Even as the water began rising faster below her, Scaly didn’t waste any time meaninglessly panicking about her situation and instead just focused on climbing after she stabilized herself on the shaking tunnel walls. Making sure that she didn’t end up falling into the water below where the baby kraken lurked. Understanding that it would be a death sentence for her if she did really end up falling into the water.
After all, the baby kraken was already a difficult opponent that seemed to specialize in dealing with small dragons like herself... And together with just how much higher its level was compared to her; she didn’t really see any way for her to win in a battle with it. Much less so in the tight underwater environment like the collapsing tunnel network of the now dead mole lord.
Not just would she have to worry about the baby kraken in that kind of environment, but she would also have to worry about drowning or being buried underground without any way out.
For this reason alone, she had long since given up even thinking about fighting with the baby kraken and was willing to take the risk of potentially rushing into the arms of a monster waiting at the glowing crystal above to ambush any monster foolish enough to wander too close to the glowing crystal.
At least, she guessed that the monster or monsters lying in wait above, should be easier to deal with than the baby kraken. Not to mention, in the worst-case scenario, she would still have the option of running away.
Even if her pride as a dragon didn’t normally allow this kind of cowardly behavior, it could be considered a special circumstance...
Splash!
Whoosh~!
Huh!?
Fully focused on climbing while thinking about what to do after she reached the top of the tunnel, Scaly was completely caught off guard as a massive tentacle suddenly shot up from the murky water below her.
Luckily, the target of this tentacle wasn’t her, but instead something further up, as she managed to avoid touching the massive tentacle by forcibly pushing herself into the rough tunnel walls, her small pair of wings just inches away from the massive tentacle that now took up most of the tunnel.
It not only forced her into a rather awkward position, but at the same time also prevented her from continuing to climb upwards. Only allowing her to helplessly watch as the murky water below rose closer and closer with each passing second.
Roooar!?
Rumble-!
However, this did not last for long, as the tentacle seemed to find its target above, causing a brief fight to break out before the massive tentacle began retreating into the murky waters below. Dragging the monster behind the roar from earlier down along with it, giving Scaly an opportunity to come face to face with the monster in question for a moment as it rapidly moved past her.
"..."
"..."
Resulting in time freezing for a second as the two made eye contact with each other before the monster in the shape of an oversized boar covered in a layer of rocks disappeared into the murky waters below.
Although, the brief interaction did give her an opportunity to inspect the monster that had likely been lying in wait above.
[Rock Boar, lvl 47]
[Description: The rock boar is a normal monster that can be found throughout the world but is most commonly found in mountainous regions. The rock boar itself is considered a C Rank Monster by the Adventures Guild but is a peaceful monster that does not normally attack unless provoked.
This is not the case when talking about rock boars found inside dungeons, as they are highly aggressive and will attack anything they encounter. The only special thing about the rock boar is its high defense that makes it difficult for most C Rank Adventures to deal with.]
Reading through the brief description of the monster that would undoubtedly end up dead at the tentacles of the baby kraken, Scaly felt that it was a bit of a pity, as she was fully confident in taking on this kind of monster on her own. Even if the other party had the advantage of being able to ambush her.
However, she didn’t have much time to feel disappointed that the baby kraken had stolen what she had by now started to consider her prey, as the murky water below was still rising. Forcing her to continue climbing up if she wanted to avoid becoming a second rock boar.
Of course, different from before, she was far more cautious in the way she climbed, as she started feeling a bit unnerved by what had just happened. Understanding that the baby kraken lurking below might sense her presence in a similar way that it had noticed the rock boar.
Because of this, her speed of climbing up slowed down to the point where she only barely managed to climb faster than the water below her rose.
However, at the end, after climbing up for a little over ten minutes, she did manage to climb out of the tunnel and get back up on the surface... Well... Not really the surface as she was still underground, but the surface of the underground world.
Swish~
Even then, she didn’t dare linger around the glowing crystal to rest, as the tunnel she had just climbed out of was right next to the massive glowing crystal that she found herself in front of after climbing out of the tunnel. Wasting no time as she scurried away-
Rumble~!
And just in time, as she looked back just in time to see a massive tentacle emerging from the tunnel she had just climbed out of before it swept through the area around the glowing crystal, seemingly searching for something.
Although she had no idea how the baby kraken had noticed her after she got out of the tunnel, it was clear that it had some way to sense her presence just after she got out of the tunnel.