TEOCH 30

The level system in this game is quite a headache.

Of course, the structure of gaining experience by defeating enemies is no different from other games. When you infuse purification energy into a demon beast’s heart or head, causing a fatal wound, the beast dies, and all participating companions receive an equal share of experience points.

At first glance, it might seem like the companion with the highest contribution should get more experience, but that’s not how it works here. It can’t be helped. If the system worked that way, everyone except me and Tristan would barely earn any experience.

When you accumulate enough experience, your level increases, and various stats improve. Strength, agility, mana—typical game stats—rise, and in my case, I also gain the ability to share more purification energy with my companions.

Maximum health, maximum mana, health recovery speed, and mana recovery speed are the most critical stats. In a world where you’re constantly running around and using skills, having solid base health and mana is essential. Even though leveling up doesn’t grant new skills, this is why you need to keep raising your level consistently.

It’s a standard level system. But there’s a small problem… The more people involved in combat, the less experience each person gets.

‘Of course, this damn game wouldn’t give us something good without a penalty!’

Tristan’s sword, infused with purification energy, stabbed fiercely into a spider. The head of the spider, as big as a ten-year-old child, split in half, green ichor spurting out. With a dying scream, the writhing spider soon fell still.

While swinging my sword at another charging spider, I checked my experience. It had gone up by exactly 2 exp. In a four-person team, each person would’ve gotten around 3 to 4 exp.

It might not seem like a big difference at first, but when you calculate the total experience for the party, the limitation becomes clear. In a four-person team, we’d have earned at least 12 exp, maybe up to 16 exp. But with five people fighting now, we can only get about 10 exp at best.

Four people splitting 16 exp versus five people splitting 10 exp—it’s obvious which is the worse deal. Do we choose safety with less experience, or take risks for more? The system clearly forces us to pick, but…

“Sir Rikiel, above!”

Rikiel, using ‘Provocation’ to fend off three spiders at once, hurriedly looked up. A small spider clinging to the ceiling dropped toward his head with a loud clatter.

With his dual swords tangled in spider legs, Rikiel struggled, but a sharp whistle cut through the air as Rehas’s arrow flew from the bowstring. The spider, hit by a ‘Cripple’ arrow, flailed its legs and fell off Rikiel’s head. Thanks to that, Rikiel could focus on defense without taking any significant damage.

“Ugh!”

“Are you hurt, Captain?!”

“I’m fine! But where are all these things coming from?!”

“It looks like they’ve called for reinforcements! Damn it, there are more than we expected…!”

I drove my sword into the body of a spider trying to rise after recovering from a status effect, gritting my teeth as I stood. Safety, my ass—this is a fight where even five people need to be ready to die! Cursing the brutal difficulty fitting for hard mode, I swung my sword.

When Damian used his small-scale detection magic, there were only four spiders in this cave. But at some point, their numbers suddenly surged, and now seven spiders were surrounding us, attacking fiercely. Considering we’d already taken down three, we were essentially facing ten spiders.

And to top it off, they give so little experience? This was nothing short of outrageous. Panting, I cut down a spider lunging at Damian. He was already using ‘Fire’ to fend off two spiders and had no strength left to handle another.

Thanks to ‘Sever,’ I managed to cut off two of the spider’s legs, but in exchange, I had to take a hit from another spider’s attack on my left arm. With a loud clang, my armor shattered. There was no direct wound, but a numbing pain radiated through my arm. Another hit, and I’d be paralyzed by their venom for sure.

“Rohan, watch out!”

Another spider attacking me had its side burst open. It was Tristan. Thanks to the ‘Paralysis’ parasite in his sword, the spider was immobilized, but his longsword, lodged deep in its body, wouldn’t come out easily.

While Tristan struggled to pull out his sword, I swung at a spider targeting him. It was the one missing two legs. I didn’t kill it in one blow, but it staggered back, blood pouring from its eyes, and Damian’s flames burrowed into its guts. The nauseating smell of burning flesh filled the cave.

“Rohan, provoking these things is reaching its limit! What do we do?!”

“…Damn it! Hold on just a bit longer! If we kill one more, we’ll have a way out!”

Glaring at the spiders blocking the cave entrance, I shouted fiercely. Tristan, finally freeing his sword, infused it with purification energy and beheaded a spider. The number surrounding us dropped to six. If we took down the burned one, we’d be down to five.

Even with only five spiders left, escaping wouldn’t be easy. But I had a plan…

Raising my sword with all my strength, I smashed a spider’s head, and a bright light enveloped my vision as a clear message appeared.

[Your level has increased by 1.]

[Rikiel’s level has increased by 1.]

[Tristan’s level has increased by 1.]

[Due to leveling up, all health and mana have been restored.]

[Congratulations! The performance of your ‘Purification’ skill has improved. You can now infuse purification energy into allies from a greater distance.]

Finally, I thought, pulling my sword from the spider’s head with a triumphant grin. My body, which had felt heavy to the point of collapse, suddenly felt light.

I swung my short sword, covered in green ichor, and drove it into one of the spiders Rikiel was holding off. Luckily, the ‘Bombardment’ effect triggered, and the spider exploded with a loud boom as my sword struck. Its eight legs, now ownerless, flew through the air.

Tristan, joining Damian and Rehas to attack the spiders, was making progress too. His strategy of using the ‘Paralysis’ sword to immobilize their legs and then beheading them while they struggled was surprisingly effective. After teaming up with Rikiel to take down two more spiders, I rushed to Tristan’s side.

With Tristan, Rikiel, and me regaining our strength through the level-up, things moved quickly from there. After taking down one more spider Damian was handling, even Damian and Rehas, who had less experience, leveled up. They might not know about the system, but they’d at least feel they’d grown stronger, like a divine blessing.

We quickly dispatched the last spider. With his mana fully restored from the level-up, Damian pressed the spider with fierce flames, and I could casually smash its head.

“Hah, hah…”

After defeating all the spiders in the cave, we collapsed, utterly exhausted. The sticky ichor from the spider corpses was unpleasant, but we were in no state to care. What mattered was that we’d successfully completed the battle. And there was one more thing to be happy about.

“It looks like we’ve taken care of all the spiders in this cave. We’ll set up a temporary base here.”

“Is that safe? What if more spiders show up?”

“Even if this area is crawling with spiders, they’re not idle enough to chase us into a remote corner like this, Sir Rikiel. Plus, this place is good for a defensive battle, so we could probably handle ten spiders or so.”

“Hmm, you’re probably right.”

“Let’s use this as our temporary base and train here. It’s fortunate we found a place before sunset.”

After shoving the spider corpses into a corner, I drew a ‘Fortification’ magic circle on the cave floor. For the first day, it was a decent outcome. We leveled up, found a suitable base, and no one got injured.

Of course, it was far too early to relax.

‘We got lucky. If we hadn’t leveled up at the right moment, someone could’ve been seriously hurt.’

I sighed lightly and stood. We’d barely reached level 2. Based on our battles so far, to reach level 7—the minimum to face the queen spider—we’d need to kill about a hundred spiders. That’s roughly twenty spiders per level.

Luckily, we managed to level up after killing ten spiders this time, but the next battle won’t be so easy. We’d need to fight carefully.

‘At least it’s a relief that Rehas and Tristan fought well.’

I felt relieved, brushing my chest. The lower experience was a drawback, but a five-person team was definitely more comfortable and stable than a four-person one. Rehas, with his well-timed arrows inflicting status effects, and Tristan, fighting with his own strategies, were both incredibly helpful.

It wasn’t just Tristan’s purification ability. His intelligence and quick thinking allowed him to adapt to combat at an astonishing pace. Sure, he floundered in unexpected situations, but considering he wasn’t used to combat, this was more than impressive.

Maybe it’s a good thing he’s here, I thought, looking at my companions. Thanks to the recent level-up, they looked quite lively. It was about time for lunch, so I casually addressed them.

“Alright, everyone. You’re not too tired, right? I need your help.”

“Of course. What do you need, Rohan?”

“Lunch preparations.”

“Lunch? Can’t we just eat the rations we have?”

Tristan answered with an innocent expression. Damian and Rikiel nodded as if it were obvious, but Rehas, catching on to my intentions, stiffened and glanced at the spider corpses.

I smiled and met their eyes. Damian, picking up on Rehas’s odd behavior, paled. Rikiel’s expression twisted as he looked at Rehas and Damian, but… Tristan’s eyes remained innocently unchanged.

I briefly considered letting Tristan eat rations for now, but it didn’t seem like a good idea. He’d have to eat the same food as us eventually. Even if we gave him extra food later, we couldn’t let him develop picky eating habits now.

“Let’s save the rations for emergencies. They don’t spoil, so we should eat the perishable food first.”

“Perishable food? Where’s that?”

“Where else? Didn’t we just get it?”

They’ve done well so far, so they can handle this, right? If Tristan struggled to adapt to the demon realm, that’d be one thing, but seeing how well he was adjusting made me a bit greedy. Maybe he’d get over this quickly. It’d be tough at first, but once he got used to it, it might not seem like a big deal…

Feeling a slight pang of guilt, I met Tristan’s gaze. I hoped he’d understand, even if he was looking at me like he might throw up everything.

“Cut off the legs and discard them outside, then peel the shell and remove the innards. The innards might contain harmful parasites, so purify them with purification energy and burn them.”

“…Rohan.”

“It’s easy, right? Luckily, spiders don’t have bones. Don’t worry, their venom glands are in the head, so eating the body is safe.”

“Really… Really?”

“Yes, I’m sorry. If you’re uncomfortable, Your Majesty, you can eat the rations for now. But when they run out, you’ll have to eat this too.”

“…”

Conflict flickered in Tristan’s eyes. The physiological disgust rising in his gut seemed to clash fiercely with his sense of duty as a companion. Normally, Rikiel would’ve scolded me and comforted Tristan, but now, Rikiel was too pale, staring at the spider, looking like he might vomit any second. He wasn’t in any state to lecture me.

Spiders. Insects. Sure, they’re much bigger than regular bugs, but they’re still creepy crawlies with six or more legs. Naturally, they’re not typically considered food.

Understanding their turmoil and pain, I silently began preparing the spider corpse. As I tore off its hairy legs, I spoke.

“If you help, we can finish faster.”

“…Rohan?”

“Then we can eat lunch sooner.”

“…”

“I’ll leave it to you to decide.”

My companions stumbled over and sat beside me. Tristan did too. It was one of those tasks that always brought a pang of guilt, but I kept a neutral expression and worked silently.