"Why can a god damn rock turtle shoot out a magical rope made of water!?"
Feeling like crying as he used his fire magic to burn off a wet rope that had just attached to his hip and was about to yank him backwards off Scaly onto the hard rocky surface at a speed that would have undoubtedly cracked his head like a watermelon being thrown off a flying dragon, Verdell had barely finished his complaints when he felt another monster latching on to his shoulder in an attempt to avoid hitting the ground at a terrifying speed that would undoubtedly kill it.
"..."
"..."
Staring at the small cat shaped monster with an odd red colored turtle shell on its back, Verdell found himself frozen in disbelief for a good second or two before he quickly used a hand to push the turtle cat monster off before it ended up causing any damage-
"MEEEEEOOOOW-!"
Thud~! Crack~
[*Ding* Reached level 129]
And all he heard from the strange cat monster as it flew backwards was the sound of it hitting the rough, rocky surface of the mountainside followed by the familiar sensation of his level increasing. Making it clear this little friend of his hadn’t survived the rough landing, a fate that most of the monsters attempting to latch onto him ended up following.
After all, the monsters who could survive the rough landing were either knocked far away, ended up being rolled over by Scaly or ended up joining Scaly and a few other large monsters in rolling down the mountain.
In fact, Verdell himself hadn’t just been balancing on Scaly this entire time, as whenever a particularly large monster blocked the way forward, he was forced to jump on to one of the nearby monsters who had joined their journey down the side of the mountain-shaped pillar before finding his way back to Scaly a bit later, as she was by far the most stable to balance on top of.
Not because the other monsters rolling beside Scaly weren’t suited for rolling down the side of a mountain, but instead because a certain someone who had learnt from the past and managed to stay conscious decided to sabotage her competitors with a water ball or two, causing them to veer off the side of a cliff or smash headfirst into a pile of especially sharp rocks that made them come to a sudden deadly halt.
Even though Verdell very much wanted to complain about this kind of cheating behavior during this very honorable mountain rolling contest, he didn’t exactly have the energy to spare on something like that.
Not to mention, the underground world was dark to the point where he could barely see a few dozen meters around himself even with his inherent night vision that came from his dwarven blood.
But then again, though he felt proud of his night vision, it was only in this kind of situation with no light source around that he realized just how much this so-called night vision had degenerated over the years compared to his ancestors who spent all their time underground.
All he could do was curse his grandparents for having left behind their ancestral home to explore the world. Leading to his father also spending most of his life living above ground. Resulting in his night vision having degraded to this point over only a few short generations...
Hm...? Why is-
Whooooosh~!
"Aaaaah!?"
Lost in his own thoughts complaining about his grandparents, Verdell was completely caught off guard as he suddenly felt the wind rushing past him. Realizing far too late that he was falling through the sky, as Scaly and the other monsters who had been rolling alongside her had all ended up rolling off the side of a cliff unknowingly.
Even worse, because of the limited vision, all he saw was an abyss of darkness with no end in sight.
The one positive was the fact that he was still standing- or rather falling alongside Scaly. Giving him the opportunity to embody his inner baby koala, clinging to Scaly like his life depended on it.
Well...
His life did depend on it, as he hadn’t had the time to develop flying magic on his own using his fire magic yet.
Flap~ Flap~
And luckily, Scaly didn’t disappoint, as she quickly readjusted herself midair before flapping her wings to stop herself before she ended up slamming int the ground below. Saving him in the process.
Hehe, so much free experience~ looks like I do have an opportunity to reach level 50 before having to leave this dungeon~
Unaware of the internal panic her passenger was going through, Scaly happily smiled to herself as her gaze focused on her level.
[Level: 49/50, 32%]
Not only had her level reached 49 during the little rolling down the mountain, but her level had also jumped over thirty percent the way to level 50, something that should be impossible considering just how much experience was required to reach level 50 compared to level 49 even with the different monsters she had ended up killing while rolling down the side of the mountain-shaped pillar.
But... she hadn’t just obtained experience from the monsters she had ended up colliding with or killing along the way, but also the dozen or so rockslides she had ended up causing by accident along the way, essentially causing a cascade that had wiped the entire mountain-shaped pillar clean. Leaving no monster outside a few of the stronger ones behind in the process.
The only reason why Verdell hadn’t realized this was happening had to do with most of these rockslides happening far from them and the simple fact that the scene around him had been far to loud and chaotic for him to notice anything like that taking place far off in the darkness.
Speaking of which, some of the rockslides occurred whenever one of Scaly’s water balls failed to hit a target and ended up flying off somewhere into the darkness where it caused a rockslide.
Of course, the water balls that veered off target weren’t the largest contributor to these rockslides. Instead, it was the monsters who ended up being sent flying when Scaly collided with them.
[Gained 18.922 Exp]
[Gained 23.208 Exp]
[Gained 10.100 Exp]
[Gained 9898 Exp]
[Gained...]
[Level: 49/50, 39%]
Oh, looks like those fellows finally hit the ground. Took them longer than expected... Hehe~
Noticing the new notifications that emerged, couldn’t help grinning to herself watching how her experience bar rose by seven percent in an instant.
"I think we need to move soon. Don’t forget how close we are to the dungeon core; this kind of disturbance is undoubtedly going to draw attention." Having used the time while Scaly was happily watching herself get closer to reaching level 50 to calm himself down from the chaotic experience he had just gone through, Verdell quickly realized that the two of them were still in a dangerous situation given how large of a disturbance they had just ended up causing. Reminding Scaly that it would be for the best to leave before the guardian of the dungeon core decided to drop by to investigate the situation personally.
That... Good idea...
Having no way to argue with what Verdell said and remembering their original goal for entering the underground world, Scaly didn’t dare linger around any longer as she quickly dove down towards the ground below before rushing towards the forest she knew was near the mountain-shaped pillar-
Whoosh-!
"Huh? Aaaah!? AT LEAST WARN ME FIRST BEFORE DIVING LIKE THAT!"
Catching Verdell completely off guard with her sudden dive, as the dwarf in question had just relaxed himself and ended up being flung off Scaly’s back in the process. Forcing Scaly to readjust midair to catch him, causing the little dwarf to complain rather loudly as he ended up being caught by her claws and found himself gliding through the darkness in a far more uncomfortable state compared to if he had been sitting on Scaly’s back.
Not just because he had to pull the baby koala move on Scaly’s leg to stop himself from sliding down into the darkness, but also because Scaly had a habit of moving her legs from time to time while flying.
Normally not something that would affect Verdell now ended up making him have the most thrilling ride of his life, as Scaly didn’t realize what was happening before a weakened Verdell about to throw up called out to her in desperation. Forcing her to come to a brief stop so he had a chance to empty his stomach before he exhaustedly climbed onto her back and the two of them continued moving through the dark forest filled with monsters.
Although... Strangely enough, these monsters decided to avoid them, much to Scaly’s disappointment.
Truly unfortunate how they had been startled by the chaos she had... Accidentally... Ended up causing. Making them hide away out of fear. Afraid of being caught by whatever had caused that loud commotion- or in other words, her...