The old man saw them approaching and sent the bald man beside him to send them back. He agreed when the bald man told him what they wanted to do.

Mannat stopped behind him. He saw the rabbit and felt the prickly cold sensation again. It was coming from the rabbit, giving a sense of depth to its ferocious nature.

“Can you really ‘inspect’ it without touching?” The old man asked, apprehensive and interested at the same time.

Mannat didn’t speak but directly used the skill. A glowing blue message appeared in front of his eyes seconds later.

[Demonic Rabbit] [Male] [Lv-1]

[Demon rabbits are a group of rabbits corrupted by miasma. They always appear in pairs. The male spends his life digging burrows for his babies, while the female gives birth to dozens of babies every few days. Kill them before their numbers grow too strong. Beware: Where there is one, there are usually more of them.]

A cold drop of sweat slid down Mannat’s neck. Demonic Rabbit, Though it was not a very powerful monster, it was agile and had terrific regenerative prowess. Killing one rabbit was already proving to be a hassle; a few dozen of them could easily wipe out the whole village. As for an army containing hundreds of them attacking at the same time -- Mannat was sure even the town would have no answer to them and would suffer serious consequences. Perhaps, the great wall surrounding the town would finally fall.

The premise was that there was a female around. However, the Witch hadn’t told him about any females. She had only tasked him to catch one rabbit, not a pair of them.

He was determined to ask the Witch about its origin. He had an inkling she would be happy to tell him all about it, and maybe more.

It only took him a few seconds to read the prompt. His eyes focused back on the dreadful reality and he saw the old man anxiously looking at him. He was about to share the result of his inspection when the rope holding the beast suddenly broke. It would be better to say that an arrow cut it.

The rabbit didn’t miss his chance. It shrieked and jumped straight up to get out of the circle. Coincidently, it came straight toward them.

“No way!” Pandit shrieked and pulled Mannat back. Arrows flew toward the rabbit, but they all missed. People screamed in horror.

Perhaps, it’s trying to escape. Mannat thought. Then their eyes met. Mannat saw its beady red eyes fiercely fixed upon him.

The old man swung the torch at the black rabbit beast while it was still in the air. Sparks ensued and a fire flower bloomed at the impact. The monster fell to the ground covered in a plume of smoke, but it didn’t stay there for long. The rabbit ignored everyone, the torches, the fire, the men, and rushed straight toward him without rhyme or reason.

Mannat thought he was dead. He couldn’t move. Yet somehow, Pandit managed to push him to the left just in time as the rabbit reached them. Pandit fell to the right from the opposite force and the monster flew past them through the gap that had opened.

It wasn’t over yet.

The rabbit made a smooth landing behind them and turned around. It was coming back for a second time. It kicked the ground and flew toward Mannat.

A sharp cry scream rang in the sky at the same time. A blackbird descended from the sky with wide-open wings and collided with the rabbit mid-air. The two shrieked and fell to the ground like a bag of meat and bones. Feather and fur flew from them as they clashed. Men screamed and cheered.

The raven attacked the beast with her talons, while the rabbit tried to fend her off with its claws. It only took a moment for their clash to turn bloody. One of the raven’s claws pierced the rabbit’s eyelid, and she ruthlessly pulled out its left eye. The long-furred rabbit let out a sharp, ear-piercing roar of anger. It didn’t run away but lunged at her with its claws spread open.

The sun was finally starting to show its face to the world and coincidently, the rabbit eye didn’t heal. The former soldier didn’t miss the chance. He enthusiastically let three arrows fly toward them without worrying about hitting the raven.

“NO!” Mannat yelled as one of the two arrows missed their mark and pierced the ground, but the last one hit the raven dead on her left wing. She shrieked and toppled to the ground, the rabbit right upon her.

Mannat didn’t think twice and rushed forward. Pandit screamed behind him. The old man cursed. Some people drew sharp breaths, while others encouraged him to die. He was thinking about how to save her. He blocked the soldier’s line of sight to disrupt him from firing more arrows.

He wouldn’t hit a civilian, right? Mannat hoped.

Ahead of him, the rabbit had pinned the raven under its body. However, if Mannat thought he would save the raven then he was being delusional.

“Getaway!” A familiar voice rang and Mannat only saw a dark shadow flash before the rabbit appeared in front of him. With his life in danger he instantly grew so ‘focused’ he saw the rabbit slowly open its black mouth. The raven lay on the ground far behind it. The beast had ruffled her feathers, and there was a broken arrow shaft sticking out from one of her wings, but she was not bleeding and definitely in one piece. She was alive. He saw her eyes moving and looking in his direction.

He would have liked to remain in that hyperactive mental state, but the world was returning to normal, and fast. He didn’t’ even have enough time to move out of the way. The next one second passed instantaneously. He fell to his left and the rabbit buzzed past him.

Only this time it couldn’t turn around. An arrow struck right in the center of its chest. There was a rope tied on the arrow shaft and the bald man was holding it. It fell to the ground and shrieked in pain as the arrow dug into its chest when it tried to move. That arrow had definitely pierced its heart, but it was not falling.

That is when Pandit charged forward. He was holding his trusted cleaver and looked angry. The veins on his forehead were visible and beating with his heart. “GO to hell!” he yelled planting his feet in the mud right beside the quivering beast. He held the cleaver in his right hand and made a large swing. The force behind it not only beheaded the rabbit but also sent its head flying.

Black blood erupted from the rabbit’s torn neck as its body motionlessly fell to the ground. The head drew an arc in the air and bounced on the ground upon impact, stopping right beside Mannat out of sheer dumb luck.

A chill crept up Mannat’s back as that lone beady red eye moved in the socket and fixed at him. The dilated pupils refocused as the rabbit looked at him. It tried to snarl but no sound came from its mouth. Goosebumps rose up Mannat’s arms from the horror. He pulled back from the moving head. He could sense the hatred oozing out of its rotting and degrading wounds. That was miasma. It was the cause of his woes. It was the reason behind the chill he had sensed from the land, and the illness eating his mother from the inside.

His hand touched something solid, long and thin. It was an arrow stuck in the mud. Suddenly the raven cried in the back. It was urging him. Do it, his inner voice said. Mannat didn’t think twice. He pulled the arrow from the mud, grabbed it tightly in his hand, stretched forward on his knees, and stabbed it into the rabbit’s empty socket with all the strength he could muster. The arrowhead pierced through everything in its path and reached its brain. It died. The rabbit slowly stopped moving.

The crowd grew silent for a moment, then cheers erupted louder than ever before.

Mannat stared at the lifeless head in a daze as the rabbit’s one eye slowly lost color. The redness governing the eyes retreated to the back of the eyeball, returning it back to its normal dark color. Only, the eye remained lifeless.

The rest of its huge black body was also shrinking at a rapid rate. It was not returning to its normal body proportions, but deteriorating into a dehydrated bag of powder bone, slush organs, and liquid muscles. A vile stench wafted out from the body and the wind made sure to spread it out evenly in the field.

Many men groaned as the stench reached them and those too close to the source hurriedly scattered. Anyways, the deed was done and the rabbit was dead. The only thing left was to collect on the barrel full of free grains. That would have to wait until harvest.

However, Mannat believed it was not over yet.

He put his thoughts to rest and heaved to his feet. He didn’t stay there either. The stench was getting worse with time.

A few people tried to approach Mannat, but the raven was faster, even with a broken wing. Mannat only heard a pair of beating wings approaching him before the raven swirled out of the crowd, grabbed the head, and slowly rose to the sky.

Mannat exhaled in relief. He had been worried for her health. Thank god, she was alive. The Witch would have killed him if she were too badly hurt. He found the former soldier taking aim, but held his hand when the old man shook his head. He passed Mannat a nod, shook hands with the old man, and left with the crowd.

Pandit asked after his health, checked his body for injuries, and offered him water. He accepted both and noticed a blue dot glowing in the corner of his sight. He had somehow missed a system message. It was strange.

Which skill leveled up? Could it be vigor? He thought. The result was disappointing. Actually, he had never received such a weird message before.

[Congratulation! You killed a Demonic Rabbit. 20 EXP gained.]

He couldn’t make heads or tails of it until the message faded from his sight. Later, he had no time to worry as he got busy ensuring both Pandit and Sardar about his health.

Sardar held Mannat’s shoulder in concern and said with worry-filled eyes. “It’s all right to tell me if you are hurt somewhere.” he looked distressed.

“I’m fine,” Mannat said in exasperation. “However, I have something to tell you.” He didn’t want to cry wolf but decided to share his thoughts for the sake of vigilance. “There could be more of them around.”

The old man nodded. “Don’t worry. We know. There has to be more. It couldn’t have dug the burrows alone.”

Mannat sighed. “No, it did dig them alone,”

“What?” Pandit yelled.

Sardar looked at him distressed. Mannat shared his knowledge with them and they were speechless. Mannat even noticed fear from them both.

To think there could be more of such blood curling, giant rabbits out in the open were a cause of distress. It was enough to make even Mannat vigilant.

The old man sobered up fast though. His age wasn’t just a number.

“That’s what the skill say’s,” Mannat continued. “I personally believe this was the only one. They would have jumped at us if there were more. Still, I think it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“No, you are right.” The old man gave him a pat on the shoulder and looked away at the group of men cheering at the hard-won victory. He didn’t tell them the truth about the monster, that it was just a rabbit.

The old man looked at the rising sun. It was being hounded by clouds, but they weren’t able to hide its shine. Suddenly, he remembered a rhyme from his childhood. It was something like,

“Keep an eye on the falling sun,

They come when light is gone.

Keep close your eyes, my lovely angel,

and don’t answer their call.”

Mannat found the rhyme interesting.

“What comes next?” Mannat asked when the old man stopped singing.

“Nothing,” the old man shook his head. “I don’t remember.” He said feeling tired. His age was starting to catch up with him.

Mannat looked at the headless corpse in the distance, wondering if they should bury or burn it. However, the old man saw right through him. “You both have done enough for one day,” He said. “Let us do the rest. After all, it’s our land.”

They parted.