Volume 2 - CH 13

Smoke was rising from the remains of the Rock Centipede.

Unable to maintain the integrity of its body, the Rock Centipede was in the process of turning back into pure mana.

“Luce, come down or you might have an acci-”

“Hot! What’s with this smoke….it’s scorching….!”

“Scorching….?”

Maybe it’s because the Rock Centipede has such a large body, that it’s giving off a lot of heat while it’s in the process of disappearing?

In the game there was no signs of heat being produced when the bodies of monsters were disappearing, but this world is not exactly the same as the game.

It might be a side effect of the physical laws that are needed for this world to function while being similar to Magic World….

“No….that’s not it.”

The moment I realized what was happening I felt the blood leaving my face.

A monster that was supposed to have been defeated starts releasing damaging vapor.

This phenomenon did exist in Magic World too.

However, there should be no way for that to happen right now.

“Luce, run here as fast as you can right now! That monster is not dead yet!”

“Huh…..? Y-yes! I’ll just go there for now!”

As Luce jumped off towards me, the body of the Rock Centipede started to blast off a large amount of crimson red vapor.

Luce was pushed by the shockwave and started falling quickly in my direction.

I stepped forward right away and caught her.

“Thank you very much….I did not expect that.”

“Sorry, Luce….I made a judgment error.”

“Huh….? B-but, we managed to cleanly take down the Rock Centipede, right….?”

“It didn’t die!”

A large centipede with purple colored carapace appeared from the red steam.

It was covered in purple tough looking spiky armored scales and a single large eye slowly opened up on its head.

Right below that, rows of long blade-like purple fangs could be seen.

【〈Rock Centipede〉evolved into〈Death Armed〉.】

【〈Death Armed〉’s level increased from 60 to 75.】

Evolution….a rare event that triggers when specific conditions are fulfilled.

It’s a phenomenon when a monster activates its latent potential and changes to a different species.

“Le-【Lv：75】!?”

Hearing its new level, Luce screamed out.

Only certain types of monsters have the capability to Evolve like that and each species has their own unique requirements for it. However even in Magic World the players did not have a comprehensive list of every such requirements.

It was because those conditions often included some tedious minor things and there was no real merit to making it happen intentionally.

It takes far too much effort to do it, and fighting monsters while attempting to fulfill various conditions is simply too risky.

You can gain some rare drops and more experience with it, but if you want just that, it’s much better to simply delve into a higher level Dungeon to begin with.

I’m aware of the requirements for the Death Armed’s Evolution, but only in a broad sense.

It needs to eat the corpses of a certain number of adventurers, eat a certain number of magic stones, and then it needs to get killed by adventurers.

The exact numbers might be different for each, but this is the basis for the Evolution of most Dream Lords in general.

I believed that those requirements had basically no chance of getting fulfilled this time.

Since generally that only happens when the Dream Lord goes on the move as a Wandering Lord multiple times.

I heard that this Centipede Pit has only just recently spawned.

Also, if a bunch of adventurers were massacred by a Wandering Lord, there is no way they wouldn’t have shared that information with us in La Colina.

The rules are somewhat different in this world than what they were in Magic World, but it would be unthinkable for the requirements for Evolution to loosen like that.

What most likely happened in my opinion….is that someone deliberately fulfilled the conditions for the Rock Centipede’s Evolution, and simply left it like that.

However, even then, there are many things that don’t add up.

There shouldn’t be any reason to do it in the first place, and I doubt that there could be anyone in this world who knows the requirements for triggering the Evolution and can freely make it happen.

The fact is, that due to my failure to anticipate this, I ended up dragging Luce into a fight with a Death Armed.

“I’m really sorry, Luce…. I was sure that something like this couldn’t happen. Everything went so well lately, I might’ve been too relaxed about things.”

“P-please don’t apologize! That’s right! Just send me up with [Shield Bash] again! I will use my barrage Skill to-!”

“No can do….That guy’s HP and Defense are incredibly high and its recovery speed is also fast. You can’t damage it with many weaker hits. Trying to use [Dice Thrust] isn’t realistic either.”

[Dice Thrust] has a higher chance than [Stunt Barrage] to work, but even then it would need at least four rolls of 【6】 to hit.

We should expect to need at least ten hits of [Dice Thrust] for that.

If too much time passes between successes, then the number of necessary hits would increase too.

It’s unlikely that Luce would get the chance to attack multiple times without reprisal against the Death Armed.

“JIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIJIIH!”

The Death Armed charged in our direction.

Its single large eye kept glaring right at us.

Against a Death Armed it was futile to try and run between the boulders to buy time.

Boulders are no obstacle with its high Attack stat.

――――――――――――――――――――

Monster: Death Armed

Level: 75

HP: 274/274

MP: 134/134

――――――――――――――――――――

I checked it to make sure, but that Status really leaves me in despair.

The Death Armed itself is terrifyingly fast and has a high Attack.

However, if I tried to attack from the front, I would just get crushed to death by its huge body before my blade could ever reach it.

We need to create an opportunity to safely attack it, and we also need to be able to punch through its high Defense and HP.

“Luce….there may be a single chance for us to win this battle. Are you willing to try?”