Haven Online

A loud roar echoed throughout the glade, rapidly catching Xinya and his friend's attention. What they saw startled them, somehow the monster had found their position and was charging straight towards them.

There was a sharp overtone of bloodlust that was directed at him, coming off of the creature. This came across quite clearly, especially with the way it looked as it barreled towards him, with its large sharp claws that appeared as if they were dripping poison and jagged metal teeth that looked as if they could bite his arm off. 

With the way the monster was focused on him, he could tell that his life was in peril. He was glad that this was just a game because if it wasn't, he would already be dead. Then again if it was real life, there would be no way he would still be near enough for the monster to even see him. 

As he watched the monster get closer, he had a fleeting thought about how the monster found their hiding place. However, this thought left as quickly as it came, because he finally noticed that he was standing out in the open. 

Letting out a cuss, Xinya knew that he wouldn't be able to finish telling the others his plan, he decided they would have to just go for it. Grabbing a dreaming dust potion from his item slot, he swiftly hurled it at the monster. 

However, it had no effect, except for pissing off the dragon-like beast even more. Stopping in its tracks, the Covert Atranoch begins to activate one of its skills. Xinya had a feeling that it would be something very destructive.

''Scatter!'' Xinya yelled, awakening the others from their stunned state, getting them moving.

Not bothering to see where the others ran off to, Xinya scampered to find some cover. He felt slightly guilty about not worrying about his friends, but he also knew that he was the one who held the monster's aggro making him it's only prey at this time. 

This proved to be correct because when he tried to run, the monster stopped his attack and started chasing him once again. The creature was fast and Xinya knew he wouldn't be able to outrun it. 

Taking out a couple of his Flora Attack potions he threw them at the monster to buy some time. If he could he would have just kept hurling that potion at the monster, while the others bombarded it with their skills, but he only had a limited supply of them and they honestly only worked 50% of the time. 

Once the monster was immobilized Xinya ran to the large white tree in the middle of the glade. Using his special racial skill Xinya blended himself against it. With his presence diminished, allowing him to look over the situation.

"Drifting Cloud are you doing alright?" Wei asked from where she was hiding with Melting Snow. She could tell from the party screen that his HP was stable, but she couldn't see his location.

Trying his best not to move in case it disrupts his camouflage, Xinya said, "I'm fine, I'm using a skill to hide, but it won't last long." 

"What should we do?" Melting Snow could see that Drifting Cloud was in a precarious predicament because once his skill duration was over that monster would be on him faster than he could blink his eyes.

"To be honest," started Xinya, turning his eyes away from the immobilized creature to the area where his friends were hiding. "I don't know." 

~

As they were talking they didn't notice that the potion on the Covert Atranoch had worn off. The monster howled angrily once it realized it had lost track of its prey again, however it knew it would find it again.

A sudden gust of wind blew through the grove, and with it a particular scent that drew the creature's attention. It seems that its prey was still here somewhere, the monster just had to find it.

Following the scent, the monster found itself in front of the large tree in the middle of the glade. The scent was strongest here, but the monster didn't see anything or feel any type of presence. 

~

The others were getting worried, they could see that the creature was only a few steps away from where Drifting cloud was hiding. Xinya also felt concerned, he could see the creature looking at the tree in front of it with intelligent eyes that could sense that something was amiss. 

Xinya tried not to move, he did not want to give himself away, but he knew he would need to do something quickly because there were only 20 more seconds before his skill deactivated. If he knew this would happen he would have used some of his skill points to upgrade it when he had a chance. 

The atmosphere was becoming tenser with every passing second, and this irritated Melting Snow. He looked towards where Drifting Cloud was hiding and began wondering whether he should run out and start attacking the creature himself.

''Be patient, snow boy,'' Wei had already seen through the boy's intentions but knew it would be bad if the boy just rushed in like he wanted to. She could understand him though, she too wanted to try and help Xinya somehow.

Wei knew that it was only a matter of time before his skill timed out, but she also knew that even under pressure Xinya would come up with an idea on how they can take down this beast. Maybe she was being too optimistic, and they would have to make a run for it, but either way, she would be ready.

Even before Xinya's skill wore off the monster seemed to begin sensing his presence. 

The scales on its back stood up, revealing an orchid pattern with its black, red, and pink colors, and the strange substance on its claws became more prominent.

The monster felt gleeful, it had once again located its prey. It had to admit it was smarter than the other prey that it had hunted, with the way it hid away, but even that wouldn't be enough to stop it in getting its revenge.

As the monster lifted its poisonous claw to strike down at the place where Xinya was hiding, Melting Snow, Wei, and Wandering Sound who was gripping their weapons tightly were all one second away from attacking.