The knife in his hand was no longer just a sharp piece of metal.
But an extension of his instinct.
An extension of his survival.
But he wasn't sure that would be enough.
This rabbit… the tenth.
And the last.
He said it to himself as he dodged a strike as fast as a bullet. Its claw scraped his jacket, leaving a burning line on his skin.
"Number ten… the end. Or my end."
He was panting.
His chest rose and fell.
His eyes scanned the darkness beginning to swallow the forest.
[Warning: Nightfall beginning – enemy benefits from reduced visibility]
Yes.
Night was falling.
Slowly, as if crawling over his coming corpse.
"It's like I'm fighting a trained rat in an absurd play."
The rabbit made no sound.
No breath.
No footsteps.
Only attack. Then vanish.
Attack. Then vanish.
Eiron barely saw its tail disappearing behind a tree root, then its claw appeared from above.
He backed off, knife in front, body half crouched.
"The rabbit isn't just stronger… it knows it's the last."
"My level went up to six after the seventh rabbit... I thought that would be enough."
He was wrong.
The tenth was nothing like the others.
The others? Survival beasts.
But this one? A hunter.
Eiron pressed a wound at his side, feeling the heat of his blood on his fingers.
"Damn it... even my knife isn't cutting like it should anymore."
He remembered the items he hadn't opened.
[Random Item (Uninspected) ×4]
"It's like I'm collecting surprises for my birthday."
But he didn't dare open them now.
Not the moment.
The rabbit appeared — a glint of eyes in the dark.
It leapt.
Eiron ducked. Slid. Curled.
The claw sliced the air above him by a hair.
Then the rabbit attacked again, from the side.
A missed stab from Eiron.
Missed.
"My focus... is starting to crack."
He crawled backward, breathing heavy, eyes searching for a death point in this night.
But he wasn't running.
Never.
He planted his feet, raised the knife, breathed slowly.
Only his body moved now. His mind? Numb.
Then...
The rabbit struck.
This time, directly.
Eiron didn't move.
He waited.
A second.
Half a second.
Then — stabbed.
The knife pierced the fur.
Hot blood burst onto his forearm.
The rabbit convulsed, shrieked — a sharp, short cry, then… dropped.
Without sound.
Dead.
Fell beside Eiron like a puppet whose last string had been cut.
And Eiron? Fell too.
His back touched the mud.
Eyes toward the sky… which had lost all color.
He breathed.
Once.
Twice.
Then a heavy sigh, as if it were his first breath since the mission began.
"It's over."
But the system, as always, doesn't wait for poetic moments.
Ding!
[Mission Complete: Lower Forest Cleanup]
[Kills: 10 / 10 – Blood Rabbit (Rank E)]
[Reward: 180 EXP]
[Level Up: 6 → 7]
Eiron gasped. His body barely responded, but his eyes remained open.
[Level Raised to: 7]
[Notes: Slight improvement in self-healing ability, and a minor acceleration in clotting and tissue regeneration.]
Eiron muttered, wiping his blood with a trembling hand:
"Great… I'll bleed less and heal faster. Almost like my body started liking me… or at least hating my death."
But the notifications weren't done.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
[Random Items Unlocked ×4]
● Blood Rabbit Heart – Preserved, prepared for alchemical analysis
● Blood Rabbit Heart – Preserved
● Blood Rabbit Heart – Preserved
● Rabbit Claw (Rank B) – Can be refined and converted into a custom dagger
Eiron blinked.
"…Hearts?"
Then reread.
"Hearts… preserved? The damn system stored them for me? In a virtual fridge?"
He smiled, with cracked lips.
"It's like I live in a slaughterhouse run by a sadistic computer."
Then—
A system comment, in small, pale gray text.
[Note:]
"10 rabbits? That took you the effort worthy of slaying a dragon. Try being less dramatic next time, you emotional cripple."
In a hoarse, broken voice, closer to a cough:
"…Fucking system."
Everything calmed.
The knife no longer moved.
The rabbit no longer breathed.
And the system… finally shut up.
Eiron remained lying down. For minutes. Not thinking, not planning. Just… existing.
But peace doesn't last.
His eyes rose to the panel again, reminding him what he got.
● Blood Rabbit Heart – Preserved ×3
● Rabbit Claw (Rank B) – Can be refined and converted into a dagger
"Lovely… I have three beating hearts in my inventory… like an organ dealer at a masquerade party."
Then he furrowed his brow.
"But… what do I do with them? Eat them? Sell them? Make a stew?"
Silence.
Then — he remembered.
Garun's words, as he pointed to that stone house covered in weeds:
"The alchemist… an old woman who studied in the capital. They don't trust her, but they go to her when everything else fails."
"Said she gave him an elixir that brought back his senses. In exchange for a plant and an hour of terror."
He sighed.
"Alchemist… rabbit hearts… it's like the universe is pushing me toward a disgusting magical recipe."
Then he remembered something else.
The rough voice… the hammer striking as if it sought revenge on life… the short laugh like a dwarf's snort on the brink of ecstasy.
The dwarf blacksmith.
That small man with one eye and a chest so muscled it looked ready to devour his shirt. Broader than a hungry horse, and filthier than a tavern on the wrong night.
He met him briefly, but that was enough to know two things: he was skilled, and perverted enough to worry other perverts.
Though Eiron himself wasn't innocent either.
Their first meeting was a disaster. Threats, suspicious looks, and comments that couldn't be forgotten without a mental cleansing session.
But maybe… after he sees the claw, things would change.
Eiron smiled.
"And now I have a claw. Rank B, even the system respected it."
He finally sat up, groaning as he propped himself on his elbow.
"Old alchemist… and a dwarf blacksmith… and a forest raining internal organs on me."
He stood.
His body groaned, but he moved.
He began making his way through the forest, trying to find the right direction, guided by the moonlight slipping shyly between the branches.
Then—
A whisper.
A faint sound. A sticky crawl.
Something moved between stones and grass.
Eiron froze.
Then looked slowly.
And there, just a few steps away, he saw it.
A snake.
Long. Black. Its skin gleaming like a corpse oiled in blood.
But not ordinary.
It had two small horns above its eyes, and a forked tongue writhing as if whispering to something unseen.
The snake was coiled around a small dark green plant, from which grew a violet flower with strange petals… almost pulsing.
"The demonic snake…" Eiron whispered.
He remembered instantly.
Garun and how he found him and mentioned being bitten by one.
Eiron stood.
Tense.
His hand on his broken knife.
But the snake didn't attack.
It merely raised its head slightly, watched him, then… withdrew.
Slowly.
As if… afraid.
Eiron didn't move. Just blinked.
"…Are you… running from me?"
The snake slithered away, vanished among the rocks, leaving the plant behind, untouched.
Seconds.
Then—
A wide smile spread across Eiron's face.
He raised his hands, opened his arms as if embracing a cosmic revelation.
"Oh, god of retired serpents… are you afraid of my dick?"
He said it aloud.
Sarcastic. Crude. As always.
"I know I'm a rabbit killer, but this slithering respect is unnecessary."
Then he laughed to himself, a sharp laugh, but it felt like he was trying to fill the emptiness around him with words.
But inside?
Cold.
A shiver.
His eyes narrowed.
"Why was it scared?"
"Did it sense something?"
"Am I different… or is this a new trap?"
He looked at the plant.
A step forward.
Then whispered:
"Either a treasure… or a curse in a bottle."
Then he reached out.
His fingers neared the violet petals, slowly, as if feeling the edge of a poisoned dream.
Then —
Ding!
[Warning: Discovered Plant – "Fourth-Class Demonic Flower"]
[Status: Highly toxic. Direct contact may cause temporary neural paralysis and permanent visual distortion.]
[Advised to back away immediately.]
Eiron gasped, recoiling as if fire had licked his limbs.
"Damn you!"
He nearly fell backward, yanking his hand away quickly.
Then looked at the plant… astonished.
"Demonic flower… fourth class? Who names these things? Creatures high on weed, most likely."
He looked at his hand. Unharmed.
But his heart pounded.
Not from fear of the plant.
But of the system.
"It warned me… immediately?"
"It didn't let me touch it, didn't wait for me to die to comment afterward."
He furrowed his brow.
"Have you… started to care about me?"
He looked to the sky and whispered:
"Has the system… started valuing my life more than I do?"
He laughed, a short, bitter laugh.
"How ironic… even the machine is more compassionate than the gods."
He breathed slowly again.
Then turned.
The forest behind him.
Death behind him.
And now… the return.
The dirt path between the trees opened its chest to him.
He didn't know how long he'd walked.
How much he'd stumbled.
How much he'd bled.
But when he saw a faint light slipping from a tilted window…
He stopped.
Lifted his head.
The house was there.
Stone. Tilted. Sinking into wild grass.
Its roof looked like it regretted not collapsing.
Exactly as Garun had described it.
"That alchemist… her house looks like a clever grave. But she knows things no one else does."
Eiron stepped forward.
One step.
Then another.
Then stood before the door.
"This is it."
Then muttered:
"Rabbit hearts in inventory. B-rank claw ready to transform. And a magical hag waiting for me… or for my death."
He reached for the door…
And knocked.