Fenrir's Journey : I Shall Devour The Heavens!

After devouring her first monster, Fenrir began to wonder what she should do in order to increase her strength quickly. There were a lot of dangerous smells within the surrounding forest and, if they were as good as the monster boar, Fenrir was confident she would be able to grow further. The core she had devoured from the monster's brain had been full of the strange energy and, after her body broke it down and converted into something she could use, Fenrir could 'feel' that her strength had increased. This was very important because, even if she ate hundreds of monster cores in the past, there wouldn't have been much of a change.With no other leads, Fenrir decided that the best course of action was simply to hunt all the monsters she could. As long as she was eating, her body would never get tired and, even if she got injured, she would regenerate quickly as long as she had enough energy. Thus, Fenrir made it her goal to eliminate every 'dangerous' smell in the area and, if she couldn't think of what to do when everything was dead, Fenrir would move to another area and repeat the process anew. Eventually, Fenrir knew something would change and she would be able to make a decision about what to do when the time came.After cleaning up the scraps, which amounted to nearly 22,000kg of meat, Fenrir set out to find her next meal. She wasn't particularly hungry but, in order to stave off the hunger that would inevitably creep up on her, Fenrir decided to be more proactive. Once she found a scent trail, Fenrir activated her [Huntress] ability and, like her Master always said when they played in the past, Fenrir repeated, "Let the hunt begin..." with an excited smile on her face.It didn't take long for Fenrir to track down the monster that had left the markings on the edge of its territory. Even without using [Shundo], her running speed could easily reach upwards of 1,200km/h so she had passed through the woods like a phantom before immediately jumping towards the giant bi-pedal lizard monster. Had she been more educated in such matters, Fenrir would have felt that this 8m tall lizard looked eerily similar to a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The only difference is that its body had dense scales with bristles running down the nape of its neck and onto its back.Noticing something had intruded into its territory, the lizard monster moved to release a loud roar but, before it managed to make a sound, Fenrir threw a sphere of ice elemental energy straight into its mouth. In an instant, the monster's head was completely frozen with the remnant ice energy forming a pristine white flower-like explosion that seemed frozen in time. Then, covered in an icy blue aura that enhanced her physical parameters more than twenty times, Fenrir created long blades with her [Severing Claws] ability and cut straight through the lizard's body. It fell to the ground in five segmented chunks and, without any major flair, Fenrir began devouring her second meal. This time, there was only around 15,000kg, so Fenrir felt like she should have picked up an appetizer on the way...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'It's nice not being able to get fat...!')

Fenrir wasn't sure how much time had passed, as the days seemed much longer than normal here, but she had watched the sun and moon trade places in the sky seven times since her arrival. In that time, she had hunted down nearly a hundred of the giant monsters located around this forest, many ranging between 8m and 15m in height. Fenrir noticed that there were distinct differences in the quality and strength of each monster but, even the giant monkey she fought hadn't been much of a challenge.The monkey had been covered with metallic silver fur and had four eyes that burned like hot coals on its head. Because it had been living at the top of a mountain, where no other monsters had lived, Fenrir thought it was something like the 'king' of this area. However, as big as it was, Fenrir managed to get a quick advantage when she severed its leg during their first exchange. Though it tried to counter-attack by shooting a strange energy beam from its mouth, Fenrir used her instant movement technique to easily evade it before burying her claws deeeeeep into its head.Since she had already killed so many monsters, Fenrir realized that the cores were almost always located at the front of their brains or near their hearts. Since the monkey monster had a big forehead, which seemed to be covered in extremely durable hide, Fenrir assumed its core would be located there. At the very least, she would be able to disorient it by shredded up part of its brain with her claws. Fortunately, she had been saved the trouble since there was a grapefruit-sized core at the front of its brain. Its thick skull might have protected it from other people, but Fenrir's claws were able to cut through almost anything, even things that were supposed to be 'Indestructible' in nature.Without a core, the monkey monster immediately keeled over, dropping to the ground with a loud thud as it slid down the mountain a few meters. Fenrir chomped down on its core while lazily making her way over to the corpse, proceeding to slice it open like a surgeon and remove the 'good' parts. She had learned that it was a waste of time to eat the entire monster and that there were only a few delicious parts that had a lot of energy inside of them. With this in mind, Fenrir harvested some of the larger bones, most of the monster's organs, and, most importantly, its heart. Other than the monster core itself, the heart contained the greatest amount of energy and Fenrir found the flavor to be rather sweet and tasty.After eating her fill, Fenrir went into the cave where the monkey had previously resided. She was surprised to find the remains of several human-like creatures strewn about all over the cave. Some of the bones even had a slightly metallic sheen to them and, after investigating, Fenrir deduced they were full of the same energy as the monsters. However, as they looked very human-like, Fenrir decided to bury them all in a small grave. Even if they possessed a lot of energy, Fenrir didn't think her Master would have appreciated her eating the bones of a human. Since all of her friends, companions, and 'family' were also humanoid, Fenrir didn't want to become a monster just to gain strength...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'What kind of human bones are made of metal~?')

There were several abilities Fenrir had been blessed with when her Master bestowed upon her a name. She was a peerless [Huntress], able to enhance her senses far beyond that of even True Dragon. At the same time, Fenrir could draw strength from her rage and, in order to enhance her capabilities even further, she could use her [Lunar Cry] to create a moon emblem on her forehead that increased her strength based on the amount of blood she shed. With skills like [Freezing Roar], which allowed her to stun weaker enemies, and the magic she had learned from Eva, Fenrir was confident in her survival.Of course, the most important abilities in her repertoire was her Innate skill, [Insatiable Hunger], and her most powerful offensive ability, [Devour]. With this combination of skills, Fenrir could take on any monster, regardless of how hard their scales were, or how thick their hide was. There was no difference between eating ice cream and devouring indestructible metal, as far as Fenrir was concerned. Thus, when she came across a massive boar covered in scales, Fenrir didn't hesitate at all. Even though it was more than 8m tall, Fenrir saw the monster before her as nothing more than a meal to aid in her growth...Enraged by the small creature attacking it, the boar released a mighty roar that caused flames to erupt all over its body. Fenrir senses that the strange energy in the atmosphere was the same thing powering the monster's flames but it didn't matter. Using her [Shundo], Fenrir appeared at the flank of the monster as it ignorantly charged at her previous position. Using the same technique she had patented against a giant mammoth-like monster in the past, Fenrir jumped onto his rump and began 'digging' in.The boar released a much louder roar this time as it thrashed about in a futile attempt to dislodge the rather petite girl that was tunneling through its insides with the ease of a hot knife through boar-shaped tofu. After a few seconds had passed, Fenrir managed to completely chew through its very crunchy spinal cord and, without any great flair, the boar lost control of its hind legs. Believing it would disappear very soon, as most monsters she had ever fought would eventually turn into dust, Fenrir began chewing her way up the monster's spine.Unlike the tasteless and bland food she had eaten previously, Fenrir noticed that the boar's bones were actually pretty tasty and, after thinking about it, realized it was the strange energy contained within that gave it flavor. This was a big discovery because it meant she could eat to become stronger while also enjoying the flavor of the food she was eating. Now, Fenrir just hoped it wouldn't disappear quickly since she wanted to savor her first meal in this foreign world...To her surprise, unlike the monsters she had slain in the past, the boar never disappeared, even after Fenrir was certain it was dead. She had cored all the way up its spine until she broke into its brain and devoured the surprisingly tasty and gooey insides. This was also the location of its core, which Fenrir knew all monsters would possess, so she ate it as well. Still, even though this would have made other monsters turn into dust, the boar's body remained behind. This was another big discovery because it meant she would be able to eat her fill, even if the 'hunger' became bad...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'After watching Master research for so long, I can't help but feel excited making discoveries of my own. Research is very fun...!')

Chapter 19: Hunt Begins