Level Eater

Chapter 3: Giant Caterpillar Raid!

"HUGE! That thing is way too big for a caterpillar!" (Tatsuro)

"Why does it look like it's coming this way?! Gross, ewwww!!" (Ai)

The one who intruded into their conversation was a 50 cm-long caterpillar. With black spots all around its white body, two wriggling T-shaped antennae were also attached to its head.

Frightened by yet another thing that shouldn't exist in this world, the pair froze up as the caterpillar started making its way towards them.

"Ai, punch it! Punching it might make you level up!!" (Tatsuro)

"NOOO WAY! THERE'S NO WAY I'M TOUCHING THAT THING!!" (Ai)

"Yeah, I knew you'd say that Alright, let's run!" (Tatsuro)

"Agree-eeek!" (Ai)

"""""GiiGiiiGiiii"""""

As they turned around to escape, 5 more caterpillar-sans greeted them. Upon seeing that, Ai lost her cool and grasped tightly onto the hem of Tatsuro's shirt. Feeling the grip on his shirt, Tatsuro frantically thought of a way to deal with the situation while his gaze landed on a pebble right by his feet.

"AI, THE PEBBLES! If it's with your stats, throwing pebbles at them should be enough!" (Tatsuro)

"-! I see If that's the case, then Ha!" (Ai)

For Ai, it's fine just as long as she doesn't have to touch the caterpillars directly. In addition, they might even level up. Once her train of thought started moving, she immediately crouched down to pick up a few stones and threw them at the caterpillar with all her might.

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|You have Acquired the [Throwing] skill.|

BANG!! An explosive sound rang out.

A power that you would not expect from a girl with frail arms resounded from the stone. It was strong enough to demolish anything that it hit that is if it hit anything.

The stone that Ai threw made a sharp sound of cutting through the air but It was wide by 3 meters and flew peacefully over the caterpillars.

With that said, though her physical strength was greatly increased by the status correction to the point where she has far surpassed what normal people could reach with exercise alone, her motor skills were completely left unaffected.

In fact, during her middle school years, a friend had invited her to the handball team to help cure this quirk' of hers. However, she had never once joined in on an actual match and for those 3 years, settled for being the bench warmer and nothing else.

Therefore, her stone-throwing ability, without the skill correction, would naturally hit nothing. Tatsuro knew that, but he had never expected her to be this bad.

"CAPTAIN. THAT'S. A. WILD. PITCH!!!" (Tatsuro)

"SHUT UP! This time, it'll hit-Heya!" (Ai)

| [Throwing] skill has leveled up to Lv.2 |

BANG! Another explosive sound resounded throughout the air.

The second stone missed as well. However, this time, it landed right in front of the closest caterpillar. The impact on the ground created a shockwave strong enough to send the caterpillar flying back.

"I got this! Alright, I'll leave the one behind us to you!" (Ai)

"Eh, can I even take them out with my weakling's stats?" (Tatsuro)

"They aren't that fast, and aside from being gross, they look weak enough. Wouldn't it be fine if you tried your skills on them too? HA!" (Ai)

Saying that, she flung another stone towards the army of caterpillars.

| [Throwing] skill has leveled up to Lv.3 |

BANG! Another explosion resounded.

"Close" (Ai)

"Fair enough. I'll be going, then." (Tatsuro)

"Have a safe trip!" (Ai)

While Ai's accuracy was increasing thanks to the skill, Tatsuro headed towards the caterpillar that Ai left for him.

First, Tatsuro quickly brought up Help-function to learn how to use his skill. Apparently, using skills is similar to that of using the Help functionjust thinking about it is the way to go.

Next, Tatsuro tried using his still unknown and unused skill, [Level Eater].

The instant he thought that his body moved on its own and activated [Level Eater] as though he had done it a million times before.

"Wha?" (Tatsuro)

As if letting out a yawn, Tatsuro opened his mouth widely. Inside it, a black dot appeared and quickly expanded to the size of a marble ball. Blowing out the wind from his lungs as he would with a blowgun, the black sphere was shot toward the caterpillar-like a dart.

The black sphere traversed at about a human's walking speed, but as though it couldn't see it, the caterpillar continued to head towards Tatsuro without a care in the world. If one were to ask why, then it would be because only Tatsuro was capable of seeing that thing'.

Before long, the caterpillar made contact with the sphere. As if sinking into the ocean waters, the ball delved quietly into the target's body.

Once the sphere fully descended into the caterpillar's body, its information was delivered to Tatsuro's mind. It seems like once the sphere hits and infiltrates a target's body, all information relevant to [Level Eater] will be gathered and sent back to Tatsuro.

Level: 5

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

(N? Why do I even get the skill info? Well, that's fine too.)

Putting that question aside, he focused solely on the caterpillar's Lv.

"Haaa" (Tatsuro)

Black fumes started to rise from the caterpillar. Opening his mouth once more, the black fumes started fusing together to form the shape of a ball while traveling toward Tatsuro's mouth.

Looking at the scene unfolding before him, Tatsuro raised his eyebrows. In the meantime, the fumes had already fused to form a perfect sphere.

Level: 1

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

Tatsuro took a glimpse at the caterpillar's stats again before completely devouring the black sphere. After eating it, he felt a warm sensation on his chest.

The enemy's level being a nutrient for his own growthis what he understood from the skill.

Draining the caterpillar's levels to the limit, it fell back down to Lv 1.

(Hmm? I thought I took all of its experience, but my Lv didn't even increase by 1? Is the conversion efficiency bad, or is it just that I need more experience to Lv up as compared to the caterpillar? Which one is it?)

Looking at his status screen, only questions popped up even though his progress up till now has been smooth sailing.

However, something else came to mind.

If his opponent's level went down, then that means that it will also lose the additional stats gained from level-ups, essentially making it weaker. But that doesn't mean that they're dead. Even now, it's still persistently shouting its "Gii-Gii" love call towards Tatsuro. It even bared its sharp fangs toward him while ever so slowly, crawling its way closer.

You could say that it's only Lv 1, but the same applies to Tatsuro. It isn't easy to face such an enemy empty-handed.

Well, then. This is a big problem.

"Now, how do I fight this thing?"