Continuing her way after the brief encounter with the trio of harmless snakes, Scaly found herself gliding through the air effortlessly, her already high flight skill together with previous flying practice with the assistance of wind magic allowing her to easily grasp how to fly despite her increased size following her fifth evolution. The forest flying by beneath her turning into nothing more than a blur, as her speed began to slowly increase as she grew more familiar with flying. Any monster that might have been able to catch sight of her finding itself too slow to react... And that was without mentioning the simple fact that few monsters inside the forest had the courage to attack her in the first place.
Not because her reputation had managed to spread all the way to the monsters lurking in the forest, but more so because her current size and presence alone was more than enough for the ordinary weaker monsters to understand that she was not someone to be messed with.
Proud as this made her, Scaly also felt it was a bit unfortunate to have this kind of presence as it would make it far harder to hunt down weaker monsters who would have normally attacked her without knowing any better in the past. Partly making her thankful that she hadn’t ended up with an even larger evolution than her current one, as a larger size wasn’t always good. Especially when it comes to moving around, something she had already personally experienced inside the restricting mist and fog.
One example being her current state of flying above the forest.
If she was even a little bit larger, it would have been impossible for her to soar above the forest and travel so effortlessly as she would have ended up colliding with the wall of mist above that would then push her back down and in turn prevent flight.
Another one being the problem of finding a place to sleep and rest, a problem that would be far more difficult to solve given her current size making her past homes impossible to fit inside.
So many problems to deal with after I get out of here. From finding out where to sleep and how to avoid scaring off potential prey... But... For now, the focus remains getting out of this troublesome mist...
Silently thinking this to herself as she observed the mist around herself, Scaly had already noticed that the mist had begun to thin out and show signs of dispersing, a clear sign that she was getting to the edge of this annoying mist. Unless another wall of fog decided to jump scare her again.
Maybe having sensed her sincere thoughts, no fog appeared to block her path and Scaly found herself smoothly leaving the mist behind and the fog deeper inside, something that caught her completely off guard, as she could have been certain that some kind of powerful monster would have ambushed her before she had the opportunity to leave the mist.
But maybe because of the three harmless snakes- no two harmless snakes and one harmless snake queen that she had seen earlier, the opponent had been scared off, something understandable given even she didn’t dare to face off against those three snakes at the same time.
Huh...?
However, as she officially left the mist’s sphere of influence and found herself free to soar into the sky, Scaly suddenly found herself freezing on the spot after having ascended a few hundred meters into the air free of the mist’s earlier restrictions to get a better idea of where the mist and fog had spread.
The surprise stemming from the fact that the mist had seemingly spread out like an all-consuming tide of mist that swallowed everything in its path. Stretching on endless with only the section of the dungeon behind her remaining intact like she remembered it. The only real difference being the clear sign that any monsters had noticed the mist had fled in terror in the opposite direction... And finally getting the opportunity to inspect this seemingly endless mist, Scaly understood why those monsters had chosen to flee and at the same time also understood where the impending feeling of dread that she had felt inside the mist and fog had come from.
[Dungeon Floor Cleaning Protocol (All-Consuming Fog)]
[Description: The cheapest and most cost-effective dungeon cleaning protocol that gets rid of any unwanted monsters below ■■■■. The one drawback being the long time required to take effect. It takes between two weeks to two months to cover a dungeon floor depending on size before the cleaning process begins. Ensure the target monsters are native to the floor and does not move between floors to avoid cleansing a floor for no reason. Directed cleansing protocol recommended for dealing with unwanted monsters moving between floors.]
[Note: Cleaning protocols only affect dungeon monsters. May cause monsters on the floor to create a stampede.]
[Cost: 1000 DP]
Although she understood next to nothing about this dungeon floor cleaning protocol thing, she understood very well that it would be best for her to leave the fifth floor of the dungeon as fast as possible before she ended up being consumed by this so-called all-consuming fog.
Confident as she was in her own strength following her fifth evolution, she understood full well just how helpless she was in the face of the normal operations of a dungeon, the immortal snails she had encountered being the best example of just how impossible it was for her to deal with anything that a dungeon came up with... And considering that she wasn’t facing off against an opponent but instead just some function from the dungeon, she didn’t feel the slightest bit of conflict when it came to running away. After all, what could she do to the endless fog that would soon engulf the entire fifth floor? Eat it?
Wait... That does sound delicious... I wonder what fog tastes- No! I can’t distract myself in this kind of situation, I must find a way back up to the fourth floor or down to the sixth floor. Although... The mist should have covered those city ruins with the passage leading downwards by now. So, the best hope is to follow the tracks left behind by the monsters who escaped earlier and hope they know what they are doing...
Silently shaking her head as she focused up on the situation at hand and threw any thoughts of trying to eat the fog that had just passed through her head to the back of her mind... For now... Scaly began following the large number of monster trails that had been left throughout the forest below.
Considering the sheer panic of those monsters upon having noticed the approaching mist, it became clear that it wouldn’t be difficult to follow the same path they had.
Not just that, but as she continued flying above the forest moving in the opposite direction of the mist, it became clear that the monsters that had originally been panicked and scattered all over the place seemed to have gathered together into several large groups at some point in time and had seemingly naturally blended together to form a single massive horde of monsters that had swept through the forest and trampled anything in sight. Including a few unlucky monsters that had either fallen behind or tripped during the escape and ended up being trampled to death by other monsters.
And this was not just a few weak monsters being trampled to death, she even noticed a rather powerful magic earth cow that should be considered among the stronger and tougher monsters on the fifth floor of the dungeon having been trampled into an unrecognizable state.
If not for her accidentally inspecting the dead magic earth cow, she would have merely mistaken the monster that had reached level 51 when alive for a random pool of bloody mud on the ground. Showing just how terrifying and at the same time massive this horde of monsters should have been at this point of the journey... And as she continued forward without spotting any staircase soaring into the sky like she had witnessed in the past, Scaly could not stop herself from becoming a bit nervous.
Huh!? A STAIRCASE!?
However, this sense of nervousness had barely set in before she noticed a heavenly staircase piercing through the sky in the distance. Showing her a clear path out of the fifth floor of the dungeon and back up to the fourth floor of the dungeon.
RUUUUUUMBLE~~~!
But just when relief had started setting in, a loud rumbling sound echoed throughout the fifth floor of the dungeon, as Scaly looked on in horror as the heavenly staircase, her path out of the fifth floor of the dungeon. Began to detach itself from the ground before ascending upwards while slowly carrying the staircase along with it.
NOOOOOO-! DON’T YOU DARE CLOSE THE DOOR ON ME!!!
WHOOOSH-!
Feeling a sense of panic that she had never felt before as she realized what was happening, Scaly used all her strength to flap her wings as she flew towards the heavenly staircase in the distance. Not bothering to hold back in the slightest, as she poured all her mana into her wind magic to accelerate herself through the air. Not intending to just lean back and watch the passage out of the fifth floor of the dungeon closed in front of her.