The sound of grasshoppers echoed through the forest. The sun was about to rise, and animals should have been awake now, but to Luna's surprise there were none.
'I must be close then.' The girl smirked. She had spent the entire night searching for any clues about the witch's whereabouts, and it seemed she had found a trail.
She followed the path in which no animal could be heard, and the farther along she got, the weirder the place around her got.
The grass around looked like a rainbow, and the trees were crowned with fluffy wool instead of leaves.
Further ahead there was a small cottage that looked to be made out of gingerbread bricks, decorated with frosting.
Luna couldn't believe her eyes, staring dumbfounded at the sight straight from a fairy tale.
A weird animal rubbed its fur against her legs, its pink hair swirled, showing the friendly creature's happiness.
'What is going on? I have never heard of such a thing before!' She was about to turn around and think of what to do but hit someone with her body.
An older woman fell to the ground, her walking stick cracking in two. "Ouch!" She cried out in pain.
A buzzing jolt sparked through Luna's mind. 'Is she the witch?' She took out the dagger before the feelings of doubt disappeared.
"Oh I'm so sorry miss, let me help you!" She put her blade back in its sheath and helped the poor woman get up.
"It's okay, my child. Could you maybe help me get to my house?" The older woman pointed at the gingerbread house with a shaky hand.
Luna nodded, feeling bad for destroying her stick. "Let me also help you with the basket." She grabbed it out of her elder's hand.
A strong, pungent smell hit her nose for a split second before it was masked with the sweet smell of chocolate.
"It's so good to meet someone so young and helpful." The older woman chuckled, walking towards her house without a problem.
When they got inside the house Luna was struck with an oddity, even though the building was made out of gingerbread it smelled like wood and... blood?
No, it must have been her mind playing tricks on her; this elderly woman would never hurt a soul.
"I'm going to put your things away back there." Luna pointed towards a storage room at the back of the house, making the older woman go pale.
"No need to do that... Really, you already did so much!" She ran up to the slayer and tried to stop her, raising her suspicion.
She pushed the older woman to the ground and kicked the door open. Her blood boiled as she saw what was inside.
A dozen children with their legs and arms tied were in the room, harnesses on their mouths so they wouldn't scream and blindfolds so they wouldn't see.
Luna could feel her stomach turning around as the facade started to fade.
There was a golden portal in the middle of the floor, shooting sparks everywhere.
POOF!
The spell that controlled her snapped, revealing that instead of a candy land, she was in a charred, desolate land.
The rainbow grass was in fact charred, the trees infested, and the weird animal was a black cat. 'The last part is not that bad.'
The woman herself turned into a witch, the one without a robe Kichot mentioned earlier.
She was almost as tall as Luna but clearly not as strong physically.
"You monster!" Luna lunged with the dagger at her, the fake candy world fully falling apart, revealing something closer to a butcher store.
Remains of dead animals were everywhere, staining the floor and walls.
The black cat hissed and jumped in front of its owner, shooting a fireball at the slayer.
The girl tried to dodge it but slipped on cow intestines, not being able to prevent the attack.
WHOOSH!
It was a clean hit, burning Luna's torso and charring the nerves in the hole that it left.
The wound quickly healed back, surprising the witch. "You aren't just some traveler, are you!" She dashed right at the slayer, but instead of attacking, she slid on the slippery floor to get to the portal.
"Don't think you will get away." Luna chased her, fueled by anger.
The cat behind them kept throwing fireballs at the slayer while trying to catch up to its owner.
'I have to do something about it if I want to catch her!' Luna turned back towards the cat.
[Bear Coat lvl 1]
She absorbed all of its attacks with ease and grabbed it by the collar, preventing him from doing anything else.
Then with the use of the thunder step, she caught up to the witch who was about to go through the portal.
"I don't think so." Luna cut the witch's heels, making her scream in pain and drop to the ground. She then stepped on her back and tied her hands together.
"I will deal with you in a moment." She kicked the evil woman straight in the gut, making her spew blood.
"Do you really think I will tell you anything?" The cunning witch smirked and chuckled but quickly tensed up as she felt the bloodlust emitting from Luna.
But killing her was a secondary objective for the slayer. She used the dagger to free one of the kids. "Do you know the way back?"
"Y-yes?" He wasn't too sure if the new person was trustworthy or if it was a trick made by the other witch.
"Good, take this knife and save others, then run away towards the village." Luna gave her knife to the small boy. She was about to deal with the scum in front of her, but the cat in her hand started crying out in pain.
[Corpse Devourer lvl 1]
Luna stared at the cat in shock; it was clearly not a corpse moments ago, but now the only thing left was its skin and bones, almost like they were a costume.
The witch took advantage of the moment, jumping into the portal. "I guess we will never see each other again!" The portal swallowed her whole.
The slayer wasn't about to let her just escape like that, preparing her ability to dash through and catch her at all costs.
[Thunder Step lvl 1]
[Level up overload]
[Skill shutting down]
'Shutting down? Overload?' Luna wanted to check what had happened and what it meant but couldn't; her job was not yet done so she ran to the portal and jumped through.