Lingering around the edge of the lake on the small floating island she had found herself on after entering the dreamscape to escape from the powerful human who had suddenly shown up before she had the chance to kill off the weakened adventurers, Scaly had nothing to do outside observing her colorful surroundings. Trying to see if she could see any other living creatures inside the dreamscape on one of the other floating islands within view, but even after a few hours gazing around the colorful sky of the dreamscape, she didn’t see a single living creature.
This didn’t mean that the dreamscape was lifeless but was more so an indication that she had found herself somewhere uninhabited, something understandable considering she had entered the dreamscape a few dozen meters below ground. Meaning that it might be easier for her to find another living creature by ascending to one of the floating islands above her.
However, though she wanted to fly up immediately to see if there were any living creatures or monsters on the floating islands above, she understood that it was a bad idea to move around before she had fully recovered her strength. So, for now, she just casually laid down beside the crystal-clear lake while gazing past the few trees surrounding the lake towards what could be considered the largest floating island amongst the floating islands near her small floating island.
Of course, calling it large was subjective, as it wasn’t that much bigger than her own floating island. At most four times the size.
The main difference was that instead of a lake at the center, this small island had a small mountain on top of it that took up most of the island as it stretched at least a thousand meters into the sky. High enough that it could scratch the bottom of some of the lower hanging islands floating above, something that had undoubtedly happened in the past, as it looked like the true peak of this small mountain had been shaved off at some point. Leaving behind a rather large flat surface on top of the mountain where the peak should have once been.
Observing this mountain island as it floated by, Scaly realized that it had already moved within a few hundred meters of her own floating island and would likely get as close as a dozen or so meters in another few hours. Slow as this might be, it was far faster than the speed that the other floating islands moved, as they seemed to be almost completely stationary in comparison. Potentially taking years to even move a single meter or two.
Thinking about how she couldn’t exactly return to the material plane with that powerful human potentially waiting for her on the other side, Scaly decided to wait until this floating island with a small mountain on top of it got close enough for her to easily fly over with little exposure to the empty sky filled with colorful clouds.
The reason for this decision wasn’t just because of the potential danger associated with returning to the material plane from her current small island but also had to do with the fact that she wanted to explore the dreamscape and see if she could find any other living creatures inside of it.
With that goal in mind, the floating island with a small mountain on top of it was perfect, as it would not just allow her to observe a far larger area by climbing up to the peak of the small mountain, but it would also move around on its own without her needing to fly a long distance through the empty sky filled with nothing but colorful clouds and the strange things that manifested from them.
Although she hadn’t encountered anything dangerous inside the dreamscape so far, her instincts still screamed at her whenever she thought about jumping off the small island to fly to another nearby small island. Making it clear to her that there was some kind of danger involved in flying through the seemingly empty sky of the dreamscape that she couldn’t see, a danger that could threaten her to the point where her instincts were screaming danger in a manner they hadn’t done even while she had been facing off against the gluttonous giant ant queen earlier.
But... Dangerous as it might be, she didn’t plan to linger around on the same floating island forever because of some feeling of danger. So, with the next few hours flying by with her lying down at the edge of the small floating island trying to see if she could find the origin of the danger she felt whenever she thought about jumping off the floating island and taking flight. The time for her to switch over to the floating island with the small mountain on top of it came.
And without the slightest bit of hesitation. Pushing down the instinctive warnings that were going off in her head. She jumped off the edge of the small island she had ended up on after entering the dreamscape and soared towards the slightly larger floating island-
Whoosh-!
What?! Why is it so difficult to fly!?
Or that was at least what she thought would happen, but instead, she ended up finding herself struggling to fly the second she jumped off the side of the floating island. The dozen or so meters that should have been covered with a single flap of her wings instantly becoming an impossible to cross distance, as every movement of her wings came with tremendous effort and little to no distance covered.
Not to mention reaching the slightly larger floating island with the small mountain on top of it before it passed by, she might even exhaust herself to death before she could cover half the distance needed to reach that floating island.
For the first time since entering the dreamscape, Scaly found herself understanding why the floating island seemingly remained motionless in the air with little to no movement. Moving in a kind of almost solid liquid that was close to impossible without tremendous effort.
Swish~!
Still, she wasn’t planning to give up on reaching the larger floating island just because her movement had been slowed down to a snail’s pace, as she decided to directly use her wind magic to aid her flight through the seemingly thick liquid that made up the sky of the dreamscape, something that in turn began rapidly draining her mana.
By the time she had successfully gotten within two meters of the larger floating island with the small mountain on top of it, she had already burnt through close to half of the mana she had recovered over the past few hours. Making her wonder if she would be able to learn some kind of dream magic in the future to make movement through the dreamscape possible.
ROOOAR-!
However, just as she felt herself starting to relax now that she had almost reached the new floating island, a loud roar shattered the serene atmosphere of the dreamscape, as Scaly noticed the colorful clouds starting to swirl violently in the distance.
Although the creature behind that terrifying roar had yet to show itself, she knew from instinct that whatever this being was should be what had caused her to feel the sense of danger and almost instinctive fear she had before, when thinking about jumping off the small floating island and attempting to reach the slightly larger floating island.
Strong as she might be, she understood full well that she was completely helpless to fight back against whatever creature this was within the sky of the dreamscape, as her movement speed was on par with a snail. Making it impossible to dodge any attacks. Not to mention, the mana required for even a simple movement was terrifying enough that she would almost certainly end up dead before conjuring a single water blade.
Whoosh-!
With that in mind, Scaly didn’t hesitate to pour all her strength into her wings, while at the same time recklessly using her wind magic to accelerate herself towards the floating island with the mountain on top of it. Knowing that it was far too late for her to turn around and return to her original floating island now-
Thump~
And only a few seconds later, she found herself crashing through some kind of invisible barrier that surrounded the floating island. Accelerating rapidly because of her wind magic before crashing into a large bush close to the edge of the floating island.
Originally, she would have rushed out of the bush, but with an unknown monster with a still undetermined level of strength approaching, she decided to remain inside the bush she had ended up crashing into. Finding it large enough to hide her body as she looked off in the direction of the swirling colorful clouds. Curious about what this first native to the dreamscape she would encounter looked like. Wondering if it was anything similar to any of the monsters she had encountered so far.