Landing back on the floating continent, the first thing Scaly noticed wasn’t a curious dreamscape monster peeking at her from a nearby tree before scurrying away after realizing she was looking its way. Instead, it was the very clear remnants of what looked like a campsite used by adventurers that she had seen a few times in the past during her time inside the Howling Caverns Dungeon.
The main difference compared to back then being the fact that she expected to run into campsites like this while travelling through the dungeon and didn’t think much of it, but within the dreamscape, the last thing she expected to encounter was a campsite left behind by a group of adventurers.
What made it worse was the fact that adventurers capable of travelling in this kind of place, that even she had to be careful of, had undoubtedly reached the S Rank.
For them to have been so close to her while she had been going through her sixth evolution made her feel eternally grateful for her decision to avoid going through her sixth evolution somewhere on the floating continent, as she had a feeling that she might have been discovered by the adventurers that she now knew were roaming the floating continent.
Of course, now that her strength had improved and she had officially gone through her sixth evolution, she felt more than ready to face off against these S Rank adventurers who she didn’t dare to take on directly in the past without any special circumstances or ambushes. Not that she herself would ever admit to not daring to face an S Rank Adventurer head on in the past...
Rustle~
Moving around some of the things that had been left around the campsite that seemed to have been left behind in a hurry, Scaly could not help wondering what had caused the sudden panicked escape that seemed to have taken place.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard she looked around the area, there was no signs of whatever dreamscape monster or creature that had caused them to escape in a hurry, though she didn’t exactly expect to find anything given that the campsite looked at least a few days old with anything food related having already been scavenged by some of the weaker dreamscape monsters.
The only thing she managed to find of some interest was the general path that the group of adventurers seemed to have escaped in, as they had made no effort to hide their path during their rapid escape from the campsite. The path leading deeper into the forest at the edge of the floating continent that remained the only part of the floating continent she had explored to date before having rushed to the floating island where she went through her sixth evolution after a... Friendly conversation with the local dream bears...
Dream bears aside, if not for the fact that this path taken by the adventurers led in the exact same direction as a certain demigod of the dreamscape known as a devourer of dreams, she would have already followed in their steps to figure out where they had gone.
Not just because she wanted to test out her current strength against a proper enemy, but also because she was curious about how adventurers entered the dreamscape, as it had been clear from the one that had chased her into the dreamscape the last time around that it wasn’t that simple for adventurers to enter the dreamscape compared to the ease at which she could travel between the material plane and the dreamscape.
Roar-!
And as if to remind her of the fact that she wasn’t somewhere safe, a loud roar from behind her caused her to spin around to face the one who had just roared so brazenly towards her while she had been in deep thought about what to do next.
[Dream Bear, lvl 45]
However, contrary to the powerful opponent that she had expected to face off against, she was instead met by what could only be described as a somewhat weaker looking dream bear who seemed to have an ungodly level of confidence as it stared down at her from a small rock that just barely allowed its head to be a bit higher up than her.
"..."
What in the world does this one want? To enter the cycle of reincarnation ahead of time and be reborn as something better than a dream bear?
Not knowing what else to think of the reckless actions of her opponent that had clearly targeted someone who was far stronger than itself from a simple glance, Scaly decided to lend this reckless little dream bear a hand-
Swish~
Raising her hand before swiping down to end it in a single attack-
BANG!
But contrary to the easy kill she had expected as she swept down towards the dream bear, she was instead met by the hard rock that the dream bear had been standing on top of, as her claw had somehow veered slightly off course and slammed into it with all its might.
ROOOOOoooooooaaar-!
Something that soon enough sent the rock alongside the dream bear flying far off into the distance. Easily crossing the boundary that had been formed around the floating continent, as the boulder and dream bear was soon swallowed up by a colorful cloud that had been passing by. Never to be seen again, as all Scaly could hear was the roaring of the dream bear growing more distant with every passing second before vanishing completely.
To be honest, Scaly wasn’t paying too much attention to the dream bear after she had knocked it off the floating continent and had instead been looking around herself and around the place where the dream bear had been standing seconds earlier, as previous experience had taught her that dream bears always moved together in large groups. Meaning that there should be a lot of dream bears around for her to test her strength and at the same time also increase her level beyond the measly level 1 she had once again ended up returning to after her sixth evolution.
However, maybe because the dream bear this time around was a bit too unique for the other dream bears that lived on the floating continent, there wasn’t any other dream bears emerging to avenge their companion who had gone ahead and become one with the great sky of the dreamscape.
Even as she flew into the sky and observed her surroundings, there was no trace of any other dream bears. Meaning that the dream bear was truly a lone dream bear that had, through unknown means, managed to survive in the dreamscape with strength that was barely comparable to a C Rank Monster.
Landing back at the edge of the abandoned campsite in a somewhat confused state, Scaly decided to not think too hard about how that weak dream bear had even managed to survive in the dreamscape on its own and turned her attention back towards the still visible path that the adventurers had escaped in... And with no more hesitation, she decided to follow the general direction that they had moved in.
Not because she didn’t fear a potential encounter with the demigod of the dreamscape that had gone in the same direction as them, but because she had a feeling that the adventurers wouldn’t recklessly charge off in the direction of such a powerful dreamscape monster.
Not to mention, she still didn’t have any real clue about how long she had truly been asleep for her sixth evolution.
Even if the distance that the small floating island had moved from the floating continent gave her a rough clue that not too long should have passed, she didn’t exactly know if the small floating island and floating continent moved at a constant speed all the time.
For all she knew, it might have been months or years since she closed her eyes and decided to go through her sixth evolution.
With that in mind, it would make sense that whatever battle that the demigod of the dreamscape or devourer of dreams had engaged in had come to an end. Making it reasonable that the adventurers didn’t have anything to fear from moving in the same direction as that demigod of the dreamscape had moved in.
Buuuuut... The path that had been carved through the forest leading further into the floating continent soon enough made it clear to her that it hadn’t been years or even months since she had started her sixth evolution, as she could still spot several smaller dreamscape monsters scavenging around the path. Eating some of the dead dreamscape monsters that had been trampled by the devourer of dreams when it had passed through.
Although this did make her want to turn around and find another path to travel, the fact that the group of adventurers whose temporary campsites she kept running into had already travelled this path, made her confident in continuing to push forward.