Rooar!
Following the rumbling sound of something large rushing towards the gnolls, an even larger version of the monster that had been ambushed by the group of gnolls revealed itself as it charged towards the gnolls filled with killing intent. Making it clear to both Scaly and the gnolls that the monster that the gnolls were hunting was just a child, with the larger one being the parent.
Groowl!?
Groowl!
Not having expected something like a stronger monster to show up and attack them after they had executed their well-planned ambush, the gnolls all began panicking as they quickly gave up on continuing to attack the monster they were just about to kill, as they rapidly retreated before the even larger monster had a chance to reach them.
The cowardly behavior of the gnolls was something Scaly had never expected to witness. Especially considering that she had already acknowledged the gnolls as the strongest monsters in the mountain range outside of the drake she had seen on her way to the mountain range.
Because of this, Scaly froze for a moment as she just stared at the escaping gnolls filled with confusion. Not understanding how she had ended up misjudging them as the supreme rulers of the mountain range, who only stood below the fearsome drake living on top of the tall mountains their homes were located around.
Is it perhaps because they are from a small independent tribe of gnolls not associated with the gnolls living around the tall mountains?
In the end, Scaly could not understand how she would have been wrong in her judgement of the mountain gnolls she had seen from afar when she first entered the mountain range and so just decided that the hunting gnolls just now should have been part of a smaller independent tribe of gnolls not associated with those living at the base of the tall mountains.
Considering that she had indeed witnessed how the forest gnolls had also built several different tribes and encampments across the forest they lived in while answering to the strongest tribe where the forest gnoll chieftain and the strongest gnolls resided, Scaly didn’t feel like this was too out of the question.
So, in the end, she just considered the cowardly mountain gnolls to have been from one of those weaker tribes or encampments subordinate to the larger and more powerful mountain gnolls at the base of the tall mountains.
Of course, the problem with this thought was that she had not seen any of these other gnoll tribes or encampments from afar, but Scaly just thought of this as being due to the fact that those smaller tribes or encampments should be more hidden away and harder to spot.
After all, compared to the mountain gnolls living at the base of the t all mountains, they were clearly not strong enough to intimidate any powerful monsters from attacking them.
Not just that, but they might really end up being destroyed if they casually revealed their existence for all of the monsters in the mountain range to easily find and attack.
Rustle~
With that in mind, Scaly decided to silently follow behind the group of cowardly gnolls as they escaped from the strong parent monster that had just shown up.
Intending to personally find out where these hunter gnolls had come from and where their little tribe or encampment was located.
In her head, she was already planning on first killing these weaker gnolls to increase her strength before slowly making her way deeper into the gnolls territory to face off against the stronger gnolls and finally the powerful gnoll tribe at the base of the tall mountains.
Hopefully, by the time she reached the powerful gnolls tribe at the base of the tall mountain, she would have already completed her fourth evolution and have grown strong enough to face any of the powerful gnolls that might be hiding in there, be it shamans or gnoll chieftains, she was prepared to kill all of the mountain gnolls to increase her own strength.
After all, her true goal was never the mountain gnolls at the base of the tall mountains, but instead the drake that resided on top of the tall mountains!
Knowing that consuming the blood of other dragons might increase the purity of her own dragon bloodline, Scaly had long since set the drake she had seen on her way to the mountain range as a prime target for her continued growth as a dragon.
At least, considering the fact that it was clearly powerful and also closely related to dragons, Scaly was certain that it should be able to increase the purity of her dragon blood by a lot if her initial guess of consuming other monsters related to dragons helped her dragon bloodline increase in purity was true.
No matter what, the drake residing on the tall mountains was a great goal for her. Not only to prove herself as a true dragon in the face of an oversized winged lizard only related to dragons, but also because it was the strongest monster she had seen in the mountain range.
Killing the drake would essentially mean that she would be the strongest in the entire mountain range!
Thinking about, even that terrifying human from a few days ago might not be her match if she became strong enough to kill the drake!
As her thoughts drifted while following behind the cowardly mountain gnolls as they continued moving deeper into the mountain range, Scaly didn’t notice that she had already entered a small camp created by the mountain gnolls before the gnolls came to a stop in front of a rather shabby looking tent in the middle of a small opening.
However, Scaly could not be blamed for not noticing that she had entered a gnoll camp, as most of the temporary residences that had been set up was nothing more than a few sticks stacked up in a cone shape covered in leaves that made them look like random large plants if one didn’t take a closer look.
Of course, when she discovered that she had essentially wandered into a mountain gnoll camp, Scaly quickly hid away in a pile of leaves and branches beside one of the stick tents.
Luckily for her, the leaves and sticks that would normally make it difficult for her to blend in and hide among them were all blue colored. Making it easy for her to hide with her blue colored scales, something she hadn’t experienced in a long time considering how much her blue colored scales stuck out under normal circumstances.
Then again, it was also because of the fact that most of the plants around the mountain gnoll camp happened to be weirdly blue colored that she hadn’t though much of it when she saw the weird cone shaped plants that turned out to be mountain gnoll tents.
Outside of that, there was also the fact that there wasn’t a single mountain gnoll around the camp.
Meaning that they were either out hunting like the cowardly mountain gnolls she had followed, or they were hiding away inside of their cone shaped stick tents.
No matter which of the two it was, it had allowed Scaly to hide away without being noticed. Giving her the opportunity to continue observing the cowardly mountain gnolls who were currently saying something in their strange growling language to someone inside the shabby looking tent that now seemed luxurious in comparison to the surrounding stick tents.
GROOOOWL-!
Just as Scaly was about to grow bored of watching the mountain gnolls talking to the luxurious shabby tent without any response, a loud growling echoed out from inside the tent. Followed by a powerful presence overshadowing the small group of mountain gnolls washing over the entire camp.
A strong mountain gnoll!
Even without seeing the one being the powerful growling sound just now, Scaly was certain that this was a powerful mountain gnoll.
Not like the group of hunting mountain gnolls that she had been following so far, but a truly powerful mountain gnoll like the ones she had first imagined when she had been making her way towards the gnoll tribe at the base of the tall mountains!
Rustle~
As if to satisfy her curiosity for this powerful mountain gnoll, a rustling sound could briefly be heard from inside the small tent before the few pieces of fabric covering the entrance to the tent were pushed aside, as what could only be described as a towering beast no smaller than the troll she had encountered back at the second floor of the dungeon stepped out through the small entrance of the tent that didn’t seem to fit its massive size.
[Mountain Gnoll, Commander, lvl 53]
Indeed, this was how she had imagined the mountain gnolls when she had seen their tribe from afar. Powerful beyond any of the other monsters that she had encountered so far in the mountain range. Only surpassed by the drake residing on top of the tall mountains!