Chapter 593: Forcing a Retreat

Faced with Scaly who was by no means slow, the snow wolves trying to catch up with her so they could reach Verdell were rendered helpless as they could only continue trying their best to shorten the distance between them, something that didn’t go according to plan because of how they not only had to deal with the magic thrown in their direction, but also had to avoid the other snow wolves in their path. A task that was far more difficult than it had originally seemed to the group of powerful snow wolves, as most of the weaker snow wolves they had to dodge were already in a half dead state and flying towards them. Having been knocked flying by the explosion of a fireball thrown out by Verdell in most circumstances.

Overall, the chase could only continue with the snow wolves finding themselves unable to get any closer to the dragon and dwarf running in circles with them around the city.

Only after a few minutes of this chase, did the leader of the snow wolves split up the group of powerful snow wolves and had them circle around the other side to block Scaly and Verdell.

An obvious choice, but also a risky one given the strength of the ones they were trying to chase down wouldn’t give them a chance to stop them without enough strength-

Bang-!

And unsurprisingly, the first attempt to stop Scaly and Verdell ended up in failure, as the snow wolves that split off to meet them head on didn’t stand a chance trying to stop Scaly, who was more than happy to meet these snow wolves that had only barely stepped into the SS Rank in terms of strength face to face. If anything, the snow wolves were significantly weaker than other SS Rank Monsters or adventurers she had found herself facing in the past because of how they were almost entirely focused on teamwork and didn’t stand up well in a situation where they had to confront a powerful enemy on their own.

The only one amongst them who might be different being the leader of the snow wolves, who by no means was weak no matter how many snow wolves lend their support from the side.

Problem was, as the snow wolf leader understood this following the first failure to stop Scaly and Verdell’s charge, it turned around trying to be the one confronting the two. Only to see Scaly turn around the instant it decided to do this. Leading to the remaining snow wolves chasing after Scaly and Verdell being caught off guard, with one of them even dying due to the sudden turn of events.

To say the leader of the snow wolves was enraged by this sudden turn of events would be an understatement, as the other party immediately turned around to meet Scaly and Verdell head on-

Awoooo!?

Bang!

However, the second it turned around again, Scaly similarly changed direction and charged back through the snow wolves that hadn’t yet managed to recover. Killing another two of the stronger snow wolves in the process- or rather, one of them, as the second one ended up being blasted apart by Verdell, who was by far the one who had ended up gaining the most in this battle so far.

Reason being...

[*Ding* Reached level 50]

She had already reached level 50 by now and couldn’t continue increasing her level any further before undergoing her next evolution. Meaning the only thing she gained from this battle now was skill experience that would hopefully raise the level of her different skills a bit more before her next evolution so she could unlock some stronger evolutions to choose from when she underwent her next evolution.

On the other hand, Verdell was still far from reaching the limit of his current rank and likely wouldn’t be able to reach it even if he ended up being the one killing every last one of the remaining monsters around them. Even if this included the adventurers as well, he would still likely not climb to the Peak of the S Rank.

Still, knowing that he could continue improving his strength while she herself had been stopped dead in her tracks from making any further progress was painful to say the least.

Although her skills still made progress, her water magic hadn’t really shown any real signs of improving beyond level 9 since it had reached that level. Giving her little hope of it surpassing that level even if she was actively using her water magic to fight.

Keeping that in mind, her focus had already shifted away from the current battle and instead began thinking about how to end the battle. Planning to find somewhere to hide away for her next evolution so she would be able to continue making progress and become stronger as fast as possible.

After all, though the northern region had lacked monsters for her to hunt down at first, the appearance of the snow wolf army along with having heard from Verdell that the others had most likely been scared away by the glacial behemoth they had been unfortunate enough to run into, made her confident that the northern region would be a good place for her to continue growing after she completed her next evolution.

Far better than a dungeon, as inside a dungeon, she couldn’t make use of her most powerful ability when it came to escaping, her ability to enter the dreamscape.

Thinking back at the deadly situation she and Verdell had been in not that long ago the second they had been trapped within the terrifying blizzard surrounding the glacial behemoth, she couldn’t help feeling a bit embarrassed she hadn’t used this ability to just leave the material plane and seek shelter inside the dreamscape.

Of course, the thought had crossed her mind when she had been about to die inside the blizzard, but inside the blizzard, something was directly interfering with her connection to the dreamscape and made escape into the dreamscape impossible. Only after the blizzard vanished did she regain the ability to peer into the dreamscape and escape into it if she wanted.

Teaching her that if she ran into a similar situation in the future, it would be best to escape into the dreamscape before she ended up getting trapped inside the blizzard. At the very least she would be able to keep herself safe in that situation.

AWOOOOOO-!

Unaware of the internal thoughts of the dragon it had been chasing all this time had already shifted away from the battle and was thinking about how to end things so she could go through her own evolution in peace, the greater snow wolf pack leader finally seemed to have had enough of the slaughter that it was forced to watch the wolves under its lead go through. Letting out a loud howl that signaled for the snow wolves attacking the city to retreat.

Understanding that this was the only way to prevent more snow wolves from dying meaninglessly as it and the other powerful snow wolves helplessly attempted to catch up with the escaping Scaly, who managed to keep them at arm’s length thanks to her wind magic providing a meaningful boost in speed.

Another reason for this retreat was also the simple fact that the leading snow wolf had realized that it had also unknowingly been killing no small number of snow wolves under it during its attempt to catch up with Scaly and Verdell.

And not a small number by any means...

[Greater Snow Wolf Pack Leader, lvl 199]

As it had managed to level up thanks to the selfless sacrifice of its underlings, something that was the main reason for this retreat. Realizing it soon wouldn’t have any snow wolves to lead.

After all, outside of Scaly and Verdell’s retreat, the powerful group of adventurers outside the magical barrier also managed to take advantage of the situation to kill a few of the stronger snow wolves trying to keep them in place thanks to Verdell and Scaly both throwing a few bits of magic in their way whenever they passed by.

Of course, the assistance from Scaly only showing up when she reached level 50 and no longer had anything to gain from killing the snow wolves.

Under normal circumstances, there would have been no way she would have ever lend those adventurers a hand in dealing with the snow wolves they were stuck fighting against unless she herself would end up getting the killing blow on those snow wolves.

However, with the unique situation she found herself in, Scaly found herself lending a hand to adventurers that weren’t Verdell for the first time.

A surprising development to say the least, but an expected one given how it would aid her in being able to undergo her next evolution and become stronger faster.

At the end of the day, everything was done so she could become stronger faster. If it meant working together with adventurers would make this happen, she was more than willing to do so...