Out of danger thanks to the surrounding undead and skeletons having shifted all their attention towards the mist serpent rolling over their fellow skeletons and undead in the distance, Scaly silently let out a sigh of relief at having escaped a life and death situation. Having not expected to escape with little to no effort thanks to the necromancers of belonging to the Eternal Life Sanctum and the monster under the dungeon core suddenly deciding to team up to take on the mist serpent together.
If not for that, she doubted her escape would have been simple, as the undead and skeletons all around her would undoubtedly have attacked her without a second thought. Forcing her to fight back, which in turn would attract the attention of the mist serpent that now seemed to be single-mindedly focused on finding her and Verdell.
Why this powerful monster had so suddenly locked onto her and Verdell for seemingly no reason after letting them go after leaving the sea of mist not that long ago was confusing to say the least, but the reason didn’t matter, as all she needed to know was that the powerful monster was targeting her and Verdell. The reason didn’t matter and knowing it wouldn’t make much of a difference.
"Why in the world did that thing come out of the sea of mist to chase after us!? Mist monsters like this normally never leave the sea of mist they inhabit- unless the dungeon core forced it over? But even then, it clearly doesn’t have the strength to control this kind of powerful monster." Showing a similar level of confusion as she did, Verdell silently muttered his internal thoughts loud enough for her to hear as his gaze remained focused on the massive mist serpent in the distance.
The experienced adventurer she had hoped to rely on to get some clue about the current situation the two of them had found themselves in ultimately proved to be useless as Verdell knew just as much about the situation as she did.
In other words, I have no choice but to lay low and wait until those two find a way to deal with the mist serpent before I can start taking advantage of the chaos to increase my level...
Thinking this to herself as she stared at the already injured skeletons and undead all around her, Scaly felt her heart bleeding as it took everything in her power to stop herself from slaughtering all these skeletons and monsters.
Whoosh~ Crack!
[Gained 3534 Exp]
But in the end, she was unable to hold herself back, as one of her claws slipped and accidentally crashed into one of the nearby skeletons. Cracking its already fragile skull in a single hit. Spraying bone fragments everywhere as she took the chance before the surrounding skeletons and undead with their attention focused elsewhere noticed anything.
Taking advantage of the surrounding terrain to slip away from the undead and skeletons before joining the side of the monsters that were only a short distance away from where she had been standing.
Something that was easy enough for her to accomplish given that her appearance didn’t look out of place in the eyes of the surrounding monsters. Only looking like another monster on the side of the dungeon core.
The only problem she had to deal with was the dwarf on her back, though before she had time to worry about him, she discovered that he had already laid down flat on her back and seemingly blended in with her scales. Looking like nothing more than an odd bumpy pattern to the surrounding monsters that didn’t bother taking a second glance at her after confirming she was one of them and not an undead who attempted to sneak in while their attention was focused elsewhere.
This kind of quick thinking, Scaly felt like she couldn’t praise the abilities of the little dwarf enough as he was truly resourceful, even capable of blending himself in amidst monsters without drawing the slightest bit of unwanted attention in the process.
Damnit! Why did this little dragon suddenly jump into a group of monsters!?
Unknown to her, Verdell was already silently cursing her in his head as he clung to her back like his life depended on it.
What blending in seamlessly amidst monsters in an instant? It was just him relying on a beast hide he had been carrying on his back for sleep falling over his head when he had jumped forward to try and make himself as small as possible to avoid being noticed by the monsters all around.
The fact that the surrounding monsters hadn’t noticed anything strange had nothing to do with his hiding skills being unparalleled, but more so had to do with the monsters being far more focused on the massive mist serpent causing havoc not too far away. Killing undead and monsters alike if they ended up getting too close to it.
Not to mention, with Scaly herself not being an undead and being a monster herself in their eyes, they simply didn’t think she would be hiding a dwarf on her back.
In fact, some of the monsters did notice something odd about Verdell but decided to not bother investigating it any closer after seeing Scaly.
After all, outside of the simple fact that they viewed Scaly as one of their own, there was also the very clear fact that she was powerful and someone that these normal monsters below the S Rank didn’t dare offend. Even a few nearby S Rank Monsters who spotted her didn’t dare approach. Allowing Scaly to freely move through the monster army without anyone investigating her any closer.
The only monsters that would realize she was not one of them would be the SS Rank Monsters, but currently, these powerful monsters were either guarding the dungeon core or joining the battle against the mist serpent.
...
A little dragon and dwarf sneaking into the army of monsters aside, after accidentally ending an unfortunate skeleton aside, as the battle against the mist serpent grew more intense, it didn’t take long before the powerful forces on the side of the necromancers and the monsters were forcibly pulled into the battle after a few initial poking attempts to gauge the strength of the mist serpent.
Having used the first few probing attacks to determine that although the strength of the mist serpent had already stepped beyond the SS Rank, it wasn’t that advanced and was still weak enough that they stood a chance at killing it with their current strength- or at least they determined that undead, skeletons and monsters at the SS Rank could still damage the mist serpent and weren’t entirely useless.
From the side of the monsters, several towering giants had emerged to clash head on with the mist serpent, while on the side of the necromancers, a few powerful necromancers close to the crypt guardian rank emerged alongside several powerful skeleton and undead mages to support the powerful SS Rank Monsters from behind with powerful magic and curses.
The two sides worked in perfect synergy with one another, as the mist serpent that had been ignoring the two sides was forced to focus on them upon suddenly feeling part of its body being forcibly torn apart by a torrent of deadly curses and dark magic followed by an equally powerful attack from a group of towering monsters, that to it still looked somewhat small.
Searching for Scaly and Verdell was instantly pushed to the back of its mind, as the mist serpent found itself forced to focus on the battle before it. Knowing from the fact that part of its body had been blown apart and had a hard time recovering that these enemies posed a real threat. Completely different from the countless useless attacks that had rained down on it not that long ago.
Rumble~
In the process, it also took the opportunity to unleash one of its inherent abilities, causing its massive body to swell briefly before shrinking back to its original size as wave of mist surged outwards in all directions centered around itself. Plunging the entire battlefield into a thick mist that was difficult to see through. Allowing the mist serpent that had originally been weakened because of the environment to return to its full strength as it merged with the surrounding mist to form countless attacks that flew off towards those daring enough to attack it.
Ptsh! Ptsh! Ptsh!
Unsurprisingly, though small in size, the countless nail sized spears of mist that formed carried a terrifying penetrating power that directly skewered one of the powerful SS Rank Monster before continuing onwards towards the skeleton mage behind it that soon enough follow the monster and perished.
Even with numbers on their side, the nail sized mist spears soon enough began wreaking havoc upon the attacking force. Leaving them no chance to defend themselves against the relentless small spears that showed no signs of stopping as they continued skewering one monster after another alongside the undead or skeleton mages they had been guarding.