Having filled her stomach thanks to the family of forest boar who so graciously decided to become her meal, Scaly finally decided to take the opportunity to observe her surroundings in a bit more detail than she had upon first leaving the underground mountain shaped cave where she had only managed to take in the simple fact that she was still somewhere within the mountain range that she had been at the edge of earlier while using the giant ant nest to rapidly increase her strength with little to no effort by hunting down the giant ants.
Whoosh~
Flapping her wings to get back up into the air again, she ignored some of the other delicious looking monsters she could see scurrying about down below and soon enough managed to get a general idea of where she was in the mountain range.
Hm? Isn’t that the home of the giant ants? So... I’m somewhere deeper inside the mountain range?
Able to glimpse the giant ant nest at the very edge of her vision along with a few other familiar looking mountains that she had spent her time hunting down edible monsters during the week she had spent hunting giant ants. After all, those giant ants were far from edible and unless she was about to keel over from hunger, she would never dare to sink her teeth into one of them ever again.
Just thinking about eating those giant ants left a foul aftertaste in her mouth, as she soon enough shook her head to banish any thoughts of those bad tasting monsters. Instead focusing her attention on their nest to see if she could catch a glimpse of the powerful figure who had even managed to chase her into the dreamscape, though that chase had been far from successful after it came to an end only a few seconds after reaching the dreamscape inside the stomach of a dream cloud whale.
So many adventurers...
In the end, what she saw at the edge of her vision was hundreds of people that she assumed to be adventurers swarming all over the old home of the now dead giant ants. Undoubtedly below ground, there might be far more of them lurking around... And given all of them wore the same kind of armor and robes, she guessed this might be some kind of large adventure team that the powerful human adventurer had been a part of, as he had been wearing a similar robe, though far more ornate than the rest. Likely signifying his high status among the adventurers.
Even if part of her had originally wanted to make her way back towards the edge of the mountain range to see if she could still get a chance to potentially satiate her curiosity of how the gluttonous giant ant queen tasted, she ultimately had to give up on this impulsive curiosity of hers in the face of potentially having to fight off the large group of adventurers that now swarmed the old home of the giant ants. Not to mention the powerful adventurer from earlier might still be around.
Unable to make her way back towards the edge of the mountain range, Scaly found her gaze turning towards the deeper parts of the mountain range that she had intentionally avoided during the week she had spent inside the mountain range because of an instinctive feeling of fear that welled up inside her whenever she thought about dwelling deeper into the mountain range.
Of course, a random sense of fear wouldn’t have been enough to stop her from entering the depths of the mountain range, as the main reason she hadn’t wandered away from the edge had to do with the simple fact that her strength was rapidly increasing thanks to the giant ants.
After finishing them off, she had been fully intent on dwelling deeper into the mountain range in search of stronger monster or similar giant ant nest that would be able to help her rapidly increase her strength without posing any real danger to her.
However, different from back then, after having been proven that her sense of danger did indeed work in warning her about the potential danger of the dream cloud whale inside the dreamscape, Scaly felt a bit more hesitant about ignoring this warning.
But as she gazed back in the direction of the adventurers who seemed to have potentially sensed her presence through some mysterious means and had already sent a large group of adventurers in her direction, Scaly didn’t hesitate for a second as she began flying deeper into the mountain range. Knowing that whatever danger might be lurking within the depth of the mountain range wouldn’t be anywhere near as dangerous as those adventurers. Especially the terrifying one who had managed to chase her into the dreamscape.
In the worst case, she could always retreat into the dreamscape again. After all, her goal this time around wasn’t to hunt down strong monsters, but just to recover her mana while waiting for the dream cloud whales, that should still be swarming the section of the dreamscape she would end up in if she used the gate of dreams at her current location, to leave.
For reaching level 40, she believed that it might be easier to do so within the dreamscape on the massive floating continent she had glimpsed before having been forced to escape back to the material plane.
Not because there was a lack of monsters in the mountain range, but more so because she had a feeling that those adventurers wouldn’t leave her alone. Making it impossible for her to hunt in peace and increase her level.
As for turning to kill those adventurers? She didn’t even think about this, as there were simply too many of them and they were far too strong for her to deal with. Even if she killed one, there would be countless others to take that one’s place.
Outside of that, she also wanted to try and increase the strength of her dream magic in preparation for her next evolution, as she had a feeling it would be good for her to increase the level of a unique magic like dream magic, as it wouldn’t just make it easier for her to move through the dreamscape in the future, but would also potentially give her access to new unique evolutions.
In fact, outside of just her dream magic, she intended to try and increase the level of all her magic. Curious to see what kind of new evolutions might pop up if she increased the level of her magic.
As for where to go through her next evolution... She had already decided to do it inside the dreamscape, as she worried that those adventurers who had already set off to chase after her might end up finding her if she decided to go through her evolution anywhere but the dreamscape.
In fact, even inside the dreamscape, she had a feeling that the adventurers might come chasing after her.
Of course, different from the material plane, it was clear that it was far more difficult for them to reach the dreamscape and even the one that had managed to reach the dreamscape had his strength severely reduced to the point where he couldn’t put up even the slightest bit of resistance in the face of the dream cloud whale that had ended up swallowing him.
That aside, Scaly decided it would be for the best to remain hidden within some of the low hanging clouds while she flew deeper into the mountain range.
Not just to hide herself from the adventurers that had already set off to chase after her, but also any potential monsters lurking below, as she still had no clue about just how strong the monsters within the depths of the mountain range were.
The only thing she knew for certain about the monsters deep inside the mountain range was the fact that they were anything but weak. If not, she wouldn’t have felt an instinctive feeling of fear whenever she thought about flying into the depths of the mountain range.
And... As she continued moving deeper into the mountain range while also learning to ignore the group of adventurers behind her, Scaly soon enough found her first powerful monster lazing on top a small snow-covered mountain. Not showing the slightest care in the world as it chomped down on a few familiar-looking monsters.
[Forest Boar, lvl 21]
[Forest Boar, lvl 13]
[Forest Boar...]
Forest Boars! Someone who understands good food!
Causing her to exclaim in surprise before nodding her head in approval at the monster’s choice of food, as she herself had just recently come to understand just how delicious tasting these forest boars were.
Along with the lazy pose as it gobbled down on the forest boars that had seemingly been confined by it nearby, Scaly could not help feeling like she encountered a long-lost friend who truly understood her. Almost making her feel like avoiding killing the fellow food enjoyer...