In Terra, a Hunter and a Bad Woman

Maria looked at the full moon hanging in the sky, her brows gradually furrowing.

She was still confident in her own memory.

When she had first arrived, she had definitely seen a crescent moon. But now... the moon was already full.

Something was wrong...

Something was definitely wrong!

And just as Maria noticed this, a howl suddenly rang out beside her ear...

"Awooo—!!!!!"

"Urgh!"

An explosive roar burst beside Maria's ear. The terrifying sound was like a massive hammer, brutally smashing into her head.

The shattering pain made her brow knot at once, and her face turned deathly pale in an instant.

Inside her body, the blood that did not belong to her began to boil and stir...

The blood of the Outer Gods urged Maria to devour these monsters!

It craved slaughter!

The surrounding forest seemed to have been drawn by that howl as well, beginning to writhe restlessly.

Within the darkness beyond the reach of the firelight, it was as though countless maggots were squirming.

The occasional restless glimmers were densely packed, as if the entire world had come alive because of them!

They roared. They screamed.

They stared fixedly at Maria's body, their greedy gazes leaking out from the endless blackness!

Something was wrong!

"Shing—!"

Maria sprang to her feet, drew her Blades, and warily watched her surroundings.

A hint of madness seeped into her sharp eyes.

She stared mercilessly into the darkness, confronting it with cold indifference.

A frigid, crazed aura spread invisibly, standing against this strange forest.

Even the other side feared that manic presence somewhat and did not dare provoke her directly.

Instead, it prowled around Maria, searching for an opening...

But how could Maria expose a weakness so easily?

She stood perfectly straight like a spear, one person confronting the entire darkness.

For a time, the two sides remained locked in a stalemate.

And at that moment, the Puppy girl who had fallen to the ground slowly woke up as well.

She rubbed her eyes in confusion, sat kneeling on the ground, and yawned.

"Maria?"

she mumbled.

As the Puppy girl murmured, the writhing darkness around them seemed to possess a will of its own. After pausing briefly, it gradually retreated.

Before long, all the strange things around them had vanished, leaving behind nothing but a real, dark forest.

"..."

After seeing those silent, formless abnormalities fade away, Maria paused for a while, silently put away her weapon, and lowered her head without a word.

"Maria?"

Still unaware of what had happened, the Puppy girl tilted her head, her expression showing a little curiosity.

"It's nothing..."

Maria lowered the brim of her hat, hiding her expression in its shadow.

The flickering firelight shone upon Maria, lending her an air of mystery.

No matter how carefree the Puppy girl was, she could still sense that Maria was in a bad mood.

So instead of falling asleep right away as usual, she quietly sat beside Maria and looked at her pitifully.

"Maria..."

"..."

Without speaking, Maria merely turned her head coldly, glanced at the girl, and sighed in silence.

Then she rose and asked.

"Where's your weapon?"

"Hm?"

"Go get it... Remember this from now on: no matter when, you must always have a weapon on you for self-defense. It is crucial to the use of your abilities!"

When Maria spoke, the gentleness of the past few days was gone from her voice, replaced once more by cold stiffness.

That made the Puppy girl uneasy, but she still obediently followed Maria's words and picked up her axe from nearby.

"Now... attack me."

Maria gave the order.

But this left the Puppy girl completely at a loss.

Was it training time again?

But it was still nighttime?

Confused, but seeing Maria's serious expression, the Puppy girl gradually became serious as well.

She did not know why, but... Maria could not be wrong!

There had to be a reason for this!

With that thought, the Puppy girl's gaze gradually sharpened.

She looked at Maria before her, gritted her teeth, firmly gripped her axe with both hands, and charged forward!

A faint storm precisely enveloped the axe!

Unlike at the beginning, when she had merely crudely attached her power to all kinds of flying objects, under Maria's training, the girl now understood how to achieve the greatest effect with the least exertion.

Just like this axe strike.

She had already understood that she only needed to apply her power to the axe's cutting edge.

"Bang!"

But in the face of this strike that looked capable of splitting stone, Maria was utterly merciless.

She casually raised a hand and knocked the girl's hands aside.

The powerful counterblow forced the girl back in pain.

Maria's expression turned cold as well.

"Not enough..."

She gave no reason, using only the simplest words to express her attitude.

Not enough...

The girl's current state was nowhere near enough!

"Urgh!"

The Puppy girl did not understand why Maria had suddenly become so strict.

But as she looked into Maria's sharp eyes, she fell silent for a while before gritting her teeth again.

A trace of stubbornness showed in her eyes.

With a low growl, she charged at Maria once more!

The entire night passed in Maria's training.

After dawn broke the next day, Maria no longer left camp alone to investigate the surroundings as she had before.

Instead, after preparing ample supplies, she neatly packed them into a backpack, had the Puppy girl carry it, and set off with her.

Even though the Puppy girl was so exhausted that she looked as though she could pass out at any moment.

The anomaly from the previous night had suddenly made Maria realize something.

If this forest truly harbored some unknown terror, then why had this Puppy girl lived alone in the forest for so long without anything happening to her?

Was she simply lucky?

That was hardly possible.

The more likely explanation was that this Puppy girl had some close connection to the abnormalities here.

And it was that connection that had protected the girl until now.

But... only until now.

Thinking of this, Maria's eyes grew colder.

She understood why she had wandered the forest for so long these past days without finding any traces of the Great Beast.

It was because the girl had been beside her... Her presence kept those Great Beasts from approaching.

And this Great Beast was clearly restricted by something, able to reveal its presence only at certain times. That was why Maria had never been able to determine its location.

Last night had actually been a very good opportunity... Under normal circumstances, Maria would not have needed to worry about much. She could have simply grabbed her weapon and charged into the darkness.

But the girl's awakening had made those Great Beasts retreat.

That might have been good news for ordinary people, but... Maria could not be happy about it.

After all, her goal was to hunt the Great Beast.

If the girl continued following her, then there was no way she could advance toward her goal.

So...

Maria silently turned around and looked at the Puppy girl behind her, who was panting heavily yet had not uttered a single complaint.

It was time to part ways...

A Troublesome Puppy

The time for parting drew ever closer.

However, Maria did not truly intend to simply abandon the girl in the forest and go hunt the Great Beast herself. Instead, she planned to take the girl out of the forest.

Though they had not known each other for long, Maria had indeed realized that the girl before her was simply a person with a few animal traits...

It was a rather strange phenomenon.

At least, according to Maria's understanding, once humans began Beastification, they became nothing but beasts.

There was no way to save them.

But the girl was different.

Other than the beast ears and tail that normal humans could not possibly possess, there was not much difference between her and a human.

She even got cavities!

From that alone, Maria had no reason not to take care of her.

But...

Not now.

She still had many things to do, and she did not have that much time to look after her.