Going through the things on the two dead members of the Eternal Life Sanctum that remained intact after the battle, Verdell found himself carefully examining the crystal that Scaly had handed over to him. Comparing it with the mist infused crystal from the mist bound behemoth, it looked the exact same outside the fact that the mist sealed inside denser compared to the crystal from the mist bound behemoth. Potentially because he had released a portion of the mist inside the crystal from the mist bound behemoth. Outside of that, he couldn’t figure out anything more from the new crystal outside of the fact that it might have come from another mist bound behemoth.
The use of the crystals outside of their ability to release the thick mist stored inside them remained a mystery, though the death energy hidden beneath the thick mist inside did at least give him some clue that they might serve as some kind of special material for a ritual.
"But... No matter what use these crystals might have, there is no way for them to be used now that they have fallen into my hands." Muttering this to himself as he put the mist infused crystals away and dragged his exhausted body up on Scaly, Verdell silently wondered to himself if it was a good idea for him to even keep those crystals on him in the first place.
Knowing that there was a very real chance that whoever wanted these crystals from the Eternal Life Sanctum might come chasing after them to get their hands on these crystals... And from the towering mountain of flesh along with the sea of bones that had already vanished through the passage originally hidden by the flesh mountain, he understood full well that the strength of this senior figure from the Eternal Life Sanctum wasn’t someone a small mage like himself could mess with.
Even if he had the assistance of a dragon like Scaly, he understood that they stood no chance in the face of such a powerful being.
The only people he could think of that had the ability to deal with such a powerful being, would be the group that should have already been dispatched from the guild headquarters. Problem was, it would take time for them to descend from the first floor of the dungeon and get to this unknown floor that existed below the sixth floor. Time that, thanks to the normal passages being cut off, might be measured in weeks even for such a powerful team of adventurers.
Just thinking about potentially having to hide from some powerful necromancer for weeks gave him a headache as he decided not to think too much about the deadly situation him and Scaly might soon find themselves in. Leaning back on top of Scaly before closing his eyes to meditate and recover from the earlier battle.
But maybe because he was far more exhausted than he originally thought, he found himself falling asleep almost the second he closed his eyes and laid down on top of Scaly. Entrusting his own safety entirely to the dragon beneath him. Not feeling the slightest bit afraid she might dump him on the ground while he was asleep. Having learnt to trust that she wouldn’t do something because of the simple fact that she was already far stronger than him and had countless opportunities to end his life during their time together and past encounters if she was planning to end him.
Huh? The dwarf... Verdell, is sleeping!?
Something that was surprising to Scaly, before a look of annoyance appeared on her face, this guy had completely turned her into his personal bodyguard. Now even getting her to carry him while he slept, all comfortable on her back.
Infuriating! If not for the fact that she still wanted to complete the quest that had been assigned to her and increase the purity of her dragon blood, she would have long since dumped this arrogant dwarf daring to treat her like some personal carriage!
The goodwill that had been built up thanks to him lending a hand in killing the mage from the Eternal Life Sanctum earlier completely vanished at this point as Scaly grumbled in annoyance inside her head while walking away from the passage leading down from the current unknown dungeon floor, she found herself on. Looking for a place to rest and recover her strength without having to worry about being attacked by any monster in the process of recovering.
As for worrying about Verdell stabbing her in the back... Sorry, but she had already seen his abilities and honestly didn’t feel the slightest bit worried even if he decided to do something. Feeling confident that he wouldn’t even be able to get through her scales. Only his fire magic was somewhat powerful, but even then, it wasn’t anywhere near strong enough to seriously injure her before she could respond with her water magic.
Of course, there was also the fact that the quest had made it clear that this little dwarf didn’t have any hostile intentions towards her and just wanted to befriend her, something that clearly hadn’t succeeded yet and something she herself was pondering over how to accomplish. After all, it was clear that she needed to befriend Verdell. Problem being she still hadn’t figured out how to befriend him...
Frowning to herself thinking about how to properly befriend someone, Scaly soon enough found herself leaving behind the misty part of the dungeon floor entirely and found herself standing at the edge of a large forest that without a doubt hid countless monsters. Monsters that she didn’t have the strength to deal with in her current state.
Troublesome... Finding a place to hide and recover at my current size is truly difficult...
Looking toward some small burrows and other similar hiding spots around the edge of the forest that she would have been able to hide within in the past during her lizard days, Scaly once again found herself troubled by her current large size.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much she could do about it outside of searching for a large enough place to hide away, something that ended up taking her a little over ten minutes of wandering around avoiding powerful monsters along the way before she finally found a place to hide inside a small abandoned mountain cave within a small mountain barely four hundred meters tall standing at the edge between the mist and the forest
Even if she had to squeeze inside to fit and couldn’t move around much, she didn’t intend on staying for long and only really needed a place where she could sleep without having to worry about any monster ambushing her int the process. Collapsing the opening to the small mountain cave to seal it off before wiggling into a comfortable position and falling asleep a few seconds later. Leaving behind only a few holes for air circulation behind on the sealed entrance.
In her eyes, there wasn’t much of a problem with this kind of method as she could just dig a path out when she woke up, something she had grown used to, as this kind of method had proven to be the one of the most successful ones to ensure her own safety when sleeping.
Like this, time slowly flew by as Scaly and Verdell slept quietly within the sealed off mountain cave. Neither of them waking up for the next twelve hours as both had been far too exhausted by the earlier battle.
Rustle~
"Hm? Why is it so dark?" In the end, the first among the two to wake up was none other than Verdell, who found himself deeply confused by the sudden darkness that met him once he opened his eyes. Although, with him sitting there for a few seconds remembering what had happened before he had fallen asleep, it didn’t take a genius to guess that he had most likely been taken to some kind of hiding place underground by Scaly to avoid them being attacked while they slept and recovered their strength.
Fwoosh~
And with this in mind, he silently ignited a small magical flame that wouldn’t cause him to choke to death like a normal fire in a potentially small confined underground space with poor ventilation. "Ah?! The... There is no path!?" Only to end up shocked upon discovering that there was no path out. Instead, he found himself inside what looked like a small underground cave along with scaly that had no way out.
Understandably, this caused him to panic, as he didn’t at all like the feeling of being trapped underground with no way out. The only thing that stopped him from breaking down on the spot at the potentially deadly situation he found himself in was his dwarf genes and the presence of Scaly. Knowing deep down that this shouldn’t be some kind of death trap Scaly had dragged him into, but instead some kind of unique hiding space she had created for them to recover their strength without having to worry about monster attacks.