Fenrir's Journey : I Shall Devour The Heavens!

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~?')

After burying all the bones, Fenrir noticed that there were numerous strange plants within the cave. She had seen some of the herbs and materials that were grown in Terra's Garden in the past so Fenrir wasn't too surprised to find elemental energy radiating off some of them. The thing that did surprise her, however, was when she found a tiny flower whose petals were actually made out of flames. It radiated a lot of heat and was in a very protected area of the cave, shielded by large boulders that had likely been put there by the monkey monster.Though it's elemental affinity was the complete opposite of her's, it wouldn't make any difference once Fenrir got the tiny flower into her mouth. She could sense a large amount of energy contained within each of its petals and couldn't let it go to waste. Trying to pick it up, Fenrir discovered that there was a strange 'intent' around the flower that actually tried to scorch her paw. Raising her brow, Fenrir lightly asked, "Little flower, are you trying to avoid being eaten?"Fenrir waited for a few minutes, trying to see if the flower was actually able to communicate. If it was sentient, she would leave it within the cave and move on to a different location. After all, the flower had never wronged her and it wasn't as if she needed to eat it in order to grow stronger. However, even after waiting for a while, the flower showed no reaction to her words at all. The only time it showed any signs of 'life' was when she tried to pick it up. Understanding this was probably just a defensive mechanism, Fenrir decided to stop caring.Since it wouldn't let her pick it up, Fenrir decided to move directly to the next step and, without hesitation, leaned forward and chomped down on the flower. The strange intent tried to react but, from the moment it entered into her mouth, any energy it resistance it could muster was completely useless. Fenrir's saliva instantly melted down the flower into an energy-rich liquid that she swallowed into her gullet, converting it into energy that her body could use. Since she could even ingest poisons, magma, and acid, Fenrir had no reason to fear the tiny flames coming from the flower at all.The flower had contained a lot more energy than anything else Fenrir had ever eaten before. She realized why the monkey had been protecting it, likely to consume the flower itself whenever it had matured. Fenrir, however, didn't really have time to wait around for a flower to grow so she just ate it immediately. She didn't know enough about plants to determine when it would be ready, anyway, so there were no regrets in her mind as she started to eat all the other plants present within the cave. When she was finished, Fenrir gave a satisfied burp and patted her stomach, even though it hadn't inflated a single millimeter. Then, without sparing the cave another glance, Fenrir jumped down the mountain and follow the next scent trail, wondering what prey she would encounter next...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'It is important to eat your vegetables...')

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...!')

Chapter 20: King of the Mountain?