In Terra, a Hunter and a Bad Woman

Whoosh!

Her body drove the Blades forward, and in that instant, Maria's speed rose to its limit!

Faintly, as the Blades sliced through the air, white ripples spread out!

It was a sign that she was about to break the sound barrier!

Squelch—

The Great Beast had no time to resist that strike.

Yet all it suffered was a simple slash.

Though Maria's attack was terrifying, it was... not enough.

It was not enough to kill it.

With that thought, Maria turned, gripped her sword, and calmly watched it.

It was a Great Beast fully three meters tall... and it looked somewhat like a dog.

But unlike an ordinary dog, three heads grew from its neck, while it had only one tail.

Its body had a strange streamlined shape, pitch-black all over... like some kind of mass of gathered shadows.

At that moment, the eyes of its rightmost head opened, while the other two heads kept their eyes shut.

"Three-Headed Hound...?"

Looking at this creature that should have existed only in myth, Maria frowned.

She raised her longsword again, preparing to attack.

But at that moment, the Three-Headed Hound suddenly closed the eyes of its rightmost head.

At the same time, the eyes of its leftmost head opened.

"Awoo—!"

A long howl erupted instantly!

Terrifying sound waves, like countless fine needles, rushed toward Maria!

Unable to evade this attack, Maria could not help but retreat several steps.

But even faster than that, its call drew every nearby beast over.

In the darkness, countless eyes began opening one after another.

Their bodies were equally black, pressed tightly together as though they had fused into one.

Pairs upon pairs of eyes opened, like countless heads staring coldly at Maria.

"Hundred-Headed Hound... That does fit the legend."

Pressing her lips together, Maria took a deep breath after the howl ended and resumed her stance.

She stared at the Great Beast before her, yet there was not the slightest fear in her eyes.

"Open your eyes... close your eyes... bring forth fog... bring forth beasts... Is that your ability?"

Though they had exchanged only a few blows, Maria had roughly grasped its abilities.

Clearly, each of the Great Beast's three heads possessed a different power.

When the rightmost head opened its eyes, it could influence this forest... such as summoning fog and determining Maria's location.

Maria even suspected that it could influence changes within the forest itself.

As for the leftmost head, it could control other beasts and even spur them into mutation.

As for the middle head...

Maria settled into her stance.

Her desire to attack urged her to strike again.

But the surrounding beasts would not simply watch Maria complete her movements.

They howled and surged toward her one after another!

Whoosh—!

Left with no choice, Maria turned and continued launching counterattacks against these hunters.

But unfortunately, these beasts were nothing like the ones Maria had encountered before.

Those had merely been incomplete forms that had not fully transformed.

The ones here were all mad dogs with three heads!

Their physical strength had increased tremendously!

Previously, Maria could easily sever these monsters' bodies with a single slash.

But against these beasts, her blade always paused for an instant when it cut through their spines.

And that brief instant of hesitation

kept her from fully defending herself.

More and more hounds surrounded her, pouncing from time to time to claw and bite at her.

In just a few moments, many wounds appeared across Maria's body.

One of them even leaped onto Maria's back and viciously tore a chunk of flesh from her shoulder with its teeth!

"Tch..."

Frowning, Maria instantly killed it. Then she turned and pulled out a vivid red vial, plunging it into her thigh!

As the liquid in the Blood Vial rapidly flowed in, the missing flesh recovered in the blink of an eye.

"You're nowhere near as lovable as that Puppy."

Taking a deep breath, Maria coldly watched the hounds around her, all staring at her hungrily. Her desire to fight did not diminish. Instead, it grew fiercer.

In a hunt, injuries were unavoidable.

But... how could she regain her condition without getting hurt?

She adjusted her breathing and corrected her stance.

Maria's aura slowly changed, and memories buried deep in her muscles guided her into the best possible response!

"I've never been very good at dealing with multiple targets at once..."

"But... if it's only a matter of killing them in one blow..."

Maria spoke.

And at that moment, the surrounding hounds crazily pounced at her.

In an instant, the gleam of Blades mixed with blood and began to carve patterns through the air.

A savage posture, precise slashes, flawless defense!

At that moment, Maria had reached the peak of her condition!

Her vicious Blades mercilessly executed every beast that tried to approach her.

Every second, Maria tore apart the bodies of seven or eight hounds!

Her terrifying appearance made it impossible to tell whether she was even a normal human being.

How could anyone maintain such cold-blooded slaughter?!

But... Maria did.

Her appearance clearly left the Great Beast stunned as well.

For a moment, it began to question whether making an enemy of her had truly been a rational decision.

It had merely sensed one of its kind invading its territory, so it had attacked.

It had thought she had left... but never expected her to return later... Believing itself to have been provoked, it naturally could not simply watch her run wild within its territory.

So it began attacking Maria.

But now, it regretted it instead.

The human before it... the one of its kind before it...

was definitely not as simple as she appeared!

That savage bearing... she was practically a machine born for slaughter!

Gulp...

Silently swallowing, the Three-Headed Hound began to feel fear.

It was already thinking of retreating.

But unfortunately... during the few minutes it spent in terror, Maria had already slaughtered every hound around her!

Though she had inevitably suffered some injuries as well.

Under the effects of the Blood Vial, however, the wounds healed in the blink of an eye.

Maria merely lowered her head, lightly adjusted her tricorne hat, and walked step by step toward the Three-Headed Hound.

Crimson light flickered in her eyes...

Time of Parting

Yharnam had left Maria with many bad memories.

An endlessly repeating world, constant deception, the beasts she hunted that should have been human... and the Outer Gods.

But... it was precisely because of those Catastrophe-like experiences that she possessed combat abilities ordinary people could never imagine.

Fighting and hunting...

No one in this world followed that path more thoroughly than she did.

Even though she loathed herself like this, she truly was an exceptional Hunter.

Whether human or Outer God,

once she set her sights on them, they were destined to never escape...

And on this point...

the Three-Headed Hound had an incomparably deep understanding...

"..."

"..."

After slaughtering every remaining beast, Maria pressed step by step toward the Great Beast before her.

She watched it coldly. In her Crimson eyes, there was nothing but the desire to hunt!

"I already know what two of your heads can do... In other words, you only have one last chance."

Maria watched the Great Beast before her as she walked forward step by step.

The Great Beast had three heads in total.

The one that controlled beasts had lost its use because every target it could control had been slaughtered by Maria.

The one that controlled the forest could not directly harm Maria.

But... there was still one head whose ability Maria did not yet know.

A surprise attack might instead cost her the advantage she had built up.

So Maria did not attack rashly. Instead, she chose to close in on it step by step.

And on the Great Beast's side,

it was retreating...

"Whine..."

It had never encountered a life-form like this before.