Watching the large number of monsters roaming around the grass plains through the thin mist, Scaly found herself tempted to just lay down in the middle of the cobblestone road and go through her fifth evolution then and there, but understanding that doing so would almost certainly end up with her becoming a meal for one of those monsters roaming around the grass plains, she decided against doing something like that.
Speaking of the monsters roaming around the thin mist, it was clear to her that the restriction that prevented one from moving backwards in the thick mist had disappeared. Allowing these monsters to roam around the grass plains without running into an invisible wall of mist every so often.
Narrowing her eyes slightly at this realization, Scaly’s gaze slowly traveled towards the sky above.
If there aren’t any restrictions in place limiting movement, I can-
Bang!
Thump~
Just barely getting her feet off the ground as she attempted to fly up above the thin mist, Scaly once again found herself colliding with an invisible wall that caused her to plummet down into the cobblestone road below. Not even giving her a chance to finish her thoughts as her plan of escaping from the mist by flying was once again ruined.
Although the restrictions on movement throughout the mist seemed to have disappeared, it was clear that the restriction for flying above the mist was still very much in place. Preventing her from escaping like she had originally intended.
Unfortunate as this was, it wasn’t entirely unexpected. Only now, realizing that there were quite a few flying monsters wandering around the tall grass with a rather helpless expression on their faces. Clearly also having attempted to fly out of the mist like she had done earlier.
At least, compared to these flying monsters, she was in a much better state, as it was clear that several of them were hurt to varies degrees that made normal movement impossible. Easy prey if they didn’t gather in large groups to ensure their own safety.
If not for the fact that she had already reached the max level of her current evolution, she would undoubtedly have felt tempted to target these groups of injured flying monsters. However, for now, her main goal was finding somewhere safe to go through her fifth evolution and the grass plains with only the tall grass to hide inside of were far from enough to ensure her safety over an extended period of time.
Rustle~
So, with that in mind, she continued making her way along the cobblestone road like she had done before. Only difference being that she now kept an eye on her surroundings in case any of the monsters roaming around the tall grass decided to target her. After all, compared to most of the monsters present on the grass plains that had gathered up in groups, she was alone, a seemingly easier target.
Rawr~!
Roar!
And unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long before a few of the monsters decided to test their luck against her-
Swish~ Ptsh!
[Gained 1232 Exp]
Roar.... Roar!
Unfortunately for them, her patience was limited, as she directly cut down one of the two monsters that decided to attack her, causing the second one to panic and run away without the slightest bit of hesitation after seeing his companion cut down so easily. Understanding that the lone monster was far stronger than they had expected given her relatively small size compared to the two of them.
Shiiing~ Thump~!
[Gained 1432 Exp]
Of course, even if he decided to turn around and escape the second his companion was sliced in half by the Scaly’s sharp claws, Scaly had no intention of allowing someone who attacked her to just run away, as she directly conjured up a water blade to cut down the escaping monster.
Hmph! Think you can just run away after attacking me!?
Frowning visibly as she looked at the corpses of the two monsters in the shape of large wolves with yellowish colored fur, Scaly decided against chomping down on these two monsters like she had originally intended to do after realizing she had been ambushed.
The reason for this was rather simple, the two corpses gave off a similar smell as to what she had picked up in the underground tunnels beneath the human city on the third floor of the dungeon. Meaning that from what she recalled, these two corpses should be poisonous.
Although she wanted to increase her poison resistance as stronger poison resistance would never hurt, she had a feeling that she would regret it if she consumed those two dead yellow-colored wolves. So, she decided against it and continued moving forward without a single hint of hesitation. Trusting her instincts.
As for the surrounding monsters who had sensed and seen the battle take place between Scaly and the two wolves.... Almost all of them decided to retreat and clear a path for her after witnessing how strong she was. Only a few stronger monsters remained unmoved and kept their attention on her, weighing whether it would be worth it to try and attack her or not. After all, killing a stronger opponent didn’t just mean more danger, but also meant a greater reward.
Luckily for Scaly, none of the larger groups of monsters had noticed the battle taking place as they were still rather far away from where she was. Ensuring she wouldn’t end up in a massive battle that would undoubtedly end up exhausting her strength if it dragged on for too long.
Because of this, she made sure to make herself as small and invisible as possible. Doing her best to rely on the tall grass to help hide her presence from those larger groups of monsters as she continued moving forward along the cobblestone road.
Soon enough, the mist covered grass plains that had shown no signs of changing finally changed, as a small hill began emerging in the distance at the end of the cobblestone road she was travelling along.
However, the hill itself wasn’t that important, as a simple hill wouldn’t exactly be a good place for her to hide on top of without anything like the trees from the hill she had first ended up crashing into upon landing on the ground of the fifth floor of the dungeon. Instead, it was the large structure that was located on top of the hill that caught her attention.
A large circular stone structure that stretched more than twenty meters into the sky.
Although in a state of disrepair and looking like it was about to topple over at any moment, Scaly’s eyes shone brightly at the sight of this unstable stone structure that should have once been a watchtower of some kind.
The reason for this being rather simple, it was a perfect place for her to hide away while going through her fifth evolution!
Unstable as it looked from a distance, Scaly didn’t allow this first impression to fool her. After all, it was clear that this stone watchtower had been standing for a long time without collapsing. The chances of it collapsing during her evolution... Was extremely low, unless... Something truly extraordinary ended up happening during her evolution that would disturb the stone watchtower and cause it to collapse
But something like that was unlikely, so, she just needed to ensure that the place was abandoned before finding somewhere hidden away inside the ancient stone watchtower before she could officially go through her fifth evolution.
Of course, part of her understood that doing this did come with some risks, as the stone watchtower was far from the safest place for her to go through her fifth evolution, but... She grew rather impatient and wanted to go through her fifth evolution and become stronger as soon as possible.
After all, the knowledge that she was not growing stronger when she killed off monsters was simply unbearable to her, and she wanted to return to knowing that she was making progress towards improving her strength whenever she killed a monster as soon as possible.
For this reason, stone watchtower ended up being designated as her future temporary home while she went through her fifth evolution. Not just because it seemed like it would be a suitable place for her to hide away amidst the relatively open grass plains, but also because the area around the stone watchtower itself had countless monsters ready for her to consume after she went through her fifth evolution.
Well... Expect the strange yellowish colored wolves that gave off a strange smell, she planned to avoid eating any of them after she went through her fifth evolution. Fearing that her taste buds might end up being ruined if she ended up accidentally consuming one of them.
In fact, her greatest hesitance regarding making the ancient stone watchtower her hiding place for her to undergo her fifth evolution was that she might accidentally end up consuming one of those strange smelling wolves after she woke up...