My Level Zero System

In his assumption, "that thing" must be rank 6 or rank 7.

If it was before, he wouldn't have dared to do this, as Kain had already determined, he was only rank 6.

However, Kain is now very different from before.

Especially when he possesses [Enhancement Magic], and even upgrades this magic skill to level 3.

So much so, that even Kain himself didn't know how strong he could be in a one-on-one fight.

A bolt of lightning flashed by, momentarily driving away the darkness. From within the hazy mist, the shape of "that thing" appeared before Kain.

Witnessing this, Kain's eyes couldn't help but flash with surprise.

Previously, Kain had thought that "that thing" must be some kind of terrifying monster. But what was reflected in his sight was a humanoid creature. "That thing" had the appearance of a young woman, but her entire skin was as dark as coal. In addition, her skin also grew sharp and shiny fragments like some kind of gemstone, especially concentrated on her two legs and two arms.

Finally, and most striking of all, were the blood-red glowing lines that were arranged symmetrically and purposefully on her body. Kain observed that these lines would concentrate on important parts such as joints, which made him immediately think that these lines must be a manifestation of some kind of transportation route similar to human blood vessels and nerves, rather than a decorative motif.

"Can you talk?"

Kain spoke.

His eyes narrowed slightly, a sign that he was concentrating, extremely concentrating.

A sense of danger rose in Kain's intuition. Without continuing to do any unnecessary actions, Kain immediately activated his magic skill.

[Enhancement Body].

[Thunder Flash].

Kain's body disappeared at a speed that left only an afterimage mixed with the electric arcs. At that very moment, "that thing" also disappeared from her position, and appeared at the position where Kain had just been standing.

The monster's arm was embedded in the solid floor of the building, creating a small but deep and sharp crater. It was entirely conceivable that if Kain had taken that blow directly, he would have been cut in half.

Because of the "claws".

Those black crystals that look like just cool decorations are deadly sharp.

Kain secretly sweated, but his movements were not slow at all.

His brain reached peak performance, everything around Kain seemed to slow down.

All current information about the environment, architectural structures, possible enemy movements, etc. are quickly reflected and analyzed in Kain's mind.

"This thing... is too fast!"

Kain made his decision.

[Thunder Arrow].

The lightning arrow arced, flying in a zigzag trajectory to hit the left side of "that thing", but she reacted very promptly, quickly dodging to the right to avoid the attack.

This is a normal move.

Little did she know, this seemingly powerful move gave Kain an opportunity.

Here, two types of brain activity must be distinguished.

First, it is also the previously invisible type of "fighting" with pure strategy and resource mobilization at hand.

For this kind of brainstorming, regardless of whether it was him or "that thing", they had the time and space to carefully think through strategies, model the flow of thoughts, and fit it into the actual situation. In short, they could think meticulously to the extreme.

Second, it's still "fighting", but it's blood and flesh and touch, death is near at any moment.

For this type of brainstorming, they will be disturbed, absolutely disturbed by the surrounding environment and situation, making it extremely difficult to think meticulously to the end, or to form extremely complex strategies. This is not to say that they cannot think of such things, but rather that it is very difficult.

This also involves cognitive focus on the mind.

This is a rather interesting aspect of the mind and psychology. It goes something like this.

"When your focus is drawn to one thing, your attention to other things is reduced."

This is not just about abstract psychology, but also about physiology. That is, even though your vision is very broad and vast, there is only a small part of it that you can see clearly, and that is where your mind is focused.

So how might this apply in a battle of life and death?

It's simple, when there's a spike about to pierce your heart, you won't notice your enemy's pants falling down.

Just now, when Kain used [Thunder Arrow] to attack "that thing" in a flash, he intentionally left an opening.

The lightning arrow was very fast, but its trajectory was curved to the left.

That is, it is not straight.

The gap that Kain had created was the space ahead, straight between him and "that thing".

So, strategically speaking, when "that thing" only had enough time for one move, it could have chosen to dive towards Kain to counterattack immediately instead of dodging to the right. This right-dodging action was clearly an unconscious act of self-protection.

If Kain had chosen to shoot straight forward, dodging would have been no problem, of course, because counterattacking required at least two steps of dodging to find space and counter attacking, but he didn't do that.

So Kain came to a conclusion.

She couldn't... or rather, couldn't yet apply strategy and in direct combat.

This is Kain's chance.

The speed of "that thing" was truly too terrifying, to the point that it was able to dodge even [Thunder Arrow].

Kain even said that this was not the true speed of this monster.

From her movements, she was clearly not familiar with even conventional combat, doing so almost entirely on instinct.

But with her learning ability, which Kain had learned during their previous strategic engagements, Kain assumed that it was natural for her to learn.

So Kain will kill this monster before that happens.

An electric arc flashed in the vacuum, followed by countless electric arcs that filled a part of the vast architectural space.

Kain stood in the midst of it all, towering like a lord of the natural elements. He stepped forward, and the lightning bolts quickly coalesced into various shapes.

Four lightning arrows condensed into shape, surrounding the monster in the magic formation. Among them, there was one lightning arrow that Kain intentionally enhanced with [Enhancement Magic], using the most cunning angle to stab into the body of "that thing".

The remaining three lightning arrows were chosen at extremely clever angles by Kain, so that by finding just the right angle, "that thing" could dodge all three arrows at the same time and only receive the attack of the fourth arrow. Also an enhanced arrow.

Once again, the "thing's" ability to learn and apply it in real combat was so fast that it surprised Kain.

This is only the second wave of attacks.

Although he intentionally arranged it so that all three lightning arrows could be dodged at the same time, to discover this point also required a superhuman ability to observe and visualize spatially.

If "that thing" dodged normally, she could only dodge two arrows at most.

Thus, in just a very short time, she saw the ingenious point in the trajectory of the lightning arrows, and decisively made the decision to receive one lightning arrow instead of two.

But all of that was already planned by Kain.

If "that thing" just dodges normally, she has a 50% chance of not being hit by the enhanced lightning arrow.

But because "that thing" was wiser, it chose the option that seemed most beneficial to her, not knowing that this was the moment she fell into Kain's trap.

And it's not like the monster can't tell which lightning arrow is stronger.

He could have cast all four lightning arrows at once, but he still deliberately created a lightning net first, essentially to create a shielding environment for the lightning arrows to erupt.

Continuously, the electric arcs ran back and forth, all of them with high intensity, causing the difference between [Thunder Arrow] and [Thunder Arrow] with [Enhancement Magic] to be somewhat covered up.

Hit by a powerful blow, the monster collapsed.

Kain immediately became alert.

Logically speaking, "that thing" shouldn't have fallen that quickly.

This is not a judgment, this is just experience from confronting claw monsters in this Dungeon.

Each of them has its own powerful resistance.

A Nightcrawler might have been able to be taken down by that attack, but Kain didn't think a monster that stood at the top of them would be taken down so easily.

So, she's playing dead.

She actually knew how to take advantage of the momentary comfort of victory to trap him.

At this time, the lightning network gradually dispersed.

Kain, indeed, did not have much strength left, so cutting off this ultimate move was a good option.

He still has a long way to go.

He will pretend to step into its trap.

Kain quickly moved forward, approaching the collapsed "thing". His eyes focused on her black crystal hands, his face showing greed.

But as soon as he approached a certain distance, "that thing" sprang up again.