Chapter 176: Planning for Future Battles~

[Level: 16/30, 37%]Looking at her current level as she watched the mountain gnolls retreating from her hiding spot inside the forest, Scaly could not help feeling a little sad. Understanding that she would no longer be able to easily ambush and kill the mountain gnolls chasing after the escaping heavenly lake serpents.

After all, outside of them being a rather easy target for her given that their main target was the heavenly lake serpents and they had no way to predict where she would attack from during their chase, the mountain gnolls she had targeted were especially weak to being ambushed. Resulting in a rather high success rate, as she made sure to only target those that were not proficient in closer quarters combat like the gnoll shamans, who had ended up as the worst victim of her small ambushes during their chase of the heavenly lake serpents.

In turn, this also happened to result in most of the heavenly lake serpents getting away from the battlefield safely. Ensuring that she would have a chance to harvest their hearts in the future to further improve her dragon blood purity.

Even if it was not for now given that she was still a bit too weak to face off against a group of heavenly lake serpents. In the future she should be able to do so and at that time it would be good for there to be heavenly lake serpents around to help increase the purity of her dragon blood.

Even more so considering that outside of increasing the purity of her dragon blood, Scaly also wanted to try and increase the level of her dragon bloodline, as it was by far the most important skill she had and increasing its level would mean better evolutions in the future. Not to mention the increase in strength she would get from leveling it up, something she felt had become even closer to happening after recently consuming a second heavenly dragon heart back in the forest.

After that dragon heart was fully absorbed into her body and help further strengthen her dragon blood, Scaly had a feeling that she would at most need to eat another heart or two before her dragon blood purity broke through the twenty percent mark... And for that to happen, it was important that the heavenly lake serpents remained alive because them dying now would only result in their bodies falling into the hands of the mountain gnolls. At which point the hearts would be lost.

As for trying to steal the hearts of the few dead heavenly lake serpents she could see in the distance... She didn’t have a death wish, as she could clearly see the mountain gnoll lord watching over the situation from afar...

But... Even if I don’t gain anything more from this battle, I have already gained far more than I expected to get in the first place.

Shaking her small head as she thought this to herself, Scaly decided not to be greedy and began to retreat into the forest. Leaving behind the battlefield after knowing there wasn’t anything more for her to gain.

Overall, she had not just managed to raise her level by more than ten during the battle but had also managed to get her hands on a heavenly lake serpent heart. Increasing the purity of her dragon blood.

A good outcome in her opinion, as she was already halfway to her next evolution.

Even better, she had confirmed that the heavenly lake serpents weren’t dead yet and were still at war with the mountain gnolls. Meaning that she might get more opportunities to rapidly increase her level by ambushing heavenly lake serpents or mountain gnolls while they were busy fighting with each other.

At the same time, she also got a better idea of the strength of the two sides in the battle just now, as even though it shouldn’t be either side going all out, it was clear that both parties had mobilized some of their strongest in the battle today. Especially the mountain gnoll who had a mountain gnoll lord presiding over the battle.

If not for the fact that the heavenly lake serpents had decisively retreated after realizing the difference in strength between the two parties and the fact that they had been about to walk into a trap, these heavenly lake serpents would undoubtedly have ended up trapped and killed by the mountain gnolls today!

With that in mind, Scaly suddenly realized that she should have gained some reputation among the mountain gnolls today... And not the positive kind of reputation, but instead one that would likely result in them putting far more effort into killing her in the future when she appeared. Possibly even placing the importance of her elimination above that the heavenly lake serpents due to the danger she posed by hiding in the shadows before ambushing after they ended up exhausted from fighting with the heavenly lake serpents.

Maybe it would be best to act a bit more cautiously in the future and also, I need to make sure I keep an eye on any of the powerful mountain gnolls present when a battle occurs in the future and retreat the moment, I see one of them making a move towards me...!

Nodding her head to herself as she made her way through the thick undergrowth of the forest, Scaly calmed down the excitement she felt upon realizing that there would be more battles between the heavenly lake serpents and mountain gnolls in the future and instead made sure to etch in the existence of the mountain gnoll lord and great shaman in her mind.

Making sure that she would retreat if she saw either of the two make a move towards her in the future, as she understood that both of them were far too powerful for her to handle. Even if she had barely seen the mountain gnoll great shaman do anything, the power it had revealed while chasing down the heavenly lake serpents following the failed ambush was more than enough to ensure her of its strength.

For now, there was not much for her to do, as she decided to move around the edges of the mountain gnolls territory, while she patiently waited for the next attack of the heavenly lake serpents. Not daring to kill more than a few weaker mountain gnolls who happened to wander too far away from the territory of the tribe. Understanding that killing too many of the weaker mountain gnolls would ultimately end up attracting the attention of the more powerful mountain gnolls to come and search for her.

Not really something she wanted to happen considering that she didn’t plan on facing off against the might of the entire mountain gnoll tribe on her own and instead wanted the heavenly lake serpents to take on that pressure for her.

The reason she didn’t try and chase down the heavenly lake serpents and kill them was rather simple, as she did try following behind them for a bit to see if she could do this after the mountain gnolls had started to retreat, but quickly gave up upon realizing that they never strayed away from their group. Always staying together without leaving anyone behind.

Outside of that, there was also the fact that the heavenly lake serpents were far more difficult to kill than the mountain gnolls. Not just because of their size, but also due to their strong vitality stemming from the dragon blood flowing through them.

After all, even if it was weak, dragon blood was still dragon blood and had a far stronger vitality compared to normal monster blood.

In a sense, it was only because the heavenly lake serpents possessed this strong vitality that they were able to fight back against the mountain gnolls who far outnumbered them in terms of equally strong combatants.

Rustle~


Hm?

Hearing the familiar sound of something moving not too far away from where she was, Scaly stopped her train of thought as she turned her attention towards the origin of the sound. Curious whether it was a mountain rabbit that seemed to be ever present on the mountain range or if it was another mountain gnoll that happened to be patrolling the area, as it was in a sense still inside the territory of the mountain gnolls.

Boing~

[Slime Clone, lvl 1]

[Description: A small slime clone created by a larger and far more powerful slime. Generally used when scouting an area for danger or searching for prey. Poses no threat to even the weakest child but is linked directly to the slime that created the clone. Meaning that slime will see and hear what the clone does.]

However, what she saw was not something she expected to see, as a small blob barely big enough to be considered a slime bounced out in front of her-

Bang!

Splash~

[Gained 1 Exp]

Catching her by surprise, as she directly slapped it to death without a second thought...