As she followed the downtrodden grass path that had been created by humans, Scaly didn’t end up running into any more humans along the way. All of the ones heading to kill the ancient dire wolf already having passed by her earlier.
Though it made the journey down the mountain a bit boring and without anything out of the ordinary happening, she at least had a few delicious forest rabbits come jump out in front of her every now and then. Ensuring that she didn’t go hungry during her journey down the mountain.
And after spending a sun filled night huddled up beneath a bush that provided her decent cover from the cold wind and bright sun above, she finally arrived at the base of the mountain where the forest that she had started to grow familiar with slowly came to an end.
At the same time, it also made Scaly realize what part of the mountain she had ended up on... The side of the human town!
[Human... lvl 35]
[Human... lvl 27]
[Human... lvl 28]
[Human... lvl 31]
[Human...]
Not just that, but the town had just woken up and the adventurers were all in the process of leaving the town to go out hunting monsters, collecting herbs and other things that humans were up to. Resulting in countless humans of all levels appearing in the hundreds, a sight that Scaly had never seen before...
Humans, humans... AND MORE HUMANS!
Feeling a sense of fear that she hadn’t felt before when she saw the large swarm of humans, Scaly could not help freezing on the spot. Only now getting a good understanding of just how scary humans were when they gathered together in large numbers.
Not to mention the terrifying human above level 60 that she had fled from in the past, even if another five of him appeared, she doubted he would stand a chance against the large number of humans currently in front of her. Especially so considering there were at least a dozen or so humans who had reached level 50 among them.
I... I have to get out of here!
Not knowing what else to do in her current situation, Scaly wasted no time as she turned around and escaped back in the direction of the forest that she had just emerged from-
Rustle~!
"Oh? Look a lizard monster!"
However, to her horror, a group of humans around level 30 seemingly manifested out of thin air in front of her the moment she decided to turn around and escape back into the forest. Blocking her path, while at the same time also spotting her before she had the chance to try and hide like she had done so far.
"Indeed, it’s a lizard monster... And those Scales... I’m sure they will fit a high price in the guild!"
"True, they are so beautiful. Maybe it will even be possible to sell directly to a noble!"
"Wow... If that can be done, this lizard is worth a fortune!"
Following the first human calling out, the rest of the humans in the group also noticed her and each voiced their desire to take her scales and sell them off.
If not for the fact that she had to worry about the large number of humans behind her, she wouldn’t have wasted any time before attacking the group.
Whoosh-!
However, with her current situation in mind, she could only turn and rush to her right. Trying to get away from before any of the stronger humans that she had noticed spotted her and decided to join in and chase after her.
"Ah!? It’s running!"
"Of course it is! Don’t you see that it’s the early morning rush, I’m sure it was scared away by them."
"Are you sure it wasn’t just your face?"
"You!"
"Calm down you two, we still have to catch that lizard before anyone else has the chance to do so before us!"
Seeing Scaly running away, the group of humans that had spotted her didn’t waste too much time before they began to chase after her.
Unfortunately, they soon discovered that she was far faster than them and could only call out to a group of stronger adventurers who soon took over the task of chasing after her.
In the end, Scaly, who had just been about to leave the humans in the dust and safely escape, was prevented from doing so by this new group of humans.
Even worse, she could clearly see that other humans had also begun to make their way over towards her. Among which were two of the level 50 humans she had wanted to avoid the most.
Counting all of them together, Scaly made out around fifty or so humans who were beginning to make their way towards. All filled with a mixture of greed and curiosity.
Damnable humans! Can’t you just leave me alone?!
Not knowing what to do as she saw this large number of humans rushing towards her, Scaly could only cry out internally as she continued scanning her surroundings for anything that could assist her in shaking off the humans chasing after her.
To her right was the mountain forest... Didn’t seem that useful for hiding considering she had no small number of monster hunters and other kinds of hunters chasing her. Trying to reach the wild root flower part of the forest and use them to her advantage was even less likely, as it had taken her an entire day to travel down the mountain from where she had left the wild root flower part of the mountain forest.
Ahead of her was a large empty plain with nothing other than a few different monsters that seemed to provide no real threat to the humans behind her.
As for her left... That was where the human town was located! Although most of the humans left in her path going that way was weaker humans who seemed to be hunting some kind of slime monster that roamed the empty plain outside the town, she understood very well that there was no way she could run past the town without attracting the attention of the stronger humans inside the town.
Hm... Or maybe I can go into the town and hide there? Even though the risk is rather high, it’s better than the other two options and I just have to safely hide away somewhere inside the town until it gets dark and leave again when there aren’t any humans around...
Thinking this to herself as her brain worked overtime trying to figure out if this was possible, Scaly soon concluded that this was indeed the safest option that she had. Even if she really didn’t want to go anywhere near the human town.
Whoosh-!
"Huh? What is it doing?"
"It’s rushing towards the town!"
"Haha, it must be a panicked state unable to think clearly being chased by so many at once, it’s understandable for it to run a random direction."
Seeing this, the humans chasing after her all began chatting with each other in surprise or laughing at her decision to rush towards the town.
"Wha-what is everyone rushing over here for...?"
"Perhaps a monster? Who knows, what the seniors do doesn’t have anything to do with us-"
Bang!
"What are talking about!? If it’s really a monster, that they are chasing after, won’t we be in danger!?"
"This... Indeed, we will..."
However, compared to the group of humans chasing after Scaly filled with confidence, the weaker humans in the process of hunting slimes just outside the town all began panicking. Wasting no time rushing back towards the town after realizing that a dangerous monster was heading their way.
Not a single one among them dared to stay behind and try to stop Scaly or continue hunting slimes like they had been doing just a few seconds earlier. Even if none of them had any idea about how strong Scaly was.
The reason for this was not so much that they were cowardly or anything like that, but more so that none of them wanted to run into a situation where they would fight against a monster far stronger than themselves and end up dying without even getting the chance to fight back.
This reason was important if someone at their level of strength wanted to continue hunting monsters at the third floor of the Howling Caverns where almost every single monster, they encountered was stronger than them.
Huh? They are leading me towards the entrance to the town... Do these humans perhaps want to help me...?
Not knowing any of this, Scaly could only come to her own conclusion as she saw how the weaker humans all picked up their things and rushed towards the closest entrance of the town that she hadn’t noticed until the weaker adventurers began crowding around it to get inside the town.
As a result, Scaly just thought that not all humans were that bad, as some of them seemed to have taken pity on her and decided to lend a hand in helping her escape.