Taking the opportunity to observe her surroundings while calming down from the chaotic situation she had just gone through and barely made it through safely without suffering any injuries in the process, it didn’t take long before Scaly found her gaze being drawn towards something moving in the distance...
[Desert Fox, lvl 13]
And looking closer, she realized the thing moving in the distance was in fact a monster, one that should be native to the first floor of the dungeon she now found herself inside of.
Not just that, but the strength of this monster was clearly far above the oversized rats that she had encountered on the first floor of the Howling Caverns Dungeon. Making it clear that the overall difficulty of this dungeon should be higher than that of the Howling Caverns Dungeon.
Great as this might be, it also made her a bit worried, as she understood that the adventurers she would encounter were going to be far stronger as well.
If she could pick them off in small groups or even alone, that would be fine, but faced with a large group of adventurers, she would once again find herself in trouble.
To solve this problem of not being able to properly deal with a large number of enemies at the same time, she decided to dedicate her future training time between hunting down monsters to try and learn a magic spell capable of dealing with a large number of enemies at the same time.
The problem was, even if she wanted to learn this kind of large-scale spell on her own, it wasn’t exactly simple. Not just because she didn’t have anyone to guide her and had to learn everything on her own, but also because coming up with large scale magic spells like a giant wind tornado using wind magic or massive tsunami using water magic was simple, but actually creating the spells in question was far harder than just trying to will it forth with her imagination.
Not because it wasn’t possible to use her magic in that kind of way, but doing so would essentially sap all her mana in an instant if she wanted the water or wind to carry any kind of power beyond normal wind or water.
The only real spell she had created so far that affected a large area was water mist spell, but that spell didn’t carry much lethality and was more so for her to conceal herself.
Swish~
Lost in her own thoughts as she pondered over potential future directions she could take her magic for dealing with a large number of enemies at the same time, the sound of sand shifting and wind churning next to her brought her back from her thoughts as she found herself face to face with what looked like a meter long scorpion whose stinger was already flying towards her at a terrifying speed that was impossible to dodge at such a close distance.
Ptsh-! Crack~
Huh? It got through!?
And to Scaly’s shock, the stinger managed to successfully pierce through her defenses at the expense of the stinger itself breaking apart shortly after the venom within it had been forced inside her body through the injurie.
Bang!
Of course, Scaly herself didn’t think too much about it as she directly swept forth one of her claws and crushed the bold scorpion daring enough to ambush her.
[Gained 5602 Exp]
However, as she saw the large amount of experience following the death of the scorpion along with feeling the venom inside her body to disappearing immediately even with her poison and venom resistance at level 5, she couldn’t help feeling a bit worried about the scorpion that had just attacked her as she decided to inspect it to hopefully figure out what kind of venom had been injected into and was currently spreading through her body without showing any signs of stopping.
[Envoy of Death Valley, lvl 65 (Dead)]
[Description: A unique evolution of the death touch scorpion, a highly venomous scorpion feared by S Rank Adventurers and Monsters alike because of its terrifying venom. The Envoy of Death Valley being an evolution of such a deadly scorpion is even more feared than the death touch scorpion, with venom more than powerful enough to kill a powerful S Rank Monster.
So far, this unique evolution of the death touch scorpion is only known to be found within a special valley known as Death Valley and unique desert dungeon. Avoid at all costs, if possible, as the speed of its stinger is impossible for an S Rank Adventurer or Monster to dodge.]
Reading this encouraging description of the now dead scorpion, Scaly didn’t know what to say as she felt like crying but had no tears to do so.
Not only was the scorpion that had just injected its venom into her in a seemingly suicidal attack deadly to the point where even S rank Adventurers and Monsters alike were rendered helpless to resist, but it had also appeared in place that was completely outside of the norm.
After all, she was only on the first floor of the dungeon! How in the world was she supposed to account for some kind of deadly scorpion with terrifying venom over level 60 ambushing her?
Unfortunately, no matter how much she complained about the current situation she had found herself in as the venom continued spreading through her body. Fighting head on with her powerful vitality. Scaly also understood that there wasn’t much she could do now that things had already developed to this point.
At the very least, though the venom wasn’t immediately taken care of, it wasn’t winning either and was slowly being suppressed and eliminated by the combined efforts of her venom resistance and powerful vitality.
With enough time, she was confident that she could not only overcome the powerful venom now coursing through her body but also take advantage of the situation to boost the level of her own poison and venom resistance in the process.
Still, before the venom was taken care of, she found herself in a somewhat weakened state and couldn’t exactly fight with her full strength when it came to physical combat. Meaning she would have to rely on her magic when it came to fighting in the short term. Not exactly something that would affect her that much considering that she doubted the strength of the remaining monsters on this first floor of the dungeon was comparable to the scorpion she had just been ambushed by.
Instead, she felt that the remaining monsters would more so be comparable to the desert fox she had seen in the distance.
Meaning her only real worry was encountering a group of powerful adventurers during her somewhat weakened state.
Whoosh~
But just to be safe, she decided to take to the sky to avoid another ambush. Only feeling like she would be safe in the sky, as it would be far harder for anyone to approach her without noticing in the cloudless sky of the desert.
Huh? That is...
However, as she took to the sky and had the chance to observe the desert from a top-down view, she almost instantly noticed countless scorpions that had been slowly approaching where she had been standing a second earlier.
[Envoy of Death Valley, lvl 57]
[Death Touch Scorpion, lvl 27]
[Death Touch Scorpion, lvl 32]
[Envoy of Death Valley, lvl 67]
[Death Touch Scorpion, lvl 35]
[Death Touch Scorpion, lvl 21]
[Death Touch Scorpion...]
Not just any scorpions, but the deadly ones that would undoubtedly have been capable of killing her if they got the chance to inject more venom inside her body, as what had already been injected inside her body was only barely being held back and eliminated.
The realization that she had been so close to dying along with the clear power of these scorpions that far exceeded the level of any other monster she could now see roaming throughout the desert from the sky made her feel a sense of increasing confusion. Wondering where these powerful and deadly scorpions had suddenly come from.
Swish-! Ptsh!
[Gained 3204 Exp]
But in the end, it didn’t matter much to her where they had come from, as now that they had been fully exposed to her, they were nothing more than easy experience. Their terrifying venom essentially turning them into a glass cannon with little to no defense, as her water blade without any extra mana added was more than enough to kill one of them when she decided to test out their strength.
Swish~ Swish~ Swish~
And after confirming they had no chance to resist her water blade, she didn’t hesitate as water blades soon rained down from above towards the unsuspecting scorpions-
[Gained 7804 Exp]
[Gained 2304 Exp]
[Gained 1564 Exp]
[Gained...]
[*Ding* Reached level 13]
[Gained 2224 Exp]
[Gained 6722 Exp]
[Gained...]
Causing the sand below to turn red, as the scorpions had no way to fight back and began falling one by one to the water blades raining down from above with only a few lucky ones managing to escape below the sand in time.