that, he needed to undo the [True Form] and temporarily stop the lightning countermeasures.

Moreover, since Tatsuro would need to concentrate quite a bit during that time, it would mean completely removing the lightning countermeasures.

They were indoors, and lightning hadn't struck while they had been here so far. So perhaps there was no need to worry too much, but as Leah had said a little while ago, anything could happen in a dungeon.

Therefore, all members except Tatsuro and Athena were asked to maintain maximum vigilance during that time.

They updated as quickly as possible, and then Athena was asked to transform to her [True Form] again and return the lightning countermeasures.

"In the end, no lightning came. I guess it really doesn't strike here, and only comes when those clouds appear?"

"Well, that's fine if that's the case. We're just heading to the next level anyway, but I intend to stay alert until the very end, just in case."

"I guess it's better to worry unnecessarily than to have someone get hurt because we weren't careful."

"Yeah, that's right."

After exchanging a goodnight kiss, Tatsuro and the others fell asleep.

When Tatsuro opened his eyes, Ai's face was right in front of him in a close-up.

Her sleeping face was indescribably cute, so Tatsuro hugged her tightly and gently kissed her.

Then, even after Ai woke up, they continued to embrace and exchange kisses for a while before getting dressed and crawling out of the tent they had set up inside the stone building for sleeping.

After eating breakfast and perfectly equipping their gear, Jeanne, who had transformed to her [True Form], pulled up alongside the small island, and everyone boarded.

As they were about to pass through the reddish-brown donut-shaped area all at once and head to the next level - or so everyone thought - it happened.

The moment Jeanne's nose entered the airspace above the reddish-brown ground, lightning began to pour down from mid-air in rapid succession, with absolutely no warning that even Ai couldn't detect.

"───!?"

Fortunately, thanks to Athena's [True Form] which had transformed her dragon power into a smoke-like lightning attribute that could deflect attacks at any time, spread out above them, they escaped unharmed. But without it, there was a high possibility that someone would have been directly hit.

Everyone's eyes widened at this fact, and they looked up at the clear sky ahead where the lightning had now stopped.

"T-that was close..." (Ai)

"Good thing we took precautions, huh" (Tatsuro)

"As they say, better safe than sorry." (Ai)

"Really, that was dangerous. Like, seriously." (Tatsuro)

"We can't rule out the possibility of such things happening in the future, so we need to be careful." (Leah)

Everyone nodded at Leah's muttered words.

"Persistently showing us the pattern of lightning strikes, then dangling the goal right in front of us and waiting for us to let our guard down before betraying us with a final bang at the very end. As usual, dungeons have a nasty personality." (Tatsuro)

"Huh? But didn't you do something similar, Tatsuro? Like, with the bear and stuff." (Ai)

"—Ah. …Ah, as usual, dungeons do interesting things!" (Tatsuro)

"Fufu, oh you." (Ai)

Ai pressed her head against Tatsuro's chest, leaning back from behind where she was sitting, and grasped his hands that were around her waist.

Having safely avoided a sudden accident, Tatsuro and his companions finally plunged into the next level.

To be prepared for anything that might happen this time as well, Tatsuro had surrounded everyone with layers of barriers from the outside, composed of fire, water, wind, lightning, and earth.

And what they arrived at was a place of complete darkness.

While the others were momentarily confused by this, Tatsuro had no time for that.

"What!? The barrier is breaking!" (Tatsuro)

The moment they arrived here, an incredibly strong pressure, unlike anything they had ever felt before bore down on them from all 360 degrees.

Despite Tatsuro's resistance, the barrier composed of five elemental attributes was easily destroyed.

This is bad.

Everyone swallowed hard, unable to understand what was happening in this lightless place.

However, it seemed that the intense pressure didn't reach Tatsuro and the others, as nothing happened to them.

Wondering what it could be, Tatsuro, before using light magic, conducted a wide-range search with Cardina and understood the surprising situation they were in.

And at that moment, the system automatically activated and showed this display to all members:

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Deep Sea Resistance Mode will expire in [597 seconds].

60 seconds can be extended for (1) Skill Point consumption.

Do you wish to pay Skill Points?

Yes / No

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"What is this? What does it --" Ai stopped, realizing something felt off.

Her voice sounded strangely muffled when she spoke, and there was resistance in her limbs as if she were in water.

While she was pondering this, the seconds displayed on the system kept decreasing.

So Tatsuro conveyed his deductions from their current location and the information displayed here as concisely as possible to everyone.

"Listen carefully, everyone! It seems we're at the bottom of the sea, though we don't know how deep. From what's being displayed now, I think we're currently in one piece thanks to this system's deep sea resistance mode being applied to us. So we need to get to the surface as quickly as possible before this expires!" (Tatsuro)

"Eh!?" (Ai)

"Neigh!?" (Jeanne)

"Is that so!?" (Leah)

"The deep sea!?" (Nana)

"Seriously...?" (Athena)

Tatsuro's voice was amplified and transmitted using water magic to increase sound vibrations, but everyone's surprised voices were muffled and couldn't be heard clearly.

"When there are ten seconds left, pay the SP without hesitation! If you think it's dangerous before that, don't hesitate to extend it! The water pressure here is too strong for my magic to handle! So, Jeanne, use those big wings to scoop the water and head for the surface as quickly as possible!" (Tatsuro)

"Neigh!" (Jeanne)

Tatsuro quickly tied everyone to Jeanne with wires so they wouldn't separate, thinking it was fortunate that they had entered in the [True Form] state.

This time, they didn't know how deep they were.

So, Tatsuro thought it would be better to have Jeanne swim up on her own power, as she had inexhaustible stamina as long as she had magical power left, rather than risk running out of fuel by using magic recklessly to ascend.

"Jeanne. When I light up the area with light magic, monsters will probably attack us, but keep heading for the surface regardless. We'll handle that side of things!" (Tatsuro)

Jeanne nodded greatly upon hearing Tatsuro's voice, waiting for the area to be illuminated by light magic.

Tatsuro then used water magic to create fresh water and surrounded themselves with it.

While he couldn't block the water completely, it was possible to shield themselves from seawater with fresh water.

After confirming this was done, Tatsuro finally announced to everyone so they could hear:

"The moment I illuminate the area with light magic, there's a high probability that various monsters will attack us! Everyone, always be prepared to counterattack." (Tatsuro)

After confirming with search magic that everyone nodded, Tatsuro illuminated a wide area to light Jeanne's path as much as possible.

And as if this was the signal to start, Jeanne looked up and forcefully scooped the water with her large wings.