[Gained 15.413 Exp]
[*Ding* Reached level 47]
Killing the last of the black shadow snakes that hadn’t been able to slither away in time, Scaly felt a sense of profound joy welling up inside of her upon seeing how she had just barely been able to push past level 46 and reach level 47 through the snakes alone. Knowing that outside of these little snakes who were by far the strongest monsters around within this part of the underground world, there was still a lot of untaped experience all around her.
Even better, the experience pool waiting to be tapped into around her didn’t show the slightest bit of panic even with her massacring the poor black shadow snakes.
Instead, they just kept staring towards her with an almost blank look in their eyes. Making damn sure she understood full well that they didn’t think she was going to target them. Under the foolish belief that her only target was the black shadow snakes. An illusion she helped keep up after realizing these monsters weren’t showing any signs of running away if she only focused on the black shadow snakes for now.
Of course, with the last of the black shadow snakes falling, that was about to change~
Whoosh-! BANG!
[Gained 20.372 Exp]
And before the monsters that had only been observing so far had the chance to react, she targeted one of the few powerful monsters still around. Killing it in a single yet powerful ambush that relied entirely on the other party not viewing her as a real threat before it was already too late and her sharp water blades cut through its outer defences before her claws came down from above and crushed its head.
Roar!?
Croooaak!?
Reee~?!
The sudden shift caught the monsters that had happily been watching how their despised enemy was killed completely off guard. Leaving them with no idea how to react as they could only stare blankly towards Scaly with a clear look of confusion on their faces for a few seconds.
[Gained 10.425 Exp]
[Gained 8962 Exp]
[Gained 3535 Exp]
[Gained 8534 Exp]
[Gained 5232 Exp]
[Gained...]
Seconds Scaly took full advantage of to start a bloody sweep through these observing monsters that had believed they wouldn’t end up being on the other side of her claws after having watched how she solely focused on the black shadow snakes without giving any of the other monsters along the way as much as a simple glance a minute earlier.
Ruuuuumble~!
By the time these monsters realized Scaly had started an indiscriminate killing spree without any care for the monster that ended up dead beneath her sharp claws and powerful magic, panic set in and a monster stampede formed from the fleeing monsters. Turning them into an unstoppable horde that even Scaly found herself forced to avoid as they charged deeper into the underground world without any regard for their own safety in case they ran into an even stronger being- or rather, they didn’t have the time to care, as all they wanted to do was get as far away from Scaly as possible.
Even if doing so meant placing themselves in an even more dangerous situation, the monsters didn’t hesitate for even a second as the large horde of monsters surged forth like an unstoppable force.
This... How come they have the ability to cooperate so well all of a sudden!?
Because of this, Scaly not only found herself troubled dealing with the now vast horde of monsters that had taken shape, but even more troubled by the fact that these monsters seemed to have turned into a well-disciplined army along with it. Having somehow gained the ability to launch combined magical attacks after forming a monster horde, a fact that left Scaly completely bewildered at what she was seeing, as several different monsters proficient in poison magic worked together while running to create a powerful magical attack that even she had to dodge with her high poison resistance.
In a way, it was like the monster had changed into a large group of adventurers, capable of wielding power far beyond what should be possible for monsters at their level.
Heck, not to mention S Rank Monsters gaining the ability to contend with an SS Rank monster while working together, this massive horde of monsters that for some reason still seemed to fear her, had gained power comparable to the group of adventurers she and Verdell had left behind after being pulled into the ninth floor of the dungeon.
This kind of strength... If they didn’t run from her and decided to work together would be more than enough to take her down.
Problem for these monsters was the fact that none of them seemed the slightest bit interested in staying behind to fight her and only seemed to throw attacks backwards in what they believed to be a vain attempt to slow her down. Unaware of the devastating power they now wielded.
Terrifying as this kind of experience was and the fact that she now had to dodge attacks while chasing them, she could at least take advantage of the slow attack speed and her ability to relatively easily avoid those powerful attacks to continue wearing down the large monster horde as it continued deeper inside the underground world.
[Gained 9962 Exp]
[Gained 2456 Exp]
[Gained 8384 Exp]
[Gained 9232 Exp]
[Gained...]
From the original little bits of experience that came trickling in at the formation of the monster horde as she got used to the terrifying combined magic attacks throw towards her and learnt to dodge them before they had the chance to hit her and do any real damage, it didn’t take long before a vast flood of new experience surged into her a flowed freely through her veins- or that was at least the feeling she imagined herself having as she watched the percentage next to her level slowly tick upwards.
Judging by the increase and the still large number of monsters, she calculated that she might not just be able to reach level 48 by killing all of them but even stood a very real chance of directly breaking past level 48 and reaching level 49 in a single step.
If possible, she wanted to reach level 50, but she understood that the experience required with every level would only increase and even reaching level 49 was an optimal outcome. For all she knew, the required experience for level 49 might far exceed her expectations.
Still, she didn’t feel discouraged. Knowing that outside of the monster horde she found herself chasing now, there was still many yet to be discovered monsters lurking within this underground world of the ninth floor.
Monster that would undoubtedly be stronger than the ones she was currently chasing.
To some extent, she was even using this large horde of monsters as a way to try and poke at the depths of the underground world and see what kind of monsters emerged. Hoping to use these weaker monsters to lure out a bigger one that would inevitably end up being targeted by these panicking monsters the second it approached, something that would in turn result in it being weakened when it was caught off guard by the seemingly reckless behaviour of this slowly shrinking monster horde.
Of course, though she wanted to use these monsters to try and lure out a stronger monster for her to kill off, she didn’t slow down her hunting speed of the monsters within the monster horde. After all, there was simply far too many monsters around. Even if she killed half of them, she doubted those rushing out front would even notice more than half of the original monster horde had already been wiped out by her.
If anything, they would just continue rushing forward with seemingly no clear direction in mind.
Still... Scaly doubted they would be able to keep up this kind of thing for much longer, as she distinctively felt an invisible pressure engulf her after crossing through a large tunnel more than a hundred meters wide and over a dozen meters tall. Emerging within what could only be described as a brand-new world.
Not only was the underground space she found herself in vast beyond belief. Spreading out with no end in sight in all direction around her, but different from the underground world she had found herself travelling through so far, it wasn’t covered in pitch black darkness but instead had a very distinct light source located at the very top.
A light source that was none other than the bottom of the dungeon core that had truly embodied its current appearance as a miniature sun as it shone brightly from the ceiling above and bathed the entire underground space in a gentle light that perfectly mimicked that of the outside world.
Something that in turn also resulted in the underground space having things one wouldn’t normally expect to see in an underground space like this...