-- SHIIIING!
The sound of the ice spike colliding with the shell of a Glass Beetle echoed through the colossal trunk of the fossilized tree.
Unlike the common monsters of the forest, Lohan’s projectile did not instantly pierce the hard shell; it slid across the insect’s reflective surface, leaving only a trail of frost and a superficial crack.
"Damn, what to expect from a Level 10 monster’s defense..." Lohan commented in frustration through the mental link, while using [Selective Viscosity] to keep himself anchored vertically outside the dungeon trunk.
They hadn’t even entered the tree and had already been intercepted by a trio of patrolling beetles.
The day before, Lohan and Lisa had broken away a little, choosing to also practice solo combat, not wanting to become too dependent on each other.
The beetles, almost a meter long, moved with an agility that did not match their size, using their pointed legs to dig into the fossilized amber of the tree, producing crackling sounds as they walked.
Lisa didn’t waste any time either.
Using [Spectral Step], she became a white blur that ignored the slope of the terrain, appearing above one of the beetles that was trying to flank Lohan. Her legs glowed with [Spirit Fire], and she delivered a downward blow that struck the monster’s head.
-- BOOM!
The explosion of white flames forced the beetle to lose its grip, falling a few meters before it could reattach itself.
"Halon, don’t focus on dealing damage directly! Use your webs to stop their movement!" Lisa spoke coldly in battle mode, her mental voice laden with focus.
Lohan understood the plan.
With the [Artificial Magic Core Harmonizer Lv 7] pulsing, he compressed his biomass and fired four strands of [Magic Weaving] simultaneously.
The bluish filaments glowed with Mana light, crossing the space between the spirals of the trunk and trapping the hind legs of the nearest beetle.
Feeling the connection, Lohan activated the passive drain.
[Alert: Mana Drain Initiated]
The beetle squealed, feeling its life energy being pulled by the translucent threads.
Taking advantage of the enemy’s immobilization, Lohan stretched out two tentacles reinforced by the [Obsidian Exoskeleton Lv 3] and wrapped them around the lower part of the insect, where the carapace was less dense, to begin digesting the giant insect’s body.
But the beetle did not stand still. As it struggled to free itself, the spikes on its leg grazed Lohan’s tentacle, causing a small cut.
And that was exactly what Lohan wanted.
[Hemolymphatic Tissue Lv 10 Activated]
[Digestion Rate: 260 → 780 Bio/h]
"That’s what I’m talking about! Let’s see how you handle a digestion rate of 13 Biomass per minute!" Lohan thought, feeling the euphoria of combat reach its peak as the beetle’s flesh began to bubble under his membrane.
Just as he had suffered from the bloodsucking worm when he was a Level 01 Slime, this Level 10 beetle was suffering under his digestion!
Below him, Lisa finished off the second beetle with a flurry of quick attacks, while the third insect, realizing that its companions were being wiped out, tried to retreat into one of the holes in the log to alert the rest of the insects.
"No way!" Lohan fired another [Ice Spike], this time enhanced by the precision of [Monocular Telescopic Vision Lv 9], hitting the fugitive’s wing joint and knocking it directly toward the fireball thrown by Lisa.
In less than two minutes, silence returned to the base of the tree, broken only by the hiss of Lohan’s digestion.
[Experience: +175]
[Experience: 569 / 12,800]
The Level 10 Dungeon was dangerous, extremely dangerous, but as a Level 08 monster, the rewards he would receive there would be incredible!
That was how he and Lisa had leveled up so quickly the day before.
Although he didn’t receive bonus experience for killing higher-level monsters, the leveling efficiency from killing higher-level monsters was much higher!
For now, they felt that a 2-level difference was the limit they could achieve, especially considering that Level 11 monsters were in a completely different league from their current power.
But perhaps when they leveled up even further, fighting monsters like this would not be impossible, even before they themselves underwent the Level 11 evolution.
Sure, so much experience might make it seem like leveling up is an easy task, but that’s only because they are hunting monsters far above their level and dividing that experience between just two people.
If it were a normal group of 5 players hunting, instead of 175 experience points, he would have received only 70...
"Lisa, I think the inside of that tree is full of insects, I think we’d better get back together," Lohan said seriously.
Lisa agreed.
Although their isolated style was very powerful compared to other monsters from smaller bases, the joint combat they had developed was even more powerful than 1+1=2, so there was no reason to take risks now.
As Halon’s size had shrunk again, it became much easier for the fox to carry him on his back.
Then, with Lohan clinging to his "mount," a nickname he wouldn’t even dare say out loud, a frightened voice vibrated his membrane.
"WAIT!" A high-pitched, worried voice rang out in the forest.
Lisa, who was about to run forward, stopped suddenly, looking in the direction of the sound in confusion.
Lohan, who had 360-degree vision, immediately saw who was responsible for that scream.
A few meters away from him, a small figure flew desperately toward them, with short arms and a small, delicate body the size of a human palm. The little creature didn’t care about the short blue-white hair covering its face and desperately used its translucent butterfly wings to try to stop them, leaving a trail of blue sparkles wherever it went.
Seeing this, neither Lohan nor Lisa knew how to react!
Despite the fragile appearance of the small creature flying toward them, having had a negative experience with the frog village just two days earlier, neither of them let their guard down.