Chapter 584: Sweet Dreams

Sitting beside the fire with a now slightly charred piece of meat next to it, Verdell found himself frozen in a state of pure shock from what he had just seen. Unable to comprehend just how powerful the being that had just walked past their hiding place was. From start to finish, he hadn’t even managed to get a proper look of the other party and had only ever been able to catch a glimpse of the other’s leg, but that alone was more than enough for him to understand just how vast the difference between hm and this unknown monster was.

If anything, he felt a sense of immense gratitude that this terrifying monster hadn’t spotted him and Scaly hiding underground.

Of course, there was a very real chance that the other party had noticed the two of them but had found them too weak to even bother with- not that it really mattered, as the important part was that they had managed to survive the encounter.

"Hm? Where did the meat go- Ah! You ate everything!" By the time Verdell was certain that the monster had truly left and calmed down enough to return his focus to the fire where the meat should still have been roasting, he was shocked to discover that a certain dragon had taken advantage of his shock to snap up the last few pieces of meat left from the crystal root snapper. Leaving behind nothing as she had already turned over to take a much-deserved nap while the blizzard outside died down.

In the end, Verdell couldn’t really do anything to her and could only sulk all by himself for a bit before he decided to join her in getting some rest. Having not had the chance to properly sleep, ever since the two of them had ended up on the eighth floor of the Swirling Sands Dungeon and later the ninth floor.

Rustle~

Still, compared to Scaly who just rolled over to sleep with not the slightest care in the world, he couldn’t exactly sleep on the snow-covered ground and had to first construct a raised bed off the cold ground using some rather large crystal tree roots scattered around the underground space that had been broken off by the crystal root snapper in the past. Using some rope in his backpack to put everything together before unrolling a simple sleeping mat made from monster fur and pelts followed by a sleeping bag he had made in the past with the guidance of another senior adventurer.

By the time he slipped into his sleeping bag and made sure was covered by another layer of thick furs and pelts to stay warm while he was asleep, the entrance had already been sealed off by the snow that continued piling up outside. Leaving just him, Scaly and the fire inside the small underground space that was already starting to look like a tight fit thanks to the size of a certain someone.

Feeling all snug inside his small self-created fortress, Verdell glanced towards the flame he had created earlier to roast the crystal root snapper.

Different from a normal flame, this one was made entirely out of mana and used mana as fuel and wouldn’t end up killing him in the somewhat sealed space he now found himself in. In fact, to ensure this flame remained burning even after he fell asleep, he used this opportunity to add a large portion of the mana still left inside his body to the flame. Ensuring it could burn for hours on end without him tending to it.

Only after all of this did he quietly slip all the way inside his sleeping bag and disappeared beneath the layers of monster pelts and furs that had made up a good part of the space inside his backpack.

In fact, as he laid in the darkness of his sleeping bag, he couldn’t help envying those mages capable of using spatial magic who had the ability to use convenient magic like spatial storage, some even capable of creating magical artifacts imbued with this convenient magic that allowed one to easily carry everything one needed in a small bag no large than a coin purse.

"Curse those mages using spatial magic, making those damnable spatial storage bags so bloody expensive that even an SS Rank Adventurer can barely afford them..." Silently muttering this to himself as he remembered the price of those convenient magic bags imbued with spatial storage magic that allowed others to also make use of this convenient space magic, Verdell found himself slowly drifting off to sleep. His dreams that would originally have been centered on the deity of the north, whom he had caught a glimpse of earlier, thus ended up taking a rather strange turn.

Centering instead on him stumbling into an old ruin filled with spatial storage bags that he not only made a fortune from but also used to crash the spatial storage bag market worldwide, causing those high and might spatial mages to panic as they watched their most prized good lose value rapidly.

A strange dream to say the least, but... At the very least it wasn’t anywhere as strange as the dream the dragon sleeping next to him was having.

For once, Scaly didn’t dream of becoming an all-powerful dragon. Instead, she imagined herself happily frolicking about in an endless field filled with delicious roasted crystal root snappers jumping about ready for her to chomp down, something she was more than happy to do as a happy smile formed across her sleeping face whenever she caught another roasted crystal root snapper trying to jump away from her.

...

At the same time Scaly and Verdell had drifted off to dreamland within their small temporary home underground while a blizzard raged just outside, far away from where they were sleeping, atop a towering wall more than ten meters high, a stout man stood silently without saying anything while gazing off into the distance where a massive blizzard could be approaching.

"There is movement from the glacial behemoth again, it seems be moving away from the border of the region and is heading north, but- Ah... Already visible..." As the man stood there, a younger woman carrying a stack of papers rushed up next to him. Only to freeze upon seeing the vast wall of swirling snow and ice approaching from afar.

"Ehm, that aside, from the current trajectory of the blizzard, it shouldn’t get close to any of the established outposts or cities. The only problem this time around should be facing the blizzard it drags along."

"That much I can see."

"..."

"No need to remain here, go back and prepare, I will stay here for a bit to make sure it isn’t heading in our direction. After all, with that old fellow having left to handle the situation at the Swirling Sands Dungeon, there isn’t really anyone around to push it away in case it decides we are in its path again."

"That... Understood, I will also make preliminary preparations in case we need to retreat from the city..." hesitating for a brief moment upon hearing what the stout man before her said, the woman slowly nodded her head in understanding before turning around to run back down the stairs leading up to the top of the wall. Carrying with her the stack of papers she had originally prepared to hand the stout man on the wall.

"Heh, managed to avoid that cursed paperwork, looks like I have to thank to glacial behemoth this time around." However, as the woman disappeared, the originally solemn looking man chuckled triumphant to himself. Not the slightest bit of the earlier worry could be seen on his face as he gazed off in the direction of the approaching blizzard.

From this alone, it was clear that the glacial behemoth didn’t pose that much of a threat to the overall safety of the city- or at the very least, he was confident that the glacial behemoth wouldn’t get anywhere near, close enough to pose any real threat to the city.

Still, he didn’t leave the city wall and continued gazing off towards the approaching blizzard in the distance, his gaze never leaving that approaching wall of swirling ice and snow as he remained focused on it even as he was chuckling to himself over how he had managed to successfully escape from being dragged off to do paperwork.

Watching this all play out from the side, a few guards who were originally the ones in charge of guarding the wall, couldn’t help silently rolling their eyes before they slowly descended the stairs. Knowing from experience that they wouldn’t be able to remain on the wall once the blizzard descended. Only that fellow busy chuckling to himself had the strength to remain and keep an eye on the glacial behemoth within the blizzard that surrounded it.

And... Someone had to keep an eye on it to ensure nothing went wrong in case it decided to suddenly change course and head towards the city...