Falling asleep at the base of the staircase having used what little strength was left in her body to scout the situation at the top of the staircase and ensure that she wouldn't face any danger while sleeping. Curling up her body instinctively during her sleep to make herself as small as possible in case a monster really did manage to find its way inside her hiding spot.

As for the situation above her…

Rumble~!

It was far from peaceful, as the branch eater worm swarm had first been filled with excitement upon finding her, but soon became devastated and filled with even more anger after realizing that a large portion of the branch eater worms who went to chase after her had been killed by a collapsing tunnel, while Scaly herself remained unharmed.

Of course, the branch eater worm swarm had no idea if she was safe or not, but their collective agreement on the situation was that Scaly was behind the tunnel caving in on top of their companions, something that was correct in a way, but also not, as it was in the end also partly the fault of their own crashing into her and the tight space she was struck in that had caused the tunnel to cave in.

Not that any of the branch eater worms would ever think one of their own was involved in the massive loss, they instead just decided to transfer all the hatred on top of Scaly and intensify their search for her through the human city ruins. The relatively peaceful search so far devolving into something far more violent, as they tore through buildings on sight. Leaving no stone unturned even if it would mean they would have to level what was left of the human city in the process.

Or… That was at least what these branch eater worms told themselves until they reached a half-collapsed tower at the very core of the human city ruins-

Swish~

As almost the instant they began gnawing at the base of the half-collapsed tower, countless sigils lit up across the base of the broken tower. Followed by a mechanical voice that spoke in an emotionless tone.

[Threat detected at city core. Analyzing… Analyzing … Detection matrix broken. Searching for Backup… No backup found. Proceeding with situation report… System output, 0.3%... Spell Matrix stability, 1.7%… Defensive measures impossible. Initiating emergency mana reserves…. Reserves partial damage… Output restored to 1.1%... Basic defensive measures available. Initiating basic defensive measures…]

RUUUUMBLE-!

Following the strange mechanical voice that seemed to come from the depths of the half-collapsed tower now shining brightly with countless profound magic sigils flowing along its cracked shape, a loud rumbling sound echoed out across the entire city, causing the branch eater swarm that had momentarily been frozen in shock at the sudden development to feel a shiver run down their spine followed by an impending feeling of death.

Although they had no idea where this sudden feeling came from, they were monsters who deeply trusted their sense of danger.

Rumble~

So… Without a hint of hesitation, the swarm of branch eater worms suddenly began retreating in the direction of the gate they had entered the city through. Creating what looked like a living tide of flesh in the process.

[Basic defense matrix operating below standard, stability 10.3%... Activating basic defense matrix.]

But just as the branch eater worms began their rapid retreat, the strange mechanical voice that they couldn't understand echoed out once again, causing the rumbling that had been echoing out throughout the city to stop-

BOOOOM-!

However, before the branch eater worms could even realize what was happening, a loud explosion echoed out behind them, as the few weaker branch eater worms were suddenly blown to bits without any chance to resist-

Boom! Boom! Boom!

And only a second later, countless other explosions could be heard throughout the city, as branch eater worms found themselves being blown up one by one no matter where they were.

The attacks themselves seemed to materialize out of nowhere and gave them no chance to resist, causing the cohesive swarm that had worked together in everything so far to split up into countless smaller groups that charged towards the gate leading out of the city.

This was not them splitting up out of panic or leaving behind their fellow worms, but instead a clear tactic designed to avoid being blown up by gathering in one massive group, something that soon proved to be the correct choice, as they started dying at a far slower pace.

At the same time, a few of the branch eater worms also finally saw where the terrifying attacks were coming from after looking up into the sky above, where a towering magic formation had formed at some unknown point in time.

Most of this magic formation of terrifying scale was shattered and broken, but the few magic sigils still glowing with pure mana flowing through them gave off a terrifying presence that left any branch eater worms looking up shivering in fear. Especially so when they discover that the culprit behind the explosions that was killing them off were only a small section of these magic sigils that seemed capable of creating some kind of ball of fire that exploded on impact.

Left in terror and shaken to the core, the branch eater worms who soon enough managed to barely make it out of the city ruins intact, swore to never return to this place again and also realized why the older branch eater worms had originally not wanted to leave the forest.

Clearly, the older branch eater worms knew about the danger that existed outside the forest to some extent. Even if they hadn't personally experienced it for themselves.

Now that they had, they would be the ones who would pass on the dangers of leaving the forest in the future!

As for Scaly? The branch eater worms couldn't care less about her at the moment, as they assumed she had most likely ended up dead in the face of the terrifying flying balls of fire that had killed so many of them. After all, they knew that she should be hidden somewhere inside the city ruins, something that would have prevented her from escaping like so many of their brethren had.

[Threat neutralized, output decreased by 0.03%... Proceeding with internal city scan… Internal scanning matrix broken… Proceeding with external scan… External scanning matrix broken… Proceeding with subterranean scan… Connection successful, Scanning matrix partial intact…

1976 Unauthorized lifeforms detected. 1 neutral lifeform… Eliminating unauthorized lifeforms… Elimination complete… Further analysis of neutral lifeform required to log neutral lifeform in accordance with protocols for city access...

Neutral lifeform, young dragon, categorized neutral under the neutrality agreement with the dragon race. Any young dragon will be logged accordingly, and information will be forwarded to the dragon race… Unable to connect to outside information matrix… Local storage will be carried out until maintenance is complete and outside connection is restored. Entering sleep mode to preserve mana reserves.]

As the mechanical voice echoing out from the half-collapsed tower slowly fell silent once again after a rather lengthy string of words, the human city ruins that had now been purged of the branch eater worms and other monsters that had managed to sneak in… Once again fell silent.

The magic sigils covering the half-collapsed tower, along with those covering the sky above slowly dimming over the next few minutes before disappearing completely without any sign that they had even been there in the first place.

The only sign left of what had happened being the countless craters now scattered throughout the already ruined city. Leaving it in a far worse state than it had been before.

Although… Still far better than it would have been if the branch eater worms had been able to tear through the entire city in their search for Scaly like they had originally intended to do.

As for Scaly…? She was still sleeping peacefully at the base of the staircase. Unaware of the chaos that had played out above her. The exhaustion ensured that even a meteor falling next to her wouldn't be able to wake her up.

Even though, the second she woke up, she would find the situation outside had not only become far more peaceful than it had been before, but there would also be countless strange holes scattered all over the place that she wouldn't have any idea about how they had appeared.

After all, it was doubtful that the branch eater worms would suddenly decide to dig holes all over the human city ruins in search of her, while the few corpses that had managed to survive the powerful blast did give a clue as to what had happened.

Though… Scaly would never imagine some kind of ancient magic formation to be behind it and would instead just believe that branch eater worms had bitten off more than they could deal with and had ended up provoking one of the powerful monsters she had already partly expected to be attracted to the commotion they had caused during their chase of her…

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