Level Eater Chapter 8

With the soft rustling of the water, Tatsuro and Ai walked on a white gravel road alongside the river. Already walking for about two hours, the scenery was still just filled with nature and no change. On the way till now, they were on alert in case of strange creatures or monsters such as the caterpillars that attacked them, but nothing, in particular, was noticed. Gradually, drowsiness and fatigue hit them.

"Ahhh, I'm sleepy."

"Fuaaaaa~ Same."

After Ai yawned, Tatsuro followed with a yawn. He took out his smartphone and checked the time. The number on the display screen showed that it was midnight. But looking up, the sun was right about, and it seemed to be very bright, just around noon.

"Is there a time difference in this world?"

"When we first came, I thought the sun was setting, who knew it was actually just rising."

This time, they both yawned at the same time.

"It's about to find a place and set camp for the day. If we sleep now we can just travel at night."

"Yeah, It would be safer to set camp now since it shouldn't be likely that those caterpy monsters will attack in the day. It will be dangerous to sleep at night."

"Caterpy? Oh, the caterpillars..."

"I didn't know the names so I just gave it a nickname."

"A nickname...right..."

Tatsuro was speechless as he looked at Ai walking with total self-confidence. He continued on walking while at the same time practising the magic he had learned. Now, without relying on the skill, Tatsuro was able to create spheres of each attribute magic. He also practised combining and mixing magic.

"You seem to be quite happy."

"Oh, I'll show off some new magic soon."

"NEW MAGIC!?"

"Ah, it's called mixed magic, created by mixing different attribute spells."

"Woww seems interesting, I'm looking forward to it."

"Leave it to me."

By the way, the only reason why Tatsuro knows about mixed magic due to, no, thanks to the attributes of light and darkness. At first, Tatsuro though that both of these magic attributes could release extra powerful attacks due to a large number of SP's required. However, when he acquired the attributes, they only manifested of the materialistic substances of light and darkness, not having an aggressive factor to the magic itself. So he asked 'help' for what exactly these attributes were used for. The answer to that was "Mixed Magic."

Apparently, light an darkness magic was able to create a wide variety of possibilities, such as strengthening or altering certain properties of other attributes and combining with them. Therefore, Tatsuro started practising mixed magic so that neither of the two attributes was wasted. Thirty minutes later, Tatsuro had begun entertaining Ai as he created a sphere and tried to grasp the feeling of what had begun to be mixed magic. Ten meters ahead of Tatsuro, strange things started to appear, growing.

"What is that?"

"Huh? What?"

"A girl doesn't say "Uge."

That 'Uge' was growing indefinitely between the trees in the forest. It was a two-meter large flower bud. The colour was a shocking pink and fluorescent yellow with a blue mottled pattern. Its red and black leaves and stems grew slightly on the surface on the floor. At the tip grew what Ai described as "Uge," tentacles with a tip of green and yellow coming out of the petals moving with a slimy sensation.

"That things nickname is 'Uge' confirmed."

"Ahh, even with that name, this thing doesn't look that big."

"That's right, but why do you seem unhappy."

"Well, if possible, I didn't really want to know such a thing was there..."

"Me too."

Tilting his head, Tatsuro thought why English, but more he was concentrated on the immediate matter. The problem at the moment was that if they continued to proceed, they must pa.s.s 'uge'. Fortunately, just beside the river, they would be able to pa.s.s with a few meters from the forest. However, it was still a mystery if they were able to pa.s.s safely. First of all, it was hard to tell how far that tentacle could have extended or whether it had a long-range attack such as flying seeds or something like that.

"Therefore, I'll leave this to you Sensei"

"Throwing stones!!"

"Exactly that, but this time it's a little different."

Tatsuro smiled with a grin, as Ai also replied with a smile and a grin.

"So?"

"I'm going to try to make a throwing weapon using a little magic."

"Wowow, specifically?"

"Imagine something like a frisbee."

"Hmm, Frisbee. My "Throwing" is also Lv. 6 so I think I most things can hit."

"Ah, all I have to do is make it."

Tatsuro then gathered some flat stones from the gravel on the floor.

"Do you need any help?"

"Oh, help me collect flat stones like these ones."

"Got it."

In ten minutes, they had collected enough stones. Tatsuro sat in front of the stack. Ai stood beside and looked as she was deeply interested.

"First, let's put these stones into a disc shape."

"Mhmmhm."

After saying that, he put his hand on the mountain of stones and focused. He consciously activated "Earth Magic Lv. 1" without relying on the skill. The stones then all stuck together, forming what seemed like a crushed dorayaki, in about three minutes, it formed to be about 40 centimetres in diameter and a rough surface.

"It's a crushed frisbee."

"Hm, this is the limit of Lv. 1."

Then, he made three more with the remaining stone and piled them up at the feet of Ai. To Tatsuro, it was very heavy, but for Ai, with the overwhelmingly high physical stats, she held it as if it had the weight of styrofoam.

"So, it's ok if I throw this right?"

"Ah, before that, can I try using 'Level Eater' at this distance?"

Then, with an acknowledging gesture from Ai, Tatsuro activated 'Level Eater'. When a black sphere appeared in his mouth, the same way as when they were fighting the caterpillars, he tried to blow it a bit farther with more strength. However, as usual, it moved towards the target but disappeared at around what seemed to be 10 meters away. Tatsuro tried to focus on it and not lose it. From there, the longer the distance, the harder it seemed to maintain, and the harder it seemed for him to breathe. The black sphere finally went in contact with the 'Uge'. When he concentrated, the information did not immediately transfer to Tatsuro's mind, it came with a bit of a delay, probably due to the distance.

Level: 14

Skills: "Disguise Lv.5" "Tentacle strength increase Lv.3" "Strong acid Lv.3"

"Drilling Lv.3" "Threading Lv.1" "Biting Lv.5"

("Threading Lv.1 ??!!?!?! "Digging Lv. 3" is also somewhat concerning. Also, it has "Strong Acid Lv. 3" and "Biting Lv. 5." It this thing really a plant? Also, if it has "Disguise Lv. 5" why doesn't it disguise itself as a more gentle flower. Screw it, I'm gonna take it all.)

Level: 1

Skills: "Disguise Lv.0" "Tentacle strength increase Lv.0" "Strong acid Lv.0"

"Drilling Lv.0" "Threading Lv.0" "Biting Lv. 0"

(Finally, it's finished. The process is quite hard due to the distance... But still, let's get close when it is absolutely necessary.)

Tatsuro, who was several times for fatigued than their battle against the caterpillars, swallowed the black sphere back into his mouth revised his way of using 'Level Eater' for future references. Then, for some reason, the creatures petals gradually opened. The tentacles uncomfortably touched the ground and moved with a sticky, slick surface as it came into full view.

"Ewewewewewewewewewewewewwwwww"

Ai, who was utterly disgusted from the scene was spinning around and rubbing down some mired skin. On the other hand, Tatsuro lost all his strength from the long-distance use of 'Level Eater' and he could not move at all.

"Tatusro, are you ok??"

"Ah, yeah...I'm alright...but...just...tired...standing...I...can..."

"OK, Tatsuro can just rest there. Watch me go and crush the 'uge' out of this world!"

With Tatsuro on the floor breathing heavily, Ai readied her pose, took a deep breath, and threw herself at the creature. She threw a stone which produced a buzzing sound, sifting through the air cutting right into the middle of several tentacles in a bundle. At this time, she heard what seemed to be a screaming sound with a shrouded voice, and some purple liquid spouting from the cut.

"Kyaaa!!!"

She immediately threw a second stone while making a weird shout. This time, the stone cut and hit the bottom of the creature. This one also cleanly cut off some tentacles from the base.

"I did it!!"

As she thought it was done, a tentacle that had been cut off rose up and down as the ground shuddered. A red-black spider nearing three meters in height growled, "GURAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

"Eh, seriously...?"

Showing a large flower and pedal attached to the back, the spider immediately seemed to be the original body of 'Uge'.

Then, the giant spider, who was looking around the area, was quickly captured by Tatsuro and Ai. Tatsuro noticed that he was not likely to move. This was bad, as he looked at Ai, who was standing in front of him holding up her stubby hands.

"RUN!!!" Tatsuro tried to shout, but before that, it was covered by Ai's and the spider's voice.

"DYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

"GURAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

With that shout, Ai threw the stone in her left hand like a bowling ball. Then, with perfect accuracy, the stone flew towards the base of the spider's legs and cut off two of its feet. It seemed that the spider was unable to cope with the pain and the legs that were chopped off and lost balance. This was when Ai also started running. The spider, who had lost two of his feet, still had not lost hostility. As it looked up and started to move with its other legs, right in front of it was Ai, jumping right towards it.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

She struck down with the stone in her right hand onto the spider's head. The spider, which stopped moving because it wasn't able to understand the current situation.

The spider screeched a horrible noise, and its head cracked open.