Chapter 241

Nana raised her poison magic to level 10, becoming able to use corrosive poison.

However, if asked whether that alone would be enough to defeat this horse-shaped golem with its flattened oval face, the answer would be NO.

The material of this monster was too high-grade to be killed by poison magic alone.

It would be impossible unless poison magic was raised to level 16 or 17.

And, of course, Leah understands this.

So why is she having Nana raise the level of poison magic that can't defeat it? It's to lower the quality of the material.

As mentioned earlier, the minerals forming this monster are extremely high-grade materials.

Even with Leah's smithing skills, it would take 152 hammer strikes to transform and create while conveying the image.

And those would need to be precise strikes hitting the exact same spot, right at the core.

However, there isn't enough time to do this while engaged in combat.

But what if the high-grade material could be degraded to mid-grade material?

The [All-Seeing Eye] revealed that if the material was degraded by poison contamination, transformation and creation could be achieved with just one image transfer.

However, until Nana learns this, Leah would have to face that monster alone.

For herself, who hasn't yet crossed the level barrier and isn't even a combat class, the weapons she currently possesses aren't enough.

So, to increase her survival rate, Leah takes another measure.

"I really wanted to use everything for smithing skills... but I guess there's no choice."

While saying this, Leah opened the system and displayed the skill acquisition list.

This time, she chooses [Focus Lv.10].

After confirming that the monster hadn't completely broken free from the ice, Leah spent SP to acquire it from the system.

(If my eyes are correct, this should work)

Though the [All-Seeing Eye] had never been wrong before, she still waited while trying to suppress her racing heart, wondering if it would really be alright. Then—

|Title [Single-minded Focus] has been acquired.|

"Alright. With this—"

As Leah let out a joyful voice, the sound of ice shattering echoed in her ears.

It seems the other side is ready, too.

But before it could completely break free, she hit it with a grenade containing forge flame material - the transparent liquid substance that becomes smithing flame - causing the transparent liquid to seep extensively into the golem's body.

Finally, it turned its face toward Leah and charged straight ahead on all fours.

In response, Leah calmly took out five grenades from her [Item Box], timing it to throw three in a diagonal line upward in front, and split the remaining two to throw behind where the monster wasn't.

By the time the thrown grenades began falling toward the ground, the monster had already come within about two meters.

At this rate, she would die from being run over, but Leah jumped and stepped on the frontmost grenade with her right foot.

"Yohoha!"

Each time she stepped on one she threw, an improvised aerial platform was created with earth plates and updrafts, and she ran up the three platforms, evading over the monster while touching it with a long-handled hammer wrapped in forge flame to ignite the forge flame material.

Then, about a third of the monster's body was covered in reddish-brown flames.

However, from the monster's perspective, although it was on fire, there was nothing particularly wrong with its body.

So the golem judged that this attack wasn't a problem because its body's durability was superior to the opponent's attack, and it would probably extinguish naturally after a while.

Therefore, without particularly panicking, it instantly reversed its position, switching the positions of its head and rear and the direction of its feet to charge at Leah, who had moved behind it.

Still wrapped in forge flame, it kicked off with its hind legs and lunged to crush Leah's back with its front legs as she was about to land on the ground.

That speed was so fast that Leah, who wasn't a pure physical class, absolutely couldn't dodge it.

However, this is where the earlier title comes into play.

"Haaaaah!!"

Leah avoided this normally undodgeable attack by stepping on the aerial platform grenade at her feet and performing a backflip-like maneuver while spinning backward.

And even the continuous attack that came immediately after with a kick from the hind legs was all avoided using the aerial platform grenades - right side, up, left, down - with reflexes reminiscent of Ai's aerial movements, and she even managed to counter with her hammer using smithing skills to strike the parts covered in forge flame.

So why is she able to do this?

It's the result of combining the effect of the aforementioned title [Single-minded Focus] with [All-Seeing Eye].

First, the effect of Single-minded Focus is sensory delay.

This allows one to enter a state as if in slow motion by reaching the ultimate level of concentration.

Though, there is a drawback in that the field of vision narrows, and information outside of what's directly in front becomes harder to receive...

And then there's [All-Seeing Eye].

With this, once you observe the initial movement of an attack, you can understand where and how the attack will come.

So, by analyzing the initial movement of attacks with [All-Seeing Eye]. This is how she's showing movements beyond her own reflexive abilities.

Furthermore, that strike she delivered earlier.

Until now, Leah had been treating monsters as materials, striking them to send images for transformation and creation, but this time, the approach was a bit different.

Currently, looking at the golem, only the small area of forge flame on its struck back had disappeared, with no other visible changes.

But the golem interrupted its attack on Leah, transformed its legs, and kept touching that spot while tilting its head.

This golem's material is an extremely advanced composite mineral.

So, with Leah's current smithing skills, it's impossible to make a fatal transformation with one strike.

That's why, this time, instead of destroying the form, she disrupted the material's mixing ratio.

From Leah's view, that mineral was mixed in such perfect proportions it could be called a work of art.

But the more perfect something is, the more noticeable, even slight changes become.

Leah slightly altered the mixing ratio of just a tiny part of the surface.

As a result, though nothing seems wrong visually, it can't help but be bothered by the subtle changes in its body.

If comparing this sensation to humans, it might be similar to how we can't help but touch an area where we've been bitten by a mosquito because it itches.

Yes. What Leah did this time was, simply put, mere harassment.

"But even something like this is clearly effective."

If it were human, one might be able to ignore the itching and focus on the matter at hand, but this is a golem with no intelligence beyond the basic thought of defeating the enemy in front of it.

It might have been different if Leah had been clearly recognized as a dangerous entity to the golem, but she was only perceived as an insignificant being who just dodges without any significant attacks.

So it couldn't help but reach for the immediate itch. That's how it is.

"But that won't last long, will it?"

However, since this only changed the surface slightly, it can return to normal with minimal loss just by scraping that part off.

So, while Leah was pleased that her plan worked, she finished her next preparation while the monster was scraping at the area that bothered it.

"This much spread should be enough, right?"

After finishing spreading forge flame material all around, she took out a giant hammer.

It was the latest version of a hybrid weapon combining the previously shown rocket hammer and pile bunker.

This one also had a golden crystal stake protruding from the center of the hammer's striking surface.

However, this time, the backside had holes that looked like rocket exhaust ports.

And furthermore, the handle part had added sections of different colors - red, yellow, and green from top to bottom, each ten centimeters wide.

"Well then, shall we continue? This time, I'll make you recognize me as your enemy."

It seems somewhat dismissive of her while appearing to be wary of Nana and Cardina.

This is undoubtedly evident from the fact that there are still unused skills, and it won't completely release its energy-saving battle stance.

While it would be convenient if it's just buying time, it would be meaningless if it goes towards Nana without even fulfilling the role of decoy.

Strongly questioning this in her heart, Leah held the colorless part of the hammer's handle in her right hand, gripping it tightly with just one hand.

And as the monster began running again to crush Leah, she skillfully pulled the pin from a grenade in her left hand and threw it forward.

Leah switched to holding the hammer with both hands, left hand on the colorless part and right hand on the red part, then stomped hard on the grenade.

This grenade had a powerful lifting effect in addition to the previous aerial platform, so Leah jumped about ten meters with a single leap.

And when she looked down at where she had been just moments before, she saw that it had merged its front two legs into one.

And further, it had thinned its rear portion and added that mass to the front leg, creating a huge crater with its mass-enhanced strike.

"If I'd taken that hit, I'd be flat as a pancake."

As she calmly analyzed the killing blow directed at her while beginning to fall with gravity, she adjusted her body's orientation and readied the hammer in her hands mid-air.

Then she turned the red section of the handle that her right hand was gripping counterclockwise once with a click.

Suddenly, intense flames began shooting out from the holes that looked like rocket exhaust ports on the opposite side of the striking surface.

Leah charged down towards the monster's back at tremendous speed as if being pulled by a rocket.

However, since it wasn't at an unreactable speed, the golem waited with numerous storm-like spikes covering its back, ready to impale Leah.

But Leah had anticipated this would happen.

So, without panicking, she activated the Single-minded Focus title effect to slow down her perceived speed in order to determine the perfect timing.

And at the instant when the spikes were about to touch the hammer's tip.

Leah smoothly moved her left hand upward, gripped the green handle section as if squeezing it, and rotated it sideways.

This caused the hammer's striking surface to rotate in sync, flying from below to the side to avoid the spikes.

Furthermore, Leah operated the green handle section like a steering wheel in sync with the striking surface, making a horizontal U-shaped movement after clearing the spike zone to circle around to the golem's side.

The golem responded to this sudden direction change by bending its leg from its belly sideways to try to kick Leah away.

But Leah slid her right hand down and turned the middle yellow handle with a click.

Then, an explosive sound rang out from the exhaust port where rocket sparks were scattering, and the hammer's strike, now with increased acceleration and power, collided with the golem's leg.

The first strike resulted in their momentums canceling each other out evenly.

The golem pulled back its leg to kick again.

But Leah turned the yellow section once more with a click for a second explosive acceleration.

The hammer flew sideways as if being sucked into the withdrawing leg and struck the golem directly.

Having received this while defenseless, the golem was sent flying about three meters away while having its left flank - equivalent to a horse's side - dented in.

"Good. Looks like it's not broken. Maybe it's time to remove the prototype label."

Leah briefly checked the hammer's condition with [All-Seeing Eye] and was convinced that thanks to technological and material advances, it could be used multiple times if the contents were replenished.

During this time, the golem had already stood up, come to Leah's side, and was raising its leg.

But even here, Leah didn't panic, and for some reason, as if about to tap dance, she tapped the ground with her right and left feet in succession.

Then, as if by magic, a pitfall appeared where the golem had its center of gravity, and soil that shot up from below pushed its front half backward, causing it to fall into the suddenly opened hole.

Actually, the forge flame material that Leah had scattered around earlier was special forge flame material mixed with earth magic.

Though it takes some effort to make, once it adheres to the ground, it keeps seeping in, and one grenade's worth can erode deep enough to completely bury a person.

And furthermore, she ignited the forge flame with the hidden hammer built into her shoe heel.

With the second strike, she accomplished transformation and creation, shaping the ground as she pleased.

"It's still my turn!"

And before it could get out of the hole, she took out a rocket launcher from her Item Box and fired repeatedly.

Somehow, through this storm of explosions, the golem managed to emerge from a hole on the other side and create distance from Leah.

Then, it activated a new earth magic skill, expelling soil from its body.

The golem kept getting buried in this soil, and after a few seconds, a mound of earth had formed.

"Looks like you're starting to get serious about me. I'm happy. Please keep me company a little longer."

That earthen mound quickly changed shape, and there stood a giant earth golem that looked like an enlarged version of the previous golem.

"But I'm running low on ammo, so please hurry, Nana..."

Feeling sweat running down her cheek, Leah headed toward the golem that had grown to fifteen meters in height.

Meanwhile.

While Nana had been watching Leah's solo struggle from the corner of her eye at first, she was relieved to see her performing her decoy role properly with movements she had never shown before and pushed the golem out of her mind to focus on what she needed to do.

However, while Nana had been simply told to raise her poison magic level, if it were that easy to level up, she would have done so long ago.

Additionally, the very idea of poisoning minerals was unimaginable, which was a setback for magic that relies on imagination.

"To begin with, minerals don't suffer from poison, and they don't have blood or organs, so how can this work?"

She held a fragment from a previously defeated rock mountain-type golem that Leah had sent her, not the current monster, and tried various poisons on it.

But it showed no reaction whatsoever.

Time kept passing while she was doing this, and with added pressure, she fell even deeper into a rut.

At that moment, she saw Leah create a large hole in the ground, drop the golem in, and unleash a barrage of firearms into the hole.

"Such a flashy fighting style, contrary to her personality. And she changes the ground's shape so easily... change..."

There, something small caught Nana's attention.

"What is poison in the first place?"

To Nana, poison was something that destroys living bodies.

Or a tool that induces abnormal states and weakens them.

"Then, for a golem, poison would be..."

For minerals, destruction means breaking apart.

So what causes them to break apart besides impact?

"Does it become structurally brittle and self-destruct?"

Then why does it become brittle?

Is it because the original properties degrade or because it changes into a different substance due to external factors?

"Change... that's just like..."

Yes. Just like how Leah always handles materials, mixing them with other substances to strengthen them—this would be the exact opposite.

Perhaps instead of imagining spreading viruses against minerals, by attaching her poison to cause transformation into a different substance, weakening rather than strengthening...

Could that be what poison means for metals and minerals?

"Into something different..."

But when Nana looks at metals and minerals, she doesn't know what to mix with them to make them deteriorate.

"But magic is the product of imagination—then!"

Nana applied poison to the rock mountain golem fragment in her hand with a different image than before.

Still, no change was visible for a while.

But Nana had no doubt this was the right answer, and since Leah said it was possible, it must be.

Completely believing in her friend, she continued imagining without the slightest thought that it couldn't be done.

And then————.

|Skill [Poison Magic Lv.10] has been acquired.|

|Title [Master of Poison] has been acquired.|

Now, her poison magic level had increased. But the mineral in her hand still showed no change.

However, all conditions had been met.

About thirty seconds passed, and gradually, Nana's poison magic increased in precision, and the mineral began to change color.

Then, its outer surface crumbled away.

"——I did it."

As she said this, she lightly squeezed the mineral in her hand, and it crumbled like fragile sand, spilling onto the ground.

|You have reached [Level: 50].|

|Class changed from Beast Arts User to Evil Dragon.|

|Skill Petrifying Breath Lv.3 has been acquired.|

"Time to counterattack——"