Craaaaack~!

Swoosh-!

However, as she began to make her escape to avoid getting ganged up on by the thousands of mountain gnolls that would soon show up to avenge their fallen comrades, Scaly was shocked to witnessed the mountain gnoll champion suddenly sending a massive tree flying directly towards her… And in turn forcing her to come to an abrupt stop and barely avoid getting crushed by the massive tree that came flying towards-

Grooowl!

Unfortunately, this also gave the mountain gnoll champion enough time to catch up to her, as its speed far surpassed her own.

Even if she wanted to run away from the mountain gnoll tribe and avoid a battle, it looked like she wouldn't be able to avoid a confrontation with the mountain gnoll champion no matter how much she wanted to avoid it.

Well… At least I will get a better idea of just how strong it is and if I'm close to being able to kill it…

Thinking about the situation positively, Scaly turned around just in time to see that the mountain gnoll champion had already arrived in front of her.

Fast!

BANG!

Only able to think about one thing to describe the mountain gnoll champion at that moment, Scaly soon found herself being hit head-on by the fist of the mountain gnoll champion. Sending her flying into the distance without giving her much of a chance to fight. Showing that she was still quite a bit away from being able to face off against this powerful mountain gnoll.

At the very least, she was rather lucky that the mountain gnoll champion didn't have his weapon with him, as it looked like he had rushed out the moment he heard the commotion and should have been busy with something that didn't involve him carrying his weapon around.

Outside of that, she wasn't the slightest bit happy about the confrontation, as she essentially had no way to fight back against the terrifying speed of the mountain gnoll champion. Only able to barely protect herself before she was sent flyting.

Oh well… I'm still a bit far away from level 30 and my lightning magic is still only level 1. If I manage to increase the strength and accuracy of my lightning magic in the future, this mountain gnoll champion won't be that much of a threat.

Only problem… At the moment, my strength is not yet at that level. Possibly only that crimson flame knight human has the ability to face off against this terrifying mountain gnoll…

Feeling a bit embarrassed of her own strength upon reaching this conclusion, Scaly also crashed through a seventh tree in a row, as she came to a stop covered in blood.

At the moment, facing off against the mountain gnolls champion was not an option.

So, without a single shred of hesitation, Scaly skillfully made use of the distance that had been created between her and the mountain gnoll champion when she had been launched flying into the forest. Disappearing inside the dense undergrowth that covered the forest floor. Making use of her still rather small size to disappear from sight before the mountain gnoll champion caught up with her.

At least until her next evolution where she had a feeling that she would undoubtedly become far larger than she currently was, Scaly was still small enough to hide in the forest and avoid detection.

Although… Her former preferred hiding spot inside tree trunks were far too small for the current Scaly to hide inside of in most circumstances. Meaning that her new preferred hiding spot ended up becoming the base of the tress, where she could often find a big enough hole for her to hide inside of.

The main problem being that these holes were often occupied already when she appeared.

The strength of those monsters might not be that significant but fighting them would still leave traces behind. Forcing her to search for a bit longer before finding a big enough hole without any monsters already inside of it…

GROOOWL!

Groowl!

Growl!

And so, with the mountain gnolls running rampant outside while searching for her, Scaly quietly waited for things to calm down inside of the small, abandoned home she had found beneath a relatively big tree.

Though it might not be the best of things to do at the current moment with the mountain gnolls trying their best to find her, Scaly decided to almost entirely close up the entrance of the hole she was hiding inside of before plopping down on the ground with a slightly exhausted expression on her face.

Even if she didn't really need to sleep to recover, as the injurie caused by the mountain gnoll champion wasn't as bad as it looked on the surface, Scaly decided to close her eyes and let the darkness engulf her. Soon enough, falling asleep for the first time since she had run into the mutated dragon devouring slime, as she didn't really count the time, she had ended up fainting as sleeping.

Relaxing was still important and now was as good as any opportunity to relax when she needed to recover from her injuries and wait for the mountain gnolls to give up chasing after her before she could leave her new temporary home even if she wanted to leave.

As for how she managed to deal with the strong sense of smell that the mountain gnolls possessed and would undoubtedly try and use to track down the scent trail she had left behind while running through the forest and bleeding profusely…

Scaly had made extra sure that the location she was currently hiding in would make it impossible for the mountain gnoll to make use of their powerful sense of smell to track her down.

More specifically, she was currently hiding at the edges of a bog that she had spotted on her way towards the mountain gnoll tribe. The tree she was hiding below just so happened to be one of the only solid pieces of land inside the bog itself, like a small island with an even small dirt cave that she was now hiding inside of.

No matter the strength of these mountain gnolls noses, Scaly felt confident that they shouldn't be able to track down her scent inside the bog, as outside of it being a place filled with decomposing plant material and unfortunate monsters, it was also a death trap for any who stepped in a wrong location and ended up falling into the water or get stuck without a way to free themselves.

Not so much because the water pulled them in or something like that, but more so because the waters weren't empty and was home to what Scaly could describe as the largest swamp puppy she had seen so far.

Even if the tree stood out quite a bit considering there weren't really that many of them inside the bog itself, it would be a deadly endeavor for any mountain gnolls outside of the mountain gnoll champion and lord to travel through the bog.

Not to mention, they didn't just have to travel through the bog, but also had to search for her and where she was hiding inside of the bog, something even more difficult to accomplish, as the bog itself was by no way small and would take the stronger mountain gnolls weeks if not months to fully search through.

Growl!?

Growl!

Growl…?

For this reason, when the first few mountain gnoll arrived at the edge of the bog, they didn't continue moving forward, but instead came to a stop as they began discussing what to do with each other.

Clearly, not a single one of them wanted to step inside the bog. Especially considering that they had already made eye contact with the swamp puppy Scaly had spotted when she had rushed into the bog in search of a hiding spot…

[Boggator, King of the Bog, lvl 81]

[Description: The boggator, a feared evolution among swamp puppies that is stronger than most A Rank Adventurers. The main redeeming fact about this monstrous swamp puppy is the fact that it is rather docile as long as you don't enter its territory or attack it. Known among many monster researchers to be one of easiest A Rank monsters to research due to its normal docile behavior.]

Of course, the difference between them and Scaly, was the fact that they were spotted by the swamp puppy and also had a chance to take in its massive size, something Scaly didn't have the opportunity to do, as she was busy escaping.

Growl…

In the end, after a pitiful and fearful growling sound, the mountain gnolls that had arrived in front of the bog quickly turned around before escaping in the direction they had come from.

Even the mountain gnoll champion who had similarly tracked Scaly down to the bog was left with no choice but to leave. Understanding that the King of the Bog was not one to be messed with.

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