Now that Zoe was only pursuing a small child instead of hunting down trained killers, moving through the branches of the jungle canopy was even more relaxing. She was pretty sure she wasn’t very far behind now. Even though Zoe had only been in pursuit for a couple minutes at most, she felt that it wouldn’t be much longer before she caught up to the kid.

The question of what to do then was something she kept forcing herself to think about and then inevitably avoiding. Her mind kept drifting at even the slightest opportunity. While the combat potential of her latest form was undeniable, it left a lot to be desired for interaction with other people.

So overall, enjoying the cool breeze and the exhilaration of cutting a path through the untamed wilds was a bit spoiled by the vague anxiety of having to interact with another person. Amusingly, Zoe decided that by this point just killing people was less stressful.

In any case, it wasn’t much longer at all before Zoe stopped. Observing the area with all of her senses, Zoe searched for any sign of the specific location of her quarry. Her scent seemed to stop somewhere around here, and Zoe was no longer able to pick out any sounds other than the rustling of the leaves and the faint chirping and scuttling of countless small critters. Before, she had also had the occasional sound to help guide her in the right direction.

I bet she’s hiding. Or maybe she just decided to stop and rest.

Zoe had previously reached the conclusion that the girl was probably traveling through the canopy as well. If she were trying to fight through the dense carpet of vegetation that smothered the ground, it wouldn’t have taken this long to catch up.

Therefore, she had been focusing most of her attention on the upper levels of the trees. But since she wasn’t seeing anything out of place, she decided to shift her attention down below. After all, it wasn’t unlikely that the girl had then dropped down and was now hiding there. In fact, it would be hard to find a place there where she couldn’t hide. All she would have to do would be to burrow in a meter deep and cover herself back up.

Fortunately, Zoe had a better way to find her than to spend forever wading around through the sea of greenery. Tapping deeper into {Predator’s Eyes} and focusing on the ability with more conscious intent, Zoe scanned the ground all around her for signs of denser mana.

Unfortunately, this was complicated as well by the fact that there was a thick blanket of green life mana literally everywhere. It suffused the trees, the air, and the ground for what seemed to be at least ten meters deep with a density unparalleled by any other environment Zoe had experienced so far since coming to this world. Of course, it was also only the third. Fourth, if you counted the underworld.

But as she scrutinized her surroundings, Zoe realized that there were slight variations in it. The vegetation was far from static—the mana flowed through it in elegant, intricate patterns, and there were bits of other kinds of mana here and there as well. But even then, it was much slower and steadier than the little bits of mana flitting throughout it—no doubt signifying small animals.

{Predator’s Eyes has leveled up! Predator’s Eyes is now level 2.}

Pleased with that development, Zoe spent just a few seconds studying the pattern of mana which she now associated with what must be animals. She then looked back at the ground and began searching around for a larger bit of mana with a similar pattern or feel to it.

She almost glanced right over it at first. Right below the tree next to her, there was a faint blob of vibrant, gently vibrated mana tucked underneath a slightly raised tangle of vines. Got you.

Zoe stopped herself just before she was about to jump down next to it. I should probably be a bit more stealthy. With that thought in mind, Zoe carefully clawed her way down the trunk before approaching the hump.

Reaching out with her lower right arm, she ripped the surface mat clean off, revealing the hidden form of the wild boar underneath.

Startled, Zoe failed to even react as the beast squealed and knocked her over. It didn’t hurt at all, fortunately, even with its large, sharpened tusks. It was more of a nuisance than anything. Instead of bothering to figure out a way to kill it, Zoe just picked it up and tossed it a couple meters away. Sitting up, she shook herself off just in time to catch sight of something darting away through the branches above.

Instantly alert, she activated {Kinetic Dash}. Zipping up into the branches before she had even stood up, Zoe prepared to renew her pursuit. Her talons actually failed to find purchase on the branches at first, and so for a brief moment she wavered on the verge of tumbling back down. But it only took most of a second for her to find her balance, and then she was darting forward once more.

While it was annoying that she had gone after the wrong creature, at least she could actually see the girl now. As Zoe began to catch up again, she noted that the girl was quite good at navigating the treetops. If Zoe didn’t have gripping talons, tremendous musculature, twice her stature, and a rapid movement ability, there was a good chance that the girl would have actually gained ahead of her.

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

She’s definitely quite agile.

Zoe also noted her hair color. It was an almost identical blonde to what Zoe had until quite recently—even down to the texture and slight amount of waviness. This annoyed Zoe irrationally. First you run away after I save you, and then you have the audacity to have been born with similar hair?

Kids these days.

Finally, the renewed pursuit also gave Zoe a chance to study her clothing. The girl was equipped with extremely worn leathers and green cloths—it looked like it once might have been a fairly expensive, well-made outfit. It looked like it had been through a lot though, and Zoe wasn’t even sure if the dull, muted green was even the original color.

Also, she had a bow. One of the small ones with the fancy curve to it. Is it called a recurve bow? I think that’s what it’s called.

In any case, the kid didn’t look like she was unprepared for their current environment—which admittedly would make sense. From her previous views from above, the mountainous jungle they were in was quite expansive. It wouldn’t be surprisingly if the child was native to this region.

Zoe’s musings were interrupted when the girl dropped down from the branches to land on a large, smooth outcrop of moss-covered rock. Sloping upwards, it actually rose above the lowest treetops at what seemed to be the highest point.

Making a last stand, are we?

The girl had positioned herself at the very top. Turning around to face Zoe, she had already removed her bow and was in the process of notching an arrow in one quick, fluid motion.

Zoe wasn’t particularly concerned by the arrow, but she didn’t want to lose her target—even briefly—if she decided to jump off the other side of the rock formation. So instead of jumping down as well and climbing up the rock after her, Zoe dashed around to the side, encircling her.

Landing on a particularly thick branch, Zoe batted the arrow out of her face just in time. While it probably wouldn’t have done much, she’d still rather it hit her hand than in her face. Like what if it hit her eye? Zoe was pretty sure that was one of her currently most vulnerable places.

Nevertheless, Zoe couldn’t help but be quite impressed by the shot. Sure, it had little chance of doing any damage—but the kid had accurately tracked her rapid motion, correctly predicting where she would land and unleashing her shot with enough precision to target her face.

That was honestly way more skill than Zoe could claim to have with ranged weapons. Even during her ages dueling against her mirrored copy, she had mostly stuck to melee.

In any case, the girl was already unleashing a second shot. Instead of allowing it to hit her, Zoe dropped down and dashed onto the rocks. Obviously realizing the danger of her intentions, the kid did the most unexpected thing.

Instead of fleeing again or even lining up another shot, she withdrew a small knife and lunged. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have had enough reach or power to close the distance, but the relative altitude difference gave her the ability to just barely make it to Zoe’s chest. Once in range, she stabbed between the breastplates of Zoe’s exoskeleton as hard as she could.

Her aim was true, but Zoe barely even felt the impact, let alone it having any chance of slipping under the cracks. Completely undeterred, the girl started stabbing again and again, targeting different gaps at a variety of angles.

Zoe was so bewildered and amused that she allowed it to go on for several more seconds before knocking the blade aside and restraining the girl’s arms with her own lower pair.

And so, of course, the kid bit her.

Rolling her eyes, Zoe lifted the child up as she then tried to kick at her shin. The bite had been completely ineffective, obviously, and the kick clearly only served to hurt the girl’s toes, judging by her slight wince.

Clearing her throat, Zoe did her best to sound relatively human and nonthreatening. “You know, if I wanted to hurt you, you’d definitely already be dead at this point.” Unfortunately, it still came out as a simultaneously deep and harsh, scratchy growl. Zoe was honestly not quite sure how intelligible her speech actually was.

But the girl seemed to understand—or at least, Zoe’s social instincts informed her that she had definitely had some kind of reaction. Unfortunately, she continued to kick and squirm. But then after a few moments she went limp, fixing Zoe with a hollow, almost bored gaze. “What do you want?”

Oh, that’s good! She’s actually communicating! Pleased, Zoe loosened her grip slightly but didn’t actually lower her. “First, I just thought it was a bit rude to run away from the person who rescued you.”

Blinking, the girl’s face creased in confusion. It took her several seconds to form a coherent response. When she did, the undercurrent fear and superficial disinterest had been replaced by bewildered curiosity. “Saved? I thought we were just in your territory or something. Or maybe you were hungry.”

It was Zoe’s turn to blink. And then she laughed. Of course, it was a rather disturbing, uncomfortable sound, so she quickly forced it down. “You know what, that’s honestly pretty understandable.” Pausing, Zoe tilted her head. “Alright, we’ll put that on hold for now. How about I set you down, and you don’t immediately try to run away?”

“Sure.”

“Good.”

Gently lowering her, Zoe released her grip and stepped back. To her delight, the girl just regained her footing and massaged her arms where Zoe’s claws had gripped them. She showed no sign of fleeing, instead looking up at Zoe with a curious, expectant expression. “What even are you? I’ve never heard of an intelligent monster that looks like you.”

Rolling her eyes, Zoe thought about how to respond. “I wish I knew the answer to that myself.” Since the girl now seemed willing to get along with her, she was hesitant to bring up things like ‘demon’ or ‘corruption.’

“Huh. Well where did you come from? Did you have a mother or did you just hatch from an egg or something?”

Zoe almost laughed again at that. This kid seemed to have completely flipped ever since she had spoken—in fact, she seemed positively delighted. “Hold on,” she said, “one thing at a time, okay? Can we talk about the guy’s who were after you first? That seems pretty important.”

“Well, yeah.” Climbing up to one of the low hanging branches, the girl settled in cross-legged. “I guess it kind of is.” Frowning, she paused for a moment. “I don’t know how much you know about human stuff, but—do you know anything about infernal cultists?”

Zoe almost groaned. Of course it’s the demon cultists. Because of course it is.