The woman stealthily made her way outside of the barrier and hid behind a tree. Without the barrier concealing her presence, the monsters quickly caught on to her scent and ran in her direction. 'I was right. The barrier didn't conceal Kritana's presence because of her magic.' As the rustling of the trees grew closer to the woman's position, she picked up a sharp rock on the ground and sliced into her hand. The smell of blood began to waft in the direction of the monsters and was like an automatic indication that their mealtime was nearby.
The monsters began to growl with expectation and arrived in the woman's exact spot, only to find fresh blood that had seeped into the soil. Their beady black eyes went rapid with hunger and their mouths opened, revealing jagged teeth that would have easily torn through the woman's neck. They began to drool, and pools of saliva slid down their blackened bodies.
While the monsters desperately searched for the woman who they had classified as their next meal, the woman grinned at her handiwork. She had mixed her scent in with the soil and the trees, the monsters would continue to search for her within a certain area, and unbeknownst to them, she would pick them off one by one. She took a moment to glance at her daughter, and for a fraction of a second, a smile was plastered on her face.
The woman held the sharpened rock and tied it to a dead tree branch that fell to the ground, using a piece of fabric from her dress. In content, she smiled at her makeshift spear and eyed her opponents. There were two low-level monsters and one mid-level. Although the low-level ones were huge, they had limited capabilities and the lowest intelligence. If she successfully managed to eliminate them, the mid-level monster would become more wary of her and try to escape. After making a hasty prediction, she turned her attention back to her prey.
In an instant, the woman lowered herself down to the ground and seconds later, the two low-leveled monsters surrounded her. She took a hurried deep breath and threw her spear at the larger monster. Blood splashed onto her white dress and the monster's eyes went dead. The other monster ran towards her, but before it could sink its teeth into her flesh, she had already grabbed her spear and pierced into its right eye. It screamed out in pain, but before it was able to retaliate, the woman had already sliced through its guts and the being bled to death.
Unperturbed by the gory sight, the woman calmly pulled her spear from the monster corpse and licked the monster blood off of her hands. 'I need to get this chain off.'
The woman crouched down, cut open the monster's stomach, and sunk her hand into its intestines. She pulled out the small intestine and began to devourer the corpse's bloody remains.
In a matter of minutes, all that remained of the low-level monster was its blood and bones. Adrenaline rushed through the woman and her muscles began to bulge. 'I need to hurry; the effects only last a few minutes.' With a single tug on the chain around her ankle, it broke into pieces and tumbled to the ground.
While her back was turned, the mid-level monster bore its teeth and growled lowly. It instinctively knew that the woman spelled danger. It tried to conceal its movements and retreat, but the woman was one step ahead of it. As soon as the monster turned its back, the woman sliced its head open and its brains gushed out onto the floor.
In victory, the woman pumped her arms into the air. The strengthening effect of the monster corpse soon wore off and her energy was depleted. With a yawn, the woman spread the remains of the monsters around the barrier. "It should keep the monsters away from us."
She glanced towards her daughter and smiled at the sight of her daughter's steady breathing, however, in a matter of seconds, she heard loud whimpers. Her eyebrows furrowed in distress as she walked towards Kritana. The baby's eyes were clearly closed shut, but the whimpering tossed her mother's heart into shambles.
"She's having a nightmare." The mother said in anguish. She was barely a few days old, and yet she was already tainted by the evils of the world. The mother pitied her young daughter and was barely able to resist the urge to pat her head.
The mother didn't want to soil Kritana's face with monster blood. She acutely became aware of her ragged appearance. Her once white dress was completely covered in blood and she reeked of death. Without help from magic, she had her image tarnished to this extent.
Even though she was freed from the chains that had once restricted her mana, it would take a couple of days to replenish her mana to its state before her imprisonment at the manor. She shuddered at the horrific and suffocating feeling of entrapment and focused her thoughts on her newborn daughter. 'She's the only good thing that I got from that experience.' The mother beamed and continued to stare at the sleeping baby. She began to hum a gentle tune and Kritana's body gradually relaxed out of its stiffened state.