Hm... Is the ceiling getting closer?
After spending a little over ten minutes jumping from one floating crate to the next, Scaly suddenly realized that the ceiling that had been far above her so far had become close enough for her to touch if she put all her strength into jumping. In fact, it was already so close that she had to start worrying about accidentally hitting it when jumping from crate to crate.
The problem was, she didn’t really have any other way to go, as going back the way she came would undoubtedly result in her coming face to face with the branch eater swarm that she could still hear moving about above.
If the branch eater swarm gave up and returned to the forest, she could go back the way she had come, but... She doubted that would happen anytime soon. So, she continued moving along the path created by the floating wooden crate with one difference compared to before, she now looked up to make sure she didn’t end up hitting the ceiling before jumping.
Like this, she continued moving forward for another five minutes before she reached a point where jumping became impossible.
However, this did not mean she ended up being stuck, as the wooden crates had become far more abundant compared to before. Allowing her to simply walk from crate to crate without needing to jump.
Convenient as this was, it also made her curious about where all these wooden crates had come from. After all, she still remembered the underground tunnels of the human town she had escaped from in the past.
Although the place was far from hospitable, there were no wooden crates flowing through the water.
Maybe the wooden crates are some kind of special human ritual before abandoning a city?
Curiously observing the wooden crates as this thought emerged, Scaly couldn’t hold herself back from inspecting one of the wooden crates...
[Wooden Storage Crate #297]
[Description: A crate made from spruce wood. Strengthened for durability with magic sigils that have decayed to a barely functional state. Durable and weather resistant.]
But reading through the description, she didn’t find anything outstanding about the floating wooden crates outside of the mention of magic sigils. Not that she felt that interested in magic that increased the durability of wooden crates in the first place.
[Wooden Storage Crate #312]
[Wooden Storage Crate #275]
[Wooden Storage Crate #283]
[Wooden Storage Crate...]
Inspecting several other wooden crates to ensure that she wasn’t just unlucky and found the one normal wooden crate out of countless extraordinary wooden crates, she was left disappointed. Finding nothing special hidden amidst the sea of wooden crates. The only difference she found was the number behind the wooden crates.
Worse yet, as she continued moving forward, she found her back brushing against the ceiling of the underground tunnel. Forcing her to lower her body to fit through and continue moving forward.
If things continued like this, she would soon be forced to squeeze her way through, something that was not only dangerous because she could get stuck, but more so because she would push the wooden crates she was on top of down further into the purple water.
Even if she didn’t end up in the purple water herself, she would at the very least have a hard time moving from one wooden crate to the next. Making moving deeper into the tunnel difficult- if not impossible.
But on the positive side, she would at least have a great hiding spot from the branch eater worms. Doubting that they would be able to follow her this far inside with the purple water blocking their path. After all, they weren’t like her and didn’t really have the ability to jump like she could- or that was what she believed.
Maybe the worms had some way to jump that she hadn’t yet had the opportunity to personally witness?
Smiling a bit to herself at the silly image of a small worm around a meter long making a high jump into the air before landing on a floating wooden crate more than three meters away.
The only realistic way she could see the branch eater worms attempting to chase after her was by either having some of the large branch eater worms use their long bodies to cross the difference or by linking together into a long chain to form a bridge for other worms to use.
Nevertheless, reaching her in either way proved troublesome, the first was because there was a clear lack of worms long enough to cross such a wide distance without touching the purple water below, while the second had to do with the fate of the worms that formed bridges for the rest to travel, as there was simply no way for themselves back up again after becoming a bridge for the rest to use.
They would no longer be branch eater worms, but bridge worms, a brand-new kind of worm she felt should be an evolution available to any worm who decided to fully commit to becoming a bridge.
Wait... Following that train of thought... If she decided to fully dedicate herself to linking up with other small dragons like herself, would she become a bridge dragon? A dragon bridge?
Let’s not think about this...
Deciding to stop herself before an image of what a bridge dragon looked like had managed to form inside her small, Scaly refocused her attention back on the wooden crates that stretched out in front of her with no end in sight-
Hm?
No, in fact, the sea of wooden crates didn’t continue endlessly like it had done in the past. Instead, she could now see that the wooden crates came to an end, but maybe more importantly than that, she could see dry land or more accurately, dry brick steps!
The problem? Nothing~ There were no problems, as the ceiling remained at a height she could crawl through all the way up to the dry bricks in the distance.
In fact, the ceiling shot up straight a dozen or so meters away from the dry brick steps that should once have led down to a passage that that had long since been submerged beneath the purple water.
Rustle~
Feeling overjoyed at the ability to get out of the rather cramped space she found herself, Scaly didn’t waste any time after seeing the dry brick steps. Rushing forward with all the energy left in her injured body. Knowing that this might be her opportunity to find a truly safe place to rest from the branch eater worm swarm above.
After all, even though she had managed to endure the pain from her wings and the exhaustion from the extended escape, everything was catching up with her and she wouldn’t be able to continue at her current pace forever. At some point, she had to find somewhere to sleep and recover.
Also important was the fact that it had been a long time since she had last eaten anything. Making her more exhausted and tired than she would have normally been in this kind of situation.
All of this, contributed to her not thinking entirely straight, as she would have normally realized that for the ceiling to rise so abruptly, would mean that the space she was about to move into was already partially on the surface with part of the building visible or entirely on the surface.as a building connected to the city’s sewer system...
[Branch Eater, lvl 17]
For this reason, she was rather surprised when she found herself face to face with a branch eater worm the second she climbed up the dry brick steps leading up to a larger stone platform.
In fact, she wasn’t the only one taken by surprise, as the branch eater worm similarly froze on the spot and stared directly into her eyes...
"..."
"..."
Water blade!
Knowing that she couldn’t allow this branch eater worm to escape and inform the rest about her location, Scaly was the first to move, as she directly used one of her stronger spells, the water blade.
Ptsh!
[Gained 368 Exp]
Unable to react in time, the branch eater worm offered little to no resistance in the face of the water blade, as it was directly cut in half. Dying on the spot.
However, this was far from enough to make Scaly feel any better about her current situation.
The reason?
[Branch Eater, lvl 19]
[Branch Eater, lvl 21]
[Branch Eater, lvl 23]
[Branch Eater, lvl 14]
[Branch Eater, lvl 16]
[Branch Eater, lvl 37]
[Branch Eater...]
Looking through a half open metal door at the end of the passage, she spotted a large part of the swarm she had been doing her best to escape from gathered inside a much larger room than the tunnel she found herself inside of-
Splash~
Worse yet, the now dead branch eater worm still ended up causing her problems, as its already dead body slipped into the purple water around the stone platform that the brick steps had led up to...