Feeling confident that the branch eaters wouldn't be able to pose any real threat to her and feeling curious about how they had managed to sneak up on her without her noticing them, Scaly decided to jump over to the tree she had originally been relaxing in before being ambushed by the branch eater. Intending to topple the group of worms that had dared to claim her spot on the tree.

Thump~

Landing heavily on the side of the tree with her sharp claws piercing the thick bark, Scaly looked up filled with determination before rapidly starting to ascend the side of the tree. Keeping her eyes on the branch eaters swaying tauntingly above her to ensure they didn't somehow manage to slip away unnoticed during her ascend.

However, instead of slipping away unnoticed like she had expected them to do after they noticed her coming, she instead met with the strange sight of the branch eater linking themselves together to form a long bridge that extended out long enough for one of the worms to grab the top of a nearby tree-

Rustle~

And before she could use any of her magic to stop the branch eaters from escaping, they had already let go of the tree she was climbing up. Swinging down to grab the new tree before gathering at the top once again. Swaying tauntingly once again in her direction.

This… These worms dare!

Feeling her anger growing as she watched these worms taunting her again, Scaly didn't bother trying to jump over to the new tree and instead launched several water spears towards them from a distance.

Unfortunately, though these worms were weak, their reaction speed was terrifying, as they all managed to narrowly avoid the water spears by hiding behind the thick trunk of the tree.

Normally, her water spears should have been more than powerful enough to pierce through the trunk of a tree, but the trees in this forest seemed to be far from normal, as even her water spear barely left more than a few smaller holes in the bark of the tree.

Worse yet, the branch eaters began swaying their bodies tauntingly once again after seeing that she couldn't do anything to them. Continuing to taunt her from a distance like before. The main difference this time around being that they had grown bolder and had even started flinging small nuts hanging down from the branches of the tree towards her.

Meaningless as these small nuts were, the worms truly did know how to anger someone, as Scaly seriously began wondering how this kind of monster had even come to be in the first place. After all, it was clear that it didn't have much attacking power… And with its strange yet infuriating behavior, it was bound to be targeted by any powerful monster that happened to see it.

Unless they had some other ability to ensure their survival that she was still unaware of…

Narrowing both her eyes as she realized that these annoying worms might be far more dangerous than she originally thought, Scaly decided not to rush forward again and instead decided to first inspect them to see if she could find anything from their description that would help her in getting a better understanding of these annoying monsters.

[Branch Eater, lvl 13]

[Description: The branch eater, a humble monster that lives off eating branches of different magical trees, often moving in large groups ranging from a few dozen to thousands. Smaller groups are not considered dangerous and are at most a bit annoying to deal with, but they are almost always attached to a larger group of branch eaters, who can quickly turn dangerous.

If the branch eaters are deliberately annoying someone, it is often to bait them into chasing after them. Giving them a chance to lead to unsuspecting party into a larger group of branch eaters, who will then swarm the often-angered person before they have a chance to resist. Doing so by using their special talent to blend in with their surroundings to avoid detection.]

Reading through the description of the branch eaters, Scaly could not help freezing on the spot as she looked over at the swaying worms in the distance with a far more cautious expression on her face compared to before.

From the description and with how the branch eaters had only moved a short distance before starting to taunt her, it was clear that they were deliberately trying to annoy her so she would chase after them… And if she hadn't read the description, she might have really chased the branch eaters. Not just to teach them a lesson that she wasn't easily messed with, but also because she wanted to learn more about these strange monsters.

However, now that she understood that they were most likely attempting to lead her into a trap, she decided against continuing to chase after these branch eaters-

Crackle~

Of course, that didn't mean she intended to let these troublemakers go, as she decided to directly use her lightning magic to deal with them. Fast and nimble as these worms might be, there was no way for them to dodge lighting!

BOOOM-!

And as the lightning strike flew out towards them, the worms barely had time to stop swaying before they were hit head on by the lightning-

[Gained 536 Exp]

[Gained 344 Exp]

[Gained 832 Exp]

[Gained 648 Exp]

[Gained…]

Soon enough, filling Scaly vision with an all too familiar string of messages, as the branch eaters stood absolutely no chance at resisting the might of her lightning magic. Dying without putting up any meaningful resistance the second they were hit.

An understandable outcome considering the main thing they relied on to stay alive was their speed and ability to remain undetected. In terms of actual defense, they stood no chance in the face of her lightning magic.

Hehe, that should teach you a lesson not to mess with the mighty Scaly!

Smirking arrogantly as she watched the burnt bodies of the worms tumbling to ground below, Scaly felt her confidence being renewed, as the few branch eaters that had managed to avoid dying by being knocked off the tree scrambled away in a panic. The earlier confident taunting attitude nowhere to be seen as they soon disappeared amidst the foliage below.

Although she could have chased after them, she decided against after seeing them disappearing amidst the foliage. Knowing just how difficult it would be to track these worms skilled at hiding themselves.

I really do need to find a way to ensure that someone won't be able to sneak up on me so easily in the future!

Coming to this realization after the brief confrontation came to an end, Scaly found herself wanting to find a way to ensure she wasn't so easily sneaked up on in the future. The problem was, she had no idea how to do so.

The only thing she could think of that might be able to improve her detection abilities would be for her to learn a specific skill for detection, improve her sense of smell in some way or create a new magic spell that would help detect enemies.

Of all these choices, the most preferable one would be a skill, but that was easier said than done, as she had no idea how to obtain a skill that would improve her detection abilities. Leaving her with either creating a new magic spell or improving her sense of smell. The first of which seemed doable with wind magic, while the latter, though a little strange, should be doable if she spent some time training herself. ´

Maybe copying the gnolls could have some beneficial effects-

Crunch~

Hm?

As she was pondering over ways to improve her ability to detect approaching monsters, her ears suddenly perked up as she heard movement below her, something that sounded an awful lot like a branch being snapped or more specifically crunched on…

[Branch Eater, lvl 37]

[Branch Eater, lvl 42]

[Branch Eater, lvl 16]

[Branch Eater, lvl 19]

[Branch Eater, lvl 23]

[Branch Eater…]

And the second she turned to look down, she discovered that she had already been surrounded by branch eaters. The main difference from those she had seen before being that these ones were far larger and clearly far more powerful.

As for the culprit behind the crunching sound that had given her a chance to discover these branch eaters before they could ambush her...

[Branch Eater, lvl 7]

That was a small branch eater who seemed to have been able to control itself from taking a bite of a small branch below the tree she was on top of.

"""…"""

In an instant, the branch eaters came to a stop as they realized they had been discovered by their target. Creating a somewhat awkward atmosphere, as they stared up at Scaly, while she stared down towards them, both parties were stuck waiting for the other to make the first move.

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