My Level Zero System

But, Kain's thoughts at this moment stopped briefly.

Not because Kain had stopped thinking, but because Kain had forcibly interrupted his previous train of thought.

How strange.

That was what reflected in Kain's mind.

This was not exactly some random intuition, but the result of his subconscious analyzing all the events that had happened since he entered here.

A strange feeling covered Kain's mind, but not only did it not make Kain stupid, but instead made him finally understand.

It's simple, he was fooled.

The enemy... or rather "that thing", was much more cunning than he had expected.

It's not that she can't apply strategy in real combat, she just pretends she is a novice.

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

Repeat this saying again, but the victim here is not "that thing", but Kain.

He had to admit, he was indeed fooled, how ironic.

Ever since entering here, "that thing" had built up an image of itself as a novice in combat, precisely at the moment Kain fired that first [Thunder Arrow].

Even though everything happened so quickly, she was still able to read Kain's true intentions through the trajectory of the lightning arrow. Or perhaps she did instinctively dodge, but then she used this to her advantage to scatter clues to deceive him.

"That thing" had deliberately shown herself to be someone who adapted quickly to battle, and it was Kain who had helped her do so. He had fallen deeper and deeper into the trap he had set, not knowing that he himself had fallen into it.

"That thing" gradually increased her ability to influence and influence the outcome of the battle. Starting from acting instinctively, meaning dodging [Thunder Arrow] at the beginning. Then, the ability to observe and make decisions that minimize the damage she would receive, meaning dodging three [Thunder Arrow] shots. Finally, using deception tactics, meaning pretending to be dead after being hit by Kain.

So what does this strategic advancement mean?

It was what made Kain unable to believe that everything had been arranged by "that thing" from the beginning, and at the same time set a big trap just waiting for Kain to step into the death zone.

At the same time, it made Kain feel afraid of the speed of adaptation and application of "that thing", causing his attention to focus on eliminating "that thing" as quickly as possible.

Both traps work simultaneously and complement each other's effects, surpassing Kain's by a notch.

So how was Kain able to detect such an elaborate trap?

This could also be said to be a small mistake of "that thing" that she could not make up for. To an ordinary enemy, this small mistake could be considered non-existent, but to an enemy like Kain, even a small mistake could be magnified.

First, one thing was certain, that the first attack from "that thing" was definitely her true power. If Kain hadn't reacted quickly enough, he would have definitely died then.

This must be just a test run by "that thing", if Kain can be killed in this attack then naturally everything will be over. Otherwise, everything will go on as in reality.

Therefore, Kain could have a rough assessment of the strength of "that thing".

However, after reviewing all of her experiences, Kain discovered that the strength she displayed was gradually weakening. Whereas if she was actually fighting with gradually increasing adaptation, she should have been getting stronger and stronger.

Of course, Kain had thought of this before, especially when he saw "that thing" pretending to collapse, Kain was even more certain. Because only when she appeared weaker could he rationalize this moment of collapse.

Even if "that thing" had the intention of deliberately trying to trick Kain into thinking that faking her death was her real trap, she wouldn't have done it so blatantly like showing off too much strength and then suddenly falling to the ground.

If she did so, Kain would know immediately that this was a fake trap created to conceal the real one.

For their level, anything done too purposefully will become inarticulate and quickly be seen through by the other side. They will always consider how to make their strategy look as "natural" as possible.

Being able to do this, even Kain had to feel horrified by her natural talent in thinking and strategy in battle.

She seemed like a weapon of war deliberately created by nature.

If it is so perfect without any fault, then where is the mistake?

The gradual weakening of the battle force was indeed a very wise move, but its only slight flaw was that the timing was not very precise.

To ask why the time element was a mistake, Kain had to go back to the three "evolutionary" steps of "that thing" to compare.

Step one, fight instinctively.

Step two, weigh the pros and cons.

Step three, deception strategy.

Here, the weakening was necessary for the third step to occur properly. But Kain had sensed it since after the first step.

This is the problem.

From the above, Kain could vaguely deduce that "that thing" was pretending.

Now is the time to think, what is she pretending to hide?

Kain just realized that, although he had used lightning to check once before entering the battle, the ceiling here had not.

All of this, thought out, listed, arranged, molded, and summarized by Kain in just a brief moment.

[Thunder Flash].

Kain's body jerked backwards, he had retreated.

However, his reaction was not quick enough.

Because from the ceiling, a horrible monster swooped down. This thing looked like Nightcrawler, but it had four arms, and it was almost twice as tall as Nightcrawler.

Taking advantage of the high ceiling and fog to conceal its whereabouts, this monster swung on the ceiling under the command of "that thing", just waiting for an opportunity to attack by surprise.

[Thunder Flash] was very fast, but the reaction time was too short, making it impossible for Kain to completely dodge.

The monster's claws cut through his body.

Kain's retreat somewhat lessened the force of the claws.

Next was the damage reduction from the academy uniform. The hazy radiance emitted from the clothing caused the force from the monster's claws to stop for a moment.

But the force was too great and still caused the uniform to tear.

Kain felt his entire body lighten for a moment, but then an indescribable pain rushed into his nervous system, causing his great navel to almost freeze from being overwhelmed by the pain.

Then came the sensation of his internal organs shaking as if they were about to change places, causing a physiological reaction that was regurgitated into his throat. Combined with the internal bleeding, Kain spat out blood from his mouth.

His mind, like a fire that was burning but was suddenly extinguished.
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This is how physical pain interrupts the train of thought.

But Kain's willpower reluctantly held his mind.

[Heal].

Magic skill was activated, the pain was immediately reduced somewhat, but Kain's whole body was still a mess.

Unless it's the mid-class magic skill [Regeneration], [Heal] can only barely help him maintain a stable condition for a period of time.

[Heal] is ultimately just a magic skill that supports the body's self-healing foundation. For injuries that are too serious, even the body becomes powerless to heal.

Kain felt dizzy and lightheaded, a sign of cerebral ischemia. He made a quick decision, endured the pain and stitched the two separated edges of the wound together, then used fire to temporarily seal the wound.

As soon as Kain regained his vision, what he saw were two monsters surrounding and attacking him from two diagonal directions.

[Thunder Flash].

[Enhancement Body].

Once again running away, the aftereffects from [Thunder Flash] made him almost vomit even after using [Enhancement Body] to neutralize it.

He doesn't have much time or energy left.

The feeling of his whole body being drained away came over him, not only physically but mentally as well.

Hiding forever is not the way.

Kain's eyes were dazed, in fact, he still had one last trump card.

[Spirit Magic ★] 1499/1500 (+)

If Kain spent just one more skill point, he would level up another magic system to mid-class, and he would become full of power again.

At that time, although it is not certain that we will win, the situation will be much better.

But that's not what Kain wanted.

He chose [Spirit Magic] as his target, because of Mera.

If he did that, it was very likely that the only chance to save her would also disappear.