The evolution of the now hiding giant ants aside, Scaly turned her attention towards the new skill that had appeared after her strength reached 1000, Brute Force. Having yet to look through the skill and what it did, as she had found herself far too busy hunting down the giant ants over the past few days to focus even a little attention on her status before now… And the only reason she had the attention to focus on her status now was because the giant ants had hidden away inside their nest. Leaving her with no giant ants to hunt down…

[Brute Force, lvl 1]: Filled with strength, you can use your bare fists- claws to shatter rocks. Increases the power of physical attacks by 10%. Increase lifespan by 30 years.

Reading through the description of this new skill of hers, Scaly wasn't too surprised by the fact that it increased her lifespan, as the rest of the skills, except the mana heart, had increased her lifespan. Although, it was a bit more than her Agility skill, though still far lower than the Endless Vitality skill.

Overall, Scaly didn't really care too much about her lifespan as she hadn't even been around for a year yet and felt like it would be a long time before she had to start worrying about her lifespan that should already be several hundred years long. If not thousands.

After all, she was a long-lived species like a dragon and couldn't be compared to short-lived races like humans or wolves.

Her main focus was on the first part of the skill that noted that her physical attacks- or her claw strike that remained her only real form of physical attack that didn't involve slamming her body into her enemy at high speed, as though it wasn't exactly something that would make her strength increase to the point that she could now face an adventurer at the S Rank or a monster of similar strength, it was still a noticeable increase in strength that would only become more useful the stronger she became.

With this thought in mind, Scaly felt happy with this new skill that had been given to her without her putting in any real effort to get it. Having appeared naturally due to her increase in strength as she grew stronger.

However, the happy thoughts did not last for long, as her gaze once again returned to the quiet giant ant nest beneath.

Even during the few minutes, it had taken her to look through her status and with her having caused a bit of damage to the nest below ground from above to try and bait more of the giant ants out of the nest, Scaly still saw no sign of the giant ants appearing. Not even one stepping forward to try and repair the tunnel, she had ended up collapsing from above.

Looking closer, Scaly came to the realization that the giant ants had completely abandoned the upper layer of their nest and retreated deeper below ground to escape just such a situation.

Understandable as this was, Scaly couldn't stop herself from frowning at the sight as she tried to cause a bit more damage to the nest from above before descending to wander around inside the periphery tunnels of the nest itself.

But even so, no giant ant appeared to confront her even as she headed deeper inside the nest than she had ever done before.

However, as she reached this deepest part of the nest that she had dared explore to date, she did spot a few giant ant workers in the distance quickly escaping deeper into the nest upon seeing her. Making it clear that if she went just a bit deeper, she would be able to reach the place that the giant ants had retreated to… But… She stopped herself.

Cowardly as the giant ants had become, she understood deep down that this wasn't because she had overwhelming strength on her side, but instead because she had the ability to fly and escape whenever she wanted to.

If she dared to descend any further into the giant ant nest, she would undoubtedly end up being trapped by the giant ants and maybe even forced to face off against the giant ant queen that she had yet to face off against.

Everything considered, she didn't chase after the escaping giant ants. Not planning to risk her life for no reason, as she had already explored some of the mountain range that the giant ant nest was located inside and had realized that the giant ants weren't the only powerful monsters for her to hunt down.

Instead, there seemed to be countless powerful monsters roaming around inside the mountain range for her to hunt down. The reason why she stayed with the giant ant nest so far was because nothing could compare to the terrifying leveling speed she experienced while carving a bloody path through the giant ants and their colony.

The reason why she hadn't reached the limit of her current evolution yet had nothing to do with the giant ants becoming less useful for her to level up, but instead, it had to do with the simple fact that the experience needed for her to level up after she reached level 30 had become terrifying. Almost doubling each time her level increased.

Because of this, even baiting out the giant ants several times a day and killing hundreds of them, her level might only increase by one or two.

Still, slow as her increase in strength had become, it wasn't exactly slow and was just slow compared to what she got used to after the first giant ant massacre and the earlier hunt for weakened monsters throughout Howling Cave City.

This alone was also the reason why she felt so reluctant to give up on the giant ants and try to hunt elsewhere within the mountain range. Understanding full well that it might take her an entire week to increase her level by one in any other location.

After all, even taking down a single powerful monster on her own was nowhere near comparable to taking down hundreds of giant ants…

Rustle~

Hm? Giant ants!? No… Something different…

Perking up her head as she suddenly heard movement from above, Scaly listened closely with a sense of excitement before said excitement was replaced by disappointment after realizing that the movement above hadn't come from giant ants.

Having fought with the giant ants for so long, she could easily distinguish the sound they made when moving around from any other monsters. An ability that she hadn't originally intended to learn but ultimately ended up learning due to her focus on hunting down the giant ants for as long as she had.

A week to her already being long considering this was the longest time she had spent focused on hunting down a single kind of monster.

Still… The unfamiliar sound of movement from above wasn't entirely unknown to her, as after listening closely for a few seconds, she realized that the movement above was from another kind of race she had grown familiar with during her time inside the Howling Caverns Dungeon. Adventurers.

And for them to have entered the giant ant nest, they should either be powerful enough and confident enough to face the giant ants head on in their domain, something even she herself didn't feel confident about or some naive fool who had been attracted by the destruction she had caused earlier and decided to explore the place where she had caused said destruction before ultimately finding themselves wandering into the giant ant nest.

No matter which of the two it was, Scaly felt it would be best for her if she wasn't found by these adventurers already heading in her direction.

If they were the first case and were powerful enough to not even care about the giant ants swarming them, it might be good for her to avoid recklessly fighting them. Especially with the giant ants still able to launch an ambush attack from behind.

On the other hand, if they were the second case, she might be able to make use of them to draw out the giant ants hiding deep inside their nest. Potentially even getting a chance to see the giant ant queen from afar if these adventurers proved to be strong enough to force her out.

At that point, she might be able to get a better understanding of how strong this giant ant queen was and if she herself had the strength to face off against her.

No matter what, she had to find somewhere to hide–and fast, as she could already hear the adventurers nearing her location.

The problem was… She had now grown so big that it was now far harder to hide herself compared to when she had been smaller.

This… Was a problem that she didn't think she would ever have to deal with and one she had to find a solution to before the group of adventurers showed up at the end of the relatively central tunnel to the nest that she found herself in.

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