Feeling a sense of immense joy as she watched the dark sword knight plummeting from the sky after being hit before crashing into the ground below, Scaly rushed over to finish the job. Knowing full well that the battle wasn’t over before the other party was dead, something that would only be the case when she saw the experience from the kill appearing.

"H-How is this possible!?" Watching his savior being struck down and sent flying, the guardian shadow walker who had been expecting to be saved found himself in a state of panic. Realizing that there was a very real chance that this weak dwarf still at the A Rank killed him, something he found unacceptable, as he had been expecting to easily kill him even in his injured state.

However, the reality before him was cruel, as it was clear his injuries were far worse than he had originally expected when he charged forth filled with killing intent. Not to mention killing the dwarf, he couldn’t even escape in his current state of having been turned into a human torch.

After all, the flame that engulfed him wasn’t a normal flame, but a magical one being fed by the mana of the damnable dwarf... And he doubted his mana would run out before he was burnt to a crisp and died. The only reason why he could even hold on being burnt by a magical flame without any protection was due to his terrifying vitality as someone who had reached the SS Rank.

Even in a state where a single step caused him to cough up blood, he still had the strength to resist a magical flame with power comparable to that of someone at the S Rank.

Unfortunately, all he could do was endure and hope his companion managed to fend off the dragon and save him, as trying to kill Verdell was impossible in his current state-

Crackle~ BANG!

"Aaaaah!"

However, as he barely mustered the strength to look in the direction where his companion had crashed into the ground, the only thing he saw was a dragon hovering above his companion while throwing down a large quantity of lightning magic, causing this friend of his to squeal like a pig being roasted alive. Making it very clear that no one was going to come to his aid anytime soon.

Ptsh-!

"Huh? You-"

Thud~

And maybe because his entire attention had been focused on the battle between Scaly and the dark sword knight, he failed to notice Verdell using the opportunity to sneak closer before using the sword he had dropped on the ground when the flames had engulfed him to stab him straight through the heart. Killing him in a single move that didn’t rely on magic.

"Haaah... Why do I always end up facing stronger enemies?" Finishing his side of the battle as he collapsed exhausted on the ground beside the now dead guardian shadow walker with a soft murmur lamenting his fate of always ending up facing enemies stronger than himself...

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Unlike the battle between Verdell and the guardian shadow walker that came to a quiet end, the battle between Scaly and the dark sword knight was far from quiet, as she had switched entirely to using lightning magic on the dark shadow knight.

Not because she felt her lightning magic was stronger than her water magic, but instead because she discovered that her lightning magic had some kind of restraining effect of the dark sword knight, being far more useful than it should be. Piercing through his magic with little to no effort when her water magic couldn’t get through it no matter how hard she tried.

In the end, this ended up with the dark sword knight stuck in a crater as he was essentially carpet bombed by her using lightning magic with all her might. Intending to kill him not just to erase a threat and gain a large quantity of experience, but also to officially take out her first ever SS Rank enemy that wasn’t in some kind of severely weakened state. Feeling that doing this would truly prove herself as a proper dragon that stood at the top.

"NOOOOO-!"

BOOOOOM-!

[Gained 86.726 Exp]

[*Ding* Reached level 28]

And along with one final scream filled with reluctance, the dark sword knight couldn’t hold on any longer and was directly struck down. Dying beneath the powerful lighting that inherently countered his dark magic. Allowing Scaly to gain another level in the process, as she slowly descended towards the crater that the dark sword knight had died inside of. Searching through it to see if there was anything of interest... And sure enough, she ended up finding another crystal like the one Verdell had picked up from the mist bound behemoth.

Rustle~

Scooping it up with the claws that had avoided injurie during the initial clash before moving over to check on Verdell’s condition.

Luckily, outside of being in a state of extreme exhaustion after having used his fire magic continuously to burn the guardian shadow walker before ultimately ending things by stabbing him through the heart, he was in a good state.

Still, it was clear that he would need some time to recover his strength, something she herself also needed, as the last bit of her battle with the dark sword knight was exhausting to say the least, as the last carpet bombing using lightning magic had essentially burned through her mana at a downright terrifying pace.

Curious as she was about the passage leading downwards to another deeper and almost certainly more dangerous floor of the dungeon, she also understood that I wasn’t exactly a good idea for her and Verdell to go explore such a deadly floor in their current state.

Before the two of them moved on, it would be best to take at least half a day to recover their mana and strength from the battle just now. Especially Verdell, who had essentially killed someone over fifty levels above himself...