Groowl~ Growl...
Groowl!
Listening to the mountain gnolls as they seemed to be talking to each other, Scaly came to a stop in a perfect position to ambush them. However, before doing that, she decided to first inspect them to make sure that she killed the strongest one among them first. Also hoping that she could use the opportunity to cause panic and fear.
Hoping that it would allow her to kill all of the strong ones among them before killing the weaker ones. Preventing any of them from escaping back to the main tribe and alerting the rest of the mountain gnolls about her presence.
[Mountain Gnoll, Farmer, lvl 13]
[Mountain Gnoll, Butcher, lvl 21]
[Mountain Gnoll, Farmer, lvl 15]
[Mountain Gnoll, Farmer...]
Looking through the more than a dozen mountain gnolls currently working away at the dead body of the heavenly lake serpent, Scaly was shocked to discover that most of them were actually far weaker than she had first expected...
[Mountain Gnoll, Grand Warrier, lvl 47]
[Mountain Gnoll, Great Hunter, lvl 51]
Only two of the mountain gnolls were worth her attention among them and the great hunter was precisely the one she was currently targeting and planning to ambush because he looked the strongest.
Now that it turned out that he was indeed the strongest among the gnolls and a hunter who would do worse in close combat compared to the warrior gnoll, Scaly was fully set as she prepared herself to ambush him. Planning on using her claws to kill him instead of her magic, as she feared that using her magic to conjure up an attack might attract the attention of the gnolls. Alerting them before she had time to attack.
As for how to deal with the warrior mountain gnoll... That wasn’t too hard, as she intended to try out her new magic on this mountain gnolls and see how effective it was. At least, given that the warrior didn’t specialize in ranged attacks, it should prove to be a good way to deal with him.
Like this, Scaly slowly began moving closer and closer to the great hunter mountain gnoll. Intending to get as close as possible before striking.
...
Growl?
At the same time that Scaly made her way into the farm field and began to slowly move closer to the gnolls busy dismantling the dead heavenly lake serpent, the great hunter mountain gnoll felt a shiver run down its spine, causing it to stop what it was doing before starting to scan its surroundings trying to figure out what had caused the strange feeling of fear that had suddenly enveloped it.
Even though it didn’t spot Scaly, as a skilled hunter, the mountain gnoll had an almost sixth sense when it came to sensing when it was being targeted by other monsters, something that had saved its life on several different occasions.
It was also for this reason that the mountain gnoll great hunter immediately stopped what it was doing to scan its surroundings cautiously-
Swish-!
However, at this point in time, it was already too late, as Scaly moved the second she realized that the mountain gnoll hunter seemed to have noticed her approach. Immediately closing the less than five meters between herself and the mountain gnoll hunter.
GROWL!?
In response, the mountain gnoll let out a surprised growling sound as it put up the bow that it had been holding to defend itself against her attack-
Crack~!
Ptsh-!
Unfortunately, the bow was far from strong enough to block Scaly’s claws, as it was easily shattered by the impact before her claws continued moving forward before ultimately slashing through the throat of the mountain gnoll great hunter before any of the surrounding mountain gnolls could react or come to the assistance of the mountain gnoll great hunter.
Thump!
Only when the body of the mountain gnoll great hunter landed on the ground, did the rest of the mountain gnolls around seem to realize what had happened-
Growl!?
Growl!
Groooowl...!
However, the reaction of these mountain gnolls wasn’t anything heroic, but instead they just started to run around like headless chickens without knowing what to do. Clearly displaying that they were not combat oriented and seemed to be similar to the weaker humans Scaly had encountered inside the city.
Grrrr! ROAR!
Only the warrior mountain gnoll seemed to have the courage and strength to fight, as he let out an almost bestial roar before charging towards the strange monster that had suddenly appeared and killed his companion-
Whoosh~!
However, before it could reach the strange monster behind the death of its companion, it was suddenly hit by a strong wind that seemed to come out of nowhere. Pushing it back and preventing it from continuing forward, as it was forced to stop and hold its ground to prevent itself from being blown away by the powerful wind.
Crackle~
As the wind slowly died down over the next few seconds, allowing the mountain gnoll warrior to once again start approaching the strange monster, it suddenly heard a strange crackling sound coming from up ahead, as it suddenly noticed strange sparks of electricity flying across the scales of the strange creature that had killed its companion.
Not just that, but it got a really bad feeling, as it watched those strange sparks gathering together in front of the strange monster-
BOOOM!
And before he had any time to react, a loud explosion echoed out across the farm field, as a bolt of lightning flew out and directly vaporized the mountain gnoll warrior, who had no way to dodge or resist the attack.
Scared silly by the loud explosion and seeing their two guardians perishing so easily, the remaining ten or so mountain gnolls froze on the spot, as the strange monster soon swept past all of them killing them without much difficulty before they had the chance to fight back or escape back to the main tribe to call for help.
Of course, with the loud explosion sound just now, it was inevitable that the rest of the tribe would come rushing over in a short period of time to investigate what had happened and where the loud explosion sound caused by the lighting had come from.
Because of this, Scaly, the strange monster, didn’t remain after killing off the mountain gnolls and instead quickly retreated back towards the forest not too far away to avoid being discovered by the mountain gnolls who would soon be arriving to investigate the situation.
The reason for this was not only because she still wanted to avoid being discovered so she could continue hunting down mountain gnolls, but also because her recent attempt to try out her new magic was far more draining than she had expected.
Using her wind magic to push back the mountain gnoll warrior did require a bit more mana than she had expected, but the lightning magic was the thing that had shocked her the most.
Not only was it far more powerful than she had expected, but the mana required for using it just now had almost completely drained all of her mana.
Of course, given the terrifying power and speed displayed by the lighting magic just now, Scaly realized that she had managed to acquire a real and terrifying trump card that was close to impossible to dodge given its terrifying speed that even Scaly herself couldn’t discern.
As for the power of the lightning magic...
Scaly couldn’t even begin to describe it, as it had essentially completely vaporized the body of the mountain gnoll it had been targeted at, while at the same time leaving a small crater in its place.
The only thing she could discern was that she doubted she herself would be able to survive such a terrifying attack. Making her feel grateful for the fact that she had chosen to become a young tempest dragon. Allowing her to learn such terrifying magic.
Of course, the lighting magic wasn’t without weakness, as it did require time to prepare, almost all of her mana and couldn’t be adjusted after she started preparing to use it.
The only reason she had managed to successfully hit the mountain gnoll warrior just now was because she had managed to keep him in one spot with her wind magic, while he had been too slow to dodge after her wind magic stopped.
But... Outside of testing my new magic, I did also manage to gain another level...
[Level: 3/30, 53%]
Glancing down at her level that had once again started increasing as she could once again hunt down monsters instead of searching for a place to go through her next evolution, Scaly could not help feeling a sense of happiness welling up inside her as she began looking forward to hunting down more of the mountain gnolls to further increase her strength.
The only thing she regretted was that she could not enjoy the dead heavenly lake serpent, as the place would soon be swarming with mountain gnolls due to the commotion her lighting magic had caused with its loud explosive sound.