Rue looked out of the entrance to her cave. She had had a narrow escape from the Bugbear last night and had no intention of repeating this event. The mind effect the creature had was very dangerous and she would habitually avoid that smell from now on. Or at least until she was big enough to swallow it whole.

Or burn it to a crisp.

Today she would hunt after smaller prey. She had grown in size quite nicely and was two meters long from head to tail. She spread her wings and gave them a flap. She felt them take her weight and push off the ground. She rose for a while but merely 3 seconds later came back down. She gave an impatient hiss, how long before she would be able to fly.

Hunting from the air would be so much easier. Rue raised her nose and sniffed the air, catching the scent of familiar prey she leapt off into the distance in search of a satisfying meal. She felt this direction was familiar, the same logs, clearings and slowly meandering stream. It had the same smell as well. It came back to her, the sheep that she had massacred. She had barely even got to eat a bite.

If she could find them again then they would be a grand buffet, hopefully, no more annoying humans would appear to try and steal her meal. Rue hissed in displeasure. Slowing slightly at the displeasing thought she considered whether it was dangerous going back there.

She had killed them all when she was much weaker, and now that she knew they could turn up she would be prepared. Plus that huge flock was just too tempting. She resumed her rapid pace and was soon at the edge of the valley hiding behind a large boulder on the side of a steep slope.

She looked into the valley and spotted her target, the group was much smaller than the last one. She could still see some burned patches of ground that the sheep avoided, they were much more alert now, many of the herds members looking around for danger. She would have to bide her time. Rue curled up on the floor behind the rock and set about waiting for dusk, this would provide her cover and give the sheep the chance to become sleepy.

It was hours before the dark began creeping forward and Rue only moved because she heard a panicked bleating and a few minutes later smelled blood. Was another predator moving in on her kill, she needed to act now. She poked her head up from the rocks and surveyed the area, no predators had moved in. The herd was in obvious distress, but from what she could not tell.

Looking for the panicking sheep she found a small level 5 animal that had a wooden stick in its leg. It was hobbling around crying out and blood leaked down its wool.

This was what kept her from rushing in mere moments later. No animal she had ever seen except humans used these strange attacks. It was like they threw small objects at their targets, but how did they go so fast and puncture so well.

Now knowing the danger in the area Rue looked around at the treeline near the herd, searching for signs of humans. Just as she thought she would not find any she caught the telltale glint of a hard shell in the tree line. As Rue looked closer at that section of the forest she saw a faint shimmer and barriers of green leaves. They were trying to hide, and if that large shiny one had not moved beyond the shimmering barrier and brought attention to them, Rue may never have spotted them.

The human's presence was a problem, on the one hand, she had killed that last group, but there were no shiny ones. On the other, she had invested a significant amount of time into waiting for these sheep to settle. It would be a shame to give up on them.

They might not even be looking for her, maybe they were there to hunt the sheep as well. If she came in from the other side of the herd and took a sheep they might not even notice or care. But this was not supported by the hunting down and killing of her mother, maybe they were here to hunt her.

Rue let out a soft growl, she would not let that happen. She would hunt them. While they were focused in front towards the herd she would stalk them from behind and launch an ambush.

Rue set off back into the forest and began to circle back behind the ground staying silent and close to the ground. Using the bushes and trees she made sure to spend minimal time out in the open.

She took her time spending over half an hour creeping up to where she estimated the group would be. She nearly missed them, thinking she had lost the spot or they had moved. But the telltale green shimmer tipped her off.

Quietly she scouted the perimeter of the mirage, it was about 20 feet in diameter and was set back about 10 meters from the forest edge. Just enough trees and shrubs to make the green shimmer believable and blend in.

Rue decided to make her move, she would burst through the shimmer and bath her enemies in flame. She crept forward through the bushes until she was mere feet from the barrier and took a deep breath. She leapt forward and prepared to breathe her flame. As she hit the shimmer the dull light flared up and it felt like she hit a stone wall. The fire died in her throat as her jaw smacked against the barrier. She slid and tumbled off the surface before springing to her feet. She hissed low and threatening towards the barrier. As she watched it cleared and allowed her to see what was inside.

Staring at her were a huge number of shiny humans, at a quick count over 20 and there were some un-shiny ones as well. Two had glowing hands that seemed to flow energy, bright and fast towards the now nearly invisible barrier that had stopped her.

The two groups face off, spellbound looking at each other. Rue decided to break the silence with a huge gout of flame that she blasted towards the barrier. The flames seemed to part around the barriers and the next blast she sent she empowered with a large chunk of her mana. The flames burst forth from her maw with a powerful whoosh. The burned a bright red white, magical in nature the fire seemed to glow as it wreathed the barrier in heat. Unlike the natural fire before it seemed to burn and stick to the magic of the barrier itself.

Some small wooden sticks came flying out from the barrier, two of them deflected of her scales at shallow angles but one hit her in the shoulder and suck over six inches deep into her flesh. She let out a roar and sent another plume of Dragonfire towards the barrier. This seemed to deplete the ones creating the barrier as it broke apart and burned up. Seeing this opening Rue went to leap forward and join combat when a huge figure leapt out from the centre and swung a huge shiny limb at her.

The limb came fast and mid-leap as she was there was no avoiding it, swung with irresistible force it crashed into her. It caught her mid-flight in the chest and sent her flying backwards smashing into a tree trunk. She felt something break inside her chest and breathing became more difficult. She turned her head and sent a regular blast of flame towards the human.

[Human Lv 33]

That was crazy, none of the other humans were over Lv28 this one must be special, and it was huge. Her flame however still scared it. She watched as it backed away and its short top limb bent and gripped something, pulling it out of a compartment, a huge claw, gleaming in the evening light. The big one was shouting to the others as they began to encircle her, closing in. She sent gouts of flame out towards some of them, roasting a couple of them. Their shells glowed orange.

More wooden sticks shot out of the creatures and stuck in her flesh, some warm fire was blasted in her direction but when she showed no discomfort blue ice and blasts of cold were fired towards her. This hurt and she tried to avoid as much as possible. But as the ring around her closed she began to get desperate, this had been a mistake. Her mother had been much larger physically than her and she has still been taken down by these team tactics.

Was she doomed?