The mutated Fenris stalked towards her from the darkness created by the distant pale trees. Its fur was soaked in blood that reflected the light of the crimson moon and the shine in its eyes glowed even brighter than the shattered stars above. It was the hallmark of monsters consumed by the red night, their eyes as dark as blood and as bright as a ruby. She sometimes wondered if her own eyes would one day become such. It was a frightening thought, to lose everything that she was and become something that lived only for bloodshed.

The monster that was known as a Fenris should not be a difficult opponent for her current level. She would be able to do meaningful damage to it and deal with the attacks the enemy could throw at her. This was also not mentioning the many advantages she had now when compared to the fight she had with another Fenris months ago. Her knowledge was now accompanied by her forgotten experience and she had also unlocked her mark. Her physical stats might not be as good as when she was alive, but her mark went through some changes that gave her some new perks, perks she would want to test out in this fight. That was also not mentioning the two powerful equipment she acquired. The reason she was confident she could contend with her opponents was the Sapphire Ring and the Lunar Blade Staff.

The Sapphire Ring contained the base of the Spells Rana had registered to her mark when she was still alive. The Singularity school of Spells was very powerful and she was considered very talented to have mastered them at such a young age. The issue was that now with this body and new mark, she could not learn them unless she went through the same grueling training and intense life or death situations as when she was still alive, something she could not replicate easily nor have time for. It was honestly a miracle she managed to learn Astral Lance. It like all of the Singularity Spells, the mana cost was a percentage based on the caster's maximum mana and consumed the remainder to boost its effect. The only means to not leave the caster vulnerable after the cast, was the careful manipulation of the runic-pattern during the brief instant of the casting time. That was why the Sapphire Order had the strictest conditions when it came to their recruitment. She remembered many prospects dying during their initiation.

The Lunar Blade Staff was the reason why the Sapphire Ring was so potent in her hands currently. The ring itself has the ability to augment and improve some of the Singularity Spells, but for someone who could not yet cast all of them, the perks were mostly useless. However, what the ring could do was allow the wearer to access runic-patterns. This meant that she could create wards based on those Spells. The issue was that the difficulty in maintaining them meant that the creation process was long and their ability to last as wards were short. That did not matter for the ashes burned by the crescent blade. The embers that fell from its blazing edge was created by an item forged in a power source, and the power source was the ring itself. There was a certain affinity to it. The staff allowed her to not only create wards during combat, but also wards from the Singularity school of Spells.

Rana could not cast the Spells to their fullest might, but she could wield them in some fashion.

The issue with the Fenris, however, was that although in its base for she could definitely take it on, she could not tell if it was a mutated one. Monsters were products of the system, entities with a single purpose and followed the rules set for them. However, there was room for variance. Most deviations would not alter the monster in any significant fashion. The most it did was maybe change their hunting range or slightly alter their stats and attack frequency. There were some, however, that change so drastically that aside from their form, they could be hardly considered the same monster.

They grew stronger, smarter, and much more ferocious. It was as if the rules that were set for them were overtaken and altered by their primal lust for blood and destruction. Humans called them mutated forms, monsters in which their behavior and capabilities were changed for the better. However, now that Rana thought about it, it somehow felt like they matured as if they grew into the perfect form of their singular purpose.

That was why Rana wanted to kill it, aside of it being part of her guise of accepting a guild commission.

The mutated Fenris circled its lone prey, a behavior that already deviated from the norm. It did not charge at her, it simply waited for an opening. It was also odd. There was some sort of intelligence and experience being shown in how it approached the battle, but then it did not explain why it decided to wait. A marked one was at their weakest during the start of battle as they were only beginning to generate mana and needed time before they were able to use Skills, Spells, or Abilities.

However, a marked one was not the most vulnerable during the start of battle, they were vulnerable after spending their mana finishing the cast form.

Rana understood what the monster was aiming for. Sure, the mutated Fenris had the upper hand, but it knew well that some marked ones could contend with it in physical stats. It did not want to risk facing one that could best it in melee. It wanted an opening and it knew when it would present itself. How interesting, and how unfortunate that its intention was so blatant. In combat, everyone had a plan, and the victor was usually the one that managed to hide their own. It also helped that her mana was always at maximum capacity.

She lunged forward. The monster planted its limbs on the ground and waited. She stabbed the crescent blade before the monster and lit up the edge with mana. She then cast Fool’s Fire and the dancing flame latched onto the magical energy and exploded. It was a new technique she devised. The Spell was by itself weak and required a very specific condition to generate a powerful explosion, and that condition was not usually found in monsters. However, if the monster did not have mana or magical energy, then she simply needed to create her own source of unstable energy.

The ground beneath the monster shattered and flames erupted as it traveled through the earth along a path of mystical embers. The monster’s reaction was delayed, it was surprised that a marked one could unleash a Spell in such haste. However, its instinct was honed through countless battles and its mutation gave it a gravity-defying ability to move in ways that it almost seemed like flight.

The mutated Fenris leaped into the air and somersaulted behind her. It was the opening the monster was waiting for, and the opening was given to it deliberately by Rana. The moment it planted its limbs and stood its ground, she knew that there were two ways the monster could counter. It could either take the attack head-on or dodge it. The former seemed likely given that it decided to hold its ground, but there was no reason a monster that lived long enough to mutate would choose to take on every attack that came to it. Then, the only conclusion was that it had some sort of movement ability, one that was not impeded by being stationary. The base Fenris was agile, and this mutated one was even more flexible in how it maneuvered.

The monster raised its arm and its claws extended into giant blades surging with power. It was going to bring its fury down onto its helpless and foolish prey, and to think she and the monster shared similar thoughts.

Rana did not move as blades of ash darted out of the smoke and slammed into its claws, pushing the attack to her side. She then turned around to face the monster, cleaving at the arm who missed its target with the crescent blade. The monster howled in pain and staggered back, but Rana was not done yet. She pointed the staff towards the monster and dozens of blades flew into its open mouth. That was checkmate. The blades carried the wards for Astral Lance. Spell damage for wards was not that high, but Astral Lance’s piercing and true damage property made it easy to inflict critical injuries.

Thin blue pillars pierced through the monster’s skeleton and tender areas. It slumped onto the ground, still alive but afflicted with so many critical injuries that the only thing left for her to do was to deliver the killing blow. She would do so in time.

Rana approached the monster. She took a deep breath and steeled herself. When a monster died, so too did their bodies dissolve. That was something she could not let happen if she were to accomplish what she wanted to try. She leaned forward, opened her mouth, and tore off a chunk of its body. It was repulsive. She forced it down and waited.

Nothing happened.

It was disappointing. She thought she could somehow activate the Maturation Talent that she had for being a monster. She knew it worked, as demonstrated when Alpheia gave Rana a part of the moon-kin to save their lives. It should’ve worked in this scenario as well. However, it did not, and it seemed like her hypothesis needed readjusting.

With a sigh, she stabbed the crescent blade into the monster's neck and removed its head from the body. The experiment did not work out as intended, but she at least had what she came for.

Rana held out the scroll in her hand, a commission for the death of a mutated Fenris terrorizing nearby settlements, and it was now completed. With that, she would gain entry to the area of Nye, a territory in which the next Dungeon she had to conquer was located.