Whoosh~
Feeling herself being dragged towards the massive whirlpool that had formed no more than a few hundred meters away from her current location, Scaly could not help feeling herself starting to panic at the realization that she might get dragged into the whirlpool that led to who knows where. Even worse, she saw no path out of her current situation, as even clinging to the cave walls that encased the underground river was impossible with how she was being thrown around by the violent waves that had formed because of the strong pull from the whirlpool up ahead.
Even if she ended up getting lucky and was thrown into the side of the underground river and managed to somehow cling onto the rocks above the water, it would only be temporary, as another wave would soon show up to sweep her along. Throwing her back into the waters, while at the same time dragging her closer to the whirlpool.
There was simply no path for her to escape through and all she could do was delay the situation and try to think of a way to survive when she inevitably ended up being dragged into the whirlpool up ahead. After all, the underground river didn’t continue past the whirlpool but instead ended at the whirlpool.
Meaning that even somehow making it to the other side of the whirlpool wouldn’t mean she had escaped danger, as there would be no other path for her to follow other than jumping into the whirlpool on her own. The only other path that could lead her to safety would be to somehow swim up the violent underground river, something that was impossible with her current strength.
Splash!
Feeling herself being dragged back beneath the water again as a smaller wave washed over her, Scaly increasingly felt herself panicking at the realization that there really was no way out for her other than getting dragged into the whirlpool-
[Lake Water Spider, lvl 64]
[Lake Water Spider, lvl 62]
[Lake Water Spider...]
But this wasn’t the worst thing, as she soon spotted a group of around a dozen lake water spiders after she was submerged below the water. All of them holding onto thin threads as they allowed themselves to get pulled closer to the whirlpool- or more specifically, her!
This! So many of them...!
Feeling shocked by the many powerful spiders below the surface of the water that were rapidly closing in on her, Scaly understood that she couldn’t continue trying to fight back against the current, as doing so would only allow the spiders approaching her to get close enough to reach her... And at that point, she really didn’t think she would be able to stand much of a chance in her current situation. Not just because of how bad the environment was for fighting, but also because the second she started fighting she would get dragged into the whirlpool by the current.
Might as well go with the flow and see where the whirlpool ends up leading me...
Silently thinking this to herself as she realized that there was no other way out of her current situation other than praying that the whirlpool would lead her somewhere that wouldn’t end up killing her, Scaly decided to let go and allow the current to sweep her into the whirlpool just before one of the lake water spiders had the chance to reach her with its long legs.
WHOOOSH~!
The next thing she knew, she found herself being dragged into some kind of small tunnel where she had no way to stop herself from being dragged along. All she could understand was that she was being dragged deeper underground at a terrifying speed that caused her to end up all battered and bruised, as she wasn’t the slightest bit protected against the sharp and hard rocks all around her...
RUUUUMBLE-!
And the next thing she knew, she found herself falling through the air in a dazed state. Barely able to grasp that her current situation wasn’t much different from the waterfall she had once fallen alongside when she had entered the underground world of the fourth floor of the dungeon for the first time.
The main difference being that she was far higher up compared to back then and that the surrounding environment was no longer underground, but somewhere high in the air where the large amounts of water that fell alongside her turned into clouds after she had already fallen for a few seconds. Leaving her alone to continue her descend towards the not so soft looking ground that appeared beneath her.
Flap~ Flap~
Knowing that there would be no way for her to survive if she ended up slamming headfirst into the ground below, she did her best to try and flap her wet pair of wings with all her might to slow down her descend.
However, she very soon realized that her wings weren’t of much help in their current wet and damaged state. Forcing her to try and look for some other way to slow down her rapid descend... And that was when she saw it...
[Blue Moon Hawk, lvl 37]
[Blue Moon Hawk, lvl 31]
[Young Blue Moon Hawk, lvl 17]
[Young Blue Moon Hawk...]
A large flock of blue colored birds flying peacefully through the air below her. All of them were strong looking with the weaker ones being around her size, while the stronger ones were more than twice her size.
If I can land on one of them... I could definitely slow down...
Along with this single thought, Scaly’s dazed state of mind didn’t even think about the consequences of provoking such a large flock of flying monsters, as she adjusted her direction and aimed directly for one of the largest and strongest looking among the Blue Moon Hawks-
BANG!
CAAAAAW-!?
Slamming directly into the unsuspecting bird with such force that its companions only managed to hear its surprised scream as it was dragged down by Scaly who desperately clung to it as the two of them were now plummeting towards the ground together.
Everything happening so fast that the blue moon hawk in question had no time to fight back against Scaly before it had to try and use all its strength to flap its wings to not crash into the ground below. Forced to ignore the little dragon desperately clinging to its neck as the two of them continued to rapidly descend.
Caw-!
Caaaw!
CAAAW!
Unsurprisingly, as their companion disappeared and the rest of the blue moon hawks turned their gazes downwards, they quickly realized what had happened, as they all began diving down to save their companion from the little dragon that had latched itself onto them.
But... Even as they were rushing down to help and with the blue moon hawk being dragged down trying to slow down its falling speed, there was no way for them to catch up, as the two continued falling at an increasingly terrifying speed.
Nooo! I don’t want to die from falling! Not after I just learnt how to fly...
Feeling a hint of despair at the thought of becoming the first ever dragon to die from falling, Scaly began to look around for another way to slow down her falling speed, as the blue moon hawk she was clinging to had turned out to be useless...
[Young Blue Moon Hawk, lvl 13]
And the first thing she saw was a smaller blue moon hawk that had been ascending from below. Potentially having flown lower for some unknown reason and finding itself separated from the rest of the flock.
"..."
"Caw..."
Making eye contact with the young blue moon hawk as it looked up to see her and its much larger companion falling towards it, Scaly could see a very real look of bewilderment on its face.
Whoosh-!
CAAAAAAW-!
But she didn’t care about any of this, as she reached out one of her claws and grabbed hold of the innocent little blue moon hawk to hopefully further slowdown her descend with another pair of wings... And indeed, the new pair of young and eager wings worked as intended, as the young blue moon hawk began flapping its wings in a far more panicked manner compared to the larger one. Finally allowing her speed of descending to slow down visibly.
But... It still isn’t enough... Unless...
Narrowing both her eyes as she was now only a few dozen meters from the ground, Scaly tightened her grip on the two blue moon hawks before dragging the two of them below her-
BANG!
SPLAT~
[Gained 1452 Exp]
[Gained 687 Exp]
Just in time for them to act as soft cushions to absorb the worst of the impact as she slammed into the ground and found herself rolling down the side of the small hill she had ended up crashing into in the end. Allowing her to survive the fall that she had thought might have been her end upon realizing that her wings were too wet and damaged to use.