Satisfied with Lord Appraisal's results, I eat the catfish once it's cooled down.
The real pain with monsters in the Middle Layer is that you can't eat them unless you let them sit for a while.
Even after cooling, only the surface has actually cooled—the inside is still piping hot.
You could even lose HP, and having to concentrate just to eat something is such a drag.
Oh, this catfish is delicious.
Seriously!?
This is the first time in my entire spider life I've found an ingredient that actually tastes good!
Crap.
I shouldn't have let that other one get away.
Wait, maybe I could still catch up if I chase it now? It was pretty slow, so maybe I could still reach it even from here?
Ugh, but if it escapes into the magma, there's nothing I can do.
Damn it, what a mistake.
Well, I'll savor this catfish for now.
《Proficiency has reached a certain level. Skill『Taste Enhancement LV5』has become『Taste Enhancement LV6』》 So good!
I'm so glad I was born!
Seriously delicious.
Compared to what I ate in my past life, sure, it's no contest—but I've been eating nothing but disgusting stuff for so long.
At long last, I've finally, truly found something that tastes properly good.
Back in my past life, I never even obsessed over food like this.
I had no idea how blessed I was back then—not until I became a spider.
I am so sick of eating gross monsters.
I want to eat something delicious!
Alright.
Time to hunt catfish.
So what if the catfish are a little tough?
I'd risk my life just to satisfy this craving.
It's worth that much.
Just you wait, catfish.
I'll eat every last one of you until you're extinct!
Naarrr-mezuuu!
Naarrr-mezuuu!
Wherrrre aaaare thoooeeese caaatfishhh!
I wander the labyrinth in search of catfish.
Nothing.
They pop right out when I don't want them, but the moment I actually want to show up, they're nowhere to be found.
Hurry up and come out.
Come out and let me eat you!
Of course, this is exactly when something else shows up instead.
『Erlo Generash LV8 Status HP: 170/170 (Green) MP: 161/161 (Blue) SP: 158/158 (Yellow) SP: 156/167 (Red) Average Attack: 87 Average Defense: 84 Average Magic: 84 Average Resistance: 81 Average Speed: 91 Skills 「Fire Dragon LV1」「Accuracy LV4」「Swimming LV4」「Heat Immunity」』
Three seahorse-looking things appeared.
One of them had something added to its Status that hadn't been there before.
Oh, right!
Lord Appraisal leveled up, so now I can see the opponent's Skills too!
Woo-hoo!
Lord Appraisal is getting more and more overpowered!
But hey, seahorse dudes—don't you have way too few Skills?
Four of them?
That's just sad.
No wonder they feel weaker than their stats suggest.
And besides the Heat Immunity one—which is obviously just a maxed-out fire resistance Skill—all their levels are low.
Well, let me Appraise the ones I'm seeing for the first time.
『Fire Dragon: A special Skill possessed by Fire Dragon species. Exhibits unique effects depending on level. LV1: Fireball Breath』
『Swimming: Applies a bonus correction to swimming actions』
Hmm.
So Fire Dragon is, as expected, a special Skill exclusive to Fire Dragon species.
Kind of like my Spider Silk, I guess.
At LV1, it looks like all they can do is shoot that fireball thing.
Wait, their own level is 8, but the Fire Dragon Skill is only at LV1?
Is this the kind of Skill that's hard to level up, or are they just too lazy to grind Proficiency?
And Swimming is a Skill that makes you better at swimming.
Yeah.
After seeing their Skills, I'm convinced.
There's no way I lose to these guys.
That said, I can't exactly take them down quickly.
They're sitting in magma, after all.
And all I've got is slowly chipping away with rocks.
Oh, wait a second?
What if I coat a stone with the potent poison from Poison Synthesis?
Worth a shot.
First, dodge their fireball, then pick up a stone in that opening.
Nice.
Thought Acceleration is doing its job.
Before, I would've had to focus entirely on dodging when facing three opponents, but with Thought Acceleration, I've got room to counterattack too.
Poison Synthesis on the stone—go!
There we go.
The poison sticks with a splat, and—hurl!
My thrown stone scores a direct hit on one of the seahorses.
How much HP did it lose?
Hmm.
Not great.
Better than nothing, but it's not much of an increase.
Guess just putting poison on a stone doesn't let it stick properly to the target's body.
My spider poison deals two kinds of damage: contact damage and ingestion damage.
Contact damage triggers when the poison is on the skin or outer surface, while ingestion damage triggers when the poison enters the target's body.
Ingestion damage is overwhelmingly higher than contact damage.
Contact damage isn't that high on its own, but if you leave the poison stuck on, after a certain amount of time the damage spikes explosively.
That's because the applied poison seeps in and enters the body.
So in the end, even the contact route gets converted into ingestion.
Well, I suppose it'd be a different story if the opponent washed it off before that.
So against monsters that can't wash the poison off, there's no need to bother aiming for the mouth—just coating any part of their body is enough.
If I'm in a hurry, going for the mouth or eyes is best, but if safety is the priority, aiming for an exposed area is smarter.
I'll switch between those depending on the situation.
So, with that in mind, I walk right up to the seahorses who've come onto land now that they're out of MP, and smear poison on them one by one.
The problem with these guys is their mouths are tiny and hard to aim for, so I have to just splash it on their bodies.