Chapter 4: The Way of the Level Eater

Chapter 4: The Way of the Level Eater

With Ai fighting right behind him, Tatsuro could still hear the deafening sounds of stones exploding.

Considering his next move, the caterpillar in front of him had already shortened the gap to 2 meters. Realising that he was in a bad situation, Tatsuro wanted to increase the distance between him and his enemy when all of a sudden, the caterpillar came to a complete halt.

" What now?" (Tatsuro)

Puzzled by the sudden change in behavior, Tatsuro was left dumbfounded. The caterpillar, however, did not wait for him. Facing Tatsuro, it raised its head, tilting it slightly backward while opening its mouth.

"This is bad" (Tatsuro)

Feeling the chills on his spine, Tatsuro quickly jumped aside to avoid the attack's trajectory.

"So that's [Thread Weaving]!" (Tatsuro)

It was fortunate that he could learn his enemy's methods of attack from [Level Eater]. If he didn't, he wasn't sure whether he could have dodged that attack or not.

"GIGIGIGIIII"

Angry about its thread being evaded, the caterpillar started scattering more around the area.

"There, there, and there! Your skill activation sequence is too big and predictable." (Tatsuro)

Tatsuro evaded the threads by a wide margin.

In contrast to Ai, he had good reflexes and motor skills. Having seen it once already, Tatsuro was confident that he could dodge its thread without the stats correction once he saw the wind-up action for [Thread Weaving].

"GIII"

Realizing that its thread attacks were ineffective, the caterpillar stopped using it and went back to closing the distance between them.

(This time, it'll use either [Body Slam] or [Bite]) He thought.

From the names alone, predicting the skills' effect is as easy as reading a nursery rhyme. As such, Tatsuro focused on and scrutinized every single move that the caterpillar made. Drawing an imaginary circle with the caterpillar in the center, Tatsuro tried to discern the attack range of the insect.

However, the caterpillar halted its movement once again.

"Another thread?" (Tatsuro).

Though the caterpillar tilted its head backward again, it also curled its body to a shape resembling a shrimp. Quickly accelerating forward with its curled body, it violently shot toward Tatsuro like a spring.

"Haa That was fast." (Tatsuro)

This attack, too, was easily dodged by Tatsuro. Seeing the preceding sequence of moves, he was able to accurately predict that it would use [Body Slam].

(It's there! Alright, let's try the threads) He thought

Concentrating on that particular skill, black smoke rose from the caterpillar's body and gathered inside Tatsuro's mouth once more.

Level: 1

Skill(s): [Body Slam Lv 2], [Thread Weaving Lv 0], [Bite Lv 3]

(Alright, [Thread Weaving] is now Lv 0. Now, Mom has always told me to never leave leftovers!) He thought

Once the black fumes stopped gathering, there should be nothing more left to devour. Even so, Tatsuro wanted to be sure as he checked the enemy's status again.

Level: 1

Skill(s): [Body Slam Lv 0], [Thread Weaving Lv 0], [Bite Lv 0]

"Nice!" (Tatsuro)

After confirming that the enemy's skills had disappeared, Tatsuro cut off their connection and devoured the black sphere in his mouth.

Next is If I attacked this guy with another stick Huh?" (Tatsuro)

After finishing his preparation, Tatsuro was deciding his next move when the caterpillar suddenly wobbled and fell to the ground. There, it twitched once and never moved again.

|You have leveled up to Lv 3.|

"Level up Well, I did defeat that thing so Fuuu" (Tatsuro)

It was a tricky situation. As soon as Tatsuro let go of the tension from the fight, he found himself sitting on the ground. Soon after, Ai's voice sounded out.

"Is it over?" (Ai)

"Yeah, somehow. What about you?" (Tatsuro)

"I got [Throwing] up to Lv 6!" (Ai)

As Ai threw a peace sign out with her hand, Tatsuro loosened his mouth and let out a sigh of relief. Standing up, he patted his pants to remove the dirt and headed towards Ai.