"To think the dwarf was so skilled at wind magic- Ah! Never that, the dragon is getting away!" Getting back up on his feet again after having crashed into the ground, one of the bearkin adventurers found himself looking up at the larger than normal red bubble floating upwards. Feeling a sense of reluctance as he recalled how others had attempted to break the bubble without leaving a scratch on it earlier.
"You don’t have to say that twice, they already tried breaking that damnable bubble to no avail. Heard from a few experienced scholars observing the situation nearby that even someone above the S Rank won’t be able to easily break it, let alone someone at the S Rank or below." Hearing the somewhat helpless exclamation from his companion, another bearkin adventurer, who had found himself deeply embedded in the ground with most of his body still buried, answered from nearby.
"So... Are you saying we can’t get to the dragon and can only watch it float away...?" Gazing up towards the dragon that he had already been dreaming of arm wrestling floating away, the bearkin adventurer could not help muttering somewhat unwillingly to himself as his gaze followed the oversized red bubble floating away above.
"Of course not! Look at what everyone else is doing! Jumping in and getting bubbles of their own! We need to follow them if we want a shot at catching up with that dwarf and the dragon!" And faced with this dispirited friend of his, the other bearkin adventurer wasted no time reminding this friend about the fact that they were able to use the strange hole capable of encasuing them in red bubble as well-
"Great Idea! I will catch up to that dragon in no time!"
Whoosh-!
"Hey! You are forgetting about me! Dig me out first!"
"S-sorry!"
Something that made this so-called friend momentarily forget about his still buried companion who had to awkwardly return to dig him out before both bought the required sacrificial offerings from a stall nearby before both jumped into the hole alongside one another and began ascending upwards encased by a blood red bubble of their own. Ignoring the line of people that had reformed around the strange hole serving as a gateway between the second and first floor of the dungeon, something only possible because their intimidating presence allowed them to scare off the surrounding adventurers.
Alongside them, the other bearkin adventurers who had ended up crashing into the ground elsewhere throughout the city all began rushing over and soon followed in their steps and began ascending upwards towards the large red bubble above containing the dragon that all of them wanted to catch up with.
"..."
Did everyone forget about me...?
And as the last of the bearkin adventurers jumped into the hole and began ascending upwards, one lamia found herself left behind all on her own at the entrance of South Gate City after having handed over the sand boat to the local sand boat rental station run by the guild. Not knowing what to do after catching a glimpse of the last of the bearkin adventurers jumping into the strange hole before ascending upwards as large red bubbles.
Although she wanted to repeat what these bearkin adventurers had done and follow them upwards towards the first floor of the dungeon chasing after the dragon and the dwarf, she understood that she didn’t possess anywhere near the same level of intimidation as these large and bulky bearkin adventurers. Having no way to simply force her way ahead of the line.
In other words, she was forced to obediently follow behind everyone else and wait in line for what ended up being three entire hours before getting a chance to enter and start her own slow climb upwards just as she watched her bearkin companions, who had gone ahead of her, get close to the ceiling of the second floor before slowly disappearing as they phased through the ceiling.
Leaving a certain lamia incredibly frustrated as she found herself only just starting her journey upwards. Not so much because of how she had been left behind, but more so because she understood how difficult it would be for her to find those bearkin adventurers once she got to the first floor of the dungeon.
If she was lucky, they might still be somewhere nearby, but... If she was unlucky, they might have somehow chased the dragon and the dwarf out of the dungeon and be on their way far from the swirling sands dungeon. Making it close to impossible for her to find them within the next month or two, something she had already experienced once in the past when they had gone off chasing another kind of flying monster...
Unaware of the pitiful lamia down below, Scaly had just woken up from her three-hour nap by the time she began passing through the ceiling of the second floor of the dungeon and was eagerly looking around herself in preparation for what was going to happen next as she expected to be able to move soon.
Huh... Nothing...?
But as she waited impatiently for the restriction on her body to disappear, she watched the scenery around her shift from the bright desert of the second floor in what looked like a black emptiness that reminded her off the space between floors that she had encountered in the past- no, it didn’t just remind her of the space between floors, this was the space that existed between floors.
The only difference compared to the past was the fact that outside of the spiral staircases that should be hidden throughout this dark space, there were now several red bubbles floating around giving off a dim red light that hadn’t been visible on the second floor of the dungeon.
In a way, this kind of situation was to be expected, she had just forgotten about the existence of this mysterious space for a bit as she had learnt from personal experience that seeing this space while passing through it was rare. In most cases, the spiral staircase or other passage one passed through would just cover up this part of the journey between floors with anything from simple dirt to stone walls with intricate designs of monsters and adventurers on them.
However, now that she had already woken up, she couldn’t find the drive to fall back asleep again and inevitably turned her attention towards trying to move around within the narrow space of the bubble that barely fit her-
Rustle~
Huh? I... I can move again!?
Finding out much to her delight that she could once again move around, as the paralyzing effect of the bubble seemed to have worn off during her sleep, either naturally or due to her poison and venom resistance...
Skills: [Dragon Bloodline, lvl 4], [Dragon Flight, lvl 8], [Poison/Venom Resistance, lvl 8], [Dragon Claw Strike, lvl 9], [Dragon Breath (Water), lvl 6], [Corrosion Resistance, lvl 4], [Pain Resistance, lvl 6], [Swimming, lvl 6], [Dragon Heart, lvl 1], [Endless Vitality, lvl 2], [Agility, lvl 1], [Brute Force, lvl 1], [Fear Resistance, lvl 1], [Mana Consumption, lvl 2]
Although a quick look through her skills confirmed that it should have been because of her powerful poison and venom resistance given how it seemed to have increased to level 8. Placing it close to level 9 that she had deemed it to be the highest level possible because of how none of her skills seemed to have been capable of going beyond level 9.
If possible... She wondered if she might be able to use these red bubbles to rapidly level up her poison and venom resistance skill, but upon thinking about it for a bit longer, she realized that it wasn’t exactly a fast improvement as she had been sleeping for over three hours.
Not to mention, the thought of spending even longer without hunting monsters to improve her strength was awful. Especially with how she hadn’t had the opportunity to hunt down a single monster for close to half a day by this point in time.
Outside of that, there was also the countless adventurers she constantly had to worry about catching up with her.
Even if those below hadn’t been able to forcibly break the bubble with their strength, there was no guarantee that stronger adventurers capable of breaking the bubble wouldn’t show up in the future... And if in that kind of situation she found herself in a paralyzed state, she would end up dead the next second without any ability to resist.
As for the dwarf on her back... She didn’t think too much about what he might have wanted to do and believed she would just have to drag him along with whatever she ended up doing. After all, he was stuck on her back no matter how little she wanted that to be the case and thus had to follow along with what she was doing or risk falling off and getting singled out by the adventurers who by now didn’t just seem to be targeting her alone...