Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Rolling

An utterly massive horned rabbit rushed towards me at speeds unthinkable for its size and species, completely ignoring my attempt to stop it. That wasn't why I was shocked, though!

The whimper I made wouldn't scare even a five-year-old, let alone this huge lump of muscles and teeth. I was shocked at why that happened! Why did I whine instead of roar? Why hasn't my presence changed? Some sort of dysfunction?!

This never happened to me before. Believe me!

Shit! I swore in my mind when I realized my hesitation. This wasn't a tea party, I could afford to space out at. The rabbit didn't wait for me to settle my thoughts and figure out why my attempt failed. Jumping to the right and rolling, only brushing my tail against its fur, I avoided the attack by the skin of my teeth.

I scraped my knee on a rock hidden in the grass, though.

The rabbit, due to its size and speed, could not stop on the spot when its attack failed, and by the time it had reoriented itself, I was already running away from it, making a distance between us and releasing poison behind me. I don't know if the rabbit didn't find the orange clouds between us dangerous or if it simply focused on its prey, but it ran right through them as I had hoped.

This time I was not as fast, I thought I would be, and the rabbit grazed the barrier, I surrounded myself, with its horn, shattering it, making me stumble.

Doubting the usefulness of [Master's Shield], I fell face first, landing on a rock. So much for my good spatial awareness and balance.

With my forehead bleeding and somewhat shaken, I wanted to take the stone and throw it away in a rage. It must have been one of only two stones in the whole meadow. When I sneaked around looking for rabbits, I didn't come across any, and now I hit two within seconds?!

Either I was incredibly unlucky, or it was a rabbit's skill!

Despite directing my anger, from my failures, at the rock, anxiety still clenched my guts, my heart was racing, and the trembling body almost paralyzed me. Yet fearing for my life, I jumped to my feet and ran out in another direction releasing the poison behind me again.

To my dismay, the overgrown rodent did not rush after me. It squeak-roared at me before its muscles tightened and it jumped. Seeing a shadow on the ground, I stopped in my tracks, looking back up at the beast that covered the sky. The thought of this quarter-ton rabbit landing on me terrified me.

So I did the only thing I could and jumped aside. Just a breath later, and its ass would crush me. The ground shook, and the turbulent air caused by the rodent's impact rolled away the poison. When I raised my head, I looked straight into the rabbit's mouth, the ten-centimeter-long front teeth just centimeters from me. I could smell its breath, and whatever it was that was rotting in its mouth.

Sage released the rest of the poison he had, covering me with clouds of it. I wish I could say that it was my intention, but it wasn't! Although it was embarrassing to admit, it was an uncontrolled release caused by the situation I was in. Better than pee my pants in fear, though.

(ding) You were poisoned

No shit! I cursed, not daring to speak out loud.

I knew that without the system telling me, it was already too late when I smelled apples.

But that was the least of my worries, after all, my own poison couldn't kill me now that my body was regenerating faster than it could destroy my nervous system. No, a much greater danger to me was the rabbit, which the poison seemed not to affect.

I could only speculate whether the level of my skill was too low, whether the rabbit was immune to poisons, or if it was due only to its size and more poison and time was needed to kill it.

Right now, the poison didn't seem to bother the rabbit at all as it pounced at me, despite being surrounded by clouds of apple-smelling gas. Only by twisting my body to a position where I thought I would tear my muscles, I narrowly avoided its teeth in its attempt to bite my throat.

If I had to choose, I'd rather have a few torn muscles than a bitten-off head.

With that thought in mind, I gathered up my courage and punched the rabbit in the snout with all the force I could muster, while shouting, "Take this!"

The painful howl that followed was a mixture of mine and rabbits. Gritting my teeth in pain, I rolled away and sprang to my feet, dodging another pounce, and this time with my left hand, slashing claws at the rodent.

My target was the red eyes under its horns I had missed completely, only slashing the rabbit's cheeks with the tips of the claws, just scratching it. It was a failure of the attack!

In my defense, the left hand was my weaker hand, and the poisoning got worse. My mind became more sluggish, my body didn't respond as well as I wanted, and I was breathing harder. I needed to figure out quickly how to get out of this situation.

My only consolation was that the poison seemed to affect the beast as well finally. The rabbit shook its head, tossing it, sniffing the air, and realizing that the apples' pleasant aroma was more dangerous than the creature thought.

Using its distraction to my advantage, I created a distance between us and reactivated [Tail of Poison Empress], knowing that it would take a while for the poison to form in the glands. I had no idea if the beast realized what was going on, whether it ignored the poison destroying its body or just intended to kill me before the poison killed it, but it sprang out of the orange clouds at me.

Though, its speed was noticeably slower than before!

Was that an advantage? It would be if the same poison did not affect me. Due to the short distance and my slow reactions, I did not avoid the rabbits attack even though I tried, and it rammed into the barrier I created in front of me. I was glad my sluggish brain did it. Otherwise, I would now have at least broken bones.

To my surprise, this magical shield did not shatter.

Though I didn't have time to ponder about the reason for this anomaly in the barrier's strength as the rabbit's impact sent me flying, and I was now tumbling down the slope.

Yeah, if I let someone attack the barrier earlier, if I tested it more, I'd know this was going to happen. I knew I was the center, its anchor, that the barrier was moving with me, but I didn't realize that when a quarter-ton rabbit hit me, it threw me away like a doll along with the barrier.

Well, now I know!

Trying to reorient myself and stop my rolling, I used all the limbs I had. I think I even flew a few meters. But when I finally stopped, landing on my ass, a familiar shadow came over me. Not even having to look up, I knew that a massive horned rabbit was falling on me.

I didn't think about it twice and jumped back as fast as I could, propelling myself faster by fluttering my wings. It wasn't enough, I reacted too late. Though the horned rabbit did not land on me, it toppled onto its side immediately after the impact, trapping my legs underneath its body.

A painful cry that escaped my throat was just a confirmation of what I felt as its weight was crushing my legs.

Creating the barrier before me and preparing as best I could, I waited for the beast to attack. It caught me, trapped me under its body, all that remained was to finish the hunt and kill me. But if the rabbit tries to do so, it finds out that I was not such easy prey. I was determined not to give up, not without a fight!

I can't say how long I've been sitting there like a fool, expecting my end, but it hasn't come. The massive beast just lay there on my feet and didn't move.

Is it dead? It was a bold thought after everything that had happened.

But no, it was still breathing! I could feel it on my legs as it was trying to get air into its collapsing lungs, each breath pushing more weight on them, causing me more pain. I even saw its chest rise and fall.

Plus, the system still did not announce my victory!

When I put two and two together, which, given that I felt like drunk right now due to the poison in my body, took a while, I realized that the poison had worked even on such a massive beast despite its low level. It just took longer!

The question was whether it could kill the rabbit, whether it was enough for me to wait a few minutes, or whether I should help end its life. I decided on the latter, not wanting to risk the rabbit getting up and attacking me when I least expected it.

But it was easier said than done, especially when I still couldn't move. A quick check with [Inner Perception] showed me that my legs weren't broken, so I did the first thing that came to my mind and tried to free them from underneath the rabbit.

"Shit...no, no, no..." I cursed as the beast immediately responded to my movement. The rabbit's muscles tightened, and it tried to get up, but its attempt failed and ended in a frustrated and defiant squeak-roar before its poison-affected body collapsed exhausted again.

"Huh ... fuck you!!" I growled, gritting my teeth in pain its collapse caused me.

In frustration, I punched its back, immediately regretting my hasty decision, swallowing another swear word, but still thinking it.

Son of a bitch!!

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It was my stupidity that caused the pain I felt now in my hand and not the horned rabbit. Razso told me several times never to punch with my claws outstretched.

Well, I guess I had a very short memory, because my first fight, my first punch to the beast's muzzle, and I did just that.

Now I've done it again!

Why not do it? It is simple. When you clench your fist, you wrap your nails in your palm. In my case, the claws, so when I hit the beast, I thrust the claws into my own palm, piercing it. Second time at that, on the same hand!

What can I say, I'm right-handed.

However, this personal failure reminded me of the other advice that my trainer of close combat gave me. It was about fighting the horned rabbits and their weaknesses, which was the place I was looking at right now. The back of its neck.

Looking at my left hand, I wondered if instead of hitting the nape of the neck, it was better to release more poison. More concentration could kill the massive beast, and I could avoid poisoning myself by creating a barrier around me or rather just around my head or torso. Getting stuck in a barrier with Sage wouldn't help me much.

I knew I was hesitant!

I hesitated to take someone's life with my hands, even if it was just a beast. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a vegetarian, I loved good steaks. I just never killed a living thing, not counting flies and mosquitoes.

Ok...there was that rat in Dungreen's cellar trying to take my food. I kicked it, and the rat died hitting a wall, but now I was talking about killing something with my own hands, about breaking someone's neck. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Facing the beasts should make it easier for me to take its life, it shouldn't burden the mind, at least that's what I thought as I prepared for this venture.

I was wrong, so wrong, and now I was hesitant, which scared me.

If I should hesitate to kill every time, a career as a seeker was definitely not for me.

What then? The thought that I should live as a slave for the rest of my life, wash clothes in a brothel, and possibly end up as a companion was much scarier than killing. I didn't want to worry for the rest of my life that Dungreen would come for me one day. I didn't want to look over my shoulder all the time, expecting someone to show up and deprive me of my freedom again.

I found myself crying even though I wasn't looking at the statue of Traiana. I didn't even bother to wipe the tears, as they kept flowing. Retracting my claws, I clenched my left hand into a fist, closed my eyes, and struck the horned rabbit in the back of the neck with all the strength I could muster in my weaker hand.

My brain, sluggish as it was, didn't inform me that closing my eyes wouldn't help much when I had the [Space Domain] active. So to my disgust, I perceived my attempt to kill even better than with my eyes open. Yet, even with my hearing, I did not hear the crunch, nor did the system notify me about my crime.

So I hit the rabbit again.

Nothing.

Again!

Did I hear squeaking?

"Die, die, die ... why won't you fucking die!!" I screamed as I keep punching the rabbit.

(ding) You have defeated [Horned Rabbit: lvl 38]

"Finally ... yes!!!" I rejoiced, shouting at the ceiling and crying so hard that my whole cheeks were wet. Wiping my runny nose and tears from my cheeks with the wings, I looked at the corpse. That was a mistake, and I had to suppress the urge to barf. It wasn't the dead body in front of me, but the thought that I had killed it had upset my stomach.

Not wanting to be trapped under a corpse any longer, I set out to free my legs. Now that the beast was dead and it wasn't trying to bite me when I moved, it was much easier.

I have not yet fully realized the consequences of what I have done, and I was already terrified by the look of my legs when I freed them from under a quarter-ton rabbit. They were bruised, all dark and blue, and it was only a few minutes after the beast fell on them. Using [Inner Perception] again, I made sure the bones weren't broken that I didn't have torn muscles. It was just bruises that appeared unexpectedly fast.

It could be some reaction caused by a nerve poison that was still trying to destroy my body, the rabbit's skill, or something in its fur. Well, I was sure whatever it was [Never-Dying] would take care of that, it didn't let me down so far. After all, I was able to fight even though I poisoned myself.

I rolled aside and lay motionless in the grass, exhausted. Both physically and emotionally.

I didn't fight for long, nor was it a physically demanding fight, if it could be called a fight. The fatigue I felt was caused by how nervous and tense I was before and during the fight. I remembered this from school exams or later from job interviews. They weren't physically demanding activities. I just sat there but always came back from them exhausted as if I had just finished a shift in a mine or run a marathon.

On the other hand, what exhausted me emotionally was not the fight itself but what I did. I killed the beast, I killed the living creature.

"You did it Korra ..." I laughed out loud desperately, and even though I was happy for what I accomplished, I cried, glad that my first victim was not a cute bunny, but terrible monster.

It took me a while to calm down, to reconcile my thoughts before I was able to think about what had happened.

I was a fool! It was that simple.

A city girl who thought she could handle everything, too eager, too unprepared. Also too curious to see what the labyrinth looks like, what it hides. So far, it exceeded my expectations. It was much bigger than I imagined.

Thinking back about the fight, I made too many mistakes. Actually, I wasn't sure if I did anything right. Despite the fact that the horned rabbit was only a level 38 beast, I was lucky to be alive.

First of all my roar! What the hell was that? Such a pathetic whimper! I had no idea I was capable of anything like that. Some kind of dysfunction was one possibility, but there had to be a proper explanation for it.

I sniffed and wiped the tears, which still came out of my eyes, with my wings again before I thought.

Hmm ... think, think!

When I answered Danhem's roar, it was in defiance. I was angry at Blaine, furious even, but when I wanted to stop the horned rabbit, I was so unsure about what I wanted to do that my nervousness and especially my fear won. It was the emotions that were reflected in my roar, in my war cry that turned into something awkward. Probably for the same reason, my presence did not change, so in the eyes of a rabbit I did not become a level 200+ beast. I wouldn't be surprised if it saw me as easier prey than I really was.

Well, I didn't give it a reason to think otherwise.

How could I have thought that poison would have the same effect on a massive beast as on me, a girl weighing a few kilos? Nonsense, I was lucky that the rabbit was as stupid as I was and ran right into the cloud of poison, treating it like ordinary air.

The fundamental mistake was that I poisoned myself. My regeneration may have been the best, but it didn't completely eliminate the effects of the poison, which slowed my reactions. Even now, I struggled to think and breathe.

My fighting skills? I'm decent at dodging and rolling, that's about it. Let's forget about the whole fiasco with fists and claws.

Perhaps the only positive thing about it all was the barrier, which for the first time withstood an attack, albeit the result was not what I would have imagined. I flew quite far! Hmm ... the thought crossed my mind, if I created a spherical barrier around me, I could roll off these hills, zorbing.

I always wanted to try, I never did.

“Maybe later,” I smiled to myself and thought back to the fight.

The last thing that weighed on my mind I expected, but it was no less disappointing for me. I didn't level up!

I got a bunch of skill levels, though.

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