What in the world is that dwarf thinking about? Suddenly talking about the dungeon panicking and a passage between this floor and the first. Can’t he just show me what way to fly!? Even if there are a few adventurers, we can always just fly straight through them. Giving them no time to react or fight back!
Listening to Verdell mumbling to himself something about the dungeon panicking that she didn’t understand, Scaly instead found herself far more focused on the fact that he had mentioned knowing a path that would be able to take them back up to the first floor of the dungeon... And knowing this, she had no intention of waiting for him to come to a decision-
Whoosh~
"Huh? Aaaaaah-!"
Doing a barrel roll midair to wake him up from the dazed state he had entered before diving down to catch him before he plunged headfirst into the sea of sand below them. Finding a barely breathing dwarf now clutching his chest while breathing heavily on her back. Having clearly not expected to suddenly get thrown off without any time to use the feather falling spell to slow himself down.
The entire situation was scary to say the least, as he had truly thought he was going to crash into the ground below. Not able to tell the difference between the sea of sand or the small, isolated islands that appeared throughout the second floor of the dungeon in such a short time. Not that it would have made much difference in the first place, as he would have still ended up dead given that sand wasn’t exactly soft to land on from so high up.
"W-w-what is it...?" Understanding that Scaly wanted something from him, Verdell couldn’t stop himself from stuttering a bit still in shock from the sudden sky diving experience as he asked the dragon who had no clue that she had just been about to end the little dwarf with a heart attack.
Rustle~
Responding to Verdell by pointing towards the magical compass once again. Making Verdell realize that she had likely overheard him earlier when he had unknowingly talked to himself in a state of shock following the sudden change that the dungeon had undergone.
"I understand... But going through that passage will be extremely dangerous and we might even run into several groups of adventurers wanting to become dragon hunters. Are you sure you want to go through that path? We can always try and look for another passage leading to the first floor of the dungeon or wait it out to see if the spiral staircases reemerge."
Listening to what Verdell said, the warnings of the danger they might run into along the way went in on one side and out the other.
No matter what Verdell said, there was no convincing her against taking a path to the first floor of the dungeon. Especially now that she had become fully aware of just how difficult it was going to be for her to find another such passage on her own. Maybe it might even have been simpler for her to have stayed on the fifth floor of the dungeon searching for a path there.
Although... From what Verdell said, she guessed that the passages to the fifth floor of the dungeon had also become far harder to find than they already were. Making it even more impossible for her to find one of those damnable passages that had managed to evade her in the past.
"I understand... Start going in that direction, I will tell you when we are close..." Knowing that they would soon enough find themselves facing a life and death struggle trying to get to the first floor, Verdell just nodded his head and informed her of what direction to move before closing both his eyes. Planning to use what little time he had left to meditate and recover as much of his mana as possible before the upcoming battle.
In his head, the class quest slowly reemerge as he used it to remind himself abut what he was fighting for and the opportunity that stood before him should he managed to successfully establish a friendship with the dragon he was now going to go through a life and death situation with for a second time in a row.
Two was not much, but it was surprising that he had ended up in this kind of life and death situation with a dragon twice. Especially when one considered that most A Rank Adventurer went their entire life without seeing a dragon, let alone going through a life and death situation together with one.
Hm? Did the class quest change?
But as he was about to shift his attention away from the class quest, he suddenly realized that the quest had changed compared to the last time he had looked through it...
[Trial of the Dragon Seeker]
[You have been chosen by the Dragon Seeker to fulfill his lifelong wish to find a dragon and befriend it. The dragon can’t be a juvenile or young dragon. Complete this simple wish and the path forward will be clear.]
[Befriend a dragon: 0/1]
[Pet a dragon: 1/1 (Complete]
[Ride a dragon: 1/1 (Complete)]
[Hidden Achievement, Escape a life and death situation thanks to the help of a dragon: 1/1 (Complete)]
At the very end of the class quest, a new, hidden achievement, had emerged... And even more surprisingly, he had already completed it.
Being someone who prided himself on being knowledgeable when it came to class quests, this was the first time he had encountered this kind of situation where a hidden achievement emerged out of nowhere.
Unfortunately, no matter how confused he felt about the situation he found himself in and no matter how hard he stared at that floating class quest in front of him. No answer ever came, as he could only silently let out a sigh and focus his attention back on recovering his mana before the upcoming battle.
At the very least, given that it was noted down as an achievement, it shouldn’t be anything negative and might even be something positive that would help him get an even stronger class when he completed the class quest in the future and officially stepped into the ranks of S Rank Adventurers.
Unaware of the troubled thoughts of the dwarf on her back, Scaly happily flew forward with the assistance of wind magic enhancing her speed. Already looking forward to reaching the first floor of the dungeon, as it was there that the passage mentioned by Verdell was located. Allowing her to finally get to the fifth floor of the dungeon where there would not just be a large number of powerful monsters for her to hunt down, but also a place where she would be able to avoid the countless adventurers that had been hunting her down ever since she had escaped from the dreamscape.
In other words, she might soon enough be able to engage in the decadent activity known as sleeping, something she hadn’t done for a few days now.
No, not just a few days, she didn’t remember sleeping since she went through her last evolution and even if she did, it hadn’t been for long or the time had been focused on recovering from injuries- or poison.
At the very least, though she was able to function just fine on no sleep, the mental exhaustion of staying awake and busy for such a long time without any real breaks was starting to somewhat affect her.
...
"Those two, they are heading towards Sun Gate City!"
"Oh no! If they are going there, they are most likely going because they want to leave the dungeon! I won’t get my opportunity to arm wrestle with a dragon if this continues!"
"Ah! We can’t allow them to escape! Everyone, put some more strength into those legs of yours or we won’t ever get the chance to find such a splendid opponent again in the future!"
"""Yes! We understand!"""
And as Scaly sped up, the same could be said for the group of adventurers chasing her below made mostly of bearkin adventurers, as they continued their chase.
Only difference this time around being that even the S Rank Adventurers had jumped into the sea of sand to push the small sand boat forward with great speed, as only the lamia remained on top the sand boat at this point... And the only reason why she enjoyed this kind of treatment was because her lower half was that of a snake and she didn’t have much when it came to swimming ability and was more likely to cause a problem for the bearkin putting in their everything to catch up with Scaly and Verdell.
If anything, the lamia did her best to encourage everyone in her own way by praising the splendid muscles of the bearkin along with their well trained fingers tightly gripping hold of the edge of the sand boat, as they did their job of keeping the boat steady even at great speed.