Escaping inside the forest, Scaly didn’t waste any time as she quickly found a familiar hollowed out tree to hide inside of-
Thumb~
Unfortunately, given that her size had increased by quite a bit following her last evolution, she was no longer small enough to fit inside a hollowed-out tree that she would have normally been able to hide inside of. Forcing her to get back up again to search for somewhere else to hide from the mountain gnolls.
After all, although she had managed to successfully make it to the forest and it would be far more difficult for the mountain gnolls to find her or the rest of the monsters that had similarly rushed into the forest, she also understood that they should still be entering the forest... and if she couldn’t find a place to hide away in, she would still get found by the mountain gnolls.
Not to mention, she could clearly see that the monsters all around her had slowly started disappearing in the thick foliage and countless smaller hiding spots. Leaving just her behind without anywhere to hide. Serving as the first thing the mountain gnolls would see after they made their way inside the forest.
Rustle~!
Growl!
Hearing the sound of rustling leaves followed by the familiar growling sound of mountain gnolls not too far behind her just at this moment, Scaly didn’t bother trying to look for another hiding spot in her current location as she began moving deeper into the forest to escape from the mountain gnolls pursuit.
At the very least, the thick foliage made it far harder for them to chase after her on top of their wolves. Giving her a bit more time to escape before they could catch up to her...
Rooar-!
However, just when she had started to relax herself a bit knowing it would still be some time before the mountain gnolls managed to catch up to her, Scaly was shocked to hear a loud roaring sound of a wolf coming just a few meters behind her.
[Grey Wolf, lvl 31]
[Grey Wolf, lvl 35]
[Grey Wolf...]
And turning around, she suddenly found herself being confronted with close to a dozen grey wolves that had all seemingly abandoned their mountain gnoll rider to chase after her, something she hadn’t really thought of, as she didn’t really view the grey wolves themselves as much of a threat-
Roooar!
Roar!
Roooaaaar!
Unfortunately, this looked like it was about to be her undoing, as she understood that these grey wolves were not here to kill her, but instead just here to delay her for as long as possible before the mountain gnolls could catch up and kill her.
Whoosh-!
Knowing this, Scaly had no intention of staying behind to fight it out with these grey wolves, as she turned around and continued rushing deeper into the forest. Only this time around, she changed the direction she was moving in and began moving up the tall mountain that the forest was located on instead of moving along the side of it like she had done so far.
The intention behind this being that she hoped that there would be other powerful monsters around higher up on the mountain. Hoping that their presence alone would help her in getting rid of the grey wolves that were now closing following behind her, or, in the worst-case scenario, try and use these powerful monsters to fight the mountain gnolls and their pets.
Of course, Scaly understood how risky this was, but she also understood that she didn’t really have much of a choice considering that she wasn’t in any state to fight off a hundred plus mountain gnolls with strength of at least level 40.
Even if she managed to go through her next evolution, she had a feeling that it would still be impossible to take on so many strong mountain gnolls at the same time in the short term.
Roar...
In the end, after continuing up the mountain for a good five minutes with the grey wolves following closely behind her, Scaly smiled happily when she finally noticed the grey wolves coming to a stop at the point where the lush environment of the forest had started to thin out and get replaced by the familiar mountainous terrain without much life in it.
Though she had no idea about what monster had scared off these grey wolves as there was still no such monster in sight, Scaly wasn’t any less happy, as she used the time, she had been given to find a large enough hiding location inside a large tree trunk that had fallen on the ground not too far away from her-
Plop~
"..."
However, as she dived forward to enter the tree trunk, Scaly was once again shocked to discover that she found herself stuck inside the tree trunk. Unable to move further inside the tree trunk and unable to free herself from the tree trunk without destroying it.
Growl!
GROWL! GROOOWL!
But just as she was about to do just that, the familiar growling sound could be heard coming not too far away from her, as she saw the large number of mountain gnolls that had been chasing after her all of this time, come to a stop only a few meters away from the tree trunk she was currently hiding inside of. Looking at them through a small hole in the wooden trunk that should have been left behind by some kind of bird or insect in the past.
If not for the fact that the grey wolves had briefly retreated. Giving her the opportunity to hide away inside the tree trunk, Scaly understood that she would not even have had the ability to hide away inside the tree trunk and would have already been noticed by the grey wolves, who in turn would have informed the mountain gnolls.
With that in mind, she could be considered rather lucky, as enough of her body had made it into the tree trunk to completely hide her. The only thing that might give it away being any of the wolves or mountain gnolls going to a spot where they could either see her glorious back paws or fear inspiring face.
Thump~
Unfortunately, when it came to this, her luck didn’t seem to be going well, as one of the mountain gnolls directly sat down on the tree trunk that she was hiding in at the moment. Presumably to rest after the long chase that she and the rest of the monsters had put on so far.
After all, even though these mountain gnolls were not the type that seemed to fare well without the assistance of their mounts, they should have been on the move for a long time and the exhaustion had just caught up to them at this moment when they finally got a chance to standi still and relax while their leader seemed busy talking about something she couldn’t understand not too far away.
Looks like this isn’t going to end any time soon...
Shaking her head as she thought this to herself while looking through the small hole and seeing that none of the mountain gnolls or grey wolves showed any sign of moving to her location, Scaly decided to take a glance while she was at it and had nothing better to do while waiting for the mountain gnolls to leave the place. Especially the one that was currently sitting on top of her, as it took all of her willpower to stop herself from killing him.
Name: Scaly
Race: Water Dragon Hatchling
Dragon blood: 6% (Inferior)
Level: 10/10
STR: 218 |VIT: 375 | DEX: 170 | M: 506
Skills: [Dragon Bloodline, lvl 4], [Dragon Flight, lvl 2], [Dragon Water Magic, lvl 3], [Poison Resistance, lvl 3], [Dragon Claw Strike, lvl 5], [Swimming, lvl 1], [Dragon Breath (Water), lvl 3], [Corrosion Resistance, lvl 2], [Ice Magic lvl 1], [Pain Resistance, lvl 1]
Looking through her status, the first thing Scaly noticed was the fact that she had finally managed to hit the 500-point mark for her magic, though no changes had taken place like she had partly been expected upon reaching 500, it should at least mean that she had managed to unlock some stronger evolutions when she escaped her current situation and got the chance to go through her fourth evolution.
Hm? Pain resistance?
However, after seeing the things she had already expected to see, Scaly was shocked to discover that she had actually managed to acquire a brand-new skill at some point in time.
Is... Is that from overeating the dragon blood...?
Thinking this to herself as she couldn’t really think of any other reason for her new skill to appear, Scaly decided to inspect the skill-
[Pain Resistance, lvl 1]: You have endured pain beyond what is normal and have gained a certain resistance to strength. Allowing you to endure more pain. Continuing evolving and a special trait might awaken...
Huh?
Something she soon wished that she didn’t do...