What was that? A coincidence?

Or was it my "not defined luck"?

I was still alive. Lying flat on the ground, still breathing, still alive.

Above me, this creature was lying, a lifeless creature. 'It' was DEAD. It was dead for sure. There was no reason for it to act as dead, at least not to me.

I was still in confusion because of what happened. Did my skill "Disintegration" really killed it? That too in an instant?

I suddenly remembered about Akane. She was slammed on the wall and fainted right there and then. 'I need to check her condition.' I thought and hurriedly slipped away from below the Arachne and rushed to check Akane's condition. I examined her and went in a panic again. She was bleeding from her forehead. A head injury. She was injured in the most fatal place one could get in this dungeon.

'Calm down! She is still breathing and trembling. She is alive. And also this wound doesn't look that deep, she only needs a first-aid treatment.'

'Where did her backpack go??'

'Argh, where are you, you little shit!'

'Found it'

I hurriedly opened the backpack.

'I had cotton balls inserted in my nose and ears, she must have some more of those, right?'

'Found it'

'A bandage, cottons, an antiseptic, and water.'

'Let's hurry, damn it'

Getting the first-aid items, I hurried towards her. The wound was just above her right eye, which was hidden behind the eyepatch. I took a deep breath to calm myself down and then slowly removed the eyepatch from her face. Maybe, because of the fresh blood, her scar which separated her eyelids in two, was looking more awful.

'I expected it, but imagining and seeing in real gives a different feeling. She may be getting another scar because of this wound on her face, but she will live, and that is more important than a tiny scar.'

I carefully treated her wound, by first washing it with water, applying antiseptic, putting the cotton, and finally wrapping the bandage on her head. This much was the most I could do for her right now with the resources I could get in this place.

.

.

After taking a few breaths of relief as Akane's breathing became normal, telling me that she is now just napping, I got up from the ground to check what actually happened a few moments ago.

From what I knew, my skill "Disintegration" wasn't an insta-kill skill. The target couldn't die until it was fully disintegrated into nothingness. Or at least something along that line is mentioned on my status screen. I checked it once again to confirm.

NAME: Ren Itsuki

AGE: 17

SEX: Male

RACE: HIGH HUMAN

ORIGIN: EARTH-818

TITLE:

The Not Summoned One

LEVEL: 1

PHYSICAL STATS :

HP: 6/6

MP: 10/10

STR: 0

DEX: 1

DEF: 0

AGI: 1

INT: 5

LUCK: not defined

ABNORMAL STATE: none

Skills

1. Disintegration lvl 1

♦ A unique skill, that disintegrates living targets into non-existence. To invoke this skill, you need to verbally call out the skill's activation phrase - "DISINTEGRATE", while aiming at the target that you need disintegrated with the hand. The point at which the skill is connected becomes the disintegration centre. And the target undergoes disintegration with the disintegration point being the disintegration centre. Note, the target does not die immediately once the skill connects, but when, it is completely disintegrated. Note, there cannot be more than one disintegration centre in a single target.

♦ Current disintegration rate: 60cm³/s.

♦ Current range: 60 cm

♦ Number of shots: 3/3

♦ MP cost: 3

♦ Cooldown period: 3 days

BLESSINGS:

Linguistics [ ⇓ ]

I looked at my wristwatch to check how much time has passed, the last time I checked my watch was before treating Akane. It has been 8 minutes since then, adding a couple of minutes should mean that 'it' died nearly 10 minutes ago.

An average human's volume is 0.07 m^3, which is equal to 70,000 cm^3. I only remember this fact till now because it was used often as a parameter in some interesting mathematics problems.

Judging by its size, this Arachne should have more than thrice as much volume since it has an 'extra-large part' below its waist. That should be something around 2,10,000cm^3, maybe.

'Hmmm....'

My skill should take nearly 1 hour, to completely disintegrate it, that is, if my assumptions and calculations are right. Still, it shouldn't have died when my skill just connected, right? I mean even if my skill connected at a fatal spot, like on the chest, it would still take at least a few seconds to expand to heart. But what happened was entirely different, as soon as my skill connected, it slumped lifelessly, it died in an instant.

Now, I am not sure if it really was 'my' skill that killed it.

I reluctantly approached the dead Arachne. I needed to be sure.

Its body was lying on the ground, facing downwards. I pushed it to turn it over. It was extremely heavy, or it was just that my stats were too low. I turned it to its sides. It had a peculiar oval-shaped, glossy stone-like organ on its chest, between its "boobs". The stone was lustrous and smooth, and it had a hole in the centre. The area around the hole was slowly turning dark and vanishing as soon as it turned as such. I guess this is how disintegration actually worked. I touched the hole on the stone to feel if it was expanding or not. Yes, it was expanding.

My hand accidentally touched its "boobs", I quickly wiped my hands with my clothes. Even though its upper body was identical to human female's, its "boobs" were not arousing at all, instead, they were disgusting. I think the answer to why it died so quickly is quite simple. This stone must be some kind of "core" that the monsters of this kind or possibly all monsters had. No, I have seen the monsters outside this dungeon... they don't have such cores. Ah, but this creature wasn't an ordinary monster it was a Devil's minion. It could be an organ unique to the monsters of the dungeon.

It must be serving as some kind of vessel to contain its 'soul' or something like a life force. Maybe cracks or gaps must not be present in the 'core' for it to live. And my skill made this 'gap' in its 'core', this must be why it died without even getting completely disintegrated. It's all but a wild guess, mostly inspired by games but quite plausible.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

'But I should gain level if I really killed it. Why am I still at level 1? Hmm...'

Maybe killing it this way doesn't count. Maybe this status system only judges it as dead when it's completely disintegrated, huh.

'Does this means that there is a weak point in these monsters, a weak point that I can exploit to full with this skill?'

'But.... it will only help if I can aim precisely at this core....'

"Hehe, I really do have a one-shot skill, huh?" I chuckled to myself.

"Ah!" As I was examining its legs, its tip pierced my palm a bit. A drop of blood came out from my palm. I wiped it off with shirt.

It had eight long and thin legs, the tips of its legs were extremely sharp and pointed - like a needle. I guess it helped them to walk on walls and such.

!?

'Oh! Akane is waking up.'

"How are you feeling? Is your head okay?"

She winced in pain and touched her forehead, feeling the wrapped bandage.

'Ah! I guess I shouldn't barrage her with questions just yet.'

"I think it's okay. It still hurts, a lot. But you have treated it quite neatly, thanks, Itsuki-sa-*gasp* where is that monster? H-huh!!!! d-did you kill it all by y-yourself? "

She asked me while stuttering and pointing at the Arachne, which was .

I sighed and replied yes. I explained what happened after she fainted and told her my speculation or guess, on why it happened.

After I was done filling her in, I heard a *ting* in my head.

I looked towards the spot where the Arachne was lying or was supposed to be lying, I couldn't find the Arachne that could only mean that 'it' was completely disintegrated and the 'ting' was some kind of notification.

I checked the time, it took about 63 minutes to disintegrate completely.

'But...'

"What was that? Some kind of ?", as soon as I said the word "NOTIFICATION", the status screen flashed out once again.

But this time it was a different kind of window

Alerts:

1. A target successfully disintegrated.

2. You levelled up.

3. You levelled up.

4. You levelled up.

5. You levelled up.

  .

  .

  100. You levelled up.

  101. Skill: Disintegration levelled up.

  102. You levelled up.

  .

  .

  201. You levelled up.

   202. Skill: Disintegration levelled up.

   203. You levelled up.

  .

  .

  286. You levelled up.

Swiping down to the bottom, I found there were 286 alerts of level-ups!

"Akane-san! try saying "Notification" and tell me what you see."

"Y-yes.......... Hey, it says- no alerts?"

"Is that so... Hmm, this status command wasn't told by that Bitch... There... could there be other commands too? I... think?" I exhaled, "Let me try mmm....