However, she had just lifted her foot, not yet placing it down.
The sika deer, which had been grazing, suddenly stopped eating.
Its two tall ears swiveled like radar a few times, and it suddenly lifted its head, its nostrils flaring violently, as if it had smelled some dangerous scent.
"Could it have discovered me? That shouldn't be right; my buff is still active."
Alice stopped her movements in confusion.
The next second, the answer was revealed.
A fierce wind suddenly came from behind, and a streak of black lightning shot out from the trunk of the large tree above and to the left of Alice.
It was a Black Panther, pitch-black all over, with muscle lines as smooth as liquid metal.
It had been lurking in the tree, right above Alice's head.
If its target had been Alice, a light swipe of its paw just now would have snapped the young girl's fragile cervical spine like a dead branch.
But this Black Panther was clearly turning a blind eye to this two-legged Beast with no meat on its bones; in its eyes, there was only the plump, delicious sika deer.
"Bang!"
The Black Panther's body traced a cruel yet graceful arc in the air, landing with pinpoint precision on the sika deer's back.
The immense impact force pressed the sika deer directly to the ground.
The sika deer let out a shrill, miserable cry, struggling desperately, kicking its four hooves, sending dirt flying.
But the Black Panther was cold and ruthless, opening its bloody maw and biting down on the sika deer's throat in one go.
The sound of sharp teeth piercing skin and flesh was clearly audible.
Blood gushed out like a fountain out of control from between the Black Panther's teeth, staining the grass red.
The sika deer's struggles gradually weakened, the light in its eyes quickly faded, and before long, it breathed its last.
Alice was standing less than five meters away from the scene of the kill.
She could even see the fierce light flickering in the Black Panther's golden pupils and could hear the low growl emanating from its throat.
Witnessing such a bloody tragedy so close by, the young girl's heart was thumping against her chest like a drum.
Too terrifying!
This is the natural World without any protective measures; life and death happen in an instant.
The Black Panther released its grip and began to lick the blood on the sika deer's neck.
Its long black tail flicked like a whip.
Alice covered her mouth, suppressing the urge to scream, and slowly backed away step by step.
As long as she could leave this place, as long as she didn't make a sound...
But only a few steps back, a heavy, rough breathing sound suddenly rang out behind her.
Alice's body involuntarily stiffened; she felt as if she had been hit by a freezing spell, and her blood seemed to freeze in that instant.
She turned her stiff neck around with extreme difficulty.
Through the gaps in the bushes, she saw three pairs of glowing green eyes.
Three jackals, similar in size to wolves but with spotted fur, were surrounding her in a fan shape.
They bared their teeth, drooling, their eyes filled with the brutality of Bandits.
Ahead was the Black Panther, behind were the jackals.
Alice was caught in the middle.
"It's over."
This was the first thought that flashed through her mind.
But immediately after, she realized the focus of the three jackals' gaze was not on her.
Their gaze passed over Alice's thin, small body, staring fixedly at the Black Panther ahead that was guarding its food.
Or rather, at the sika deer that the Black Panther had just killed.
Perhaps relying on their numbers, the three jackals lowered their front bodies, crouched down, emitted threatening whines from their mouths, and slowly surrounded the Black Panther.
As they passed by Alice, the fur of one of the jackals even brushed against the hem of Alice's skirt.
But it didn't glance at Alice once, as if what stood there was not a living person, but a mass of air, a meaningless stone.
Alice's heart, which had been in her throat, finally settled down a little.
She tightly suppressed the urge in her legs to bolt, because running might create the sound of wind, and might even break the threshold of her skill due to excessive movement.
The Black Panther over there clearly also discovered the threat from the jackals.
It gave up eating, arched its back, its black fur bristling all over, and let out a thunderous low growl from its throat, attempting to scare off these despicable robbers.
Both sides stood in a standoff across the corpse of the sika deer; the air was filled with gunpowder, and a great battle was about to break out.
Alice, like a ghost that had wandered into a battlefield, moved sideways cautiously.
"You fight amongst yourselves; this has nothing to do with me. I'm just a passerby just watching."
Finally, the lead jackal could not suppress its greed, let out a howl, and launched a charge.
The other two immediately followed, splitting up and attacking in coordination, pouncing toward the Black Panther with practiced teamwork.
The Black Panther was not to be outdone, waving its sharp claws to meet the challenge.
Roars, biting sounds, and the sounds of bodies colliding instantly erupted all at once.
"Now is the time!"
Taking advantage of the Beasts fighting in a melee, Alice hesitated no more and turned to walk away quickly.
She didn't dare to run too fast for fear of falling, nor too slow for fear of being caught in the crossfire.
This feeling of walking a tightrope on the edge of life and death made her scalp tingle.
She didn't even dare to look back at the outcome of the battle, just kept moving forward, forward.
Until she walked out of that dark and damp forest in one breath, and the view before her suddenly opened up.
The dazzling sunlight poured down, the blue sea appeared before her eyes, and beneath her feet was a soft, warm, moon-white sandy beach.
"Hoo... hoo... hoo..."
Alice braced her hands on her knees, gasping for air, her lungs straining like a bellows.
After a long while, she turned back to look at the deep, dark jungle behind her, still feeling a lingering fear.
"It's fortunate that I drew Kato Megumi, allowing these birds and Beasts to not notice me; otherwise, even if I had nine lives, they would have long since been gone."
The young girl silently gave ten thousand likes in her heart to that two-dimensional background heroine.
First there was the Saint, then there was the sky; my Megumi is as beautiful as a fairy in a painting!
The reason she was able to walk out of this death jungle unscathed was not because of Kato Megumi's dorky and cute attributes, and certainly not because Kato Megumi's beauty conquered those Beasts that lacked aesthetic sense.
It was because of Kato Megumi's conceptual-level ability—[Super Weak Presence].
As long as this Character Card was equipped, she possessed this nearly rule-breaking ability.
As long as she didn't take any active aggressive actions or make loud noises to provoke them, those birds and Beasts acting on instinct would treat her as background, as air.
Although she truly existed, had a heartbeat, body temperature, and even a scent, in the other party's brain cognition, they would subconsciously filter out this information, selectively choosing to ignore it.
This was also the fundamental reason why, over this past month, despite having no strong physical power and no weapons, she had been able to encounter danger again and again on this land, repeatedly turning peril into safety, and staging one thrilling survival story after another.