There was a loud crackling sound. A stench of grease, gunsmoke, and gunpowder.

Neither the sound nor the smell belong to this forest.

The huntress clenched her spear and leaped in the direction of the sound. She weaves her way through the maze of tree trunks and shrubs following the pungent scent.

In a few moments, she came to a familiar place—a small clearing next to the embankment. It's a quiet place full of life. In the middle of the clearing, a shallow stream was bubbling up. There are so many fish in the stream that even a young beast that is not good at hunting can catch one at random. The calm air was now shattered by screams. What kind of animal, or what kind of man, howls in great pain?

Nedri, looking behind a thick tree trunk at the edge of the stream, carefully tucked her spear behind the trunk. On the other side of the creek was a man from Vastaya, kneeling on the ground. He had the appearance of a lizard, one hand over his shoulder, and although he was moaning in pain, his eyes were full of anger. The huntress sees his long tail caught in a trap. Large, metallic fangs bit through his scales.

A human with a long, ugly weapon stood in front of the Vastayas. Nedri stared at the dead wood wrapped around the metal tube. She'd seen this kind of thing before. It breathes fire while shooting deadly seeds, can easily penetrate targets, and is so fast that her eyes can't keep up.

She took a step from behind the trunk of the tree, deliberately stepping on the dry leaves. The human turned to look at her, but the weapon in his hand was still aimed at the wounded Vastaya. He couldn't see her spear.

"Who's here?" The human's gaze looked her up and down, his eyes like a hungry ghost. "Are you lost, darling?"

The huntress knows how to manipulate people like him. Humans are often lax by her appearance—their eyes see only weakness in her. She remained silent, cautiously gauging the distance between them, adjusting her grip on the spear. Her eyes fell on the weapon in his hand.

He grinned at the wild woman, mistaking her reaction for fear. "Is this the first time you've seen this? Come and have a good look. I won't hurt you," the man coaxed. He turned around and left his prey in place and raised his weapon in front of him.

No sooner had the weapon moved from Vastaya than Nedri spun out from behind the tree. She hurled her spear at the human's torso as she dashed into the air and crossed the stream, enveloping herself in a fierce and wild magic. In the blink of an eye, her form had changed—her nails had hardened into sharp spikes, her skin had grown yellowish hairs, and her bones had gathered into elongated shapes.

The man was hiding too slowly. The spear pierced his large arm, knocking him to the ground on his back. Nedri turned into a lithe cougar and pounced on him, its sharp claws piercing through his thin clothes. She pressed one of her front paws against the wound on his body, in exchange for a cry of pain.

The cougar lay on the man's face, opening his mouth wide and his sharp teeth against his throat. As he screamed, Nedri slowly bit down on his neck, just enough to see blood, but not fatal. After a moment, she let go of the man's throat and looked into his face, baring her bloodied fangs at him.

Another wind of magic swirled, and she returned to her woman's form, but her sharp teeth still shone fiercely. She still crouched on top of him, looking down at him with a pair of bright emerald eyes.

"You have to leave, or you die. Do you understand? ”

The huntress did not wait for him to answer. She ripped a piece of cloth from the man's shirt and walked over to the vastaya. It only took a few seconds for her to lift the trap on his tail. The moment he was let go, he immediately pounced on the human.

Nedri grabbed the arm of the Vastaya and stopped him. The human, who had been frightened and motionless, now knew that this was his only chance to escape, so he crawled away.

The lizard-shaped Vastaya twisted her arm to break free of Nedri's hand, and in a fit of rage, cursed in a language she didn't understand. Then he asked her in a familiar language: "Why did you let it go?" ”

Nedrith pointed in the direction the human had fled, the ground stained with bright red blood. "We followed him. If there are others, he can lead us to them. If they don't leave, they die together. ”

The Vastaya didn't look satisfied, but didn't say anything else. Nedri half-knelt by the river and washed the cloth that had been torn from the man's body.

"You call it ...... Mankind. He wasn't used to the pronunciation of the word. His mouth was large, and his forked tongue would spit out in the middle of each word he spoke.

Nedri wrapped a clean, damp cloth around his shoulder. "Yes."

"You're not human?"

"Nope. I'm just like you. ”

"Vastaya is not like you. You are human. ”

Nedri's grip on his shoulder was so hard that he hissed in pain. She stifled a smile and tied the knot with her teeth.

"My name is Nedri. What about you? ”

"Kulkan."

"Kulkan. Tonight, my family is going hunting. You're with us. ”

The Vasaya stretched his arm, adjusting to the bandage. Although it was tied tightly, it did not affect his movement. He looked up at the huntress, who was standing tall with her arms crossed over her chest.

Kurkan nodded.

Percy sat by the fire, his face flushed—first from excitement, second from beer, but mostly from embarrassment. He and his three companions told him about the wild woman, and they kept laughing. One of them even happily picked up his guitar and shook his head by the fire and sang a lewd tune to the "Queen of the Jungle", while the other two laughed and danced.

"Be quiet, you dying idiots," but his request was met with louder laughter and roaring. "She'll probably hear it."

Tired of the taunts and filled with ale, Percy quietly left his fellow orcs to answer the call of natural instinct. The pain from the wound was still intense, and no amount of alcohol could take away the feeling of her throat being caught in her teeth.

As he retightened his belt, he suddenly realized that the singing and laughter had stopped. Even the wind was still. He couldn't hear the scattered leaves and the flickering of the branches.

Except for the dim light of that small campfire, the entire camp was completely surrounded by darkness. In the distance on the outskirts of the camp, something flickered in the shadows. Percy rubbed her eyes and looked hard, it was hard to see anything in the darkness.

Suddenly, the bushes began to stir, and every grass and tree swayed. Countless pairs of eyes opened and stared at him in the darkness, the roar of the beast and the neighing of the feline deafening.

Percy recognized the emerald eyes closest to him. There is no humanity left in these eyes now. The eyes blinked, vanishing into the darkness, and a voice roared in his ear.

"Warned you."

Before he could scream, sharp teeth bit down on his throat - this time, the blood didn't stop.