Another clear benefit that the leading necromancer found herself experiencing by passing through the still forming undead kingdom outside of replenishing the death energy she had used to sustain the bone construct beneath her feet so far, was the simple fact that she didn’t end up going off the right path leading directly towards the core of the ninth floor where the dungeon core was situated. In a way, this in turn also ended up resulting in the necromancer that should have originally encountered the group of adventurers just barely avoiding them as she quickly overtook them on her way towards the center of the ninth floor.
Although neither party knew about this turn of events, the group of adventurers would undoubtedly have been overcome by joy if they knew about it. After all, though their group consisted of SS Rank Adventurers that all stood close to the pinnacle amongst their class, dealing with a single bone construct that had exceeded the SS Rank was far from simple and close to impossible considering how they would also have to deal with an equally terrifying necromancer close to reaching the rank of lich at the same time.
Not to mention, should a battle end up breaking out between them, the disturbance would undoubtedly be big enough to draw the attention of the dungeon core. At which point both sides would be doomed as there was no way for them to face off against the dungeon core in its current state. To do something like that, one wouldn’t just need to have stepped beyond the SS Rank, but would also need to be amongst the upper echelon of those that had surpassed the SS Rank to stand a chance at fighting back against a dungeon core that had entered its development state... And that was only accounting for weaker dungeon cores that hadn’t yet developed a tenth floor. Dungeons that stretched down even further than that would in turn also be far stronger and more difficult to deal with.
Some dungeons that had existed since forever and whose depth was still unknown to this day were home to dungeon cores which even the strongest members of the guild feared.
That aside, as the group of adventurers continued to push their way forward through the treacherous terrain of the ninth floor that housed countless deadly hidden monsters looking to ambush them whenever they got the opportunity to do so. The leading necromancer riding on top the bone construct essentially rolled through any monsters that dared to jump out to attack her, thus was the power of the bone construct under her control, as even a powerful monster at the SS Rank had no choice but to be reduced into a meat paste if it dared to jump out and try to stop her.
Because of this, along with the terrifying speed of the bone construct, it didn’t take long before the leading necromancer found herself reaching the core region of the ninth floor that had already been fully developed by the dungeon core that Scaly and Verdell had entered not that long ago. Her ability to catch up to the two of them also having to do with the simple fact that Scaly didn’t mind slowing down a bit to hunt a few easy monsters along the way, something that had allowed her to reach level 46 shortly after she got to the fully developed portion of the ninth floor of the dungeon.
In turn, Verdell, who had spent most of his time since the battle with the rolling rock armadillos recovering the mana he had ended up using during the battle, didn’t manage to experience a significant increase in strength as he himself. Even though he had reached level 127, most of that increase in level had come from the stray fireballs that had landed on one of the powerful spiders Scaly had been busy cutting down back then. Not the rolling rock armadillos she had been locked in combat with.
As for the few weaker monsters he had been forced to cut down during his recovery while sitting on top of Scaly? They provided little to no increase in experience, as most of the valuable monsters that might have helped his level increase had long since been cut down by Scaly before they ever had a chance to get anywhere close to him, something he didn’t really mind given how he was still in the process of recovering the mana he had used up earlier. All in preparation for what they might encounter once the dungeon core got within view and they found themselves face to face with whatever kind of powerful monsters the dungeon core might have arranged to live around itself as a form of protection for when the development of the ninth floor of the dungeon concluded.
Still, their journey through the fully developed core of the ninth floor of the dungeon was far from trouble free, as an earlier attempt from Scaly to attack one of the monster strongholds established throughout the region had made it clear that they couldn’t mess even with those strongholds that seemed weak on the surface.
Back then, Scaly saw a few kobolds lingering around the outskirts of what looked like a ruined city carved into the side of a mountain...
[Mountain Kobold Warrior, lvl 78]
[Mountain Kobold Earth Shamen, lvl 81]
[Mountain Kobold Warrior, lvl 71]
[Mountain Kobold Warrior...]
Not exactly strong and looked like nothing more than easy bags of experience for her to sweep down and take for herself. At least that was what she thought before countless powerful kobolds came swarming out of those ruins the second she took down the few weaker kobolds that seemed to be guarding the periphery of the ruins.
[Mountain Kobold Chieftain, lvl 192]
[Mountain Kobold Great Spirit Shamen, lvl 196]
[Mountain Kobold Spirit Caller, lvl 147]
[Mountain Kobold Great Champion...]
Just looking at the terrifying level of all those kobolds that had suddenly started swarming out form who knows where inside the relatively small ruin had left Scaly deeply troubled as she was essentially forced to abandon a few easier to handle kobolds and take to the sky in an attempt to escape from those terrifying kobolds that had come swarming out from the ruins and were charging at her filled with killing intent.
Whoosh~ Whoosh~ Whoosh~
Even then, escape had not been simple, as the shamans utilized powerful elemental magic to attack her from below while the one called a spirit caller summoned forth all kinds of strange and terrifying spirits that flew up towards her from below with terrifying speed that made it impossible to escape from them. Even worse, she had discovered that dealing with those spirits was impossible using her claws and teeth, the only way to destroy them was through magic, as they seemed completely immune to physical attacks.
If not for Verdell being around to quickly handle the few spirits that had managed to pierce her defense, she doubted she would have ever had the chance to realize that magic was the only way to deal with those strange creatures summoned by the mountain kobold spirit caller and also made her deeply afraid of encounter any such being in the future. After all, the spirit caller on the side of the mountain kobolds that had almost just killed her had only reached the S Rank and hadn’t even reached the SS Rank.
If a stronger spirit caller had been around, she doubted she would have been able to escape from those kobolds in the first place.
Thinking back to this terrifying encounter that had essentially become the main reason why she now only targeted lone wandering monsters or smaller groups without any fixed home, Scaly couldn’t help shivering as she began seriously wondering if the adventurers she had encountered so far also had this kind of terrifying being amongst them and she just hadn’t been unlucky enough to encounter an adventurer spirit caller yet.
In a way, she felt thankful she hadn’t yet managed to encounter such an individual, as the other party would undoubtedly have caught her off guard with those strange spirits that could be summoned and were completely immune to physical damage. Especially so if the other party ended up attacking her while she had already used up most of her mana and had little to spare for magic in dealing with those spirits. In a situation like that, even a weaker A Rank spirit caller might be capable of doing her in and ending her little life, as there was simply no way to deal with those spirits without magic.
Still, terrifying spirit callers aside, Scaly and Verdell continued their journey towards the dungeon core and before long, the environment shifted drastically as it opened up into a vast grass plain with the dungeon core they had been travelling towards emerging in the distance like a heavenly star that had fallen from the heavens above and crashed into the mortal realm below.