Chiing~!
Wah!? This- I can’t pierce through it!?
As her claws met the front legs of the great mountain hog a few seconds later, Scaly was shocked to discover that there was some kind of protective bone armor hidden beneath the tough skin of the hog. Only allowing her to cut a short distance into it before being stopped by the bone armor-
Bang!
Swoosh-!
But more than that, Scaly had to find out the hard way just how terrifying the force of a charging great mountain hog was, as she soon found herself being knocked back by the great mountain hog ramming into her body.
Even with her Vitality having greatly increased after her third evolution and her strength wasn’t too weak either, she still stood no chance when compared to the great mountain hog that seemed to have surpassed the strength of ordinary level 40 monsters. Having reached a level no different from the level 50 humans she had escaped from back on the third floor of the dungeon.
Looks like I will have to rely on my magic if I want to stand a chance against it...
With this in mind, Scaly didn’t hold back as she focused her attention on using her magic instead of trying to contend with the great mountain hog in a physical close-range battle. Making use of the distance that had been created between the two of them to launch several water spears towards the great mountain hog. Intending to overwhelm and kill it before their battle ended up attracting other monsters to come and see what was happening.
Whoosh-!
Whoosh-!
Whoosh-!
ROOOAR
Faced with the water spears flying towards it, the great mountain hog didn’t show any fear as it let out a loud roar before a semitransparent barrier formed around it-
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Wha- How!? It can use magic!?
And to the surprise of Scaly, she watched in shock, as her powerful water spears hit the barrier formed around the body of the great mountain hog without doing any real damage to the great mountain hog outside of destroying the barrier.
Not to mention being comparable to a level 50 human, Scaly had a feeling that this great mountain hog was even more powerful than that.
For the first time since her encounter with what she thought to be an easy target, Scaly realized that her current situation was far more dangerous than she had first thought.
If she didn’t go all out, she would not just risk the great mountain hog running away like she had thought was her only worry, but also getting herself killed!
Rooar~!
Knowing this, Scaly decided to use her strongest attack at the approaching great mountain hog, her dragon breath-
Fwoosh!
Roar!?
As a result of this, a large cone of what looked like blue fire left her mouth before engulfing the approaching great mountain hog before it had the chance to reach her. Resulting to it letting out a loud pained cry as it was being attacked by the water magic contained inside the dragon breath unleashed by Scaly.
Even though it had tried to use the same barrier that it had used to block her water spears earlier, it stood no chance against the stronger dragon breath.
Not to mention, Scaly wouldn’t allow the great mountain hog to only focus on the magic fire that enveloped it, as she wasted no time in conjuring up another three water spears that she flung towards the struggling great mountain hog-
Whoosh-!
Ptsh! Ptsh! Ptsh!
Resulting in all three of the water spears perfectly piercing through the tough skin and bone armor beneath, severely injuring the struggling great mountain hog before it had a chance to finish dealing with the magic fire that involved its body.
FWOOOSH-!
In the end, using what strength it had left, the magic fire surged with renewed strength as it forcibly entered the body of the great mountain hog through the three gaping wounds left by the three water spears. Burning it from the inside.
Roooar...!
Unable to handle the terrifying magic fire that had now forcibly entered its body, the great mountain hog struggled for a few more seconds before ultimately falling to the ground with a painful expression on its face-
Swish-!
Ptsh!
[Gained 2423 Exp]
[*Ding* Reached level 8]
Giving Scaly the perfect opportunity to get close enough to use her claws to slice through the neck of the great mountain hog. Killing it before it could recover its strength and try to run away.
Of course, given the thick skin and strong bone Armor beneath, she had made sure to use the enhanced dragon claw strike strengthened by her dragon water magic.
Although it was rather draining on her mana to use, with her increased magic, the mana inside her body had also increased significantly. Making it far easier to use the enchanted dragon claw strike now compared to the past.
The only problem in this situation was that she had already used a large amount of mana on her dragon water magic and dragon breath beforehand, thus resulting in her mana running rather low. Only being left with a little over third of her mana after the fight came to an end.
On the positive side, the battle hadn’t lasted for that long and no other monster had shown up to join the battle so far. Meaning that she was at least safe for now and didn’t have to worry about ending up in a fight with any other monsters.
Then again, it was only a matter of time before other monsters began to show up.
So, with that in mind, Scaly wasted no time in walking up to the great mountain hog, before using all her strength to drag it back in the direction of the small mountain valley she had left not too long ago. Intending to eat it in there where she knew it was relatively safe for her to stay without any other powerful monsters around.
Considering how delicious the great mountain hog was according to the description provided to her after she inspected it, Scaly felt that it was worth the effort to drag the great mountain hog somewhere she could eat it without any interruptions and peaceful enjoy it.
However, she did come upon a problem as she continued dragging the massive body of the great mountain hog along with her... And that was the fact that her current strength was only barely enough to move the massive body with all her strength.
Though she would be able to reach the small valley at some point in time, it would undoubtedly take some time to do this. Possibly resulting in other monsters showing up to fight with her for the body of the dead great mountain hog, something she wanted to avoid if possible.
I really do need to increase my strength a bit in the future...
Thinking this to herself as she continued dragging the great mountain hog along the mountainous terrain with all her strength, Scaly began to seriously consider increasing her strength in the future.
After all, even though her magic was strong and all, it wouldn’t be good for her if she ended up being too weak to move a delicious monster she killed in the future.
Given how large some of the monsters she had seen before could get compared to the great mountain hog, Scaly knew that this was a very real possibility, one she would be forced to face at some point in time when the monsters she fought got large.
At least for now, she should be fine with the natural increase in strength she got from being a dragon, but she knew that this would not always be the case.
In the end, she could only hope that the natural increase in strength from being a dragon would be enough for her to carry her prey after she had hunted it. Even if she focused all of her attention towards increasing the strength of her magic.
Considering the size of dragons in her mind and how large she would become in the future; she did feel some confidence in her natural strength growing to a level where she would be able to carry any delicious prey she killed.
The only problem was that there might be situations where she ended up killing an especially large opponent and end up unable to carry it back with her.
For example, the sandworms on the third floor of the dungeon.
The sandworms were clearly weaker than the great mountain hog, but their sheer size made it impossible for her to even think about dragging them somewhere to safe to eat outside of the sea of sand they resided in.
Her only hope in this regard was that all the delicious monsters she encountered before becoming strong enough were within a certain size range and didn’t grow too large where she wouldn’t be able to carry them away to peacefully enjoy them in a safe location...