Knowing that she would need to increase the purity of her dragon blood, Scaly once again turned her gaze towards the mountain dwelling troll that had begun to struggle against the mountain gnolls below.
Considering the description of this monster, she was almost certain that it had some dragon blood flowing through it. Especially given that it had almost reached the limit of what its evolution allowed.
If she could get her hands on the mountain dwelling troll, she might be able to increase the purity of her dragon blood and finally get rid of the inferior title next to it. Not just that, but she might also reach the 500-point mark for magic before her next evolution.
Just thinking about this made Scaly excited.
The only problem was that she had no way to get her hands on the mountain dwelling troll in her current weakened state- No, even if she had all of her strength, it would be difficult for her to seize the body of the mountain dwelling troll after it died.
After all, she would not only have to fight off the mountain gnolls who would also want to get their hands on the body of the mountain dwelling troll after they killed it, but she would also have to find a way to move it away to avoid ending up in a similar situation as the mountain dwelling troll.
Unfortunately, given the size of the mountain dwelling troll, there was no way for her to move it around after it died. Even the mountain gnolls whose individual strength had likely surpassed hers would likely also struggle to move the mountain dwelling troll working together.
As for the mountain dwelling troll escaping from its current situation and running away... Scaly didn’t think it would be possible, as the mountain gnolls were blocking its only way out of the blocked mountain path.
Even if it was stronger, it would be impossible for it to force its way through so many mountain gnolls. Especially considering that more mountain gnolls were showing up with each passing minute. Having been attracted by the battle taking place or contacted by other mountain gnolls for help.
Although the mountain dwelling troll would end up dead like Scaly wanted, it didn’t look like there would be any way for her to get her hands on the body with so many mountain gnolls around. Even just sneaking a bite and running away would be impossible, as this might end up resulting in her becoming a second mountain dwelling troll.
But... I can’t just give up on a chance to increase the purity of my dragon blood...
Narrowing both her eyes as she thought this to herself, Scaly looked around the small mountain path for anything that might help her in securing the mountain dwelling troll for herself. Unwilling to simply give up on the mountain dwelling troll’s body.
In the end, her gaze inevitably settled on the large boulder that was blocking the mountain path and now preventing the mountain dwelling troll from escaping.
Maybe I can use a similar method of blocking the mountain path with a large rock...?
Thinking this to herself, Scaly began scanning the surrounding rocky terrain for any large rocks that might be able to block the mountain path and prevent the mountain gnolls from getting to the mountain dwelling troll after killing it.
However, after looking around and finding quite a few potential candidates and trying to push them, Scaly was forced to stop herself as she discovered that her current strength was far too low to move such a massive rock.
Part of her had momentarily forgotten the fact that if she had enough strength to move such a large boulder or rock, she would have been able to push the boulder blocking the mountain path below to the side a bit and squeeze through a corner of the boulder.
Not just her, but the far stronger mountain dwelling troll fighting for its life below would have been able to easily move the boulder blocking the mountain path if she had that kind of strength.
Her idea of trying to use a large rock or boulder to block the mountain path by pushing it over the edge and into the narrow mountain path below thus came to and end just as fast as it had emerged.
However, even though she had to give up on the plan of trying to block the mountain path with one of the large rocks or boulders laying around, she didn’t entirely give up on trying to figure out ways to possibly block the mountain path.
Among the different methods she tried. From trying to dig away at the sides of the rocky walls that encased the mountain path to dropping down smaller rocks and boulders that she could move with her current strength, Scaly found that the most effective way for her to potentially block the mountain path would be for her to use her water magic to slowly loosen the rocks and soften the soil around the mountain path and cause them to collapse and fall down to block the mountain path below.
Of course, a reason that her other choices didn’t work was mainly due to the fact that the mountain gnolls had clearly noticed her and were shooting magic or arrows towards her. Forcing her to stop and escape back up the rocky wall, while dropping down rocks from above was simply far too slow of a method when it came to blocking the mountain path.
But...
Even if she had found a way to accomplish her goal of blocking the mountain path, there was one major problem with it... And that was the fact that her current mana was far from enough to accomplish this, and she would at least need to recover for another two hours before her mana reached a level where she would be able to use enough water magic to accomplish the goal of collapsing the rocky walls and cause them to fall down and block the mountain path.
For her to be able to carry out her plan and seize the body of the mountain dwelling troll, it would have to hold on for at least another two hours, something that she found doubtful considering that its condition kept growing worse at an increasingly fast pace as more and more mountain gnolls began to show up to join in on the fight.
Outside of that, there was also the fact that the mountain gnolls were now clearly aware of her presence. Forcing her to constantly keep an eye out for any mountain gnolls that might come up after her for the next few minutes...
Luckily, as time passed, it looked like the mountain gnolls didn’t really care about her and were much more focused on killing the mountain dwelling troll. Focusing all of their energy and strength towards killing it. Even going as far as to constantly swap out any mountain gnoll that started to show signs of exhaustion for a fully recovered one that had been unable to reach the mountain dwelling troll due to how narrow the mountain path was.
All of this was controlled by a single mountain gnoll that Scaly was already familiar with and had seen before, the mountain gnoll commander.
True to his title, he was indeed a commander of the mountain gnolls, as none of them seemed to question his commands and instead just followed them obediently.
However, as the fight dragged on, Scaly and the mountain gnolls were all reminded of the terrifying recovery abilities of a troll, as the mountain dwelling troll that seemed to have been at the edge of death for close to half an hour at this point in time kept fighting while being covered in blood from head to toe.
When compared to the recovery speed of the troll she had encountered back at the second floor of the dungeon, the mountain dwelling troll was on a completely different level, as it even had one of its arms cut off at one point in time during the fight and had directly reattached it the next moment to continue fighting.
As the fight dragged on like this and reached the one-hour mark, Scaly began wondering if the mountain dwelling troll would not fall and would instead end up fighting its way through the mountain gnolls that had begun faltering after the long battle.
ROOOAR-!
G-g-groowl!?
This was only something that became more likely after the mountain dwelling troll suddenly went on the offensive and killed three exhausted mountain gnolls who had been about to retreat from the front line and give space for three fully recovered mountain gnolls to take their place in fighting the mountain dwelling troll.
[Mountain Dwelling Troll, lvl 58]
After all, outside of just killing the three mountain gnolls, it had also managed to reach level 58. Bringing it even closer to its limit and increasing its strength by a degree that was visible to the Scaly and the mountain gnolls stuck fighting with the mountain dwelling troll.
At this point in time, Scaly could not help feeling a bit worried about the mountain dwelling troll actually managing to make it out alive. Knowing that it would come running after her if it did... And with its ability to track down those with dragon blood flowing through their bodies, she doubted that she would be able to hide from it.
Even reaching a point where she began wondering if she should lend a hand to the mountain gnolls and help them in killing the mountain dwelling troll to prevent it coming after her in the future...