I followed the boy into the forest that was shrouded in dim light. It was extremely dark in here despite daylight hours.

If I assume, this place is near the circumferential line and monsters keep away beyond that, thanks to the large-scale barrier of the Sphere Guardians.

Due to the darkness, he had no choice but to slow down, and I do the same although I could see clearly without a problem.

“Where is your sister?”

I asked.

“We’re almost there, it’s just ahead of us.”

He said as he continued leading me into the depths of the forest. The entire trail was covered by the trees on both sides like a tunnel.

“As expected”

Two figures walked over from a distant place who are neanderthals.

They had ragged clothing and shaggy hair. And… I remember their faces back on the guild.

At this moment, the boy soundlessly got into the woods and disappeared in silence which surprised me.

These neanderthal guys can't hold a candle against me!

I stopped in my tracks, turned around, and saw two more figures approaching behind me.

These people with broad noses all had wooden clubs in their hands and hanging at their waist was a sword.

They were carrying swords yet holding wooden clubs. If I was their target, then their intention was crystal clear.

“To kill me huh”

I maintained a slow and steady speed, I walked forward as though nothing had happened.

These people lying in wait to ambush me and I knew it beforehand, but I couldn’t be completely sure yet as to why they did this.

From the front, the two men in shaggy clothes walked toward me with steady speed and with a wooden club in hand. They didn’t make any abnormal movements and their empty hand was wiggling eager to catch me barehanded.

And the two from the back seemed to be increasing their speed as naturally as possible.

Within the dark forest, aside from the cries of the ignorant insects and the babbling sound of the stream, there was only the crunching sound of the footsteps.

The distance between me and the two men in front shortened greatly. One of them was a burly old-aged man with a notable big nose and grim face. The other one was an ugly man with small eyes. The two of them look very normal and walked in my direction.

It was as though they were just passers-by, but that was the strange part because there’s no way ordinary men wouldn’t fix their glance on the rarest fox. Notably, they didn't have a bit of killing intent or lust at all.

These men brushed past me from both sides.

All of a sudden, the cries of the insects came to a halt.

The old man suddenly lifted the wooden club in his hand. He held it in both hands and turned his body sideways to hit the back of my head.

I immediately stooped down, so the wooden club ended up brushing past my hair and hitting the empty air.

At the same time, I kicked the ground with one leg and quickly took a step back.

I followed up by using my other leg as the axis to turn around while drawing the sword behind my back.

NARRATOR'S POV——

A beautiful arc was drawn from Maria's unsheathed black sword as her body rotated.

“BAAAMM!!!”

That unsheathed sword landed a firm hit on the chin of the old man, which caused him to fall backward.

The old man was in the way of the other guy, so that guy dodged to the side. He only stopped and lifted the club when he found a leeway to attack.

During the time he lifted the club, Maria sheathed the sword, protruding ominous gases from it, and adjusted her stance without a care for what was going on with her sinister sword.

The man performed a vertical strike at her, but Maria’s sword was a meter longer and faster. She jumped high, performed a thrust downwards then chanted.

“Landing Strike!”

*BOOOOOMMMMM!*

The old man's bones were fractured and he was sent flying due to the turbulent force and the strike creates a notably large crater on the ground.

Maria intentionally reduced her output and attack the ground instead of directly to his head which is too brutal for her.

“Time Dilation 2x”

“Predator's Pride 2x”

“Survivalist Intuition 2x”

Time seems too slow in her perspective and her body's defense and offense boosted up several times!

Maria's both ears are held back against her head while her bushy tail stands straight up as she felt sudden danger after casting the last skill.

At this time, the two who were originally three to four meters behind Maria already rushed over and attempted to drive the wooden club into her from both sides.

And the old man whose body was smashed by her was mysteriously getting up while holding his weapon.

Maria lifted her sword still on its scabbard over her head.

“Bam! Bam!”

The wooden clubs were stopped by her indestructible sword. The clubs which possessed enough power to split the head were cracked slightly.

After repelling the two’s wooden club, Maria stood up and took a step back. The two men continue to brandish their clubs at her.

Maria’s evasion was very nimble. She quickly shifted to the side and got next to one of the men. It just so happened to cause him to hit the air with his wooden club.

At the same time, Maria executed a short, restrained and quick horizontal slash that was slanted downward. She carefully not to slice him up but rather slapped his bald head!

“Bang!”

The power strong enough for a normal adult behind the wooden sword struck the man’s head like a hammer, which caused him to fall to the ground, twitch like an earthworm and lose consciousness.

The other man halted his step and performed a horizontal swing at Maria.

Maria raised the power of her unsheathed sword slightly, chant her favorite spell then swung it fiercely.

“Air Cut!“

“Plaaaackk!”

The club separated from the man’s hand and cut in half in midair.

The man who just lost his club staggered and tried to get it from the ground.

MARIA's POV——

I didn’t wait for him to recover and followed up with another sword slapped on his head weaker than the last time.

“Bang!”

The face of that man was injured from my sword slap and lost consciousness on the spot. I make sure he's still alive.

“Hmm… this old man is strong-willed and he wanted to kill me now!?”

I turned around and look at his pitiful state.

Blood leaked out from the corner of his mouth.

His chest was impaired, his worn-out muscles were difficult to look at, and killing intent oozed out from the eyes of the still muddy-headed old man which made me guilty whether I shouldn't use that spell.

“Please stop. I don't want to kill you and your comrades. Please stop”

I tried to but it appears I failed to reach him, another attack would surely kill him and I don't want that.

“Wait!“

He then unsheathed the shoddy rusted sword from his waist and carried out a slash at me.

That swing was fast and dangerous. The rusted iron sword that reeked of blood already reached my front.

I dodged to the side with careful movements. After all, tetanus is lethal no matter how small the wound is.

The old man lost his center of gravity and exposed his side. I didn't miss the chance and go behind him and slapped his head as normally as a person could.

*slapped!*

The old man fell motionless, I catch him immediately on one arm and carefully placed him on the ground.

I brought them to a safer and open area hoping anyone find and healed them.

NARRATOR's POV——

The fight ended in less than ten seconds. From start to finish, nobody said a single word. Nobody asked why, nor did anyone explain the reason behind this ambush.

And now, there’s no way to find out.

As for Maria, she only used the bare minimum of her strength enough to fight. The rest of the time, she only used the physical strength of her body to defeat these four people.

“Why am I different from anybody else? Why I can't kill the people who harmed me?“

“Foolishness?”

“How pathetic”

Maria adjusted her breathing and looked at the four resting injured people with a forlorn feeling and tears swelled in her meekly eyes.

After all, this was her first battle against non-monsters.

Maria attached her sword behind her back, scanned the area, and found nothing suspicious.

She make traffic cones out of trees she cut and placed them on the road.

Maria's expression looks satisfied and finally, she turned around and left the forest.

The day was already at peak noon when she arrived back home and return to her room.