Chapter 169: No Way Out...

Rumble~!Growl?

As Scaly found a place to lay down and recover her mana while going over different plans of how to approach the powerful mountain gnoll grand teacher and land a successful hit with her lightning magic without being discovered, the two mountain gnolls guarding the entrance to the tunnel leading inside the small valley surrounded by mountains, were suddenly woken up by a loud rumbling sound, causing both of them to turn their attention away from the mountain rabbit bones they were gnawing on and towards the origin of the sound.

Growl!?

However, as they saw what was approaching them, both of them let out panicked growls as they wasted no time in turning around before charging into the tunnel behind them with all of their strength-

Bang!

ROOOAR!

Not a second later, a massive heavenly lake serpent slammed into the side of the mountain where the tunnel entrance was located. Roaring angrily, as it had not managed to get to the mountain gnolls in time before they could escape into the safety of the tunnel that was a little too small for it to squeeze through with its massive body.

Bang!rable as Scaly had first thought when she had tried to destroy herself.

Then again... This was only because several heavenly lake serpents were using their enormous strength to try and break the invisible wall...

Huh? What is happening?

Back inside the valley, Scaly woke up from her relatively relaxed state having only recovered around half of her mana at this point in time after hearing the loud rumbling sounds caused by the heavenly lake serpents colliding with the invisible wall surrounding the valley.

Groowl!

Groooowl!

Not long after she got up and intended to figure out what was happening, the panicked growling sound of the two guarding mountain gnolls echoed out throughout the entire valley. Instantly causing all of the confused mountain gnolls also wondering what was happening to start panicking, as Scaly saw how some of them began pointing up towards the top of the few mountains behind her-

This- Heavenly lake serpents!? Didn’t their attack end already!?

In turn, causing Scaly to turn around and see several heavenly lake serpents slamming their massive bodies into what she guessed was the invisible wall that had blocked her from climbing over the mountains and forced her to go through the tunnel instead.

Of course, the main difference between when she had been trying to break through the invisible wall was the fact that she could now see the invisible wall to some degree, as several cracks had formed across it due to constant attack of the heavenly lake serpents.

No matter how strong this invisible wall was, it was obvious that it wouldn’t be able to last for much longer under the constant attack of the powerful heavenly lake serpents.

Don’t tell... The battle between the heavenly lake serpents and mountain gnolls didn’t end yet but was merely at a momentary standstill!? Did I get caught up in the middle of a clash between the two of them?!

As she observed the heavenly lake serpents who were still very much alive, Scaly suddenly realized that she had been mistaken in her first interpretation of what had happened between the two.

The battle between them had not ended yet and they were still very much at war with each other. Only that the battle seemed to not be fought through a single all-out war, but instead through smaller clashes that were launched by the heavenly lake serpents.

It was a good idea considering that the mountain gnolls were essentially forced to stay in one location to defend their tribe, but she had never expected the heavenly lake serpents to be smart enough to do something like this. Even more so when considering that-

GROOOOOWL!

Lost in her own thoughts as she looked up at the majestic heavenly lake serpents slamming into the invisible wall over and over, Scaly was suddenly jolted back to the present by a terrifyingly loud roar coming from the largest building present inside the valley... And even without turning around to look at where it had come from, she understood that it was mountain gnoll grand teacher.

Out of all the mountain gnolls present inside the valley, it was only this mountain gnoll that could let out such a terrifying roar and even make her feel a sense of trepidation.

Even if it was not focused on her, she still very much understood the terror of such a powerful mountain gnoll, thus, upon hearing the roar, Scaly didn’t waste any time as she made sure to press her body down against the rocky ground and make herself as small as possible to avoid being detected. After all, she was on one the small mountains that the heavenly lake serpents had scaled and were currently trying to break through the invisible wall.

Only when she heard the sound of the powerful mountain gnoll rushing forward towards the tunnel, did she dare to peek her small head up above her cover. Only to see the mountain gnoll grand teacher filled with killing intent disappearing inside the tunnel along with a few of the stronger mountain gnolls present.

Rumble~!

Roooar!

Roar!

Only a short time later, the sound of fighting echoed out through the tunnel. Followed by most of the heavenly lake serpents attacking the invisible wall retreating back down the smaller mountains to participate in the battle below while a few stayed behind trying to break the invisible wall and reach the smaller and weaker mountain gnolls who were by now covering together in a corner of the valley.

Wait... Isn’t this a perfect opportunity...?

Even though the current situation wasn’t exactly what she had planned for when came to dealing with the powerful mountain gnoll and killing the large number of weaker mountain gnolls inside the valley to rapidly increase her own strength, it didn’t change the fact that all of the stronger mountain gnolls had already left the valley to deal with the attack heavenly lake serpents. Leaving the weaker mountain gnolls inside the valley completely defenseless.

Continuing to think about what to do about whether or not to take the chance and kill the weaker mountain gnolls, her body began to move on its own. Soon travelling down the mountain, she had been hiding on top of before she slowly began to approach the weaker mountain gnolls without being discovered in the process.

Luckily, given the panicked state of these mountain gnolls and the fact that they were far weaker than most of the mountain gnolls she had encountered so far, none of them noticed her even when she was no more than a few meters away from them.

Even though part of her didn’t want to act against these weaker mountain gnolls now, as the stronger mountain gnolls would almost definitely be showing up soon to secure the area and fight back the heavenly lake serpents, she also understood that it was unlikely for her to get another chance again in the future.

Not to mention, the mountain gnolls were likely to discover her even if she decided to do nothing and just leave while trying not to get involved in the clash between the mountain gnolls and the heavenly lake serpents-

Growl?

Ptsh-!

[Gained 458 Exp]

And so, before the weaker mountain gnolls had any time to react, Scaly jumped towards the closest mountain gnoll. Earning a confused and shocked growl in response, as she cleanly cut through its neck without any problems. Killing it with a simple swipe of her claws.

Grooowl!?

Grooowl!!!!

GROWL!?

Seeing this happen, the mountain gnolls froze for a brief second before all of them began growling loudly in fear and trying to run away from Scaly-

Ptsh-!

[Gained 345 Exp]

Ptsh!

[Gained 631 Exp]

Ptsh-!

[Gained...]

Unfortunately, there was nowhere for them to escape or run when faced with Scaly, as she began to kill them off one by one.

The only path to escape, the tunnel, had already been blocked by a heavenly lake serpent trying to dig its way to them like before, having come back again after the mountain gnoll grand teacher had passed through the tunnel...