92 Another trivial thing has been cut.
Ooh, here they are.
Two baby eels swimming amicably through magma, visible to my eyes.
Only two are in view, but the scout reports there’s a catfish lurking beneath the magma.
The catfish does not attack the baby eels. It drifts leisurely through the molten rock.
Hmm.
Likely a creature of the same evolutionary lineage. No issue with coexistence.
Two baby eels. One catfish.
A formation that might have caused hesitation before evolution. But now, the performance of this evolved body demands real-world testing.
Even before evolution, I subdued eels. A degenerate variant like this one is nothing more than fodder.
No chance of defeat.
Hehe.
Then, let this body and the new skill’s performance be tested on you as the subject.
First strike.
Standard stone throw.
Poison—no need this time.
Just see how much damage pure stone impact increases.
Previously reduced HP by five or six. Should be around ten now?
Thus, Konna Hazūhā!
...Anyone recognize this joke?
Oh, hit? Hit?
Sounded incredibly loud—stone shattered.
Pakaan?
Pakaan.
Sunk into magma from the impact of Tatsuno Otoshi-go. Dead?
Ah, rising again. Rising.
Oh!?
HP down to nearly one-third.
Seriously?
Ah, fireball incoming.
Too slow?
Wait—this is serious?
Serious straight attack?
No curve, no slider?
Slower than eel.
Even humming a tune would be enough to dodge.
No, I can't hum anyway.
Seriously?
I’m surprised by how much faster than expected they’re growing.
What should I do?
If this continues, I’ll win just by throwing rocks.
But if they die inside magma, I can’t recover the body.
Thanks to Gluttony, I have stamina to spare, but I’d prefer to increase my stockpile if possible.
Ah, the catfish is surfacing.
Hmm?
Is it going to assist the Tatsunootoshigo directly?
Guess it’s natural, given they’re the same evolutionary lineage. There’s some sense of camaraderie.
Tatsunootoshigo usually act independently, not exactly close allies, but when near each other, they do cooperate.
So in the worst case, eels might also form a joint front with them.
That’s something I’d rather avoid.
Dodge the catfish’s fireball.
Yeah.
Too slow.
Slightly faster and larger than the eel, though not by much.
But compared to the eel, the difference is clear.
Even while contemplating trivial matters like comradeship, evasion remained possible.
[Proficiency has reached threshold. Skill 'Parallel Thinking LV8' upgraded to 'Parallel Thinking LV9'.]
Ah.
Thinking about irrelevant things during combat, as expected.
For now, continue evading. Wait until their MP depletes.
Could sink them with thrown stones, but corpse retrieval is preferable.
Must bring them ashore before finishing.
Ah, Tatsunootoshi might die if attacked recklessly. But Namazu should be safe?
Honestly, even three simultaneous fireballs wouldn’t graze me.
Avoiding is tedious, though. Better to keep dodging—increases proficiency in throwing and accuracy.
Thus, another round of this, then!
Yes. Hit. Hit.
Yes.
As expected of Namazu.
HP barely reduced.
High defense, after all.
If it were just physical defense, I could match it.
Wait.
Thinking about it—my defense has actually surpassed Namazu's, hasn't it!?
Upon reconsideration, that’s impressive!
This spider body, which looks utterly soft, outperforms that crocodile body, which looks utterly hard with its armored scales…
This is the mystery of the world.
Lost in such pointless thoughts, one of the tadpole creatures ran out of MP.
It slowly dragged itself onto land, foolishly.
If it can avoid that many attacks, it should be able to sense the difference in strength by now.
Ah—hold on.
I just noticed something troubling.
Namazu, if it sees no chance of winning, will flee.
That’s unacceptable.
The tadpole might escape and I’d just shrug it off, but you—Namazu—you’re not getting away.
Not even a chance.
Absolutely not.
Hey you.
Why the sudden scared face?
Not afraid. Not afraid at all.
So come on, get up onto dry land already.
It’s fine.
Not afraid, I said.
Wait!
Don’t run away, idiot!
You’re in the way—Tatsuno Otoshigo!
The Tatsuno Otoshigo blocked the path. I swung my front claw.
A sharp *swish*—the creature split in two.
Huh?
What…?
Did I just do that?
Damn, my claw’s amazing.
Wait—could this be the first monster I’ve killed directly with my own hands?
All my previous kills were by poison.
Monkeys fall to their deaths or get crushed, but this is the first time I’ve killed something outright.
First time, and it was too easy. Feels unreal.
Wait—Namazu!
Ah… ah…
He got away…
My Namazu…
My delicious dinner today…
Another tadpole was just emerging from the magma.
Direct this anger toward it.
Begin with a low-grade poison, augmented with paralysis.
Thus, silently moving to the side of the tadpole preparing to charge.
Without hesitation, synthesizing poison onto the bewildered creature.
Huh?
Oh!
Paralyzed. Paralyzed.
This is paralysis.
Wait—HP is dropping significantly too?
Damage comparable to that of a thrown stone.
Why?
Ah, low poison still deals damage, since it is poison.
But low poison was intentionally set to low damage, for testing paralysis effects.
Why is the damage so high?
Could poison damage scale with status attributes?
If so, then low poison already does this much?
What about the spider venom that killed even eels?
...The very thought is terrifying.
My combat capability has improved beyond what I believed possible.