~ Adventurer"s life Day 5 (Fri) Morning ~ Comnes Town Southeast – [Beginner"s Rock Field] Outer Boundary

In order to hunt the sh.e.l.led rabbit, I moved I"ve walking around the outer edge of the rock field.

I looked around and there"s only a few people I can see in the distance. The weather"s also just right for hunting.

Sh.e.l.led rabbits only appear outside the rock fields, so the plan is to lure them to at least where the gra.s.s is much shorter.

I placed my bag on top of a rock, and prepped up my shield onto my left hand. As the gra.s.s gradually start to become deeper, I begin to be more way of my surroundings.

(… There…)

I was just able to see the brownish back hiding inside some thick gra.s.s.

There"s a considerable distance between us compared to last time.

But if I were to move any closer than this, it would most likely notice me and start to attack.

I glanced behind me to check there"s no obstacles in the way.

There"s the boulder behind that I could probably use.

It would"ve been better if the gra.s.s here was even shorter.

(Well, I guess this place can do.)

I looked back to the rabbit one more time, and it is also peeking over this way…

I took out the stone from my pocket and threw it with all my strength.

The stone, which was the size of a ping pong ball, knocked right into its sh.e.l.l.

At then, it immediately sank inside the gra.s.s, and I can hear some rustling sounds coming closer.

(It"s coming!)

I took a stance with my shield and searched across the gra.s.s. I had my body lowered to keep my body covered by my shield as much as possible and be ready for an attack…

*Bam!*

Just when I made that thought, the sh.e.l.led rabbit popped out and jumped right in front of me!

I felt my shield shake as it made a loud sound when it clashed, but this doesn"t seem too bad. It"s probably because it"s so light that I find it easy to block.

Immediately, the rabbit backed off and started to move in to make another tackle, but the surrounding gra.s.s here are much shorter, so I can easily see where it"s at right now.

I thought it would stop for a bit because it"s completely visible, however that didn"t seem to be the case.

It looked my way while slowly circling around me until it suddenly lowered it"s posture.

Confused, I prepare myself for an attack anyways.

There"s a rock in between us so it shouldn"t be able to charge at me with that in the way.

… But, the sh.e.l.led rabbit jumped onto the rock and leapt towards me.

(Ah ,shoot!)

*Bang!*

I held my shield slightly to my left so that I can redirect it"s landing. Once it touched the ground, I immediately rammed my shield to it"s skull.

(Alright, this is it!)

Before it moves again, I pressed my shield onto it to keep it from moving with my left hand and knee, while I kept my dagger ready to strike.

In an attempt to break free, it tried to bite my hand from it"s position.

Bad move though.

With that, I struck my dagger at its neck.

"Gyu-!"

From there, blood began to quickly flow out, so I decided to keep it still and wait it out.

Since I only slit the side of its neck, this continued on for longer than it should"ve. But in the end, it finally stopped struggling.

(Whew… Aside from a couple of hiccups, that went pretty well.)

Once I"ve more of less calmed down, I placed the sh.e.l.led rabbit upside down then headed over to the rock to take out some tools.

I plan on bleeding out the rabbit, but since the neck has already been cut, it should be fine if I were to just hang it like this.

However, I think I went a little too overboard with this than what I planned, but I defeated the sh.e.l.led rabbit regardless so I won"t worry too much…

After a while I started to notice that there doesn"t appear to be anyone around.

Nonetheless, I still need to disa.s.semble the carca.s.s, so I switched to my hunting knife and began dissembling it. At the same time I start to hear some loud rustling sound in the distance.

… Weird.

This area should"ve been this guy"s territory, so there shouldn"t be any other sh.e.l.led rabbits around. And yet I can hear some rustling coming this way.

I had a bad feeling about this, so I dropped my knife and took up my shield… And at that moment, it came out from the bushes.

(Ah d.a.m.n, just my luck…)

From the bush came out a figure with a large frame and ash gray fur… It"s a forest wolf.

Forest wolves… They"re carnivorous monsters that are usually around the forested region outside of Comnes. These wolves hunt in packs*. It"s body length is a little longer than sh.e.l.led rabbits, but it appears much more larger as it stands with both it"s legs. That biting strength of theirs is nothing to laugh at either.

I"ve whirled in my head all the information I knew about this monster. There"s no room for thinking about why it"s here.

This one"s way above my level, and isn"t something I should be fighting yet. I"ve got like what, two sh.e.l.led rabbits worth of experience.

I held my shield like my life depends on it, and had my other side covered by the rock.

(Please tell me it"s just here for the sh.e.l.led rabbit.)

Like an answer to my prayer, it had it"s sight onto the rabbit… then back to me.

Ah, G.o.d dammit…

I"m trying to slowly back away from the wolf, but it"s still coming closer towards me.

Alright, so I am targeted.

I wondered if it"s possible to run away from a wolf.

This is probably the first time I"ve felt a strong blood l.u.s.t towards me.

And at that moment, it made it"s attack…

…………

A few minutes since then, my whole body is covered with wounds.

Since I"ve been hiding myself behind my shield and boulder, my head and torso has hardly been touched. But my arm and legs took a number of scratches and are bleeding over.

This is getting difficult.

Good thing I didn"t take any bite attacks from it. I"d be a goner if I were to take one now.

I"m running out of time here. I can already feel my movements getting more sloppy from fatigue. I need to find an opening.

This time it ran with a low posture, then jumped to bite me, but I managed to put up my shield and defend it in time. It"s fangs sunk into the shield.

I faced my shield downwards to pin it into the ground for a counterattack

(Alright, this is it!)

I made the move to stab my dagger into its body at full force… But I got too impatient…

I held one leg forward to strike but because the wolf was still stuck on my shield, a simple shake had me lose balance.

(Not good!)

I immediately tried to regain my footing, but it"s already too late as the wolf already pushed me at my shield. There was a boulder behind me, so I thought I could use it to keep it as an obstacle between me and the wolf while I catch my breath. However,

(Ugh!?)

I tripped up on the sh.e.l.led rabbit"s carca.s.s that I left next to the boulder, and completely fell down. Not missing the chance, it rushed at me, aiming for my neck to finish me off, but I still managed to block it. But this still doesn"t change how disadvantageous my position is in.

My head was scratched, and the blood is getting into my eyes, worsening my vision.

The wolf is stretching out its neck to bite me around the shield, but this isn"t the situation where I can pierce it.

Compared to the sh.e.l.led rabbit, this one"s going completely aggressive.

I"m starting to feel like I can"t control my arms anymore, and I won"t be able to hold the shield soon.

(It"s even getting more and more difficult to see… d.a.m.n, if only this guy could just stop moving for even a second…)

Just when I thought that,

Within my reddened and muddled vision, something noticeably white clenched around the wolf"s neck.

I felt a sudden relief from my arm as I didn"t feel it attacking any longer.

From its neck, the forest wolf was raised into a completely defenceless position right in front of me.

I don"t know what"s going on, but this is definitely not a chance I should miss. I immediately went in with my bone dagger with whatever remaining strength was left. Once I ripped open it"s body, blood started spraying everywhere and I instinctively closed my eyes, but I can feel the strength of the monster pressing down on me is slowly starting to weaken…

… For just a moment, I paused to catch my breath and a.s.sessed the situation.

Since I couldn"t open my eyes well, I can"t really see the situation around me, but I can tell that the wolf is at least dead now.

"Gah… !!"

After the adrenaline starts to wear off, I began to feel every cuts and bruises from my arms, legs and head throb all at once.

Just how badly damaged am I.

I want to check it quickly…

I hastily plucked some of the longer gra.s.ses from my surroundings.

(… In any case, what was that? I didn"t notice anyone around me earlier…)

At that moment, I started to hear some rustling sounds.

I sloppily stood up in an attempt to keep my guard up. I can already feel the tension in myself as I thought, ‘Not another one!".

My hands are already covered as is, so I wiped the blood around my eyes with gra.s.s from earlier.

Though there"s still blood on my eyes, I made an attempt to see what"s in front of me.

Though even in front of me, it"s difficult for me to discern what it is.

I blinked several times to get rid of the blood on my eyes, but before I knew it, it was right in front of me.

A white human skull.

Kinda like the models in the science room, but this time more realistic.

"G-gaaaaaaahhh!!!"

From the top of my lungs, I made a scream I didn"t think I was even capable of.

This is that, isn"t it. Necromancer"s most famous skill, "Undead Servant".

*  : ‘Strength in number Arisen!"

TL note: So yeah, I was confused for a good two weeks after this chapter.
After a couple of reads ahead I can confirm, the human skeleton came from the sh.e.l.led rabbit…
I repeat… The HUMAN skeleton came from a RABBIT.

Glad that"s outta the way!

Think of it as a summoning ritual or something.