A reasonable number of days had passed since my Evolution.
During that time, I hunted in the Lower Layer while keeping watch on the four who'd escaped to see if they made it out of the dungeon.
As for the mage and summoner who got away via teleportation, I left them alone for now.
I'd let them swim free until the extermination squad showed up.
Anyway, the four who ran on foot—they should be heading for the exit.
My plan was to hunt in the Lower Layer while tracking the four I'd marked, and that way I'd reach the dungeon's exit.
I could chase the two who teleported by teleporting after them, and get outside that way.
But I still wanted to get a proper read on the exit.
So I decided to keep the group of four alive until they reached it.
Right after evolving, I chatted with D and lazed around, then ate, and lazed around some more.
Yeah… I ate them.
I finally went and did it.
Mm, let's just say they were quite tasty.
Anyway, I decided to rebuild my home in the same location.
It should still be safe to be there.
After that, I went back to the Lower Layer to grind levels.
As expected after a top-tier Evolution, my level-ups were slower than before.
Previously, right after an Evolution your level resets to 1, so the gains were somewhat faster compared to the high levels before evolving. But this time, it wasn't going so fast.
The required Experience Points were lower than before evolving, sure, but they still demanded a pretty hefty amount.
After several days of hunting in the Lower Layer, my current level was 6.
Only five levels gained.
Just five.
Scum.
Well, once I start hunting humans it should pick up nicely. For now, I'll be patient.
Oh right.
Kaguna and Geere—the earth dragon duo in the Lower Layer.
At some point they'd become a trio.
Yup.
All the earth dragons in the Lower Layer except Arava were gathered together now.
The new addition was the earth dragon Fuito.
Level 11, the lowest among earth dragons.
Combat power was also the weakest. Type-wise, Fuito was a balanced type like Arava, but compared to Arava, Fuito was a tier or two below.
If Arava was an all-rounder, Fuito was more of a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
Well, one-on-one, I probably wouldn't lose.
One-on-one.
No way I could beat all three, though!
So, I basically left them alone.
With my current strength I might be able to take them on, but considering the risk and effort involved, it wasn't really worth going out of my way to kill them.
Thanks to Immortality I couldn't die anymore, but this Skill probably just meant I didn't die as an existence—wounds and such would still remain.
In other words, if my HP hit zero, I'd be unable to act.
I had Endurance, which added MP on top of that, but once even my MP ran out, I figured I'd be immobilized.
I had both HP and MP auto-recovery, so I'd probably recover and be able to move again eventually. But someone without auto-recovery who got Immortality? They could end up stuck and incapacitated forever.
Not dying doesn't equal being invincible.
So, fighting strong opponents meant there was still a real possibility of losing.
I wouldn't die, but I'd be immobilized until I recovered. Once I recovered, I'd get crushed again.
There was even the possibility of getting trapped in that loop.
If that happened, it'd be game over.
From now on, I'd shift my main target to humans.
I'd been overhunting, and the monster population in the Lower Layer was getting pretty sparse.
The deepest layer?
Mother was down there. The moment I set foot in, she'd come charging at me.
It was still too early for the deepest layer.
I'd casually grind levels in the Lower Layer, raise Skill Proficiency at home, and laze around.
While I was doing all that, the group of four who'd fled finally reached the dungeon exit.
I teleported after them.
Oh?
Ohhh!
It's bright!
Different from the Middle Layer's brightness.
The brightness of the sun!
I wasn't sure if this world even had a sun, but it was a sun.
Ah, lots of people.
They were all staring at me like crazy.
Hello.
Good day.
I'm not great with strangers, so please don't stare so much.
The dungeon entrance had a sort of border-crossing feel to it.
There were checkpoint-like facilities.
They were properly checking who entered and exited the dungeon, huh.
Ah, and keeping monsters from getting out of the dungeon, probably.
No wonder there were so many armed soldiers around.
Ah, found the group of four.
They were shaking in their boots.
Well, they probably thought they'd finally escaped the dungeon alive, and then I showed up.
Of course they'd be scared.
Hm?
What?
You guys pulling out weapons because you intend to fight me?
From what I could see through Appraisal, you're all pretty pathetic.
Compared to that group of knights I wiped out the other day, your Status and Skills were far weaker.
Huh?
Wait, could it be that those knights the other day were actually pretty strong for humans?
No way.
There was no way those weaklings were considered strong.
At least there weren't any dragon-class ones, but surely there had to be humans with dragon-level strength.
While I was lost in thought, a soldier's spear stabbed into me.
Ow, that hurt.
What are you doing?
My HP barely went down, so it was fine, but still.
Well, they made the first move, so I'd call it self-defense.
Wipe them all out.
Including the four who'd fled, every human present became fodder for my Experience Points.
My level jumped up by five.
Humans really were efficient.
What had all that Lower Layer grinding even been for?
Since I'd gone to the trouble of killing them, I might as well enjoy the meat.
Mm.
It was my first time ever being under the open sky, so I figured I'd take a little stroll.
Cheers to emerging from hikikomori life.