Filled with a sense of growing fear upon seeing just how scary the mist monster that had been chasing the two of them truly was, Scaly found herself crashing straight through several rotting trees during the escape through the poisonous swamp-
"Wai-"
Bang!
"Higher-"
Thud~!
"Go higher! Please-"
Thwack!
Causing the passenger on her back to suffer, as while Scaly’s scales were more than tough enough to brush off these rotten trees she ended up crashing through during her escape. The same couldn’t be said for Verdell, who didn’t have a layer of scales protecting him.
Unfortunately, Scaly had no time to bother with the dwarf on her back being slapped around by a few broken branches and rotting wooden as she was fully focused on escaping from the terrifying dweller of the deep mist behind her. Forcing Verdell to adapt on his own by lying flat on her back to avoid his head becoming even more swollen than it had already become from the countless branches and rotten wood that had personally decided his face was the best place to hit after being sent flying by Scaly.
During the escape, she didn’t even realize that the monster she wanted to escape from had long since turned around and returned to the depths of the mist sea after poking its head out. Not wanting to leave its home just to chase after the two of them.
In the end, it took a little over ten minutes before she finally realized they weren’t being chased any longer thanks to Verdell noticing and calling out to her after barely poking his head up to see if they were still being chased, something that ultimately ended with the two of them coming to a stop at the very edge of the poisonous swamp where a large battle between monsters and the undead legion under the necromancer of the Eternal Life Sanctum had played out not that long ago.
The reason why it was judged as a battle that had only recently come to an end being because there were still a few lonely undead and skeletons wandering around covered in injuries that made them look like they would collapse dead with even the lightest touch.
Bang!
[Gained 1562 Exp]
Something Scaly herself decided to directly test by knocking down one of the skeletons that had been rushing towards the two of them with a broken sword lifted above its head after they came to a stop.
Rustle~!
And the fall of this one skeleton that seemingly crumbled into a pile of bones from that one touch, alerted the remaining undead and skeletons that had just been wandering around aimlessly a few seconds earlier, causing them to come charging towards the two of them filled with fighting spirit unfit for their fragile bodies.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
[Gained 2355 Exp]
[Gained 4313 Exp]
[Gained 1535 Exp]
[Gained 5322 Exp]
[Gained 1452 Exp]
[Gained...]
A kind invitation for battle that Scaly happily accepted.
[Gained 6346 Exp]
[Gained 5982 Exp]
[Gained...]
[*Ding* Reached level 29]
As by the time the last of these barely standing skeletons and undead fell, her level had successfully gone up from 28 to 29.
The rapid increase in level mainly being thanks to the fact that amongst the mostly weak skeletons and undead left wandering, there were still a few stronger ones that provided her with a bit more experience than the rest.
That and Verdell was kind enough to leave all the skeletons and undead for her to finish off.
Although... Looking at his exhausted and swollen face from being slapped around a bit too much by mean spirited branches that had come at him with a vengeance not long ago, the reason for his absence during the one sided battle also had to do with him taking the opportunity to recover from the chaotic escape he had just gone through.
One of the reasons for this being a good time for this kind of recovery also having to do with the simple fact the edge of the poisonous swamp they now found themselves in didn’t have any lingering poisonous miasma. Meaning the air around was safe for him to breathe and he didn’t have to worry about a constant poison damage slowly draining his life away.
If there had truly still been poisonous miasma around this abandoned battlefield between the necromancer and the dungeon core, the half-dead undead Scaly found herself slapping to death would have long since perished alongside their compatriots. Leaving behind the equally weakened skeletons who could barely stand at their own two skeletal feet as they had charged Scaly.
Rustle~
Seeing how Scaly had cleaned up every single one of the remaining undead and skeletons, Verdell got back up having caught his breath. "We should be getting close to the main battlefield between the dungeon core and the necromancer from the Eternal Life Sanctum. In the future, we need to be cautious to avoid drawing any unwanted attention to ourselves." Not wasting a single word as he informed her while stressing the point that they needed to be extremely cautious from here on out.
After all, his encounter with the terrifying dweller of the deep mist had made him almost certain that the necromancer they were facing wasn’t just some SS Rank Necromancer, but instead one of the people in charge of the Eternal Life Sanctum.
The reason why he even wanted to continue moving in the direction of necromancer this terrifying being because he also understood only be finding this necromancer and their legion of living dead would he stand a chance at finding the group of powerful adventurers that had descended to defend the dungeon core.
At the end of the day, though he wanted to search for this group of adventurers on his own, he understood that doing so was pretty much impossible not just because of how massive this final floor of the dungeon was, but also because the permanent layer of grey clouds lingering up above shrouding most of the dungeon with only faint light filtering through to reach the ground from above.
Unaware of the internal thoughts of the dwarf before her, Scaly just happily nodded her head in agreement. Feeling a sense of joy coursing through her body after successfully levelling up in a short time thanks to the large number of injured undead and skeletons she had just managed to finish up. Part of her already starting to imagine the large number of weakened undead creations she would be able to cut down along the way while following behind the undead legion of the necromancer from the Eternal Life Sanctum.
As for remaining cautious? She understood this full well. Having ample experience in taking out enemies with surprise attacks.
If anything, she felt she was far more experience than Verdell when it came to taking others by surprise, as much of early rise to power had relied on her taking advantage of a weakened enemy to land a killing blow and successfully obtain a vast quantity of experience in the process.
In fact, ever since she had learnt about the strength of this necromancer, she had already started scheming how to take this deadly necromancer out and obtain a large amount of experience in the process. Getting her one step closer to her next evolution in the process.
Both with their own reasons for following in the trail of the undead legion that led them towards the core of the final floor where the dungeon core of the swirling sands dungeon was situated, Scaly and Verdell set off after making sure no undead or skeleton was lurking near them.
Going from the muddy swamp filled to the brim with poisonous miasma to a normal looking forest that didn’t look any different from any other forest the two of them had encountered inside and outside of dungeon.
Well... There was one major difference... That being the massive path that had been carved through the forest by the bloody battle between dungeon monsters and the undead legion pushing through the forest.
But...
Outside of that, the forest was normal-
Swish~
Ptsh!
[Gained 82 Exp]
A small passing innocent rabbit monster that hardly posed much of a challenge to someone like Scaly and Verdell even deciding to deliver itself as free experience and snack put together into one monster as they passed through.
Of course, along with the innocent little rabbit that Scaly had happily given a new home inside her stomach, the two also ended up finding themselves killing off the stragglers that had been left behind when the undead legion had passed through.
Among them, there was surprisingly also a few barely standing monsters who still seemed locked in battle with the stragglers of the undead legion in a similar state. Allowing Scaly to pick up quite a bit of experience by crashing these final struggles playing out along the path through the forest. Pushing her level that had only just reached 29 towards 30 at a breakneck speed.