Ignoring the humans that had just emerged from the passage leading back down to the fourth floor of the dungeon, Scaly focused all her attention on the few powerful humans inside the town about to break at any second. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to swoop down and take care of all of them before the monster horde below had the chance to land the finishing blow.
Unfortunately, as she continued to observe the struggle taking place at the walls of the small town, she discovered that the humans she thought were close to breaking under the pressure had somehow managed to find a little bit more strength from somewhere unknown just when she thought it was time for her to go down and reap her rewards.
Instead of the humans breaking like she had expected, she instead witnessed several relatively decent monsters in terms of strength rapidly starting to retreat from the walls, as they were severely injured during the sudden comeback from the humans on the walls. Not that Scaly cared too much about the humans suddenly turning the situation around, as she now just turned her attention towards the weakened monsters that had begun to rapidly retreat instead of the humans.
In the end, it didn’t matter to her if she targeted the weakened humans or monsters, she would win either way...
Swish-!
And with this opportunity now clearly in front of her, Scaly didn’t hesitate for a second as she descended towards the weakened monsters rapidly retreating from the town walls to avoid being cut down by the humans-
Roooar?!
Ptsh-!
[Gained 6824 Exp]
Catching the first of the stronger weakened monsters with ease before it even had time to react. Allowing her to easily kill it and reap the benefits with little to no effort on her part before she flapped her wings and ascended back into the sky before the surrounding monsters could react to what had just happened. Soon enough, finding herself in the air above the next weakened monster she had noticed earlier-
Swish-!
Ptsh-!
[Gained 7325 Exp]
Resulting in a second victim that had no chance to fight back before dying to the sudden and unexpected ambush, while Scaly wasted no time repeating the process after the second monster’s death. Flying up into the air, locating her next target, diving down for the kill before repeating.
[Gained 10422 Exp]
[*Ding* Reached level 6]
[Gained 6243 Exp]
[Gained 8567 Exp]
[Gained 6245 Exp]
[Gained 12282 Exp]
[*Ding* Reached level 7]
[Gained...]
The sheer experience gained from killing what was essential a dozen monsters close to the same level as the magic earth cow lord that she had killed not too long ago. Allowed her level to rapidly fly past level 6 and all the way up to level 7 in less than two minutes, a terrifying leveling speed that she was getting somewhat addicted to.
However, shortly after reaching level 7, she found herself forced to fly back into the air and remain there, as the stronger monsters hidden inside the monster horde started to notice what she was doing and had begun to rapidly approach her to stop her from doing what she was doing.
In a way, this had some unexpected consequences for the monster horde, as it gave the humans defending the town a chance to relax, while those who had emerged from the fourth floor smoothly cut a path through the horde of monsters. Reaching the town just in time before it was breached.
Not just that, but the group of humans coming from the fourth floor of the dungeon were clearly far stronger than the ones that had been defending the town earlier, as they quickly pushed back the monsters, while at the same time reestablishing the barrier that had been broken earlier. Making it far more difficult for the monster horde to breakthrough. At the same time also giving those inside the town some much needed time to relax now that the barrier was back up.
All things considered, this was far from good for the monster horde, as they now had to work their way through the barrier again, while at the same time also having to deal with a certain menace hovering above that they had just learnt about.
It was not that the monster horde didn’t have any flying monsters in it, it was just that the flying monsters in the monster horde were far too weak to do anything to someone like Scaly. At most serving as a light snack while she enjoyed the struggle between the monster horde and the humans down below.
With all of this in mind, the stronger monsters who seemed to have some control over the monster horde seemed to realize that it wouldn’t be for the best to remain in place and continue trying to break through the human town that now had a group of powerful humans strong enough to even threaten them to guarding it.
Rumble~
And so, the massive monster horde slowly began turning. Moving away from the human town towards another easier target.
As for what this target was... Scaly had no idea but given the benefits she had just received from following this monster horde, she had no intention of leaving them alone. Deciding to continue following them. Hoping there would be another chance to kill off the stronger monsters that had prevented her from killing some of the weakened monsters earlier.
And so, the monster horde soon enough left the human town alone. Allowing the humans who had barely managed to hold on to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Wait! Those monsters, they are moving int the direction of the other monster horde currently besieging one of the cities guarding a staircase leading up to the second floor of the dungeon!"
"Oh no! If they really manage to break through that city, they will have full access to the second floor of the dungeon! All our defenses are focused here on the third floor; there is nothing guarding the second or first floor outside of the barrier at the entrance to the dungeon!"
However, the sense of relief didn’t last long, as the humans who had started to relax quickly began to panic after realizing the direction that the monster horde was moving in. Especially so for the group of powerful humans who had charged forth to just barely save this town in the nick of time.
Not because they cared more than the rest, but because they were a group of B Rank Adventurers from the main headquarters who were part of the group that had come to assist in dealing with the monster stampede that was brewing inside the Howling Caverns Dungeon.
Although the situation was bad and several large monster hordes had formed throughout the dungeon, it had not yet developed into a stampede, as those monster hordes were still scattered and not yet united.
But... If a passage up to the second floor of the dungeon was cleared by one of these monster hordes, the rest would all flock over to join up with this monster horde, thus forming a true monster stampede that would rush upwards towards the entrance of the dungeon.
To stop this from happening, the group of B Rank Adventurers who had barely managed to save the town wasted no time rushing out to chase after the monster horde that was looking to link up together with the monster horde besieging the city with a staircase leading up to the second floor of the dungeon.
Even though there was already another group from the main headquarters keeping that city safe, it wasn’t certain they would be able to hold on after this second monster horde joined up with the one already besieging them. After all, this new monster horde was far more dangerous than the other one, made up of monsters that had come all the way from the fifth floor of the dungeon.
The only real reason why they had some confidence in being able to hold off the more powerful monsters in that monster horde who had yet to show themselves was because the ones defending the city with a passage to the second floor of the dungeon had several A Rank Adventurers present.
If not, it would be impossible to stop this monster horde...
Only A Rank Adventurers had the strength to deal with the stronger monsters, as for S Rank Adventurers... There were a few dispatched into the Howling Caverns Dungeon, but they were currently busy dealing with equally powerful monsters that had emerged due to the unrest, one of them had even found himself trapped inside an underground section of the fourth floor of the dungeon. Locked in a deadly battle with a powerful baby kraken that managed to hold its own due to the environment being favorable and the S Rank Adventurer finding himself unable to unleash his full strength without risk of brining the ceiling down on top of himself.