With the echoing cry of approaching monsters the three conscious members of the party became worried. Their eyes frantically looking around into the shadowy depths of the dense forest surrounding them. Violet however, was quick to come to a decision, despite knowing that it may be painful, she knew that if she stayed in her dragon form it would be near impossible for them to escape.

The dragon could still hardly move, so the prospect of running away from ravenous monsters was not something that she was eager to do.

So with her resolve firmed she activated her shapeshift skill.

Pain wracked her very existence, shooting through her body, her mind, her very soul. She almost passed out from the sudden burst of pain, yet her will was firm, she refused to back down from this challenge. Her figure slowly began to shrink, the violet light emanating from her figure however, was not as uniform as usual, it flickered and wavered.

Veins of black icor could be seen corrupting the normally pure light, still Violet persisted. She refused to be beaten by a simple monster.

Eventually, the transformation was complete, Violet lay panting on the damp floor. Her body shook with the residual pain of activating a skill. Yet she waisted no time, calling out to her two remaining party members to get their attention.

"We need to flee. Grab me and Luna, we need to run back to the cave. Hurry!" With her urging the two remaining girls snapped to attention. Rhyana roughly grabbed Luna's collapsed form and slung her onto her back, Susan meanwhile bent down to pick up Violet, draping her over her shoulder in a fireman's carry.

The group looked at the mole briefly, Rhyana chose to speak. "Follow us if you want, we have a safe place to hide." With her piece said she wasted no more time and turned around and ran.

The mole hesitated for but a moment, then hearing the encroaching howl of the rapidly approaching monsters, its mind was made up and it followed behind the strange group of beings that saved it from the monster. The mole may not be all too smart, but it knew that it had been saved. Knowing this it was reluctant to once more be thrust towards deaths door.

The group barreled through the dense trees, weaving through them with reckless abandon. The distant howls and cry's of the monsters did not grow and closer, yet they also did not grow any more distant either.

Eventually though, the group escaped the dense patch of trees and escaped into the section of the forest that surrounded the hill that they had chosen as their home for now.

Before long they approached the hill and were able to spot the cave. Once inside they hid away in the same spot as they had camped last night, they sat in silence for some time. Their ears perked as they strained to hear any sound of the monsters they had fled from. Eventually, after close to an hour had elapsed, they began to relax.

Feeling marginally safer now, Susan went about setting up a fire to cook a meal for them all. Rhyana went about making sure that Luna and Violet were as comfy as possible.

Violet for her part had begun to regain basic motor skills, and now able to at least move her arms somewhat, opted to grab Lina and pull her into an embrace. Feeling comforted with her companions closeness.

The mole for its part did not join them in their side of the cave, it opted to settle down in basically the opposite corner from them. Whilst it was thankfull to the party, it was also quite weary of them. Particularly of the strange white furred one, the way that it effortlessly slew the monster was seared into its memory, sending chills down its spine at the momory. So it had opted to be thankfull, yet promised itself to never cross that being if possible.

**

Luna groggily awoke to the tantalising smell of a hearty stew and the warmth that she only felt when embraced by Violet. A small smile graced her lips as she subconsciously snuggled closer into her companion.

Not wanting to open her eyes yet she opted to deal with the flashing notification that refused to go away.

[Your group has defeated Bark Horror lvl 78 exp rewarded]

[You have leveled up]

[New skill unlocked

- Frozen Moment lvl 1]

Seeing the new skill filled her mind with details of what it could do. This only caused her tired smile to grow. This skill whilst horrendously expensive in terms of mana and stamina cost, was truly powerful. It allowed her to temporarily 'freeze' time itself. Whilst it had lessened effects against beast considerably more powerful that herself. It would still grant her a truely powerful trump card.

However, as the information of the skill fully integrated with her she also came to a worrying realisation. This was not a skill to be used haphazardly. Using it too many times in quick succession could be truly dangerous. Whilst she couldn't quite grasp exactly how often that was, she decided that she would not utilise this skill more than once every day or so at minimum.

Still the skill was incredible, so despite the downsides Luna was quite happy with it, plus she had gained yet another level!

It was then that she finally decided to open her eyes and see what situation she found herself in. The first thing she saw was the tired and worried eyes of her companion staying at her, her purple hair cascading around her face, framing her beautiful fearures, marred by the crease of concern visable on her scrunched up forehead.

Seeing that Luna smiled up at her companion, seeing that Violet's own face softened and she too smiled once she saw Luna was alright.

It was then that Luna realised that Violet was naked, she wanted to chastise her for remaining unclothed. Yet stopped herself when she remembered the sensation of having her soul torn, whilst muted through the bond, Violet had been so shocked by the pain that the sensation still passed through without any active filter. That memory made any complaints die before they truly formed.

Instead Luna simply squeezed Violet's hand that was protectively wrapped around her and asked a burning question. "Are you alright Violet? I-I felt some of what happened to you, but everything after I saw you collapsed is kind of a blur. All I know if that I somehow killed the monster. But I can still feel that you are in pain?"

With a faint smile Violet responded. "I took some soul damage, I think… but it is getting better, some foot and rest and I should be mostly back to normal. And I now learnt that I need to be more careful with my blink ability." She let out a self conscious chuckle at that. Still it brought a smile to Luna's lips, after all, if Violet could crack a joke like now then Luna knew that she would be alright in the end.

So as the evening rolled on, the group rested up. After enjoying a hearty yet relaxing meal, Violet summoned forth all of her assorted furs and hides before snuggling g up closer to Luna. Then after a quickly saying goodnight, found herself slipping into the comforting embrace of sleep, her companion held tightly in her embrace.

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