Chomp!
Wasting no time after she killed the unfortunate mountain rabbit, Scaly hungrily chomped down on the mountain rabbit. Consuming the entire rabbit in the span of a few short seconds. Far exceeding her previous eating speed, something that could be attributed to her hunger and increased size.
Even then, Scaly was far from satisfied with just a single mountain rabbit, as she soon began to hungrily scan her surroundings for any other monster that might be wandering around the relatively empty mountainous terrain.
Unfortunately, as she looked around, she discovered that there was not only no monsters around for her to eat, but the massive body of the heavenly lake serpent that she had been happily chomping into before her evolution and unfortunate burial underground, had completely disappeared. Not even leaving any bones behind.
Did it get eaten in its entirety or did those heavenly lake serpents perhaps take it away after they appeared?
Having regained some clarity after getting some food into her stomach, Scaly could not help thinking this to herself as she looked down at the still visible tracks on the ground that had been created by the heavenly lake serpents dragging their massive bodies across the mountainous terrain.
Although it had been a rather long time since they had left given that there were no signs of water around any longer, the imprint caused by the heavenly lake serpents had dug directly into the rocks by a few centimeters. Creating a clear path for her or anyone who wanted to hunt down the heavenly lake serpents to follow.
Can I kill the heavenly lake serpents now that I have finished my fourth evolution...?
Ultimately, as she thought about the possibility of following after the heavenly lake serpents, Scaly also thought about whether or not it would be possible for her to kill them, as she glanced towards her status with a hint of hesitation in her eyes.
However, this hesitation didn’t last for long, as she soon showed a determined expression on her face.
I can definitely kill them now that I finished my fourth evolution!
Although she was slightly doubtful when thinking about the massive size of the heavenly lake serpents, this doubt disappeared when she felt the large amount of mana flowing through her body along with the massive increase in strength that she had experienced after becoming a young tempest dragon.
Not to mention, she still remembered that the wings on her back had increased in both size and strength compared to before. At least she should be able to use them to some extent now compared to the past when they were completely useless and served as nothing more than a simple decoration.
How much she could use them was still up to debate, as she instinctively felt that she wouldn’t be capable of true flight yet, though she should be able to use her new wings for simple things like gliding through the air or flying for a short distance.
Even if this was still far from true flight, it would still be a massive change to her survival capabilities inside the mountain range filled with tall locations she could use to her advantage for either launching an attack from above or to escape in case she ended up in a dangerous situation.
Of course, before all of this, she first had to learn how to use her new wings-
Grumble~!
But more importantly than that, she had to find some monsters to eat and fill up her stomach before she ended up losing control of herself and turning into a mindless monster that knew about nothing other than seeking out other monsters to eat.
Though it was safer to enter such a state now that she was outside the collapsed cave, it was still dangerous, as she would have no way to properly fight back in case, she ended up accidentally running into a large mountain gnoll settlement or a lair of powerful monsters similar to the heavenly lake serpents.
If possible, she wanted to avoid something like that from happening if possible, so, without wasting any time, she set off from the entrance of the collapsed cave and began rushing in the direction away from where the heavenly lake serpents had gone or the wave of water had come from, as she understood these two locations would have the least number of monsters. Instead, heading towards the side where the water hadn’t passed through where the monsters should still be around.
...
At the same time Scaly set off in search of more monsters to eat and fill up her stomach, back on the third floor of the dungeon, the crimson flame knight made his way into the recently rebuild branch guild at the dungeon town that had recently been rebuild after the attacks from the ancient dire wolves.
"I’m sorry to call you again just after you left the dungeon for a vacation, but I really can’t deal with this situation on my own and the people from the capital guild branch have not arrived yet, as it seems like the Holy Flower Sect has begun causing problems in the capital. Delaying their arrival..." Walking over, the guild leader in charge of the Howling Caverns wore a somewhat apologetic smile as he said this.
"I understand, I just didn’t think the situation would turn out to be so troublesome just a few weeks after I killed off those ancient dire wolves... A giant slime causing havoc that not even B Rank Adventurers can do anything about? I never imagined something like that to emerge on the third floor.
After all, this dungeon isn’t that great for the development of especially powerful slimes. The only place with some space for those slimes to develop is the mountain range on the fourth floor and the caves on the second floor, but those slimes are mostly harmless as long as you don’t fight them." Shaking his head as he said this, the crimson flame knight didn’t blame this old man, as he understood full well that this had nothing to do with him.
"Indeed, a slime like this is extremely unusual and I suspect that it might have something to do with the Holy Flower Sect!"
Hearing what the guild leader said, the crimson flame knight could not help nodding his head in agreement.
Indeed, the slime that had appeared on the third floor of the dungeon and the person from the Holy Flower Sect were likely related to each other. Especially considering that the slime appeared not too far away from the town that the person from the Holy Flower Sect had previously been in charge of.
Not just that, but the race that the slime belonged to was also the highly unusual and rare dragon devourer slime.
Considering that there were close to no dragon related monsters present in the Howling Caverns Dungeon outside a few on the Fourth Floor and below, it was impossible such a powerful dragon devourer slime had managed to grow to its current size on its own given that it was on the third floor of the dungeon.
Only a powerful force like the Holy Flower Sect would have the resources available to nurture such a powerful dragon devourer slime on the third floor of the Howling Caverns Dungeon!
"But... Even if I’m here and willing to help out in dealing with this slime, you should also know that killing a slime of this level is extremely difficult for anyone outside of those insane slime tamers who knows everything about slimes." Turning towards the guild leader as he said this, the crimson flame knight could not help shaking his head regretfully.
Even though slimes weren’t considered dangerous and could be dealt with easily in most circumstances, when they grew to a certain size, they became close to impossible to kill.
Only some specialized people who dedicated their lives to learning about slimes had the ability to kill massive slimes like that, as normal overwhelming power no longer seemed efficient in dealing with them after they became that large.
"I know, which is why I invited someone else to help us out in dealing with that slime..."
"Hm? You... You invited one of those insane people!?" Hearing what the guild leader said, the crimson flame knight could not help feeling a shiver run down his spine as he guessed what he was about to say.
"Yes... The person is waiting for us inside the guild master’s room and will also be the new person in charge of this dungeon town and guild branch in the future..." Nodding his head, the old guild master signaled for the crimson flame knight to follow him upstairs.
"..."
However, knowing that there was one of those insane people obsessed with slimes waiting upstairs, the crimson flame knight froze on the spot as a shiver ran down his spine. Unable to take a single step forward.
"Haaa..."
Only after taking a deep breath and calming himself down did he finally follow after the guild master. Preparing himself for the worst, as he knew just how troublesome some of these individuals obsessed with slimes were.