Hm? What is that?
However, as she got up from the ground to look for somewhere to go through her fourth evolution, Scaly was surprised to see something massive on the ground not too far away from her... And looking closer, she felt that it looked rather familiar to something she had seen before. Prompting her to inspect the thing on the ground not too far away from her.
[Heavenly Lake Serpent, lvl 41 (Dead)]
Indeed, it’s a heavenly lake serpent, but... How did it die? The rocks that got swept up by the water shouldn’t have the ability to kill it and the mountain gnolls or other monsters who ended up inside the water were also far too weak to kill even a single one of them. Not to mention, the other heavenly lake serpents would also be there to lend a hand in case one of them ended up overwhelmed. So... What happened to this one?
Filled with doubt as she confirmed that the thing lying dead on the rocky ground not too far away from her was indeed a heavenly lake serpent, Scaly could not help tilting her head in confusion. Not understanding how one of the more than thirty-meter-long heavenly lake serpents had ended up dead. Especially considering that she hadn’t seen anything that should have been capable of killing one of them on her way down the mountain.
However, at the same time, she wasn’t planning to give up on such a great opportunity, as she pushed herself forward with the little strength still left in her body. Soon arriving in front of the dead heavenly lake serpent-
Chomp!
[Detected Inferior Grade Dragon Blood inside consumed flesh.]
And without any hesitation, she bit into the heavenly lake serpent and began eating it. Soon being greeted with the familiar prompt informing her that there was dragon blood present inside the flesh of the heavenly lake serpent she had eaten.
Although the quality of the dragon blood was still inferior and wasn’t any better than the dragon blood inside the mountain dwelling troll she had devoured not too long ago, the size of the heavenly lake serpent was more than enough to make up for this, as its massive size alone meant that there would be far more dragon blood for her compared to the mountain dwelling troll.
If she managed to eat the entire heavenly lake serpent. Not to mention her dragon blood breaking through to 10%, she even felt that she would have a chance to reach 20%!
After all, the heavenly lake serpent was simply too big, being over thirty meters long and with a body that was close to two meters wide.
Unfortunately, even though she wanted to devour the entire heavenly lake serpent on her own, she understood that something like that would be impossible to accomplish.
Not mentioning the different monsters that would soon be attracted to the massive dead body that she had no way to fight off in her current state, she also had a feeling that the heavenly lake serpents might return in the near future to find out why one of them were missing when the wave they were moving on ran out of water to carry them forward.
Chomp~ Chomp~ Chomp-!
In preparation for this, Scaly rapidly chomped down on the heavenly lake serpent while also looking for possible escape paths when she would inevitably have to make a quick escape. Soon enough spotting a potential escape path in the shape of a small ravine that would be far too small for the heavenly lake serpents, but just barely big enough for her to squeeze inside of-
Roar~!?
As she was a bit preoccupied with her thoughts on how to escape while at the same time continuing to chomp down on the heavenly lake serpent, Scaly let out a cute, yet painful roar, as she was suddenly hit by the familiar pain that came from her stomach no longer being able to contain any more dragon blood and her forcibly speeding up the process by continuing to eat more.
Although her pain resistance had managed to level up since the last time, she was met with this terrifying pain that spread throughout her entire body, it didn’t make much of a difference, as she still struggled to continue eating with the terrifying pain throughout her body only intensifying over time.
Luckily, by the time that the first few other monsters appeared at the body of the dead heavenly lake serpent, she had managed to somewhat regain control and appear normal on the outside to these monsters. Only her bloody appearance would give away that she was injured, but... Considering that she was already inside the body of the dead heavenly lake serpent, none of the monster could tell if it was her blood of the heavenly lake serpent’s blood.
All things considered, given the size of the heavenly lake serpent, none of the monsters showing up decided to pick a fight with her, as they instead just began to enjoy the high-quality meat of the heavenly lake serpent from a different area of its body.
In the end, although Scaly wanted to monopolize the dead body of the heavenly lake serpent and have it all for herself, everyone who showed up was able to chomp into the dead body.
Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!
Knowing there was nothing she could do, Scaly could only eat faster than the rest of the monsters present, as she rapidly carved a tunnel inside the massive body of the heavenly lake serpent... And as a result, she soon realized that the concentration of dragon blood inside the flesh of the heavenly lake serpent was far higher on the inside compared to the outside parts that the rest of the monsters were busy eating at the moment.
Not just that, but she found that the dragon blood in the flesh she consumed seemed to grow in quality. Not to the point where it surpassed the inferior dragon blood, but definitely reaching a far higher quality compared to the dragon blood she had consumed so far, something she felt clearly in the pain from devouring this flesh rich in dragon blood.
Even reaching the point where she was forced to stop every now and then to recover from the terrible pain caused by the dragon blood being forcibly refined and absorbed into her body.
And that was when she saw it-
Thump~ Thump~
A heart that was still beating even though the heavenly lake serpent had already died.
Trying to inspect it, nothing happened.
But... Deep down, she clearly felt that devouring the beating heart in front of her would be extremely beneficial for furthering her evolution towards becoming a powerful dragon-
Chomp!
And so, without the slightest bit of hesitation, Scaly bit into the heart that was slightly larger than her head. Soon feeling a terrifying heat spread throughout her entire body. Starting to transform it from the inside out.
[Detected Gestating Lesser Dragon Heart has been consumed.]
Seeing the prompt that appeared in front of her, though in painful state that barely allowed her to move, Scaly used up all of her strength and she took three more bite and swallowed down the thing that had been identified as a dragon heart according to the message that had appeared in front of her.
Although she didn’t have much knowledge on what a heart was, she instinctively understood that it was the place where blood gathered inside the body and also the place that would hold the purest concentration of dragon blood inside the heavenly lake serpent.
Meaning that consuming the gestating dragon heart would be the best option for her considering that her main goal with eating the flesh of the heavenly lake serpent was to help increase the purity of her own dragon blood.
Even more so, considering that there was something mentioned inside the prompt that she had never seen before. Lesser Dragon.
Although she had no idea what a lesser dragon was, she felt certain that it should be the level that came after inferior dragon. Meaning that consuming the gestating lesser dragon heat would be far more useful to her compared to any of the inferior dragon blood. Possibly even allowing her to directly break through an go from being considered an inferior dragon to being a lesser dragon!
Even if it was still considered a lesser dragon and not yet a true dragon, it was still far better than being considered inferior.
Rumble-!
Just at that moment, Scaly suddenly heard a loud rumbling sound outside... And dragging her already exhausted body back through the tunnel she had carved inside the dead heavenly lake serpent, Scaly soon spotted the familiar figures of the rest of the heavenly lake serpents appearing in the distance. All charging directly towards the dead body of the heavenly lake serpent filled with what could only be described as killing intent.
Roar!?
Ro-Roar!
Seeing this as well, all of the surrounding monsters began scattering in a panic. Wanting to escape before the heavenly lake serpents arrived.