Her stomach writhed in agony, as though an invisible, flaming hand had seized it in a crushing grip.
No, it was no longer mere pain, but a terrifying blend of burning, tearing, and utter emptiness.
It felt as though the ravenous beast called hunger would devour every last one of her internal organs.
"I'm so hungry... it hurts..."
Ghislaine lay curled in the cold roadside grass, surrounded by the smell of decaying vegetation.
Her consciousness wavered helplessly between clarity and oblivion.
Ghislaine could no longer remember how many days it had been since she had eaten anything that deserved to be called food.
Sunlight filtered through the sparse, yellowing leaves overhead, casting patches of light and shadow across her muscular, bronze skin, coated in dust and cold sweat.
The sunlight... there's no warmth at all... so cold.
Was the sun always this cold?
Ghislaine's arms had once brimmed with explosive strength, easily wielding a giant sword several meters long and striking terror into countless powerful monsters.
Now they lay limp at her sides, and lifting even a single finger would exhaust the last of her strength.
Her strong, long legs had once been as nimble as a cheetah's, capable of deftly evading any lethal attack.
Now they trembled constantly, faint, uncontrollable spasms spreading from her ankles all the way up to her thighs.
My legs... do they not even have the strength to keep me standing anymore?
At last, Ghislaine completely lost the strength to support herself.
She collapsed like a battered rag doll with every bone pulled out.
And all of this was because of that damned... hunger.
Her stomach was utterly empty, with nothing but sour, bitter bile relentlessly burning its walls.
If she had to name anything that had entered her empty belly over the past few