Fiona stared at the monster with a smile, not wondering if she should go ahead and attack or if she should sit down and wait till it leaves. However, the way she was feeling, knowing herself, she decided to go ahead and attack the monster.
Her leg muscles tensed, the same with her arm muscles, and she pushed her body forward. With a sharp spin, she launched herself into the air and landed on the monster's back, delivering a heavy drop kick straight down its spine. A dull, painful roar tore from the creature as its body slammed into the ground.
Fiona jumped off and landed a few meters away from it, barely steadying herself as her feet hit the ground.
Twisting its massive body, the monster turned around and locked its gaze on Fiona. She was struggling to stand on her feet now, her legs trembling uncontrollably as pain shot up through her soles.
'This monster's body is hard as hell,' Fiona thought with a deep frown, glancing down at her aching feet. The pain burned, but it didn't stop her.
Using the stick in her hand she had grabbed from a tree, she rushed toward the monster and plunged the stick straight into its eye. The monster screeched in agony, thrashing wildly. Fiona jumped back immediately and began to run, her heart pounding in her chest.
'I think I overestimated myself,' she thought, her breath uneven. However, she had no time to waste. Once the monster regained its composure, it charged after her, abandoning the half-eaten body of the dead woman it had been feasting on.
Fiona's eyes darted around desperately, scanning her surroundings for anything that could help her. Luck was finally on her side when she spotted a spear lying on the ground. It was broken, the shaft cracked and worn, but she didn't really care. After all, a spear was a spear.
Despite how gruesome the monster looked, she didn't run away. Instead, she faced it head-on. Seeing the monster rush toward her, she jumped once more onto its back and drove the spear deep into its other eye.
The monster roared and jumped around violently, shaking its body in an attempt to throw her off. Fiona clenched her teeth and tightened her grip on the spear, forcing it deeper into the monster's head. Seeing the monster struggle beneath her only fueled her confidence.
"I can kill it," she muttered under her breath.
Fiona then raised her palm, her nails sharp and digging in. She plunged her hand deep into the monster's back, cracking through its outer layer.
What she didn't know was that a small wisp of white energy had begun to form around her palm, silently covering her hand and allowing her to pierce through its tough skin.
Surprised by the sudden ease with which she broke through the monster's hide, she didn't stop. She attacked again and again, using both hands, driving them into the monster's back repeatedly until its movements slowed, its strength faded, and finally, its body went limp.
The monster collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud, dead.
Fiona jumped off and stared down at its bloody corpse coldly, her chest rising and falling as the adrenaline slowly faded.
"I wonder what kind of monster this thing is," Fiona said quietly, staring at her blood-soaked hands.
She grimaced. "Well, I need to find a way to bathe, because this is freaking disgusting."
Suddenly, distant roars echoed through the forest. Fiona stiffened, her confidence wavering as unease settled in her chest.
"Maybe it's better I run," she said, slightly flustered. "These monsters are stronger than I thought they were."
She didn't hesitate. Fiona leapt onto a nearby tree and began moving quickly, jumping from tree to tree. After a while, she finally came out of the forest, but the land before her wasn't the beautiful scenery she had expected from a fantasy-like world.
Fiona walked forward slowly. The more she looked around, the heavier her chest felt. Walls were broken, buildings reduced to ruins. As she got closer, there were no signs of life anywhere.
The place was abandoned. Desolate. Bloodstains covered the streets, yet not a single corpse remained.
"Seriously… what the hell is going on with this world?" Fiona thought as she continued walking. There wasn't much left to see, most of the buildings had already been destroyed.
She sighed quietly and decided to move on.
"I really need to bathe," Fiona muttered, glancing down at her body still covered in monster blood.
She entered a random house without much thought. At this point, she didn't really care. After finding a bathroom and cleaning herself up, she took the clothes of a woman she found inside the house. Once she was done, she moved on to other houses, searching for items, and any weapons she could use, for her journey ahead.