Only I Level Up By Shoveling-Chapter 56: "Spirit-eating Monster"

Castra’s eyes widened at the sudden attack and betrayal.

What is this dumb elf doing, attacking a fellow victim who was facing an identified monster?!

Castra was about to swing his shovel to repel the thorny vine shooting at him when he saw the vine nimbly bypass his body and shot at the monster’s wide open mouth right behind him.

TWACK!

The thorn on the vine stabbed the monster’s snout, yet it barely left a scratch.

Still, the vine slapped the mouth away and the monster couldn’t bite Castra’s back in one go.

"KREEE!"

The monster was furious and its attention immediately shifted from Castra, who was squatting on top of the large rock, to the annoying green vine.

Swoosh!

The vine immediately wriggled like a living snake and it started a round of run-and-chase with the monster, giving everyone a little time to breathe.

"Huuuu...that was close."

Castra hurriedly went down the huge rock and hid behind the rock with the two elves.

Ray and the others, including the petite mage also subconsciously gathered together with Castra, all using the rock as a temporary barrier.

"What kind of monster is that?"

Castra couldn’t help but speak as he peeked at the lively chase between the vine and the hideous distorted monster.

Looking at how agile it was, clearly, the Laxative Skill effect was already gone.

As for the thorny vine, it was a rare, D-rank combat plant spirit.

The elf boy was surprisingly more competent than he thought!

The elf ancestor heard Castra’s small murmur and immediately looked at the petite mage, the one who "brought" the monster to them.

"Hey, lil girl! What kind of monster did you lure to us?"

The petite mage flinched at the elf ancestor’s voice but she could only look at the glowing spirit with eyes full of hatred.

"I don’t understand what you’re talking about!!"

Ah. He forgot that non-summoners couldn’t understand Spirit Language.

The ancestor scratched his head and looked at the only summoner who wasn’t doing anything— Castra’s summoner and then spoke again.

"Boy, relay my words to that little mage."

Ray looked at the menacing elf ancestor’s face and sniffed as he spoke to the petite mage.

"T-that, what kind of monster did you lure to us?"

The petite mage reacted like a cat whose tail was stepped on.

"W-what! I-I didn’t lure the monster at all! I don’t know why it suddenly attacked me!"

The petite mage was already defensive and she looked at the surrounding summoners with wariness.

Being a mage among two summoners would make all mage explode like a bomb.

"R-rather than me, didn’t that monster start to attack the spirits? The spirits are the ones attracting that monster!"

The petite mage started to defend herself and blame the spirits.

Ray, the only one in the group who could understand what the petite mage was saying, silently cursed in his heart.

Damn mage.

They’re just jealous that they couldn’t be as good as summoners!

Summoners could use skills comparable to difficult spells without learning how to chant spells and create magic circles.

Not to mention they could summon multiple spirits who were as good as a few mage apprentices or even stronger mages.

How could the mages not be jealous?

Summoning was a part of magic but mages who didn’t have natal spirits couldn’t summon spirits or make contracts with spirits at all.

Hmph! Serves them right!

Ray didn’t bother to tell the others what the petite mage really said and just relayed the most important news.

"I-it seems that the monster is attracted to spirits?"

At Ray’s words, the elf ancestor waved his hand and summoned his sniper rifle.

"This is bad news. If that monster is attracted to spirits, all of us will be in danger."

There were more spirits than non-spirits in their group.

Of course, if the summoners and the mage abandoned the spirits, they might be able to escape, but what if there were similar monsters deeper into the cave?

The petite mage back then was also chased by the monster.

Everyone had a gloomy face as the elf ancestor held his rifle and pointed it at the monster who was still chasing after the thorny vine spirit.

Just when the elf ancestor was about to pull the trigger....

"Kreeee!!!"

Tear—

The monster bit a part of the thorny vine’s body!

The elf boy’s face instantly turned pale and he was about to command his summoned vine to retreat when the monster suddenly accelerated beyond imagination.

Swoosh!

Its speed increased three times compared to before and everyone could only see a blurry silhouette along with a vague cry of a spirit.

-Aaaaaaaa-

Tear! Tear!

Crunch! Crunch!

In front of everyone’s eyes, the monster...tore the vine spirit apart and crunched it with its teeth.

The faint scream they heard— it was the voice of the vine spirit before it died!

The elf boy felt his connection to the vine spirit cut off abruptly and the next second, an overwhelming backlash hit him hard.

"Aukhhh!!!"

The elf boy shrieked as he felt his body being torn to pieces and chewed alive.

It was what the vine spirit experienced before it died without being able to ask for help.

"Argghhh— "

The elf boy screamed on top of his lungs but the elf ancestor hurriedly blocked the boy’s mouth with gritted teeth. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Descendant! You can’t scream!!"

It will attract the monster’s attention!!

Still, the pain was too much for the elf boy to endure.

His eyes rolled back, showing the white part and the next second, the elf boy fainted with foams all over his mouth.

!

"Descendant!!"

The elf ancestor hugged his unconscious summoner while the others felt a chill rising from their feet all the way to their brain.

Castra’s heart was hanging high.

This was the first time he had seen a summon spirit die right in front of his eyes.

And it was eaten alive.

Even Lady Fera’s smiling face slowly turned cold.

"That thing...is a spirit-eating monster."

! What?!