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"There were no zombies, and no Vampires."
The black cat gave a dry cough and explained softly, "They were just some Corpse Beetles... They suddenly scurried out of those dead rabbits and startled me..."
His voice grew quieter and quieter until, under the two witches' incredulous stares, it became inaudible.
If not for his black fur concealing any color, he would have bet that his face had turned the color of a cooked crab.
By then, the Corpse Beetles that had leaped out of the rabbit corpses in fright had quietly returned to their delicacies, continuing to gnaw at the bodies without a sound. Only the occasional faint twitch from somewhere on a rabbit's body told onlookers of their miserable postmortem fate.
The black cat flew into an embarrassed rage. He randomly tore apart the rabbit corpses in search of the feeding bugs, killing every one he found on the spot without mercy.
Thinking about how he had planned to roast the rabbits earlier, the black cat felt his stomach churn. Whether they would have tasted good was beside the point; the possibility of eating a bellyful of Insect Eggs and getting sick was bad enough.
"You're actually afraid of bugs?!" Ilena's tone dripped with mockery.
With his back to the witch, the black cat stiffened his neck and argued, "Caution. This is caution... a cautious stress response. Do I look scared now? Am I scared?"
As he spoke, he hooked a Corpse Beetle out of a rabbit's ear with his claw, then crushed it flat with one swipe. The crack of its shattered shell came with pale yellow bodily fluid splattering everywhere, bringing an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.
"I'm not afraid at all." The black cat resisted the urge to wipe his paw and added,