episode_0049

‘…I was prepared, but it wasn’t an easy hunt after all.’

This was a thought that passed through my head as I slammed the window again.

The spear blade collided with the two swords again, sparks flying, and it moved forward, shaking them off with force.

However, a level of swordsmanship that I could not understand, displayed in the hands of a white rabbit who had held a sword for hundreds of years, could not stop the spear, but could slightly twist it.

Nevertheless, she was not able to completely release the force contained in the spear and the blade of the spear grazed her shoulder, but as if she had taken even that into account, she turned around, deliberately taking the blow with her cursed body intact.

As she approached me, rotating her body against the spear blade and holder, the swords in her hands also changed their trajectory and direction every moment to aim at me.

It was as if not two but dozens of swords were moving and approaching at the same time.

My intuition warned me that no matter how much armor I wore, it would be impossible to stop them from digging through the cracks.

I turned the spear that had stabbed me and struck the rabbit’s leg with the central axis of the rotating blades.

Like the spear blade, the spear made of alloy made by the dwarves was a powerful blunt weapon in itself, and when wielded strongly, it had the power to crush an enemy’s head with the entire helmet.

Even though she had become invulnerable due to God’s curse, she could not ignore the shock itself, and her legs were pushed back hard and her body flipped over.

As the axis of rotation collapses, dozens of swords that were approaching with ferocious force disappear in an instant, and the one remaining sword also falls to the ground.

…Wait, one sack?

As soon as she recognized it, she retreated, raised her spear blade upwards, and struck away the other sword that was thrown at my eyes the moment she fell.

In the meantime, she got back up from her fallen body on the ground, stretched out her hand, grabbed the sword that bounced, and crossed the swords in both hands and took up a fighting stance again.

‘…It’s strong. really.’

Although we had already traded hands several times, I was not confident that we would be able to win even if it were not for the curse of immortality she had received.

Although the blade of the spear pierced her body several times, none of those moments were the result of her actions based on trusting that her body would not be hurt.

At every moment, she perfectly understood the state of her cursed body, and meticulous calculations were laid out to utilize that body to its limits.

All the beasts and monsters I had hunted throughout the empire so far were certainly ferocious and strong, but the rabbit in front of me was more threatening than any of them.

She, who had honed her skills by using her human intellect solely to slaughter beasts for hundreds of years, was beyond what I could understand.

However, I couldn’t just give up hunting now.

Especially now, before I have found a way to get out of this unknown forest.

It was the same with her swords, which had not yet taken my blood and flesh.

I carefully aimed my spear again, guessing my next move and waiting for an opportunity.

When she saw me like that, she smiled happily and slowly lowered her crossed swords, preparing to attack me.

That smile is momentarily distorted for the first time since the fight begins due to the commotion of the monsters running behind her.

Hands that looked like white, dead tree branches were trying to grab her, extending their claws of the same color.

“…”

The white rabbit moved without saying anything.

The moment one of them touched her ear, the knives she was holding cut down the first person who touched her.

I don’t know how they accurately found the vital spot on a body that looked no different from that tree and killed it, but it wasn’t a question that felt very important.

Because there was a more important question than that.

‘what? Isn’t this space… like a forest you can’t escape from, that rabbit’s territory? Why are those monsters attacking her too?’

But the moment I thought about it, I realized that we had misinterpreted the existing results.

Since the guide told us that she, who had been captured by the dragon soldiers during their attack, had a chance to be released, we naturally assumed that those monsters would be friendly to her.

But what if it was just a coincidence?

At the time, no one had seen what had happened since she was released from captivity.

Moreover, if you think about it carefully, she ended up twisting the curse she received and using it as a weapon, and did not receive any kind of blessing.

If this inescapable forest and the monsters that lived within it were part of such a twisted curse or the aftermath it caused, it was no wonder that they appeared hostile to the rabbit that was its culprit.

The mercenaries, the mercenaries and adventurers who followed them, and people like us were just unlucky enough to get caught up in it.

‘If that’s the case, if you want to get out of here…’

-Grrr…

What interrupted my train of thought was the sound of another monster falling to the ground, screaming blood-soaked from its pierced throat.

Immediately, another one grabbed her from behind and plunged his teeth into her throat, but the swords in her hands moved faster than the teeth.

When the monster screamed and limped away as the sword pierced its leg deeply, she immediately spun around on the spot and cut off the monster’s arm, and before the arm even hit the ground, she plunged another sword into its neck.

“Phew…”

Only after the blood flowed from the sword and turned her white body red did she seem to feel much better.

Basically, if she enjoys slaughter, she would welcome anything, but she seemed to particularly like fighting with me, and the interruption seemed to be annoying.

But for me, it wasn’t a particularly bad thing.

Because she was able to move while she was drunk on the scent of blood.

Of course, she sensed my approach with her sensitive ears and tried to counterattack by blocking the spear I fired at with her shield and the corpse of the monster she had just killed.

But this time, the place I stabbed was exactly opposite to where she stabbed the monster in the neck.

The blade of the spear pierced the corpse’s neck, came out the other side, and hit her, who belatedly realized her mistake.

‘…Where should I aim?’

It was a question I thought about before I opened the window.

To test my escape method, I had to shake her off, even if just for a moment, and turn around to face Emma again.

Because of that damn curse, it wasn’t easy to escape from her, who couldn’t even get a scratch from most attacks and overcame the pain with her own madness.

In that case, I had to think about where I should aim to buy a little more time in the one moment of empty space I gained after a long fight.

‘eye?’

In fact, the moment the spear blade protruded through the corpse, she seemed to have thought I was going to aim for the eyes, as she crossed her swords and blocked the front of her face.

But I had to exceed her expectations.

The blade of the spear pointed slightly upward, above her eyes.

Tearing off the rabbit’s ears.

One of the pair of ears that stood up was bleeding and folded.

It couldn’t have been that big of a wound.

The momentum of the spear seemed to pierce the entire target at any moment, but the curse was present in her white and long ears as well.

Still, I couldn’t deny that it was the biggest wound I had inflicted on her in the battle that had continued so far.

If a wound of that magnitude were to be inflicted on a sensitive area like a rabbit’s ear, that was enough to divert attention.

She didn’t scream in pain or anything.

I just stopped blankly for a moment and touched the wound on my ear with one hand.

The blood flowed from the female rabbit’s folded ears, down her hands, down her face, and into her eyes, which were as red as the blood.

On her white hair and skin, the red colors looked like red flowers blooming on the snow.

So much so that I thought it was strangely beautiful.

Of course, I had no time to appreciate such beauty, so as soon as she stopped, I watched her carefully, stepped back, and at the same time raised my spear and signaled to Emma.

I kept my guard up in case she suddenly lunged at me again.

But even as blood poured into her eyes, she just opened them wide and remained blank for a moment.

As if he couldn’t believe he was hurt, he touched the wound on his ear with his hand and winced as if he felt pain.

Only then did he truly realize that he had been hurt.

She laughed.

“Hahahaha!!”

With a truly beautiful voice, truly revealing a terrifying madness, truly intoxicated with twisted ecstasy.

And then I started moving again, in order to chase after the person who had given me such ecstasy, and to chase after myself.

Their faces turned red with anticipation and excitement for the twisted pleasure, and they approached me as if they wanted to share even more pleasure with each other.

But unfortunately for her, and fortunately for me, there were some things.

She didn’t have a friend like Emma to watch her back, and the monsters that were looking for an opportunity in the trees began to be attracted to the blood she shed.

More monsters than before jumped down from the trees and started running towards her.

At that moment, I got back on the back of Emma, who quickly ran next to me, and pointed my spear forward again, ready to charge.

Now to get out of this forest.