It began with grabbing her waist. The claws might have only slightly nudged against her skin; it was enough to dig into her flesh and draw blood.

Then its teeth landed on her left arm as they dug into the area near her shoulder. It kept digging deeper until it reached the bone.

The teeth were strong enough to crunch and break the bone immediately.

And now it began to tear off the arm it claimed violently. It happened in an instant. She didn’t even have the time to show any kind of resistance.

However, ...

She didn’t feel any pain whatsoever.

The feeling of being dismembered in such a brutal fashion...

She wasn’t numb to the sensation, but again, there was no pain.

Was the pain that overwhelming?

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No...

Through her many adventures in her past life, she was able to develop a high pain tolerance. Not to mention, this numbness... felt different.

Did the adrenaline numb her sense of pain?

No...

She’s been through enough near-death experiences to stay level-headed. But ever since she arrived in that world, a feeling of calmness was always looming over her like a shroud. It sank to her core and permeated every cell in her body. The emptiness made her feel like a husk like she wasn’t human. Adrenaline was a sensation that she may have left behind ever since.

The beast retreated a few meters and spat out the limb previously attached to her body. It landed with a thud, and somehow, Marianne didn’t feel like running away.

She stood there as though nothing had happened and tried her best to process the state of emptiness that had left her clueless. She looked down her shoulder to view the empty space where her arm used to be.

Strangely enough, she didn’t bleed nearly as much as she should. As though her wound was already closing rapidly to prevent excessive blood loss.

Then, she looked down at the ground to observe the arm.

The skin that enveloped the flesh began to take a new color. A golden color.

Not only that, but the texture itself changed, too.

It transformed into something else. Something that didn’t belong to a human. Nothing like that.

She tilted her head because...

..., despite the empty feeling of calmness remaining. A different emotion also emerged.

It was confusion.

“Are those... tree branches?”