Draven clutched his axe while making sure Stasis was functioning. He also made sure Mental Serration was active. Remembering that what was coming was among the same rank and order as that vine that chased him, he shivered.
Then he held his breath, even though he knew Stasis slows it down.
It wasn't up to two minutes when a black figure streaked out of the fog, halting a few meters from the spread carcasses.
Draven merely saw a black blur, and then a small creature, which was half the size of the other monsters, appeared. The speed made his heart tighten but he also relaxed, as it wasn't anything as monstrous as the vine. If not for his Soul Sense and the speed it displayed, Draven wouldn't have realized that the tiny monster below, which could even be described as cute, was a Third Order Transient monster.
It resembled a huge cat, but half the size of a wolf. It had a pair of glowing green eyes with glossy black fur, and on its back, a silver glyph that looked like the shapeless painting of a continent on a map.
It slowly walked up to the dead bodies and buried its head. Despite its small size, the rate at which it devoured the dead monsters was faster than the rest.
It slowly approached the whip, which had become bedraggled after lying in the mess of blood and dirt.
Step by step, it approached the trap.
A sharp gleam shone in Draven's eyes as he waited. Then it stretched its neck over the whip to continue eating, and Draven snapped the whip around its neck.
He moved forward to jump but clawed at the tree and pulled himself back as he saw the monster retreated in a flash, dodging the whip.
The monster raised its head and locked onto the crown of the tree, but Draven shot the whip at it.
The monster darted aside and rushed at the tree, sprinting on the trunk toward the top. Draven could hardly see a clear outline of its figure when it sprang into action.
'Screw hell!'
He gritted his teeth and clenched his axe, waiting to deliver one powerful strike.
It reached the top and whipped its paw in a wide arc, splitting Draven's covering. Then it lunged at him.
Seeing a streaking black thing, Draven twisted his body out of the way and slashed. But it twirled its body, whisking past the axe but slowing for a moment. But it stretched and stamped its hind legs against the axe's cheek, and lunged at Draven with powerful speed.
Draven tilted his head just in time while switching the strength to his head but still received a devastating smash that catapulted him toward the ground.
He switched the strength to his back a fraction of a second before he crashed.
He groaned but stopped halfway as the monster dove at him. Draven rolled out of the way, his eyes glimpsing past the whip.
Gripping the whip with his thought, he snapped it upward.
The whip smashed it aside.
Draven stood up and saw the monster lying there.
Using this respite to sort himself, he gripped his axe, maneuvered the whip to stand behind him, and locked onto the monster.
Using the back of his glove, he swiped the edge of his forehead as he felt a burning pain. He looked at his hand and saw blood.
'The claw broke my mask, luckily I switched the strength!'
He pushed the distraction aside as he saw the monster rising.
It growled at him while walking slowly toward him.
But he also noticed the bleeding gash on the side of its neck.
'It has a fast speed and reaction, and tries to overwhelm me with flurry of attacks.'
Sucking in a deep breath, he remained still and focused. His right arm was bursting with wild strength. Soon, he felt only the monster was in his vision, his eyes watching every minute movement while his brain fired on all cylinders.
Then its legs pressed harder against the ground.
Draven noted and knew it was coming.
It dashed at him like a loosed arrow and lunged at his chest. Draven twirled and slashed. It also twisted, evading mid-air, but Draven whipped his left hand while switching strength to his left hand.
His clawed gloves scratched and smashed it past him.
It whimpered.
But he swung the whip, accurately slamming the monster onto the ground.
He lunged and hacked its nape while moving the whip to tightly bind the front legs together. Then Draven went berserk. His axe moved like a whirlwind, slashing and slashing at the head and neck.
In a few seconds, it had been battered into a bloody mess.
It tried to escape with only the hind legs, but Draven always slammed it to the ground. It could only whimper, growl, and roar, struggling to survive and escape the storm of hacking.
It took about a minute and a half to decapitate it. It finally died.
[Third Order Transient killed: Phantom Feline.]
[+1 Soul Vitalis.]
[+1 Gear.]
He carried the head, switched the strength to his legs, and bolted for the entrance. He could feel many caresses from the Soul sense.
A minute later, he dashed out from the fog before deactivating Igni Vitalis. He exhaled before plopping on his butt, knowing there were many people around and the monsters already returned.
Everybody around the border was staring at him in shock.
He ignored them, split the skull with his axe, retrieved and absorbed the monster crystal.
[+20 Mana Absorbed.]
A smile crept up his lips, but the mask hid his face from others.
Looking at his body, he saw that his repaired armor had been reduced to a filthy mess after just one hunt.
'I must look horrible. Sigh! I was overconfident.'
Groaning, he felt his body aching everywhere, especially his head. He felt something squeezing his skull.
'The strike to the head was something. And I need healing, or these injuries will continue to accumulate. There should be something for quick healing, right?'
He finally understood why Elites don't hunt back-to-back.
Standing up to leave, he had just moved a few steps when he was blocked by a boy and two girls.