Another strange thing was that I shared the vision of those eyeballs.
Thanks to that, I got an extremely close look at the Lizardman’s thoroughly flustered expression.
The little bastard was panicking. In a situation like this, keeping your cool was what let you live longer!
I quickly summoned a Puppet Needle in my right hand and thrust it toward the Lizardman’s thigh, exposed beneath its shield.
But the Level 32, 40,000-Performance-Score Iron-Scaled Lizardman was no easy opponent.
It instantly shifted its balance backward and effortlessly dodged my attack.
The gap between our Levels was simply too large. Even though I had attacked while it was caught off guard, my current physical abilities made it difficult to land a hit.
Then something unexpected happened again.
Before I could even feel disappointed, the shield hanging from my left hand unraveled like a ball of thread and shot toward the Lizardman, wrapping it up in an instant.
The Lizardman struggled violently, but it was useless. Before long, it was delivered right in front of me, bound up tight.
“HSSSK! GRAHK!”
It spat out incomprehensible sounds, as though it had been grievously wronged.
“Sorry. I’m just as confused about this situation as you are. Anyway, let’s work well together from now on.”
I reached my right hand toward its neck.
The Lizardman’s throat was densely covered in steel-like scales, but the Puppet Needle slid in as smoothly as a hypodermic needle.
The savage gleam in the Lizardman’s eyes faded. It flicked out its tongue and licked the tip of its nose.
I greeted my new companion.
“Hello?”
“GRAHK!”
I had no idea what it meant, but its intent came across clearly enough.
Yeah, yeah. Glad to meet you too. Let’s work well together.
Had the tentacle sensed the enemy’s hostility changing in an instant?
The tentacle that had tightly bound the Lizardman slowly unwound. Then it rapidly contracted, as though it were being absorbed back into my left hand.
Before I knew it, my left hand had returned to normal.
All those eyeballs vanished as well, leaving only a single one at the tip of my index finger.
The lone eyeball blinked at me.
I could not sense anything special.
No unfamiliar voice suddenly rang in my head, and no new line of dialogue appeared in my Status Window.
Only that eyeball remained, staring directly at me.
Then I noticed that its blinking was growing slower and slower.
As though it were forcing itself to stay awake despite overwhelming sleepiness...
I hurriedly shouted.
“Will we be able to meet again? Blink once if I’m right, twice if I’m wrong!”
Its eyelid slowly rose and fell once.
“Is there another way for me to summon you?”
The eyelid on my index finger slowly closed.
Then it disappeared, sinking into my skin.
Nothing that could answer me remained there any longer.
What the hell is it?
I had thought the knowledge I had accumulated over twenty years as a Hunter was far from shallow...
Yet I could not figure out what that thing was.
Still, one thing was certain.
The true source of that 15,000 Performance Score was those eyeballs.
And those eyeballs also explained why the Tentacles Trait I had acquired was classified as summon-type rather than mutation-type.
Literally speaking, some kind of tentacled being had been summoned to my left hand.
Of course, I was not thrilled by the thought that another unknown entity had taken up residence inside my body.
But it was also an undeniable fact that I had survived because of it.
I had no idea what effect that eyeball-tentacle would have on me going forward, but it had unquestionably saved my life for now.
I opened my Status Window.
【Encroachment Rate】: 0%
Fortunately, my Encroachment Rate was still 0%.
I had not mentioned this until now, but my Encroachment Rate never changed from 0%.
The moment they Awakened, every Awakened had to fight against the unavoidable fate known as encroachment.
For the rest of their lives.
But I stood one step outside that fate.
It was because of the [Unique] System Observer Trait.
Beyond viewing a target’s Status Window and confirming hidden information such as Performance Score, System Observer possessed one more extraordinary ability.
—It blocks System encroachment at the source.
True to its name, no matter the situation, I could remain unencroached by the System and stand apart as an observer.
That was why I could remain indifferent even after receiving Very Sweet Purified Red Fruits fifteen times in a row.
To begin with, I had no need to eat Purified Red Fruits.
Anyway, I checked my Status Window just in case, but my Encroachment Rate remained unchanged.
Normally, when another living being became a parasite inside someone’s body like this, their Encroachment Rate would rise rapidly.
But apparently, even that rule did not apply to me.
Time passed, and the Puppet Needle lodged in the Blood Wolf lost its effect.
Perhaps because the gap between our Performance Scores had been so large, the Blood Wolf kept circling around me even after the Puppet Needle’s effect ended.
Then it eventually turned translucent and disappeared.
Only then did I speak to the Iron-Scaled Lizardman.
“Want to walk out of the arena now?”
The Lizardman followed the direction of my fingertip and walked out of the arena.
[Level 16 has been Cleared.]
[Rewards will now be distributed.]
The reward was the same as before.
Very Sweet Purified Red Fruits, Mana Orbs, and 10% Trait experience for all Traits.
And then there was the indescribable sense of accomplishment.
“I cleared Level 16.”
Had anyone ever Cleared Level 16 in the Hunter Selection Assessment?
At least as far as I knew, not once.
No matter how gifted they were or what heaven-sent Traits they possessed, every promising Hunter’s record had ended at Level 15.
I looked at the Lizardman, which stood out of bounds and watched me blankly.
Well, how was anyone supposed to beat that?
Even I, in my previous life, would never have dared take the movements it had shown lightly.
No beginner who had Awakened only two days ago could possibly defeat it, no matter how talented he was.
Unless he had regressed twenty years into the past and possessed about three Traits...
And why the hell couldn’t someone do that?
Exactly.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA!”
I burst into loud laughter.
The Minotaur bellowed along with me.
Still, I was worried about what came next.
I could not even begin to guess what terrifying monster would appear at Level 17.
If the enemy’s combat strength kept rising at this rate, there really would be no hope.
But I could not give up halfway through without even checking.
Even if I could not eat it, I had to take a bite first.
Instead, I moved to the very edge of the arena.
That way, I could jump out at any moment and end the Stage.
“All right, let’s do this!”
“Moo.”
“HSSSK!”
[Would you like to proceed to the next Level? Selecting No will automatically end the Stage.]
[Yes / No]
“Yes!”
*****
Contrary to my worries, Level 17 was Cleared so easily that it was almost anticlimactic.
Was the Level 16 Iron-Scaled Lizardman an anomaly?
The Level 17 Gatekeeper was a Chimera only slightly stronger than the Minotaur.
SWISH.
SHHK!
The Iron-Scaled Lizardman cut off both of the Chimera’s heads in a single stroke.
[Level 17 has been Cleared.]
[Rewards will now be distributed.]
[Awakened Level has increased.]
[Awakened Level has increased.]
[Awakened Level has increased.]
[Awakened Level has increased.]
[Awakened Level has increased.]
[Awakened Level has increased.]
…
My Level had jumped from 1 to 15.
Up by fourteen Levels all at once.
Until now, I had defeated the Gatekeepers only through out-of-bounds rulings without killing them, so my Level had remained at 1.
That had been my own calculated strategy, meant to use Puppet Needles to tackle the following Levels.
But in this Level, the Lizardman had gone ahead and displayed its full strength, which had led to this result.
Since the gap between our Performance Scores was not that large, it acted far more freely according to its own will than my other Puppets.
That was why I was clutching my forehead right now.
“HSSSK?”
The Lizardman approached, gauged my mood, and cautiously made a sound.
“Yeah, you did well. You did great. But in the next Level, don’t kill them so quickly. Let’s capture them alive instead of killing them. Got it?”
“GRAHK?”
It did not seem to understand what I was saying very well.
My Puppet Trait’s Level was still too low. I would need to reach Trait Level 3 before I could communicate with my Puppets more intuitively.
Unable to do anything else, I used every gesture I could think of to convey that it should not kill the Gatekeepers.
“HSSSK!”
The Lizardman answered confidently.
All I could do was hope it had understood properly.
At this point, there was no reason to waste more time here.
After collecting the reward, I immediately proceeded to the next Level.
[Entering Level 18.]
The moment the Level updated and a new Gatekeeper appeared, the Lizardman sprang forward.
“Careful!”
SHHK!
“SKREEEEEEEK!”
A sound like something being severed cut through the air, followed by a monstrous scream that echoed throughout the arena.
A giant centipede roughly five meters long was writhing in front of me with a third of its body cut away.
I checked the centipede’s Status Window.
【Sand Mound Giant Centipede】
【Level】: 24
【Performance Score】: 20,000
It was the same this time.
The Gatekeeper that appeared was only slightly stronger than the Level 17 one.
With the Minotaur leading the way, I approached the writhing Giant Centipede.
“Well, it’s still alive, but...”
It looked as though it would die any second.
I had no suitable way to heal a centipede.
With no other choice, I made a throat-slitting gesture at the Lizardman.
It was a hand signal telling it to finish the centipede off.
“HSSSK!”
The Lizardman’s sword flashed and pierced the centipede’s head.
[Level 18 has been Cleared.]
[Rewards will now be distributed.]
[Awakened Level has increased.]
[Awakened Level has increased.]
…
My Level had gone up by another five.
Hmm...
If my lizardman companion kept carrying things like this, maybe I would not need to put much effort into recruiting new companions...
Still, I could not casually predict what kind of monster would appear in the next Level.
For now, sticking with my existing strategy was the right choice.
“Then, onto the next Level!”
At Level 19, a giant rhinoceros covered from head to toe in horns appeared.
“But isn’t this... too big?”
【Red Plains War Rhinoceros】
【Level】: 27
【Performance Score】: 28,000
Snorting loudly, the rhinoceros stamped its hind feet against the ground as though it might charge us at any moment.
It was as huge as a tank.
Its hide was covered in rough, sharp horns, making it impossible to even consider getting close.
But surely this would be no match for our Iron-Scaled Lizardman, right?
I said to the Lizardman, “Don’t kill this one, okay? We need a new companion.”
“HSSS...”
But its reaction was strange.
Whenever a new enemy appeared, the Lizardman usually rushed out before anyone could stop it.
This time, for some reason, it hesitated awkwardly.
Taking advantage of that, the Minotaur, which had been growing anxious after having all the credit stolen from it, let out a roar and charged the rhinoceros.
“MOOOOOOOO!”
The rhinoceros also kicked off with its hind legs and charged.
At that moment, the Lizardman grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the rhinoceros’s path.
Soon, the two enormous monsters collided head-on in the middle of the arena.
BOOM!
With a sound like a drum bursting, the Minotaur burst open like a balloon.
Ah...
Sorry I could not protect you.
Red blood scattered through the air above the arena.
The Lizardman swung its sword, knocking away the droplets that flew toward me, then immediately charged the rhinoceros.
The rhinoceros had barely stopped near the edge of the arena and was turning its massive body around.
Before it could finish turning, the Lizardman drove its sword into the rhinoceros’s rear.
SKRRRRAAANG!
A metallic screech rang out.
The Lizardman’s sword had sliced through even the Giant Centipede’s carapace with ease, but it could not leave so much as a scratch on the rhinoceros’s hide.
Still, that was enough.
With its balance disrupted, the rhinoceros was shoved backward by the impact and rolled out of the arena.
[Level 19 has been Cleared.]
[Rewards will now be distributed.]
The Lizardman turned and walked toward me.
Then it shrugged.
It probably meant that it had done all it could.
“Yeah. I would not want to fight that thing head-on either.”
Well, what could I do?
All I could do was proceed to the next Level.
I opened the reward chest.
Then, before entering the next Level, I took stock of the resources I had.
At the moment, I had a lizardman companion worth 40,000 Performance Score and two spare Puppet Needles.
Honestly, I had no idea whether that would be enough.
Either way, I was moving on to Level 20.