Deciding to listen to Verdell as the monsters below began to clash with each other following their accidental collision during the earlier attempt to land a hit on Verdell, Scaly had originally thought the monsters would soon put aside their differences and focus on the two of them instead.
But in the end, none of this happened, as the death of the two rolling rock armadillos at the start seemed to have made those seemingly harmless looking armadillos lose their mind as they all went into a frenzy attacking the group of spiders that had emerged from the dark forest. Forcing the spiders to fight them to the death, as escape had essentially become impossible because of the rolling stone armadillos skillful use of earth magic to box them in and stop any attempts at running away back to the safety of their forest now that their original target had escaped into the sky.
Even if this kind of battle between a group of SS Rank Monsters and a small army of S Rank Monsters should have ended with those powerful SS Rank Monsters sweeping through them with relative ease despite the numerical advantage of the other side, the dark forest lurkers were original an ambush predator that didn’t fare well in an all-out melee like this while the rolling stone armadillos seemed to be exceptional when it came to working together. Even having the ability to link together to cast more powerful magic, something Scaly had only ever seen the adventurers chasing her down in the past being capable of. For a monster to do something like launching a powerful combined magical spell was a first and at the same time also made her aware that she couldn’t underestimate large groups of monsters in the future even if she became stronger than she already was.
That aside, though the rolling rock armadillos seemed to be winning the battle against the dark forest lurkers, the facts of the situation didn’t seem to favor them and even with assistance of their combined magic spells, they hadn’t yet been able to take down a single one of those powerful spiders while on their side another three rolling stone armadillos had already fallen amidst the spiders attempted retreat. Showing that while the spiders weren’t up to par compared to some of the SS Rank Monsters she had encountered in the past, they were ultimately still SS Rank Monsters. Monsters she would have to treat seriously even in a one-on-one situation, let alone when they were working together in a group.
It was also while watching the struggle taking place down below that Scaly came to realize Verdell’s decision to wait around was indeed the smarter option. After all, while it might be difficult to take down one or two of those powerful spiders under normal circumstances, the situation below was far from normal, and those spiders were all starting to show varies signs of exhaustion. One of them even ended up losing one of its eight legs to the combined magical spell of those rolling rock armadillos that had taken the form of a giant rock spear erupting from the ground before cutting straight through the leg of the unfortunate spider in question. Still, losing a single leg was still the best outcome, as the spear had originally been aimed at skewering it alive. Not just cutting off a single leg.
With the struggle below continuing to drag on, Scaly found herself becoming increasingly tempted to make a move on the weakened spiders below. Only being held back by Verdell, who recommended waiting a bit longer until those rolling stone armadillos had used up most of their mana. Informing her of the very real possibility of being ambushed by their earth magic while she was busy dealing with the spiders, something she wanted to avoid.
Strong as her scales might have become by now, the power displayed by the rolling rock armadillos below. Especially their combined earth magic spell, wasn’t something she could afford to underestimate.
Luckily, though she had already been prepared to wait around for the next few minutes until the two sides reached a breaking point, an opportunity to strike presented itself only a few short seconds after Verdell’s warning about making a move too early and drawing attention from the two sides towards them-
Whoosh-!
And without the slightest bit of hesitation, she used her wind magic to enhance her own speed as she dove down towards the group of dark forest lurkers down below. Killing intent radiating around her as she locked onto her first target, a spider that happened to have just had a large chunk of its upper body pierced thanks to the opportunity provided by the rolling stone armadillos.
The opportunity in question being a large-scale earth magic spell used by over twenty of the rolling stone armadillos working together to cause the ground beneath the spiders to violently erupt with countless thick earthen spikes that had directly thrown the spiders into disarray and injured more than half of them in the process.
Of course, the cost for this kind of powerful earth magic wasn’t small by any means and the rolling rock armadillos that had participated in unleashing this powerful magic had essentially been drained of mana and forced to retreat from the battlefield.
Only seventy of the original over a hundred rolling stone armadillos left in various states of exhaustion along with the little under a dozen dark forest lurkers that had now been thrown into chaos, Scaly arrived at the battlefield like grim reaper descending from above-
Ptsh-!
[Gained 81.282 Exp]
Cutting down the already incapacitated and injured dark forest lurker she had set her sight on in a simple swift motion without needing to exert that much strength to finish this powerful monster that the group of rolling stone armadillos had worked so hard on exhausting over the last few minutes. Feeling a sense of growing excitement watching the large number flashing by after the kill.
Since the entire dungeon core situation and the expansion into the ninth floor, it truly had been some time since she had last seen such a massive increase in experience from a single enemy.
And already feeling the rush of excitement from the first kill, she didn’t hesitate for a second before turning towards the second large spider that had already started trying to fanatically free itself from the rock that had pierced through one of its legs and now kept it locked in place.
From beginning to end she didn’t pay any attention to the rolling rock armadillos. Having already decided to leave those magical rolling rock monsters to Verdell as he was one the one who was specialized in magic amongst the two of them, or that was at least what she convinced herself of at the moment as she left him to deal with those troublemakers for now as she focused her attention on harvesting those large bags of experience that was the dark forest lurkers that had all been pierced by the countless rock and earth spear the rolling rock armadillos had caused to burst up from the ground beneath their feet.
BANG!
Thud~
Though, different from the first relatively simple to handle spider she had just dealt with, the second one managed to defend itself against her attacks for a good few seconds even while nailed in place by a large rock spike. Even managing to forcibly break free at once by cutting its leg-
Swish~!
Ptsh-!
[Gained 91.345 Exp]
Not that it made much of a difference, as she wasn’t shy about using her water magic to finish the job before the spider had the chance to escape, her water blades shooting out and cutting it up before it even had the chance to mount a proper defense in the face of the sudden unexpected magic attack from what it had originally believed to be a close combat monster that fought with claws and teeth.
[Level: 43/50, 89%]
The two fast kills directly took her close to reaching level 44 as her gaze shifted towards a third, now shivering spider, that was desperately doing everything in its power to free itself. All the while Verdell had his full attention focused on holding back the surging tide of rolling rock armadillos in the distance that was less than pleased with someone stealing their prey directly in front of them.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Even without looking back to see what was happening, the loud explosions along with the churning mana igniting into powerful flames that gathered around the dwarf on her back, were more than enough to tell her that Verdell was doing just fine for now. The only real worry with him wasn’t so much his firepower, as that was more than powerful enough to hold back the large number of rolling stone armadillos. Instead, it was the terrifying mana consumption that worried her, as this kind of high intensity spell casting was even something she, with her terrifying mana supply, wouldn’t be able to keep up for long, let alone a little dwarf with a far smaller mana core. Meaning the time, she had to deal with the spiders, was limited to how long Verdell’s mana core could sustain the terrifying consumption...