Martial Online.

In the depths of the rainy jungle, two shadowy figures sprinted through the tangled undergrowth, their footsteps masked by the relentless downpour.

At that moment, a purple-eyed man shot forward like a bullet from a gun and repeatedly slashed his sword down upon his opponent with lightning speed and precision.

However, the muscular predator tanked all the slashes with the forearm of its durable exoskeleton, unfazed by Ambrose's attacks.

Ambrose reeled back his twisted blade and started running deeper into the jungle while the predator followed right behind like a relentless force of nature who didn't want to let go of its prey.

He never expected to outrun the predator, nor had any plans of doing so.

As the predator neared his heels, Ambrose used the bark of nearby trees to propel himself up and leaped into the air, soaring above the muscular predator.

However, like a wingless bird, he quickly started falling down, but then he aimed the sword down and plunged it into the predator's shoulder, inflicting a deep wound.

"Growl!"

The predator let out a cry of agony, and then its red eyes started glowing with powerful red light. In that moment, a fire beam shot out from its eyes and headed straight towards Ambrose.

Ambrose's eyes widened in surprise, as he didn't expect such an attack from the predator. He was also dangerously close, so he had no way to dodge in time.

The fire beam shot out like a flamethrower, engulfing Ambrose in a scorching inferno.

At that moment, Ambrose turned into a humongous, towering muscular monster that seemed unstoppable. The scorching inferno danced around him, trying to turn him into ashes, but he continued to stand tall, unaffected by the flames.

"Grr…"

The flames died down in the predator's eyes. It let out a deep growl, like a hidden beast awakening from within.

As it saw the muscular monster return, it lunged forward with deep, ground-shaking steps and threw a punch that caused the air in front of it to explode.

The punch obliterated every raindrop in front of it and sent a shockwave rippling through the air. It smashed squarely against Ambrose's powerful chest, knocking him off his feet and sending him flying backwards through the air.

Ambrose's eyes shook, as he never expected to be thrown away like that while he was using the muscle defense.

He fell on the muddy ground with a loud thud and watched as the raindrops fell down on his bloodied face.

It looked like the fight was finally over and that the victor was the predator.

"Ptui…" Ambrose spat out blood and returned to his normal state. "Argh…"

He turned to his side and slowly climbed back to his feet with great difficulty.

Thump, thump, thump!

At that moment, the ground shook like an earthquake, but it was just the predator walking between the trees, approaching him with its menacing gaze fixed firmly on its prey.

It was coming to finish him off.

"Tch…" Ambrose held his back and tried to stand tall despite the numbing feeling spreading throughout his body.

'I cannot defeat it, nor can I escape it. What can I do?

'I thought I would be able to hide and use the mud to camouflage my scent, but it still managed to perfectly pinpoint my location, almost killing me.

'It's unlike any beast I know of.'

The predator smashed its fist against its open palm, acting very human, as if it had a personal vendetta against Ambrose.

Pitter-patter.

Ambrose listened to the sound of rain hitting the muddy ground and felt his wet hair cling to his face. He didn't move an inch and just looked at the ground without any expression.

He watched the raindrops falling on a muddy puddle with ripples that disturbed the reflections of the surrounding trees.

Swoosh—from the depths of the jungle, a sharp-pointed arrow crossed the air and stabbed Ambrose in the leg, causing him to wince in surprise.

"The hell?"

He crashed down on his knees and clutched his injured leg with a deep frown, wondering who the hell shot him in the leg!

At that moment, two players emerged from the depths of the jungle, completely drenched. One was holding the bow with an arrow on the bowstring, while the other had a small knife.lights

"Standing absentmindedly, are you a fool?" The bow-wielding player said with clear mocking in his tone. "Well, thank you for the free kill."

"Huh?" Ambrose looked over to the predator, who was standing near him like a silent shadow. 'Can't they see it or what?'

At that moment, the two players noticed something in the corner of their eyes and turned to look.

They couldn't see anything at first, but then it was like a faint image was becoming clearer and clearer until it materialized into a scary figure of the predator.

"The hell?!" The knife-wielding player screamed. "Where did it come from?!"

"Shit!"

The bow-wielding player aimed his arrow at the predator and launched it towards it.

As the arrow struck the predator in the chest, it shattered from the middle and harmlessly fell to the muddy ground. It didn't even create a scratch.

"Growl…" The predator growled menacingly and turned its attention to the two players.

'This is my chance!'

Ambrose thought desperately, pulled the arrow from his leg, rushed towards the jungle, and entered the dense foliage that was as dark as the night itself.

He could barely see himself, let alone all the bushes, but he still didn't stop and continued running away as fast as he could with his injured leg.

The predator missed the fact that his initial prey had escaped and smashed its fist through the bow-wielding player.contemporary romance

The knife-wielding player tried to escape while screaming but accidentally tripped on a protruding root and fell head-first into a muddy puddle.

The predator walked over to him and grabbed him by the collar.

"Please, don't!" The knife-wielding player screamed, his voice shaking in fear.

"No…"

The predator opened its mouth and whispered its first-ever words. Then, it smashed its fist through the player's head and ripped his body apart with a single motion.

"Raaaaaah!"

The predator stood up and screamed into the air with otherworldly ferocity. However, it's scream strangely sounded a lot like Ambrose's.

"Raaaaaah!"

It then turned its gaze back in Ambrose's direction, at least where he was supposed to be. However, he had disappeared during the chaos and was nowhere to be seen.

The predator scowled angrily and looked around, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Raaaaaaaah!"

…

Ambrose tripped and fell to his knees. The injury to his leg made moving very difficult for him.

He gritted his teeth and dragged his injured leg behind him as he headed up a steep hill towards the high ground.

At last, he arrived at the top and fell down on his knees right in front of a cliff with a drop of fifty meters. The view showed the vastness of the jungle and a few towns scattered across the horizon.

He sat down, his legs dangling over the edge of the cliff, and took a deep breath to calm himself down after the long, dangerous fight with the predator.

However, he had a feeling that this was far from over, and the predator might show its face again at any moment.

Ambrose reached out to his inventory and looked at one medicine pill in his hand. It was the last one, and he knew he had to use it wisely.

Even though he still had about thirty health points left, he had to use them as his injured leg made moving far too difficult.

So, without further ado, he tossed it into his mouth and swallowed it.

"Ahh…" Ambrose closed his eyes, turned his head towards the sky, and felt the raindrops on his face.

'That's enough relaxing.' Ambrose opened his eyes with a slam. 'I'll have to get ready for the next fight with the predator.'

done.co