Continuing to glide through the air in search of the hillside that would serve as her refuge while going through her fifth evolution, Scaly found herself becoming increasingly worried about her situation, as the hillside that should have appeared already was nowhere in sight even after gliding through the air for over an hour straight.
The only difference compared to when she had been escaping from the branch eater swarm in the past being that she now slowed down a bit whenever she encountered a flock of flying monsters. Diving back into the forest below and hiding for a bit to avoid being targeted by them.
Fighting them was an option, but she saw no real reason to do so now that her level had already reached level 30 and doing so wouldn’t bring any real benefits and might even place herself in danger of attracting an even more powerful monster like the harmless snake. Not to mention, it would also take her far longer to resolve a battle with such a large flock of flying monsters compared to just descending into the forest and hiding for a few minutes until they passed by above her.
Even if doing this wasn’t exactly dragon-like, she didn’t really care much about this for now, as the only thing on her mind was to find the hillside as fast as possible so she could go through her fifth evolution. After that, she would have more than enough time to hunt down the flocks of flying monsters that seemed to own the skies of the fifth floor of the dungeon.
The shadow condor might be stronger, but from the fact that she had only really seen it once, it was clear that the skies of the fifth floor of the dungeon was not controlled by powerful monsters like the shadow condor, but instead weaker flying monsters like the blue moon hawks she had first run into during her skydiving experience upon first entering the fifth floor.
But... Even with these small delays during her journey, it became increasingly unlikely that she was going in the correct direction.
However, unwilling to admit that she had ended up going in the wrong direction, Scaly decided to push forward for a little while longer, that little while soon turning into half an hour before she finally began to start thinking about turning around and ensuring that she had really gone in the correct direction.
The most important thing being that she now felt like she needed to investigate the human city ruins, that had been covered by a mist when she had passed by it, more closely.
After all, the human city ruins were her only real guide for understanding her position and getting the correct direction. If something had ended up going wrong, it had to do with human city ruins that she was using to find her way back to the hillside.
The problem was... She had no idea what could have happened to the human city ruins that could have caused her to move in the wrong direction. After all, she was also using the cobblestone road leading to the human city ruins to ensure that she was moving in the correct direction.
Filled with a profound feeling of curiosity and embarrassment from having travelled so long without anything to show for it, Scaly made her way back the same way she had come from. During which, she decided to take out her anger at the annoying situation on a few of the local monster inhabitants in the forest below.
Useless as this was when it came to increase her strength, it did end up providing her with a few snacks on the way back. Helping soothe her and make her forget the embarrassment of essentially wasting four hours that could have been more than enough for her to prepare and start going through her fifth evolution already.
No matter, it was not like the opportunity to go through her fifth evolution ended up disappearing because she had ended up wasting a few hours of her time. The only thing she ended up missing out on was going through her evolution a bit earlier. Nothing that would harm her in the long run. Better late than never.
Whoosh~
With her mindset once again becoming positive with the assistance of several unique snacks along the way, Scaly soon enough found herself back at the edge of the forest. Landing at the start of the overgrown cobblestone road where it met the forest edge. Staring intently into the mist that now seemed more like an impenetrable fog when observed more closely.
The mist- or fog, had clearly become thicker since she had entered the forest. Now having spread all the way to the edge of the forest. Making it difficult for her to see more a dozen or so meters of the cobblestone road, as it was directly swallowed up by the thick fog. Disappearing completely from sight.
Strange as this sight was, it was far from enough to intimidate a fierce dragon like Scaly, as she only tilted her head in curiosity in the face of the thick fog that was advancing towards her at a visible speed. Threatening to swallow her up alongside the cobblestone road.
Wow... This fog is reeeaaally thick; I can’t even see the grass plains any longer! I wonder how the human city ruins look- No, how would I even be able to find my way around when everything is covered in such a thick fog!?
Her small head was only wondering about how to find her way around in such a thick fog, but luckily, even though the fog was thick, she quickly realized that she could still see a few meters around herself after she was swallowed up by it while lost in her own thoughts. Allowing her to easily follow the cobblestone road that would lead her to the human city ruins where she should be able to figure out what had gone wrong with her earlier short journey through the forest.
One thing she immediately thought about was that she had ended up somehow approaching the human city from a different direction in some way, thus resulting in her ending up moving in the wrong direction through the forest earlier.
Hm... But, with this thick fog, I won’t be able to find the city by flying. On the other hand, I might end up far more lost by doing that...
Narrowing her eyes slightly as she stopped herself from flapping her small wings and jumping up to fly in the direction of the human city ruins, Scaly decided it would be for the best to remain grounded for now so she wouldn’t end up losing her way again.
Even though she could use her wind magic to push back against the thick fog, it was extremely draining in terms of mana, and she could only really clear an additional five or so meters around herself with her current strength, as the fog itself seemed to possess some magical qualities that made it close to impossible to disperse.
Thump~ Thump~ Thump~
And so, with no other choice or more accurately. Not wanting to get lost again and wasting another few hours, Scaly began to move along the overgrown cobblestone road. Feeling certain that it would be impossible for her to miss the human city ruins if she stuck to the road and didn’t veer off the path that had been laid out before her...
What... What is thiiiiss! Where is the human city?!
At least that was what she believed, but after following the cobblestone road for a little over half an hour without encountering the human city ruins that she should have already run into long ago, Scaly realized that she was truly lost for good and the cobblestone road she was following might not even be leading towards the human city ruins she had expected it to lead her to. Instead, it led her somewhere unknown.
Fine... She would just have to backtrack again and make her way back along the path she had gone before tracing her way back where she was now certain she had moved in the wrong direction following the edge of the forest, but... When she tried to do that, she realized that the fog behind her had almost turned solid. Preventing her from moving back the way she had come from. Even attacking the fog proved useless as it formed a fluid wall of sorts that allowed her attacks to pass through seamlessly but blocked her when she tried to move through any gaps she ended up creating.
Okay... That was also fine, as she could still fly up above the fog, but... Like her attempt to backtrack, she found it impossible to ascend more than ten meters before running into a similar barrier that sent her back down into the cobblestone road below when she smashed headfirst into it.
No way to move backwards and no way to fly out of the fog... Now it was time for her to start panicking a bit at the strange situation she found herself in...