It took Melody a couple of weeks to finish her work on the Homely Tree. She dug out to each side and about nine feet up. Melody dug out to the inner bark, carved out a few windows, and crafted several pieces of primitive furniture with many failures.

As Melody was digging through the tree, she eventually found the Heartwood of the Homely tree. It was a four-foot-thick pillar in the center of the Homely Tree. When she identified it, its description spoke of the tree's core and supported the roof.

After learning about it, she got curious about the roof and climbed up top. The top of the tree was shaped like a smooth wooden dome that was covered with octagonal leaves.

Melody also added more traps to her area. She had several tripwires spread about the site, potholes for creatures that charged like the Stampede Boar, hoops and snags among the trees for Dangala Leopards, and a couple more pitfalls. Thanks to her traps, Melody was able to keep her store of smoked meat topped off. Sadly, since the Crash Deer, she had not learned any new skills. Most of the animals Melody caught were herbivores like the deer, with only one small bear far east of her camp. So far, she had not had a run-in with the Reaper Wolf, much to Melody's relief.

Melody crawled out of her hollow and took a deep breath. Today, she would check around her home to see if any of her snares had caught any rabbits.

Picking up her upgraded spear, the tip made from a Crash Deerhorn, or as she liked to call it, Crash Spear. It didn't have any special effects, but it was far better than a plain sharpened stick.

Taking up her bow, pack, and quiver, Melody trekked off into the forest.

After about forty minutes of going about, Melody found one of her snares had caught a rabbit.

"Yes! The last pelt I need to complete my pillow and a tasty meal! I am kind of getting tired of just smoked meat…." Melody giggled to herself as she got to the dead rabbit.

Cutting it loose, she was about to slip it into her pack when she sensed danger coming from above. Diving out of the way, a Dangala Leopard pounced at the spot she was.

Damn! I didn't set up any traps this far out! Melody dodged another attempt by the leopard.

I need to get out… No. Not this time. Melody steeled her nerves and crushed down her desire to run. She was no longer the weak little giant she was weeks ago.

"I am a huntress! I will not cower like I did with the boar! You want my meat? Just try to take a bite! Cause this cat has fangs!" Melody cried in defiance, bringing her Crash Spear to bear.

Melody and the leopard stalked in a circle. The leopard would pounce, Melody would dodge and counterattack with her Crash Spear, only to miss the nimble predator. They continued their dance, trying to get the upper hand, but the leopard was gaining ground, getting used to her movements.

I must end this. If I take too long, it will get me. I haven't tried combining the two skills. If I'm right, it won't be able to dodge. Melody planned her course of attack.

Melody faked stumbling, causing the leopard to pounce toward her. She rolled away and got to her feet, turning on the large cat.

"Charge-Ram!" Melody activated her skills. A massive burst of energy exploded through her body. With the ground-shattering charge, Melody flashed forward, her Crash Spear leading the way.

The leopard attempted to dodge, but it was too late. Melody's spear dove forward, into its mouth, through its body, and out of its rear, blowing's its tail clean off.

Melody dropped her leopard-sheathed spear to the ground and clutched her throbbing hand. She drove her spear so far her fist followed too. Checking her hand, she found that her blood-covered hand was mainly unharmed.

"I guess… Bruises?" Melody looked down at the leopard to find that she knocked out nearly all of its teeth with her blow.

"Well, a leopard print pillow would be nice." Melody laughed and sighed in relief.

She pulled her rope out, strung up the leopard, and added the rabbit, bleeding them both into a dug pit. Before she could find a spot to hide, an ear-shattering howl sounded.

"No…" Melody could see something big quickly closing in on her position.

Melody knew that howl. It was the Reaper Wolf.

"Charge!" Melody activated her skill and ran toward her camp, hoping the wolf would take the leopard and rabbit. But to her dismay, it continued pursuing her.

Melody knew blending with her surrounding would be pointless as she was covered in the leopard's blood. The wolf howled again, trying to freeze her in place, but all it did was hurt her ears. Melody glanced back and saw that the wolf looked furiously at her.

"Charge!" Melody activated her skill once more to give her some more distance from the wolf.

Almost there, just a bit farther. Save up the next skill. I can do this! "I AM THE HUNTRESS!" Melody cried as she continued to lead the wolf to its, Melody hoped, demise.

The wolf was nearly on her, but they were almost to Melody's trap.

"Ram!" Activating her lesser skill, she pulled ahead from its snapping jaw.

Melody pulled her bow off of her and a couple of arrows. Notching one in place, she broke through the brush to the clearing. Melody's heart raced as she ran toward her salvation.

“CHAAAAARGE!” Power burst to her legs, opening the distance between her and the Reaper Wolf.

Melody took to the air, twisted her body, drew, and fired once, then two arrows above the wolf. She needed to keep it on the ground, the arrows to stop it from leaping toward her. Striking the ground and rolling, Melody pulled one more arrow and notched it.

A loud crash, a yelp of pain, and a quiet whimper. The wolf had fallen into her trap.

Melody's heart and breath were racing as she looked toward the hole, an arrow notched and ready to fire if it poked its head up.

Minutes passed, and nothing happened. Melody spammed her sense danger skill, picking up nothing.

"Okay." She cautiously approached the pitfall and peaked in.

The black wolf was pierced in several locations in the torso and head.

Reaper Wolf (Dead): Name: None. Age: 42. Danger Level: None.

Reaper Wolf (male). It is known for its soul-shaking howl that will cause prey to freeze in place or drive its foes to flee in terror. Jaws capable of crushing metal armor. Claws carry a minor paralytic poison. Weakness to pitfalls.

Melody let out a long sigh of relief and fell back onto her rump. "Told ya. I am the huntress of these woods." Melody laid down on her back and gazed upon the sky, a relieved smile on her face.

Two more weeks had gone by since her victory against the Reaper Wolf. Melody failed to get a skill from the Dangala Leopard but was successful with the wolf. Terror Howl. It amplified her voice and added a highly intimidating aura to it. The first time she used it, it took nearly two days before wildlife returned to her area.

Melody stepped out of her home, wearing her wolf pelt armor. Melody was getting used to bleeding the corpses and skinning them with fewer errors, giving her enough material for her newest outfit.

Her armor was layered with the wolf pelt on the outside, Salt Bark for its hardness, and the layer that came into contact with skin was a soft deer pelt. Melody's armor covered her main torso like a vest with shoulder armor. Her lower half was covered down to just above her knees while she wore tall fur boots with long pieces of Salt Bark layered within to protect her shins.

Melody had also worked on some improvements to her arrows. Utilizing the claws of the Reaper Wolf, she now had a set of paralytic arrows. She also used the claws and fangs of other predators to help as well.

Melody was fully equipped for her first long-distance trip since her escape.

"Okay. Time to go. I will be back." Melody spoke to her home before turning and sprinting off to the south.

After a few hours, she arrived at the forest edge. Melody looked out to the main road. "Okay."

She pulled her wolf head hood up on top of her head and used her Charge ability. Running at full speed at her now seven-foot-tall height, she quickly crossed the north field, the main road, and reached the southern forest edge. Looking around, she didn't see anyone and continued into the forest.

A tired-looking, elderly giant woman wandered through the forest, glancing around for ingredients. It was the Elder of Melody's old giant clan. She sighed and continued moving westward toward a stream. Elder looked about and didn't see any monsters around or sense danger. She moved across the creek to find several blue-colored mushrooms. Before she could gather them, a giant white lizard jumped out from under the dirt toward her.

"No!" Elder winced, expecting to die, but death never came. She heard one, then another two things whistle through the air and hit something with a wet thunk.

She opened her eyes just in time to see the lizard flop down, three sticks protruding from its head and neck.

"You really need to pay more attention, Elder." A familiar voice called out.

"Melody?" Elder turned to see the blue-eyed, crimson-haired, tanned, wolf-pelt-covered girl.

"Hey, Elder. I came to visit." The Elder moved forward and hugged Melody, who returned the hug.

"Melody. I so glad to see you alive! So glad you survive! So glad you do what we could not!" Elder calmed down and rested a bit while Melody retrieved her arrows.

"You become very strong. I am glad." Elder smiled warmly.

"Well, I think I had some help." Melody was convinced that Nova or possibly some god was giving her a hand. The last two months had been so fortunate to find everything she needed in her little area.

"Where you live now?" The elder asked.

"The northern forest, deep within. I have to sprint for hours just to get here." Melody chuckled.

"North forest? If you are deep, I surprised Spiggans not kick you out." Elder said, surprised.

"Spriggans? Are they forest spirits?" Melody asked as she sat down next to the old woman.

Elder nodded and explained that they looked like tree humans. "They have no nose or mouth, just glowing eyes. I saw one once. It warned me to stay away, or I die."

Melody handed Elder a piece of smoked meat. "What this? Meat?"

Melody smiled and asked her to try it.

After a single bite, Elder consumed it voraciously. "This delicious! So tasty!"

Melody offered to bring Elder with her back to her home in the north forest.

Elder frowned sadly and shook her head. "I cannot. You know this, Melody. If I leave, women suffer more. I know I prolong suffer, but I cannot bring myself to see them die…."

Melody's shoulders slumped, and she went about gathering the Whirly Shrooms for Elder.

"What? How you touch and you fine?" Elder asked in surprise as she watched Melody pick them without using tongs.

"No poisons affect me," Melody said, loading the mushrooms into Elder's bag.

"What has happened in the clan?" Melody asked, eating some of her smoked meat and handing Elder another.

"Rul still rule. Nameless getting stronger. I think he might take over in some more years, if not die. But Melody, why you so small? You should be bigger by now."

Melody blinked in confusion. "I don't know. Since I started living at my home, I've noticed some changes in myself. I am way stronger, faster, and my body slowed down in its growth. I was kind of looking forward to having, um, nice assets for once…." She motioned around her chest, which caused Elder to laugh.

"It okay, Melody. You look just like mother. You will be big and beautiful like her... and free." A sad look came to her eyes.

"Elder, what happened to my mom's body?" Melody asked, sitting back down and handing Elder her Whirly Shroom filled bag.

"Burned. I did it. So she did not get desecrated by monsters."

Melody thanked Elder, giving her one last hug. "I will check again with you, Elder."

"Thank you, Melody, but it best you not return. If men find you, they kill you."

Melody nodded, stepped away, and vanished into the air.

Elder watched in shock before laughing. "Hehehe, you master blending in air. Good girl. You survive long. Do what we could not." Elder smiled and began returning to the cave.

Once Elder was gone and out of sight. Melody appeared and retrieved the corpse of the lizard. After wrapping the head and neck to keep it from bleeding everywhere, she hefted most of it into her pack while holding the rest in place on her shoulder.

She looked back in the direction Elder left one last time before disappearing back into the forest without a sound.

Melody reached the southern forest edge in a few hours. She activated her Charge ability and rapidly crossed the fields. But Melody forgot to check for people and dashed right past a covered wagon. She cried out an apology while charging away and into the northern forest, out of sight once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An old, grizzled man sat at his office desk reading through paperwork when a woman dressed in a secretary outfit burst in. "Guild master!"

"I wasn't zoning out again!" The woman narrowed her eyes at the man who refused to meet her gaze.

"Anyway, that is not important right now! There has been a report!" The woman said excitedly.

"On what, Sammy?"

"Melody!" Sammy excitedly replied.

The guild master shot up from his seat. "W-who?! Where?!"

"A merchant, he is downstairs. The new guard captain recommended he come talk to you immediately for a reward." The guild master charged out of the office, followed by the woman.

Down in the main hall, several adventurers, as well as a surly dwarf and fair-skinned elf, were boring holes into a poor man standing at the counter.

"Are you the merchant Sammy told me of?" The guild master asked.

"I am, sir." The merchant replied.

"What did you see?"

"Well, it all happened so fast. I thought it was a new monster, but it was a seven-foot-tall woman carrying a Falda Lizard and wearing a Reaper Wolf pelt."

"Did she say anything?!" Gona, the dwarf asked.

"Um, well, I think she said, 'Sorry.'"

They all looked at the man confused, and he explained how she came close to hitting his wagon, which caused a small group of young adventurers to laugh.

"That's definitely Melody. That sounds like her." A blond girl in priestess robes with armor covering vital areas stepped forward.

"My name is Annabel. Could you tell us where you saw her heading?"

"Um, well, she came from the south forest with the lizard. Then disappeared into the northern forest extremely quickly. It was really fast."

Gona walked up to Annabel. "You were right, lass. Melody is a special one. I hope that we might find her again so we can thank her for savin' us."

The guild master handed the merchant a large silver and thanked him for the information.

"Now then! I will be raising the reward for finding and making peaceful contact with Melody to one large gold! Only Iron-Rank and up can take it on. Copper if attended by a Silver-Rank or higher." The guild master announced, gaining multiple cheers.

"Come on, Annabel! We need to raise our rank to copper so we can ask Mr. Gerald or Mr. Gona to take us to search for her!" Lucas called out.

"We cannot rush things, Lucas, but yes, Miss Sammy, we would like to take this job, please." Annabel handed Sammy a document.

"Alright. Be sure to bring the completion slip back when you are done." Sammy replied while noting a few things on the document.

Annabel's group headed out of the guildhall.

"What do you think, Gona? Are they pushing themselves too hard?" The guild master asked.

"No. Annabel's got a good head on her shoulders. She keeps them at max, er, Ellen, what's that word she said?"

"Efficiency Gona. She keeps them at maximum efficiency." The elven woman, Ellen, answered.

Several adventurers with iron-colored tags began heading out.

"Huh? A lot of people joining the search, aye?" Gona stated.

"Of course, Gona. Melody is a unique existence. But the main reason would be that she saved us. We all, as adventurers, owe her a debt. If she ever came back to the city, she would likely not have a shortage of allies." Ellen said.

Gona and Ellen joined up with a couple of other adventurers and headed out as well. The first sighting of Melody in months, they intended to try even harder to find her and thank her.