During the time that the older Archmage and Valz laid out a plan for how to deal with the predicament that they had found themselves in alongside the adventurers all around them, Scaly had been eagerly watching the living dragon amalgamation getting closer to the towering city walls. Waiting for the moment when the massive creature would crash into the frontline and make the already chaotic battlefield spiral completely out of control.
Because of this, even though she could have noticed the arrival of another S Rank Adventurer if she had kept her attention on the human Archmage adventurer, she didn't. Instead, she only realized that the situation was changing beyond what she had expected as the human Archmage rushed out of the city and towards the living dragon amalgamation-
Booom-!
Clashing with the enormous creature in a loud explosion, as countless flames enveloped its massive body. Forcing it to stop its advance and instead focus on the human Archmage now hovering a few dozen meters above it. Wasting no time as countless grotesque tentacles shot out from its body towards the human Archmage. Giving the other party little time to react, the two soon began battling a short distance away from the monster stampede. Devasting their surroundings in the process and making any monster who might have thought about approaching think twice, as their attention quickly shifted back towards the towering city walls blocking their path out of the dungeon.
Surprised as she was with this sudden development, she wasn't entirely against it, as she soon noticed that the beastkin adventurer who had seemed capable of holding on forever in a half dead state. Finally showed signs of weakening, as the terrestrial beetle lord managed to pierce his defenses and heavily injure one of his legs. Significantly slowing him down in the process and making it difficult to continue defending.
Normally, this would have bee fine, but now with the human Archmage busy dealing with the living dragon amalgamation, there was no one to support him from behind, as his situation quickly began worsening. Soon enough, reaching the point where she started feeling confident in succeeding at an ambush on this powerful adventurer above level 100.
The thing that ultimately caused her to fly over and get ready for this was the simple fact that the terrestrial beetle lord that had seemed invisible so far had also made a mistake during the excitement of its opponent finally starting to break, causing one of its legs to suffer the consequences and almost get cut off following a quick defensive response from the beastkin adventurer.
Not just was the beastkin adventurer injured now, but so was the terrestrial beetle lord.
Doubtful as she was about succeeding in killing both at the same time give just how powerful the defense of the terrestrial beetle lord had been shown to be during the battle with the beastkin adventurer, it wouldn't hurt to try, as she could always escape into the air in case it proved to be impossible to kill.
The main problem was not so much her opponents any longer, but more so the fact that she would have to use her dragon breath attack again if she wanted to have any real hope of killing these two powerful figures with her current strength… And with her current mana, she would only be able to unleash one such attack.
Although… Given her recent increase in level, she would at least have some mana left to retreat after the attack. Allowing her to continue observing the situation from above while picking off weaker monsters and adventurers.
Not to mention, with the violent magic fluctuations from the battle between the human Archmage and the living dragon amalgamation, they wouldn't easily notice her channeling her mana for an attack before it was already too late.
Smiling a bit as she thought about this, Scaly slowly took in her two targets from above one last time before starting to line up properly for her attack to hit the two in correct order. After all, she wasn't certain her attack could kil the terrestrial beetle lord and therefore wanted her attack to first hit the weakened beastkin adventurer who was a guaranteed kill at this point if she hit.
[Beastkin (Wolf), Ancestral Wolf Warrior, lvl 105]
[Terrestrial Beetle Lord, lvl 91]
The status of the two appearing in front of her as glared down towards them while mana rapidly gathered inside her mouth.
And… As expected, neither of them seemed to notice her presence or potentially just associated the powerful magic fluctuations with the battle playing out behind her.
"Huh!? That is- Is the Holy Flower Sect making a move!?"
The only one who did realize being the human Archmage already locked in battle with the living dragon amalgamation as he stared back in the direction that the magical fluctuation had come from-
Rumble~ BANG!
Unfortunately, before he had a chance to see who was behind the terrifying magical fluctuation, a massive tentacle made of rotting flesh and large pieces of bone slammed directly into him. Taking advantage of his momentary lack of attention to knock him straight into the ground.
Leaving with him only the hope that Valz, who had stayed behind to guard against the Holy Flower Sect, would be able to intercept this attack that in his eyes had come from the Holy Flower Sect Members who had remained hidden so far waiting for an opportunity to strike.
"They are finally showing themselves!"
At the same time, Valz reacted immediately upon sensing the terrifying magical fluctuation. Having paid close attention to the chaotic battlefield and knowing that the magical fluctuation from Scaly's dragon breath didn't originate from his senior.
However, by the time he jumped off the wall towards his fluffy senior, it was already too late-
Ruuuumble~
Scaly's dragon breath shot forth with its full might for a second time. Reaching a speed that made it impossible to dodge for the beastkin adventurer and terrestrial beetle lord who had barely recognized the attack as it headed for them.
Scaly could already see the two being reduced to dust by her attack, as both her eyes shone brightly as she watched in slow motion how her attack was only two meters away from the beastkin adventurer-
BAAANG!
However, it was at this moment something unexpected happened, as Scaly watched her attack seemingly collide with something mid air before being redirected away from the half dead beastkin adventurer…
[Gained 32.078 Exp]
[*Ding* Reached level 17]
But before she could feel any sense of disappointment over having missed her target, a massive influx of experience came in, as she directly reached level 17. Leaving her in a rather confused state over what had just happened before she spotted a shadowy figure holding what looked like a broken mirror in one hand at the ground where her attack had seemingly hit thin air.
[Human, Shadow Stalker, lvl 97 (Dead)]
Inspecting this… Body… Made it clear where the sudden influx of experience had come from, as her gaze soon turned towards her dragon breath attack that had been redirected directly towards the towering city walls.
BOOOOOOM-!
And to no one's surprise, the attack crashed into the towering city walls and alongside it, the barrier before violently exploding, causing countless small cracks to rapidly spread throughout the barrier, as it no longer had the human Archmage to support it and rapidly replenish its strength in the face of rapid depletion like it had just experienced. Only able to slowly repair itself on its own and with the help of a group of mages who were far too weak to make much of a difference.
ROOOOOAR-!
It was at this moment that a loud roar suddenly echoed out from the depths of the sea of monsters, as a powerful monster on the brink of becoming an S Rank Monster that had somehow remained hidden within the sea of monsters so far rushed forward-
BANG! CRAAAAACK~ BANG!
And with a simple attack, broke the fragile barrier before rushing forward towards the entrance of the dungeon that was now unprotected outside of a few injured A Rank Adventurers and the group of mages who had been attempting to keep the barrier steady during the absence of the Archmage.
Swish~!
"Noooo!"
"Stop it!"
"Don't let it get through!"
However, the speed of this unknown monster was far too great, as it slipped past everyone with ease and successfully reached the dungeon entrance.
Whoosh~
Disappearing the next second, as it successfully managed to leave the dungeon under the surprised expressions of everyone present.
Although only a single monster, it was a monster close to becoming S Rank and the damage it could cause to the relatively defenseless city on the other side was unimaginable.
"Retreat!"
For this reason, Valz, who had just revealed himself and jumped off the city walls for no reason called for an immediate retreat, as he himself rushed back towards the entrance of the dungeon to stop the monster that had managed to get through. Knowing full well that his fluffy senior would have to fend for himself now that their friend from the Holy Flower Sect had somehow ended up dead in the process of everything that had just happened.
As for where the magical attack just now had come from? He simply couldn't afford wasting time thinking about it right now and partly thought it might have been some kind of special charged magical attack that had been prepared by the Holy Flower Sect that had somehow ended up misfiring by accident.