The threat to the butcher seemed effective, but in the end, she was let down.

'If it were that easy, it would have been done before,' she thought to herself as she hid in the night on a nearby rooftop, watching guards hiding for an ambush. 'I bet his house has a similar level of security during the night.'

Sneaking past guards at night was already difficult enough, but doing so while they were expecting it would be impossible. Elena was forced to give up on her meal. She will have to learn how to catch one herself.

The silver lining was that she could go hunting during the day.

Using her status as the Harvester, Elena arrogantly dismissed having to attend Elemental Practice as "going back to kindergarten." Not that she knew what going to kindergarten was actually like. She also had to skip Warrior's Practice—wrestling with hot-headed, sweaty guys was asking for trouble when you thirsted for blood. This left her with plenty of free time.

And she used it well.

An incredible surge of adrenaline was coursing through her body as she chased a deer through the woods. Until this moment, she wasn't aware of how well-adapted her body had become for the hunt. She was fast enough to keep up and agile enough to cut corners to find a chance to overtake it.

She wondered if this was how cheetahs felt chasing gazelles in the documentaries she saw on TV. Her focus was at its peak, with all her senses in sync, working toward her one goal—catching the prey.

It felt good. She was finally catching up to it, figuring out its movement, and was ready to cut it off in its path.

Completely surrendered to the chase, it caught her by surprise when she noticed unexpected danger.

In a quick reaction, Elena let herself fall to the ground. Inertia carried her forward, sliding feet first through slippery leaves and muddy forest ground.

With regret, Elena lifted her head to see her dinner escaping.

She sighed, then turned back her gaze and seamlessly got into a crouching position. And there it was, just at the level of her sight—a tripwire.

Her body was still adjusted to motion, so it took her a moment to calm down. But there was also the realization she had nearly avoided a real danger. Only by pure chance—being afternoon—did the low sun hit the thin wire at just the right angle to catch her eye. If it were night, or even a gloomy day, it would stay practically invisible.

Even with that, Elena barely noticed it in time to readjust herself to slide under it.

First, she inspected her surroundings to avoid inadvertently getting caught in another one. Then, she approached the wire to study it.

It was carefully placed between two trees, adjusted to knee height so that it would make it difficult to hastily jump over.

'How insidious…'

Her eyes followed it to one side. It was well hidden. All she could see was that it went up the tree and disappeared in the branches. It was the most sophisticated system for a trap she'd ever seen. The wire was barely noticeable even when looking straight at it, and it seemed carefully calculated, and she couldn't even see what it triggered.

Fighting the urge to trigger it just to see what unfolds, she concluded it was best if it remained a mystery.

After getting up, she noticed her dishevelled appearance. Mud covered her body, but aside from a few scrapes on her palms and tears in her clothes, she was unharmed.

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Elena dusted herself off, still gazing through the bare canopy to find the contraption that the wire triggers. She managed to see something that in her mind looked like well well-camouflaged crossbow, but could easily be a branch. It was surprisingly difficult to focus on a stationary object after her body was pumped with adrenaline.

Suddenly, she smelled a familiar, alluring scent—it was blood.

Elena whipped her head toward the source. Though faint, the scent hypnotized her. The succulent aroma whispered to her, beckoned her. She was simply compelled to seek its origin. However, not allowing herself to get completely lost in its overpowering allure, Elena moved with caution.

The scent gradually intensified as she approached, finding it was coming from the deer she had been chasing. Finding it on the ground in a sorry state, the creature was startled by her presence, attempting to run, but it could do little but fall to the ground as its legs were broken.

Elena slowly crept around the deer, investigating the scene. It seemed it had run into a tripwire system resembling the one prior. There were four arrows scattered around. Three were lodged into the ground, and one was stuck in the deer's front leg. From the fresh wound on its neck, it seemed one of the other three arrows had grazed it.

It didn't seem like a detrimental injury, but it must've startled it enough to throw it off balance and take a tumble. The terrain was rough enough, with tree roots sticking out, to make it unfortunate enough to break bones.

As she slowly approached, the deer tried to rise again unsuccessfully, worsening its state. The bone protruding from its skin was now visible. The deer was in shock from the pain. Overwhelmed by her urges, Elena knelt beside the creature. The fear and shock in its black eyes showed its defeat in this cruel and unfair game.

She gently placed her hands on its neck, and the skin twitched beneath her touch. From the numerous scars and bite marks on its neck, it was clear this was an older animal that had been through a lot. Its fur was rough and scruffy. She leaned in closer.

She could hear its wild heartbeat; it was as if it were calling her.

Try me.

The smell was overpowering. It tried to shake her off, but she only gripped tighter, instinctively, like a python tightening its hold on its prey.

It's served just for you.

She sank her teeth into its flesh, right where it was grazed on the neck. The taste exploded in her mouth. Her fangs assisted her in ripping the flesh to dig deeper, opening the wound, and letting the blood flow freely, exposing soft internal tissue, so she could avoid uncomfortable fur scraping her face.

Elena didn't need to suck; its heart pumped the blood for her.

Wonderful.

Choking on its ecstasy, she greedily gulped. Never having drunk blood directly from a live creature, she was lost in the sensation. The freshness, the warmth… its essence of life was filling her while the hoofed creature was getting weaker.

The real blood was euphoric.

A sudden realization made her blood run cold. She was kneeling on the blood-soaked ground, feasting on a dying creature like a deprived animal. Elena suddenly felt sick.

'Don't you dare throw up. This is good for us.'

But what would Maya think of her if she saw her like this?

Elena pulled away from it and stared at the unfortunate forest dweller. It was suffering, trying to let out a cry. A pitiful creature—at least she could let it out of its misery.

While pulling out a knife, she placed one hand on its head, awkwardly petting it. She made a shushing sound to pacify it, then drove the knife through the back of its skull, twisting it sharply.

The calm took over the animal, and it was over.

Elena sighed and squeezed some blood into a bottle, then stood up to look at her surroundings. Those arrows… each came from a different direction.

Observing the angles they came from and estimating the trajectories, it was apparent they were aimed roughly at the height of a human chest—the heart.

'Someone knew what they were doing.'

The arrows that hit the deer came from behind. They travelled further and got lower. The ones from the front missed it completely, but could have possibly scared it as they flew by it. Elena concluded she would most likely be dead if she triggered that trap.

Pulling one from the ground, she confirmed her suspicion. The arrow was made of wood with a metal tip. It was an unusual metal with a dark tint she'd never seen before.

Elena squinted at it.

The whole thing was painted black to make it harder to notice in the darkness, and it looked quite well-crafted and… valuable. It wasn't something you'd expect to find in the woods where only wild animals and monsters roam.

'Finders, keepers.'

Elena swiped the arrow. It was time to leave—Maya would be worried by now. But first, she needed to clean herself up.

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