Chapter 100: Path to the Fourth Floor

Almost stumbling on her way through the opening in the mountain, Scaly soon came to a stop as she realized that entering the mountain in the process of sinking into the sand wasn’t that bright of an idea when it came to escaping from the large swarm of monsters waiting below. Instead, she would only end up buried beneath the sand that would soon cover the rapidly sinking mountain she now found herself inside of.Rooar!

Rustle~!

[Desert Scorpion, lvl 27]

[Desert Wolf, lvl 23]

[Desert...]

However, before she could turn around to leave the mountain cave that she had rushed inside of, a large number of monsters began flooding in from the direction she had come from. Giving her no chance to leave the mountain, as she would undoubtedly get crushed under the large number of monsters. Leaving her no choice but to continue deeper into the mountain to escape from the monsters that entered the mountain behind her.

Soon finding herself in front of a familiar-looking staircase leading down into the unknown.

This mountain was actually hiding a path down to the fourth floor of the dungeon!? Is this perhaps the reason why all of those monsters have been rushing forward to enter the mountain?

Thinking this to herself as she looked down the spiral staircase without seeing an end to it, Scaly didn’t dare waste any time standing around as she began making her way down the staircase. Fearing that even a moment of hesitation might result in the wall of monsters approaching from behind catching up with her.

Although they might not attack her as they all seemed to only focus on moving in the direction of the spiral staircase she guessed would lead down to the fourth floor of the dungeon, she wasn’t certain and still feared that she might end up crushed beneath the monsters if she was too slow.

After all, compared to most of the monsters behind her, she was relatively small and could easily be trampled by them if she was unlucky and ended up being pushed to the ground when some of them overtook her.

No matter what, she didn’t plan on taking this kind of risk, as she used all of her strength to rush down the spiral staircase. Intending to be the first to reach the bottom so she could find somewhere to hide when the monsters behind her appeared. Especially considering that she had no idea what kind of environment the fourth floor of the dungeon had, nor did she have any idea about how strong the monsters already present on the fourth floor of the dungeon were.

For all she knew, every single monster on the fourth floor of the dungeon had the same level of strength as the ancient dire wolves she had encountered...

Rumble~!

Huh? T-the staircase split up?!

However, she didn’t get to worry about the possibly strong monster she might encounter, as the staircase in front of her suddenly split apart into dozens of different paths going in different directions inside the pitch-black void, she now found herself inside of after travelling down the spiral staircase.

Roaar-!

Roar!

Even then, she didn’t get to think much about which of the branching paths to go down, as the monsters behind her soon appeared directly behind her. Forcing her to just rush towards the path that happened to be directly in front of her to avoid being trampled to death.

At least, with the spiral staircase having split into dozens of branching paths, the number of monsters following behind her had been significantly reduced, as she now felt confident in facing them after reaching the end of the spiral staircase.

Not daring to fight them on top of the spiral staircase, as she had feeling it would mean certain death if she was knocked off and fell into the pitch-black void below.

In the end, she continued moving downwards along the new branching spiral staircase for the next five to ten minutes before she finally saw light appearing at the end of the staircase. More specifically, it was a large window of sorts that showed a large open field filled with flowers and trees on the other side.

Whoosh~!

And by the time she cautiously touched the window with one of her claws, she felt a terrifying suction force that pulled her into the strange window and before she knew it, she landed directly on top of the soft grass she had seen through the window.

Not just that, but as she quickly looked around herself following such a strange experience, she realized that she was now in the middle of the open field she had seen through the window, with large empty grass plains in all directions around. Only a few trees breaking the seemingly empty landscape.

Whoosh~!

Roar!

However, she didn’t have much time to take in her new surroundings, as the monster that had been following directly behind her appeared out of seemingly thin air a few meters above her-

Swish-!

Ptsh!

[Gained 297 Exp]

And without thinking twice, Scaly used her sharp claws to cut through the throat of the similarly surprised monster. Instantly killing it before it had any time to fight back.

Whoosh~

Roar!?

Not a second after the first monster had been killed by her, a second one appeared directly where the first one had appeared from out of thin air. Instantly making Scaly realize what was happening, the window she had seen from the spiral staircase in the pitch-black void should be located at the place where the two monsters had appeared from. Most likely also being the place, she had fallen from and into the soft grass earlier.

Ptsh-!

[Gained 378 Exp]

So, without much thought, she once again swung her claw and killed the monster that was falling towards her without any control of its body falling through the air.

Wait... Isn’t this a perfect opportunity to level up!?

Narrowing both her eyes dangerously as she thought this while looking up towards the empty space where the window should be located filled with anticipation, Scaly suddenly seemed to have seen an easy way to rapidly increase her strength without that much effort.

After all, the monsters falling from a few meters up couldn’t fly and were essentially helpless to defend themselves while falling. Making them an easy target for her to kill as long as they didn’t come out of the window too fast.

Whoosh~

Roar!?


Swish-!

[Gained 317 Exp]

So, along with the appearance of the third monster, Scaly happily killed the third monster as she looked up towards the empty spot in the air where the invisible window was located. Eagerly waiting for the next monster to appear.

Hm? It isn’t showing up?

However, contrary to what she had thought. Not a single monster appeared after she killed the third one.

Don’t tell me... Did I scare them away!?

Only now remembering that she could see the other side of the window when she had been on the staircase, Scaly was just about to go back to observing her surroundings-

Whoosh~!

Roar!

When another monster suddenly appeared above her filled with killing intent as it stared down towards her. Not that it affected Scaly much, as it wouldn’t be able to put up much of a resistance falling through the air, it would still be easily killed with a single sweep of her claw-

Whoosh~!

Whoosh~!

Whoosh~!

At least, that was what Scaly thought until another three monsters appeared behind it in quick succession. Followed by even more monsters appearing in large numbers behind them. Soon filling the air above with a large mass of monsters plummeting directly towards her.

Now, it wasn’t just about whether or not she could kill these monsters, but more so if she could avoid them in time before she was crushed beneath them...

Whoosh-!

Not thinking twice, Scaly instantly gave up on trying to kill any of the monsters as she used all of her strength to move out of the way-

BANG!

Only barely managing to avoid the mass of monsters that smashed into the ground where she had been standing only a few moments earlier.

Unfortunately, that was not the end, as the monsters that still kept pouring out of the invisible window and landed on the ground without dying, all turned their attention towards her filled with killing intent.

Roar!

Roooar!

Roar-!

Even though she couldn’t understand the meaning behind their roars, she was certain of one thing and that was the fact that her earlier killing of monsters falling from the invisible window had turned her into public enemy number one for these monsters.

An unlikely alliance that no human had ever witnessed among the monsters inside dungeons had formed, as all of them had come together with the sole goal of killing Scaly, something that the lizard in question welcomed with open arms, as there was no way she felt the slightest bit afraid of a few monsters that were at most comparable to slightly stronger big forest rabbits!