Feeling the adventurers closing in, Scaly reluctantly gazed towards a few monsters in the distance before ultimately flapping her wings as she flew off in the opposite direction of the adventurers. Knowing that nothing good would come from her confronting them, as she had already attempted to do so once over the past few hours. Only to gain nothing and get swarmed by other adventurers who were rapidly converging towards her location.
If not for her ability to fly and the fact that she had decided to cut her losses and retreat before getting surrounded on all sides, she would have ended up being overwhelmed by the sheer number of adventurers alone back then, something that had ultimately made her decide against trying to attack the adventurers chasing after her again.
Because of this, her original intention of making use of the fourth floor of the dungeon to increase her strength had been forced to an early stop as she instead focused most of her energy on finding a path leading down to the fifth floor of the dungeon. Not because she was truly afraid of the adventurers chasing after her so to speak, but more so because it was impossible for her to deal with so many of them and their mere presence made it impossible for her to hunt down monsters and level up peacefully on the fourth floor of the dungeon.
Something that had become even more obvious with how these adventurers seemed to have no issue finding her no matter where she went. The longest she had gone without interference from these adventurers since entering the fourth floor of the dungeon outside of the first few hours since entering, was a little over half an hour.
Originally, this was not really something she worried about, but as she began growing exhausted with the continuous encounters and had nowhere to rest, she realized just what these adventurers were up to. Exhausting her to the point where she would no longer be able to fight back or even escape from them.
Of course, knowing what these adventurers were up to and putting a stop to it was two entirely different things, as she simply didn't have any way to stop the adventurers chasing after her outside of finding a passage leading to the fifth floor of the dungeon, something that had turned out to be far harder than she had originally anticipated.
Although she had heard a bit about how difficult it was to find a passage leading down to the fifth floor of the dungeon from the adventurers chasing after her, she hadn't expected it to be this difficult.
After all, compared to the adventurers who were mainly restricted to wandering around on the ground, she could fly through the sky and easily see far more, something that should have made it simple for her to find a passage leading to the fifth floor of the dungeon with how much of the fourth floor she covered since reaching the fourth floor.
But to make her current situation even more frustrating than it already was, something completely unexpected that she hadn't had the time to inspect in detail before she took to the sky in search of another place to either rest or hunt down monsters to increase her own strength had appeared…
[Dragon Seeker's Attention]
[You have drawn the attention of a dragon seeker; you can choose to aid them in their quest to befriend a dragon or ignore them]
[Reward for establishing friendly relationship: Dragon Blood Purity increase by 5%]
[Ignore the Dragon Seeker: Obtain unique skill, Dragon's Pride]
Looking through this sudden appearing quest that had popped up as she flew through the sky of the fourth floor, Scaly couldn't help feeling confused. Not only because she had no idea who this dragon seeker was nor where this dragon seeker had come from, but also because the rewards for either of the two choices for this quest felt tempting to her.
One was a direct increase in the purity of her dragon blood, while the other was a unique dragon related skill that sounded amazing.
Although part of her felt more tempted by the direct increase in the purity of her dragon blood, even if it meant befriending this dragon seeker, there was one simple problem that stood before her… And that was the simple fact that she had no idea who this dragon seeker was nor how to find him or her.
The only clue she had was the fact that the other party shouldn't be hostile towards her. Meaning that she could rule out the adventurers who were chasing after her.
Of course, one good thing about this random quest that had popped up out of nowhere was the fact that no matter what she did, she would still get rewarded and lose nothing.
Still… Knowing that there was a way to further strengthen her dragon bloodline but being unable to do anything to complete this was a bit frustrating to say the least.
But if more such random quests appear in the future, she might not have to worry about fully purifying her dragon bloodline in the future. Problem was, she had distinct feeling that this kind of quest that randomly manifested wouldn't be that easy to encounter in the future. After all, to this day, this was the only such quest that had ever appeared.
Rumble~
Huh? What is that…?
Lost in her own thoughts as she aimlessly flew forward through the sky, Scaly was suddenly brought back to reality by a loud rumbling sound coming from below, causing her attention to shift downwards only to be met with something that could be described as both terrifying and tempting in its own way…
[Mountain Crusher Worm, lvl 62]
[Mountain Crusher Worm, lvl 58]
[Mountain Crusher Worm, lvl 65]
[Mountain Crusher Worm Juvenile, lvl 24]
[Mountain Crusher Worm, lvl 74]
[Mountain Crusher Worm Juvenile, lvl 29]
[Mountain Crusher Worm, lvl 71]
[Mountain Crusher Worm…]
As what looked like thousands of small worms all squirming together in one giant mass of flesh burst forth from the mountain below her as the mountain in quest collapsed in on itself. Having seemingly hollowed out by these countless monster worms that now dot the landscape below emerging from the rubble in terrifying numbers.
Looking closely, these worms didn't linger amidst the rubble for long, as she soon saw them surging towards a nearby mountain, some who had been lucky enough to be sent flying towards said mountain already digging into it before disappearing a few seconds later.
If she wasn't wrong, it wouldn't take long before the countless mountain crusher worms, both grown up and juvenile disappeared into the mountain they had turned into their next target for hollowing out like the one they had seemingly just collapsed. Meaning, she had little time to act on this clearly great opportunity to increase her own strength.
Swish-!
Seemingly forgetting the quest of the dragon seeker that had just been the sole focus of her attention, Scaly didn't hesitate for even a second as she dived down towards the defenseless worms below. Having already understood that these worms posed little to no challenge to her in their current state.
If anything, they were just helpless to watch as she slaughtered her way through them, as they seemingly relied on the protection provided by a mountain to survive under normal circumstances. Now without the protection of a mountain to defend their relatively fragile bodies, they stood no chance in the face of Scaly even if they had the ability to use earth magic.
[Gained 6122 Exp]
[Gained 3467 Exp]
[Gained 7345 Exp]
[*Ding* Reached level 16]
[Gained 3644 Exp]
[Gained 4122 Exp]
[Gained…]
[*Ding* Reached level 17]
Because of this, Scaly, who had already been close to reaching level 16, reached this level in a relatively short time before soon enough reaching level 17 within only a few minutes.
This kind of terrifying progress only became possible thanks to the abundance of mountain crusher worms that were not only high in level but also had little to no means to defend themselves against a flying dragon like Scaly who excelled at both physical and magical attacks.
The only thing they could do to get out of their current situation was rush towards the mountain that now seemed infinitely far away, as Scaly had no way to chase after them once they dug their way into the mountain.
Unfortunately for them, Scaly was also fully aware of this and made sure to target the ones closest to the mountain first to prevent as many of these easy to kill monsters from escaping as possible. Wanting nothing more than to rapidly increase her strength so she would be better equipped to deal with the large number of adventures still chasing after her from behind.
Adventurers that she hoped wouldn't show up an disturb her current rapid growth, as that would truly not be something she would willingly give up on…