Desperate Struggles

With terrifying intelligence, it seemed to anticipate her strategy.

Channeling its inner spiritual energy, the giant Vespitoxin flapped its wings furiously, generating a powerful gust of wind that ripped through the undergrowth, clearing a path as it relentlessly pursued her.

Ash gritted her teeth and pressed forward, forced deeper into the forest as the Vespitoxin's relentless assault left her no choice but to keep running.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

More bursts of wind whipped past her ears, uprooting nearby shrubs and flattening the vegetation in their wake.

Ash's breath came in ragged gasps as she darted between the trees.

Each step was a gamble, each breath a struggle, but she knew she couldn't stop—not even for a second.

Ash's heart pounded fiercely in her chest.

Her foot slipped, and she nearly tumbled into a deep pit.

Fortunately, at the last moment, she managed to grab a nearby tree branch, narrowly avoiding what could have been a catastrophic fall that might have broken her legs.

However, the slip slowed her down.

The Vespitoxin was closing in fast, and Ash's anxiety spiked as she struggled to think of a way to escape.

She was out of materials to create another dust explosion.

Even if she had the resources, she doubted a small explosion would faze this mutated Vespitoxin.

Previously, she had relied on dust explosions to deal with ordinary Vespitoxin.

Those ordinary Vespitoxin, as the lowest-tier Metallum-type Spirit Beasts, had poor defenses against Ignis-type attacks and no ranged abilities, relying solely on close-quarters combat.

But this giant Vespitoxin was far beyond anything Ash had ever encountered.

It could generate hurricanes strong enough to snap trees and shoot needles whose toxicity she didn't even want to contemplate.

While its enormous size slowed it down and made it less agile in the forest compared to ordinary Vespitoxin, its overwhelming power was terrifying.

Its attacks could shatter rocks effortlessly, and its thick, scale-like armor rendered conventional methods useless.

Ash gritted her teeth.

She couldn't think of any way to use the tricks that had worked on ordinary Vespitoxin against this monstrous foe.

She was trapped in a deadly game of cat and mouse, where the cat was a relentless, armored nightmare.

Was she really going to meet her end like this?

Ash dove to the side again, narrowly avoiding the Vespitoxin's needle attack.

But before she could even get back on her feet, the gust of wind generated by the creature's wings flung her violently through the air, slamming her hard against the ground.

"Ugh!" Ash let out a muffled groan as pain surged through her chest, blood seemingly boiling within her veins.

Her face turned pale, and her heart sank to the depths of despair.

She was unwilling to accept this...

Shaking her head to clear the dizziness from the harsh impact, Ash gritted her teeth and forced herself to stand once more.

She was unwilling to give up...

Why did fate always seem to toy with her so cruelly?

Whether it was before her transmigration or after, hope always seemed to dangle just out of reach, only to be ripped away and replaced with despair.

Why was this world so unkind to her?