As she got back to the place where the tracks of the heavenly lake serpents were still fully visible, Scaly didn’t waste any time as she began following them towards what she guessed to be the direction that the mountain gnolls who had been chasing her had been escaping in before she had ended up trapped below ground and went through her fourth evolution.
Although she had no idea about the relationship between the mountain gnolls and the heavenly lake serpents. From what little she had witnessed; she was at least certain that they were enemies who wanted nothing more than to kill each other. Even having caused the heavenly lake serpents to completely ignore her, as their full attention focused on hunting down the mountain gnolls instead of her.
Thinking about this, Scaly also began wondering if the heavenly lake serpents had decided to directly attack the massive mountain gnoll tribe that she had seen from afar, as if they had done so, it might provide her an opportunity to reap the benefits from attacking while both parties were in a weakened state.
Of course, given that she had no idea how long it had been since she had decided to undergo her fourth evolution, she couldn’t fully say whether or not the battle between the heavenly lake serpents and mountain gnolls had already concluded at this point in time. Leaving the winner either stronger than before or in a weakened state.
The only thing she could do at this point in time was hope that the heavenly lake serpents and mountain gnolls hadn’t concluded their battle and were still in the process of preparing for a final showdown. Only in this way would she be able to reap the most benefits.
At the same time, it would also give her a chance to see just how strong the mountain gnolls and heavenly lake serpents were in battle. Giving her a chance to find out how to defeat them, while also figuring out just how strong the leader of the mountain gnolls was and whether or not their leader was a mountain gnoll lord like he expected or an even more powerful mountain gnoll king.
Even if the chances of it being anything beyond a lord was low considering how strong a gnoll chieftain was from what she had seen back on the third floor of the dungeon, Scaly still wanted to make sure just how strong these mountain gnolls were before deciding to engage in a fight that she couldn’t win. Especially considering that a mountain gnoll lord might still be too much for her to handle.
Of course, if there was a mountain gnoll lord present, she still planned to try and kill him, as she could still use the heavenly lake serpents to weaken this powerful mountain gnoll and secretly launch an ambush when least expected like she had done when facing powerful monster stronger than herself back at the second floor of the dungeon.
Although things were a bit different now that she had officially become a dragon, Scaly was more than prepared to do everything in her power to grow stronger. Even if it meant using sneak attacks.
As for the heavenly lake serpents...
Even though she hadn’t seen anyone that seemed that much stronger than the rest when she had been swept up by the wave coming down the mountain, she did manage to briefly catch a glimpse of one that seemed to be bigger than the rest, a potential leader of the heavenly lake serpents.
No matter, for now, she first had to find the heavenly lake serpents and figure out if they were still around and hadn’t already been defeated by the mountain gnolls.
If they had already been killed off by the mountain gnolls, it didn’t really matter how much she tried planning on using them during a potential ambush on the mountain gnolls.
Whoosh~!
With that in mind, Scaly slightly increased her speed as she swiftly moved across the barren mountainous terrain following the tracks left behind by the massive heavenly lake serpents.
As a result of this, after a little over half an hour of travelling through the relatively barren part of the mountain range, she soon found herself coming to a stop in front of what looked like a small mountain gnoll outpost inside a forested area at the edge of the barren mountains terrain.
Of course, the reason why she thought it looked like an outpost was because the entire place had long since been destroyed. Completely ripped apart by the heavenly lake serpents who should have passed through the area in the past.
The main reason she even identified it as a potential outpost of the mountain gnoll was because a few bones that looked like mountain gnolls that had long since perished and been eaten clean by the surrounding monsters, were laying scattered all over the place.
The buildings of the outpost itself seemed to be made up from sticks like the one she had seen in the past. Making it a bit difficult to notice after it had been crashed and destroyed by the heavenly lake serpents.
But... At least their tracks are far easier to follow now that I’m in a forested part of the mountain range.
Thinking this to herself as she turned to look at the path of devastation that had been created by the large number of heavenly lake serpents who had passed through the forest that the small outpost was located at the edge of, Scaly could not help feeling a bit relieved.
The tracks she had been following so far had grown fainter, as it seemed like the heavenly lake serpents had spread out more. Making it harder and harder for her to follow them, but now, that would no longer be a problem or something she had to worry about.
Instead, she could now easily follow after the heavenly lake serpents because the path of destruction left by them made it hard to miss.
The only thing that began to worry her was the fact that the heavenly lake serpents seemed to be heading directly towards the main tribe of the mountain gnolls. Meaning that there was a high likelihood that they had already engaged in a fight with the mountain gnolls during the time she had been undergoing her fourth evolution.
Although the battle between the two powerful groups of monsters wouldn’t last a short time, Scaly was certain that it wouldn’t last for more than a few days at most. Shorter than the time she should have spent going through her fourth evolution.
I still have to check to make sure. If they really did fight already, I might still be able to gain something from attacking the mountain gnolls while they don’t expect it. Although killing of their tribe won’t be possible at the moment, killing a few dozen to increase my strength and leaving again shouldn’t be a problem with my current strength...
Following the path of destruction through the forest as she thought about this to herself, Scaly travelled for a little over an hour before she made it out on the other side of the forest that placed her directly on a cliff overlooking one of the large farm fields under the mountain gnolls.
Looking down towards the farm field, Scaly was saddened to discover what she had hoped wasn’t the case, as the dead body of a heavenly lake serpent was lying on the farm field while being dismantled by a large group of mountain gnolls.
Even though she could see the tracks of the heavenly lake serpents leading far deeper into the core territory of the mountain gnolls, she understood at the sight of the dead heavenly lake serpent and the mountain gnolls harvesting its body parts, that the heavenly lake serpents had lost already.
Not just that, but from the fact that they were still in the process of cleaning up, it seemed like the battle itself had only ended recently. Meaning she might still have a chance to take advantage of the mountain gnolls before they had time to fully recover their strength again. Starting with the group of mountain gnolls dismantling the body of one of the heavenly lake serpents below her!
Rustle~
As she understood the current situation, Scaly slowly retreated back into the forest behind her before she slowly began making her way down into the farm field while avoiding detection by the mountain gnolls who were luckily too busy harvesting the dead body of the heavenly lake serpent to notice her.
Not just that, but Scaly also discovered that most of these mountain gnolls were far too weak to pose any threat to her, causing her to grow more confident as she began getting closer and closer to the group of mountain gnolls. Soon finding herself no more than a dozen meters away from them and the dead body of the heavenly lake serpent without being discovered.