The peck of a bird, pecking its beak while it occasionally sing brought me to my senses as I drifted from the deep darkness inside my mind.

A roof made of leaves conjoined together in a fixed manner, supported by hardwood as a pillar in each corner and bamboo sticks cut into thin pieces as its wall appeared in my vision as I try to recognize my surroundings.

I felt the nerves spread inside my body. I could feel every single organ, and limbs doing fine. Everything was functioning well.

“Asya…..”

Of course, without exception, so was the heart.

I remembered the sword which stabbed my heart as I run away with all I had.

The pain I felt as this feeble life fade away, as helpless as I was to do anything about it.

The grief Asya had as she broke through the barricade they conjured to bring me to safety.

The resolute gaze and determination in her eyes as Asya muttered her last words to me.

The hit she landed on me to knock me out of consciousness.

“U…uuuu….uuuu……”

My cries stained the serene morning as my chest was burning with deep sadness and grief. My nose repeatedly snots and snots along my cries, as my tears ran down my cheek uncontrollably.

As helpless as I was……

As weak as I was……

I realized that, in this turbulent world, filled with chaos, suffering, and carnage…..

I was only a speck of dust, who would disappear.

It was like this back then, and it was even more so like this right now.

Even though she had always dispelled me of my loneliness.

Even though she had always smiled only for me.

Even though her heart had always longed for me.

Why didn’t I, despite how I lived, considered that I had become such a heavy burden…..that Asya would

willingly trade her life for mine?

Why have I never thought that there are people stronger than Asya?

Why didn’t I decide to chase for power, no matter the circumstances I have in this feeble life?

My carelessness….

My ignorance…..

My weakness…

All of it…. Killed Asya.

“AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!”

I immediately went on a fit of rage, fury and hatred burning in my heart.

I rushed towards the door, exiting the hut in a frantic manner as I run, as if trying to distinguish the fire burning my body as my heart was severely stricken with grief.

It was not known how far had I ran, till I reached the wilderness in this foreign land.

I punched a tree with my weak fist, one by one as blood gradually dripped off my knuckles.

Although it was so, I neither relented nor decreased the barrage of fists I threw, as my fists became even more erratic, and stronger as seconds by seconds passed by.

The wilderness was a dangerous land.

It was because it was a land where the law of the jungle, which is the survival of the fittest, had absolute authority with no one ever trampling it.

Thus as my screams and wails resounded in the wide wilderness, beasts in the form of wolf came and surrounded me.

It was indeed, a pack of wolf, each towering about 70 to 80 centimeters high. Outside the Void Dimension, it will indeed become a terrifying pack of hunters in the wild.

“AHHHH!!!!”

With a shout filled with cold killing intent, I dashed towards one wolf and immediately pinned it with my crotch after jumping above it, and gouged out its eyes with my bare hands before finally twisting its neck all in two seconds.

The remaining wolves however were smart, and upon my vulnerable position as I twisted its brethren’s neck, a wolf jumped out from my behind, accurately aiming my neck from my blind spot.

My body, strengthened with a few more than a dozen human’s absorbed prana immediately reacted in response to the ambush as I immediately slightly stepped back while lowering my body to evade its jaws, and fiercely stabbed my hand diagonally upwards, towards its abdomen as I turned around.

The scarlet blood ran through my hand as it poured down, dripping incessantly as it stained the ground blood red.

 My hand twitched a bit, a sting accompanied it in my fingers as it was the first time I actually used my bare hands to stab.

It didn’t, however, stop my rampage.

Three wolves jumped towards me, simultaneously aiming towards my neck, thigh and shoulder from different angles.

Their coordination was praiseworthy as being beasts themselves, their target was accurate and sealed off my escape routes.

I didn’t, however, care about some stupid escape routes.

With a thump, I fiercely kicked the ground as I dashed and caught a charging wolf’s head in my front while breaking through the circle, crudely dragging it on the ground in my charge.

In front of me, I saw five wolves readied themselves to flank me in the routes they predicted. I used the wolf in my hand like a hammer and hit them all as I swung it crazily while I ran.

Upon reaching the optimal position, I then analyzed everything in my field of vision as I turned around and twisted the wolf’s neck in my grasp. With a cracking sound, its neck broke and its body went limp, never to move again.

Twelve wolves remaining. Trees with hard trunks approximately at every 20 meters square. No weapon on both side. Enemies incapable of using peculiar moves. No surprise attacks. However, being wolves themselves, they always had the chance to call for allies using its howl.

I need to massacre all of them as swift as possible.

The twelve remaining wolves charged at me as I stand by in position. I then stepped back and took advantage of the tree behind me to jump by kicking it and propelled myself above, making the wolves charged the hard and solid trunks with their heads.

Their charges were unexpectedly accurate and domineering, it actually left dents on the solid hard trunk.

With my falling momentum, I lowered my upper body as I fell and with a twist of my waist, I spun my body in a barrel roll manner as I thrusted my hand, and accurately tore deep through the last charging wolf’s throat from the side like it was tofu as my hand continued to arc.

In order to get a better position, I immediately jumped  after landing to my front, and gained a three meters distance from the crouching wolves as they tried to get up after their collision with the trunks.

The remaining eleven then slightly retreated and gained some ground to charge as I readied my stance for another kill.

However, I didn’t wait for them to jump and instead charged as I threw my body low, nearly grazing the ground in my charge and swiftly twisted my waist as I rammed the next wolf’s neck ten o’clock my front with my hand stab.

I deliberately continued to kick the ground and jumped even after my hand was rooted to its neck, as I evaded a wolf’s bite aiming my feet.

In my descent, I stomped the said wolf’s back with all I had, and directly broke its spine as a cracking sound loudly resounded in the field of carnage I was in.

Nine remaining.

I threw the wolf corpse dangling with me as my hand was still rooted in its throat to startle them, and proceeded to crazily charge towards the next wolf two o’clock my position.

While maintaining the speed of my charge albeit having only 2 meters to accumulate speed, I spun my whole body to accumulate a tremendous amount of angular momentum and then side stabbed the wolf’s neck from the left side.

Unexpectedly, the wolf swiftly reacted in reflex by jumping slightly diagonal to the left, avoiding my hand stab.

But I didn’t stop.

I didn’t decrease the strength I exerted in my stab while it arced through empty air, and with my whole body I made another spin thus maintaining the angular momentum added with the charge, without breaking the speed.

I then lowered my body and swiftly hand stabbed upwards right through its neck as blood dripped incessantly on my face.

I didn’t falter for even a split second and retracted my hand. Without turning my waist, my bloodied hand arced through empty air, and caught the wolf’s neck from my right with my grip.

With my fingers, I fiercely clawed its throat till it tore in a split second while keep advancing forward, leaving the remaining seven wolves 7 and 8 o’clock my front.

I kept track of my breath as I ran, and fiercely clawed the trunks in front of me as I jumped and climbed the tree.

I then positioned myself in a comfortable spot as I sat on a branch 3 meters high from the ground. Shortly, the wolves surrounded the tree I was sitting on. I then regulated my unsteady breathing as I huffed the air in my lungs.

Pathetic.

It was no wonder Draigg stabbed me with ease.

It was no wonder Asya had to sacrifice her life just to save this puny life.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Even though this body had somehow been reinforced with the prana I absorbed before, it was still insufficient to hold my own ground against a pack of wolves?

I then try to project my negative mudra. However, upon projecting it, I realized that even though I can still feel the prana flowing inside of me, I can’t make it move like I wanted it to.

It’s like my prana went on automatic mode and proceeded to keep its stoic stance inside my body.

This is frustrating…. I barely have any battle experience so there might be too many unnecessary moves in my attacks, defense and evasions which mean upon stamina exhaustion, I can only battle for a limited time.

Although my body’s performance had slightly improved compared to before, and my prana detection ability is still kicking, there are too many restriction I cannot overcome while relying on my bare handed brawl instinct.

No wonder void slayers relied heavily on their seeles, so this is how they felt in combat without weapons.

Heh. In this world, no strength means no safety, no comfort, and no dignity. If that is so!

“Just you wait, Shiori. The next time we meet, I hope you had already polished your bloody neck to be as smooth as possible!” I shouted in my heart as I stared at the wolves viciously, while licking my lips in crazy excitement.

I steadied my breath as I feel my new heart beat crazily while surges of hot energy seeped deep into my bones, reinforcing the marrows in every part of my body.

The unknown surging energy was fierce yet gentle, torturing yet delighting as my marrow became purer through the cleansing, and my bones hardening through its reinforcing.

Not long after, I sensed the urge to vomit, and then a great amount of black blood was vomited from my mouth, spraying the wolves below. It agitated their appetite, making them drool.

As I spat the last lump of black blood from my gut, I realized that not only my body became stronger, but my senses become keener as well.

As I went into a state of absolute silence and tranquility, I can perceive the very feeble sound of calm wind grazing a leaf 20 meters away. I can also hear the excited heartbeat of the wolves below me as I concentrated my hearing towards the said sound.

The light I perceived with my eyes became more vivid, it actually sent a bit pain to my temple for a second until my photoreceptor senses adapted to the new resolution of the world.

My vitality was renewed with vigor as I felt every corners of my body overflowing with energy, my heart beat stronger and slower while I felt the blood flowing in my veins become thicker.

“Is this because of Asya’s heart?”

Although I still had yet to understand the reason behind my impure prana acting stoic, I can still relate that my body’s enforcement was due to Asya’s heart. After all, the energies flowing from the heart can never be more familiar to me.

After the delighting experience, I jumped off the branch I was sitting on, accurately aiming my descent to squash a wolf’s spine.

Another pitiful cracking sound resounded in the air as I stomped my feet with all I had, turning the wolf’s back into a bloody pulp.

With renewed bloodlust, I swiftly charged full speed towards the next wolf on my left and punched its head.

Without resistance, my punch continued to arc in the air as its head was crushed and splattered on the ground.

Realizing more than half of its brethren had been killed, the wolves began to show eminent fear and swiftly retreated back into the woods.

I have yet to adapt to this new body of mine, so I didn’t deliberately chased them as I steadied my breath.

The beat of my new heart feels so nice, it revitalized my being with its beat as I feel the overflowing energy circulating in my body.

“!!!!!”

I immediately dashed three meters forward and turned my body as I feel a presence silently observing me from the bushes. From the looks of it, whoever he was, it was reasonable for me to assume that he had already been observing the battle from the beginning.

Not someone I can contend at present.

“I can feel you behind me. Will you show yourself?” I asked towards no one in particular as I readied my awareness towards the unknown person spying my battle earlier. With a long smooth breath, I exhale the air in my lungs as I focus my mind to concentrate in receiving every single movement, no matter how small.

“Amazing perception!” said a person in low praise as he got out of the bush where he was hiding. However, I can only see the bushes moving like something was passing through it, yet

no person came out.

A second later, the space three meters in front of me blurred as something, or someone came into being as my sight caught visual contact of him.

Wait, it was a girl……

She was…a cute girl. Her side silk-like black hair adorned with a simple, yet cute hairclip, displaying her ear is very entrancing. Just looking at her long eye lashed jet black eyes was enough for me to guess that she is a woman of many men’s dream.

That sharp nose and chin, makes it even more of a perfect face. Her body straightly stood in front of me as I can feel her pleasing fragrance carried its delighting sensations to my olfactory senses. Her clothing was simple, one made for going out in the wilds which doesn’t restrict her movements. It still somehow though, revealed her perfectly balanced bodily curve and revealed her skin from half her thigh till below.

Exquisitely toned beauty, I must say. That shining azure snow crest-shaped earring hanging in her left ear however…. was one bad news. I feel the hairs on the back of my neck fiercely stood up as I sensed the dread it profoundly hid while keeping my guard at its peak.

Sensing my acute caution, she immediately said in a leisurely manner: “You can be at ease. I have no intention to do any harm to you.” Her solemn gaze swept all over my body, as if trying to analyze every happening occurring inside.

“Then will you tell me why you were sneaking around behind my back?” I asked in an interrogative manner.

“Oh? Don’t be so skeptical. For your information, I was the one who dragged you out of the river and tended your wounds. So this is how you repay your savior?” asked the woman, a hint of helplessness slightly appeared in her tone as she squinted her beautiful eyes.

“……” I rolled my eyes as I listened to her playful tone. “Is that so? Then I appreciate the help. Still, that doesn’t make it acceptable for you to sneak around behind me so I would like to ask for your explanation.”

“……. You have a strong sense of wariness towards strangers do you?” she asked, a bit surprised towards my suspecting attitude.

“That is not your concern.” I answered flatly, as to prevent her from diverting the topic.

“Haaaaaah……” she lowered her gaze as she shook her head left and right. “Fine, I was just curious towards the screams and wails I heard in this wilderness, only to find you being surrounded by wolves. I was planning to save you from the crisis, but seeing the bloodthirsty glint in your eyes, I decided to stay my hand and carry on observing until you discovered me.” She widened her palm and faced it to my direction, as if saying that she really had no intention to make things difficult for me.

“……..” I intensely stared at that pair of protracted hands in front of me.

That is definitely a pair of hands who had killed humans before. Or so I thought.

After all, it gave a very different feeling than my hands.

“Fine, I will believe you for now. If there is something I can do to pay this favor, as long as it’s not something against my basic principle and not something impossible to accomplish I will do whatever I can to fulfill your request.” I said in a flat tone as I directed my gaze once again towards her eyes.

 “Is that so? Then I’ll be troubling you when that time comes.” Answered her, as a pleasing smile adorned her cute face.

I can’t afford to take joy in seeing her smile though…..

“Let me take the initiative. My name is Kazunari Haru, you can call me Haru if you like. You are?”

“My name is Annie Reiz. I live in a martial arts academy not far from here.”

 “I come from the land of the Far East, and a moment before I drifted to this place I was thrown into a river inside a Void Dimension. Would you happen to know where this place is?”

“This area is the Clea wilderness, north of Eyrie city of the Grand Assirean Empire. When I was strolling around the river, I found you were carried away by the rapids so I immediately took you out of the water. As for how you got here, I have no idea. Ah, what do you mean by Void Dimension, anyway? What’s that?”

“Eh?”

She didn’t know about Void Dimension?

“Wait. In this place you spoke of, there is nothing like Void Dimensions?” I asked in doubt.

“That’s the first time I heard such a term. I don’t know about other empires, but at least in this empire from the times of its founding, there’s no such thing as Void Dimensions.”

“Is that so…..”

Void Dimensions are a global-scale calamity, and it had been at least 120 years since its first emergences. If this plane does not know about Void Dimension, then I can safely assume that this is a different world.

………. Seriously?