Escaping through the narrow tunnel that ran underneath the town towards the forest not too far away, the branch guild leader could not help panicking as he saw a ball of fire chasing after him from behind. Even when he collapsed part of the tunnel behind him didn’t work and only seemed to slow his own speed. Allowing the ball of fire to get closer, as it burned through anything in its path.
"This damned crimson flame knight! Why did someone like that have to show up!?" Cursing to himself as he could only continue escaping through the tunnel and hope that he could make it to the forest and hide away before the crimson flame knight caught up to him, the branch guild leader used all of his strength to forcibly increase his speed beyond his normal limits.
Luckily, because he had the grand explorer class, his movement ability was far beyond that of a normal adventurer at his level. Allowing him to escape from the much stronger crimson flame knight chasing after him.
Of course, this was only temporary, as he would soon return to a more normal speed for a B Rank Adventurer. At which point, the crimson flame knight would be able to easily catch him.
But... At least for now, he could continue keeping a distance from the crimson flame knight. Soon reaching the exit of the underground escape tunnel located a short distance away from the edge of the forest around the ancient dire wolf forest.
Bang!
Forcibly throwing himself through the small hidden wooden cover at the exit, the branch guild leader wasted no time as he rushed in an already predetermined location. Already having a plan in mind for how to avoid the crimson flame knight chasing after him.
The only problem was that his speed might be far too slow to execute this escape plan. Possibly resulting in him being caught far before he could even carry out his escape plan-
Fwooosh-!
Landing on the ground next to the exit of the escape tunnel, the crimson flame knight didn’t say anything as he began scanning his surroundings for any sign of the branch guild leader and what direction he had gone in after coming out of the escape tunnel.
Soon spotting a few broken branches and leaves in one direction, a clear sign that someone around the size of a human had gone in that direction.
"Hm? That direction... If I’m not wrong, there should be a passage down to the fourth floor not too far away. Although, it’s a less known passage only known to a few, I guess that should be where he is going. Intending to throw me off by hiding somewhere on the fourth floor!" Muttering this to himself as he instantly guessed the escape plan of the branch guild leader, the crimson flame knight didn’t waste any more time as he chased after him. Intending to try and catch him before he had a chance to reach the fourth floor of the dungeon.
After all, even if he was powerful among A Rank Adventurers, there were still some monsters at the fourth floor of the dungeon that were difficult for even him to deal with.
Different from the situation on the first, second and third floor of the dungeon that were under the almost complete control of the adventurer’s guild, the fourth floor and beyond were outside the guilds control, as the monsters there were simply far too strong for them to try and establish a similar level of control as they had done on the first three floors of the dungeon.
Even if it was possible to do, the number of resources and powerful adventurers required to maintain something like that didn’t make it worth it. Especially considering that the Howling Caverns couldn’t be considered that tempting for A Rank Adventurers compared to some of the more reputable dungeons out there.
...
Back to Scaly who had just made her way out of the cave where she had peacefully gone through her third evolution in search of food, the few monsters that had begun to return to the mountain after Scaly disappeared, were once again reminded that the mountain wasn’t safe, as the now stronger Scaly soon descended upon these monsters.
Soon enough resulting in yet another mass migration, as the monsters that had just recently returned to the mountain all began escaping to the surrounding mountains.
Not that any of this stopped Scaly, as she just made her way to one of these mountains to hunt down more monsters to eat.
At the very least, she wasn’t really in any real danger inside the mountain range with her current strength.
The only real challenge to her being the mountain slimes that could be found further up the different mountains and the gnoll tribe that she was still far away from.
Of course, there was also the drake that she had seen on her way to the mountain range, but it hadn’t really appeared since it had disappeared into the depths of the mountain range. Making it useless for her to worry about. Especially considering that she should be able to spot it from far away and hide in case it was still too strong for her to deal with.
Unknowingly, because of this, Scaly soon found herself inside a small valley that had been turned into a large lake that almost covered the entire valley. Giving Scaly an opportunity to not only taste some of the different fish-based monsters on the fourth floor of the dungeon, but also the chance to check out her new appearance after her evolution.
Different from her past appearance, her new appearance was completely different. Having completely changed into what could be described as a baby dragon, with only her beautiful blue scales and their wavy pattern remaining the same.
Of course, other than her appearance having changed, she also gained a pair of small wings on her back. Although... Whenever she tried to use them, she quickly realized that they were far too small for her to fly with at the moment.
However, out of all this, the thing that Scaly noticed more than anything was her size, having grown to the size of a chubby cat.
Cracks that she could have made her home in the past and sleep in without much of a problem were no longer a possibility, while she would also have a far harder time climbing up and down walls with her current size.
If she really ended up trying to do something like she had done back in the ravine at the third floor of the dungeon when she had been chased by the ancient dire wolf, she had a feeling that she would have been unable to escape even with her higher dexterity. Not that it mattered that much, as she could have fought the ancient dire wolf if she had her current strength back then.
All things considered, Scaly was quite satisfied with her current appearance, as she did look like a dragon after her latest evolution.
The only problem so to speak, being the fact that her current appearance wasn’t as fear inspiring as she had hoped it to be. Looking more... cute... Than anything else...
Roar~
Her roar as well, also tilted in that direction.
But... Considering that she was still a hatchling, Scaly decided to just push it off as something normal for a new dragon that had yet to grow up. After all, she couldn’t imagine a large adult dragon letting out such a cute sounding roar.
Whoosh~!
With this in mind, Scaly became even more determined to continue increasing her strength as fast as possible so she could grow up and get a more fear inspiring appearance compared to the one that she had at the moment.
[1/10, 87%]
At the very least, considering that she only needed to level up ten times before her next evolution, she didn’t think it would take that long to accomplish. Even if the speed of her leveling up had slowed down dramatically due to only hunting down monsters like the mountain rabbits, rock slimes and other similarly weak monsters.
No.... Now that I have filled my stomach, I should start trying to hunt down stronger monsters to increase my strength faster.
Narrowing both her eyes as she thought this to herself while looking at her own reflection in the water deep in thought, Scaly turned her head to look towards the deeper parts of the mountain range where the powerful gnoll tribe resided.
Although she still felt a sense of unease when it came to the strength of the gnoll tribe. Now that she had gone through her third evolution and her strength increased, she began looking towards the gnolls as her next target.
Swoosh~
And so, having come to a decision, Scaly wasted no time as she began making her way in the direction of the gnoll tribe. Intending to make use of them to fuel her growth.