In the months that followed after Kara acquired the Blood Hunger skill, she continued to venture deeper into the heart of the Great Moonshadow Forest in search of increasingly powerful beasts, leaving behind a trail of bones belonging to the hundreds of fallen creatures that had become her prey. After covering thousands of kilometers and analyzing the behavior of the beasts she encountered, Kara gained a fairly clear understanding of the current situation in the Great Moonshadow Forest. It appeared that the reason why some magical beasts had migrated to the forest's outskirts was due to a conflict that had arisen between the two most powerful creatures in the area, as they sought to establish once and for all who the ultimate predator was. The battles between them were so intense that they destroyed everything within a radius of approximately 10 kilometers.
Kara was also unwittingly caught up in the destruction caused by the two beasts that most likely have an S-grade threat level. Having just defeated a B-grade beast and started to absorb its energy, a true inferno erupted around her, where fire and lightning orchestrated a symphony of destruction, with each note capable of annihilating everything within a square kilometer. Kara had no choice but to run away from that place at full speed and use the body of the killed beast as a shield to block the attacks coming from all sides.
When she reached a safe distance where her life was no longer in danger, Kara could witness the two beasts engaged in a life-and-death battle, unleashing attacks that could split mountains and dry up lakes. One of the beasts was a giant red serpent, nearly 100 meters long, whose attacks could incinerate everything in its path. The second beast was a blue tiger with black stripes, almost 30 meters in length, which appeared to be the embodiment of the fury of the heavens, the lashing of his claws creating hurricanes and his roar creating a sea of lightning as if the sky itself had fallen to the ground.
For a day, Kara observed the battle between the two beasts from a distance, a battle that seemed as though it could continue in the same manner for an entire month. She deduced that, between the two beasts, the blue tiger was slightly stronger than the serpent, as the serpent's flames hardly affected the tiger, whereas the tiger's attacks left marks on the giant body of the serpent.
'Probably the tiger is the strongest one so far, and the serpent is the one trying to take its place. Although the latter is superior physically, being larger and more agile than the tiger, its magical attacks cannot compete with those of the tiger, who could be considered an avatar of the fury of the heavens, or rather, a storm god. Nevertheless, both are truly powerful. At this moment, I wouldn't be able to last a second in a fight against either of them. But eventually, I will have to do this. They are my ultimate enemies. I have no choice but to become stronger. Much, much stronger! And I will do so, even if it means having to slay every living creature in this forest!'
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After approximately a year of becoming a resident of the Great Moonshadow Forest, Kara's progress was truly immense. She had become a fearsome opponent, a true harbinger of death that even A-grade beasts avoided. Thanks to her unmatched speed and extraordinary senses, any beast she had in her sights was doomed, as no matter what it tried, it couldn't escape her.
In the past two months, Kara had noticed that she could no longer access information related to her class, such as available skills, or her current level, things that any human being could instinctively know. It was as if this ritual was attempting to strip her soul of everything that made her human, aiming to transform her into something akin to the beasts she hunted. But she couldn't resist it. She couldn't turn back. It was too late to give up. The only option was to move forward, to carry the ritual to its end, hoping that in the end, she would remain the same person.
'Fight, Kara! Fight!' That's what Kara repeated to herself every day as she exchanged blows with beasts that could put to flight well-equipped knights with levels over 100, while their claws tore into her flesh and their magical attacks scorched her skin. That's what she repeated every time her fury attempted to shred her reason and make her abandon any trace of humanity. And that's what she told herself at this very moment, facing a gigantic red serpent with scales as hot as magma, in the midst of a sea of fire that had long transformed her flawless skin into a crust like the one we can find on the chicken legs that were too much fried.
After almost a month of seeing no significant progress, Kara had no choice but to turn her attention to one of her final adversaries. After a battle between the two beasts that lasted nearly a week and left the serpent wounded, Kara considered that no better opportunity could arise. So, she pursued him until the serpent reached its territory, an area filled with cracks in the earth from which flowing magma could be seen, and attacked before it could start to recover.
The serpent, who never imagined that there was anyone else in this forest, aside from the tiger, who would dare to attack him, was taken by surprise by Kara's assault. She landed on its gigantic head and struck it with punches that were now capable of leaving 10-meter-wide craters in the rock.
The serpent did everything possible to knock Kara down, rolling, using its tail, and even smashing its head against a rock. But Kara, whose agility and dexterity seemed infinite, always found a way to return to the serpent's head and deliver another punch that sent scales flying, tore flesh, and cracked bones.
Since the opponent was too small and too fast, its physical attacks having no effect, the serpent had no choice but to use almost all of its remaining magical power from the battle with the tiger to create a tornado of fire around it. It incinerated everything within a kilometer radius, transforming the surrounding environment into a sea of fire in which Kara stood, ready to attack her adversary again, disregarding the unbearable pain her body was in.
'It's truly powerful. If it had been at full capacity, I wouldn't have been able to defeat it. But its physical attacks can't touch me, and its magical power is nearly exhausted. I won't give it any chance. This attack will be the final blow.'
When the snake used its tail to attack Kara, leveling everything in front of him, Kara used its strength to propel herself to a mountain rock higher than the snake's head, and as soon as her feet made contact with the rock, she jumped straight at the snake's head at full speed and used all her available strength to give it the final blow, thus her fist self-destructing along with the snake's skull, whose brain was now visible.
'I almost won! Just a little more!'
Ignoring the serpent's desperate movements as it tried to escape the clutches of death, Kara entered the bloody crater created by her punch and thrust her healthy hand into its brain, activating the Blood Hunger skill. After nearly a minute of continued struggle, the serpent finally fell to the ground, accepting its fate and allowing its body to be devoured by Kara.
After emerging from the pile of bones that had recently been the head of the giant serpent, Kara's body was in perfect condition. The skin that had been completely burned and the fist that had been crushed were completely healed.
Looking at the heap of bones stretching for a distance of 100 meters, Kara felt a sense of gratitude towards the serpent for the power she had gained from devouring its body.
'Thank you for the meal. Don't be sad that you never managed to defeat the Sky Tiger, for I will use the power you have given me to send him to the same place where you are now. So sit back and relax in the Beast Heaven or wherever you are, because the tiger will immediately come to keep you company, and you can continue there to fight as long as you want.....'