But... The battle ended up attracting someone far stronger than expected. Even that baby kraken from the fourth floor of the dungeon is nowhere near comparable...
As she was happily observing the massive battle playing out below her, her gaze ultimately ended up becoming a bit complicated after reaching a figure standing on top the spiral staircase leading up to the second floor of the dungeon. Having taken a central position to keep an eye on the battle playing out. Throwing out terrifying magical attacks that even left her shivering in fear every time a strong adventurer on the frontline was about to fall.
Even with her current strength, that one being was more than enough for her to give up on targeting any of the adventurers defending the city like she had originally planned and instead focus all her attention on the weakened monsters.
But at the same time, the sheer strength of that one being also caused her to place far more importance on him, as she tried her best to inspect the other party from afar for a few minutes before finally succeeding. Her failure was not due to some difference in strength making it harder or anything like that, but instead because someone would always walk in front of him whenever she attempted to inspect his status from afar, causing her to inspect the wrong person several times in a row.
However, after this little struggle, she managed to succeed and finally saw the status of this powerful adventurer who even left her feeling uneasy whenever he attacked.
[Human, lvl 103]
[Class: Archmage (Elemental Magic)]
[Description: A human mage following the elemental path of magic that managed to become an Archmage.]
Reading through the rather short and simple status of this human adventurer, Scaly could not help straightening up slightly. This was the first time she saw someone who had reached a level above 100 and looking at the power displayed by the other party so far, it was not something she could contend with even after going through her fifth evolution.
Of course, she was still far from reaching the limits of her fifth evolution and still had a lot of room to grow. In the future, she should still be able to contend with a human around level 100, but, for now, it was best for her to avoid a direct confrontation. After all, her goal was not to start a battle for supremacy with the adventurers that this powerful human adventurer was protecting but was instead to rapidly increase her own strength by picking off the weaker adventurers and monsters.
Now that the adventurers had such a powerful protecter around, she just decided to only target the weakened monsters. In any case, there were more than enough monsters around now that all the monsters on the third floor of the dungeon had started to gather to forcibly break through Fish Stone City with sheer numbers alone.
With how the adventurers were still struggling, they might even be grateful for her assistance.
As for the adventurers she had killed in the past... What they didn’t know about wouldn’t hurt them. All these adventurers would know about her was that she was graciously helping them finish off the monsters that they had been too weak to finish off in time themselves.
Her stealing their experience? No... It was clearly her being a kind soul helping in a time of need!
Nodding her head as she thought this to herself, Scaly wasted no time lingering around up above any longer, as she dived down towards her first target.
Swish~
Ptsh!
Rooooar...!
[Gained 6795 Exp]
Striking with speed and precision. Instantly killing the already severely weakened monster that had been boxed in by a group of adventurers with no way out.
"Aaaah! My monster! I was just about to reach level 60 and become a B Rank Adventurer!"
"I... We... Two hours of work... For nothing..."
"..."
In response to this gracious assistance, Scaly watched with a smug look on her face, as the group of humans all fell to their knees with tears in their eyes. Looking up in the direction she had disappeared with what she could only assume to be awe and respect.
Although she had ended up letting the adventures live because she felt the gaze of that powerful human adventurer locking on to her the second she had dived down, the respectful appearance of those humans seemed to ease the sadness she felt for letting those large experience packs escape.
Of course, this was only a short instant, as Scaly soon enough began her attacks on weakened monsters in earnest. Having also managed to confirm that the powerful human adventurer would ignore her if she didn’t attack the human adventurers...
Ptsh~!
[Gained 4732]
"My... MY PROMOTION OPPORTUNITY! DAMNABLE FLYING MONSTER!"
Swoosh~
Chiiing~ Ptsh!
[Gained 3654]
[*Ding* Reached level 10]
"I... Five hours of fighting... Losing an arm for the chance to close the distance to the B Rank... All for nothing..."
BANG!
Roooar!
"Nooooo! My promotion opportunity!"
Ptsh~
[Gained 5894]
In the end, as she began working in earnest, countless loud screams followed her closely, as all the humans she decided to lend a hand and help safe all decided to yell loudly at her in what she could only guess was the highest forms of praise, as she had no time to stay behind and listen. Setting off immediately after her next target after killing her target. Not lingering around to hear what the adventurers yelled about after she left.
This process was by far the most effective leveling experience that she had ever experienced, as from having just recently reached level 9, it didn’t take more than half an hour before she flew all the way up to level 14. Increasing her level by five in a time frame that wouldn’t even be enough for her to increase her strength by a single level in the past, a clear sign of just how useful it was to fish in troubled waters and target the already weakened monsters that could be taken out in a few hits.
Rumble~!
ROOOAR-!
[Rage Bull, lvl 87]
Unfortunately, this easy leveling couldn’t be kept up forever, as one of the stronger monsters that had yet to rush forward to attack Fish Stone City emerged just as she was about to claim the life of yet another half dead monster. Rushing out with such speed that she had no time to react before the towering bull was already in front of her-
BANG!
Whoosh-!
And before she could react and dodge, the bull collided headfirst into her. Knocking her flying through the monster horde like an oddly shaped canon ball that knocked out or killed any unfortunate monster blocking her path.
Ouch! That huuurts!
Feeling pain throughout her entire body as she finally came to a stop on top of a now dead wolf monster, Scaly could not help looking towards the rage bull that had already begun charging towards her again filled with anger and killing intent. This was the first time since her fifth evolution that she had encountered a monster capable of not just sneaking up on her but also injuring her!
Without a doubt, this rage bull had instantly become the number one enemy in her eyes, the weakened monsters waiting for her to hunt down were no longer a concern, as she decided to first and foremost take care of this monster daring enough to challenge her so directly. Especially so because this would be a great chance for her to test out her strength against a powerful opponent.
It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that one of her wings had been injured by the charge attack from the rage bull leaving her unable to fly away!
Nodding her head at her own thoughts, Scaly wasted no time as she used her water magic without any hesitation in a clear attempt to directly suppress and kill the rage bull with her overwhelmingly powerful magic.
Not just sending a single water blade towards the charging rage bull but instead opting to instead send close to a dozen large than average water blades towards the monster while she herself began to retreat to ensure a certain distance was kept between herself and the rage bull. Clearly knowing full well after firsthand experience that she could not go up against this monster when it came to physical strength.
Ptsh! Ptsh! Ptsh!
ROOOOAR-!
A choice that proved to be correct, as even with the terrifying water blades descending on it, the rage bull showed the powerful strength of its body, as the water blades that had managed to cut through the earth magic cow lord famed when it came to its defensive prowess in the past. Only left a few superficial wounds that slowed it down for a few seconds.
Clearly, if she wanted to deal with this monster, she would have to use something different from her water blade spell or find a way to hit a weak point that was easier to cut through...