Mobius Mountains  

Somewhere in the forest surrounding the Mobius Mountains.

"Puuurrr…"

An animal-like sound echoed throughout the dark forest.

"Kulululu…" 

A few seconds later, there was another animal-like sound.

"Puuurrr…"

"Kulululu…"

A couple of seconds later, a fit young man in his early 20s with short black hair and tanned skin wearing a set of leather armor and carrying weapons stepped out behind a tree and walked forward until he reached an abandoned empty well.

Not long after that, a beautiful woman in her late teens with dark blonde hair and tanned skin wearing a set of high-quality leather armor along with a black cape and also carrying weapons stepped out behind a tree and walked forward to join the man.

The woman removed his Ring of Vision and placed it inside her pocket before rushing over to the man.

"Julietta, my love!"

"Romero, my love!"

The man and woman cried out as they embraced each other and shared a long and passionate kiss under the night sky.

After having enough, Romero reluctantly pulled away but they still held each other -- he had his arms wrapped around Julietta's waist and Julietta had hers around his neck.

"Only the Elemental Gods knew how much I missed you, my love! I'm sorry it took me more than a week to come see you again. There was so much to do back in the village," he said and then stole a kiss.

When their lips parted once again, Jullieta shook her head.

"It's okay, I understand. But I will admit that I missed you, my love."

The two lovers stared at each other with a loving gaze for a moment before Romero raised his head and looked at the starry sky.

"My love, I've been thinking, why don't we run away?"

Julietta's arms were still wrapped around his neck and he felt them twitch and loosen a bit. He returned his gaze to her and pulled her closer, not letting her escape.

"I'm serious. Let's forget everything and escape to the Southern Continent."

Julietta cast her gaze down as she pushed herself away from his arms and didn't say anything.

"We can go to the Housan Empire where humans and demon-kins live in harmony and start a new life there. What do you say?"

She shook her head.

"We've already talked about this so many times…" she said and paused for a moment. "You're the grandson of a bandit leader and I'm the granddaughter of a Baron…"

"Yes, but once we head to the Southern Continent and stay at the Housan Empire, whoever we were here, our connections, it won't matter, we could start new lives there. I as your husband, you as my wife and we'll have --"

"I already told you that it's not that simple…"

"I know, you have your mother and siblings to care about and I have my family, we both have families. But you're soon to be wed to a man that's not me."

Julietta took a step back and wrapped her arms around herself, her gaze still casting down to the ground and she didn't say anything.

"Why? Why do you not want to run away with me so that we can finally live the life that we've always dreamed of? Is there something missing? Have I done anything wrong? I'll fix it right away."

She continued to remain silent.

"Sometimes I wonder if you even love me."

She suddenly jerked her head and glared at Romero, the sting of his words evident on her face.

"How could you even think and say that to me…?! I offered my entire being to you…!"

"I want a life with you! Not like this! Not like this… Not where we have to sneak around once or twice a week just to see each other…"

Julietta squeezed her left shoulder with her right hand and looked away.

"You know that this isn't what I want… You know my family… I've told you secrets about my family… You know I can't abandon my mother and siblings…" she said, almost close to a mumble.

"When then? We've been like this for almost 2 years now. Will it be after you're married to another man? Will it be once you're siblings are old enough? But what happens when you have a child with the name you're going to marry? How many years will that be?"

Julietta returned her gaze to Romero.

"That's… What about you…?! Don't you care about abando--"

"Don't you dare say that I don't care about leaving my family behind! I love them just like any child will do! But I still have my own life to live, just like you have your own life to live!"

Julietta looked once away again and didn't say a word.

"This is going nowhere," Romero said with an exasperated tone and then turned away. "Whether you're going with me or not, I'm going to the Southern Continent. Goodbye and I hope the Elemental Gods bless you with a long and great life."

Julietta immediately turned to Romero who was already walking away.

"What…?"

Romero didn't respond and continued walking until he finally disappeared into the dark forest under the night sky.

***

Chud.

Crack.

Vivian caught an animal and crushed it with one of her hands before shoving it down her throat.

Tak-chak!

She felt something on her foot and tilted her head down. There was some claw-like thing barely biting the edge of her giant foot but wasn't able to penetrate her skin.

The feeling was similar to a plaster stuck on her foot.

Is this like an animal trap…?

She was no expert regarding traps, but she at least knew one when she saw one.

Or in this case, steps on one.

The trap was like a bear trap but not quite.

Krang!

Vivian extended one of her arms and picked up the trap, causing it to finally clamp down.

Hmm…

So even this world has such things, huh…

Sprit.

She crushed it with two fingers.

So soft…?

I don't think they could catch anything with this…

She shook her head mentally as she dropped the deformed trap.

But since there's a trap here, that means there's got to be a nearby settlement…

I mean, why would anyone set up a trap in the middle of nowhere…?

Unless they're a psychopath with so much time on their hands…

But even a psychopath wouldn't do something without any purpose…

Thud.

Thud.

She continued strolling down the dark forest and each footstep she took made a loud thumping noise due to her 5-meter-tall stature.

***

A few minutes later…

Vivian encountered more monsters and traps along the way until she finally arrived at her destination or believed it to be.

I guess this is it…?

I think…?

Her 5-meter-frame was hidden among the trees and under the cover of the night. A dozen meters away in front of her was a settlement. It was surrounded by a two-story wall made out of wood and stone along with some watchtowers. And inside the wall, by her estimate, there were around 30 buildings and most of the buildings looked like houses.

But is this really it…?

I thought rogue settlements couldn't exceed more than 100 people or they will be culled by the local authority…?

This looks like a small fortified barracks-village…

It looks better than the Third Inner Stanza Border Checkpoint…

Although Vivian's demonic eyes see the world in black and white and all living beings with either blue or red-colored nervous systems, she could still the shape of fire so she was able to see a couple of torches lit up around the settlement and guards patrolling.

Hmm…

There are around 30 buildings…

Assuming that each house has 5 people, that would make it a population of 150…

But what about their Physical and Magic Force…?

I mean, the fact that they're bold enough enough to make such a base, they got to be strong, right…?

A thousand scenarios ran inside her head before she finally decided.

Yeah…

I need to finish this quickly…

Also, it would be a problem if all 150 people ran and spread in different directions…

And although these nervous systems are like lightbulbs that are impossible to miss, it will still be a chore to chase every one of them…

She activated a spell.

[Greater Origin Enchant].

A dark-red lightning appeared on one of her hands.

She activated another spell.

[Greater Origin Transformation].

BLAAAK!

With the [Greater Origin Enchant], Vivian was able to amplify her original size from 10 meters to 20 meters but she still sported a Demon form, not the Greater Demon form just to be safe.

And if the average height of a room is 3 meters or 10 feet, she was currently 6.8 floors tall and she towered all over the trees around her.

However, there was a downside in using this form, or to be specific, her height.

Although Vivian's actual Greater Demon form was 10 meters tall, once she hit 10 meters and above, it would start to affect her speed. At 10 meters tall, her Agility would be reduced by 10%, at 11 meters was 11%, at 12 meters was 12%, and so on and so forth until she reaches her highest height which was 40 meters

So with her height standing at 20 meters, her current Agility has been reduced from 12 (+273) points to 228 points.

At least I'll be able to destroy them quicker…

And I doubt it if there's that many people here walking around with Spirit Steel-grade…!

Based on her own research:

Iron was 30 points.

Silver was 60 points.

Mithril was 90 points.

Orichalcum was 120 points.

Adamantite was 150 points.

Rainbow Steel was 180 points.

And Spirit Steel was 210 points.

As for beyond beyond that, she was clueless.

Booom!

Someone launched what looked like fireworks or flare into the sky, illuminating the entire area.

RING! RING! RING! RING! RING! 

Which was then followed by the sound of a bell.

They noticed me already…?

Well…

Can't be helped…

I'm already towering over the trees…

She got into a lower stance like a spider-scorpion that was about to pounce, all of her 8 hands touching the ground and her tail up in the air.

VOOOM!!!

THUD!

THUD!

THUD!

THUD!

She burst out into a run, stepping and crushing everything that was in her path and each step she made was like a thunderous roar that shook the ground.

When she got closer to the wall, she was greeted with a hail of skills and spells.

[Power Throw].

Tick.

[Explosive Throw].

Boom.

[Wind Arrow].

Poof.

[Lightning Spear].

Poo-pscht.

[Poison Bomb].

Pssh.

However, none of the skills and spells that landed on her body posed any effect on her. They couldn't even leave a scratch on her skin.

BRAAAGGG!!!

She slammed her body against the two-story wall made out of wood and cement and broke through.

BRAAAK!

"AHH!!!"

"AAAHHH!!!"

With one swoop of one of one her giant hands, a watchtower and part of the wall were destroyed, causing blood and wood debris to scatter in the air as the unlucky blue-colored nervous systems trapped inside the tower screamed their final moments.

WHOO-RIIIP!!!

She swept her enormous tail around with [Power Tail], causing everything on its path to shred into a mist of blood, wood and dust. And this time around, not a single nervous system that was caught in its path was able to scream.

[Fire Arrow].

Poof.

[Earth Arrow].

Poof.

[Power Arrow].

Tick.

[Explosive Throw].

Boom.

A few spells and skills continued to land on Vivian as she raised three of her hands up.

SPLAAAT! SPLAAAT! SPLAAAT! 

She turned three of the four attackers were flattened into pancakes and then turned her sights to the remaining attacker.

THUD!

THUD!

Seeing that all his companions dead and the demon moving towards him, the fourth attacker quickly turned around and tried to run away.

Chud!

Cra-crack!

Vivian grabbed him and crumbled him into a ball, causing the sounds of bones cracking and blood to sip from her palm before throwing him with [Power Throw] towards an incoming group of nervous systems.

Woo-riiip!!!

The body only managed to hit one person and made a hole in the ground before disintegrating into pieces.

Eh…?

That was so pathetic…

Vivian noticed all of the blue-colored nervous systems coming out of the buildings and she could hear the cries and screams of women and children. 

She also noticed that most were running away while a few were heading towards her.

Too weak…

Perhaps the humans in this place are broke…?

Bra-crac-craack…!

She grabbed a huge chunk of rock from the wall and crushed it into pieces before getting into a throwing position.

When the incoming group of nervous systems realized what Vivian was about to do, their faces turned pale.

"Mar-TAKE mar-COVER!!!" one of them shouted in the Marbleamean language.

Two raised their shields while the rest either jumped or ran away to look for cover.

THUD! BRAAK! BRAAK! THUD! THUD! BRAAK! BRAAK! THUD! BRAAK! 

Vivian threw all of the stones on her hands in one go with all of her strength and they all shot through all the buildings around.

THUD!

THUD!

THUD!

She charged forward once again.

Booom!

"GYAAAH!!!" Vivian screamed into a sudden halt as her giant demonic head was struck by an Explosive Art.