Clearing up the monsters that had gathered at the peak of the mountain shaped pillar without much effort, Scaly was disappointed to find out that there was no monster nest waiting for her once she passed through the passage connecting the underground world and what she now realized was an empty cave network in the ceiling of the underground world that had undoubtedly also been left empty by the dungeon core in an attempt to save up on resources like earlier, something that once again made her silently curse the dungeon core for not creating enough monsters for her to hunt down.
Hm? That... That is... that dwarf, Verdell? What is he doing here?
But as she was about to turn around and descend back down the mountain shaped pillar to continue hunting monsters in the forest or one of the other rather unique terrains within the underground world that at the very least had powerful monsters lurking within them, Scaly noticed the unique scent of her little dwarf companion from one of the nearby cave tunnels.
Although, as she began trying to get a better idea if it was really him, she noticed another distinct scent that lingered next to him. One that would have caused her brow to furrow, had she not almost thrown up upon trying to get a clearer sense of where that other scent was coming from.
Did he encounter some kind of deadly monster or something!?
Unable to understand what was happening with the other scent next to Verdell, she decided to first go and check up on the little dwarf to ensure he wasn’t in some deadly battle he couldn’t win. In fact, part of her hoped this would be the case, as a monster capable of pushing that little dwarf to the brink would undoubtedly be a powerful one...
What... What is that!?
But upon spotting Verdell slumped over on the ground with what looked like a strange blob of foul-smelling liquid approaching him. The origin of the strange smell she had picked up next to him. Scaly froze on the spot unable to comprehend what she was seeing. Only able to barely use her inspection ability on the strange creature before she gagged about to throw up just like Verdell had seemingly done before the overwhelming smell of the strange creature had made him faint and collapse to the ground.
[Revered Devourer of All Things Unholy, lvl 3]
[Description: Born from the foulest of things, devours what is left behind and shunned by others. Seeking the eternal path of enlightenment through the consumption of the unholy and filthy. Only a rare few of these tainted beings have ever been recorded throughout the establishment of the Adventurers Guild and their strength varies greatly. From being comparable to weak D Rank Monsters to surpassing the SS Rank.
The strongest recorded one within the ancient records of the Adventurers Guild was said to have reached the demigod level and needed the cooperation of the then guild master, several other major powers along with the strongest adventurers to take down. Even then, the guild master of the time along with several powerful individuals involved in the battle ended up perishing during or shortly after the battle. Recommend exterminating immediately if possible or making the adventurers guild aware of its existence.]
Reading through the rather long description that seemed rather hostile towards the strange blob slowly itching closer to Verdell, Scaly didn’t hesitate for a second as she directly unleashed a powerful water blade towards the strange blob-
Swish~
But instead of the expected kill, nothing happened and the blob just continued forward like nothing had happened.
This...?
Not knowing how to react to this kind of unexpected turn of events, Scaly found herself freezing on the spot for a few seconds before she decisively began using other forms of water magic to try and kill it before soon enough switching to lighting magic when that didn’t work and then to wind magic before getting to ice magic that seemed to finally do something to the strange blob slowly approaching Verdell.
Whoosh~
Finding out ice magic worked, Scaly didn’t dare hold back, as she poured all her mana into her ice magic. Turning the originally normal cave into an ice cave with a blizzard inside it as everything turned into a scene of pure white as ice shattered and turned into snow that scattered all over the place after colliding with the strange blob. The blizzard and environmental change taking place entirely because of the dozens of ice spears, blades, needles and other kinds of ice magic she conjured up and threw towards the strange blood that seemed intent on reaching Verdell as it ignored her entirely.
If anything, though she was impressed by this kind of resilience, she found herself becoming increasingly impressed by Verdell who somehow hadn’t woken up even as the temperature around him plummeted below the freezing point, something that should undoubtedly have greatly disturbed a warmth-loving fire mage like him...
In the end, the slow battle that essentially boiled down to Scaly throwing everything she had at the strange blob lasted a little over ten minutes before a notification of its death finally greeted her.
[Gained 267.826 Exp]
And though she was beyond exhausted after that kind of mana draining battle that was just her pouring all her mana into her ice magic to stop the strange blob and kill, the terrifying amount of experience was more than enough to make up for it, as she only felt a bit disappointed that she hadn’t directly reached level 49. Showing her once again, just how difficult it was to level up now and at the same time also just how ridiculous that damnable dungeon guardian construct was to directly jump so many levels in such a short time.
Feeling the mana still left in her body as she watched the strange blob liquify on its own after death before dispersing like it had never been there in the first, she couldn’t help feeling a slight shiver run down her spine. Only now realizing that the total mana still left within her body was less than three percent. By far the lowest her mana had ever reached since she had stepped away from being a little lizard, as she always tried to never go beneath a certain level so she would be able to deal with any dangerous situation she might run into.
If the strange blob had been able to survive for a bit longer...
Rustle~
Shaking her head, she didn’t dare think about what would have happened if that was the case, as that thing would undoubtedly have shifted its attention to her after it dealt with Verdell. Instead, to distract herself, she decided to shift her attention to her status for the first time in some time.
Name: Scaly
Race: Dreamscale Dragon (2nd Stage)
Dragon blood: 47% (Rare)
Level: 48/50, 97%
Mana Heart: Third Circle
STR: 2047 |VIT: 4097| DEX: 2349| M: 7602
Magic: [Dragon Water Magic, lvl 9], [Ice Magic lvl 6], [Wind Magic, lvl 9], [Lightning Magic, lvl 5], [Dream Magic lvl 5]
Skills: [Dragon Bloodline, lvl 4], [Dragon Flight, lvl 8], [Poison/Venom Resistance, lvl 8], [Dragon Claw Strike, lvl 9], [Dragon Breath (Water), lvl 6], [Corrosion Resistance, lvl 4], [Pain Resistance, lvl 6], [Swimming, lvl 6], [Dragon Heart, lvl 1], [Endless Vitality, lvl 2], [Agility, lvl 1], [Brute Force, lvl 1], [Fear Resistance, lvl 1], [Mana Consumption, lvl 3]
Unsurprisingly, she was extremely close to reaching level 49 and would only need to kill a few more monsters to successfully level up.
Outside of that, there weren’t any new and surprising changes to her status. Her water magic was still stuck at level nine like it had encountered some insurmountable mountain that was impossible to climb, while her wind magic had decided to join it in standing before this insurmountable peak.
The increase in level from her ice magic was rather obvious and understandable given what she had gone through and the fact that it was still some distance away from reaching level 9.
However, one change that did surprise her a bit was the fact that her mana consumption skill had increased from level 2 to level 3.
Or rather, the surprise didn’t come from the mana consumption skill itself reaching level 3, but instead the fact that it now not only allowed her to live off mana, but also increased her mana recovery speed, something that was more than welcome in her current situation with little to no mana left flowing through her body.
With her status examined and the benefits from the battle just now clear, Scaly shifted her attention back towards the fainted dwarf that showed no sign of waking up any time soon. Silently wondering how in the world he had ended up finding himself in this kind of deadly situation where he ended up almost being devoured by some kind of strange and foul smelling monster that even she had a difficult time killing without it even offering as much as a token resistance.