W-where did all these branch eaters come from!? And those big ones are far stronger than the ones I've seen so far!

Staring down at the countless branch eaters that had gathered below her at some unknown point in time, Scaly's gaze remained mostly focused on the larger branch eaters that were more than three meters long.

Compared to the rest of the branch eaters that didn't pose any threat to her, it was clear that these larger ones would pose a real threat to her… And with the sheer number of branch eaters already surrounding her, she doubted it would be easy for her to deal with them. After all, just counting the few directly below her, there were more than a hundred gathered.

The only reason she hadn't started panicking was because the branch eaters were still below her and she could always spread her wings and use her wind magic to lift herself into the sky above.

Even if doing so carried some risk of being noticed by flying monsters, it would at least allow her to escape from this army of branch eaters below.

Unless they hid wings somewhere on their bodies and were able to take flight after her, though, she found such a development doubtful…

Back to the current situation at hand, Scaly kept her gaze focused on the branch eaters below. Curious about what they planned to do now that they had been spotted.

Rustle~ Rustle~ Rustle~

And soon enough, she got her answer, as the formerly frozen branch eaters began rapidly snaking their way up her tree. Clearly not willing to give up on her just because they had been spotted.

But… Their delayed reaction had told her everything, as she was now almost certain that these branch eaters weren't confident in taking her in straight on fight.

With that in mind, she didn't immediately decide to escape but instead decided to face these branch eaters head on and see just how strong they were.

Dangerous as this might be, it was also a golden opportunity for her to increase her level, as it would be difficult to find so many monsters gathered in one location with relatively weak individual power…

Whoosh~

So, without any hesitation, Scaly met first branch eater ascending her tree head on-

PTSH!

Her claw directly piercing through the thin skin of the worm with ease before throwing it down towards the ground below.

[Gained 1258 Exp]

A simple message informing her that the slightly larger than normal worm had been killed with what could be described as a simple slash of her claws. Unimaginably simple for her.

This… These worms… They are weaker than I expected! No, they aren't weak, I'm just far stronger than they are!

Narrowing both her eyes as this realization dawned on her, Scaly could not help feeling a growing excitement inside her as she stared down at the rapidly approaching swarm of branch eater worms slithering up the side of the tree towards.

If she could kill enough of this seemingly endless swarm of branch eaters heading towards her, she might be able to gain enough experience to reach level 30 and unlock her next evolution. After which, she would truly enter the rank of strong monsters in this dungeon. Giving her the ability to start targeting powerful monsters like the drake on the fourth floor of the dungeon or maybe even the baby kraken in the underground part of the fourth floor that had almost killed her several times in the past.

Okay… Maybe not that mass of tentacles, but the drake should be possible to defeat!

Feeling her own excitement growing thinking about finally becoming strong enough to confidently challenge the drake back on the fourth floor, Scaly unconsciously moved her claws upwards out of excitement-

Thump~

Finding herself hitting something large-

Ptsh!

[Gained 2568 Exp]

And applying a bit more force faced with unexpected resistance by her dragon claw strike skill, she found herself tearing apart a large worm more than three meters long that had been invisible only seconds earlier. Killing the large branch eater that had been caught completely off guard in a single move.

They… THEY CAN GO INVISIBLE!?

Freezing for a brief second at the unexpected development, Scaly suddenly realized why she had never noticed these branch eaters approaching her in the past. The description had said they could blend in with their surroundings, but this was clearly far beyond that! Going invisible and blending in with their surroundings are two completely different things!

Wanting to complain but having nowhere to do so, Scaly could only take her anger out on the approaching branch eaters.

Of course, now that she knew that these monsters had the ability to go invisible and sneak up on her so easily, she had to find a way to spot them before they got too close to her… And the way she came up with was conjuring a large water sphere above her before dispersing it into the area around her into a thin water mist.

Although this water mist didn't do any damage, it perfectly allowed her to spot any invisible branch eaters trying to sneak up on her. In a sense, this could be considered a new original spell of hers and the first official detection spell she had created. Although still rough, the general idea of the mist spell already existed and could be further perfected in the future when she had the time to do so.

At least for now, she didn't have the time to further refine this spell, as she found herself far too busy killing branch eaters. Knowing she was unlikely to get such a good opportunity to hunt down monsters in the future...

[Gained 568 Exp]

[Gained 1672 Exp]

[Gained 258 Exp]

[Gained 986 Exp]

[*Ding* Reached level 28]

[Gained 3142 Exp]

[Gained…]

And soon enough, the experience points came flooding in at rapid pace as she swept through the helpless branch eaters who had no real way to resist her. Allowing her to smoothly reach level 28 without any difficulties in the process-

CRAAAACK-!

However, the good time was not bound to last forever, as a loud cracking sound below caused her to freeze for a second before realizing that the tree she had been able to use to her advantage to keep them from swarming her completely, had been eaten through at the base by the branch eaters below.

From the looks of things, they not only had the ability to go invisible, but also had the ability to bite through the powerful trees that even she couldn't harm with her abilities or magic…

Whoosh~

But that wasn't important, the important thing was she now found herself falling towards the squirming mass of branch eaters gathered below.

Strong as she might be, she understood that there would be no way for her to fight back if she ended up falling to the ground that had essentially disappeared below the squirming mass-

Swish~

And so, she used the opportunity while still falling to jump off the falling tree towards a nearby tree. Using her wings to glide through the air smoothly.

So, what if they take down one tree? There are countless trees in this forest. More than enough for me to use~

Smirking triumphantly to herself as she thought this while looking down on the squirming mass below her, Scaly felt that these monster weren't too bright-

Craaack~

Huh…?

However, just as she was feeling smug about how she would just use a nearby tree now that they had toppled her original tree, she suddenly felt the tree she had just landed on starting to tilt before plummeting down towards the squirming mass below…

Crack~ Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Not just the tree she had landed on, but all the tree within a hundred meters radius around her began toppling over one by one. Leaving nowhere for her to land!

This…

Not knowing what to even think, faced with this sudden turn of events, Scaly found herself somewhat embarrassed as she realized the damnable worms had already thought about her trying to climb up the other trees around her.

Whoosh~!

In the end, to ensure she didn't end up falling into the squirming mass below, she was forced to use her wind magic to lift herself into the sky. Knowing that it was unlikely that she would be able to continue hunting those branch eaters any longer-

Are… Are they following me!?

Or that was at least what she thought before she realized that the branch eaters hadn't given up on her. The squirming mass following her from below. Toppling any tree in their path as they continued chasing her from below.

Although she wasn't worried about it at the start, this changed quickly as she realized these worms were far more persistent than she had expected. Chasing her for over half an hour without any sign of stopping. Essentially preventing her from landing again to relax her wings and recover the mana she had been forced to use to keep herself afloat so far.

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