Faced with the stronger mountain gnoll that had jumped in to save the mountain gnoll she had been just about to kill off, Scaly could not help feeling a bit uneasy as she looked at the rapidly approaching mountain gnolls that had recovered from her water spear attack and were now rushing towards her.
Although she felt confident in dealing with them and had originally been planning to do so, the confidence to do so came from the fact that the stronger mountain gnolls had already left the camp to exact vengeance on the monster that had forced the weaker mountain gnoll hunters to escape.
Now that one of them had actually remained in the camp and had appeared in front of her, Scaly understood that her situation was about to take a turn for the worse.
After all, even if she could deal with the stronger mountain gnoll with her current strength, she also had to watch out for the rest of the mountain gnolls in the camp.
In the end, by the time she would be able to kill off the stronger mountain gnoll, she feared that the mountain gnolls that had left earlier would already have returned. Meaning that she would not only have to face a single one of the powerful mountain gnolls, but an entire group of them.
And though she felt confident in her own strength. Especially so after her third evolution, Scaly was not delusional enough to think that she would be able to face off so many powerful mountain gnolls on her own.
Even more so considering that such a large battle might end up attracting the attention of other more powerful mountain gnolls.
After all, when all things were considered, she was currently inside the territory of the mountain gnolls. Meaning that it wouldn’t be weird for another group of powerful mountain gnolls to pass by and notice the battle if it became big enough...
Chiiiing~!
Forced back to the present as the sword of the powerful mountain gnoll came flying towards her again, Scaly could not help silently cursing to herself as she blocked the crude sword with her claws. Feeling a sense of killing intent rising as she stared at the mountain gnoll that was skillfully using the crude sword to attack her.
If not for this single mountain gnoll that had suddenly appeared to block her, she would have already killed off the weaker mountain gnoll that it was protecting and would be happily rushing towards the still approaching mountain gnolls or throwing more water spears towards them.
No matter what, she would have been confidently dealing with the mountain gnolls in the camp. Not like now where she suddenly found herself on the defensive after only killing a little overt three of the mountain gnolls...
Knowing that she didn’t really have a choice of retreating at this point in time, Scaly could only narrowly dodge the crude sword as it came down towards her for a third time before using her water magic and claws in combination to attack the mountain gnoll.
Thump~
Bang!
Unfortunately, the only result of this double pronged attack was herself getting injured, as the mountain gnoll managed to skillfully sidestep her water magic, while at the same parrying her claws before kicking her in the stomach the next second. Not giving her any time to react before it was too late, as she soon found herself painfully landing a few meters away after the kick.
Unlike the rest of the mountain gnolls that had been relatively easy for her to deal with, it was clear that this mountain gnoll was far more difficult to deal with than she had first expected.
Not just that, but it also proved difficult for her to deal with in a one versus one situation, let alone now that she would also have to face off against the rest of the mountain gnolls present in the camp.
If she wanted to stand a chance at killing this powerful mountain gnoll, she had to find a way to stop the approaching mountain gnolls from joining in to assist it in fighting with her...
Ah! Maybe I can try and block off the path with my magic!
Suddenly, feeling both of her eyes starting to shine as she thought about this, Scaly began to put her thoughts into action as she began gathering her mana for this purpose. Evoking a surprised cry from the powerful mountain gnoll, as it charged towards her to stop her. Instinctively knowing that whatever she was planning on doing was bad for it-
Whoosh~!
However, it was too slow to stop her, as a brilliant blue light appeared around Scaly before spreading out around her before also going past the powerful mountain gnoll, where the blue light manifested in the form of a water curtain that blocked the approaching mountain gnolls from getting any closer.
Growl...?
Seeing that the rest of the mountain gnolls rushing over to lend it a hand in dealing with Scaly, the mountain gnoll could not help feeling like something bad was about to happen, as it unknowingly came to a stop a few meters away from Scaly. Fearful of attacking her after the recent display of power.
Amazing! It really worked! Although, the mana required to keep the water curtain up all around me and the mountain gnoll is a lot, it should be able to keep the rest of the mountain gnolls at bay for a few minutes...
Though... Unknown to the mountain gnoll, Scaly was already pushing her limits with her most recently invented water curtain spell, as the mana required to keep it up was far too much. Even for the current Scaly whose magic was already close to 500.
In a sense, keeping the water curtain up to block the rest of the mountain gnolls with her current strength could only be done for a few minutes before her mana would reach critical levels.
On the other hand, it did give her an opportunity to face off against the powerful mountain gnoll without any fear of interruptions.
As for the reason she didn’t use her recently acquired ice magic to just freeze the water curtains and make them more durable without a constant drain in her mana... That was rather simple, as the sheer quantity of mana required to do something like that was far beyond what she had at the moment.
From general feeling, she understood that to freeze water made with her water magic using her ice magic required far more mana compared to water magic.
Shaking her head as she threw all of these thoughts regarding her new spell to the back of her mind for now, Scaly focused her attention on the opponent in front of her. Wanting to take advantage of the shock following the use of a large-scale spell like the water curtain to land a deadly blow on the mountain gnoll... And to do this, Scaly used another new magic she had thought of, a simple blade of water that had the sharpness of the water spear and the low mana cost of the mana ball.
In more simple terms, a water blade.
Swish-!
Swish-!
Swish-!
As three water blades flew out in quick succession, each following a different trajectory, aiming at different vital points on the mountain gnoll. The mountain gnoll barely had time to react by the time it noticed the three water blades-
Ptsh-!
Ptsh-!
GRrrrooowl-!
Allowing two of them to successfully reach their target and grievously wound the mountain gnoll in the process. Giving Scaly the confidence to once again move close to the mountain gnoll in an attempt to finish it.
Chiing~!
However, even in an injured state, the mountain gnoll still managed to skillfully maneuver the crude sword to block her. Even using the chance to launch a deadly strike towards Scaly. Forcing her to retreat once again.
This... Why is it so good at fighting with a sword!?
Not having any real combat training outside what she had learnt personally, Scaly couldn’t understand that the thing displayed by the mountain gnoll was a sword technique, as she could only look at the now bleeding mountain gnoll filled with amazement over its sword skill.
Unfortunately for the mountain gnoll, just because she was amazed didn’t mean she planned on giving up on the fight, as she instead decided to rely on her newly invented water blade spell to attack the mountain gnoll from afar-
Swish-!
Swish-!
Swish-!
And soon enough, another three water blades flew towards the already injured mountain gnoll-
PTSH-!
GROOOOOOWL-!
However, this time around, even though it could see the attack coming, it no longer had the strength to dodge or block all of them, as it was soon hit by all three of the water blades.
[Gained 5732 Exp]
In the end, it was far too much for the mountain gnoll to be hit on five different vital locations, as it soon crumbled lifelessly to the ground filled with regret as it looked towards its opponent with anger over her despicable behavior of not facing it in a fair fight and instead resorting to attacking from afar.
Not that Scaly cared about any of this, as she just happily smiled to herself upon seeing the large amount of experience she gained after killing the powerful mountain gnoll.
Not just that, but due to the battle, she had also ended up adding another two spells to her repertoire. Among them, the water blade being the one she was most excited about, as it might be fast enough to deal with the dragon devourer slime. If she ran into it again in the future...