Chapter 4: First Meet with a Cunning Monster

"Haahh…"

"Feel this Azure Flame of mine." Elio attacked a group of cow-like monsters in front of him

Elio tried to control the power of the fire so as not to burn them too much. Elio needed their meat to eat.

This monster with a cow-like look is the Steel Ox. Although they are monsters, their meat's texture is very similar to that of regular beef.

Because of that, at least every day, Elio would hunt Steel Ox as a food source.

It's been about a week since Elio leveled up by hunting monsters in the Black Forest. He had faced several types of monsters. But the most common are goblins and ogres.

"Phew... I guess with this, my level has gone up again." Elio said with a long sigh

[System Window Open]

[System Level: 0]

[Host: Elio Vukan]

[Age: 15]

[Race: Human]

[Level: 90]

[Skill: One Heart Flame]

[Magic Item: Ring of Aura Concealment]

[System Point: 82]

"Thanks to this Ring of Aura Concealment, the enemy cannot know my fighting power even though I can fight several levels above me." Elio felt lucky to have gotten the item. "What an amazing item."

"But why do I feel like the more I level up, the longer it takes me to level up again?" Elio was surprised and needed an answer, so he asked the system. "Heyy, system, is that true?"

[Correct. As the Host advances to a higher level, high-level monsters are also needed for the Host to kill to keep the host level up]

[Monsters with levels far below the host level will be less effective]

"I knew it."

"Well, then I just have to find a monster with a relatively high level, right?" Elio became excited

It had been a long time since Elio had felt so alive and energized. Compared to his old self, now he did not want to waste the opportunity given to him. He must become stronger quickly.

Not long after walking through the forest, Elio came to a place with a fairly high density of trees. The area also felt slightly more humid because it was cold and wet.

When Elio wanted to walk again, he felt like his hand was touching something. "Hhmm... a thread?"

Elio then looked around him. It turned out that there were many fragile threads around the place where Elio was. If Elio's hand didn't accidentally touch the thread, then he wouldn't know.

"Wait a minute... a thread? Could it be..." Suddenly Elio felt an air of existence appears right behind him.

[Ding]

[Notice: Detected presence with a level above the Host]

Suddenly the system gave a notification labeled notice. The transparent screen in front of Elio was usually blue; this time, it was yellow.

Elio thought about escaping, but for a moment, his intuition told him that if he immediately ran, it would be even more dangerous for him. Finally, by forcing himself not to run immediately, Elio chose to dodge and avoid the place where he was standing.

"Shuutt"

As soon as Elio dodged, he saw that where he stood earlier, a web seemed to be very sticky. Because as soon as the web touched the surrounding trees, it was attached to the trees.

This web had more intensity and thickness than the previous thread that had been touched by Elio's hand. Elio also turned his gaze to a few meters behind where he stood before.

He spotted a spider monster. The spider monster was about the size of a car or maybe even a little bigger than a car.

The monster spider spurted its web at where Elio was standing before. This monster seemed to want to ambush Elio with its sticky web but was unsuccessful.

The spider monster was hanging on a tree with its web. This spider monster has the same characteristics as a normal spider, such as eight hairy legs, many eyes, and sharp fangs.

But what is different is the size and intensity of making webs that far surpass ordinary spiders.

Elio immediately looked at the spider monster's information data.

[System Window]

[Name: Death Spider]

[Race: Monsters]

[Level: 150]

""Oi..oi..oi, it turns out that this spider monster has a level of 150." Elio was shocked by the level he saw. "Looks like I'm in trouble this time."

This spider monster is the highest-level monster Elio has encountered so far. Usually, he will only face at most around level 85.

"Hhmm... even if I release the Ring of Concealment effect, my level is still 10 levels of a gap with this monster." While still thinking, the Death Spider began to attack Elio again.

Death Spider spurted its sticky web at Elio again. He immediately jumped up. And while Elio was still in the air, the monster spammed his spider web again.

Elio quickly did a backward roll to avoid it. As Elio had spent the week fighting monsters every day, his athleticism had improved enough.

As soon as Elio finished dodging and he looked in the direction where the spider monster was, it was not there.

[Host lowered your head behind you!]

Without thinking, Elio immediately lowered his head. As he lowered his head, an object seemed to pass over Elio, flying and stuck in a tree not far before Elio.

"What the heck is that?" While looking at the tree, Elio mumbled. "Is that a needle?"

"No, it's a hair. Such a cunning monster." Elio said, seeing an object that looked like hair, but turned out to be as sharp as a needle where; it could pierce a tree.

"It makes his opponent only think that because it is a spider, it only has a web as a weapon."

"But once the opponent is caught off guard, it can also shoot the hair on its legs like needles if it is within its shooting range." Elio looked annoyed as he felt he was being played by a monster.

Death Spider made its web somewhat thinner, like a thread, as a foothold to move quickly. Because of that, the monster was twice suddenly behind Elio.

Overall, Death Spider's attack power is not that scary. But the ability to ambush or capture its prey is the advantage of this monster. Therefore, if face to face with Death Spider, Elio doesn't need to be afraid.

""Alright, goddamn monster, now it's my turn." Elio immediately rushed to the closest web thread spot to him. He channeled the web with his fire so that his fire would quickly spread to the other webs.

In an instant, all the web threads of the Death Spider were burned entirely. This left the Death Spider with nowhere to stand and hide.

Elio then released the intensity of the fire in his hand with a high amount to the Death Spider and burned it to nothing.

[Ding]

[Congratulations, host, on reaching Level 100]

[New system feature, Item Mall is unlocked for Host]

"Yesss... I finally reached level 100." Before Elio could express his excitement, the system suddenly gave a new notification.

[Ding]

[Detected a human not far from where the Host is]

"What? I can finally meet a native human who lives in this world?" Getting a notification from the system, Elio felt very excited because, finally, he could at least meet a human being.