"How unfortunate, I never expected to be dragging both of these dire wolves to weigh so much even one of those sandworms are nowhere near the same weight as one of these two even thought these wolves are far smaller. Looks like I will have to bring some more help if I want to get them back to the town and get them sold..."
After close to two hours spent dragging the two bodies of the dead ancient dire wolves through the forest without making much progress due to the terrifying weight of the two monsters far exceeding his imagination, the crimson flame knight was soon forced to give up on taking them back on his own as he made his way back to the town to get help from some of the B Rank Adventurers that were currently stationed there.
Considering that he had already taken care of the main threat, it wasn’t really a problem to take a few of these adventures with him. Especially considering that it shouldn’t take more than a few hours to drag the two massive bodies back to the town after he got the assistance of a few more people.
Swish~
So, with that in mind, the crimson flame knight didn’t think twice as he turned around and left in the direction of the dungeon town to get some help as fast as possible. Not really caring too much about what might happen to the two dead bodies during his absence, as he understood just how heavy and difficult to bite into these two ancient dire wolf bodies were.
Even going through the burned section at the neck he had cut through, it would take the ordinary animals of the forest at least a few hours to get inside and start feasting on the dead body. More than enough time for the crimson flame knight to go to town and return again before any real damage could be done to the two dead bodies.
At least, that was what the crimson flame knight thought as he left the two dead bodies on their own...
Rustle~
Boing~!
However, the moment he left, a small slime bounced out of the nearby bushes and headed directly towards the two massive dead bodies.
If Scaly was present at the scene to see this particular slime, she would immediately have recognized it as the dragon devourer slime that she had found herself struggling against during her first few days exploring the mountain range of the fourth floor of the dungeon.
Somehow, since she had last seen it and knocked it into a nearby ravine in the process of escaping from it, the dragon devourer slime had somehow managed to find its way up from the fourth floor to the third floor of the dungeon.
Thinking a bit about it, it wasn’t too hard to guess that this little slime should have managed to get to the third floor through the recently established staircase that had been created by the person from the Holy Flower Sect when he had tried escaping the crimson flame knight.
Boing~ Boing~ Chomp~
In the end, all of this resulted in the dragon devourer slime happily jumping over towards the two massive dead bodies before starting to happily devour them. Rapidly increasing its level and strength in the process of devouring the two massive bodies.
In the process also making it clear that the two ancient dire wolves were related to dragons in some kind of way, as without any kind of dragon blood flowing through their bodies, there was no way that the dragon devourer slime would ever have bothered devouring them no matter how appetizing they might have looked.
Like this, a few hours quickly flew by as the dragon devourer slime soon finished up its meal and bounced away from the scene in search of more dragon related monsters or dragons to devour to continue increasing its own strength and grow larger. Leaving only the skeletal remains of the two massive monsters behind...
Rustle~!
And not long after the dragon devourer slime had finished its job and left the scene, did the crimson flame knight show up with a group of B Rank Adventurers that had been specifically picked out for the job carrying the two massive monsters back to the dungeon town-
"The two monster bodies are just over here and- M-my loot!"
Spotting the two skeletal bodies almost instantly, the normally calm and composed crimson flame knight was unable to spot himself from crying out loud at the sight. Knowing that he had just ended up losing materials that were essentially no less valuable than that of a normal A Rank Monster. Possibly even worth more in some cases due to the rarity of the ancient dire wolves.
"""..."""
Seeing the skeletal remains as well, the adventurers that had been following the crimson flame knight could not help smiling somewhat awkwardly to each other. Knowing that although they didn’t lose as much as the crimson flame knight, they still ended up losing a few hours of their time trekking through the forest for what now turned out to be no reason.
Even if the skeletal remains could still be sold, they were not really worth much. Especially considering that a few small holes could be seen across the bones. Making it clear that whatever creature was behind eating the two ancient dire wolves had been thorough enough to dig into the bones to get its hands on the bone marrow hidden inside.
"If I find the monster behind this, I will make sure it pays back what it took!"
In the end, following a short, determined muttering coming from the crimson flame knight, the group didn’t stay for long, as some of them picked up what was left of the ancient dire wolves before all of them began heading back in the direction of the dungeon town.
...
Back on the fourth floor of the dungeon, inside the collapsed cave, Scaly slowly opened her eyes after an unknown period of time had passed. Almost instantly feeling how cramped her surroundings felt compared to before she had gone through her fourth evolution.
Although the space was small, it wasn’t to the point where she found it difficult to move around like she did now.
My size should have increased by quite a bit compared to in the past, but more importantly than that I wonder how strong I am now...
Feeling her new body now pushing against the rocks and stones that kept her both safe and trapped, Scaly could not help wondering how strong she had become after going through her fourth evolution into becoming a young tempest dragon.
So, with that in mind, she opened up her status screen to look...
Name: Scaly
Race: Young Tempest Dragon
Dragon blood: 15% (Common)
Level: 1/30, 0%
STR: 302 |VIT: 523 | DEX: 274 | M: 717
Magic: [Dragon Water Magic, lvl 3], [Ice Magic lvl 1], [Wind Magic, lvl 1], [Lightning Magic, lvl 1],
Skills: [Dragon Bloodline, lvl 4], [Dragon Flight, lvl 3], [Poison Resistance, lvl 3], [Dragon Claw Strike, lvl 5], [Dragon Breath (Water), lvl 3], [Corrosion Resistance, lvl 2], [Pain Resistance, lvl 2], [Swimming, lvl 2]
Looking over her brand-new status, Scaly immediately noticed that it had changed quite a bit compared to before her fourth evolution, as a brand-new section for magic alone had appeared inside her status.
Outside of the aesthetic change to her status, Scaly also noticed that two new kinds of magic had appeared inside the new section, wind magic and lightning magic.
Although she was a bit disappointed that both of them were just level 1 without anything dragon next to their name, Scaly guessed that this was normal considering she hadn’t learnt any wind or lightning magic yet and still had to explore it on her own similar to how she had come up with all her water magic spells on her own.
Surprisingly, her dragon breath was not considered magic even though it clearly used mana...
Speaking of mana, she also noticed just how much her strength had increased compared to her past evolutions.
If last time around the total stat increase was around two hundred, this time around it was close to five hundred! Her magic alone had increased by a little under two hundred this time around. Bringing her one step closer to a thousand!
There was also her dragon blood quality having reached 15%, but for now, she decided to push aside some of her thoughts on her dragon blood and the changes that seemed to have taken place with it after she had consumed the gestating lesser dragon heart inside the dead heavenly lake serpent.
Instead, she decided to first focus her attention on the most important task at hand. Getting out of her current claustrophobic circumstance and finding something to eat because she could already feel the hunger from going through an evolution starting to set in. Meaning that she didn’t have long before her reason would start diminishing like what had happened after her third evolution...