From the seemingly empty forest, what could only be described as a towering creature emerged from nowhere in front of her, shimmering in countless colors as it moved in and out of existence for a few painfully long seconds before fully manifesting into reality. Blocking her path forward in the process, as the once open air above the floating continent had been entirely blocked by this towering being of the dreamscape that Scaly found herself unable to fully comprehend, as its sheer size alone far exceeded any monster or other living being she had encountered before.
Even the most mundane movements from this towering and almost godly being caused the very earth beneath it to tremble as if about to break under its immense weight.
Still, Scaly could clearly sense that this terrifying being in front of her had not yet noticed her presence and was seemingly still in the process of waking up, something she felt eternally grateful for, as she had no way to fool herself into thinking she had the strength to kill this giant being of the dreamscape whose size alone covered over a dozen kilometers of the forest she had been about to fly over.
But... Out of curiosity at this terrifying being of the dreamscape that was by far the strongest living creature she had encountered so far. Even making the powerful adventures she had encountered in the past look weak in comparison. Scaly decided to use her inherent ability to inspect this terrifying being...
[Devourer of Dreams, lvl ???]
[Description: A being of immense power the lurks within the dreamscape, often hidden and intangible as it merges with the very flow of the dreamscape and enters a state of slumber. Creating what many refer to as miniature dream worlds that those accidentally walking into these sleeping giants end up entering.
Escaping from these miniature dream worlds is possible, but must be done before the giant wakes, as ones awake, escape will become impossible without strength teetering on the divine, as the strength of the sleeping giants earned them the title demigods of the dreamscape. A testament to their terrifying strength.]
And for the first time, Scaly found herself faced with a status where she couldn’t see the level of the other party nor anything beyond how terrifyingly powerful this being known as a devourer of dreams was.
Rumble~
Worse yet, different from the past, it seemed like this terrifying being had somehow detected her earlier inspection of its status, as it began slowly turning towards her, something that without a question left Scaly not just in a state of panic, but also a state of fear that she hadn’t felt before.
The only positive about the current situation was the fact that this terrifying being wasn’t fully awake and wasn’t anywhere near its strongest state, as it had yet to turn its head facing the depths of the floating continent back towards her. Giving Scaly the chance to escape... And escape she did, as she dived down into the dense forest below before rapidly making her way in the opposite direction around the towering dreamscape giant while it turned back to look at where it had sensed her earlier.
Yes, she could jump off the floating continent and try to escape into the sky of the dreamscape, but she had a feeling that doing that wouldn’t work against this terrifying being considered a demigod of the dreamscape.
Hiding beneath the floating continent was also an option but doing that would also come with the risk of being attacked by the dream cloud whales who were still lurking close to the edge of the floating continent.
After all, even though she had roughly determined where the border to the lower part of the dreamscape was located. Not a single part of her trusted that those ferocious dream cloud whales would uphold their docile behavior when faced with a chance to feast. Not to mention, they might make some sound that attracted that terrifying devourer of dreams to peek over the edge of the floating continent. In which case she would be dead.
Strong as she was, the only path to escape that Scaly saw for herself in this situation was to go around the devourer of dreams in the opposite direction that its massive head slowly lifted off the ground was turning. Making full use of the massive body of this giant of the dreamscape to hide herself in the process, as it had already become clear to her that it didn’t sense her directly but merely the action, she had taken earlier to inspect its status.
Following the example of the dreamscape monster who were escaping should be more than enough for her to ensure her own safety in the current situation.
The main reason for this was that she had no doubt that she wasn’t the reason why this towering giant of the dreamscape had woken up.
Even if she had already realized that the so-called dreamscape dungeon she had entered was most likely the miniature world created inside this towering giant of the dreamscape, she didn’t believe that the few snakes she killed inside that miniature world would be enough to awaken this giant of the dreamscape. Instead, she had a feeling that she was just unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
If she waited for a bit, whatever had caused this giant of the dreamscape to awaken would draw this giant of the dreamscape away and allow her and the dreamscape monsters shivering in fear at the awakening of this giant being to escape danger.
And soon enough, as Scaly found herself following a group of dreamscape monsters escaping to blend in, she watched as the giant glanced back at where she had been only a few minutes earlier before turning back again without a single hint of interest in trying to find her.
RUUMBLE-!
Following which, the devourer of dreams seemed to wake up fully as it stood up and began making its way deeper into the floating continent. Moving at what seemed like a slow pace that turned out to be terrifyingly fast, as every single step covered hundreds of meters. Covering dozens of kilometers in only a few steps and disappearing in another few steps behind a few towering mountains further inland.
The goal and reason behind the awakening of this giant of the dreamscape remaining unknown from beginning to end, as Scaly could only stare towards its disappearing figure with a sense of both awe and fear.
Awe from the sheer power displayed and fear knowing that she herself stood no chance in the face of this kind of terrifying being.
At the same time, the encounter with this terrifying demigod of the dreamscape also made her realize that she still had a long way to go.
Even if she managed to succeed with her sixth evolution, she understood that while she might stand a chance against those powerful adventurers she had encountered in the past, she wouldn’t stand a chance against this demigod of the dreamscape. To do that, she would most likely have to undergo a seventh evolution, something that was still far from her considering how she hadn’t even managed to complete her sixth evolution.
Still... The appearance of this giant of the dreamscape wasn’t just awe inspiring, but it also provided Scaly with some much-needed motivation to continue improving. Now knowing that even after undergoing her sixth evolution, she would still be far from her original goal of becoming an unbeatable dragon standing at the very pinnacle of the world and the dreamscape.
After all, now that she knew about the existence of the dreamscape, she wasn’t satisfied with just becoming the strongest within the material plane, she now also wanted to become the strongest in the dreamscape.
Problem was, though she was filled with motivation, she couldn’t exactly find any dreamscape monsters to hunt down after the emergence of the devourer of dreams.
Not because she was cautious about flying up to get a look of the surroundings, but instead because the dreamscape monsters that had been clearly visible in the past had all hidden away without showing any signs of themselves and where they had gone.
Clearly, like her, they had been scared into hiding with the emergence of the devourer of dreams. The main difference between them and her being that they didn’t emerge after the devourer of dreams had left and remained hidden.
Even worse, the dreamscape monsters she had been escaping alongside had similarly disappeared after she had taken to the sky briefly to try and find those stronger dreamscape monsters. Leaving her with no prey to hunt down on the floating continent. Even beyond the floating continent, it was clear that the emergence of the devourer of dreams had caused everyone to hide away. Meaning even if she left the floating continent, she wouldn’t have any dreamscape monsters to hunt down.
A truly tragic situation...