Continuing to move through the fog like she had done in the past, Scaly found the feeling of unease growing with each passing second, as even after five minutes of wandering through the thick fog, she saw no sign of monsters like she had in the past. At the same time, the fog itself was also far thicker and more difficult to see through. If not for her vision improving following her fifth evolution, it might have been difficult to see more than a few meters ahead.
Luckily, she could at least make out the area twenty or so meters around herself. More than enough space for her to react in case of a sudden ambush by some predator hiding within the fog.
However, even as her body became increasingly tense in anticipation of an ambush, no such ambush ever materialized. Instead, she soon enough found herself leaving the thick fog and stepping back into the thin misty environment. The main difference from the grass covered plain being that she now found herself at the entrance to a large forest that she had a feeling was none other than the forest she had flown over in the past before entering the mist in the first place.
In other words, the mist or fog that had lingered a clear distance away from the forest had managed to reach the forest during the time she had been undergoing her fifth evolution.
But although the mist reaching the forest could be seen as a bad thing for the monster living in the forest who now found themselves trapped inside the mist, it was a good thing in Scaly’s eyes, as it made her certain that she was going in the correct direction. Continuing forward deeper into the forest would ensure that she moved closer to the edge of the mist and closer to leaving the mist.
So, without much hesitation and ignoring the few monsters she did notice lingering around the edge of the forest, Scaly flapped her wings before jumping into the air to test how high she could go before being knocked back down by the mist-
Bang!
Finding out rather quickly that she could at most go three meters above the tree line, as the mist began pushing her back down after she attempted to ascend any higher.
Disappointing as this was, it at least allowed her to fly just above the forest canopy. Allowing her to travel far faster than if she had been forced to slowly make her way through the forest where even continuing in a straight line would have been difficult amidst the dense foliage of the forest and attacks from monsters along the way.
Even if other monsters could still ambush her while she flew above the forest canopy, her speed and the misty environment made it difficult for other monsters to even notice her flying by in the first place. Especially so because her scale allowed her to blend in with the thick mist covering the sky above. Making even stronger monsters who might have noticed her take an extra look to make sure they weren’t seeing things. At which point, she would have already disappeared with her current speed.
The only real worry she had while travelling through the forest was another encounter with the so-called harmless snake that she had encountered in the past while making her way through the forest.
Strong as she had become after her fifth evolution, the sheer size of that snake made her hesitate when it came to fighting it, as doing any real damage to such a massive creature would be difficult. Not that she was against fighting it, just that she didn’t want to face off against such a massive creature inside the mist. After all, she constantly kept an eye out for a potentially powerful monster that could be the reason for the mist and fog that trapped her and countless other monsters.
For all she knew, the theorized monster might already be aware of her and was observing her from a safe distance. Waiting for a perfect opportunity to strike.
Starting a battle with a large monster like the wrongly named harmless snake would undoubtedly present one such perfect opportunity, as such a strong monster would require her full attention to deal with. Leaving her vulnerable in the face of a sudden ambush from another monster. Especially if said monster was one that she believed could be as strong if not slightly stronger than herself...
Rumble~
Just as these thoughts crossed her mind while flying at high speed just above the forest, a loud rumbling sound suddenly echoed out up ahead and with quick glance, a massive snake yet familiar looking snake could be seen thrashing around with another similar sized snake.
This... There are TWO of them!?
Not knowing how to react upon seeing the two massive snakes thrashing around. Destroying everything around them in the process as they engaged in what looked like a deadly duel to the death, Scaly came to a sudden stop as she inspected the two titans clashing in the distance.
[Harmless Snake, lvl 87]
[Harmless Snake, lvl 82]
Unsurprisingly, one of the two was the one she had encountered in the past, while the other was a brand new one, while the new one wasn’t as strong, it was clear that it wasn’t too far off in terms of strength. The sheer destruction of the clash between the two titans made this more than clear to her, as she already witnessed dozens of innocent monsters being crushed beneath the massive bodies of the snakes as they fought for dominance.
The battle was spectacular to watch and at same time also filled Scaly with battle intent as she herself wanted to join in a claim victory in the battle, but she barely held herself back. Understanding that doing something like that would almost certainly cause these two monsters to band together to fight her.
And though she was confident in facing one of these titans on her own, she felt facing two titanic snakes at the same time would be a little too much for her to handle for now.
Instead, she decided to slowly make her way around the large battlefield that had been created by these to titans while potentially also looking for a chance to ambush one of the two if they ended up being gravely injured. After all, if there was an opportunity to rapidly increase her own strength without too much danger, she was more than happy to take it. Even more so now that she had finished her fifth evolution and felt like her current speed should be enough to outrun the other harmless snake...
[Harmless Snake Queen, lvl 3]
However, this thought died soon after, as she spotted a third harmless snake observing the battle from the other side of the battle.
Although far lower in level compared to the other two harmless snakes and only half the size, the feeling this harmless snake gave off was far more dangerous than the other two. Making it clear that this harmless snake should be stronger than the two locked in battle with each other... And the name alone implied that it was an evolution above the normal harmless snake.
If she really did end up attempting to interfere in this battle playing out, she had a feeling that this smaller, yet stronger harmless snake would join in and attack her. At which point, it would be difficult for her to guarantee a safe escape.
For this reason, as managed to safely make her way around the rather sizeable battlefield, Scaly decided to ignore the harmless snakes and continue moving forward without looking back, something that unknowingly ended up saving her life, as the smaller harmless snake queen quietly seemed to glance in her direction after she passed by before focusing her attention back onto the battle between the two massive harmless snakes. Clearly having noticed her but decided against attacking her after seeing her peacefully continue on her way without interfering.
If she had decided to stay behind and wait for a potential opportunity to strike when one of the two harmless snakes were injured, it was uncertain to say whether this harmless snake queen would have attacked her beforehand.
Of course, Scaly was none the wiser, as she believed that she had kept a safe enough distance to avoid detection by any of the three harmless snakes. Continuing to move forward through the mist while keeping an eye out for any other harmless snakes.
After all, now that she had already encountered three harmless snakes, she felt like this kind of massive snake might not be as rare as she had originally thought. Thinking that she might end up encountering another small group of them along the way. Unaware that the reason why these powerful monsters had been drawn out had to do with a certain monster stampede slowly forming on the third floor of the dungeon.