What in the world is lurking around in that forest!? Why can’t I even catch a glimpse of it and how in the world is it so fast?
Unaware that he wasn’t just dealing with a single monster this time around, Verdell found himself increasingly stressed as he tried to catch a glimpse of the monster that he could feel keeping a constant eye on him and Scaly from the depths of the dark shadows of the forest they were walking next to. In the end, worried that the monster within the forest capable of avoiding him might suddenly launch a sneak attack on them using its clearly superior movement speed while he wasn’t looking, Verdell decided to make a bit more distance between them and the forest. Drawing closer to the peaceful mountainside instead, feeling far safer in the face of the open rocky terrain that left potential threats with nowhere to hide.
Originally, Scaly wanted to complain about this, as she was waiting for those spiders to make their move and emerge from the dark forest and make it easier for her to fight them, but... Glancing in the direction of the empty looking mountainside they were moving towards, she quickly stopped and happily followed along. The reason behind this was rather simple, as she spotted another kind of monster hidden out in the open on that mountainside that would more than make up for those spiders.
[Rolling Rock Armadillo, lvl 105]
[Description: A unique monster capable of rolling itself into a ball that makes it look very much like a normal rock on the outside. Prefers to sunbath out in the open on mountain slopes and mountains where few other monsters wander through to disturb them. Although not the strongest among S Rank Monsters, they possess a certain level of Earth Magic and often gather in large numbers.]
Looking at the description of one of the normal looking rocks on that mountainside, Scaly couldn’t help feeling a sense of growing excitement as part of her was already looking forward to taking care of all these rocks scattered across the mountainside. After all, from a single cursory glance, she had already spotted more than a hundred of them on the mountainside just sunbathing as their description indicated they enjoyed.
Even better, the second Verdell decided to move further away from the forest with the spiders lurking around inside of it, the normal looking rocks scattered across the mountainside began stirring ever so slightly as small, almost impossible to detect heads popping out from beneath those normal looking rocks to glance in their direction.
Of course, the second Verdell looked over, these small heads had all vanished beneath their thick rock shaped armor that looked suspiciously ball like if one inspected them up close, something that Verdell unfortunately didn’t do, as most of his attention remained focused on the forest in the distance where he believed the true threat to the two of them to be lurking. Completely ignoring the small rocks that had started slowly rolling closer as they gathered into a large pile of stones that silently rolled after them. Gathering momentum in preparation for a single devastating attack that Scaly could already see coming from a mile away.
Rustle~
And in an attempt to make the oblivious dwarf aware of this problem before he ended up getting himself killed with his one-sided focus on the spiders that kept avoiding detection, Scaly forced his attention back on the now rather conspicuous pile of stone that had formed behind them out of seemingly nowhere. "This... Monsters disguised as stones...?" A fact that even Verdell couldn’t ignore, as those rocks were really far too odd looking. Especially given the fact he had already scanned the mountainside earlier and hadn’t noticed such a large pile of stones that just seemed to have formed behind the two of them out of nowhere.
If he still hadn’t realized the danger of these rocks, his years as a solo adventurer would truly have been for nothing. Luckily, things hadn’t reached that point as the attention he had kept on the spiders still avoiding his detection within the forest almost immediately switched towards the suspicious looking pile of stone behind them that had already been uncovered as a group of monsters.
Huh? That is... Those spiders really don’t wait when an opportunity emerges...
And almost the second Verdell’s attention shifted away from the forest, the dark forest lurkers or rather large spiders that had been hidden within the darkness of the forest began emerging one by one until a little under a dozen of them emerged and began slowly and silently closing the distance. Completely ignoring the fact that Scaly was staring directly at them. Almost like they didn’t even view her existence as a threat worth hiding from. Not much different from the rock pile behind them, a truly infuriating turn of events that made Scaly want nothing more than to tear these annoying monsters daring to so blatantly ignore her to pieces.
Of course, reality was a bit different, as even if she might have wanted to tear all these monsters apart, her strength wasn’t exactly enough to deal with so many powerful monsters at the same time.
Just the hundred or so S Rank Rolling Rock Armadillos were a stretch with her and Verdell working together, let alone adding a little under a dozen SS Rank spiders. After all, while the description might say that these were especially weak SS Rank Monsters, they were ultimately still SS Rank Monsters and with her current strength, Scaly at most felt confident in taking down one or two of them in the current situation before having to run away.
As for Verdell and his safety... That would go out the window if she attempted to separate from him and take down one or two of them, as there was no way the little dwarf could ever wish to withstand the combined attack of a hundred rolling rock armadillos proficient in earth magic alongside the remaining SS Rank spiders.
To say he would die would be an understatement, as the poor little dwarf would undoubtedly end up being torn apart within a few short seconds should she abandon him-
Rustle~
Something the dwarf in question seemed to have already fully understood, as he wasted no time climbing back onto her back. "How about we take to the sky again...?" Before calling out to her after getting settled into place while keeping a constant eye on the rock pile that had seemingly sensed something odd and started to roll forward without caring about the fact that they were discovered.
In fact, it wasn’t just the rolling rock armadillos, the lovely spiders had also sensed something wrong and charged towards them. Only... Verdell hadn’t yet spotted those large horrifying creatures about to descend upon the two of them.
Whoosh~!
Still, understanding that the two of them would undoubtedly not get out alive if caught between the two sides, Scaly didn’t hesitate before performing a rapid ascend using wind magic to take off just in time before the two types of powerful monsters descended on them.
Bang!
Watching as the rock shaped armadillos crashed into the large spiders that had emerged from the dark forest below. Also giving Verdell a chance to see these spiders he had been attempting to catch a glimpse of for the first time as a look of fear flashed through his eyes upon realizing just how deadly their current situation had been.
At the same time also realizing that it wasn’t that there was a lack of powerful monsters along the way. Instead, it was just that the powerful monsters on the ninth floor of the dungeon were far too good at hiding themselves. Having essentially remained invisible from up above, a fact that made him almost instantaneously give up on his earlier plan to slowly approach the deadly core of the dungeon on foot to try and assess the situation ahead of time and retreating in case they spotted a monster that was far too strong for the two of them to deal with.
As the large number of powerful monsters below that had already started clashing with each other after they unknowingly ended up crashing headfirst into one another with the clash itself causing two of the armadillos to die and one of the spiders to get heavily injured? Verdell already knew the two of them were going to take advantage of the situation to fish in troubled waters and potentially kill off all the monsters below after they exhausted themselves a bit more.
In fact, he had to step in and remind Scaly that it would be best for them to wait a bit for them to exhaust themselves before joining the battle. If not, he feared he would have already been dragged into the chaotic melee that had started unfolding down below, something he would very much like to avoid ass a mage if possible.