Chapter 9 The Pale Huntress

Upon closer inspection, the scene was even gorier than imagined. The two corpses seemed as if they had literally been torn apart to pieces, their appendages unsurgically removed from their bodies. Some of said appendages were even missing, which was the clue that helped Xuan piece together the situation.

'Missing arms and legs would mean the Direwolves were the ones who killed these humans, and had also begun devouring them when the mysterious person arrived on site,' he thought, analyzing the evidence. 'But since they didn't clear away these human bodies for a proper burial, it's safe to assume they aren't some kind-hearted old hunter, huh?'

Bending down, he began searching through the beasts' corpses to give them a physical examination. Some of the meat underneath their fur had been picked out with some kind of rough, jagged weapon, nothing like something a butcher would use. Xuan could find some splinters of wood in the remaining flesh, probably leftovers of the job. Not only that, but the Beast Cores were also gone from where they should've been.

'Hm… in an area like this, the most likely conclusion is that this 'Hunter' used a sharpened stick, ,' he noted. 'Or, the user could have simply sharpened a dull one on a rock before using… though, would've taken quite some time and effort.'

Xuan took a step back, wiping his hands on his tunic.

'Still, to think they were able to kill three Direwolves with just a stick… impressive. They even retrieved the Beast Cores, so they should be a former player, but…'

Xuan turned to the smallest Direwolf, with an arrow through its head from the inside of its mouth.

'… Where did they get that arrow and the bow to shoot it from?'

There was, of course, the possibility of it being a master hunter originally from this world, who just happened to be passing through here. That would explain the weaponry, but not the splinters of wood found in the beasts' flesh. However, Xuan crossed out this option after he noticed the bloodstains that followed the spiral gravel path down to the base of the mountain.

Standing up, he walked over to where the path curved, and inspected the botches of patches of blood on the ground. Although they were faint they were visible enough to see. In a way, the stains acted like footprints. It seemed that the hunter had gotten injured when fighting the Direwolves, which any master definitely would not have let happen. In other words, they must be a player—and Xuan had a good candidate in mind.

Judging from how faint and uneven the blood patterns are, the hunter must've tried to cover up their tracks by stemming the bleeding, but…

Xuan smirked. 'They should've tried harder.'

*****

- A Little Further Down the Mountain Path -

"Hah… hah… ngh."

A girl, panting and quivering, limped along the gravelly path. Her injury was getting worse. She'd already made a makeshift bandage for her injury using the sect uniform she'd been automatically given upon entering the game, but it wasn't enough to stop the bleeding from the gaping hole in her chest. At this rate, she was going to die of blood loss before she could make it anywhere with medical help.

During the fight against those black wolves, the adrenaline had kept her going. Her wild nature and lust for battle nullified her body's sense of pain, but now that the adrenaline was gone, she was feeling it.

And damn did it hurt like a motherfucker.

"Just one strike… is enough to make me feel this much pain?" She muttered in frustration through grit teeth. "Tch… how weak did I become...?"

Limping, she made her way over to a nearby tree, unable to go any further and nearly stumbling over a rock on the road in the process. Once safely in the shade of the conifer, she immediately collapsed weakly on the ground. Removing her hand from where she'd bandaged up her injury, she saw that the wound was still bleeding as heavily as ever. Made sense—a simple bandage wasn't going to help a wound as vicious as this.

Slowly, she leaned back in defeat, her consciousness drifting away. She had nothing to properly treat it with, nothing to mend her injury. And so, with the last of her strength, she lifted her hand and reached towards the moon, a single tear in her eyes.

"Master… I can finally… see you again…"

And everything went black.

*****

- Hours Earlier -

Even before she entered the game, the girl was a hunter. A daughter of the wilderness—the forest was her home. That's why she hadn't hesitated before setting out from the Sky Cloud Sect, despite the sun having already set. She was confident she could handle the dangers of the forest—after all, the wild had raised her together with her master.

She was very, very wrong.

Things had been going smoothly, at first. Her goal had been to find a suitable place in the forest to stay, since making it all the way down the mountain overnight simply was not possible. Compared to staying in the sect, however, she felt much more comfortable and safe out here—right where she belonged.

Soon, she had located a suitable place to stay—two trees that had gotten a little too intimate with one another, branches intertwining like the hands of lovers. This made the perfect natural hammock, which the girl was more than used to sleeping on.

Climbing up with ease using her light body and nimble fingers, she found her place to rest for the night. Not only that, but there were also a few weird-looking spiders living there, so she killed them with the now-sharpened wooden rod she'd picked up off the ground and retrieved their silk. Then, using some branches and an edged rock, she crafted herself a primitive bow plus a few arrows—it wasn't much, but it would serve for now. At the very least, if something came for her in her sleep, she would be able to use these weapons to hopefully defend herself.

The peace didn't last very long, however, as she was soon roused from her dreams by by the sound of screaming coming from not too far away. Sensing danger, she immediately moved to assess the situation, taking her weapons with her and using her sensitive ears to track down where the scream had come from. Unfortunately, she came just in time, only to witness the perpetrators—three large black wolves—tearing apart the bodies of two humans, freshly killed.

Normal people would've vomited on the spot. Instead, the girl calmly drew her bow, nocked an arrow, and took aim with her narrowed eyes. She waited for the perfect moment—when the biggest one of them opened its gaping mouth to eat—before releasing her shot. Trailing the wind, the deadly arrow hit precisely where the shooter had aimed it, and pierced the beast's brain in an instant, killing it.

A hunter's instincts.

The two remaining wolves, now enraged, whipped their heads around to her in an attempt to to retaliate or at least identify the unknown threat, but she moved quicker. Dropping her bow and pulling out her wooden spike instead, she dashed out from the trees, fluttering in the moonlight as her elegant long white hair trailed behind her body.

The wolves were used to challenging only those weaker than them. In other words, they were used to seeing their prey run away. But this human… was coming straight towards them? And what was with that cool, confident smile?

With one great leap, before they could even react, the beautiful huntress landed directly on the back of one of them and stabbed towards the beast's eyes with the sharp stick in her hand, blinding it instantly.

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"ARWOOOO!" The animal roared in pain and fury and attempted to throw the girl off, but utilizing the momentum from the struggle, she leapt off the back of the wolf and towards the other.

Taking advantage of its inexperience and young age, the girl did not hesitate before acting, changing her trajectory mid-air towards the beast with the wooden stake in her hand and driving it directly downwards into the canine's brain.

"Arrr…" The light in the young wolf's eyes faded away almost instantly, and it dropped dead without so much as a scream. The remaining beast, seeing this with its single still-functioning eye, was furious, and let out an enraged howl before charging towards the girl, still crouched on top of the smaller canine's body.

Smirking in triumph, the huntress moved to pull her weapon out from the wolf's head and turn to face the final attacker, but-

"Wha-?!"

She looked down—her stake wouldn't move. It had somehow become lodged in the skull of the wolf she'd just killed, and was now refusing to budge. Since everyone's strength had been reset to a universal standard since coming to this world, she no longer possessed the strength she once had, and was unable to pull the weapon out. Quickly changing her plans, she let go of the bloody wooden stake and attempted to move away on her own, but it was too late.

The large canine's sharp claws struck her directly in the stomach, sending her flying backwards violently.

"Ngh-!" She groaned as her back slammed into a thick tree trunk, weak body sliding downwards. Blood spurted from her mouth from the impact, and she looked down at her abdomen where she had been hit. There, three large and bloody cuts lay engraved in her otherwise unscathed skin, but rather than wallow in despair, she smiled devilishly. Slowly, the huntress rose to her feet, now weaponless, and wiped the blood from her mouth with her bare hands.

"Again."

As if enjoying this, she lifted her arm and made a beckoning gesture with her hand, taunting the beast. A cool expression on her face and a look of bloodlust in her eyes, she licked her lips and cocked her head left and right.

Her clothing—the undershirt of the sect uniform given earlier—was all ragged and dirty, but if anyone could see her now, they may have said she looked beautiful under the bright moonlight, wild because she was unobtainable, unobtainable because she was wild. Her pale skin and white hair seemed to shine radiantly in the dark of night, complimented by the bloody scarlet mark on her stomach, as she prepared for the final encounter.

"Grrr…" The only remaining wolf growled deeply, single yellow eye filled with hatred. The two stared each other down like fighters in a boxing arena—only the fight was to the death.

"… Heh."

The pain didn't bother her. Not while she was still in a fight.

In a flash, the final clash broke out. The wolf roared and leaped towards the girl, trying to pounce on her, but she handsomely slid underneath it despite her injuries and picked up the wooden stake she'd left behind before, now loosened thanks to the force of the wolf throwing her across the field earlier. In one smooth motion, she whipped her body around and launched the stake at the beast, who still had yet to turn around.

"ARWOOOO!"

The wolf cried out in pain as the stake buried into its fur, but the merciless huntress was not done yet. Following up with no regard for her injuries whatsoever, she capitalized on the beast's momentary loss of control and jumped down on it from above, slamming the wooden stake deeper into the canine's body using her boot.

The power from the throw earlier alone was not enough to pierce any vitals, but with this, the stake was driven directly through the Direwolf's heart.

At last, the beast fell to the blood-soaked grass, dead, and the huntress—panting and exhausted, but still alive—had emerged victorious.