Drifting along the current deeper into the cave spider lair, Scaly glanced back to see if the two spiders were done from time to time only to end up disappointed. After the situation continued like this for another ten minutes, she was fully aware that she wouldn't be able to hold her breath for long enough to get back out of the cave spider lair. Even if the two spiders left, she would still have to continue forward in the hope that she would be able to find somewhere to take in a fresh breath of air without being discovered by the countless spiders that were still present everywhere around her.

For the first time since she had decided to sneak inside the cave spider lair to get a better look of the internal situation of the lair before starting to hunt down cave spiders roaming around the periphery of the lair, Scaly began to regret her curiosity getting the better of her.

Then again, it wasn't entirely her fault, as she would have been able to safely retreat under normal circumstances if those two spiders rolling around in the water behind her weren't present. Another surprising thing when it came to those two spiders was how long it was taking the two, she had honestly expected the female spider to have already finished and eaten the male spider. Not this kind of long-drawn-out situation.

From what little she did know about spiders, something like that could take anywhere from seconds to hours… And from the looks of things, she had ended up rather unlucky when it came to how long cave spiders took in their… Procreation…

Swish~

Deciding not to think too much about the situation going on behind her, Scaly decided to swim a bit faster through the water while using the gentle current to increase her speed just enough that the spiders all around wouldn't notice her.

Given that it was impossible for her to get out of the lair even if those two spiders behind her finished, she decided to put everything in on trying to reach the end of the stream before she ran out of air and ended up drowning.

Even if she wasn't specifically a water dragon, it would still be rather embarrassing to drown and while she could use her water magic to form a ball of water, she couldn't yet use her wind magic to do the same thing. Allowing her to breathe underwater.

But even if she could, she wouldn't have used wind magic, as doing so would not only cause a disturbance in the small stream. Attracting attention from any nearby spiders but also ran the risk of the spiders around her realizing that magic was being used. At which point she would stand no chance of escaping from her current situation alive. Not just because of the thousands of spiders all around her, but also because she was in an enclosed space with no way out, outside of the entrance to the lair she had entered through more than ten minutes earlier.

Continuing to swim along the stream that seemed to have no end in sight, Scaly began growing increasingly nervous as she felt that it was getting harder to breathe. Understanding that she would soon have to surface for air even if it meant being noticed by the spiders all around her, as not doing so would just end up with her drowning… And the commotion that would cause in the water was almost certain to also draw the attention of the spiders…

Isn't this stream coming to an end soon? Just how long is this tunnel?!

Cursing silently to herself over just how unbearably long the tunnel she was going through was, Scaly decided to inspect her surroundings like she had already done several times before when looking for a chance to surface for air without being noticed.

Hm? That is…

[Royal Cave Spider Guard, lvl 51]

[Royal Cave Spider Guard, lvl 54]

[Royal Cave Spider Guard, lvl 52]

[Royal Cave Spider Gua…]

However, when she glanced around the interior of the tunnel this time around, she didn't see the countless spiders she had seen every other time she had looked around the tunnel. Instead, she saw several large spiders flanking both sides of the small stream. Looking like solemn guardians, their eyes remained focused on any abnormalities that might indicate an invader into their territory.

One such invader was now looking even more unwilling to surface for air, as though there were less spiders around, these ones were far more powerful and were clearly focused on picking up on any abnormalities. Making it unlikely that her poking her small mouth or nose out of the water for air would go unnoticed.

But… On a more positive note, the presence of these powerful spiders indicated that she should be getting closer to the end of the small stream and would soon find herself in a far larger body of water where it would be far simpler for her to find somewhere to get more air. After that, she would then be able to leave the same way she had come in- or not… Going against the flow would be more difficult and would take longer than going with it. Meaning that she would have to find another way out of the cave spider lair, one that wouldn't end up with her being discovered, as being discovered that she would soon find herself being swarmed by thousands of cave spiders, something she would like to avoid if possible…

Splash!

Suddenly hearing a loud splashing sound echoing out in front of her, Scaly quickly focused her full attention on the situation ahead, throwing any thoughts that might have been coursing through her head to the back of her mind. Understanding that her current situation might have taken a turn for the worse.

Hm? There is a spider in the water up ahead…?

[Royal Cave Spider Guard, lvl 59]

Feeling herself freezing on the spot as only the gentle flow of water carried her forward, Scaly found herself inspecting the spider behind the loud splashing sound just now.

Looking closely, the spider was stronger than most of the other ones she had seen and should be close to evolving, but more importantly, it was blocking the stream almost entirely with its large body. Allowing only a small part of the water to flow past it, while the rest of the water split into several smaller streams that went off into different tunnels. All of which were far too small to fit her body without being discovered.

From a glance, it was clear that these spiders hadn't forgotten to seal off the stream of water in case some monster managed to sneak all the way in here. Only, by now it was completely cut off, and any monster hidden in the water would be forced to emerge in the isolated section of the tunnel that didn't just branch off into dozens of smaller tunnels but also had far more royal cave spider guards present.

Splash~!

Hearing the splashing sound again or more precisely feeling it through the water, Scaly watched in shock as the spider that had been blocking the path slowly lifted itself up and allowed the water to flow through the main channel more vigorously. From a glance, it was clear that this was a regular thing, as she watched the more powerful spider slowly turn to look directly towards the water with unblinking dedication.

The flow of water clearly could not be directly cut off all the time, so the one blocking the path would lift itself out of the water from time to time to allow the water to flow through with full strength. The tradeoff was that it wasn't as safe, but the spider guarding the water stream more than made up for this by using its countless eyes to stare unblinking down at the stream of water looking for any abnormalities.

Even if there was a monster hiding in the water, it would instantly be discovered and taken care of.

Of course, that was under normal circumstances, as Scaly blended in well with the water and felt confident that she would be able to sneak her way past the spider guarding the stream… And she didn't really have any other way out of her current situation.

Swish~

With that in mind, Scaly lay dead in the water, as she allowed the gentle stream, that had gained a bit more power after the spider lifted itself up out of the stream, to carry her along. Not daring move a single muscle as she soon enough found herself directly beneath the spider.

Rumble~

However, maybe because her invisible luck stat was through the roof, a small monster dug through the cave wall just at that point. Attracting the attention of all the spiders in the tunnel, while at the same time allowing her to smoothly drift past the spider guarding the stream without being noticed…

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