I approached the dragon and was able to tear off its scales easily now that it was dead. Then I bit into a piece of its flesh. I expected the taste to be at least "acceptable," but it was disgusting.

  Every monster in this pce tastes awful. What is wrong with this world?

  Still, it's honestly not as bad as that frog or the other monsters I've eaten around here. That spider I ate tasted even worse. On top of that, it was the same species as me.

  I don't think eating one of my sisters was a good idea.

  I sighed and continued eating. I chewed the dragon's meat with difficulty while trying to understand what it really was. The system showed it as an anomaly, but in the Web Novel chapters I read, nothing like that was ever mentioned.

  Could it have something to do with my arrival in this world?

  The characters in the original story—especially Kumoko—caused changes in the structure of the world. Maybe I've caused some kind of change too.

  There's no way to know…

  I stared at the dungeon wall as I swallowed the dragon's flesh.

  After gulping down the chewed meat, I received a system notification.

  [ The skill "Intimidation LV1" has been learned. ]

  "Oh?"

  I didn't expect to receive such a random skill. I thought I'd get something reted to its nature, like "Earth Magic" or something simir.

  Well, maybe the more I eat, the more skills I'll gain.

  But…

  I looked at the dragon's enormous body. This thing must be at least 100 times my size, no exaggeration. There's no way I can eat all of it before the meat rots or other monsters devour it.

  Still, I need to eat as much as I can to see if I gain new skills.

  That's what I have to do.

  So I kept eating.

  Nhom.

  Nhom.

  Nhom.

  Nhom.

  One bite after another, and my stomach grew fuller and fuller.

  [ The skill "Detection LV1" has been learned. ]

  [ The skill "Earth Magic LV1" has been learned. ]

  [ The skill "Defense Enhancement LV1" has been learned. ]

  [ The skill "Magic Defense Enhancement LV1" has been learned. ]

  I gained many new skills while eating the dragon's flesh. This happened over several hours, taking breaks in between to digest the food. Before I realized it, nearly half of the dragon's body had disappeared.

  I didn't expect to be able to eat that much.

  However, its body is rotting quickly.

  Isn't that too fast?

  Not even a full day has passed.

  "Argh, my stomach hurts." I returned to my home and colpsed on the ground to rest for a while. In the end, I barely explored during the st few hours. I just kept eating and resting.

  I'm still level one.

  I thought eating the dragon's body would also give me EXP… Doesn't it usually work like that? Maybe I didn't read far enough to know. I think eating monsters only helped with HP and SP recovery or something like that.

  Aside from granting new skills and leveling up existing ones.

  Well, I don't mind not gaining EXP. Getting new skills is enough.

  I'm quite pleased with acquiring "Intimidation" and "Detection." They'll be useful in the future. I don't have an enemy to test "Intimidation" on, but I can test "Detection" without a problem.

  Not that there's any enemy nearby.

  So I activated the skill.

  The moment I did, it created something like a radar in my mind, detecting any movement around me.

  I can't calcute the exact distance, but I can definitely sense something even through walls.

  "Huh?"

  That's when it happened. Something entered my detection range. Since the range isn't very rge, that monster must be close—three or four meters away? Is it heading toward the dragon's corpse?

  Probably some idiot monster trying to take advantage of what I killed. I can't allow that!

  (Not that other monsters haven't already taken pieces without me noticing.)

  But I won't let it happen right in front of me! I worked hard to kill that monster, you know!?

  (Well… it was actually pretty easy.)

  Even with my bloated stomach, I rushed out of my home. I finally saw the monster that had entered my detection range—and my eyes widened at the sight of it.

  That's…

  Zoa Ele (Variant/Anomaly) LV9

  Status

  HP: 7,280

  MP: 5,940

  SP: 4,110

  Average Offense Ability: 5,450Average Defense Ability: 4,980Average Magic Ability: 3,120Average Resistance Ability: 4,760Average Speed Ability: 5,640

  Aside from its absurd stats, something different appeared in its status. The words "Variant" and "Anomaly" were now dispyed next to its name.

  Its appearance has changed too.

  Its carapace had turned dark brown with golden details.

  The color of its body reminds me of the dragon's scales.

  "Wait a second… that spider…"

  Is it the same one that ate the dragon's flesh earlier? Did it become some kind of anomaly after eating the dragon? Then why didn't anything happen to me? The other monsters that ate the flesh didn't show any visible changes either.

  Well… I didn't actually see them afterward.

  Then it happened.

  The spider, which had bitten into the dragon's flesh, suddenly turned toward me.

  A chill ran through my entire body. A killing instinct far stronger than the one I felt from the dragon. This isn't right. Something's wrong. These anomalies aren't normal.

  Here it comes!

  I immediately edited my defense and speed, and the spider shot toward me at incredible speed, swinging its scythe-like front legs to strike.

  Just to be safe, I raised my defense to 10,000!

  Even so, I didn't dare take a direct hit.

  The spider began chasing me relentlessly, sshing its scythes back and forth. We ran along the dungeon walls like cat and mouse until I decided to make a move.

  I need to kill this thing as quickly as possible.

  I can't let it evolve any further than this.

  ParodyGirl