So many monsters... Even if I do my best, it’s impossible for me to kill all the injured ones. Even focusing on the stronger ones, a lot of them still escape...
Unaware of how she had turned into a divine beast in the eyes of some adventurers, Scaly was currently grumbling to herself over the problem of not being able to split herself into more than one body, as there were simply far too many injured monsters around for her to hunt down and she had no way to get to all of them even if she put all of her strength towards it and disregarded any attempt at hiding herself from these weakened and injured monsters.
In the end, it was also because of this that she had ultimately decided against hunting any of the adventurers, as they were not only far more troublesome to deal with, but would give her far less experience compared to the weakened monsters she could hunt down with the time she would waste dealing with the adventurers. After all, the injured adventurers didn’t linger around the chaotic battlefield and left almost immediately after they were rendered unable to continue fighting.
At the same time, during their retreat from the battlefield, they would be guarded by other adventurers. Making it difficult for her to launch a successful ambush.
And so, instead of dealing with something that only brought trouble, she instead decided to just focus her entire attention on the injured and weakened monsters. Only killing the few stronger adventurers that were unlucky enough to find themselves in her path.
Still... Even though she was frustrated that she couldn’t get to all the injured monsters in time before they either died, hid away or disappeared, she was still smiling with joy watching how her level kept increasing.
From the ten short minutes since her failure to kill the beastkin adventurer, her level had already increased from the initial 20 and gone all the way up to 23. Advancing rapidly even with the increasingly terrifying amount of experience required for her to level up.
Not just that, but her mana had also recovered enough by now that she began to mix in a bit of her water magic to speed up her killing of injured monsters, though still leaving behind more than enough for her to escape in case she ended up drawing the attention of one of the powerful S Rank Adventurers and needed to escape.
Luckily, that hadn’t happened yet, as the monsters they were fighting with hadn’t grown weaker, but had instead grown stronger and more capable of fighting back. Even being reinforced by other stronger monsters that were able to help tilt the scale of battle in the favor of the monsters. Leaving these powerful adventurers with no time to spare for a little dragon like her.
Speaking of the monsters gaining an advantage, observing the chaotic battlefield from above every now and then, she had clearly noticed that the monsters had already successfully broken through the city wall and had begun to spread out into the forest and wheat fields that surrounded the city. The adventurers tried to stop them, but were overwhelmed by their sheer numbers, as more monsters continued to break through and scatter into the surroundings.
By the time she decided to check on the overall state of the adventurers outside the city again, Scaly was shocked to discover that the defensive line that had been established had completely fallen apart due to the sudden appearance of another monster that was comparable to the S Rank Adventurers.
The problem was, there were no more S Rank Adventurers around to step in and stop it, thus resulting in the current situation where the adventurers trying to block the monsters rushing out of the city being steamrolled by a single monster.
Just watching the situation playing out from above, Scaly couldn’t help feeling a bit envious. After all, with just how many adventurers died at the hands of this monster in mere seconds, she would have been able to increase her level by at least two more!
This realization alone was more than enough to frustrate her to no end, as she felt like she had wasted the last ten minutes only barely increasing her level by three.
But then again... This monster was clearly far stronger than her and though it could sweep through these adventurers, it didn’t mean that she would be able to do the same. After all, from a glance, several of the adventurers being rolled over by this monster were only slightly weaker than her.
If she tried to do the same, there was a high chance of her being surrounded and overwhelmed by these adventurers.
Of course, this didn’t stop her from dreaming, as she already imagined herself steamrolling the adventurers with ease in the near future. All she needed was to grow a bit stronger and maybe learn a spell or two that could affect a large area like that human Archmage still locked in battle with the living dragon amalgamation inside the dungeon.
Thinking about the battle playing out inside the dungeon, Scaly couldn’t help silently wondering who would end up winning-
RUMBLE-!
But these thoughts barely lasted more than a few seconds before a loud rumbling sound echoed throughout the entire battlefield... And turning to look in the direction of that rumbling sound, she saw the S Rank Monster that had remained dominant and sweeping through the adventurers with ease so far, had been pinned to the ground by a large spear at some point.
The spear itself was still crackling while arcs of lightning jumped off it. Vaporizing any monster that got too close to it, while the monster pinned to the ground barely had any strength left to struggle after being pinned to the ground with lightning now coursing through its entire body. Roasting it from the inside.
The sight alone made Scaly freeze on the spot just as she was about to descend towards an injured monster struggling to retreat in the face of a group of adventurers. Not because the S Rank Monster that had been sweeping through the adventurers with ease seconds ago had been pinned to the ground, but instead because she spotted the owner of the spear that had pinned said monster to the ground with such ease.
[Dwarf, Lightning Bearer, lvl 153]
Nope!
Seeing the terrifying level that exceeded anything she had encountered so far by a mile, Scaly didn’t even hesitate for a second, as only one word emerged in her head before she turned around and flew in the opposite direction of that terrifying entity that had suddenly appeared. The weakened monsters struggling on the ground no longer mattering to her any longer, as her only thought was to get as far away from this place as possible before that terrifying entity ended up discovering her.
After all, though she might be confident in her own strength, she understood from a glance that her fate would be no different than that brazen S Rank Monster if she attempted to face that terrifying entity. Instead of that, escaping while she still had time was much better. Especially considering that the other party was still far away from the city and there were many other monsters to deal with before he got to her... And that was without mentioning the fact that she was currently high up in the sky, hard to spot from a glance.
Even more so after she actively began to escape relying on her wind magic. Turning her into a small missile that shot through the air at a speed that would leave any S Rank Adventurer or flying monster in the dust.
But... Even as she began to escape from the chaotic battlefield, she clearly felt the gaze of that terrifying existence lingering on her for a brief second.
Luckily, it didn’t end up with her being targeted, as the terrifying existence turned his attention towards the large number of monsters that had emerged from the dungeon-
RUUUUUUUMBLE-!
And before Scaly could even understand what was happening, a loud rumbling sound far louder than earlier echoed out behind her, as she turned around just in time to see a sight that would leave her traumatized for weeks to come, as that terrifying existence now hovered in the air above the city. Having conjured up a thunderstorm that covered the entire battlefield before casual moving his hand downwards, causing an endless sea of lightning to cascade down into the city below.
Vaporizing any monsters it encountered, while leaving the adventurers completely unharmed.
This level of power was something she had never encountered before and made her silently vow not to recklessly target adventurers again in the future, lest she ends up attracting one of these terrifying entities to come after her...
But... At the same time, it also made her excited about how strong she herself could get if she also mastered lightning magic that powerful in the future. After all, she had learnt lightning magic, even if it was nowhere near that level at the moment.