Chapter 173: A Competitor...?

Arriving at the edge of the forest that had been partly destroyed by the battle taking place not too far away, Scaly quickly focused her attention on a fight taking place not too far away from her current location.[Heavenly Lake Serpent, lvl 48]

[Mountain Gnoll, Berserker, lvl 54]

[Mountain Gnoll, Great Warrior, lvl 51]

The fight in question was between three monsters, two mountain gnolls and one heavenly lake serpent, who had been isolated from the larger battle that was taking place due to their relatively weak strength when compared with the more powerful heavenly lake serpents and mountain gnolls present, an ideal target in her eyes, as she was looking for some weaker monsters to take advantage of and kill when they weren’t paying attention.

Of course, even though these three monsters were by far among the weakest present, they weren’t entirely helpless and wouldn’t fall that easily unless she resorted to using her lighting magic, something she wanted to avoid if possible due to the high mana cost of using her lighting magic... And that was not mentioning how much attention it would draw towards her with how loud it was...

Considering all possible methods for approaching the three monsters and trying to kill them as fast as possible, the lighting magic was almost immediately crossed out as an option.

Unless she planned on catching the attention of the powerful heavenly lake serpent and the mountain gnoll lord currently busy fighting with each other.

With that in mind, Scaly began to slowly creep closer to the three monsters fully occupied with fighting each other.

Clearly, none of them expected there to be any other monsters who would dare to approach while they were fighting with each other.

Then again, this wasn’t that weird considering that both the mountain gnolls and the heavenly lake serpents could be considered to be at the peak of the fourth floor of the dungeon. Only a few powerful monsters like the drake standing above them in terms of strength.

Outside of that, no other monsters on the fourth floor of the dungeon, even if they had an opportunity to, would not dare to move against them. Knowing that it would result in them being targeted by these two powerful races.

Well... Almost all monsters, as outside of herself, Scaly also noticed another monster that seemed to have the same idea as her. Sneaking closer to the three monsters getting weaker and weaker as their battle continued to drag on without any clear winner in sight. Prompting her to inspect this rather small monster out of curiosity.

[Poison Claw Gecko, lvl 53]

[Description: No different from a normal gecko in terms of appearance, but its small claws are covered in a deadly poison that is well-known to kill opponents far stronger than itself. The poison of the poison claw gecko is among the most highly sought after poisons for assassins and sells at a good price in the black market. Not tasty. Avoid eating.]

Reading through the description of her competitor, Scaly could not help narrowing her eyes a bit.

Although she had managed to obtain the poison resistance skill and should have some defense against poison, she doubted that she would be able to take on the powerful poison of the poison claw gecko from the description and how powerful it described the poison to be.

If she really had to fight it, she would prefer to use her magic to kill it at a distance without having to risk its poisonous claws getting anywhere close to her.

Luckily, she had managed to discover this competitor before it discovered her. Giving her the upper hand, as this little competitor of hers was still unaware of her presence.

The main problem was that she had no real way to deal with this competitor, as doing so would undoubtedly draw the attention of the three fighting monsters not too far away at this point time.

Even if she would still be able to get a lot of experience killing the powerful gecko monster, her main target was still the heavenly lake serpent, as she wanted to swallow its heart and use it to further improve the strength of her dragon blood.

Unfortunately, it looked like this wouldn’t be that easy with the gecko monster around. Especially considering that she had no idea what kind of effect the poison of the gecko monster would end up having if it came in contact with the heavenly lake serpent.

Would it ruin the heart inside the heavenly lake serpent, or would it just kill the heavenly lake serpent?

No matter which of these two it was, Scaly didn’t want to run the risk considering she would lose out on a precious heavenly lake serpent heart if it turned out that the poison from the poison claw gecko also affected the heart.

Rustle~

Thinking about this, Scaly began to move through the tall grass still covering the area around the perimeter of the forest. Barely managing to hide her now rather large body, as she continued approaching the small gecko that was by now only a little over a dozen meters away from where the heavenly lake serpent and two mountain gnolls were fighting with each other-

Swish-!

Growl!?

Roar!?

However, before she had a chance to reach the gecko, the gecko saw its chance and sprung forward towards the three monsters. Targeting the closest mountain gnoll, who happened to have its back turned when it decided to make a move-

PTSH-!

GRrroaaarwlll!

As a result, the sharp claws of the gecko easily managed to slash through the thick leather armor covering the back of the mountain gnoll, causing a deep wound to be left behind on the back of the mountain gnoll before the gecko rapidly moved towards the second mountain gnoll.

Chiiing~

However, being prepared, the second mountain gnoll managed to block the attack of the gnoll with a sword. Preventing it from being slashed by the sharp claws of the gecko, something that the mountain gnoll became rather relieved about as it looked towards its companion who had already started turning green around the wound left behind by the gecko.

Thump~!

Not even a second later, the injured mountain gnoll dropped to the ground dead, while the second mountain gnoll was left using all of his strength to defend against the gecko... And of course, the heavenly lake serpent had momentarily frozen on the spot. Not knowing what to do in this unexpected situation where a third party had decided to interfere in the battle.

Part of it wanted to just watch its opponent fight to the death, while another part wanted to join the mountain gnoll in killing this gecko.

After all, it had also seen how deadly the poisonous claws of this gecko were and understood that it wouldn’t be easy to avoid getting hit with its large body if it fought the gecko by itself.

Roooar!

In the end, after a few more seconds passed and the situation of the mountain gnoll became increasingly dire, the heavenly lake serpent finally decided to jump in and assist its opponent in dealing with this third party.

Only daring to provide support in form a few quick tail swipes. Avoiding using its massive body to try and crush the small gecko out of fear that it would be poisoned and end up dead like the first mountain gnoll.

Bang!

Like this, it didn’t take long before the tiny gecko was unable to avoid the swift tail attack of the heavenly lake serpent. Finding itself flying into the ground and splattering into a million pieces.

The poison, speed and claws of the gecko was strong, but its defense was close to non-existent. Unable to handle even a single attack from the heavenly lake serpent.

"..."

Seeing this quick and rather undramatic end to her competitor, Scaly had no clue what to think, as she had already rushed forward to stop the gecko from ruining her heavenly lake serpent heart-

Roar?

Growl?

In turn, because of this, she had already become visible to the heavenly lake serpent and the mountain gnoll, who were now both staring towards her with rather confused expression on their already exhausted faces.

Swish-!

Knowing that there was no time to waste as the battle should have already started drawing attention from the rest of the heavenly lake serpents and mountain gnolls at this point in time, Scaly didn’t waste a second as she rushed towards the two. Using her water magic in the process to conjure up several small water blades that she launched towards the two monsters in an attempt to distract them and get herself an opportunity to get closer to the two without them trying to escape or fight back-

Ptsh-!

[Gained 2375 Exp]

[*Ding* Reached level 14]

Huh?

Though... Contrary to what she had expected to happen, the mountain gnoll was already far too exhausted to even defend against her water blades, as it was directly cut down before she could even reach the two of them. Leaving behind only the heavenly lake serpent.