81 Spider vs. Fire Dragon ②

Namazoo!

Missed you, Namazoo!

Finally found you, Namazoo!

Now hand over that meat!

Give it now!

Your only option is to kill and take it!

Found the Namazoo, the great eel!

It swims leisurely through magma.

First, it must be pulled out from the magma.

Incidentally, the skill assessment of the Namazoo succeeded.

Status is nearly identical to the previous one.

The Namazoo’s skills are: "Fire Dragon LV2," "Dragon Scale LV1," "Accuracy LV7," "Swimming LV6," "Gluttony LV2," and "Heat Immunity."

"Fire Dragon LV2" becomes usable at level two, a technique called Heat Wrap—apparently, it involves wrapping heat around the body.

Though one might assume it is a defensive skill, the explanation from the Assessment Officer suggests the most significant effect is the increase in movement speed during activation.

However, since it heats one’s own body, lacking fire resistance would result in self-inflicted damage.

Namasu has Flame Immunity, so it doesn’t matter for them.

Dragon Scales is a skill where specialized scales grow across the entire body.

The special nature lies in high defense, and reportedly, it also impedes magical power to a degree.

Not merely blocking magic—interferes with magical composition, reducing potency.

Either way, I can’t use magic, so treating it as simply hard scales is sufficient.

The rest are skills everyone already knows.

Still, I just thought—could this Namasu be an evolved form of Tatsuno Otoshigo?

Same Fire Dragon species, and the skills are an upper-tier upgrade over Tatsuno Otoshigo’s.

Compared to Tatsuno Otoshigo, the skill level is higher, and Dragon Scales and Gluttony have been added.

The species and skill configuration suggest it's plausible.

But if that's the case, does evolution really result in such a drastic change in form?

From Tatsuno Otoshigo to Catfish—biologically, isn't that more of a regression?

Not an expert, so I can't say for sure.

The form has changed significantly, but—wait—would stretching the mouth wide and thickening the body uniformly result in a catfish?

Hmm.

It's questionable.

Anyway, who cares about that?

My interest is solely in the catfish's flesh.

So, first strike—poison stone, go!

The poison stone I threw strikes the catfish’s back.

Hmm.

HP barely drops.

Same as before—target the charge attack with poison synthesis.

Just as I think that, the catfish spits a fireball from the magma.

Seriously?

Bigger and faster than Tatsuno Otoshigo’s fireball.

Well, even so, it still won’t hit.

Dodge the fireball soaring in.

Thought Acceleration currently extends perceived time only slightly, but even so, the world feels noticeably slower compared to normal state.

I myself, thanks to an exceptionally high speed, can still move relatively normally within that sluggish flow of time.

Though, when the Skill Level of Thought Acceleration increases, this sluggishness will become even more pronounced—how that will affect me then, I cannot say.

Right now, it feels like one second stretches to about 1.1 seconds?

Perception, so exactness is uncertain, but roughly that.

The catfish fires its second shot.

It’s doing the same thing as Tatsuno Otoshigo.

Still, the catfish does seem like an evolved form of Tatsuno Otoshigo.

The catfish earlier merely happened to surface on land—its strategy should be identical to Tatsuno Otoshigo’s, wouldn’t you think?

Ah, but it has acquired new techniques like Heat Mantle. It may be adapting its approach depending on the situation.

Previously, it might have just lunged at anything that appeared suddenly in front of it.

Avoiding the catfish’s fireball.

MP is nearing depletion now. How will the catfish respond?

Tatsuno Otoshigo would lumber onto land once MP ran out. What about the catfish?

It would be problematic if it didn’t come ashore. But judging from its previous retreat, it likely flees when sensing danger.

That won’t be tolerated.

I’ll pursue it to the ends of the earth.

Yet, despite my concerns, the catfish ceases firing fireballs.

Huh?

MP still has a slight remainder?

Ah, it just dropped.

Did I just use Heat Wrap?

Being able to tell this is amazing.

Total information on the target.

鉴定-sama really is overpowered.

The catfish crawls out from the magma.

It opens its maw wide and lunges directly at me.

Kukuku.

I’ve been waiting for this.

Sufficiently drawn in. Toxic synthesis activated.

At the same time, I sidestep quickly.

The catfish continues forward, consuming the poison.

I observe its movements. Ah, the catfish collapsed.

Twitching violently.

Spider venom truly has an extreme effect.

A simple strong poison wouldn’t achieve this level of result. Combined with its innate spider venom, the toxic synthesis potency spikes dramatically.

Truly, this skill and I are perfectly matched.

Now, I deliver another dose of poison to the struggling catfish.

It convulses violently one final time and expires.

The rest is simply waiting for the heat—caused by thermal coils or magma—to dissipate.

Rice. Rice.

I've eaten monsters I've defeated out of obligation before. But this time—different!

I can savor it. Truly taste it.

Ah, how magnificent.

I wish it would cool faster.

I'm already looking forward to eating it.