Chapter 555: Déjà vu
"What in the world is happening out there!? Did one of the monsters end up using a fire spell that caused the tall grass to ignite into a magical inferno!" Unaware of the deadly confrontation that had taken place between the adventurers and the necromancer from the Eternal Life Sanctum up above, Verdell could not help silently whispering a bit confused to himself as he felt the burning heatwave from the magical flames up above spread through the underground tunnel, they were moving through reaching the two of them.
Rustle~
Similarly confused by the heatwave that suddenly hit her, Scaly tilted her head a bit as she looked back in the direction they had come from. Wondering if things were truly like what Verdell suspected, she herself thought back to how the dungeon core had left the sea of tall grass before closing the hole it had used to dig underground where an empty temple had already been waiting for it along with its guardian.
To her, there was a very real chance that the devious little dungeon core had left behind some kind of timed fire that would spread out and reach the tall grass. Igniting it shortly after it had left and finished the construction of the ninth floor of the dungeon.
Not only because this would make it far harder to reach the underground world where the dungeon core had decided to hide away, but also because she had a feeling that the cave entrances leading to the underground network of tunnels that then connect back down to the underground world of the ninth floor of the dungeon might be the only passages into the underground world itself.
The reason she thought this even though she herself hadn’t entered the underground world through one of these tunnels or caves in the first place had to do with how incomplete the monster stronghold she had used to enter the underground world was.
If she wasn’t wrong, the hole she had entered the underground world through should have been a mistake from the dungeon core when it had created the monster stronghold in a hurry and planned to return to it later to finish it up.
Now that it should have completed those monster strongholds and should have filled them up with monsters, the abnormal hole leading down to the underground world of the ninth floor she had used to enter said underground world along with any other such holes that might have been created by mistake should have been fixed and filled in.
Of course, there should still be other paths connecting to the underground world somewhere out there on the ninth floor of the dungeon that were difficult to find or the dungeon core had forgotten about, but she had a feeling those other paths would either be guarded by powerful monsters or be extremely difficult to find.
For one, she thought that even if the exit out of the dungeon wasn’t inside the dungeon kingdom, there should be a few passages connected to the underground part of the ninth floor within the undead kingdom.
Although... Those passages would be the most difficult ones to access, as one didn’t just have to worry about the undead guarding the path itself but also had to worry about drawing unwanted attention from the undead armies within the undead kingdom and the powerful lich in control of the undead kingdom. Making this way of entering the underground world of the ninth floor far deadlier than attempting to carve a path through the magical flames that now raged above them.
"Is this the path you used to move up from the underground world?" As Scaly was a bit lost in her own thoughts thinking about the undead kingdom and the different things she had learnt about such undead kingdoms from Verdell, the person in question suddenly called out to her while pointing towards an opening a dozen or so meters away from them. Startling her a bit before gently nodding her head in response upon seeing that the hole or opening was indeed the one she had used after killing the different monsters on top of that mountain shaped pillar holding up the underground world.
Whoosh~
But the thought of those monsters and how they might have been reborn thanks to the dungeon core along with seeing how Verdell was about to take the first step forward into descending caused her to lounge forward with far greater momentum than she had originally intended in a vain attempt to overtake Verdell inside the small tunnel-
"Huh? What are-"
THUD~
And before Verdel had the time to react to the dragon barreling towards him, he felt the air in his lungs being forced out as Scaly ended up overestimating her maneuverability within the small, tight space and ended up colliding with him before tumbling out the opening dragging the poor dwarf along with her.
Rumble~
Roar?
Roooar?!
In the end, the monsters that had been guarding the entrance had indeed respawned thanks to the dungeon core, but they didn’t have much of a chance to fight back against the intruder who had suddenly appeared, as they soon enough ended up being hit by the dragon that came tumbling out of the entrance and slammed into them before they could launch an attack or get out of them way-
BANG! Crack~
[Gained 13.982 Exp]
[*Ding* Reached level 49]
Of the four guarding monsters that had been ready to deal with any intruders, one was launched flying and ended up cracking its skull open on a nearby rock. Dying on the spot before becoming the last little bit of experience Scaly needed to reach level 49, while one of the remaining three was sent flying into the distance and ended up tumbling off the side of the mountain shaped pillar. Never to be seen again, though still alive from the lack of notifications.
The remaining two weren’t in a much better state, as much like Verdell, the two of them ended up being dragged along by Scaly as she began rolling down the mountain-shaped pillar. Able to at least remain conscious this time around after her last experience rolling down the side of a mountain. Knowing how to properly protect her head and ensuring she didn’t end up suffering any critical damage that might end up knocking her out again.
On the other hand, Verdell had to react fast to avoid being squished into a dwarf shaped pancake by Scaly and the two monsters rolling down the mountain-shaped pillar alongside her. Using what little strength, he could muster to jump up and land on top the rolling Scaly. Feeling a weird sense of déjà vu, like he had already gone through something similar not that long ago.
But... Considering how he had to focus entirely on staying alive in his current situation, he couldn’t think about this for too long and had to focus on keeping himself balanced on top the rolling dragon to avoid being swept back down under her where he would undoubtedly be crushed alive.
Speaking of being crushed alive, a few of the weaker monsters in the way of the rolling dragon and a few other rolling monsters that joined them on their unique travel down the mountain-shaped pillar, weren’t that lucky and ended up serving as a fresh source of experience for Scaly who had no idea how or when she ended up crushing these poor monsters.
[Gained 8243 Exp]
[Gained 6732 Exp]
[Gained 2456 Exp]
[Gained 4264 Exp]
[Gained 3453 Exp]
[Gained...]
The only thing that allowed her to understand that she ended up killing monsters was the string of experience she saw following in while trying to stop herself and at the same time also avoid being knocked out.
In fact, the long string of experience that ended up coming in made her somewhat slow down her own attempt to slow herself and stop rolling. After all, it turned out to be an excellent method for increasing her own strength.
Was it painful? Yes... But it was effective. Far more effective than she had originally anticipated as she decided to just go along with it after ensuring her head wouldn’t end up getting hurt rolling down the rocky mountain side.
"I hate thiiiis!"
Unaware of the fact that Scaly decided to stop trying to halt, Verdell found himself yelling out as he felt his feet already starting to give in from the unexpected cardio.
Of course, the exhausting part wasn’t so much keeping himself steady as it was avoiding the different monsters Scaly rolled into along the way. In fact, the most exhausting part was avoiding the monsters she ended up colliding with, as not all of them died on impact and some tried to grab hold of him in a panic as they came flying past him, something he had to avoid in case he wanted to stay alive.
Something that was far harder to accomplish when some of these monsters had the ability use magic to latch themselves onto him...