[*Ding* Reached level 15]
Continuing to hunt down the mountain desert blood rabbit babies without any care about what kind of powerful monster it might end up provoking, Scaly found her level that had only recently reached 14 reach level 15 in less than twenty minutes.
Although the abundance of the mountain desert blood rabbit babies decreased visibly because of how many of them, she cut through within this short period of time, it didn't stop her from continuing what she was doing, as she didn't have long before she needed to leave the hidden valley and mountain range. After all, the adventurers chasing after her should soon be upon her… And before that happened, she wanted to leave the place to avoid a potential ambush by the adventurers like the one she had ended up facing inside the dreamscape.
Even if this meant she had to give up a good hunting spot filled with easy to kill monsters that provided a lot of experience, she would do so and do her best to kill off as many of the monsters before the adventurers could show up. Taking full advantage of the easy to kill monsters.
By the time she was about to take her leave and start her search for another place on the fourth floor with monsters for her to hunt down, she had already managed to make good progress towards level 16. Not to mention, her original belief that she would encounter a stronger version of the mountain desert blood rabbit due to just how many of the babies she had ultimately ended up killing was proven wrong.
Disappointing as this was given how she had been looking forward to encountering a stronger monster that would at least be able to put up a fight, there was nothing she could do about it if she wanted to leave before the adventurers got to her. The sound of them carving a path through the mountain range and into the hidden valley already echoed, scaring off the surrounding monsters as the large number of adventurers were far from quiet.
If anything, their presence alone had already made it harder for her to continue hunting down the mountain desert blood rabbits still around, as they had begun hiding away, though that might also have something to do with just how many of them had ended up dying over the past half hour…
Whoosh~
No matter what, Scaly had no intention of staying any longer and directly flapped both her wings as she took to the sky in search of a new place to continue hunting down monsters in peace while also looking for a path to the fifth floor of the dungeon.
Since she had the ability to make full use of her flying abilities on the fourth floor of the dungeon alongside the presence of mountains and valleys that could help hide her from the adventurers chasing after her, Scaly didn't find herself too worried about being caught by the adventurers chasing after her. The only real reason why she still decided to search for a passage to the fifth floor of the dungeon even though the environment on the fourth floor along with the strength of the monsters was more than enough for her was the fact that she still worried those stronger adventurers above level 150 might show up.
A worry that wasn't unwarranted, as outside of the cardinal from the Holy Light Church targeting her, the fact that a dragon had emerged within the boundaries of Temple Guard City had already started spreading throughout the region around the city itself and ended up attracting a fair number of adventurers eager to join the hunt for this dragon. Among which, there were indeed a few adventurers above level 150 who happened to have been passing through the area.
Originally, a dragon alone would be far from enough to draw the attention of these adventurers, but the uniqueness of Scaly was her own undoing, as rumors about her being a brand-new dragon that hadn't been recorded within the guild's records spread and reached these powerful adventurers.
Even if this was not the truth, the guild did have information on dreamscale dragons within its records. Few knew about this already unique and rare dragon, thus, most of the adventurers who ended up catching a glimpse of Scaly ended up mistaking her for a brand-new dragon that had never been seen before.
And while a normal dragon wouldn't be enough to draw the attention of these powerful adventurers who originally had other things to do, a new dragon that had never been seen before nor recorded within the guild records was undoubtedly something that drew their attention and made them rush over.
After all, while adding a brand-new monster to the guild records was already considered an achiement worth bragging about, it wouldn't normally be enough to draw over these powerful adventurers.
But… If that new monster was a dragon, the situation would be completely different.
Not because the dragon was specifically stronger than other new monsters, but instead because of the simple fact that dragons represented the strongest monsters in the world and any part of them was beyond valuable, both as materials for weapons and armor, but also to show off.
Of course, the value of a normal dragon was already astronomical, so a newly discovered dragon held value beyond imagination even to SS Rank Adventurers who could be considered to stand on the very pinnacle of strength in the world.
In a way, it was also because the adventurers hunting down Scaly understood just how valuable she was, that they were willing to work together in such a large group. After all, even if the reward was split between over a hundred people, it was still enough to earn an S Rank Adventurer more than they would have otherwise earned by doing normal work for a few years.
As for the B Rank and A Rank that made up the majority of the group of adventurers chasing after Scaly, even if they ended up with far less than the S Rank Adventurers leading them, they would still earn more than they would ever have been able to earn on their own. Essentially, catching Scaly would be enough for these adventurers to either retire or use the infusion of cash to try and elevate their own strength further.
It was also because of this that some adventurers didn't hesitate to try and forcibly catch Verdell, who might have knowledge about Scaly even if doing so went directly against the internal policies of the Adventurers Guild itself.
Speaking of Verdell… While Scaly was flying through the sky of the fourth floor of the dungeon searching for another valley filled with monsters for her to hunt down, Verdell and the group of adventurers he had teamed up with found themselves facing what could only be described as a helpless situation…
"Where did all these monsters suddenly appear from!?"
"How would I know?! They just emerged from the swamp and next thing you know, they are everywhere!"
"Damn it all!"
Surrounded by a large number of monsters that showed no signs of letting them leave the swamp alive. Only able to curse their current situation as they fought back on top the small patch of land, they had found themselves on in the middle of the seemingly endless swamp that they had ended up trapped inside of after being chased into the swamp by an S Rank Monster not too long ago.
Originally, everything had been fine, and they had even shaken off the monsters chasing them into the swamp.
But…
As everything looked fine and they found a piece of stable land within the swamp to settle down on and take a break, they found themselves surrounded by a group of strange swamp monkey monsters that Verdell hadn't ever heard about or seen in the introduction book on the fifth floor of the dungeon.
Still, this was fine given the strength of these monsters not even reaching the B Rank, but with their numbers only increasing even as they continued cutting them down, it was understandable that every began to grow a bit frustrated about their situation… And although Verdell himself hadn't joined in on the cursing and instead focused all his strength on using his fire magic to burn as many of the monsters as possible, he also felt the growing frustration over the situation.
Unfortunately, no matter how frustrated he was about the situation, there was nothing he could do outside of continuously using his fire magic to burn down any of the monsters attempting to get onto the small piece of land and attack them.
The growing desperation of the situation that they found themselves in even reaching the point where the group of younger adventurers that they had been guarded at the center of their group joined in and helped fend off the strange monkey monsters, something that they did at least have the ability to do by teaming up to take on one of them.
Showing that they weren't entirely dead weight in the process, taking down even a single of the swamp monkeys on their own provided them with a tremendous amount of experience that pushed their levels towards 20 at a speed as fast as lightning. Making it very possible for them to promote from the lowest F Rank that they currently found themselves at to the E Rank just above that during the process of fending off the swamp monkeys.
Of course, they would also have to clear a class quest, but at such a low level, the class quests one faced wouldn't be that difficult nor complicated. Mostly just requiring one to kill a certain number of monsters above a certain level or preform a new spell successfully. Nothing hard to complete in the current situation.