In Terra, she is a hunter and a bad woman.

She took a few steps back and stood behind the woman.

The other party seemed to feel no fatigue at all and kept waving the iron bar in his hand.

The molten magma splashed up again and again, and again and again the molten amber returned to calm.

Maria could see that every time the lava lake launched an explosive counterattack, she would meet it without hesitation and use it to temper the iron bar in her hand.

When everything is quiet, she will pick up some from the surrounding area and add them to the slightly smaller iron bar.

Back and forth.

A single environment always makes it easy for people to ignore the passage of time.

Maria is also an extremely patient person.

She just sat there, silently watching the other person wave his moves.

Thousands of times, maybe? Or tens of thousands?

Maria didn't go out of her way to record these things.

Instead, he waited until the other party completely consumed the heat of the entire magma lake, until there was no light left in this crimson world, until everything completely disappeared...

She finally stopped what she was doing.

The iron bar in her hand finally solidified into a piece of iron that temporarily satisfied her...

Only then did she turn her head and look at Maria.

"You're quite patient."

"Now, can we talk?"

"...It's possible."

The woman didn't refuse, but she just smiled.

"But shouldn't you go and see your companions?"

"Ok?"

"Although I don't understand the meaning of the time they set, but... you have been here for a long time."

The woman came to Maria with a sword in hand and gave her a simple warning.

"If you don't go now, you won't be able to see her again."

Maria was also stunned for a few moments.

"A long time...how long?"

"How should I know? I can only sense something... I'm not good at these things."

The woman shook her head and made a matter-of-fact sound.

Maria also frowned.

But the woman quickly gave her a reassuring answer.

"Don't worry, I won't leave."

"..."

"I'm different from my companions. At least, I think integrity—or should I say it this way—is quite important. Without integrity, there would be no battle..."

The woman seemed particularly enthusiastic about this sort of thing, grinning widely. “Go and have a look… I’ll be waiting for you here.”

"..."

Maria didn't quite understand what the woman was saying.

But looking at the other party's frank look, Maria did not hesitate. After thinking for a few moments, she turned around silently and left the cave.

After Maria came out of the cave, she was also stunned for a moment.

The entire mountain is full of green, and the sound of birds singing can be heard everywhere. Where can you see a single snowflake?

How many months had she been in there?!

Maria was a little surprised.

The woman also slowly walked out of the cave. Looking at the vast mountains and fields around her, she curled her lips and looked uninterested.

"Your companions left after they realized you were gone... If you want to find them, go this way."

The woman pointed in a direction for Maria, and Maria looked in the direction she pointed.

Sure enough, in the distance, wisps of smoke rose...

On the other side, there is an unpleasant smell...

"Ah, is it really here?"

The woman seemed to have sensed the unusual smell as well. She shook her head slightly, picked up the long sword she had just forged, and looked sharp in the eyes.

"I'm going to fight Him... Do you want to come with me?"

"..."

Maria said nothing, but just glanced at the woman and walked towards the village.

She needed to remind these people that a war between giant beasts might break out here.

……

"Ah? A strange sister?"

When Maria arrived at the village, thunder exploded and flashed in the distant mountains.

Maria wanted to find the old man she had seen before...or the little girl, and warn them that danger might be coming.

But to Maria's surprise, the villagers present didn't seem to recognize her...

A few months...it’s not long, but it’s not short either.

The villagers seemed curious about Maria's arrival and came over to check it out.

But he was also frightened by Maria's fierce aura and did not dare to get close to her easily.

I don’t know how much time passed before someone mustered up the courage to come over.

"Um... girl, where are you from?"

“…In the mountains.”

"Which mountain?"

"..."

Maria was silent for a moment, but after a moment, she pointed out a direction for everyone present.

But soon, when everyone saw the direction Maria pointed out, their faces became extremely surprised.

The women took their children and hid aside, and the remaining young people were also trembling.

But someone still managed to force a smile.

"This... girl, please don't joke around. This is the famous Shanshen Mountain. How could you... how could you..."

The man's words were trembling, as if the so-called Mountain God Mountain was a place where demons and ghosts gathered.

Maria also frowned because of this.

Because the location she pointed out should be the area these people must go to when they encounter a natural disaster, right?

how……

"What happened here?"

Before Maria understood what was happening, an old man with a cane came out, supported by several people.

When the people around saw each other, they also quickly gathered together.

"Old Village Chief..."

"Old village chief?"

Maria was stunned and looked at the elderly man in front of her.

but……

"elder sister?"

The old woman, whose eyesight was already blurry, still recognized the man who had saved her life decades ago...

……

"...The older you get, the less you can remember. Sometimes, I even wonder if I'm misremembering what happened back then, as if it were all a dream."

The old woman smiled, and her smile was very kind.

Her blurry eyes could no longer see Maria's appearance in front of her, but the black windbreaker combination and the unique temperament still reminded her of the memory of when she almost died.

Everything... is true...

Maria also let out a breath slowly after being silent for a while.

"What is this Mountain of the Gods they just mentioned?"

"Yeah...you might not know that."

Old and young people live together.

She didn't ask why, more than eighty years later, Maria still looked like she had just walked out yesterday.

She just shook her head and took Maria to her current residence.

"Just a few years after you disappeared, there was a landslide in the mountains over there...

From that time on, the mountain became strange.

It gets very strange there... Many people who go into the mountains can't get out, and even if they do, they'll forget what happened when they disappeared into the mountains.

Some brave people have tried to break in a few times, but they ended up running back in a panic, saying that there was a god in the mountain.

At first, no one believed it.

But as time passed, more and more people suffered similar experiences, and many disappeared completely. As time went by, no one dared to explore the mountain anymore... Later, people combined it with the story of the mountain god, and thus the current name of Shanshen Mountain came into being..."

As the old woman spoke, she turned her head again and looked at Maria curiously.

"Sister, are you also lost in there?"

“…Probably not.”

Maria was not passively lost in the mountains. She stayed there on her own initiative, waiting for an opportunity to talk to the giant girl.

She simply forgot the passage of time.

The monotonous crimson magma world blurred her time, and the fact that she was not wearing any ordinary clothing made it difficult for her to judge the passage of time.

Coupled with Maria's own unusual experience, her concept of time has become extremely vague.

So she felt like only a moment had passed, but outside, eighty years had passed...

The old woman didn't care about what Maria said. She just smiled and shook her head, then looked at Maria again.

"Then...sister, you're back now, is there something wrong?"

"A fight between giant beasts may break out near here soon... You may need to find a safer place to hide for a while."

Maria didn't beat around the bush and issued a warning almost on the spot.

The power of the behemoth is strong enough to rival that of a natural disaster.

If the two behemoths really came to blows, it would be almost impossible for anyone in the village so close to the battlefield to survive.

So Maria hopes these people can stay away.

When the old woman heard this, her body stiffened slightly. She looked at Maria in surprise, and even her eyes became clearer.

But after a moment, she said nothing.

She did not ask Maria how she knew about this, nor did she ask Maria why she came to tell them. She just raised her head slightly and let out a breath after a long silence.

"I understand... I'll find a way to make everyone accept this result."

"accept?"