The Fierce Rabbit

Fifty seconds later...

Pandora hurled the half-dead Black Bear in her hands with all her strength, knocking down the last few crazed animals in sight and finally clearing the surrounding area once more.

With a stomp, Pandora leaped back into the open space before the castle, then picked up another intact tree trunk.

Earlier, in search of a suitable weapon, she had uprooted four trees in total. In the end, she had found the heaviest one the most suitable, but she had not discarded the other three.

Now that the most suitable one had broken, she had no choice but to settle for a lighter trunk. Though it was not quite as handy, it was still a massive wooden club over ten meters long. When swung, its power was hardly much weaker.

The next moment, the crazed animals surged forward again. Pandora tightened her expression, lifted the second trunk, and swung it fiercely.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

From above, the entire small mountain could be seen packed with crazed animals, continuously charging at the last patch of open ground at its summit. Pandora was like the last soldier facing thousands of enemies, struggling to hold her position.

Until the blood ran dry, there would be no end to the battle.

Of course, all the blood belonged to the crazed animals. Pandora had not suffered any injuries, though boredom and disgust showed faintly in her eyes.

Bang! Bang! Bang... Crack!

Before long—perhaps half an hour, perhaps an hour—hundreds or even thousands of crazed animals had died. Yet their madness did not lessen, and they continued their assault as Pandora's tree trunk broke once again.

Watching the broken trunk fly away, Pandora hurriedly retreated to grab the third trunk. Naturally, the crazed animals would not allow it, desperately trying to stop her. The moment Pandora turned around, they launched a relentless barrage at her back.

Pandora frowned and swept her gaze around. She discovered that, perhaps having learned from their earlier mistakes, the crazed animals attacking now were all smaller ones, such as Sables, Leopard Cats, and Macaques. Large animals like Wild Boars and Black Bears had all moved to the outer perimeter, making it impossible for her to clear out a space like before.

Should she ignore the attacks and grab the tree trunk first? Or should she deal with these small animals in front of her before going for it?

Pandora's gaze wavered with indecision. Just as she was considering it, she suddenly felt an extremely powerful gust of wind sweep past her, blasting fiercely toward the group of small animals surrounding her.

The next moment, the small animals let out a series of miserable cries as the wind sent them flying more than ten meters away, where they fell into the densely packed animal horde.

This? Pandora turned her head in slight surprise and happened to see Richard slowly lower his raised hand.

Spell · First-Ring Low-Tier · Enhanced Wind Repulsion!

"Perhaps... you did not need me to do that. Perhaps you had a way to deal with it yourself. But at least I did not get in your way, right?" Richard said calmly.

Pandora did not answer. She walked several steps forward, grabbed the third tree trunk, and swung it at the crazed animal horde, knocking down swath after swath. After clearing out an area for the third time, she turned to look at Richard. Her mouth moved several times, as though she wanted to say something, but in the end, she forcibly compressed it into one strange syllable. "Hah!"

Hah? Richard froze. What was that supposed to mean? Thanks?

He shrugged and looked around. The next moment, his gaze sharpened. With a flick of his hand, a scalpel-like blade appeared in it, its edge sharp and gleaming with a chilling light.

Some of the creatures around him were eyeing him maliciously, perhaps because he had acted just now.

With Pandora protecting him, Richard did not think large animals like Black Bears or Wild Cattle could get close to him. But small animals like Gray Rabbits and Otters were another matter.

Just as he was thinking that, a Black Shadow flashed past. A Yellow Weasel shot toward him like an arrow loosed from a bow, its sharp claws raking viciously at his eyes.

Richard narrowed his eyes. His hand moved, and a cold glint flashed through the air, followed by a burst of blood.

When the Yellow Weasel's claws were still half a meter from his eyes, they went limp. Its throat had been completely sliced open.

The violent exertion had made the Yellow Weasel's heart pound at high speed, pumping blood throughout its body. Under such conditions, once the main artery was severed, blood instantly sprayed out like a fountain, scattering through the air like a blooming blood lotus.

With a bang, the Yellow Weasel fell from the air and hit the ground, twitching as it died.

Richard flicked the scalpel in his hand lightly, sending a string of blood droplets flying off. He looked again at the crazed animal horde and found that the situation was worsening.

Killing one Yellow Weasel had not frightened the animals in the slightest. Instead, it had stirred up their ferocity.

Pandora swung her tree trunk wildly, stirring up waves of bloodshed among the animal horde, but she could not block them all. Stragglers continually broke through and attacked.

Richard was not afraid. He watched calmly, then struck calmly.

There were no techniques to speak of. He merely identified their vital points and swiftly cut down with the scalpel in his hand, ending each battle in a single brief exchange.

Compared to Pandora, Richard's fighting had no spectacle to it, but it was more precise, decisive, and efficient. Richard did not kill the most animals, but he killed the fastest. Moreover, the animals he killed were generally not eaten by the others. Because any animal that dared rush forward to feed became another soul beneath Richard's blade.

Sometimes, several small animals would attack Richard together. At those times, Richard would not hesitate to use spells. Usually, he would first use Wind Repulsion to send the small animals flying, then kill them one by one.

If that was not enough, he would first use Wind Barrier to protect himself, then launch attacks and kill them.

And if even that was not enough, he would enhance himself with Wind Agility and Wind Brute Force, strengthening his body's agility and power. He would continuously strike the animals' vital points, using sustained bleeding to make them die from excessive blood loss.

Gradually, animal corpses began piling up around Richard, forming a small hill.

Richard was preparing to cast Flame Impact to ignite the corpses and hinder the offensive of the crazed animals.

Suddenly, a sense of danger rose within him. He instinctively tilted his head, and a silver-white blur swept past his eyes. A burning pain immediately flared across his face. He reached up and lightly wiped it. His hand came away covered in blood. He had clearly been scratched.

This was...

Richard narrowed his eyes and looked toward the silver-white shadow that had landed not far away. His brows lifted slightly when he discovered that it was actually a rabbit.

It was a little over twenty centimeters long and weighed more than five kilograms. The bases of its fur were blue-black, while its guard hairs were white, giving it a silvery sheen. Unless he was mistaken, it was a close relative of the Silver Rabbit, a small rabbit species from Modern Earth.

However, this rabbit was clearly more formidable than the other crazed animals, or it would not have managed to injure him. Besides its incredible speed, it had chosen its moment well, striking precisely during the gap when he was preparing to cast a spell.

More importantly, there were faint traces of mana fluctuations within its body. This indicated that it might be a Demonized Creature, similar to the Flame Python he had captured outside Blue Lion City.

However, it should only have undergone the most basic demonization. Otherwise, it might have been able to resist the Mental Strength emanating from within the distant mountain and would not have followed the other animals here to fight madly.

But regardless, it was far more dangerous than many of the other animals.

A fierce rabbit, huh.

Richard muttered inwardly, tightening his grip on the scalpel.