"Hmm"
I ran to the main door, then looked back.
Alice was still running, tears streaming down her face.
See? She always brings monsters here sooner or later, that's a perfectly logical reason to run ahead of her.
And look at the number of those monsters flying toward us; thankfully, they aren't as numerous as the amount of My Little Pony fanfics.
"Should I use Ice Evolution now? I don't want to reveal it too soon," I scratched my head, looking at the two monsters I was carrying.
...Ah, that's right, I have Elara's spider silk. Ghost types are only immune to Normal and Fighting types, so they are still affected by other types as normal.
"Elara, create spider silk!"
"Wu?" (What about that girl?)
"Duh."
What the heck do you mean, "duh"?
So Elara complied, creating five strands of spider silk in a split second, but then it stopped.
"Hm?"
Oh, right, according to the skill description, it can be used five times in one turn, and it recharges once each turn.
But that's in a card battle; fighting for real is different.
If it's a normal skill, you can use it freely, but there will still be preparation and attack intervals. However, Elara's skill is the "Stacks" type, so it ends up having a cooldown.
So, how do I recharge it?
Does it recharge with my mana?
So I took out Elara's card and channeled mana into it.
Immediately, the 0/5 count recharged to 5/5.
Oh, that's quite convenient, and the mana drained wasn't even that much.
Seeing it could continue firing silk, Elara kept doing it.
"HEY HEY HEY!! WHY ARE YOU BLOCKING THE PATH WITH SILK?!" Alice yelled out loud, seeing the path ahead blocked by a series of spider silk webs.
"Do a jump! You might be able to make it!" I encouraged her.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"
Seeing the ones behind starting to catch up, she had no choice but to risk it and lunge forward.
"HERE GOES NOTHING!!!"
And she closed her eyes and glided through incredibly easily, not getting stuck on even a bit of spider silk.
Meanwhile, all the monsters got stuck in the silk and couldn't fly through anymore.
Both I and the two monsters stared wide-eyed as Alice made it through without a scratch.
Are you kidding me? How did you make it through? Did the Goddess of Luck help you? And you even did it with your eyes closed?
"Elara, I suggest you train more. It's not a good look if your web can't even catch someone bigger than those monsters."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! YOU WANT ME TO GET STUCK THERE?!" Alice screamed.
Hearing that, Elara felt its pride deeply wounded.
It's a spider, and spiders are predators that hunt with silk. If its silk can't even catch someone bigger than it, how is it supposed to make a living?
"Hey, hey, what are you thinking?! Do you really want me to get stuck in your web?!" Alice looked at Elara, who was lost in thought, and felt terrified.
"Forget it, look at the monsters."
A series of monsters were struggling in Elara's web.
What was even more annoying? Elara's spider silk was also emitting a chill that was trying to freeze them.
"As expected, it has an effect. Elara will be very useful in combat," I smiled and patted Elara's head.
Elara felt slightly confused after being patted; after all, it didn't know what it felt like to be cared for with such warmth.
Felia twitched its right eye while watching Elara get patted, appearing slightly annoyed.
I won't be jealous of a monster that stands behind me, was created after me, has lower intelligence than me, lower awareness than me, and hasn't evolved yet.
Thinking that, it felt satisfied and noticed Alice was looking at it.
Alice looked at Felia's expression with a sense of being slightly overwhelmed.
Okay, why are your expressions so vivid? I swear I've never seen a monster change its facial expressions as smoothly as you.
"Wu?" (What are you looking at?)
"Nothing."
"Felia, use Cold Wind," I ordered. Felia floated over and blew a stream of cold air toward the monsters.
The monsters took damage and screamed in pain. Even though they were just small ghosts, their voices were unnecessarily terrifying.
"Keep using Cold Wind."
"Wu~"
Slowly, some ghosts were frozen, while others disappeared completely.
Seems effective? Truly the original Glass Cannon of Pokémon.
Watching the ghosts disappear, Alice sighed in relief.
She felt slightly useless because she couldn't help out here.
"Alice."
"Hm?"
"Look there."
Alice turned to where I was pointing, seeing a figure lunging toward us.
Many flesh-covered hands kept crawling forward; something very large was baring its teeth and sticking out a terrifying tongue.
"Uh oh."
Felia and Alice turned pale when they saw that thing crawling toward them with its indescribably horrific form.
"What do we do now?!"
"Well, nothing else I can do," I scratched my head.
"Nothing else?! What do you mean?!"
"I mean, how am I supposed to fight that?"
"Then at least have some hope, wouldn't you?! Are we just going to accept death here?!" Alice said to me.
"Well, if you say so..."
Puff.
"Heh?" Alice looked at the hand that had pushed her away.
She fell into the room, then looked at me one last time.
"See you next time," I waved and smiled, then closed the door.
...
She immediately opened the door and saw that the space outside the dormitory had changed.
"...No way."
***
"WUUU?!!"
Felia was panicked and confused when I pushed Alice away instead of going with her.
"I want to try soloing it. If I win, that's awesome. If I lose, I already have a way to escape. Might as well try, right?" I smiled and drew the Ice Evolution card.
Hearing that, Felia breathed a sigh of relief and then became excited.
Hehe, finally she will get to show off its new power when she evolves! She will show that spider why she's the master's starting monster!
Looking at the large-toothed monster lunging at us, I held up the card.
"Activate card."
The card glowed, and a puff of smoke enveloped it.
"Wu!" Felia stood in front, its expression full of confidence and determination.
"Evolve!"
"Wu!!"
"For Elara!"
"Wu- wu?!"
Immediately, Elara was enveloped in a pale blue light; it was slightly startled to feel this light entering its body.
Perhaps it didn't know that after evolving, it would become a completely new creature.
Its limbs grew longer, and it became larger and spikier.
It was now even bigger than me.
"Wu?!!" Felia stepped back in fear.
When the light faded, its form was revealed.
Compared to Felia, Elara's evolved form didn't look friendly at all; it looked terrifying!
"GURUUUUUU!!!!"
A piercing hiss rang out, and it spat a freezing cold breath from its spike-filled mouth.
Felia broke into a cold sweat looking at Elara's new form.
Are you kidding me? You named this terrifying monster Elara?! That's no different from naming a vicious, biting dog "Cake"?!
"..." I looked at Elara standing before me, with only one thought in my head.
Cool! It's super cool!
I took out its card and started reading the information.
Elara, the crawling predator (lv 4)
Type: Ice/Bug
Atk: 1700
Hp: 1600
Race: Insect
Passive: Spiky armor
Skills: Cannibalize, Spider silk, Predator
Info: Hunger has blinded it, unable to distinguish anything. To it, there are only two things: what can be eaten and what cannot.
As the most brutal carnivore among arthropods, it is willing to eat its own young, eat every single villager, and all the other animals it passes by; therefore, it's not surprising when it was targeted and hunted by humans until its species went extinct.
That's shocking information... I didn't expect its species to be that scary.
I'm a bit rushed now, so I'll read the rest of the information later.
"Elara," I said.
Elara turned to look at me, its eyes soulless, as if whatever happens isn't its business.
Uh, the aura it's radiating is exactly like a top-tier predator.
"WUUU!!" Felia kept hiding behind me, its instincts triggering throughout its body, causing it extreme fear.
Elara and I looked at each other, then I reached out to pat its head.
"You still recognize me, right? If not, I'd be a bit sad."
It looked at me for a moment, then opened its jaws.
"Wu?! WU WU WUUU!!" Seeing it approach me, Felia screamed a warning, as if it realized Elara was no longer Elara.
And just as its mouth reached my range...
It stuck out its tongue, licked my cheek once, and turned away.
...?
Both I and Felia blinked, looking at Elara, but Elara turned its face away, trying to keep me from seeing its expression.
...wait, don't tell me.
IS IT A TSUNDERE?! (Actually no, it looks more like shyness.)
DAMN, LOOK AT THAT EXPRESSION AND ACTION! THERE'S NO MISTAKING IT'S SHY!! (But not Tsundere tho.)
Jackpot, this truly is no longer the old Elara, it's now a cute Elara.
After that, the monster reached Elara's spider web and tore it all down, so I quickly gave Elara an order.
"Elara! Hurry and use the most appropriate skill for this situation!"
"GUUUURUUUU!!!" Elara hissed, then lunged straight at the monster.
It opened its mouth, bit down hard, and tore a chunk of meat away.
Not a single drop of blood came out of that monster, meaning it was also a monster created through alchemy!
The flesh-filled monster felt the pain and screamed, its arms flailing wildly to knock away the thing attacking it.
Elara ate very enthusiastically, as if every repressed emotion was now being vented.
Damn, it's only Lv 4 but it has that monster reeling; just how strong are its skills?
So I took out the Elara card and read.
Spiky armor: Enemies will receive 50% of the damage they deal if they use a physical attack.
Cannibalize: When consuming meat, it heals 10% HP for every swallow.
Predator: (Auto-skill) Once a prey is identified, its stats will increase just enough to hunt that monster. However, after activation, this skill cannot be used again.
No wonder it's so strong!
Looking at the monster that once looked scary, now it just looked pathetic being treated as a delicious meal by Elara, who was eating non-stop.
I also didn't expect Elara to become this strong after evolving; that means there are many things I don't need to worry about anymore.
...Actually, there is one: Alice.
I have to explain it to her when we meet again, otherwise, she'll misunderstand everything, and it'll be a pain if this novel gets "Misunderstanding" tag.
...Wait, what was I saying just now? Oh well, forget it.
The monster then luckily... or unluckily, hit Elara and had its damage reflected back due to Elara's passive.
Huh, it's so big but doesn't use any skills; is it the skill-less type of monster? If so, it's understandable why it's so easily eaten by Elara.
Suddenly, Elara stopped eating and retreated, looking very cautious.
"Hm? What's the matter-"
Slash!
The monster in front was slashed in a straight line.
...oh.
Then many other cuts appeared, causing the monster to fall apart into cubes of meat, which then disappeared into nothingness.
Leaving another monster walking toward us with a threatening demeanor.
It's that Ice-type Samurai or Shogun again.
It raised its long katana, pointing it straight at Elara.
Oh hell nah, it wants to go 1v1? Is this that Bushido spirit from Japan?
Elara growled, looking like it was very hungry.
I broke into a sweat and grabbed Felia.
"Wu?"
Elara is definitely no match for the one in front; after all, its Predator skill lost its effect after activating on the last one. Asking Elara to fight it is no different than seeking death!
So, esteemed Mr. Joseph Joestar, please lend me your legendary, world-renowned secret technique!
I rummaged through my bag, then looked at that Ice Samurai.
Whoosh!
Just as they both decided to lunge, I threw something.
The Samurai saw it and slashed through what I threw, causing smoke to spread everywhere.
Flour—I bought flour and packed it into a small bag like a super cheap smoke bomb.
I then recalled Elara; it took two seconds to get it back into the card, then I moved toward the dormitory with Felia.
Seeing that, the other one threw its katana at me.
Crash!
Slash!
...
The samurai walked over, looking at the katana that had pierced through the door.
I had escaped.
It then pulled the katana out and left.
***
"Phew, that was close," I wiped my sweat, my hand hugging Felia, who was nuzzling into me in fear.
I stood up, then opened the door and walked out.
Looking out the window, I realized I was on the 5th floor, quite high.
"Alright, I've never seen those two monsters before. Even if it was that person, I've never seen them use them either."
Eh, forget it. After all, the world and the game are still different. It's reasonable that this world has a few extra things.
"Come out, Elara."
Elara appeared again, looking at me calmly.
"You go ahead, we'll continue exploring, and I have to go find Alice."
Elara went on ahead, and Felia and I followed.
I hope she isn't wandering around, otherwise I'll have to ask a teacher—there's no other way.