Chapter 22: Slaughter

The forest suddenly fell silent.

The wind stopped.

Even the leaves ceased their faint rustling.

The next second—

A slender figure appeared without warning before the leading wolfman.

Crimson hair hung loose.

Her grin stretched almost to her ears.

A pair of blood-red eyes gleamed with inhuman light.

Rivina tilted her head, wearing a smile that made one’s skin crawl.

“Yes, you’re absolutely right.”

She nodded slowly, her tone carrying an oddly sincere note of approval.

“I really… shouldn’t be chasing you.”

The three wolfmen froze in their breathing.

They exchanged glances, a flicker of relief flashing in their eyes, as though they had narrowly escaped death.

“S-she… she’s letting us go?” one of them whispered, lips trembling.

The leader loosened his breath slightly, the tension in his muscles easing just a bit.

But in that very instant—

Rivina suddenly stuck out her tongue and slowly licked the corner of her lips, as if savoring a lingering flavor.

“But I… want to eat you.”

“What—?!”

Before the leader’s roar could finish, the smallest wolfman beside him completely snapped.

His eyes bloodshot, he let out a furious scream and charged forward, swinging his fist.

“Die!!”

That punch carried all his magic.

The force tore through the air, dragging a crimson afterimage as it smashed straight toward Rivina’s face.

“BOOM—!”

A deafening impact rang out.

Rivina didn’t dodge at all.

She took the blow head-on, her body flying backward like a snapped kite, slamming into a tree dozens of meters away.

With a thunderous crash, the thick trunk shattered and collapsed.

She lay sprawled on the ground, her back turned to them, limbs limp—utterly lifeless.

The three wolfmen stared wide-eyed.

“D-did… did it hit?”

“She… she’s dead?”

The leader stood frozen, waves of shock crashing through his mind.

“Impossible… On the front lines, she slaughtered three hundred of our warriors alone.

She tore our captain apart with her bare hands…

That kind of monster… how could she die from a single punch?”

One of the others stared in disbelief as well.

“Could it be… the front-line battle drained her too much?

Is she really that weakened?”

The leader clenched his teeth, forcing himself to stay calm.

“We can’t be careless… go check.”

He crept forward cautiously, each step light, eyes locked on the unmoving body.

At last, he reached her, lifted his foot, and trembling, kicked her shoulder.

The moment he saw the face—

His pupils shrank violently.

His breath stopped.

That wasn’t Rivina.

That twisted face—

It was his companion.

The very wolfman who had just been running beside him.

The one who had punched Rivina.

“T-this… this can’t be…” he murmured, voice shaking.

“It wasn’t like this just now… how did it suddenly become this?”

He spun around, staring behind him—

Where the other two companions should have been.

There was nothing.

“Where… where are they?!”

Panic seized him as he looked around wildly.

The forest was terrifyingly silent, as if even sound itself had been devoured.

“AAAAAAAH—!!!”

A heart-rending scream tore from his throat, echoing through the woods.

Fear ignited into rage, exploding into a desperate howl.

His eyes burned red.

Claws dug deep into his palms, blood dripping through his fingers.

Just then—

“Tap. Tap. Tap…”

Light footsteps sounded.

Rivina strolled out from between the trees, her pace leisurely.

“What’s wrong?” she asked softly, her tone like that of someone comforting a frightened child.

“Why aren’t you running anymore?

Weren’t you running pretty fast just now?”

The leader roared and lunged at her with everything he had, claws aimed straight for her throat.

But the moment he moved—

His vision split apart.

It wasn’t that he had reached her.

It was that his body… broke.

Starting from his fingertips, then arms, chest, legs—

As if sliced apart from the inside by invisible blades, piece by piece disintegrating, collapsing like a sandcastle under the tide.

He felt no pain.

He only watched as his limbs fell away, his consciousness still clinging to the body that was vanishing.

“No… no… I’m not… finished yet…”

His lips moved, but no sound came out.

Rivina gently blew a breath.

“Fuu—”

A faint breeze passed.

The shattered remains instantly turned to ash, scattering into the air.

Not a single drop of blood remained.

The forest returned to silence, as if no one had ever existed there.

Rivina cupped her face and spoke excitedly.

“Yeah… that wasn’t satisfying at all~”

She murmured softly, eyes glazed with delight.

“That was too little… not even worthy as my food…

I want more, more, more…”

She slowly turned her head, gazing toward the deepest shadows of the forest.

A strange, bewitching smile curled on her lips.

“Come out, little darling…”

Her voice was sweet as honey.

“How long have you been watching me?

Hiding over there and peeking… don’t you feel ashamed?”

“BOOOOM—!!!”

The ground shook violently.

The entire forest trembled as if struck by a colossal hammer.

Cracks spread across the earth like spiderwebs.

Dust erupted skyward.

Hundreds of towering trees exploded apart amid a deafening, bull-like roar.

“ROOOAR—!!!”

The roar carried terrifying magic, sweeping outward as tangible shockwaves.

Where it passed, trees were pulverized, rocks shattered, even the air warped violently.

Rivina’s eardrums ruptured instantly.

Blood trickled from her ears.

She casually wiped it away—

And her smile only grew wider.

From within the swirling dust, a massive figure emerged.

Zog.

A demon general.

His body was covered in crimson fur.

Massive horns jutted from his head.

Hooves slammed into the earth, each step sinking the ground half a foot.

He bared his teeth in a savage grin, cold light flashing in his eyes, his voice booming like thunder.

“You—”

He pointed at Rivina, contempt and battle-lust overflowing.

“You’re that crazy woman from the front lines, aren’t you?

The one who slaughtered three hundred of my men and danced atop their corpses?”

He advanced with a snarl.

“Now—can you still hear me?”

Rivina lifted a hand and wiped the blood from her ear, tilting her head with a smile.

“Of course I can.”

Zog’s grin froze.

Then his face drained of color.

“How is that possible?!”

He stared at her, disbelief flooding his eyes.

“That Shattering Mountain Roar just now consumed more than half my magic!

That sonic attack can rupture even a dragon’s organs!

And you’re… completely fine?!”

He had meant that roar as intimidation.

Yet she replied before her eardrums even healed, as though the world-shaking bellow had been nothing more than a passing breeze.

“Hahahaha!”

Rivina suddenly burst into wild laughter, her voice manic and delighted.

“So that flashy noise is all you’ve got?”

Before the words finished—

She vanished.

Zog’s pupils shrank as he instinctively raised his arms to block.

But the next instant—

“BANG!!!”

An overwhelmingly sharp kick smashed into his abdomen.

The force was like a falling meteor.

His massive body was blasted off the ground, sent flying like a cannonball.

The earth was plowed open into a trench hundreds of meters long.

Rubble and dust erupted skyward.

He slid for hundreds of meters before crashing into a cliff with a thunderous impact, embedding deep into the rock.

His limbs twitched.

Blood spilled from his mouth and nose.

Shock and terror filled his eyes.

“This… this can’t be…”

He struggled to lift his head, staring at the figure that landed lightly in the distance.

His voice trembled.

“You… you’re not human at all…”