Going back in time to a few minutes earlier, Scaly found herself moving through thick foliage while at the same time avoiding constant attacks from both the nightmare hawks above and eri dread woods all around her. Even though the eri dread woods themselves didn’t pose much of a threat and couldn’t harm her, they did end up working alongside the nightmare hawks above, slowing her down and making it more difficult for her to dodge or fight back when they attacked.
Even though she did her best to avoid direct confrontation, she ultimately couldn’t avoid the nightmare hawks forever and ended up being pierced by their claws another two times, the first just barely getting through her scales, while the second managed to almost carry her off into the sky where the rest were waiting. Only managing to escape thanks to her wiggling free before a second talon had the time to grab hold of her.
As for why she didn’t just cut off leg like she had done before... That was because the nightmare hawk had used some kind of strange ability that had strengthened its leg enough to endure her water blade.
But all this pain and the rather undignified escape wasn’t for nothing, as the adventurer outpost soon emerged in the distance.
All she needed to do now was attract the attention of the adventurers inside the city without getting discovered herself in the process while having them target the nightmare hawks.
Difficult as this sounded, it wasn’t that difficult in practice, as all she needed to do was use some magic to draw the attention in her direction and hide within the foliage near a tree that wouldn’t attack her while the nightmare hawks hovering above would draw the attention, as they weren’t exactly hidden.
The only problem she found herself facing was where to use her magic to draw the attention of the adventurers. After all, she doubted a simple small magic spell would draw attention fast enough...
[Human, Elemental Dream Wanderer, lvl 155]
Or that was at least what she thought before she spotted a figure moving around the edge of the towering walls surrounding the outpost working on the magic symbols that still filled her with dread.
Just the strength of this one individual who seemed to just be doing what looked like a few repairs was terrifying and at same time also confirmed her initial suspicion about the terrifying strength of the adventurers within that adventurer dreamscape outpost. Making her feel like she had been rather lucky with the adventurers she had run into so far, as none of them had reached this kind of terrifying level.
However, though she would love to admire the strength of this adventurer, she didn’t exactly have the time to do so as the nightmare hawks above were getting ready to dive down once again in an attempt to capture and kill her-
Swish-!
Wasting no time as she copied her water blade spell and conjured up a blade made of wind magic to make it fit more in line with the nightmare hawks above, as she had seen them use wind magic to enhance their flying speed while they chased after her. Not hesitating as said wind blade flew off towards the oblivious yet powerful adventurer in the distance.
Squawwk-!
Linning up perfectly with the squawking sound of one of the nightmare hawks about to dive down towards her, as the wind blade swept past the oblivious mage and collided with the magic symbols he was working on-
Bang!
Blowing said magic symbols up in his face...
"WHO DARES!?"
And not even a second later, Scaly felt a terrifying wave of mana explode forth from the adventurer as he entered an enraged state far beyond what Scaly had thought possible. Yelling out in anger before suddenly shooting off into the sky filled with killing intent. Heading directly towards the dozen or so nightmare hawks who were completely caught off guard by the sudden change of event. Not even realizing how such a terrifying entity had suddenly targeted them.
Squawk-! Squawk-! Squawk-!
"DON’T THINK YOU ESCAPE! YOU DAMNABLE OVERSIZED CHICKENS!"
But even as the nightmare hawks began a panicked escape, the terrifying adventurer showed no signs of allowing such a thing to happen, as he began a bloody massacre midair. Moving from bird to bird, acting nothing like the mages Scaly had witnessed so far, as he used his bare hands to tear through the nightmare hawks.
Although he did use some kind of magic to enhance his strength in ways she didn’t understand, she had a feeling that this kind of mage was rather unorthodox compared to the other mages she had encountered so far...
Whoosh~
Still, though she wanted to remain behind and observe how those annoying nightmare hawks were torn apart one by one, she understood that doing so might end up with her being discovered by the terrifying adventurer, something she wanted to avoid. Especially now that she saw how this adventurer dealt with his enemies.
Luckily, the adventurer was far too preoccupied dealing with the nightmare hawks to notice her even as the trees around her continued attacking her. Allowing her to slip away unnoticed.
...
Squaaaawk-!
Riiiiip-!
"Hmph! These damnable birds will force the branch to increase operational costs for at least few months even after dismantling them and selling them off!" Ripping the last of the nightmare hawks in half, the branch guild master could not help complaining out loud about the state he found himself in as he threw the dead nightmare hawk corpse towards the ground where the remaining nightmare hawks had piled up.
His annoyance was not so much the fact that operational costs would be higher for a few months, but more so that he would have to inform the guild headquarters about the situation that had taken place to properly justify the increased budget. Soulless work that would take a long time and would involve him having to get involved with the administrative side of the guild, something that any branch guild master dreaded.
Not because of fear, but because one wrong move could land you on the bad side of those paper pushers and result in a host of problems that no branch guild master ever wanted to face.
The only somewhat soothing thing about the current situation being the fact that he had managed to deal with the culprits behind the suffering he was going to go through after he returned from the dreamscape.
"But... With the descent of a night cloud on the floating continent and the appearance of powerful dreamscape monster of the nightmare branch, it might be for the best that I remain within the dreamscape for now. Especially now that the... barrier, suffered serious and unexpected damage..." Muttering this to himself as he stared back towards the place where the magic symbols had ended up suffering significant damage, the corner of branch guild master’s mouth could not help lifting slightly as a plan began taking shape in his mind.
"Yes... I must stay in the dreamscape for now, so, I can only reluctantly push the task of dealing with those paper pusher- Ehm, respected staff members of the guild financial sector to my respected vice branch guild master." Smiling as he said this to himself as if to convince himself what he said was true, the branch guild master smiled happily as he soon set off back towards the outpost in the distance.
Using a small spell to carry the dozen or so towering corpses of the nightmare hawks back with him. Creating an image that was hard for any of the adventurers who witnessed it to forget, as nightmare hawks were well known among adventurers of the dreamscape. After all, they were deadly to S Rank Adventurers, and nobody actively hunted them because they tended to gather in groups.
To hunt a group of S Rank Dreamscape Monsters under normal circumstances was already difficult, let alone ones that could fly...
Unknowingly, the branch guild master ended up boosting his own reputation from the casual move of carrying the corpses openly in through the gate before dumping them off at a dismantling station located near the dream gate.
Wasting no time during the entire process as he rushed back through the dream gate to inform the vice branch guild master about the unfortunate situation that had taken place and the fact that he would have to leave the management of the branch back in the material plane in his hand while he handled the situation in the dreamscape.
Learning about it, it was undeniable that the vice branch guild master was overcome with joy to the point of crying, as the branch guild master decided not to disturb the vice branch guild master any longer after having informed him about his new responsibilities and the urgent need to inform the financial sector of the guild about the needed changes to the branch guilds operational expenses before returning to the dreamscape...