Arriving back at the place where the mountain gnolls had faced off against the heavenly lake serpents and the humans not long ago, Scaly curiously scanned the surroundings for any sign of mountain gnolls who might be in the process of cleaning up the battlefield. Taking away anything precious to bring it back to the tribe and help the rest of the tribe get stronger.

Hm? No mountain gnolls?

However, instead of the mountain gnolls she had expected to see moving around, she saw nothing but an empty field with the remnant of the past battle and what was left of the mutated dragon devouring slime still present.

Outside of this being unusual considering that she hadn't expected for there to be not a single mountain gnoll around, Scaly also started getting a premonition that things might not work out like she wanted them to… And as she moved deeper into the territory of the mountain gnolls without encountering a single mountain gnoll or other monster along the way, this feeling only became more prominent, until she finally spotted the tribe of the mountain gnolls in the distance.

Located at the central location at the base of what could be considered the tallest mountain in the entire mountain range, the tribe was massive and even made the human town she had hidden away inside of in the past look small in comparison.

But more importantly than the size of the tribe, Scaly also discovered that it was brimming with life, as countless mountain gnolls could be seen moving around inside the tribe or just outside it.

All of this without a single one of them moving more than a hundred or so meters away from the tribe itself.

They sealed themselves off to prevent any further losses…

Confirming her worst fears as she watched how the mountain gnolls had essentially locked themselves inside their tribe and the area a few hundred meters around it, Scaly understood that it would be difficult for her to kill more than a few mountain gnolls before she would end up being faced with the entire might of the mountain gnoll tribe numbered in the tens of thousands from what she could see.

Even if her strength had become stronger, she was in no way delusional enough to think that she had the ability to face off against ten of thousand mountain gnoll.

Well… At least until she managed to learn a powerful magic capable of affecting a large area…

Shaking her head at the thought of being able to wipe out such a massive tribe of mountain gnolls by herself, Scaly decided to give up on her original goal of trying to face the mountain gnolls head on and show off how much stronger she had become. Instead deciding to see how many of the mountain gnolls she would be able to secretly kill off before the stronger mountain gnolls caught on and chased after her.

Even if the number of mountain gnolls she could kill in such a situation would be far lower than her originally intended frontal assault against the mountain gnolls, scaly understood that this was her only option in the face of such a large tribe of m0ountain gnolls.

Of course, another reason for why she ended up deciding on a more cautious approach when it came to confronting the mountain gnolls was because she had a feeling that the mountain gnoll champion and mountain gnoll lord might not be the strongest mountain gnolls present inside of the tribe.

The mountain gnoll champion was already powerful beyond anything she had seen before and if a more powerful mountain gnoll was hidden inside the tribe, she might have to give up on continuing her attack and run away immediately no matter whether she wanted to do so or not.

Rustle~

As all of these thoughts about the possible danger and the change in her approach swirled through her head, Scaly didn't stop moving. Soon finding herself a little over twenty meters away from the heavenly guarded outer perimeter of the mountain gnoll tribe.

[Mountain Gnoll, Greatsword Wielder, lvl 46]

[Mountain Gnoll, Berserker, lvl 49]

[Mountain Gnoll, Tribe Guard, lvl 41]

[Mountain Gnoll, Tribe Guard, lvl 43]

[Mountain Gnoll…]

Although most of the guards around the outer perimeter of the tribe was only somewhere around level 40 to 50, Scaly didn't dare to underestimate them due to how close they were to each other.

Even if she tried killing a few of them to try and sneak by before they could inform the rest of the mountain gnolls, it didn't really matter considering how close they were to each other. If something happened to one of them, the rest would almost immediately discover it and inform the one beside them.

Because of this, Scaly ended up settling on the simplest solution that would still ensure that she could continue growing her strength without encountering any issues along the way. Kill as many of the guarding mountain gnolls as possible before the stronger mountain gnolls appeared.

Depending on how the mountain gnolls reacted to these kind of sudden sneak attacks, Scaly planned on continuing them.

After all, even if she couldn't kill of the mountain gnolls and wipe out their tribe with her current strength, there was no way that she intended on just allowing them to get away scot-free from the pain they had inflicted on her during her time being chased down by them in the past.

Swish-!

Growl!?

PTSH!

[Gained 694 Exp]

Because of this, the mountain gnolls were completely caught off guard when they suddenly witnessed one of their fellow companions guarding the area around the tribe get his head cut off by a deadly and precisely timed water blade.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

[Gained 204 Exp]

[Gained 624 Exp]

[Gained 702 Exp]

Not even able make a move to block Scaly before another three of the guarding mountain gnolls fell to the ground dead.

GROOOOWL-!

Growl!

Groooowl!?

Of course, as the confusion about what had just happened cleared and they realized that they were under attack, the guarding mountain gnolls instantly sprang into actin to defend the weaker mountain gnolls who quickly rushed back towards the tribe-

Ptsh-!

[Gained 591 Exp]

Ptsh-!

[Gained 676 Exp]

Ptsh-!

[Gained…]

Unfortunately for the guarding mountain gnolls, all of them were only around level 40 and stood absolutely no chance when faced with Scaly's powerful water magic, as they were quickly being mowed down by her water blades. Showing just how much more terrifying she had become in terms of magic after she successfully condensed a mana heart…

[*Ding* Reached level 19]

In the short time since she had appeared and launched her first attack towards the guarding mountain gnolls. Only a little over ten seconds had elapsed before she managed to successfully level up and started making good progress towards level 20.

Considering that the mountain gnolls she was facing were not considered to be weak, while at the same time not being too strong, Scaly got a lot of experience from killing them, while at the same time doing so with relative ease. Only needing between a single and three water blades to do the job.

If the mountain gnolls guarding the area around the tribe had been level 50, things would have been different, as she would require far more time to kill them and couldn't do it with the current ease, she was killing off the level 40 mountain gnolls. Instead, it might even have resulted in her being pushed back if one of them specialized in defence and managed to hold her for a longer time-

[*Ding* Reached level 20]

Luckily that was not the case, as she managed to successfully level up to twenty only half a minute later. Continuing her rampage through the guards located around the tribe, while making sure to not get too close to the tribe itself.

GROOOOOOOWL-!

[Mountain Gnoll, Champion, lvl 79]

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end… And even if she wanted to continue killing off the mountain gnolls guarding the area outside the tribe, she was soon forced to escape as the powerful mountain gnoll champion had been drawn to the commotion she had caused.

Even if part of her wanted to try and face off against this powerful mountain gnoll and see just how it would compare to her current strength, she also understood that if she did so, there was a high likelihood that she would end up being surrounded and ganged up on by the rest of the mountain gnolls.

After all, she highly doubted that these mountain gnolls knew what a fair one versus one duel was, let alone be honourable enough to allow such a duel to take place without interfering.

Of course, that was not to say that she herself was that honourable considering how she had managed to get most of the experience for her current evolution from slaughtering the younger generation of the mountain gnolls…

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