Knowing that there was little time left before those two S Rank Monsters followed by the horde of swamp monkeys emerged from the passage to the fifth floor of the dungeon that had been opened by them as they reached the fourth floor, Verdell and the rest of the adventurers present gathered what little gear and food left before setting off in the opposite direction of the passage to the fifth floor of the dungeon. Hoping to create a large enough distance between themselves and the monsters chasing after them before they got to the fourth floor of the dungeon. Making it difficult for them to chase after them.
At the same time, there was also the simple hope that they would be able to run into a group of powerful adventurers capable of handling those two powerful monsters and the swamp monkeys chasing after them.
Unfortunately, taking in their mountainous surroundings, it was clear that they had ended up inside one of the mountain ranges on the fourth floor, a place that made it difficult for them to spot any nearby group of adventurers who might have the ability to help them escape from their current deadly situation.
One good thing being that the mountainous terrain would serve to make it a bit harder for the monsters chasing after them to catch up, but considering two of said monsters had reached the S Rank, there wasn’t much hope that they would be able to create a large enough distance between them before these monsters emerged and began chasing after them.
The only way to ensure everyone had the time to escape would be if someone remained behind to buy time for everyone else, but doing something like that was no different from throwing one’s life away. So, unsurprisingly, no one was willing to stay behind for the greater good.
In a sense, the weaker adventurers could have been left behind to not just buy some time but also increase the overall speed of the group, but... Considering how much effort had been put into keeping those younger adventurers safe along with how bad it would look to leave behind a group of young adventurers, the older adventurers instead decided to have the somewhat stronger ones carry these weaker adventurers to ensure that their running speed didn’t decrease too much because of their presence.
Of course, though Verdell should have been one of the people responsible for carrying one of the weaker adventurers, he ended up not doing so.
Not because he was unwilling to lend a hand, but instead because he, alongside a few other A Rank Adventurers were pulling up the back of the group and had to be ready for a potential clash with the two S Rank Monsters.
Carrying a younger adventurer in that kind of circumstance would only end up placing them in greater danger, thus the task of carrying these younger adventurers was mostly taken up by the somewhat weaker B Rank Adventurers.
Still... As the group continued moving through the mountains terrain that had been swallowed up by countless large pine trees that caused them to lose sight of the passage they had originally used to reach the fourth floor of the dungeon, there was one strange thing that immediately caused everyone except the younger adventurers to fell a sense of dread.
And that was the fact that ever since they had stepped onto the fourth floor of the dungeon, they had not encountered a single monster native to the fourth floor of the dungeon.
For a place like the fourth floor of the dungeon to have a place devoid of any monsters. Especially a place that would normally be swarming with all kinds of monsters under normal conditions, meant that the monsters that should originally have been living there had either been scared away by something or killed off recently.
No matter what it was, the towering pine trees swaying gently in the wind evoked a primal sense of dread that even the younger adventurers began sensing after their seniors suddenly began falling silent after beginning their escape.
To prepare for a potential ambush from a powerful monster native to the fourth floor of the dungeon, Verdell silently signaled for the A Rank Adventurers who were waiting alongside him to face off against the two S Rank Monsters to position themselves around the group while he himself protected the very back of the formation.
This wasn’t done because he planned to recklessly sacrifice himself to the two S Rank Monsters, but instead because he was the only one with the strength to resist a full-on attack by the two S Rank Monsters. Able to buy enough time for the others to react and come to his aid.
The only problem with this arrangement being that the protective layer formed by those A Rank Adventurers wouldn’t be able to hold up in case the monster believed to be lurking around them turned out to have reached the S Rank.
Still, they didn’t have much of a choice, as there was no way for them to guard against every threat they faced. Only able to do their best to try and ensure their own safety as they continued moving forward. Hoping for the best-case scenario that would be them getting out of the mountain range they had found themselves within after reaching the fourth floor without encountering the powerful monster that might be lurking within the pine forest.
ROOOOAR-!
ROOAR!
However, as two equally loud and terrifying roars echoed out behind them, everyone understood that there was a very good chance that whatever might be living within the pine forest had been attracted by those two roars just now.
Even worse, those two powerful roars also announced to them that the two S Rank Monsters chasing after them had indeed ascended from the fifth floor of the dungeon and stepped onto the fourth floor, a reality that many of the adventurers hoped wouldn’t happen, as there was always a chance of those monsters turning around at the last second and descending the spiral staircase.
In fact, unknown to everyone, these two S Rank monsters had originally attempted to retreat down the spiral staircase after they found themselves faced with the final bit of the staircase that cut though the ceiling of the fifth floor, but... At the very last second, the swamp monkeys had emerged behind them and pushed them forward. Forcing them to ascend the spiral staircase leading up to the fourth floor of the dungeon. Completing this final and normally most difficult step in the journey between floors for monsters thanks to the assistance of the swamp monkeys.
As for what it was that stopped monsters from moving between floors like the adventurers did? No one had figured out what it was, but scholarly consensus regarding the matter concluded that it had something to do with the unique souls of dungeon monsters being affected through some mysterious mechanism whenever they attempted to move between dungeon floors.
Of course, there were some unique dungeon born monsters like Scaly, who didn’t suffer from this kind of limitation, though situation like that was rare and generally just seen as an accident where a normal monster that didn’t suffer from the side effects of a normal dungeon born monster.
In most cases, monsters like that would live and die normally, with only a rare few growing to the point where their movement between dungeon floors started to become a problem that the dungeon itself dealt with or the adventurers stepped in to deal with it, as it wasn’t exactly great to have a potential A Rank Monster or even S Rank Monster show up on the first floor of the dungeon filled with younger adventurers who couldn’t even kill a D Rank Monster.
All that aside, the two roars from the two S Rank Monsters did indeed end up drawing the attention of a powerful being-
Huh? More Food?
Though that powerful being was currently busy enjoying a rare, delicious treat in the form of a large forest boar when she heard the loud roars. Only able to think about food when she heard the two powerful roars from afar.
As for who this powerful being was? Of course, it was Scaly who had taken full advantage of the large mountain range to hunt down all the monsters she could find to rapidly increase her own strength and in turn level. Having just taken a short break to recover a bit of her strength while also enjoying the delicious monsters that had inhabited the pine forest before she hunted it close to extinction, a forest mountain boar- Well... She couldn’t remember the entire name of the monster, but all that mattered to her was that it was not just delicious but also provided her with a large quantity of experience.
Enough for her to breakthrough to level 20 during the short time she had hunted them down while also searching for a path to the fifth floor of the dungeon.