Watching her nervously, Kael slowly backed up and gave the stranger space. His instincts were screaming at him to run and leave as fast as his body could handle. Initially, he couldn't feel any sort of presence, but now that she had made herself fully known... A crushing aura of primal strength was pouring from her, making the deeply rooted fight or flight instinct go wild. He silently retreated before she held a hand up to stop him, staring into his eyes and causing all the hair to stand up on his body.
"For a human, you have the makings of a hunter. Try not to die before you can challenge my people. I look forward to seeing that spark become an inferno..." With that, her gaze left him, the oppressive aura vanished into thin air. His sweat was like a waterfall, his back prickling as his breath slowly eased back into a steady rhythm. "What... the... hell. This is some manga main character level of bullshit..." After making sure to quietly exit the cave and return to the cover of brush and trees, he let himself relax just enough to make sense of what he just dealt with.
In his mind, only traces of fear were still there, replaced by anxiety and worry for what he must be capable of for something with such a raw presence to notice and acknowledge him. Whatever it was, getting back to the barracks as soon as possible won out over going back to hunting the Drakeling. He had been very, very wrong assuming it was the top of this area's current food chain, and finds himself sweating bullets again at the thought of the ominous feeling that he was being looked at as prey.
Turning to begin walking back through the thicker segments of the forest, some unknown instinct makes him take cover. From the direction he came, a creature that could only be called a true Dragon had destroyed a huge chunk of forest just by leaving. Easily the same size as any giant monster from the countless movies he loved watching as a kid, the thickly muscled limbs and powerful wingspan darkened the sky as crimson scales glittered in the now evening sun. The tail alone was thicker than any tree this forest had, while its jaws were like a snake; wickedly large and seemingly hinged. The only thing that struck him with fear down to the core, were the eyes.
The same eyes as the woman.
Panic washed over him, the urge to run and hide from a true apex predator such as this beast taking the common sense he had and chucking it right out the window. Clambering into a tree to use the foliage as cover, he used those AGI points to the limit, clumsily but effectively hopping from tree to tree under cover of leaves so nothing would have an easy time tracking him down from the earth. Using his body weight to shift from limb to limb, he finally reached a small clearing after a while of panic driven fleeing. Settling down to rest a moment, he catches a few breaths before a chittering from behind him causes him to whirl around and draw his blade in defense.
What he had not expected was a massive, drooling centipede. He had been surrounded by its mud brown body blending smoothly with the earth of the clearing. It's disgusting legs scuttled and clacked menacingly, slowly advancing forward with its mandibles snapping, acid bubbling and dripping as it spat a glob of yellow, viscous goop at him. He backstepped to dodge it easily, the slow projectile not really as threatening as he thought... until it sizzled and dug a pit into the ground. Summoning a gout of flame, he tried in vain to make a sort of flame spear he could throw at it. His "Spear" was more like a club of fire, his manipulation abilities still not finely tuned enough for a definite weapon shape.
Lamenting his mistake of not grinding the skills to max level he could reach, he threw the club at it while it screeched in rage from the flame bumping into its carapace and igniting a small portion. Its anger only grew, the tail lashing out and slicing his left shoulder deeply with a sharp, pincer like appendage, whipping it out like a blade and raising it above its head; ready to strike again. The pain of his shoulder bleeding slowly.
[-10 HP. Bleed M effect -5 HP a min]
Taking his dagger, he used the [Flame Strike] ability to coat it in fire, lunging for a chink in its carapace at the joint connecting it to the next plate. It gave a wail of pain and swept his leg from underneath, making him fall and drag the blade with him so it severs half of the Centipede. Scuttling madly; It flew into a frenzy, stabbing and snapping its mandibles at him until it missed and got it lodged into the earth, acid boiling swiftly around the mouth so it could free itself faster. Using [Flame Strike] again, he slammed his dagger down into the head plates of the monster, burning a hole into the center while it boils the brain in its exoskeleton.
[Ambushing Centipede killed. Player has gained a level.]
"Hhh... I hate these things.. No way I'm going to eat it." He retched a little at the thought, and walked off after using some of his supplies to bandage the wound, roughly so the [Bleed M] would heal slowly, his health coming back after a while of walking. This regen really was way stronger than he had given it credit for.. As he reached the entrance of the outpost, a gurgling screech came from behind him. The Drakeling swooped in like a falcon, diving and tucking its body to get more speed, shrinking itself a small amount to come in even faster, before using that explosive momentum to shift back and slam its talons into him hard enough to send him flying into the gate, crashing through.
[Player has taken critical damage, -55 HP]
Coughing up blood, he lay somewhat crumpled against the remains of the once sturdy gate. "This thing had one hell of a grudge..." Painfully pulling himself up, he coughed a little more and spat what he could of the sharp, copper taste out. Half his HP gone and out in the open, he was sorely at a disadvantage. Thankfully it seemed wary of the outpost... so he went for a low blow. Whipping a broken bone spear from his pack, he snapped his wrist forward like throwing a dagger, aimed at its wounded, now scarred over eye. It seems it heals fast, but the blind spot made it sluggish in its attempt to dodge the projectile despite its speed, a gash appearing on its eyelid now that it was closed up and defending the wound.
"Time for round two, then!"