The Wushi was once considered a prodigy by her peers. She was one that was able to pick up multiple combat stances with a single glance and was able to continue on with the most insane training, no matter her condition. Thus, she was considered a once in a lifetime talent that was born and was chosen to be the master’s direct disciple for the sake of the school.

However, with that reputation came spite and jealousy. Such vile emotions led to those that attempted to sabotage her by physical assaults in hopes of causing enough mental duress that she would give up her path.

They were wrong. As a result of such endeavors, she learned how to fight much faster than all of her other fellow students. She was able to train further than anyone, getting a strong foundation far beyond anyone else in her age bracket. All that progress cost her some bloodied fists and rumors that painted her as a savage beast with only bloodlust in her mind.

In a way, her naysayers were right. There was nothing she enjoyed more than a good fight, one where both sides fought for the sake of their ideals. Where honor reigned and both warriors knew what they were going to get involved in.

Thus, she knew. She knew right here that this battle against these giants wasn’t anything similar to that. She couldn’t convey her thoughts to these savage beasts nor could she bother to show a single drop of honor towards them.

So she could forget all about the duty and honorable laws with combat. At this instance, nothing was off limits. In this situation, she was merely putting down some rabid beasts that did not deserve any mercy.

With that thought, she understood her role in this battle. Therefore, she didn’t hesitate to launch her right fist right into the giant’s eye.

A roar erupted from the behemoth as her arm dug further in, before she gritted her teeth and ripped out her limb. The giant screamed as it put its hands around the damaged eye, tears of blood pouring down the open wound.

As disgusted as she was to have such filth covering her arm, she didn’t let her feelings overwhelm her battle instinct. With that, she headed over to the next eye, but the giant seemed to recognize what her goal was.

It maneuvered one of its hands to cover the other eye, thus making it blind but safe. The Wushi blinked at that move, before shaking her head.

She already knew these beasts were completely braindead, why was she surprised that the giant thought it would be a brilliant idea to blind itself to protect against her attacks? Nevertheless, she wasn’t going to pass a free strike, so she rushed forward to launch another hit.

Perhaps the beast thought that she didn’t have any targets remaining after the eyes. Perhaps it thought it would be safe since the rest of its body would be durable enough to defend against any other assaults.

Clearly, the giant never thought about its neck. After all, from her countless dealings with those would-be bullies, she had a good idea that the throat was a good weak point.

Thus, she slammed both of her palms towards its neck at full strength. The impact broke the spine easily, causing the beast’s head to wobble around for a bit before its entire body began to turn to dust.

All the fluids on her body that came from the previous eye-strike all dissipated to dust. The remaining two giants roared in anger as they rushed at her while she let herself fall down to the ground.

Not yet. She couldn’t save herself yet.

She waited and watched. She stared at the giants rearing back their weapons to slam her right into the ground and smash her into multiple bits. She looked death in the eyes as she fell, waiting for the exact moment to strike.

Both giants launched their attacks and she couldn’t help but grin.

With that, she counterattacked. She launched six spikes of earth towards their heads, all of the incoming projectiles compacted and strengthened to match the stone spike she had launched previously.

They were too far into their strikes to dodge in time. Both of them ended up with holes in their heads and another avalanche of dust and bone came to the ground. She did have to use the last dredges of her mystical energy to catch herself, but she had done what she had come here to do.

The behemoths were all taken care of, even if she was completely dry and barely conscious. She forced herself up, gasping and wheezing the entire way, trying to avoid getting any of that dust into her body as she looked around and–

The next thing she knew, she was on the ground again, with the side of her head flaring in pain. She staggered up to a sitting position, wheezing and holding the injury with a free hand.

Her heart dropped as she faced up against another horde of monsters, some of them in their bare skin and some with bone armor. Either way, she knew at that moment she couldn’t win. This was a battle she knew she had no chance of surviving at her current state.

She didn’t get the chance to dodge before she was struck again in the stomach. She was knocked back a good distance and this time she could taste blood in her mouth. She struggled to pick herself up and looked at the incoming horde, all of them more than eager to rip her apart and make her suffer.

Move. She had to move. She needed to get away, she had to recover. She had to do something, anything.

Her hands were shaking. She didn’t know why. In all her years of training and battle, not once did she ever have the compulsions to have her body shiver and quiver like this.

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Why did everything feel so cold? Why did she feel so weak, so full of dread at this exact moment?

The beasts all took more steps forward and she found herself crawling away. She didn’t get far as one of the monsters slammed a foot right into her right leg.

She screamed. Mercifully, she didn’t endure any broken bones, but the jeers and roars were more than enough to start breaking her spirits.

This was familiar. So much so. Why? Why did she feel like she was back somewhere dark and inescapable again?

She tried to get up. She couldn’t. She tried to crawl. She couldn’t.

Her body was no longer hers, having turned into a prison for her spirit to witness the dark and cruel death that was coming. She was shivering. She was cold.

This truly was it.

Ah. She understood what was going on now. The same feeling she had when she was buried under all that snow, unable to move and forced to freeze and suffocate. That inherent feeling of hopelessness, that moment of weakness that made her heart freeze and feel regret to the way she lived her whole life. That moment of defenseless loss, the way that she was so weak that she might as well be a baby.

This was fear. She was going to die. Again.

She was going to go out not with honor or glory but with a whimper. She was going to lose her life again and there was nothing she could do about it.

No, all she could do was lie there and accept her fate.

She felt like crying. She didn’t want things to end this way.

She tried. She really did. She put her whole energy and soul into getting up to do anything. To punch, to run, to crawl. Anything to get out of this situation.

But she couldn’t. Her body didn’t listen. No, all she could do was stare in terror as the nearest bear reared back its arm and got ready to slice her face open.

She wasn’t even given the mercy of closing her eyes.

So, she watched as the beast stepped forward. She stared as its arm started to blur forward towards her face, ready to rip her apart. She looked as the incoming arrow pierced through the beast’s skull and turned it into nothing more than another pile of dust and bone.

What?

She finally had the chance to blink, before looking to where the arrow had come from. She wasn’t the only one, as all the beasts in front of her did the same thing.

What she saw shocked her to the core.

The Huntress stood there with her bow up and ready. A dark glare was on her normally silly face as multiple plants began to grow around her, each of them forming arrows for her to use.

. Without waiting, the girl grabbed several of them and cocked the bow back. Then, she started to fire endlessly, continuously loosening arrow after arrow without fail.

One beast went down. Another, and another, and another. The beasts all snapped back to attention and charged, but the rain of projectiles was too much for them to handle. One by one, the creatures all started to fall and turn to dust, the horde thinning out more and more.

However, that left the unique monsters around. The arrows all bounced off the thick bone armor they had all around their body, resulting in a total of twenty two of those armored monsters circling around the Huntress.

They lifted their weapons and got ready to charge. They took a single step forward and reared their weapons back, just in time for another storm of arrows to come for them. The beasts all rushed forward, ignoring the possible threat of the projectiles. After all, they had confidence in their bone armor defending against such attacks, as they were able to deflect the previous assault.

That was the biggest mistake they could make.

Each of those arrows warped and enlarged mid-flight. They all turned from small arrows to gigantic spikes that twisted and turned to reach higher speeds.

The monsters all tried to dodge, but they were far too slow. Each of them ended up being turned into nothing more than shredded flesh, their armor doing nothing against the barrage. They were unable to defend or run. The only thing they were allowed to do was to become dust and shattered bones.

The Wushi gaped as she stared at the carnage right before her eyes. There were so many words to describe her current feelings regarding the event that had unfolded before her eyes.

Pride. Shock. Amazement.

A mixture of all of those emotions were what was going through her head as she looked at the Huntress walking closer. The girl stopped right in front of the Wushi, before smiling softly and offering her a hand.

“Come on. You’re safe now.”

The Wushi took the offered hand, smiling and allowing herself to be lifted up. The Huntress hefted her over her shoulder with a grunt, before making the arduous trek back to the village. The two walked in silence for a while, trodding through the small sea of dust that had settled throughout the ground.

The Wushi blinked and staggered forward, but she did everything in her power to keep on going. She owed it to the young girl, after all. Without her, she would have failed and the village could have been destroyed. Without her, things could have been so much worse. Things could have gone–

Her hair stood on their ends. She could feel the Huntress gasping and wheezing as the two of them felt that approaching hand of death once more, before turning over to the source of that horrific sensation.

Another group of sixteen monsters came approaching, all of them growling and snarling. They all had the same appearance: that of a giant human with fur all over their body with giant mouths that displayed rows of sharp teeth. Their red eyes kept track of them as they walked up on their hind legs, all while displaying their sharp black claws that glistened in the light.

However, that was not what gave the two that feeling of fear. That would be the fact that these beasts were somewhat subdued as they chose not to charge them nor try to attack. No, they seemed perfectly fine keeping a distance away as they grouped up together.

The Huntress grabbed her bow and got ready to fight once more, while the Wushi struggled to get herself to a fighting stance. However, each of their actions were halted upon realizing the beasts were all splitting up and making space.

Then, they saw him. A man dressed in full metal, with a giant beard growing from his face and a red feather in his helmet. He had a large ax that had a spike on top, something that made her extremely nervous.

He walked forward, confidence in each of his steps and a smirk on his face. Then, he stopped a distance away. To both of their surprise, he proceeded to take a small bow, before looking up with a sinister grin on his face.

“Hello, ladies. May I ask if you all need some help?”