Level Eater
Chapter 192

As Tatsuro and the others approached, the three-meter-class centipede monster was struggling to escape from Tatsuro's magic [Adhesive Water], thrashing about despite having three holes pierced and its back stuck to another back, yet still appearing quite energetic.

However, when they came close enough to be certain it couldn't escape and felt at ease, the monster once again unleashed a flamethrower without learning its lesson.

But this time, Tatsuro and Cardina easily guarded against it by creating an anti-magic barrier together.

Seemingly understanding that the flamethrower was ineffective, the monster began to concentrate its fighting spirit on its sharp mandibles.

"It's concentrating fighting spirit in its mandibles. It looks like it's planning something." (Tatsuro)

"I'm going─────ha!" (Athena)

"Jiiiiiii"

Athena rushed ahead and, before the monster could do anything, took out a large scythe from her [Item Box] and struck the monster's head from underneath, forcing its mandible tip towards its own back.

At that moment, a sickle-shaped energy slash was released from its mandible and bounced off its own back.

During this time, Tatsuro arrived right beside it and applied [Level Eater].

-----------------

Level: 48

Skills: [Cannibalistic Evolution], [Bite Lv.6], [Fire Resistance Lv.8]

[Flamethrower Lv.8], [Sickle Whirl Lv.6]

-----------------

([Cannibalistic Evolution], huh. So it grew by eating its companions. But since it was almost defeated, it only evolved to this extent. Still, its skills are quite high, and its level is decent. If there were over a hundred of them, how much would it have evolved...? Well, I'd defeat them before they finish eating everything.)

While thinking this, Tatsuro first began extracting the [Sickle Whirl] that couldn't be countered by anti-magic.

(Even though it was supposedly the weakest arrow, it was still a strengthened bow strike. Yet it deflected the attack. I thought it might have a hardening skill like Jeanne... but it was its own ability. That's the most surprising part.)

-----------------

Level: 48

Skills: [Cannibalistic Evolution], [Bite Lv.0], [Fire Resistance Lv.0]

[Flamethrower Lv.0], [Sickle Whirl Lv.0]

-----------------

"Alright, done. Right now, only Nana or Athena can level up. I've left the level, so one of you finish it off." (Tatsuro)

"I already defeated many with poison magic, so I'll leave it to Athena. Besides, She has the lowest level." (Nana)

"Thanks, Nana-nee. Then I'll take care of it." (Athena)

As Athena was about to approach the giant centipede that had lost its fire resistance and turned colorless, Leah spoke to its back.

"If possible, could you defeat it while keeping the outer shell intact? It seems like it would make good material." (Tatsuro)

"Is that so? What about the contents of the shell?" (Athena)

"I don't need that." (Tatsuro)

"Got it. Is that okay, Dad?" (Athena)

"Of course." (Tatsuro)

Then Athena approached the centipede's face, which was immobilized and had no proper means of attack. She transformed raising an amber-colored smoky dragon power from the tattoos on her hands and feet, and then introduced that smoke into its body through her mouth.

At this stage, it was no different from just smoke entering the body. The monster tried to exhale it, looking breathless, but the attack wasn't deadly.

"Baan" (Athena)

"Jiii───"

But by wrapping around every organ inside the body and then changing to lightning attribute, everything would be scorched by electric shock.

The centipede-type monster died, exhaling a burnt smell from its mouth, its insides burned by lightning.

"You could do something like that, huh?" (Ai)

"But this smoke is part of my body, you know. I don't really want to use it like this." (Athena)

"You might have a point." (Ai)

While Ai was responding, watching the amber dragon power smoke come out of the monster's mouth, Tatsuro stored the monster's corpse in the [Infinite Item Field].

Then, while exploring with Cardina using detection magic, Tatsuro noticed that a part of the wall on the right side, in the first section, specifically in the cave's right corner from the front, was made of a different material.

Curious about this, they all decided to head there.

After entering the cave and walking about ten meters, looking at the right wall, they indeed noticed a section that was slightly lighter in color compared to the surrounding area.

"Is it here? There's nothing special, so why is the material different?" (Tatsuro)

Tatsuro and Cardina used a combination of earth and resolution magic to explore the interior of the cave wall but found nothing unusual.

As they tilted their heads in confusion, Leah used [All-Seeing Eye] to solve the mystery.

"It seems to be the entrance to a hidden room." (Leah)

"But as far as I investigated, there's nothing if we dig here, right?" (Tatsuro)

"Yes, that should be the case. Right now, there's nothing special, but── could you give me some random stick?" (Leah)

"A stick? ── Is this okay?" (Tatsuro)

"Yes, that's fine." (Leah)

When Tatsuro pulled out a monster bone from the [Infinite Item Field] and handed it over, Leah began tracing the area with different material.

As he traced it, the area began to glow softly, and once he completed a full circle, a door appeared.

The door was locked with a large padlock, and the following text was written on its surface:

"How many legs does Musti have? Touch the door and answer. What is Musti?"

"Since it's asking about the number of legs, isn't it probably the name of that centipede monster?" (Ai)

"Can Leah's eyes not identify what Musti is?" (Tatsuro)

"Names are just arbitrarily given by third parties, so I don't know. But I can tell you the number of legs of that centipede-type monster." (Leah)

"Then tell me, how many legs did it have?" (Ai)

"It had 31 pairs, so 62 legs." (Leah)

Following Leah's information, Ai touched the door and answered "62!", and the door disappeared.

"Huh? It vanished. I just said 62, right?" (Ai)

"Yes. No doubt. And Leah's 62 legs are also correct, right?" (Tatsuro)

"Yes, that's correct." (Leah)

"Pewee" (Cardina) (Cardina)

"It seems another similar place has appeared." (Tatsuro)

"If you get it wrong, it seems the location moves." (Leah)

"Now I'm really curious about what's inside the hidden room!" (Ai)

They then entered the second section on the right wall, the third cave from the left of the front, and walked to the dead end.

There, they discovered a section with the same different material at the innermost wall and made the door appear in the same manner.

"The question is the same." (Leah)

"Considering this layer, if we're talking about a monster with legs other than the centipede──" (Tatsuro)

"The one I defeated!" (Athena)

"Right. It was insect-like and probably had 6 legs." (Ai)

When Ai touched the door and answered "6!", the large padlock fell off, and the door slowly opened.

Ai took a step back and stood next to Tatsuro to observe. A completely dark small room appeared beyond.

First, they confirmed it with detection magic and created a light sphere with light magic to illuminate the interior.

In the light, a rectangular silver box large enough for an adult man to lie in was placed inside.

"There's no person inside, right......" (Ai)

"......There seem to be no living creatures." (Tatsuro)

"The box itself doesn't seem to have any traps." (Leah)

"Then I'll open it." (Athena)

Since Tatsuro's [Spirit Eye] and Leah's [All-Seeing Eye] didn't detect anything suspicious, Athena volunteered to open the box.

Standing to the side to avoid anything jumping out, she opened the lid to find it packed with sealed triangular flasks.

Confirming there was nothing dangerous, they examined the contents.

The triangular flasks contained liquids - red, blue, and transparent.

"This red liquid is an item that recovers fighting spirit and physical fatigue when consumed. It's recommended to take up to 3 sips, and the expiration is one week after opening the seal." (Leah)

"It has an expiration date. What about the blue and transparent ones?" (Tatsuro)

"The blue one is effective for magical and mental fatigue, and the transparent one seems effective against various abnormal conditions like poison, sleep, petrification, and confusion. The usage is almost the same as the red one, but the transparent liquid can last up to a month after opening." (Leah)

"There were some scary abnormal conditions like petrification... Well, never mind. In other words, it's a recovery item set. If you found these in a situation where you're surrounded by monsters and exhausted, you'd be ecstatic." (Ai)

"It's like a perfectly tailored treasure chest." (Tatsuro)

Tatsuro thought that this might have been made precisely for such a purpose.

And about this door's puzzle.

The question was clearly about the centipede, but they were asked about a monster with an easily countable number of legs.

If they didn't know the centipede's leg count, it might prompt the dungeon challengers to consider the existence of other monsters.

This would automatically provide a hint to discovering the core.

By finding a small flying monster and opening this door to recover, they could then slowly attempt to destroy the monster-generating object.

"It seems dungeons are indeed designed to be conquerable." (Tatsuro)

"Indeed." (Leah)

Leah seemed to have reached the same conclusion and agreed with Tatsuro's words.

They stored the box's contents in Tatsuro's [Infinite Item Field] and distributed some emergency recovery items to each of them.

"Huh? There's something else here." (Leah)

"Oh, it's money." (Tatsuro)

Tatsuro picked up three coins from the box's bottom and checked them, each coin containing one million.

He suddenly realized that they weren't particularly short on money, and wondered if Leah might currently be penniless.

"Leah. Forgive me for asking directly, but how much do you have right now?" (Tatsuro)

"Eh? I don't have a single Shis." (Leah)

"Then let me deposit this for you. Having zero funds makes me uneasy, and you've been making various things for us, so please accept it without hesitation." (Tatsuro)

"Haa. Then I'll gratefully accept────wait, THREE MILLION SHIS!?" (Leah)

Leah looked at Tatsuro and Ai with her bright red eyes wide open, wondering if this was really okay, as she had thought it was only around 30,000 Shis.

"We have golden crystals and such, so don't worry." (Tatsuro)

"Besides, we were able to obtain this smoothly thanks to you. It's fine." (Ai)

"O─────kay. Then I'll accept it." (Leah)

And so Leah's funds became 3 million Shis, and after taking a break and fully recovering, Tatsuro and the others proceeded to the next layer.

As Tatsuro and the others approached, the three-meter-class centipede monster was struggling to escape from Tatsuro's magic [Adhesive Water], thrashing about despite having three holes pierced and its back stuck to another back, yet still appearing quite energetic.

However, when they came close enough to be certain it couldn't escape and felt at ease, the monster once again unleashed a flamethrower without learning its lesson.

But this time, Tatsuro and Cardina easily guarded against it by creating an anti-magic barrier together.

Seemingly understanding that the flamethrower was ineffective, the monster began to concentrate its fighting spirit on its sharp mandibles.

"It's concentrating fighting spirit in its mandibles. It looks like it's planning something." (Tatsuro)

"I'm going─────ha!" (Athena)

"Jiiiiiii"

Athena rushed ahead and, before the monster could do anything, took out a large scythe from her [Item Box] and struck the monster's head from underneath, forcing its mandible tip towards its own back.

At that moment, a sickle-shaped energy slash was released from its mandible and bounced off its own back.

During this time, Tatsuro arrived right beside it and applied [Level Eater].

-----------------

Level: 48

Skills: [Cannibalistic Evolution], [Bite Lv.6], [Fire Resistance Lv.8]

[Flamethrower Lv.8], [Sickle Whirl Lv.6]

-----------------

([Cannibalistic Evolution], huh. So it grew by eating its companions. But since it was almost defeated, it only evolved to this extent. Still, its skills are quite high, and its level is decent. If there were over a hundred of them, how much would it have evolved...? Well, I'd defeat them before they finish eating everything.)

While thinking this, Tatsuro first began extracting the [Sickle Whirl] that couldn't be countered by anti-magic.

(Even though it was supposedly the weakest arrow, it was still a strengthened bow strike. Yet it deflected the attack. I thought it might have a hardening skill like Jeanne... but it was its own ability. That's the most surprising part.)

-----------------

Level: 48

Skills: [Cannibalistic Evolution], [Bite Lv.0], [Fire Resistance Lv.0]

[Flamethrower Lv.0], [Sickle Whirl Lv.0]

-----------------

"Alright, done. Right now, only Nana or Athena can level up. I've left the level, so one of you finish it off." (Tatsuro)

"I already defeated many with poison magic, so I'll leave it to Athena. Besides, She has the lowest level." (Nana)

"Thanks, Nana-nee. Then I'll take care of it." (Athena)

As Athena was about to approach the giant centipede that had lost its fire resistance and turned colorless, Leah spoke to its back.

"If possible, could you defeat it while keeping the outer shell intact? It seems like it would make good material." (Tatsuro)

"Is that so? What about the contents of the shell?" (Athena)

"I don't need that." (Tatsuro)

"Got it. Is that okay, Dad?" (Athena)

"Of course." (Tatsuro)

Then Athena approached the centipede's face, which was immobilized and had no proper means of attack. She transformed raising an amber-colored smoky dragon power from the tattoos on her hands and feet, and then introduced that smoke into its body through her mouth.

At this stage, it was no different from just smoke entering the body. The monster tried to exhale it, looking breathless, but the attack wasn't deadly.

"Baan" (Athena)

"Jiii───"

But by wrapping around every organ inside the body and then changing to lightning attribute, everything would be scorched by electric shock.

The centipede-type monster died, exhaling a burnt smell from its mouth, its insides burned by lightning.

"You could do something like that, huh?" (Ai)

"But this smoke is part of my body, you know. I don't really want to use it like this." (Athena)

"You might have a point." (Ai)

While Ai was responding, watching the amber dragon power smoke come out of the monster's mouth, Tatsuro stored the monster's corpse in the [Infinite Item Field].

Then, while exploring with Cardina using detection magic, Tatsuro noticed that a part of the wall on the right side, in the first section, specifically in the cave's right corner from the front, was made of a different material.

Curious about this, they all decided to head there.

After entering the cave and walking about ten meters, looking at the right wall, they indeed noticed a section that was slightly lighter in color compared to the surrounding area.

"Is it here? There's nothing special, so why is the material different?" (Tatsuro)

Tatsuro and Cardina used a combination of earth and resolution magic to explore the interior of the cave wall but found nothing unusual.

As they tilted their heads in confusion, Leah used [All-Seeing Eye] to solve the mystery.

"It seems to be the entrance to a hidden room." (Leah)

"But as far as I investigated, there's nothing if we dig here, right?" (Tatsuro)

"Yes, that should be the case. Right now, there's nothing special, but── could you give me some random stick?" (Leah)

"A stick? ── Is this okay?" (Tatsuro)

"Yes, that's fine." (Leah)

When Tatsuro pulled out a monster bone from the [Infinite Item Field] and handed it over, Leah began tracing the area with different material.

As he traced it, the area began to glow softly, and once he completed a full circle, a door appeared.

The door was locked with a large padlock, and the following text was written on its surface:

"How many legs does Musti have? Touch the door and answer. What is Musti?"

"Since it's asking about the number of legs, isn't it probably the name of that centipede monster?" (Ai)

"Can Leah's eyes not identify what Musti is?" (Tatsuro)

"Names are just arbitrarily given by third parties, so I don't know. But I can tell you the number of legs of that centipede-type monster." (Leah)

"Then tell me, how many legs did it have?" (Ai)

"It had 31 pairs, so 62 legs." (Leah)

Following Leah's information, Ai touched the door and answered "62!", and the door disappeared.

"Huh? It vanished. I just said 62, right?" (Ai)

"Yes. No doubt. And Leah's 62 legs are also correct, right?" (Tatsuro)

"Yes, that's correct." (Leah)

"Pewee" (Cardina) (Cardina)

"It seems another similar place has appeared." (Tatsuro)

"If you get it wrong, it seems the location moves." (Leah)

"Now I'm really curious about what's inside the hidden room!" (Ai)

They then entered the second section on the right wall, the third cave from the left of the front, and walked to the dead end.

There, they discovered a section with the same different material at the innermost wall and made the door appear in the same manner.

"The question is the same." (Leah)

"Considering this layer, if we're talking about a monster with legs other than the centipede──" (Tatsuro)

"The one I defeated!" (Athena)

"Right. It was insect-like and probably had 6 legs." (Ai)

When Ai touched the door and answered "6!", the large padlock fell off, and the door slowly opened.

Ai took a step back and stood next to Tatsuro to observe. A completely dark small room appeared beyond.

First, they confirmed it with detection magic and created a light sphere with light magic to illuminate the interior.

In the light, a rectangular silver box large enough for an adult man to lie in was placed inside.

"There's no person inside, right......" (Ai)

"......There seem to be no living creatures." (Tatsuro)

"The box itself doesn't seem to have any traps." (Leah)

"Then I'll open it." (Athena)

Since Tatsuro's [Spirit Eye] and Leah's [All-Seeing Eye] didn't detect anything suspicious, Athena volunteered to open the box.

Standing to the side to avoid anything jumping out, she opened the lid to find it packed with sealed triangular flasks.

Confirming there was nothing dangerous, they examined the contents.

The triangular flasks contained liquids - red, blue, and transparent.

"This red liquid is an item that recovers fighting spirit and physical fatigue when consumed. It's recommended to take up to 3 sips, and the expiration is one week after opening the seal." (Leah)

"It has an expiration date. What about the blue and transparent ones?" (Tatsuro)

"The blue one is effective for magical and mental fatigue, and the transparent one seems effective against various abnormal conditions like poison, sleep, petrification, and confusion. The usage is almost the same as the red one, but the transparent liquid can last up to a month after opening." (Leah)

"There were some scary abnormal conditions like petrification... Well, never mind. In other words, it's a recovery item set. If you found these in a situation where you're surrounded by monsters and exhausted, you'd be ecstatic." (Ai)

"It's like a perfectly tailored treasure chest." (Tatsuro)

Tatsuro thought that this might have been made precisely for such a purpose.

And about this door's puzzle.

The question was clearly about the centipede, but they were asked about a monster with an easily countable number of legs.

If they didn't know the centipede's leg count, it might prompt the dungeon challengers to consider the existence of other monsters.

This would automatically provide a hint to discovering the core.

By finding a small flying monster and opening this door to recover, they could then slowly attempt to destroy the monster-generating object.

"It seems dungeons are indeed designed to be conquerable." (Tatsuro)

"Indeed." (Leah)

Leah seemed to have reached the same conclusion and agreed with Tatsuro's words.

They stored the box's contents in Tatsuro's [Infinite Item Field] and distributed some emergency recovery items to each of them.

"Huh? There's something else here." (Leah)

"Oh, it's money." (Tatsuro)

Tatsuro picked up three coins from the box's bottom and checked them, each coin containing one million.

He suddenly realized that they weren't particularly short on money, and wondered if Leah might currently be penniless.

"Leah. Forgive me for asking directly, but how much do you have right now?" (Tatsuro)

"Eh? I don't have a single Shis." (Leah)

"Then let me deposit this for you. Having zero funds makes me uneasy, and you've been making various things for us, so please accept it without hesitation." (Tatsuro)

"Haa. Then I'll gratefully accept────wait, THREE MILLION SHIS!?" (Leah)

Leah looked at Tatsuro and Ai with her bright red eyes wide open, wondering if this was really okay, as she had thought it was only around 30,000 Shis.

"We have golden crystals and such, so don't worry." (Tatsuro)

"Besides, we were able to obtain this smoothly thanks to you. It's fine." (Ai)

"O─────kay. Then I'll accept it." (Leah)

And so Leah's funds became 3 million Shis, and after taking a break and fully recovering, Tatsuro and the others proceeded to the next layer.