Watching as the massive tentacle disappeared together with the mole lord, Scaly found herself doing her best to try and keep her head above the water as she was pushed deeper into the underground tunnels dug out by the mole lord in the past. The constant flow of water preventing her from swimming against the current.
At the very least, she now had the ability to at least hold her breath underwater for an extended period, while also having the ability to swim.
Even if she ended up trapped somewhere underwater, she wasn’t entirely helpless.
Although... Her main worry wasn’t about her being trapped underwater, but more so that the baby kraken from earlier would show up again. After all, even if she clearly felt that her own strength had increased since waking up, she also clearly understood that the strength of the baby kraken was still far beyond anything she could handle for now.
Whoosh~
With that in mind, Scaly found herself being moved down countless tunnels by the water that rapidly filled up the underground tunnel network of the mole lord.
Huh? What is that...?
However, the time of her being pushed around by the water unable to do anything didn’t last forever, as she soon found a light coming from the a tunnel appearing in the distance where the tunnel she was being carried down split in two.
Of course, the light was nowhere near as bright as somewhere outside the underground world, but it was still far brighter than the dark tunnels she had found herself being carried through during the past few minutes.
In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the difference between the two was like the difference between night and day.
Splash~ Splash~ Splash~
With that in mind, Scaly didn’t waste any time, as she decided to take the opportunity to try and paddle in the direction of the light. Hoping that it would lead her out of the underground tunnel network of the mole lord, as she really didn’t want to continue being dragged around until she found herself somewhere far underground and underwater at the same time having to search through the dark for a way out with limited time.
Even though she couldn’t fight against the powerful current of the water, she did at least have enough strength to redirect her path towards the tunnel with the light. Allowing her to avoid the second tunnel that seemed to almost do a straight drop from the rushing sound of the water she had managed to hear before it was cut off.
However, none of this mattered to her any longer, as Scaly soon felt the violent waters that had been carrying her and preventing her from moving much, starting to slow down. Allowing her to move more easily in the water...
SPLASH-!
And with a final loud splashing sound, she managed to drag herself up and out of the water and into a branching tunnel leading up in an almost straight line where at the top, an almost divine light seemed to shine down.
Even without knowing what was up there, she understood that it was most likely a large crystal like the ones she had seen earlier emitting light behind the divine light at the other end of the tunnel.
The main problem she now faced was the fact that the tunnel leading upwards was almost a straight upwards path. Making it close to impossible for her to leave without climbing.
Although she was confident in her climbing abilities due to how much she had climbed in the past, she also understood that there was at least a hundred, possibly two hundred meters to the end of the almost straight upwards tunnel.
Climbing such a long distance would not only be exhausting, but it would also leave her weakened in the face of any monsters on the other side.
After all, she didn’t think there wouldn’t be any monsters living around such a large shiny crystal. Not just because she herself really wanted to live with such a bright crystal close to her, but also because it would be a perfect place for ambushing others. The tunnel connected to the location of the crystal was more than enough proof that the mole lord should have used the crystal above to ambush other monsters.
But... If I can’t exhaust myself by climbing up, can’t I just wait for the water to rise and carry me- Hm? W-what is that?
Just as she felt like she had found a perfect solution to her problem and was about to lay down and wait for the water level to rise and carry her upwards, she noticed something moving in the water right beside her-
A... A tentacle...? This...
[Baby Kraken, lvl 79]
Inspecting the tentacle that seemed to be searching through the water, Scaly could not help feeling a shiver run down her spine.
She had believed that she had managed to escape from the baby kraken without being noticed earlier, but from the looks of it, it hadn’t forgotten about her and was currently searching through the now underwater tunnels of the mole lord for her.
No matter how much she wanted to safe her strength before, she no longer had that option, as the baby kraken would undoubtedly discover the slight vibrations the moment she touched the water.
Climbing it is!
With that in mind, Scaly didn’t hesitate any longer and directly began climbing up the side of the tunnel leading upwards. Trying her best to remain as quiet as possible to avoid attracting any unwanted attention from both the baby kraken below and the monsters that might be above.
Of course, even if she wanted to remain undetected, it didn’t mean that everything would go her way, as the instability caused by the large amounts of water pouring into the underground tunnel network caused it to become unstable-
Rumble~
Collapsing tunnels below, that in turn almost caused her to lose her footing as the water below began to rise even faster with less space to fill below.