Looking back towards the group of adventurers that had been closing the distance with every little break or extended battle she ended up being part of, Scaly could not help feeling like it might be time for her to leave before she ended up being targeted by those powerful adventurers.
After all, strong as she was, she wasn't under any belief that she would be able to do much when faced with the bombardment of fireballs or similar magical projectiles from over a dozen S Rank Adventurers. Not to mention she would also have to watch out for the few using melee weapons capable of reaching her while potentially defending against such an attack.
But… Even if the best thing for her to do in the current situation would be to leave the bloody battlefield, she couldn't get herself to do it, as the large quantity of experience she managed to gain from killing dreamscape monsters that were still abundant and easy to come by compared to any other place on the floating continent made it difficult to simply stop.
[Gained 6242 Exp]
[Gained 12514 Exp]
[*Ding* Reached level 8]
[Gained 5742 Exp]
[Gained 2525 Exp]
[Gained…]
Even though she had spent most of her time killing weaker dreamscape monsters, with the strength of the dreamscape monsters she ended up fighting increasing over time, so did the experience she gained. Bringing her all the way up from level 1 to level 8 within only a single day.
Although this kind of increase in level might not have been considered that much in the past considering just how many dreamscape monsters, she had killed during her time roaming through the bloody battlefield, it was a lot given just how much more difficult it had become for her to level up following her sixth evolution.
During this time, she had also managed to figure out how much her stats increased with each level up… And to be honest, it wasn't that different from how it had been during her fifth evolution. The only real difference being that her magic increased by 50 instead of 40 like it had done before.
Still a lot, but less than what she had anticipated…
Bang!
Having been able to turn her thoughts away from the approaching adventurers while she focused entirely on hunting down dreamscape monsters, Scaly suddenly found herself being brought back to reality as a large something slammed into her and knocked her to the ground.
Ah!? Wa-wa-wa-what is that!?
Feeling a sense of profound confusion over the sudden ambush, Scaly barely found herself turning to see what had caused her to roll over and was left in a state of shock upon realizing that the thing that had collided with her wasn't some dreamscape monster like she had originally thought, but instead a large rock that had clearly been launched by one of those powerful adventurers in the distance.
Even worse, another dozen or so similarly large rocks were all flying towards her. Forcing her to get up on her feet and up into the air before turning into a dragon meat patty.
Roooar!
However, different from her, who had the ability to fly, another powerful monster didn't have the chance to escape like she did and ended up being crushed by the large number of rocks that seemed far tougher than ordinary rocks.
Looking at the scene from above, Scaly couldn't help feeling a sense of pity towards the squished dreamscape monster, as it was only after she had escaped into the air that she realized that the adventurers hadn't directly targeted her, but had instead done a simple sweep of the area with earth magic.
Great as this was, now that she was the only one that had managed to survive the sweep using earth magic, she became the center of attention, as every single one of the adventurers looked up towards her with what could be described as clearly shocked expressions on their faces.
Not knowing what to do as she didn't exactly fit in with those bloody dreamscape monsters that they had been killing just a few seconds earlier, though that was mainly because Scaly herself had done her best to ensure her scales remained in a pristine condition and didn't get dirtied or bloody while fighting. Using her water magic to clean herself properly whenever she took a break.
That was not to say that she was always clean and devoid of blood, but it just so happened that she had only recently cleaned herself of any blood and only had a bit on her claws that the adventurers didn't notice, thus causing their confusion upon seeing her clean and pristine appearance that didn't fit into the bloody battlefield.
Whoosh-!
And for Scaly herself, there was no way that she wouldn't take advantage of this situation, as she wasted no time enhancing her speed with wind magic as she left the group of adventurers behind before they had a chance to recover from their shock and potentially attack her.
"So beautiful…"
"That… Was that a dragon!?"
"No idea, though it is definitely a unique dreamscape monster or maybe not a monster at all, but a native creature of the dreamscape."
Watching Scaly rapidly disappearing into the distance, a few of the adventurers who had momentarily been rendered speechless by her sudden appearance could not help muttering among themselves in a somewhat amazed tone. Catching the attention of the more senior adventurers among the group that hadn't witnessed the appearance of Scaly, that had lasted no more than a few seconds, as they had been busy dealing with other dreamscape monsters. After all, not all of them ended up dying from the sweep of the earth magic, some of the stronger ones managed to resist the earth magic and had to be dealt with by them.
"Hm… If what you said is true, then it might not be a dreamscape monsters. Instead, there is a good chance that it might have been native lifeform of the dreamscape. Not much different from those dream jellyfish that don't attack unless provoked.
Maybe the chaotic battlefield created by those two demigods of the dreamscape caused it to emerge from its slumber or something along that line." Learning about what had happened and why magic support had seemingly faltered, the senior adventurer gave his own thoughts about what kind of creature Scaly was before turning to see another more senior adventurer who could be considered the leader of their group nodding his head.
"What you say does make sense, but all that aside, we need to get back to work and clear out as many dreamscape monsters as possible before they retreat underground again. After all, these subterranean dreamscape monsters are difficult to encounter under normal circumstances and are far more valuable than the ones we usually hunt down."
However, he didn't add much to the conversation and was more so focused on them getting back to hunting down dreamscape monsters.
After all, they had set out with the goal of taking advantage of the situation where the normally difficult to find dreamscape monsters had swarmed to the surface and started a chaotic free for all, to kill as many of these dreamscape monsters as possible and earn a hefty some that would make up for several years of normal income inside the dreamscape.
For this goal, they had managed to gather together close to fifty S Rank Adventurers alongside a hundred A Rank Adventurers to steamroll through the battlefield and though the appearance of a unique dreamscape lifeform like Scaly did interest him, it was far from enough for him to put a break to their operation as the dreamscape monsters that had surfaced had already begun retreating underground.
In this kind of situation, they had to give it their all and kill as many of the powerful dreamscape monsters that remained before heading back to the outpost to figure out just how much they had earnt through this little expedition.
Of course, they wouldn't forget repaying those five from the Holy Light Church, who had brought them the information about what this former battlefield of the two demigods of the dreamscape had turned into.
If not for them willingly sharing this information with them and other adventurers while waiting for the dream gate to reopen, it would have been impossible for them to gather so many people for this expedition.
Not just because of how time sensitive the entire situation was, but also because the information wouldn't have been trustworthy if it had come from another adventurer–or at least it would take some time to verify the information compared to the instinctive trust that was given to the five from the Holy Light Church who had nothing to gain or lose from lying about the situation outside of worsening the relationship between the Holy Light Church and the Adventurers Guild.
For this reason, the leader and the rest of the adventurers all felt like they at least had to repay the five from the Holy Light Church to some extent when they got back.