Hold on a second.
No way. There's absolutely no way.
I mean, I figured that even if I bound him with thread, I probably wouldn't be able to actually take him down.
Like, say, firing his own breath attack back at him.
If he used his full-power breath, even my threads probably wouldn't survive that.
And while that would cause some damage to himself, as long as he has Ground Immunity, Arava wouldn't receive any fatal wounds.
Compared to just letting me pelt him with magic with impunity, it seemed like a far more realistic escape route.
Even I could come up with it, so it wouldn't be strange for Arava to try it.
But what Arava actually did was something I never predicted.
You could say my expectations were completely shattered.
And in the worst possible direction, too.
You get Skill Points from leveling up.
But it seems there are other ways to get them, too.
Looking at the Skill Points of creatures like the Arch Taratect—who should be the same species tier as me—I clearly have fewer.
The Status difference can be explained by the difference in years lived.
Even without leveling up, your Status gradually increases just from living day to day.
Unlike wild Monsters, I've been actively grinding levels, which is why I've grown so rapidly in such a short time.
But in return, my non-Level Status growth has been minimal.
Normal Monsters probably don't go out of their way to fight except when hunting for food.
So they level up slowly too.
I don't know how many years they spend growing, but judging by the Status gap between us, I'd estimate a considerable length of time.
The Status difference between the Arch and me—aside from magic and speed—is over 2,000.
If we assume Status increases by 1 per day, that means a difference of 2,000 days, nearly six years, in how long we've been alive.
But Status doesn't increase by 1 per day, so the actual time elapsed must be far longer.
If that's the case, wouldn't you also receive a certain amount of Skill Points for each year you've been alive?
Like, say, 100 points on your birthday or something.
Nah, that's probably not how it works.
But I do think the theory that you receive points for time lived is on the right track.
Otherwise, the gap in Skill Points between us can't be explained.
There might be some unknown point-earning condition I'm not aware of, I suppose.
Anyway, the point is this: the Earth Dragon Arava, who has likely lived an absurdly long time, probably had Skill Points to match.
Every Monster I'd encountered so far was the same way, but Arava had probably never spent a single point since being born.
There were no Skills that looked like they'd been acquired with points, and more than anything, the fact that he was sitting on a massive stockpile of unused points was proof enough.
What a waste. But telling a Monster to spend their points would probably fall on deaf ears, and as long as they're not being used, it's practically the same as not having them. So I'd learned not to worry about it.
And now Arava's Skill Points had dropped.
By all of them. He'd burned through every last point.
41,100 Skill Points, reduced to a mere 100.
And the Skills that were added made me catch my breath.
"Infernal Flame Magic LV1," "Flame Enhancement LV1," "Flame Resistance LV1," "Dark Resistance LV1," "Spatial Perception LV1."
My weakness—Infernal Flame Magic, the highest-tier fire magic.
Flame Enhancement, the advanced Skill that amplifies that magic.
Flame Resistance, to boost his already-existing fire resistance so his own magic wouldn't hurt him.
Dark Resistance, to counter my primary weapon—Dark Magic.
Spatial Perception, presumably to counter my teleportation.
Every single Skill, assembled specifically to defeat me.
Skills poured together with everything he had—literally.
Skills acquired with nothing but the thought of taking me down.
He'd spent a long, long time accumulating those points, and he'd burned through them all for me alone.
And on top of the points, there were Skills that bloomed from the heat of our deathmatch.
"Focus LV1," "Prediction LV1," "Parallel Thinking LV1," "Arithmetic Processing LV1," "Heterodox Resistance LV1."
He must have been desperately racking his brain for a way out of this crisis.
I doubt his Skills actually evolved into my Thought Acceleration and Foresight combo during the middle of this fight or anything, but that didn't change the fact that he'd become far more dangerous.
He even picked up Heterodox Resistance, so I probably shouldn't count on Heterodox Magic working anymore.
Soul Break is a different story, but there's no way I could use that.
But still—this is bad.
This is really bad.
Up until now, there had always been a difference in compatibility.
But he'd never once prepared countermeasures against me.
Arava was already a powerful foe who didn't exactly have favorable matchups against me.
And now that foe had prepared specifically to counter me.
The threads binding Arava burned away.
Around Arava, the ground began to glow red-hot.
The earth itself was burning.
Infernal Flame Magic, Level 1: Scorched Earth.
A wide-area annihilation spell that transforms the landscape into a hellscape of flame.
And the truly terrifying thing about this magic was that its effects were persistent.
I'd already fled into the sky.
But the ground below was nothing but roaring flame as far as the eye could see.
The earth had always been Arava's domain.
And now it had become my home turf disadvantage.
The flames swallowed everything.
The aftershock heat alone was scorching.
The corpses of the Greater Taratects left on the ground were burned to nothing.
M-My food!? The deathmatch with Arava had already sent a bunch of corpses flying, and now this fire had wiped out every last one!
Unbelievable! How dare you!
I swear I'll have my revenge for my meals!
Countermeasures? I'll surpass even those!
Bring it on!