Feeling a sense of relief watching how the spider had not come up with some other way to keep chasing after her, she still didn’t dare to fully lower her guard. Not daring to underestimate the silk wizard in the shape of a spider again-
Swish~!
Something that ended up saving her life, as a small ball of silk had been secretly created by the silk wizard and thrown up towards her just out of sight. Giving her little time to react as the ball of silk just barely missed her head because she had been focusing all her attention on the tricky little spider that once again proved to her just how troublesome it was to deal with. Not even giving up as it was forced back to the ground.
This one encounter from start to finish had been her just trying to shake off the continued schemes of the silk wizard spider. Even now that she was almost certain the attacks had come to an end following that last attack, she still didn’t dare lower her guard and kept her gaze focused on the spider in case it ended up attempting to launch another deadly attack towards her from the ground.
In the end, Scaly found herself staring down towards the now grounded spider below for a good ten or so seconds before she felt certain that it wouldn’t be launching another attack up towards her again. Allowing her to subtly shift her attention away to examine the state of the monster horde that had by now escaped out of the large new underground space she found herself in. Finding it impossible for her to catch up to the monster horde again because of how the other spiders below had essentially blocked the tunnel that they had escaped back through, something that should have originally been done to prevent her from escaping but now only served as a way to stop her from chasing after the monster horde that had taken the opportunity to escape during the brief clash between her and the spiders.
If anything, the spiders didn’t have any way to catch her any longer now that she had managed to create a significant enough distance between them. The only real way for her to end up being attacked again would be if she decided to try and chase after the monster horde composed of weaker monsters whose path had been entirely sealed by the webs of the spiders.
Or in other words, she would have to plunge headfirst into the spider webs and try to force her way through into the tunnel that the horde of weaker monsters had escaped through, something she had absolutely no intention of doing. Knowing that doing so would only end up with her being trapped by the spiders below.
Still, though she had managed to successfully get rid of the spiders and found herself lingering close to the ceiling of the cave where she had already made sure no other monster was secretly lurking waiting to ambush her when she got too close to the ceiling, Scaly had no intention of allowing the spiders to get away after ambushing her and directly ruining her chances of cleaning up the monster horde she had worked hard on hunting down. If anything, she wanted nothing more than to replace the spiders below with those weaker monsters and turn them into experience that would then help her increase her own level.
Problem was that these spiders were far from simple to deal with, their intelligence and teamwork already far beyond that of any other monster she had faced in the past. Meaning that a simple head on charge would likely end up getting her killed instead of the other way around with her walking headfirst into another deadly ambush.
Not to mention, even though she would love to think the only enemy she had to deal with was the spiders below, she could clearly sense countless other monsters staring towards her and the spiders. Having been drawn over by the earlier clash.
Even if she could successfully take on the spiders below and ended up killing them in a best-case scenario relying on her superior strength, there was always the chance that another monster decided to take advantage and launch an attack towards her the second she finished up the spiders.
The entire turn of events was frustrating to say the least. The only thing that made her somewhat happy about the troublesome situation she found herself in was the fact that the spiders seemed to be facing a similar predicament. Having come to the same conclusion she had. Aware that another clash wouldn’t work out well for them and might instead end up backfiring with the two sides being ambushed by a third or even fourth party that had been lying in ambush waiting for an opportunity to strike when the two of them were busy fighting with each other.
Rustle~
In the end, the spiders below ended up making the first move, as they began slowly retreating while keeping their attention on Scaly up above in case she attempted to make a move on them during their retreat, a smart move given how Scaly was indeed thinking about such a thing.
Unfortunately for her, with the SS Rank silk wizard having its gaze locked onto her every move, she had little chance to take advantage of the slow retreat and could only watch them retreat filled with reluctance over giving up such a large pile of experience.
Still, unable to make a move on the spiders below, she did at least get a chance to probably inspect the silk wizard spider while watching them slowly retreat...
[Silk Wizard, lvl 151]
[Description: The evolution of the soft silk spider, the silk wizard is a deadly monster whose strength has not only reached the SS Rank, but whose intelligence also far surpasses other monsters. Known for their high intelligence and intricate traps and ambushes that can even bring down a party of SS Rank Adventurers. Skilled in manipulating spider silk and can make use of magical resistant spider silk along with a unique spider silk-based magic. Recommended to avoid without the presence of a skilled fire mage.]
And reading through the description of the silk wizard, Scaly couldn’t help missing Verdell. Realizing he was a perfect counter for this annoying ambush loving spider. Not that there was much she could do about given how she had no clue where Verdell was outside of the fact he had left to observe the dungeon core up close to try and learn from it and improve his mana manipulation ability.
Although the dungeon core was very much present in the form of a large sun in the sky of this underground world, she understood that what she saw was only the lower half of the dungeon core and what Verdell had gone to find was the half above ground. Meaning there was little chance of her running into him by approaching the dungeon core in the ceiling.
If anything, approaching the dungeon core ran the risk of her being noticed by the dungeon core.
In fact, as she slowly came to realize what the existence of the dungeon core within this underground world signified, she realized that it might not be possible for her to continue flying around so close to the ceiling for much longer. Knowing that staying out in the open like she was currently doing carried the risk of not only exposing herself to the dungeon core, but also the countless other powerful monsters lurking within the underground world of the ninth floor.
No... It didn’t carry the risk of exposing her, as she could already feel the gaze of countless monsters below locking on to her. Meaning she had very much already been exposed to those powerful monsters below.
Whoosh~
To ensure her own safety and to avoid another sudden ambush by a second or third powerful group of monsters, Scaly found herself forced to descend back to the ground to avoid drawing any more unnecessary attention to herself.
Something that in turn also had her enter the forest that the spiders had escaped back into after sensing the situation not going their way any longer.
Of course, she didn’t dare to enter behind the spiders and follow them. Instead, entering the forest far away from where the spiders had entered the forest where she also hadn’t sensed any malicious gazes from earlier. Making sure that the part of the underground forest she entered shouldn’t have any overly powerful monsters like the silk wizard spider she had just dealt with.
Then again, though there might not be any SS Rank Monsters around the part of the forest she had entered, it was far from safe, as it didn’t take more than a few seconds before she ran into a small group of S Rank Monsters that were by no means simple to deal with even for her- not that she intended on allowing them to simply leave...