Chapter 8. Part 2.

(POV A Fluffy Bunny at the bottom of a well)

I struck the jackpot! An immortal’s brain! Hahaha, I can get all the golden carrots I want with this. That immortal was so weak though, he couldn’t even capture a weak little Fluffy Bunny like me. If it wasn’t for the fact that he wouldn’t die even if I fought him I’d have certainly killed him then and there. I can’t believe how generous the big boss lady was to toss out a freebie to a weak little bunny like me though. To be honest, it’s suspicious, but what do I care?

Once I hand this over to the Zombie King on the 90th floor, I’m sure to make it big and evolve into a Pink Fluffy Bunny at level 30. I’m sure I’ll send chills down the spines of my enemies the moment they see me in all my fluffy splendour. I’ll be able to look down upon them from above and laugh out loud while shouting, fear me you unworthy peasant fluffy bunnies below level 30! I’m sure all the female White Fluffy Bunnies will scramble to fall on their stomachs and lick my majestic paws.

However, pink is only a pit stop in my grand journey to the peak of power. I am an ambitious bunny who knows not the plight of the plebeian rabbits grovelling before me in my path. The rankings for Fluffy Bunnies from weakest to strongest is white, pink, silver, gold, orange, green, red, blue, violet, black. I will definitely one day become the black rabbit king and even dominate over those blasted humans.

Not even the big boss lady will be able to touch me in the future. I can just imagine her pleading for my mercy when I surpass her and break free of her control. Of course, if she willingly submits to me and becomes my concubine I may consider letting her live.

“Halt! Who goes there?”

I’m finally here!

“I’ve come with an important mission. I must deliver a certain item to the Zombie King. Please grant my humble self a meeting with the honorable one.”

“Hah? A weak, useless little White Fluffy Bunny like you dares to request a meeting with the Zombie King? Have you lost your marbles? Do you want to die?”

“I’m here on orders of the big boss lady.”

The moment those words came out of my puffed up cheeks, the pitiful zombie knights trembled slightly and whispered back and forth between each other.

“Guys, there’s no way a little Fluffy Bunny could actually be here on orders of the almighty empress of the night who rules over the dungeon, right? Why would she send a weakling like this? Is she underestimating us zombies and our king?”

“But what if he’s telling the truth and we end up offending her? Not even our king would get out with his head in tact if he offended her.”

“Should we just let him through and act like we saw nothing?”

“That would probably be the safest choice, right?”

“Yeah, let’s just do that.”

“You may pass.”

Aren’t these zombie knights a bit too stupid to be used as guards? Well, they are zombies after all.

Of course, I didn’t stick around long enough for them to second guess themselves. I immediately skedaddled out of there and journeyed deeper into the residence of the Zombie King.

The place really wasn’t as majestic as one would think it would be, it was really just a straight hallway that led into a big open room. It was a very basic and standard boss room set up you could find in many other floors of the dungeon. Even the 100th floor was extremely plain and simple. It seemed the big boss lady didn’t care much for that sort of thing. She wasn’t very attached to material possessions and was fine with the utmost bare minimum. Her entire floor was just a flat wide open plain filled with only pure darkness without any sort of obstructions.

Of course, there were some boss monsters on floors above that paid more attention to detail and whatnot. In fact, there were two floors in which full blown cities were created. They were located on the 50th floor and 70th floor. They were paradises intended for monsters and demons to live in; safe havens where both monsters and demons coexisted together in a mutualistic symbiotic relationship. It was much unlike humans who only blindly slaughtered our kind in the name of their so called god.

As for where the demons came from, it was said they were descendants that were saved from their fate as slaves to the humans in an empire long, long ago. It’s unknown just how old the big boss lady is, but her strength is truly unimaginable. But the big boss lady didn’t abuse her power and treat monsters like me poorly, she even let us live freely as we wished.

In my opinion, for someone who was the true demon lord, I really found that she was far too kind. But when the stories are told of her heroic tale where she slaughtered an entire human empire, I’m forced to think otherwise. It still sends shivers through my little rabbit pelt whenever I thought about a big boss lady drenched from head to toe in the blood of her sworn enemies.

A voice abruptly broke the silence and interrupted my train of thought. It was the voice of the person I’d sought out for this trade.

“What business does a weak Fluffy Bunny like you have with me? Actually, now that I think about it, how did a weakling like you even get here? What am I paying those useless zombie knights for when they can’t even keep out a White Fluffy Bunny?”

“Your kingship, I have come to do business.”

“Oh? Hahaha! Is this a joke? What sort of business proposal could a tiny little Fluffy Bunny strike up to interest a mighty zombie king like I?”

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Damnit, we rabbits are the ones who gave birth to the art of clicking one’s tongue. Anyways, just wait until I’m a Black Fluffy Bunny, I’ll make sure you grovel before me and beg me in tears for forgiveness, you stupid overconfident zombie king.

Now, it was about time for me to reveal my trump card. I spit out the brain that I had somehow barely kept hidden inside my cheek the whole time.

“You see this brain?” Stupid Zombie King? Of course I couldn’t really say my true thoughts.

“What of it? It’s just a brain, right? I’ve eaten tons of them already to reach my level. What’s so great about a brain a little White Fluffy Bunny like you can get your grubby little paws on?”

“What if I said this was the brain of an immortal being on the same level as the big boss lady?”

Well at least his ability to not die was. He looks like a total weakling in terms of combat ability when compared to the big boss lady, but this idiotit zombie king doesn’t need to know that.

“Hah? An immortal’s brain? Do you think I’m stupid enough to believe that?”

“It’s true though, the big boss lady is the one that extracted it personally and tossed it away as a freebie. I was lucky enough to get ahold of it. Think about it, if you were to use this immortal’s brain, you’d surely gain a significant amount of strength.”

If you’re lucky, maybe your pathetic intelligence stat would go up a few notches too.

Luckily it looked like my words were slightly effective, it appeared he was a bit swayed and I could see he was slightly struggling to make a decision. It’s best to strike while the iron is hot.

“If I were to ingest such a valuable brain, although a rabbit like me could gain a bit, it would surely be a waste. Only someone mighty like you is worthy of a priceless treasure such as this. A pitiful weak creature like me can only look up to those as powerful as your highness, the great majestic Zombie King with no equal under the heavens.”

“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Who knew rabbits had such good eyes.”

“Of course, it is only natural for all lower beings like me to worship one as dashing as you. I even heard the big boss lady say how highly she thought of you which was why you were the first person I brought this immortal brain to.”

The truth is, you’re the only brainless floor boss I thought would be stupid enough to fall for this. For any other floor boss I don’t have any sort of confidence to hoodwink them as easily as I would when compared to your dumb ass. To be successful in life as a Fluffy Bunny, you must of course know how to be cunning.

“Since I’m in a good mood, I suppose I don’t mind rewarding you a bit for your efforts. What would you like?”

“100 gold carrots.”

“Hmm? Is that all?”

One must lowball at first to make a good impression.

“I couldn’t dare be greedy with a generous kind hearted zombie king like you.”

“Not bad, not bad at all, little rabbit. Since I like you and since you did go through quite a bit of effort to bring me this immortal’s brain I can’t be stingy with a good little friend like you. I’ll make it 1000 gold carrots and this mark of the Zombie King. No one will dare bully you if you show them this mark.”

I’m freaking rich! Holy cow, I really hit the jackpot! My great, god like, moronic zombie king, you are my idiotic, brain dead hero of time immemorial!

He handed over a storage ring that contained the 1000 gold carrots. The mark of the zombie king was engraved on the storage ring. I put the ring in my mouth, said my words of thanks and quickly departed.

Shortly after I left, right when I passed all the guards at the end of the tunnel, I heard a loud shout, “wretched scheming rabbit! You dare plot to scam me?!”

My little wabbit heart nearly leaped out of my mouth as I ran away at my top speed. I didn’t really know what happened all of the sudden, but I knew for sure something had surely gone horribly wrong.

As such, I immediately made haste and made a great escape back towards the bottom of the dungeon. I fled for fear that my life was now endangered after I’d successfully ripped off the Zombie King.

What can I say though? It was a fair trade, wasn’t it? If the Zombie King was somehow incompetent and something happened to the brain, what did that have to do with a widdle Fluffy Bunny like me?

When I finally made it back to the bottom of the dungeon what greeted me was a slightly surprised voice.

“Oh? What’s this? You’re back already? Huhuhu. Where have you been all this time little rabbit?”

Big boss lady was smiling knowingly at me as though she knew of everything.

“What happened to the brain I let you have?”

Big boss lady is really scary after all. The look on her face told me she knew everything I had done. Since the deed was done, I could only play dumb. I innocently approached her with a stupid blank look of naive innocence on my face. I was determined to show my utmost submissive expression with my eyes as large and adorable as possible. I nuzzled my head against her bare leg and rolled on my back to expose my stomach to her.

“Well since you’re cute and no harm was done, I suppose I can let you off.”

Big boss lady looked left and right discreetly. Once she made sure the coast was clear, she knelt down and lifted me up from the ground then pulled me into a hug. She rubbed her cheek against my fur and mumbled, “Soft and fluffy as always I see. By the way if you leak anything about me to anyone, especially him, I’ll make sure your death won’t be pleasant my little bunny friend.”

Yes ma’am, yes! A bit of cold sweat ran down my back.

“Still trying to play dumb like you can’t talk when you’re around me? Am I really that scary?”

Yes! Yes, you are! Absolutely terrifying!

It was likely she noticed my trembling body as she dejectedly put me down with a sigh.

“Haaah. He’s the only one that doesn’t tremble when I embrace him. What am I supposed to do? He’s just food. Why’s he getting so cocky all the time?”

Well, he can’t die after all. I’m pretty sure that’s a fairly good reason why he’s not shitting his pants when he sees you, right?

“It’s also so infuriating how I couldn’t even win one game of Shogi against him as well.”

Aren’t you just bad?

“There were so many times where I had him in a corner too, but he always turned the tables on me at some point.”

Are you sure you’re not just bad?

“One more year to freedom, huh? But what’s the point of going out there now? Won’t undoing the seal just bring about a new era of war in this world? If I release the denizens of this dungeon into the world, the gods are sure to equalize and balance things out so the despicable humans will become strong enough to fight back and defend themselves. They may start summoning heroes en mass if that happens as well. What if I give them a heads up beforehand and deliver another prophecy? If humans summon heroes beforehand and train them up, maybe the gods will consider the playing field to be equal and not stick their noses where it doesn’t belong.”

Changing the topic now, are we?

“If I don’t act and leave things to him and that new servant of mine, that should be able to slide under the radar, right? The gods probably wouldn’t react if they raised their own army from scratch, right?”

“What do you think mister Fluffy Bunny?”

How the hell would I know?! Actually, why are you dropping a bunch of bombs while I’m around?! What is this talk of godly intervention anyways?! The scale of content contained within her mumbles to herself was far too high level for a mere level 20 White Fluffy Bunny like me to comprehend.

I could only tilt my widdle wabbit head to the side cluelessly and continue to look at her with large wide open eyes that screamed “tehe? I’m just a widdle wabbit minding my own widdle business. Please don’t involve me in matters concerning the future of the world. Pwetty pwease with a chewwy on top?”

It was as though there was some sort of mystical connection that formed between the two of our locked eyes at that moment. It truly felt like we fully understood each other on a very deep level. The level of, I’m just a siwwy little wabbit doing siwwy little wabbit things.

A light sigh escaped her lips; coupled with the lonely smile on her face, there was a deep sense of melancholy around her. For some reason it really appeared she wished that there was someone’s shoulder she could lean against and rest her head on. Her crimson hair draped down behind her as she curled up into a ball. She sat on the ground and hugged her legs tightly. Her legs pressed firmly against her fair white chest. She tilted her head a bit and looked somewhere far off into the distance with her two crimson moons for eyes. I was left slightly curious as to what was presently on her mind.

After some time spent in silence admiring the picture perfect, beauty, big boss lady, she inevitably broke the silence and said, “You can go now, but no leaking things like this to him either, okay? If you try, I can assure you, you will be dead long before the words ever leave your mouth.”

That was when it hit me. Yep, I’m just a widdle wabbit, I don’t understand speech at all. My short term memory also doesn’t seem to be very good either. Four minutes from now I’ll surely forget about everything. It’s really best to act like I saw nothing and pretend that I knew nothing of this vulnerable side of hers.

With a stupid look on my face I laid down on my back, exposed my belly to her and innocently played dead.