A little over half an hour before the sudden enlightenment of Charles, Scaly found herself waking up inside the small cave she had sealed off from the outside world before falling asleep.
Mmm~? How long did I sleep...?
Rolling over in her still somewhat sleepy state before trying to deduce how long she had been sleeping. A question she had no real way to answer, as she had no idea how to measure how long she slept without the assistance of a clock or something similar to help tell her how much time passed when she slept. The only real indication of how long she had slept came from the feeling of hunger she felt upon waking up... And from what she could tell, it had been at least two days.
Two entire days without food on top of the day or so before that.
It could only be said she was becoming more resilient with every evolution she underwent, as she now felt capable of moving around just fine even after three days without food and the benefit of waking up from evolution-
Rumble~
But even if she was able to endure going without food for three days straight, it was clear that her stomach didn’t agree with this arrangement and had already begun protesting. Calling out for food with such conviction that Scaly found herself unable to mount any resistance in the face of the protests. Wasting no time as she rolled over once again before jumping up from the ground to dig herself out of the small almost entirely sealed off cave that only had a few holes to allow air to flow inside so she wouldn’t end up dying from a lack of air while sleeping.
Ah! The light, it burns!
Only for her to quickly retreat into the cave after being blinded by the bright sun above the second she stuck her head out of her small temporary shelter.
Although she hadn’t noticed it in the past when she had first left the Howling Caverns Dungeon, it now suddenly became awfully clear to her after having been inside a completely dark space without any light, that the sun hanging in the sky above was far brighter than the suns she had encountered inside the dungeon. Not just that, but as she began to slowly poke her head out of the hole, she had created for herself, it was also clear that the sun above was far larger.
This small scare aside, Scaly didn’t take long to overcome her fear of the light after being blinded and soon enough began wandering around the base of the mountain in search of smaller monsters she had seen before going to sleep.
Planning to hunt a few of these smaller monsters to fill her stomach before moving on to either search for another dungeon or stronger monsters to continue increasing her own strength.
However, the smaller monsters that had originally been abundant around the base of the mountain had seemingly all vanished into thin air at some point in time and no matter how hard she looked for them, there was simply no monster around for her to satiate her hunger. Even moving further away from the mountain and into the forest below, there were no monsters around for her to eat. Only a few very clear signs of a recent battle that should be the reason behind the absence of monsters.
Problem was, even knowing the reason for the absence of the smaller and weaker monsters she had originally wanted to fill her stomach with after waking up, there was nothing she could do to bring back the monsters that had disappeared outside of leaving the small mountain and flying off to another mountain in search of food.
But... She was hungry now and in a rather lazy state after waking up and didn’t want to fly to a nearby mountain for food.
Instead of that, it seemed like a far better idea to follow the imprints that had been left behind from the different monsters that should have been killed during the battle that had erupted after she fell asleep.
Imprints that clearly showed that the dead monsters had been dragged off towards one of the larger caves further up the mountain. Meaning that a group of monsters stronger than the weaker ones she had seen before going asleep should be living up there.
Limited as her knowledge of these stronger than normal monsters might be, she wasn’t exactly fearful of them, as her current strength left her with few challenges outside of those S Rank Adventurers and the even stronger adventurer she had seen back when she had left the Howling Caverns Dungeon and later fled Howling Cave City on the other side.
For this reason, the second she realized that there were stronger monsters hidden away in a large cave further up the mountain, she didn’t hesitate in the slightest before making her way up towards the cave in question. Feeling a sense of excitement over what kind of monster she might encounter and what it would taste like.
For this reason, when she spotted to large ants seemingly guarding the cave just a few meters inside of it, Scaly felt a sense of profound excitement as she inspected one of the two monsters from a distance before they noticed her.
[Giant Ant Guard, lvl 59]
[Description: A giant ant that evolved into a giant ant guard. In charge of guarding different important locations inside a giant ant nest. Caution is recommended when facing a giant ant guard, as their presence alone suggests the existence of a giant ant nest. Recklessly attacking a giant ant guard can result in provoking the entire giant ant nest. For this reason, it is recommended to kill the giant ant guard before it has the chance to alert the rest of the nest.
The general strength of a giant ant guard is weaker than a B Rank Adventurer, but stronger than a C Rank Adventurer. Existing somewhere between the two ranks, but because of the unique nature of the monster, it has been designated the B Rank even when most giant ant guards tend to be closer to the C Rank. The taste of the giant ant guard can be described as spicy and is a well-known delicacy among certain nobles who love to seek out any spicy food they can get their hands on.]
Reading through the rather long description that appeared the second she inspected the monster that turned out to be a giant ant guard, Scaly couldn’t help feeling a sense of curiosity upon reading the later part of the description. Wondering what the spicy taste that had been mentioned would taste like.
As for the mention of the ant nest and the potential of attracting more of these giant ants? Scaly didn’t worry the slightest bit about this. Always having the ability to fly off in case the situation became too much for her to handle. Having clearly noticed that these giant ant guards didn’t seem to have the ability to fly like those powerful adventurers could. Meaning that by simply flying into the sky, she would be able to escape with ease from any situation she might find herself in.
Of course, there was always a chance of a powerful ant with the ability to fly hidden inside the ant nest, but having already escaped from that terrifying lightning wielding adventurer back in Howling Cave City, she felt confident that she would be able to escape with her wind magic no matter what kind of ant she ended up encountering.
Whoosh~
Ptsh!
[Gained 2245 Exp]
For this reason, she didn’t hesitate and charged directly at the strongest of the two giant ant guards. Killing it before it even realized what had happened, before turning around to face the second giant ant guard-
Bang!
Ptsh~
[Gained 1952 Exp]
And with a quick sweep of her tail that slammed the surprised ant into the cave wall followed by a quick claw strike, the second giant ant guard followed the first to the afterlife. The battle itself took less than three seconds. Leaving no time for any of the two giant ant guards to warn the ones inside the nest about what had happened.
Chooomp~!
But none of this mattered to Scaly, as the only reason why she had moved so swiftly to deal with the two giant ant guards before they could warn their companions, was because she wanted to fill her stomach before engaging in any large-scale battle. Happily chomping down on the first of the two dead giant ant guards. Soon enough, feeling her mouth starting to burn, as the spicy flavor she had been promised began spreading throughout her mouth, causing her to jump up in surprise before trying her best to get rid of the spiciness that had seemingly infected her mouth.
Only now realizing that she wasn’t a dragon suited for eating this spicy food, as tears slowly began welling up in her eyes with nowhere to go.
For the first time, she had encountered a type of food she couldn’t eat...