Reincarnated as a Lizard

Ah~ That was great~

Having finished recovering the mana she had used in her battle against the Cave Harvestman, Scaly could not help letting out a relaxed and happy sound as she thought this to herself.

Even if she had been fighting a lot over the past few days to grow to her current level, she had never felt so much happiness from winning since she started hunting the salamander related monster of the cave!

The main source of this happiness was not the fact that she had won against such a strong opponent but was instead due to the delicious tasting legs of the Cave Harvestman... Compared to anything she had eaten since becoming a lizard, the strawberry ice cream flavored legs of the Cave Harvestman were by far the most delicious thing she had ever eaten!

Swish~

Getting back up before making her way back out from the small crack in the wall she had hidden inside to recover her mana, Scaly soon found herself ready to continue hunting down monsters to increase her level.

At this point in time, she had already reached level 12 and was only 3 levels away from reaching level 15 where she reached the limit and would be able to undergo her second evolution!

After her second evolution, she should be more than strong enough to deal with the Venom Cave Spider Queen and the Venom Cave Spiders that were occupying the small crack in the wall that she wanted to make her home upon first arriving in the cave.

Even if a few days had passed since then, Scaly still very clearly remembered her encounter with the Venom Cave Spider Queen!

That is... Another Cave Harvestman!

Leaving the crack that she had been hiding inside to recover her mana, Scaly was taken aback upon realizing that another Cave Harvestman had appeared and looked like it was nudging the body of what had once been the Cave Harvestman she had killed.

Although she had eaten its legs due to them being far too tasty to not eat, the rest of the Cave Harvestman should have been eaten by other monsters.

Hm?

It was at this moment that Scaly suddenly noticed that there were several dead bodies of other monsters scattered around what remained of the Cave Harvestman she had killed.

Not only that, but the Cave Harvestman standing beside the body of the dead one had blood all over its legs and face!

From the looks of it, the culprit behind the dead monsters scattered around the Cave Harvestman she had killed was rather obvious...

But why...?

Clearly the Cave Harvestman standing around didn’t intend to eat its fellow Cave Harvestman, but was instead just standing around killing any approaching monster that tried to eat the dead one...

No matter how she looked at it, Scaly could not understand the reason behind the weird Cave Harvestman’s behavior.

Even if spiders were weird to her and could be considered one of the monster species that she considered an enemy due to her experience so far with them, Scaly could still not understand what the Cave Harvestman was doing just standing around killing any approaching monsters.

After all, even if it could continue what it was doing in the short term, a stronger monster would eventually show up and kill it!

This was also the main reason why Scaly didn’t dare stay out in the open spaces of the cave for long, as even with how strong she currently was, there were still quite a lot of monsters hiding all over the place that were stronger than her. Even if she didn’t want to admit it...

[Large Cave Harvestman, lvl 15]

Inspecting the Cave Harvestman after having spent a good minute looking at it with a puzzled expression wondering what it was up to, Scaly momentarily froze after seeing just how strong the spider was.

Not only was it stronger than the Cave Harvestman she had killed, but it was only a single step away from undergoing its own evolution!

A powerful spider like this... Even if she wanted to kill it, she doubted that she was strong enough to do so at the moment. Especially considering how much she had struggled with killing the Cave Harvestman that had reached level 11...

Knowing how hard it would be to kill the spider hanging around just outside the place she had been hiding when recovering her mana, Scaly could not help narrowing her small eyes as a very clear killing intent appeared inside them.

Not only would she not be able to continue increasing her strength if the powerful spider continued staying around, but she might also be targeted if a more powerful monster showed up to kill the spider!

No... I can’t just sit here and wait!

Deciding to not just sit around and wait for the spider to leave or risk a more powerful monster showing up and killing both of them, Scaly slowly began moving towards the Cave Harvestman standing beside the corpse of the Cave Harvestman she had killed.

Given that it had already been fending off other monsters for at least a few hours, Scaly dared not move too quickly as she was certain that it would end up alerting the Cave Harvestman about her presence.

Given the difference in strength between both of them, Scaly understood very well that her chances of winning without getting a sneak attack off was small. For this reason, she moved even slower than she normally would when approaching the Cave Harvestman.

Making absolutely sure to use the rough terrain of the cave floor to hide herself.

After all, she was quite easy to spot after she had become an Ancient Water Lizard...

Getting as close as she could without risking her presence getting revealed, Scaly silently started gathering her mana without causing any major disturbance.

For anyone not able to use mana, it was impossible to sense the water spear slowly forming in front of Scaly that was aiming directly at the Cave Harvestman cautiously looking around itself.

Now!

WHOOSH-!

Not hesitating after the water spear finished forming in front of her, Scaly sent it flying towards the spider with all her might!