"Hm?" As Scaly began slowly approaching the group of humans who were busy examining the remains of the human knight she had killed not long ago, one of them suddenly stood up with a frown on his face.
Ah!? Did he notice me!?
Feeling the gaze of the human who stood up focusing on her general location, Scaly could not help freezing on the spot as she stopped moving. Not daring to make any sudden movements in case she was discovered before she could get close enough to carry out her plan.
"What is it? Did you notice something?"
Luckily, just as it seemed like he might have found her, one of the other humans spoke up and distracted him. Giving Scaly an opportunity to dig herself into the soft mud and better hide herself as his attention focused on the human who had suddenly spoken up.
"No, it’s not that... I feel like we are being watched by someone..." Frowning even more than before as he said this, the human who seemed to have noticed her presence once again scanned the surroundings.
However, this time around, he didn’t notice anything out of place, as Scaly had already hidden herself in the mud. Making it close to impossible to notice her without directly stepping on her.
"Being watched by someone? Are you perhaps referring to those swamp alligators? Given their behavior, you don’t have to worry about them while we are on land." Not noticing anything out of place, another of the humans chuckled teasingly as he said this while pointing towards the large number of swamp alligators that had gathered around the piece of land that they were standing on.
"Indeed, even if that monster behind the death of Sir Galahad is still around, it shouldn’t be that much stronger than him considering most of the injuries on Sir Galahads indicate a long-drawn-out battle, with all of us here, it shouldn’t be a problem for us to deal with!"
Joining in with the first, another member of the group reassured the cautious human while motioning towards the countless bite and claw marks left on what little remained of Sir Galahad’s body.
"Haaa... Maybe I’m just too nervous knowing that there is a monster out there capable of killing Sir Galahad..." Hearing what the others said, the cautious human shook his head and turned his attention away from the location where Scaly was hiding before joining the rest of the group in gathering together what remained of Sir Galahad so he could get a proper burial.
Given the frequent deaths among adventurers, it had long since become common practice that the guild would help those who died get a proper burial.
Of course, the burial differed depending on the rank of the adventurer and how much they had contributed to the guild, but at the very least, anyone who could archive the D Rank could get a simple tombstone in one of the graveyards managed by the guild in cooperation with the local church or other religious order operating in the area.
In not so funny facts, the guild could be considered the largest graveyard manager in the world due to operating all across the world and how dangerous the adventurer profession was...
Rustle~
At the same time that the cautious human turned his attention away from her and focused his attention back on gathering up the thing Sir Galahad had left behind, both of Scaly’s eyes shone happily as she once again began to make her way towards the group of humans.
The main difference this time around being that she slowed down her approach significantly to not accidentally arouse the attention of the cautious human again, as she had a feeling that she wouldn’t be able to hide herself if he noticed something again. Soon getting close enough to use her water magic on the unstable ground that the group of humans were standing on top of.
Hehe, I want to see how you will escape this!
Whoosh-!
Whoosh-!
Whoosh-!
Not wasting any time, Scaly directly used her simplest water ball spell, as dozens of water balls soon descended towards the group of humans without any delay.
"Everyone! Watch out!"
"Ah!? We are under attack!"
"Damnit! I knew something was wrong!"
Noticing the large number of water balls flying towards them, the group of humans instantly sprang into action to defend themselves against the sudden attack, while the cautious human who had noticed something wrong earlier couldn’t help cursing to himself.
Splash~ Splash~ Splash~
However, they were soon left bewildered as the water balls that they had viewed as a serious threat popped with the slightest tap of their weapons or on impact. Doing no damage to them or their armor. Instead, only soaking the ground beneath them.
"Is this a prank or something...?"
"Who knows... Maybe another group from the guild came to investigate the situation as well and they decided to have a water mage play a prank on us..."
Not knowing how else to describe the total lack of power behind the water balls that had now soaked all of them from head to toe, the group of humans felt that it might not be a dangerous monster that had attacked them, but instead another group of humans who had played a prank on them.
Ruuuumble~!
However, this thought only lasted for a short time as they suddenly heard the ground beneath them starting to rumble as parts of the ground that they were standing on top of started to dissolve directly beneath their feet. Turning into mud that quickly began sinking to the bottom of the murky water that they soon found out was directly beneath them, while only a few dead plants and branches that had kept the dried-out mud afloat began to drift apart or sink as well.
Splash!
"Ah?! Help!"
Not long after the ground had started to dissolve and mix into the murky water below what they now realized was a floating platform made of dried mud, branches, and dead plants, the first of the humans lost his balance and fell into the murky water that had become impossible to see through at this point in time.
Splash!
Splash!
Splash!
Following him, the rest of the humans soon ended up in the water... And much to Scaly’s delight as she was watching the situation unfold from afar, the swamp alligators acted exactly like they had done when Galahad had fallen into the water, swarming towards the group of humans flailing around in the water trying to prevent themselves from being dragged below the water from the mud and other things getting stuck in their armors and clothes.
Among the humans, the most unfortunate one was a human wearing full metal armor, who instantly sank to the bottom of the murky water. Disappearing out of sight before he even had the chance to try and fight for his life.
How unfortunate... One of them died before I could get a chance to do anything...
Looking towards the location where this human had sunk, Scaly could not help feeling a sense of regret upon seeing the slight change in color of the murky water, as what she assumed to be the blood of this metal human mixed together with the swamp water.
"Everyone! Gather together and work towards the nearest piece of land! The swamp alligators aren’t that strong and can be fought off without too much trouble if we work together!"
At the same time Scaly was feeling regretful over the sudden and unexpected loss of one of the humans, the cautious human who seemed to have noticed her earlier called out to the other humans flailing around in a panic as they fought off the swamp alligators that tried to attack them.
As a result, by the time Scaly turned to look at the other humans, she realized that they had already gathered together in a group and were working their way towards the closest piece of land while skillfully fighting off the swamp alligators with minimal effort.
No! I can’t allow this!
Knowing that things could not continue like this, or the humans would be able to safely leave the water without incurring any real injuries, Scaly jumped up from her observation spot and made her way towards the piece of land that the humans were swimming towards-
Whoosh-!
Whoosh-!
Whoosh-!
And using a large amount of her current mana, she conjured several water spears around her before hurling them towards the group of humans.
"Hm? Hm!? EVERYONE! WATCH OUT!"
Seeing these water spears, the cautious human leading the group had a shocked expression on his face before calling out to the rest-
"Aaaah-!"
PTSH-!
[Gained 1235 Exp]
[*Ding* Reached level 13]
Unfortunately, the warning came too late, as one of the weaker humans didn’t manage to react in time and had her head pierced by one of the water spears before sinking down into the murky water where a few swamp alligators were already eagerly waiting.