Level Eater

When Tatsuro examined the carcass of the togul, he found no poison in the stinger of its tail.

Moreover, if one looked closely at its body, it was emaciated and one could guess that it had been here for some days.

When he told the members of the group of the results, everyone thought of one single probability.

"Could it be that this was the guy who killed Elren-san?" (Ai)

"I guess from the state of things, I can't deny it, and I also can't rule it out either."

Even if they were able to identify the scars caused by a single race of monsters on the level of each monster using some kind of magic, the important thing was that the bodies had already been burned and buried properly.

Therefore, it was practically impossible to prove it.

"I don't mean to sound cold, but there's nothing we can probably do about this." (Leela)

"Yeah…" (Ai)

Although the mood was a bit down, they decided to change their mind after hearing Leela's words.

They continued to hunt the monsters that came out while having Cardina do the searching, and eventually, they returned to the cobblestone road.

"I hope we can use this next time." (Tatsuro)

"That's a lot of walking." (Ai)

When Tatsuro looked at the system's map and rechecked the path he had taken, he could see most of it without missing a thing.

"It's almost the time we concluded on, so let's call it a day." (Leela)

"Okay." (Tatsuro)

"Yes." (Ai)

As soon, as the three of them began to prepare to go home while following the cobblestone road, Cardina turned in the direction of the Amneri Great Forest and squealed impatiently.

"What is going on–" (Tatsuro)

Tatsuro immediately synchronized with Cardina's probing magic to search for information and found that a large number of monsters were rushing toward them and, by extension, toward the town's direction.

"Both of you should get ready for battle at once; a lot of monsters are coming this way!" (Tatsuro)

"Eh?" (Ai)

Although flustered, she realized by the look on Tatsuro's face that he was not joking and immediately began preparing for battle.

"Tatsuro. How many of them are coming?" (Ai)

"Too many to give an exact number, but I'd say an estimate of fifty monsters." (Tatsuro)

"That's a lot of work!" (Ai)

"Fifty!?" (Leela)

Tatsuro almost laughed at the differences in their replies, but he pulled a face and said, "This is no time for that." At that moment, Leela proposed to the two of them.

"Would you mind if I take the first shot at them?" (Leela)

"Sure, but what are you aiming at" (Tatsuro)

"I'd like to use a big spell, but it drains a lot of magic power, so I'd like you two to take care of the monsters that might still be standing." (Leela)

"I understand." (Tatsuro)

"Got it!" (Ai)

Then, concluding the strategy meeting, in which the details were quickly briefed out, the lead of the large monster army, finally came into view.

They were a group of beast-type, insect-type, and other types with no form of uniformity, but all of them were moving together in the same direction. It was as if they were running away from something.

If they did not hold them here, it was easy to imagine all of them assaulting the outer walls of the town.

With no sight of any reinforcements nearby, they had no choice but to break out of this situation with the few members present.

"Please stay out of my way!" (Leela)

"Yes" (Ai)

"Okay" (Tatsuro)

Leela quickly prepared and gathered her mana, It was an overflowing level of mana that was astonishing even when seen through Tatsuro's [Mana Perception]

Meanwhile, the group of monsters continued to approach, and when they were within 10 meters away from them, Leela unleashed her enormous power.

"Ice World." (Leela)

As Leela muttered those words, the entire area froze, and a silver world was spreading out only in that corner.

They had heard what kind of magic it was, so they were not that surprised, but the scene was truly breathtaking. Most of the monsters froze and died from it, but some still struggled to survive.

The two of them saw this and immediately took action.

"Here we go!" (Tatsuro)

"Alright!" (Ai)

With Tatsuro's call as a signal, they ran past Leela. However, beyond that point, the ground had also frozen, reducing their maneuverability, so Ai jumped up with Tatsuro in her arms, as they had decided beforehand, and then jumped up twice more.

Then all that was left was to allow gravity to take its role, but this time Tatsuro produced a board and the two dexterously climbed onto it and flew through the air.

Therefore, they brought down death from the sky with Tatsuro's laser and Ai's whip.

However, only one monster among them survived the attack.

It had a body of about five meters, three bullheads like a Minotaur, six hands on its body, one pair on each side, holding a great axe, a great shield, and a great spear from above, and two thick, flexible legs.

Furthermore, the surface of its body seems to be covered with flames, which makes Leela's magic less effective. The ice around it is melting.

"That one seems exceptional." (Ai)

"Yeah, the attack itself looks bad, but most of all, the way he used that shield." (Ai)

"Yes. It does not just take our attacks head-on, but he takes them at the perfect angle. We can learn a lot from this." (Tatsuro)

"I don't have time for this… but incoming!" (Ai)

Tatsuro saw the magic gathering in the mouths of the three bullheads in [Mana Perception], and he surged forward to take his distance.

Then, each of the heads shot out a pillar of fire from their mouths and was combined into one larger and longer pillar, burning down the place where the two of them had just been.

"I can't believe it could do that." (Tatsuro)

"Our opponent has an ironclad shield, an axe for close range. A spear for medium range, and a flamethrower for long range, what shall we do?" (Ai)

"I'd love to use the Level Eater." (Tatsuro)

"That would require getting close to that bullhead." (Ai)

Tatsuro nodded his head in agreement and skated his board toward the bullhead creature, through manipulating his wind magic. The creature, who had been looking at them seamlessly, yells again and readies its weapons.

Tatsuro takes the trajectory of plunging straight at it. The bull-headed creature raised the corner of his mouth and let out a squeal that seemed to taunt them.

It then exaggeratedly swung both of its axes at them, with the two spears attached simultaneously, since they were running at it.

However, just as it was about to hit them, Ai kicked in the air and moved horizontally with the board remaining in place, dodging all four weapons. She then kicked in the air once more to get right next to the bull's head.

A shield was poised there, but this time the objective was to use [Level Eater]. Tatsuro blew out a black ball that he had already prepared in his mouth and the black sphere hit its target.

"Did it work?" (Ai)

"Yeah, it hit perfectly!" (Tatsuro)

——————————–

Level: 44

Skills: [Flame Wrapping Lv.7] [Flame throwing Lv.5] [Axe Arts Lv.8]

[Shield Arts Lv.7] [Spear Arts Lv.5] [Frenzy Lv.3]

[Parry Lv.3] [Body Strengthening Lv.5]

——————————–

"It's pretty strong. Weaker than the Golden Crystal Bear, but it's got more dexterous skills than that one." (Tatsuro)

"If it is a level where you can compare it to the Golden Crystal bear, then it must be really strong" (Ai)

"Then I'll get close again and take it all at once, can I leave the evasion to you?" (Tatsuro)

"I got it!" (Ai)

Then they turn again and close the distance to the monster.

It then released a flamethrower, which Ai also avoided by kicking it in the air, and then continued to move around in all directions to disturb them.

Incidentally, Ai has been using the [Air Walk] skill many times in a row since earlier.

This is essential because only several leaps can be used per level.

Strictly speaking, however, if both feet touch something you have landed, so if you kick in the air with your feet still on the board, the number of kicks will reset the limit automatically.

Therefore, as long as she had the energy (Ki), she could kick indefinitely.

Tatsuro, who had entrusted Ai with evasion in such a backhanded way, used magic, being careful not to let either of them fall, and used [Level Eater] to reduce the creature's level. Because he was doing this at close range, his efficiency was good.

Then, visibly, the movement of the bullhead monster became slower and slower, and the brilliance of the technique was as if it had disappeared, while Ai's leeway increased proportionally.

And,

——————————–

Level: 37

Skills: [Flame Wrapping Lv.0] [Flame throwing Lv.0] [Axe Arts Lv.0]

[Shield Arts Lv.0] [Spear Arts Lv.0] [Frenzy Lv.0]

[Parry Lv.0] [Body Strengthening Lv.0]

——————————–

Just as Tatsuro was sucking up all of that, the bullhead suddenly threw all the axes, shields, and spears in their hands at them.

The feeling of suddenly being unable to use its skills and losing muscle strength instinctively terrified it.

However, to the two people who did not know this, it looked like an odd behavior, and Ai, amused, kicked the sky and dodged the weapons thrown at them

In the meantime, however, the bull-headed ran away as fast as it could toward Leela.

"Oh, no" "Ah"

The distance between Tatsuro and the bullhead became so great that it became hard to keep the [level eater] connected, and Tatsuro gave up on sucking out the rest of the level and swallowed the black ball for sustenance.

"We are going after it" (Tatsuro)

"Okay" (Ai)

They rapidly closed the gap, moving faster than the creature.

The bullhead noticed this and, perhaps realizing that it could not escape, turned back towards them and attacked head-on with all six of its arms.

However, such amateur punching is no match for Ai.

"Tatsuro put me down." (Ai)

"Okay." (Tatsuro)

Immediately slowing the board down and lowering it towards the ground, Ai jumped down one meter above the ground.

She channeled a lot of Ki energy into the jeweled sword, changing its color to an extremely colorful hue.

"Dieeee!" (Ai)

"Haaa!"

They clashed head-on.

Ai using [Body strengthening] swung her sword with blinding speed, cutting off all the arms.

"Bumooooooo!"

Confused by this, it turns around and tries to run away again at this stage, but.

"Hey, come here." (Tatsuro)

"Bumooooooo!"

Almost unnoticed, Tatsuro was standing behind the bull's head, and with a mixed magical attack of wind and earth, he created a large tornado filled with sharp stone fragments and directed it at the creature.

The magic of the tornado had pierced its entire body with stones, and yet it managed to jump out of the tornado in a near-death state, only to find Ai there with her jeweled sword raised like an executioner on a decapitation table.

"Too bad!" (Ai)

"Bu…"

With a single flash of her sword, she cut off the base of all three necks at once.

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