In Terra, a Hunter, and a Bad Woman

Low growls came from the beasts' throats.

They stared at the woman before them, baring savage expressions from time to time.

After a brief pause, they launched their attack without hesitation!

Their split jaws snapped fiercely at Maria!

Spittle flew everywhere.

But...

"Whoosh—!"

A flash of white blade light streaked past. In the blink of an eye, the beasts had been beheaded!

Blood gushed out.

"..."

After finishing them off, Maria silently withdrew her blade, then turned to look at the dark sky.

This was the third wave of attacks she had encountered since reentering the forest.

The other side seemed to have some way of sensing everything within the forest. It kept sending these insignificant beasts out to hinder Maria's movements.

The beasts themselves were not powerful.

But the problem was...

"Their appearance."

Maria lowered her head to look at the beast's head that had rolled to her feet, her brows tightly furrowed.

Something was very wrong.

There were two thick lumps of flesh on the wild dog's neck.

Maria could tell that they were not something the beast had naturally possessed. They had grown wildly in a very short time.

They were like uncontrolled curses, constantly stealing the beast's nutrients to nurture their own growth.

If they had fully developed... this beast would probably have become three-headed as well.

"So, was it normal that the people in those notes couldn't obtain any food?"

All these beasts had been affected by the Great Beast. Ordinary people simply had no ability to hunt them.

Was it only because Maria, an Outer God wearing human skin, was qualified to face the Great Beast that she could safely eat them?

At that thought, Maria could not help recalling that Puppy girl.

She had eaten the meat of the beasts here too. She should be fine, right?

After hesitating for a moment, Maria suddenly covered her head.

"Tch, I've become too sentimental..."

She did not want to admit it, but... Puppy's appearance had indeed affected Maria.

If she had once been a Hunter who knew only slaughter, then her long-overdue contact with ordinary people had restored emotions a human ought to have.

Whether that was good or bad could only be known in the future.

But right now, she needed to hunt that Great Beast as quickly as possible!

"Judging by what it's shown so far, it seems capable of controlling the entire forest and influencing the creatures here... But since I'm half an Outer God too, its abilities don't work on me..."

"Its true body should be hiding somewhere in this forest."

"I don't know its exact abilities yet, but they must be connected to this forest... Should I just set the whole place on fire?"

"But if I do that, I won't be able to stay in this forest either... My body is still within the limits of a human's. I would have a hard time surviving a fire like that."

"And if I start it from outside... that Great Beast might escape..."

Maria murmured as she continued deeper into the forest.

And the farther she went, the more obstacles she encountered.

Clearly, the Great Beast did not want to meet the current Maria.

Even if she was merely a tiny human, it still did not dare face her.

That meant...

"Right now, I can threaten its life."

With Blades flashing, Maria executed wave after wave of beasts.

As time passed, Maria inevitably accumulated a few wounds.

But they were only insignificant scratches, nothing that could hinder her movements.

The Great Beast lurking in the forest seemed to understand that as well.

So it stopped sending beasts to their deaths.

Instead, the mist around her grew thicker and thicker...

The dense fog approached Maria soundlessly. Before long, it had obscured her entire field of vision.

As though it possessed a will of its own, the white mist completely enveloped Maria in only a few moments.

Even straining her eyes, she could see no farther than three meters around her.

Anything even slightly farther away was invisible.

Maria frowned.

Her vision... had been obstructed?

That was not good news.

After all, barring special circumstances, sight was the most useful sense for humans, followed by touch.

Those were often the senses that relayed information to the brain the fastest.

Once one of them was blocked, it was practically a killing move.

Especially in a forest.

The dense trees and shrubs all around looked copied and pasted, making it impossible to see the way ahead.

This move was indeed effective.

As her vision became increasingly blurred, Maria had no choice but to stop.

She was about to lose sight of the path ahead entirely... In this situation, she could not move freely through the forest at all.

If she did not even know where she was, how could she possibly find the Great Beast?

It seemed to understand that too.

From somewhere in the hazy distance, it let out a strange, low sound.

As if it were laughing at her...

But very soon.

It would no longer be able to laugh...

"I can hear it... So that means... it's not far from me?"

Maria lowered the brim of her hat, and a smile slowly appeared on her lips...

"Found you..."

Slaughter!

Without pausing for even a moment, Maria's body erupted with astonishing strength.

In the blink of an eye, she rushed toward a tree, about to reach it!

The surrounding mist seemed to realize something and immediately gathered, attempting to stop her.

But unfortunately, it could not form any force strong enough to resist Maria.

In an instant, Maria charged before the tree...

Then...

"Bang!"

She planted one foot heavily against the tree!

Her body shot forward like a cannonball, borrowing that force to take her second step!

It landed on another tree!

Then came the third step...

The fourth step...

Until the tree trunks were nearly unable to support her, she finally unleashed all her strength!

"Boom—!"

The terrifying impact cracked a tree trunk apart. In an instant, her body soared high into the air!

Into the space above the forest...

And at that moment, the spreading mist finally began to thin.

Looking down, Maria could see it.

Right where she had just stood, centered on her original position, was a spherical mass of milky-white fog!

Just as Maria had suspected, since the Great Beast feared her and believed she could threaten to kill its true body, that meant its body was not particularly strong, nor was the power it could wield.

To create a fog capable of blocking Maria's vision, it had to concentrate all of its strength!

Which meant...

The mist existed only within that area!

And not far from Maria.

Within the forest.

The enormous Three-Headed Hound stared in shock at Maria, who had leaped into the air...

"Found you..."

The instant she realized this was the target she had been searching for, Maria's eyes turned cold.

Her pounding heart sent blood racing through every part of her body, while the surging heat stimulated instincts honed thousands upon thousands of times!

Hunt...

Then slaughter!

Her soaring desire sent blood coursing rapidly through her veins, and a terrifying aura gradually spread through the air.

In her fierce eyes flowed a desire known as hunting.

Above her, the moonlight gradually turned Crimson!

"Bang—"

Landing once more, Maria lowered herself into a slight crouch.

Without giving it time to react, she sprinted toward it at full speed, following the direction she remembered!

And the creature seemed to realize that mist alone could no longer stop Maria.

So it decisively abandoned its attempt to keep the mist surrounding her and began to prepare.

But Maria gave it no time to prepare...

"!"

In only a few breaths, she crossed nearly a hundred meters!

The terrifying body capable of tearing apart Outer Gods finally displayed its astonishing power at that moment.

A violent wind howled toward it as her sword slashed out!