Whoosh~!
"Huh? Aaaah-!"
Feeling the ground beneath him vanishing, Verdell found himself in a state of bewilderment as one of Scaly’s claws grabbed hold of him and began carrying him off before he had time to comprehend what was happening. Only able to fearfully look towards the increasingly far away ground below. Not understanding what had suddenly caused this kind of reaction.
"Quick! It’s escaping again!"
"Don’t let it escape! Hurry! I don’t want our journey through this damnable mountain range to turn out to be for nothing!"
"Easier said than done... It’s already too far away for us to reach..."
Of course, this didn’t last long, as the adventurers already in the process of surrounding the place where he and Scaly had landed began revealing themselves. Making the originally confused Verdell understand why Scaly had suddenly decided it was time to leave without even giving him the time to react.
Thinking about, though he currently found himself hanging upside down looking towards a disappointed group of adventurers below, he felt that he should be grateful that he hadn’t been left behind, as his opportunity to complete the class quest would not just have vanished in that situation, but there was also a good chance those adventurers would capture him in attempt to get more information on Scaly.
After all, though he wasn’t that well known originally amongst most adventurers, thanks to a certain someone, he was sure that information on him had spread amongst everyone trying to hunt down Scaly.
"Wait- Is it just me or is there someone beneath that dragon...?"
"Huh? Now that you say it... It does look like there is someone..."
"Not just someone! Look, isn’t that the dwarf- Verdell was it, that everyone has been searching for!?"
And indeed, as he passed over the group of unwilling adventurers who had been in the process of surrounding Scaly, it didn’t take long before he was recognized even in his rather uncomfortable state.
"Indeed... It does look like that dwarf, but how did he get himself in that kind of situation?"
"Who knows, maybe this is how to ride this dragon? At least it doesn’t look like he is going to be eaten..."
"True, this is a new dragon after all. Maybe the way to ride it differs a lot from what we are used to when thinking about riding a dragon."
Although... Listening to the voices of the adventurers echoing out below him, it was clear that these people had no idea that he wasn’t riding the dragon. Believing he was using some kind of unique dragon riding technique that required him to be carried upside down by Scaly.
Putting aside how odd it would be if that was really the case, Verdell felt like he had to hand it to the group of adventurers below for them to be capable of making it seem like he was riding a dragon while being essentially grabbed by one of its claws dangling around like how prey caught by the same dragon would end up dangling.
No matter how he thought about it, he simply couldn’t understand how this looked like him riding a dragon from the perspective of those adventurers down below. Making him feel somewhat conflicted, knowing that information of him riding the dragon in this kind of unique manner was undoubtedly about to spread amongst the different adventurers currently trying to hunt him- or rather the dragon, down.
...
A short time after Scaly and Verdell escaped from the mountain range, a large number of adventures led by a burly middle-aged man got to the group of adventures who had seen Scaly and Verdell fly off.
"That Verdell reappeared... And... He was seen riding the dragon?" The burly middle-aged man stepping forward to ask this after learning about what had just happened. Not having seen it himself and part of him not fully believing the story of Verdell flying off with the dragon. Especially the rather unique rising method that he had apparently used in the process.
"Yes! We all saw it with our own eyes!" But unfortunately for him, the surrounding adventurers had no idea what he was thinking about and just nodded their head in agreement after hearing the question. Not feeling like there was anything wrong with what they had seen.
If anything, the unique way of riding the dragon that they had never even heard about before made them more certain than ever that the dragon they had seen was indeed a brand new kind of dragon.
"..."
Seeing the looks of absolute confidence after answering his question, the burly adventurer could not help silently lowering his head. Realizing that there was a good chance these adventurers had seen Verdell being captured by the dragon and carried off and had mistaken it as him somehow riding the dragon.
If he wasn’t wrong, there was a good chance that the dwarf was already dead after having been caught by the dragon.
In the first place, he had always found it unbelievable that someone who hadn’t even reached the S Rank could ride a dragon and now he felt like the rumors he had heard was nothing more than that, rumors.
Still, the fact was, he had arrived too late and didn’t manage to catch up to the dragon and had to continue his hunt through the fourth floor.
However with his strength as an SS Rank Adventurer, he was confident that no one else would be able to take down the dragon before he could show up.
All he needed to do was bide his time and wait for the dragon to get exhausted by constantly having to escape from other adventurers.
"Leader! There is new information on the dragon! It was just seen flying up a spiral staircase to the third floor. The dwarf was also seen in its claws."
But as he was preparing to set off, someone new suddenly emerged from the nearby foliage and called out to him. Informing him and the rest listening from the side that the dragon that should have continued flying through the fourth floor of the dungeon searching for a path to the fifth floor, had apparently decided to return to the third floor of the dungeon.
Why this had happened... He had no idea, but what he knew for certain was the fact that this wasn’t good for him. After all, he had originally been certain he would be the first SS Rank Adventurer who got to the dragon given the fact he was ahead of everyone he knew about making their way to the dungeon in search of the dragon.
Now that the dragon had escaped back up the dungeon contrary to what he had originally thought to be the dragon’s plan of escape.
Because of this, his somewhat relaxed demeanor changed into one of urgency. Understanding that he no longer had the time to relax.
After all, while it might be easy for him to claim the corpse of the dragon from a bunch of S Rank Adventurers, the same could not be said for someone at the SS Rank.
If anything, his own strength wasn’t that impressive among SS Rank Adventurers and could to some extent even be considered weak, as he had only recently reached level 150 and reached the SS Rank.
For this reason, he didn’t dare waste a single second-
Whoosh-!
"Huh? L-leader!?"
Rushing off without bothering to say anything to the group of adventurers he had recruited to gather information on the dragon after entering the dungeon. Knowing that he couldn’t hold back and had to give it his all of he wanted to stand a chance at getting to the dragon first.
Problem was, though he was an SS Rank Adventurer, his ability to fly wasn’t exactly the best out there and could be considered among the worst for his rank. Not just because his class was a close combat one, but also because he had not learnt a skill for flying like most other adventurers of a similar Rank might have.
His only means for flight was a special artifact that blew up a large black balloon that he grasped into with one hand as the balloon flew him forward through the air while his other hand was free to hold a sword for battle.
Comical as he looked floating through the air holding onto a giant black balloon, it was the best means of travel available to him in a place like the fourth floor of the swirling sands dungeon. Able to help him fly over any mountain range in his path and giving him a clear view of his surroundings.
At the same time, it would also help him save a lot of time climbing up one of the spiral staircases spread throughout the fourth floor leading back up to the third floor.
As for his speed while holding onto the black balloon? It was comparable to that of a flying monster at the A Rank.
In other words, a really fast balloon...