Looking over in the direction of the human adventurer who had suddenly split off from the rest of the adventurers and ended up moving towards her, Scaly could not help but tilt her head in confusion. Not understanding what this little adventurer was up to going into the sandstorm on his own. After all, a single glance was all that was needed to understand that this adventurer wasn’t anywhere close to strong enough to survive on his own on this floor of the dungeon.
But one thing was abundantly clear to her... And that was the fact that this adventurer did seem to have the ability to find her, as he continued to get closer...
"Aha! It should be just over-"
Ptsh-!
[Gained 6768 Exp]
For this reason, the second he got close enough, she didn’t hesitate to cut him down with her claws before he could alert the other adventurers not too far away about her presence.
Something she did succeed in, as it was clear from a glance that none of the adventurers seemed to realize that she had just killed one of them.
Great as this was, she still did feel a bit uneasy knowing that there was a good chance other adventurers might come looking for the adventurer she had just killed and because of this, she decided to push the dead adventurer away from her towards what looked like a small nest of desert foxes.
Waiting eagerly for a few seconds before a few monsters did emerge and begin consuming the dead adventurer. Ensuring that the death of the adventurer wouldn’t end up being linked to her in case the adventurers ended up going back to investigate what had happened. Not because she was afraid of facing the adventurers, but more so because she still wanted the adventurers to show her the way to the passage leading to the fourth floor of the dungeon.
However, as she once again began following behind the now two groups of adventurers from farther away, she quickly realized that they didn’t seem to care as much as she had originally thought about the now dead adventurer. Meaning her efforts to hide the body didn’t matter as much as she had originally thought it would.
Still, her efforts weren’t entirely in vain, as any other adventurers chasing after her who came upon the dead adventurer wouldn’t be able to tell that she was the one behind the death.
Thinking this to herself, as she had nothing better to do while following behind the two groups of adventurers, it didn’t take too long before the two groups of adventurers reached a small hill with what looked like a large entrance carved out of stone. Looking different from any natural stone formation she had encountered in the past. If it wasn’t the path leading to the fourth floor of the dungeon, she didn’t know what else this stone formation could be for.
And looking towards the two groups of adventurers coming to a stop in front of what she already guessed to be the path leading to the fourth floor of the dungeon, she couldn’t stop herself from sneaking a bit closer in an attempt to listen to what these adventurers were talking about and also make sure that the stone entrance did indeed lead to the fourth floor of the dungeon.
After all, though she felt certain that it should be the path to the fourth floor of the dungeon, the fact that these two groups of adventurers had come to a stop and didn’t enter had made her somewhat worried that it might not be a path leading to the fourth floor...
"Are we really going to the fourth floor? I heard even S Rank Adventurers don’t carelessly step onto that floor... And I only just reached the B Rank!"
"You are one to talk, I’m still C Rank..."
"C Rank and you want to hunt down a dragon... Talk about being reckless..."
"Hmph! You are one to talk C or B Rank, aren’t we both just trying to ride the tail of those A and S Rank Adventurers to earn ourselves the title without putting in any effort?"
"That... I guess you are right..."
But, as she got close enough to the two groups of adventurers and overheard the conversation between two of the adventurers lingering close to the edge of the two groups, she quickly realized that her worry was for nothing. The reason why they hadn’t made their way to the fourth floor had nothing to do with the entrance, not being one that led to the fourth floor, but instead had to do with the weaker adventurers feeling uneasy about descending to the fourth floor of the dungeon.
Although unexpected, it wasn’t entirely something she didn’t understand, as she had already personally experienced how weak some of these adventurers were.
If they had to face a monster that had reached the S Rank as they called it, they would have no way to fight back. Making their hesitation to descend to the fourth floor understandable. After all, at least they could survive on their own on the third floor to some extent.
In the end, it was this hesitation that ended up with the adventurers lingering around the entrance without stepping forward, as the stronger adventurers who wanted to descend were in the process of convincing their weaker counterparts about descending to the fourth floor.
Originally, it wasn’t something Scaly worried about, as it shouldn’t take too long before they were convinced and made their way down to the fourth floor of the dungeon, but... Just as it the two groups of adventurers looked like they were about to set off. Another group of adventurers emerged from the side and joined up with the two groups about to descend to the fourth floor. Stopping them as the new group of adventurers caused the hesitant adventurers from the other two groups to hesitate again, their earlier confidence about facing the fourth floor dissipating into thin air faced with a new group of hesitant adventurers...