Knowing that it would be impossible for her to go back now, Scaly continued moving through the dark tunnels stretching beneath the human city ruins. Only slowing down whenever she encountered a stream of light slipping through the holes and cracks from above. Avoiding the light in case there happened to be a branch eater watching from above.
After all, even though she had been moving through the underground tunnels without encountering any branch eaters so far and should be ahead of the branch eater swarm that had entered the human city later than her, she also understood that there was a very real chance some of the stronger branch eaters might break off from the rest of the swarm to search the city ahead of the rest of the swarm... And although she had managed to make following her from behind close to impossible by splashing the purple poisonous water all over the dry path after passing through, she couldn’t do anything about the path above.
The only reassurance she had when it came to the situation above head, was that the branch eaters shouldn’t be focused on the situation underground and should instead be focused on first searching through the different buildings that were far easier for her to hide inside.
In a sense, her leaving behind a blood track to the building next to the gate was not just to try and bait the blue moon hawks into following her, but also to make the branch eaters think she was hidden inside one of the buildings in the city. Buying herself more time to escape through the underground tunnels below the city.
The problem was... The miasma she had originally wanted to rely on to escape from the swarm of branch eater worms was nowhere in sight. All she had was the strange poisonous purple water that would at most be able to hold off the branch eater worms for some time. Blocking them completely like she had originally wanted to do with the help of the miasma was impossible.
With that change in mind, her focus shifted from hiding inside the underground tunnels until the branch eater swarm left to moving deeper into the tunnels in hope of finding a path that could potentially lead out of the human city through some kind of hidden exit point.
However, as she continued moving forward, she soon noticed that the volume of stagnant purple water that had been next to her all this time slowly rose.
From being close to half a meter away from reaching the edge of the elevated path she was on top of, it soon enough reached only a few centimeters short of reaching the edge of the elevated path. Making her start to seriously worry about the path being flooded further inside-
This... How am I supposed to continue moving forward like this!?
A fear that was soon proven to be correct, as she found the formerly dry path flooded by the purple water. Purple water she knew was far too poisonous for her to even touch, let alone walk through.
But...
Rustle~
The clear sound that echoed through the tunnel behind her made it clear that she didn’t have much of a choice, as the branch eater swarm had already begun to explore the underground tunnels and would likely not need long to reach her location.
Of course, she could try and leave the underground tunnels in search of a hiding spot above ground, but she had a feeling she would be spotted the second she stuck her head out of the underground tunnels.
Feeling herself caught between a rock and a hard place with the branch eater swarm closing in, Scaly frowned visibly as her eyes travelled between a nearby hatch leading back up into the human city ruins above and the purple water directly next to her.
Hm? That is... A box?
It was in this state of not being able to decide which path to take, that she spotted a large wooden crate floating in the purple water not too far from where she was standing... And without thinking, her thoughts focused entirely on the wooden crate as she began calculating the distance between herself and the wooden crate.
In the end, she realized that it wouldn’t be that difficult for her to jump to the wooden crate. The main problem was that she had no idea if the wooden crate would continue to float with her weight added on top of it.
Rumble~
Lost in her own thoughts, still not having made a choice on what path to choose the slight rumbling sound from above made the choice for her. The sound of the branch eater worms so clear that going up into the ruins above would be nothing short of a death sentence at this point.
The wooden crate it is...
Whoosh~! Thump!
Putting all her faith into the wooden crate floating in the purple water that had formed an impenetrable barrier, Scaly used all the strength she could gather into her legs to leap into the air. Floating for a few seconds before landing on top of the wooden crate that began swaying gently from side to side after her landing.
But maybe more importantly than that, the wooden crate remained relatively stable in the purple water after she landed on top of it. Not sinking like she had originally feared. Creating a small safe island for her in the middle of the purple water.
Well... Safe might be an overstatement, as she had a feeling that the branch eater worms would still be able to find some way to reach her if they managed to find her.
Or in other words, she was still not safe and had to find some way to get further away from the dry part of the underground tunnel. Preferably around a corner that would make it impossible for the branch eater worms to spot her without first swimming through the poisonous purple water, something she wholeheartedly believed would be impossible for them to do.
Swish~ Splash~
Swaying back and forth gently as she began thinking about how to move the wooden crate forward in the purple water without having to touch the purple water herself, Scaly soon enough found herself looking around for anything that might be useful in helping move the wooden crate forward like a makeshift raft-
That... Another wooden crate!?
However, instead of finding something that could help her move the wooden crate she now found herself on top of through the purple water, she instead spotted another wooden crate floating not too far away from her wooden crate. Only about two or so meters away.
Looking even further into the dark tunnel, she discovered that there were other wooden crates similarly floating in the purple water with anywhere between half a meter to three meters between them.
"..."
Awfully convenient...
Unable to stop this thought from emerging in the back of her mind, Scaly understood that she didn’t have the luxury to think too deeply about the odd path of floating wooden crates through the purple water.
Waiting would only allow the branch eater worms to catch up with her... And if they saw her standing on top of a wooden crate, they might be able to copy what she was doing and follow her.
Destroying the wooden crates behind her would be an option, but doing so would be loud and would undoubtedly alert the branch eater to swarm to her location. Ruining her plan of remaining hidden.
Though it would be difficult, she didn’t doubt that these demandable worms would find some way to chase after her even if she destroyed all the wooden crates, a belief that made her fully committed to remain hidden from the branch eater swarm.
Not to mention, even though the branch eater worms might also be able to use the wooden crates to chase after her, she felt extremely uncertain about their jumping abilities being able to reach all the wooden crates on the floating path through the purple water. Especially the wooden crates with over three meters between them.
Thump~
Feeling confident that she would be able to leave behind the branch eater worms with this, Scaly felt herself becoming more relaxed while jumping between wooden crates. The purple water that could kill her if she ended up falling into it no longer being that scary. Instead, it became a barrier that helped her block the branch eater worms from moving down this section of the underground tunnels beneath the human city ruins.
As for where this path led her? She had no idea, and she honestly couldn’t care less, if it helped her avoid the branch eater worms, she was happy.
Though... Unknown to her, the cracked ceiling above began growing closer at an unnoticeable pace as she continued jumping from wooden crate to wooden crate. Dutifully following the floating path of wooden crates without slowing down or taking the time to look back.