Learning about the potential danger waiting for her down below, Scaly didn’t feel much fear. Feeling more confident than anything about her ability to deal with the adventurers below. Not to mention, even with the clear warning from Verdell, she doubted that it would be that easy for those adventurers to notice the two of them in the middle of combat. Especially so considering how easy it would be for the two of them to blend in with their surroundings.
Knowing what she was thinking from a glance as her expression oozed confidence even after the explanation of how deadly facing those skilled adventurers was going to be, Verdell could only silently resign himself to the inevitable life and death battle waiting for him down below. Already lamenting that the difficulty of his class advancement quest this time around was far too difficult compared to any of the other class advancement quests he had completed in the past.
Even worse was the fact that a quest he had originally been confident could be completed with ease after encountering Scaly, ended up turning into one that placed him in a constant life and death situation and had by now even managed to drag him into the very depths of the swirling sands dungeon. Reaching a depth that he felt doubtful would ever be possible for him to escape even if his strength managed to reach the S Rank.
In the end, though part of him just wanted to linger around the mountain top staring off into the distance while admiring the sea of grey clouds a few hundred meters below as they slammed into the mountain like slowed down waves slamming into a ragged spike sticking up and out of the ocean, his desire to reach the S Rank won over the more rational part of his mind that told him he was throwing his life away by joining the deadly confrontation below the sea of clouds.
The desire to reach the S Rank and the knowledge that he might never encounter a dragon that he would stand a chance at befriending again in the future, being the main driving force behind his slow descend of the mountain behind Scaly.
What is he doing? Why is he so slow...?
Something that only made the dragon in question tilt her head in confusion before a look of realization emerged on her face-
I see! He is dragging out our descent to ensure the two parties below are exhausted when we show up and won’t even notice us when we get through the clouds. After all, though it should be difficult for them to spot us from a distance with how much we blend in with the grey mountain, the mountain itself is ultimately bare and leaves little to hide behind. Especially so for someone my size...
Feeling both her eyes shining brightly as she thought this to herself while looking back towards the slowly descending Verdell behind her, Scaly could not help feeling he was a genius. Wasting no time before she copied him and began a similar slow descend. Feeling a clear sense of excitement welling up inside of her upon sensing the battle down below slowly starting to die down as the rumbling sounds now associated with the struggles of the powerful demon beast became weaker and less pronounced.
Not just the powerful demon beast, but the adventurers busy fighting against it had also clearly grown weaker during the battle that had already lasted for who knows how long before the two of them showed up on this floor of the dungeon.
By the time the two of them reached the sea of grey clouds and found their vision almost completely obscured, it was clear that the massive demon beast had begun moving beyond the somewhat stationary state the two of them had seen it in earlier through the brief glimpse of its massive frame that had been illuminated through the thick grey clouds.
In a way, the world around them had been obscured to the point where Verdell had to grab onto a part of Scaly to avoid losing sight of her, while the only somewhat visible thing within the grey clouds was the brilliant battle playing out in the distance with magic flying everywhere and loud bestial roars that caused the very ground beneath them to tremble.
But maybe because the two of them had been above the sea of clouds not long ago, they hadn’t realized just how terrifying this battle playing out below truly was, as the magic being thrown around in a seemingly casual manner before being deflected by the massive demon beast had already reached a level comparable to the magic wielded by Verdell. In other words, it had already reached the S Rank yet was now being thrown out with ease by the adventurers, but also casually deflected by the monster they were fighting. Indicating just how powerful the two parties involved were.
Even Scaly, who had been prepared for a difficult battle found herself hesitating somewhat upon realizing just how powerful the magic casually wielded by these adventurers were but knowing just how much her strength would improve after killing such powerful enemies, she found the strength to continue forward. Having no intention of giving up on her plans without even seeing the other party and getting a proper read of their strength.
And so, though the battle in the distance had already frightened Verdell and the little dwarf wanted nothing more than to turn the other way and start his search for a way out of the grey colored dungeon floor, the two of them soon made it to the base of the mountain. Finding themselves still without clear sight of the battle in the distance, as it seemed like the world behind the mountain was shrouded in a thick grey mist not much different from when they had passed through the grey sea of clouds earlier. Only a tiny bit lighter. Allowing the two to barely see a bit more of the behemoth fighting the group of adventurers in the distance.
Seeing what looked like a massive bipedal creature locked in a hunched back state with its head being permanently shoved into the ground as it moved around within the mist. Standing at a total height of a little over five or so meters with its head constantly eating dirt.
But that left a very clear question for both Verdell and Scaly... And that was what they had seen earlier from above if the monster in question had its head permanently shoved into the ground and wouldn’t be anywhere close to the massive creature they had seen from above earlier.
Originally, the two of them thought this might be a completely different monster that had joined the battle against the adventurers. Attrached by the massive battle, but...
BANG!
As the two of them distinctly saw one of the arms of this seemingly smaller monster by comparison to said arm swinging towards one of the adventurers who had been charging forward with a brilliant flaming sword in hand only to be casually swatted away by what in their eyes couldn’t be described as an arm but a small castle sized lump of flesh that had seemingly descended from the heavens above to strike down the adventurer from above.
Only upon seeing the relatively thin arm of the monster connected to that giant lump of flesh the size of a small hill all on its own, did the two of them realize that this monster was indeed the one they had seen from above- or more accurately, they had seen one of its arms as it fought off the adventurers.
The overall appearance of the monster also became clear with the emergence of this oddly shaped arm, as it looked like a giant human statue that had come alive and ended up falling over, stuck in an eternal hunched back pose that had forced its head into the ground with two arms more than twenty meters long being the only part of the monster that could really move.
A fact that both Verdell and Scaly found odd considering the lumps of flesh the size of a small hill attached to either of the monster’s two arms that should have made it impossible for this monster to move those two arms like it was in its battle against the group of adventurers attempting to end its life.
But in the end, it accomplished this and even seemed to be holding the upper hand in the battle against the group of adventurers. Not at all showing signs of weakening like Scaly had been expecting to see.
[Mist Bound Behemoth, lvl 173]
But maybe more than that, the level shown upon identifying this monster with a name that didn’t exactly fit its appearance, was far beyond any monster or adventurer Scaly had ever encountered before. Having surpassed even the so-called SS Rank Adventurers she had a few spares encounters with in the past.