Level Eater

Nana put away her Frog Staff and held Dragon Fangs in both hands.While she had mostly played a support role when with Tatsuro and the others, she rarely had the opportuni

Nana put away her Frog Staff and held Dragon Fangs in both hands.

While she had mostly played a support role when with Tatsuro and the others, she rarely had the opportunity, but now she switched her mindset to physical combat mode.

Of course, she was still using [Dragon Drain] to counter the opponent's [Demon Spirit Absorption].

With her arms hanging loosely at her sides, she glared at the monster with sharp eyes. Just that alone gave off the intimidating aura unique to dragons, and the monster broke into a cold sweat while still maintaining a daring sneer.

In response, Nana lifted the corners of her mouth into a grin.

"It's hunting time—" (Nana)

"Eek!?"

The moment Nana started moving, the monster couldn't follow her body with its eyes. It instinctively pulled back, but its pig-like nose was still scratched by the Dragon Fang.

Then, as if dancing, Nana moved around the monster while swinging her Dragon Fangs.

"Hee— Hee"

While taunting like this, Nana's movements became even sharper.

The monster desperately dodged by a hair's breadth, avoiding fatal wounds, but its body was starting to be lightly stained with blood.

Realizing it couldn't end like this, the monster shook its long earlobes and released ultrasonic waves around it, activating a skill to disturb the ears of those nearby and rob them of their sense of balance.

For a normal human, this would make them lose balance and fall to their knees, allowing the monster to finish them off. This was the strategy of this monster, who wasn't particularly skilled in close combat.

However, that only applies to normal humans. For Nana, it was merely an unpleasant sound.

But the monster let its guard down the moment it used that skill.

"Gya-a-a-a-a-a-a-h!"

"Oh my, I'm sorry. You had such splendid earlobes, so I thought I'd pierce them for you— but it came off. That would be unbalanced..., so I'll take the other one off too." (Nana)

"Gyahi-hi-hi-hi-hi-hiiiiiiiiiii!"

As Nana closed in to use [Bite] to tear off the other earlobe, sharp plant-like spears shot out from the monster's bloodshot green eyes.

"Tch, you're such a nuisance!" (Nana)

"Hihiiiiiiii!!"

Those pointed plants twisted and turned, pursuing Nana as she tried to avoid them.

Nana put away the Dragon Fang in her right hand and took out her Frog Staff, inflating it to beat back and break the plants.

However, new growth sprouted from the broken ends and kept coming, so there was no end to dealing with these plants.

Thinking this, Nana decided to forcefully advance towards the monster while swinging her Frog Staff.

From the monster's perspective, it was dangerous to let Nana get close, so it created black spheres of magic power and shot several at Nana to keep her at bay.

Unable to block these with the Frog Staff, Nana used curse magic to instantly boost her speed to the maximum, skillfully slipping through the gaps between the black spheres and the two pointed plants.

And then—

"Gyah!?"

"Teyaaaah— desu no!" (Nana)

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The monster couldn't keep up with the sudden acceleration, and Nana bit into its right and left abdomen with her two Dragon Fangs, pinching it.

The fangs penetrated through both sides of the body, reaching and shattering the hipbone.

Screaming in pain, the monster tried to escape by flapping its wings on its back.

However, no matter how much it flapped, its movements had become sluggish as if weights were attached all over its body.

And with such movements, it couldn't escape from Nana.

Nana instantly moved behind it, raised both hands and with the fangs held in each hand, she pierced the base of the wings on both sides simultaneously, crushing the wing bones that were connected near the shoulder blades.

The monster screamed again and, ignoring its wings now connected to its body by only a thin layer of skin at the root, tried to escape on foot this time. But its body had become even heavier than before as if it were underwater.

"It took this many direct applications of curse magic to your body, and this is all you can do? I suppose you do deserve to be called stronger than the monsters we've faced so far."

The Dragon Fangs Nana was holding now had thin tubular holes processed by Leah, running from the handle to the tip inside. Through these holes, she was directly pouring curse magic power into the monster's body.

For a weak monster, just the first scratch would have been enough to apply the curse magic, but unexpectedly, this monster's magic resistance was high, which is why it took this long.

But finally, the slowing effect began to appear, and the monster fell into Nana's hands.

"Hihiii—"

"My, what happened to your cheerful laughter from earlier? Your face is twitching, fufu." (Nana)

The monster was desperately running, pushing its painful body, but it could only move at a walking pace. Flustered, its feet tangled, and it scraped its face on the floor.

At that moment, Nana, who had once again boosted her speed with curse magic, closed in at once and thrust her fangs toward both ear holes. The monster realized its death was imminent.

"Hii—"

"Goodbye. Desu no♪"(Nana)

"—ii"

Nana pushed the fangs in and pulled them out, simultaneously jumping backward to avoid the bodily fluids spurting from the ears.

|You have reached "Level: 26".|

|Skill [Bite Lv.6] has been acquired.|

Hearing the voice of leveling up, Nana returned to her usual form of a young girl with pure white skin using [Adult Form].

"How should I put it... She's usually clingy, but when she's angry, she's quite extreme." (Tatsuro)

"Well, isn't it good to be unique?" (Ai)

"She seems like the type to hold grudges the most when angered, though." (Tatsuro)

"That aside, Nana is skilled in close combat too, huh? I didn't notice because she's usually mainly in a support role." (Ai)

While everyone was reflecting on the recent battle with such impressions, Nana, unaware of this, came trotting over and hugged Tatsuro's waist.

"I won, desu no!" (Nana)

"Yeah, I saw. You were amazing!" (Tatsuro)

"I saw too—" (Ai)

"Desu no~~"(Nana)

Tatsuro patted her head in praise, and Ai also praised her while placing a hand on her head. Then Nana hugged Ai's waist, acting spoiled.

After venting her earlier frustrations and thoroughly satisfying her heart, a mysterious voice spoke to them.

[Is it okay to do the drawing now?]

"Ah, I forgot, desu no. Hurry and give it to me, desu no!" (Nana)

[You forgot but you're telling me to hurry... You're quite a free spirit, aren't you? Well, that's fine. Now then— it's drawing time. Jaka jaka jaka jaka— jan. Here it is! Wow, the grand prize!!]

"Alright, desu no!" (Nana)

"The grand prize, huh. Nana, you're that type." (Tatsuro)

With the announcement of the second grand prize winner of the day, a luxurious platinum chest adorned with jewels emerged from the floor.

Nana scampered over, placed her small hands on the lid, and opened it grandly.

Inside were two purple cards, so thin that you could see through them, measuring twenty centimeters vertically and ten centimeters horizontally.

"These seem to be skill cards too, but there are two of them, desu no?" (Nana)

"Why don't you read the instruction manual?" (Tatsuro)

"That's true, desu no!" (Nana)

Nana picked up the two purple skill-like cards and glanced at both sides before putting them back in the box. Then she picked up the rolled-up parchment that was next to them.

"[Poison Magic] and [Detoxification Magic]... desu no? I wanted a more offensive skill, desu no." (Nana)

[Well... Poison magic is a very rare skill, you know. And detoxification magic can handle any kind of poison.]

"I-Is that so, desu no?" (Nana)

[That's right. There are quite a few who have poison-type attack skills, but usually, they can only create one type of poison per skill. But this poison magic can create all kinds of poisons, it's an extraordinary magic.]

"Like fast-acting or slow-acting, desu no?" (Nana)

Nana, whose interest was piqued upon hearing it was rare, tried to extract more detailed information from the mysterious voice. Apparently, not only fast-acting and slow-acting but also the strength of the poison could be controlled.

Moreover, it seemed she would be able to handle all kinds of poisons, from paralysis to confusion, coma, decay, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, hallucinations, and so on.

If she could freely handle this, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her a walking biological weapon.

"Curse magic, life magic, Dragon Drain, poison magic, and an astral body beast tamer... Nana is paving her own unique path." (Tatsuro)

"That's right. But it's better for the team if everyone can do different things. In that sense, you could say she's become even more reliable." (Ai)

"Is that so, desu no? Then, I'll install them, desu no!" (Nana)

Prompted by Ai's words, Nana held the two skill cards, one in each hand, and chanted the words.

"Install— desu no!" (Nana)

|Skill Poison Magic Lv.5 has been acquired.|

|Skill Detoxification Magic Lv.5 has been acquired.|

"Oh? Father's and Leah's skills didn't have levels, so why do mine have them, desu no?" (Nana)

[That skill, if used incorrectly, could kill not only those around you but even yourself. It's a dangerous magic. So, I think it's set up for you to master it step by step.]

"A safety lock, huh. Like with Leah before, the system seems to try to protect the skill holders in unexpected ways." (Tatsuro)

"Sometimes it's so excessive that it can hold you back your entire life, though..." (Leah)

"Well, Leah-chan's case was quite special, wasn't it?" (Ai)

While Ai quickly followed up on Leah, who had shown a self-deprecating smile that she hadn't displayed recently, Nana finished checking her status and closed it.

Since there was obviously nothing to test this on, using it would have to wait for another time.

"By the way, it's a bit late to ask, but on what basis are the monsters that appear chosen? The monster from earlier seemed clearly tailored to Nana's skills, don't you think?" (Tatsuro)

[Ah— you noticed. Actually, when you touch that stone tablet, the challengers' appearance information is made public to the monsters. Then, monsters who think they can win against that person volunteer to come out. The selection just now was based on the appearance suggesting the challenger had [Dragon Drain], so a monster that could counter that volunteered.]

"What do you mean by 'made public to the monsters'?" (Tatsuro)

[That stone tablet contains the factors of thousands of types of monsters.]

"So you're saying that the monster factors in that stone tablet see our appearance, and a system selects those who want to fight? Then what happens if multiple monsters want to fight the same person at the same time?" (Tatsuro)

[In that case, the one judged by the stone tablet to most desire a battle with the challenger is selected.]

"Then that skeleton bastard came thinking it could win after seeing my appearance? I should have stabbed it more." (Ai)

"For me too, to think I was thought to be beatable by such a creature! I'm outraged, desu no!!" (Nana)

While the two were raising a fuss and barking, Tatsuro was concerned about something else.

"By that logic, if we touch the stone tablet in full gear and at full power, the opponent would know what kind of weapons we use and what type we are, right?" (Tatsuro)

[Fuhaha— there's no helping it if you've figured it out. That's correct! But knowing this, there have been people in the past who didn't equipped fully from the start, acted overconfident, and ended up dying. There have also been people who dressed differently and ended up facing monsters with the worst compatibility and died anyway. So, please understand that this is at your own risk.]

"I see. Well, in my case, I would have done the same thing no matter what came, so that was fine... Hmm." (Tatsuro)

He tried to think if there was a way to use this to his advantage, but as mentioned earlier, there's a good chance that trying to be too clever could lead to bad results. However, the opposite is also possible.

So, he decided to let the remaining challengers decide for themselves.

"Cardina, Jeanne. You've heard a lot just now, but you can do as you think best, as you like." (Tatsuro)

"Pewee" (Cardina)

"Neigh" (Jeanne)

They seemed to have understood what Tatsuro wanted to say, so he didn't say anything more and decided to leave it to how things unfold.

"Well then, it's Cardina's turn next. Do your best, Cardina!" (Ai)

"Pewee— wee— wee—" (Cardina)

"She says she'll show the dignity of the eldest daughter, desu no. As expected of Big Sister Cardina, desu no!" (Nana)

"Neigh!" (Jeanne)

"Cal-nee is so cool~!" (Athena)

With a determined face, Cardina said this to Tatsuro and flew towards the stone tablet, receiving words of encouragement from her sisters.