What was that? A coincidence?

Or was it my "not defined luck"?

I was still alive. Lying flat on the ground, still breathing, still alive.

Above me, this creature was lying, a lifeless creature. 'It' was DEAD. It was dead for sure. There was no reason for it to act as dead, at least not to me.

I was still in confusion because of what happened. Did my skill "Disintegration" really killed it? That too in an instant?

I suddenly remembered about Akane. She was slammed on the wall and fainted right there and then. 'I need to check her condition.' I thought and hurriedly slipped away from below the Arachne and rushed to check Akane's condition. I examined her and went in a panic again. She was bleeding from her forehead. A head injury. She was injured in the most fatal place one could get in this dungeon.

'Calm down! She is still breathing and trembling. She is alive. And also this wound doesn't look that deep, she only needs a first-aid treatment.'

'Where did her backpack go??'

'Argh, where are you, you little shit!'

'Found it'

I hurriedly opened the backpack.

'I had cotton balls inserted in my nose and ears, she must have some more of those, right?'

'Found it'

'A bandage, cottons, an antiseptic, and water.'

'Let's hurry, damn it'

Getting the first-aid items, I hurried towards her. The wound was just above her right eye, which was hidden behind the eyepatch. I took a deep breath to calm myself down and then slowly removed the eyepatch from her face. Maybe, because of the fresh blood, her scar which separated her eyelids in two, was looking more awful.

'I expected it, but imagining and seeing in real gives a different feeling. She may be getting another scar because of this wound on her face, but she will live, and that is more important than a tiny scar.'

I carefully treated her wound, by first washing it with water, applying antiseptic, putting the cotton, and finally wrapping the bandage on her head. This much was the most I could do for her right now with the resources I could get in this place.

.

.

After taking a few breaths of relief as Akane's breathing became normal, telling me that she is now just napping, I got up from the ground to check what actually happened a few moments ago.

From what I knew, my skill "Disintegration" wasn't an insta-kill skill. The target couldn't die until it was fully disintegrated into nothingness. Or at least something along that line is mentioned on my status screen. I checked it once again to confirm.

NAME: Ren Itsuki

AGE: 17

SEX: Male

RACE: HIGH HUMAN

ORIGIN: EARTH-818

TITLE:

The Not Summoned One

LEVEL: 1

PHYSICAL STATS :

HP: 6/6

MP: 10/10

STR: 0

DEX: 1

DEF: 0

AGI: 1

INT: 5

LUCK: not defined

ABNORMAL STATE: none

Skills

1. Disintegration lvl 1

♦ A unique skill, that disintegrates living targets into non-existence. To invoke this skill, you need to verbally call out the skill's activation phrase - "DISINTEGRATE", while aiming at the target that you need disintegrated with the hand. The point at which the skill is connected becomes the disintegration centre. And the target undergoes disintegration with the disintegration point being the disintegration centre. Note, the target does not die immediately once the skill connects, but when, it is completely disintegrated. Note, there cannot be more than one disintegration centre in a single target.

♦ Current disintegration rate: 60cm³/s.

♦ Current range: 60 cm

♦ Number of shots: 3/3

♦ MP cost: 3

♦ Cooldown period: 3 days

BLESSINGS:

Linguistics [ ⇓ ]

I looked at my wristwatch to check how much time has passed, the last time I checked my watch was before treating Akane. It has been 8 minutes since then, adding a couple of minutes should mean that 'it' died nearly 10 minutes ago.

An average human's volume is 0.07 m^3, which is equal to 70,000 cm^3. I only remember this fact till now because it was used often as a parameter in some interesting mathematics problems.

Judging by its size, this Arachne should have more than thrice as much volume since it has an 'extra-large part' below its waist. That should be something around 2,10,000cm^3, maybe.

'Hmmm....'

My skill should take nearly 1 hour, to completely disintegrate it, that is, if my assumptions and calculations are right. Still, it shouldn't have died when my skill just connected, right? I mean even if my skill connected at a fatal spot, like on the chest, it would still take at least a few seconds to expand to heart. But what happened was entirely different, as soon as my skill connected, it slumped lifelessly, it died in an instant.

Now, I am not sure if it really was 'my' skill that killed it.

I reluctantly approached the dead Arachne. I needed to be sure.

Its body was lying on the ground, facing downwards. I pushed it to turn it over. It was extremely heavy, or it was just that my stats were too low. I turned it to its sides. It had a peculiar oval-shaped, glossy stone-like organ on its chest, between its "boobs". The stone was lustrous and smooth, and it had a hole in the centre. The area around the hole was slowly turning dark and vanishing as soon as it turned as such. I guess this is how disintegration actually worked. I touched the hole on the stone to feel if it was expanding or not. Yes, it was expanding.

My hand accidentally touched its "boobs", I quickly wiped my hands with my clothes. Even though its upper body was identical to human female's, its "boobs" were not arousing at all, instead, they were disgusting. I think the answer to why it died so quickly is quite simple. This stone must be some kind of "core" that the monsters of this kind or possibly all monsters had. No, I have seen the monsters outside this dungeon... they don't have such cores. Ah, but this creature wasn't an ordinary monster it was a Devil's minion. It could be an organ unique to the monsters of the dungeon.

It must be serving as some kind of vessel to contain its 'soul' or something like a life force. Maybe cracks or gaps must not be present in the 'core' for it to live. And my skill made this 'gap' in its 'core', this must be why it died without even getting completely disintegrated. It's all but a wild guess, mostly inspired by games but quite plausible.

'But I should gain level if I really killed it. Why am I still at level 1? Hmm...'

Maybe killing it this way doesn't count. Maybe this status system only judges it as dead when it's completely disintegrated, huh.

'Does this means that there is a weak point in these monsters, a weak point that I can exploit to full with this skill?'

'But.... it will only help if I can aim precisely at this core....'

"Hehe, I really do have a one-shot skill, huh?" I chuckled to myself.

"Ah!" As I was examining its legs, its tip pierced my palm a bit. A drop of blood came out from my palm. I wiped it off with shirt.

It had eight long and thin legs, the tips of its legs were extremely sharp and pointed - like a needle. I guess it helped them to walk on walls and such.

!?

'Oh! Akane is waking up.'

"How are you feeling? Is your head okay?"

She winced in pain and touched her forehead, feeling the wrapped bandage.

'Ah! I guess I shouldn't barrage her with questions just yet.'

"I think it's okay. It still hurts, a lot. But you have treated it quite neatly, thanks, Itsuki-sa-*gasp* where is that monster? H-huh!!!! d-did you kill it all by y-yourself? "

She asked me while stuttering and pointing at the Arachne, which was .

I sighed and replied yes. I explained what happened after she fainted and told her my speculation or guess, on why it happened.

After I was done filling her in, I heard a *ting* in my head.

I looked towards the spot where the Arachne was lying or was supposed to be lying, I couldn't find the Arachne that could only mean that 'it' was completely disintegrated and the 'ting' was some kind of notification.

I checked the time, it took about 63 minutes to disintegrate completely.

'But...'

"What was that? Some kind of ?", as soon as I said the word "NOTIFICATION", the status screen flashed out once again.

But this time it was a different kind of window

Alerts:

A target successfully disintegrated. You levelled up. You levelled up. You levelled up. You levelled up.

.

.

100. You levelled up.

101. Skill: Disintegration levelled up.

102. You levelled up.

.

.

201. You levelled up.

202. Skill: Disintegration levelled up.

203. You levelled up.

.

.

286. You levelled up.

Swiping down to the bottom, I found there were 286 alerts of level-ups!

"Akane-san! try saying "Notification" and tell me what you see."

"Y-yes.......... Hey, it says- no alerts?"

"Is that so... Hmm, this status command wasn't told by that Bitch... There... could there be other commands too? I... think?" I exhaled, "Let me try mmm.... , nothing. , nothing. , Oh! "

A new kind of window popped up in front of my face.

MENU :

STATUS PARTY NOTIFICATION

A party-system! If it is what I think it is then it could be the most helpful thing after my skill.

Now that I know that there is a certain weak point in these monsters that I can exploit with my skill. The chances of us leaving this dungeon alive have shot up. But there is always a chance that I miss my aim. These monsters must be freakishly strong as that goddess had claimed us to throw us on one of the deepest floors. The monster won't die instantly if the skill connected to any part other than that stone-like organ.

This time though, it was pure luck. But luck isn't always there. More than that, this time 'it' was just playing with us. Yes, it was just playing with us, and that's why Akane didn't die when slammed against the wall by that Arachne. If 'it' was only a serious... yesonly a bit, neither Akane nor I would've survived.

Akane is strong, maybe stronger than me, at least psychologically.

She was able to overcome the paralysis induced by fear much earlier than me. Even while shaking, she did confront the monster that froze me in fear. Not to mention, she also tried to shoot the Goddess. If she could level up, if she could fight with her skill, if she could utilize her skill, our chances to survive here will become twice as much as they are now.

'Let's see how this Party system works.'

I touched the word Party, which was displayed on the screen.

[ PARTY: ]

♦ A system that enables the user to share the experience gained from killing a non-human target among themselves. To add another system user to your party, users have to say the word "party" simultaneously. A permission screen will be displayed when said so, when displayed, click on the required option.

♦ Current members added in Party: none

Following the instructions written on the screen, I added Akane to my party.

Now I can see her name, level, HP and MP.

[ PARTY: ]

♦ A system that enables the user to share the experience gained from killing a non-human target among themselves. To add another system user to your party, users have to say the word "party" simultaneously. A permission screen will be displayed when said so, when displayed, click on the required option.

♦ Current members added in Party:

RINA AKANE: (remove)

lvl 1

HP: 2/7

MP: 0/50

Her HP is at a critical point, and MP is at zero, huh. I guess she used up all her MP when she used her skill against that Goddess.

She needs to rest, she did plenty in the fight.

I told Akane-san to lie down and rest. I helped her lay down and after that, I proceeded to check my status.

NAME: Ren Itsuki

AGE: 17

SEX: Male

RACE: HIGH HUMAN

ORIGIN: EARTH-818

TITLE:

The Not Summoned One

LEVEL: 283

PHYSICAL STATS :

HP: 1696/1698

MP: 2830/2830

STR: 0

DEX: 566

DEF: 0

AGI: 566

INT: 1415

LUCK: not defined

ABNORMAL STATE: none

Skills

1. Disintegration lvl 3

♦ A unique skill, that disintegrates living targets into non-existence. To invoke this skill, you need to verbally call out the skill's activation phrase - "DISINTEGRATE", while aiming at the target that you need disintegrated with the hand. The point at which the skill is connected becomes the disintegration centre. And the target undergoes disintegration with the disintegration point being the disintegration centre. Note, the target does not die immediately once the skill connects, but when, it is completely disintegrated. Note, there cannot be more than one disintegration centre in a single target.

♦ Current disintegration rate: 180cm³/s.

♦ Current range: 960 cm

♦ Number of shots: 27/27

♦ MP cost: 3

♦ Cooldown period: 27 hours

BLESSINGS:

Linguistics [ ⇓ ]

My MP gauge was back to full, which meant levelling up refilled the MP gauge. That's good.

But that is not the same with HP, huh. That's not good, but I'll have to manage what else can I do, anyway.

'Hm...'

The disintegration rate has increased to 180cm^3/s, huh. Since this Arachne took nearly 60-63 minutes to disintegrate at 60cm^3/s then now at 180cm^3/s it will take nearly 20-22 minutes to disintegrate another one of the same kind, that's quite better.

A range of 9.6 m, is perfect. Hm, cooldown period has come down to 27 hours, huh, that means a day on this world. These look great, but, what concerns me are my physical stats. So, my stats have been multiplied by the amount of level up, huh. (2*283=566) But Str and Def are still at zero, what did it mean exactly? I won't get any additional strength and defence from the system?

That time I took a look at Midoriya's Stats sheet. If I remember correctly, he was an S-Rank Hero and all his stats were above 500 at level 1. And here, even at level 283, these stats are no match against his.

I don't know how much strength he will gain when he reaches a level above a hundred. That Bitch wasn't kidding when she said that we'll have a shit growth rate. Even at level 283, I really won't be a match against any of them.

'But still.... with this skill of mine, Disintegration... maybe, just maybe, we can get out of here alive...'

"Itsuki-san, did you hear that?" Akane alerted me of something.

And yes, I heard it too.

I got up from the ground and raised my right arm towards the only direction from which they could come...

Maybe they can smell us.

Maybe, they were coming here in search of their missing 'family'.

Or maybe it's just a coincidence.

They were coming.

This time a hoard of them.

They will try to kill us again.

But...

But this time, it's going to be them who will feel the DESPAIR.

My stats may be low. Maybe I will die if they even me hit once, but......

I will not give them the chance to attack. I will kill them before they could even realize it.

They won't even get the time to realize why their kin lies dead beside them before even doing something.

I will them before they can even notice.

The footsteps were coming closer at each instant.

I saw them. Multiple Arachnes..

They were a bit too far away.

TAP .TAP .TAP. TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP .TAP .TAP .TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP .TAP .TAP .TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP .TAP. TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP.TAP .TAP .TAP. TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP .TAP .TAP .TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP .TAP .TAP .TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP .TAP. TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP.TAP .TAP .TAP. TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP .TAP .TAP .TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP .TAP .TAP .TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP .TAP. TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP.

They were approaching closer.

Four on the ground, two on the walls, and two from the ceiling.

They are coming to hunt us.

But......

Now....they're in my range.

*I N H A L E*

""

ONE DOWN

""

TWO

""

THREE......

The skill that I had thought to be useless turned out to be the best to have in this dungeon....

"Haaah~..."