Chapter 26: Confrontation with the Horn Rabbit

Ren felt that he was becoming quite accustomed to taking down horn rabbits.

Even when one charged at him, he was now able to calmly draw his bow and shoot.

“Ki!”

The arrow struck the horn rabbit in the neck. He had actually aimed for the forehead, but even though he missed his intended spot, it still seemed to deal damage.

Without hesitation, he quickly trapped it inside his small box and removed the air from it.

Crouching down, watching the horn rabbit gradually stop moving, Ren recalled what he had read in the guild’s archive about how to finish one off.

(1) When a horn rabbit charges, dodge sideways at the last moment.
(2) Pierce its neck with a knife or sword.
(3) Confirm it is fully dead. If not, finish it off.

“…No way. That’s impossible… I don’t think I can do it with a knife…”

Diving sideways and stabbing it meant getting extremely close to the horn rabbit.

If he failed to dodge in time… if his stab missed… he could be impaled by its sharp horn.

He shuddered and pulled his shoulders in.

“With a sword… that’s scary too… but maybe someday…”

He had gotten fairly used to drawing his bow against monsters, so he did feel that he might be able to learn the sword as well with enough practice.

However, he hadn’t been able to train much at home recently.

Before obtaining his skill, he had constantly been told to train his swordsmanship. But after his skill was discovered, even practicing swings alone was treated as a nuisance.

Still, he believed that if he was going to fight monsters, he should learn how to use a sword.

If a horn rabbit ever closed the distance, a bow would be difficult to use.

So far, he had managed to shoot them as they charged, but if he were ever ambushed, he would likely be unable to react in time and put himself in danger.

“Alright, I should start sword training too… huh? Is it about time?”

Some time had passed since the horn rabbit stopped moving.

He took it out of the box and poked it lightly with an arrowhead. He checked its ears, eyes, and legs, confirming it wasn’t moving, then tied its hind legs with a rope.

“Um… I think I’m supposed to cut the blood vessels in the neck with a knife…”

He wasn’t confident he could fully butcher it yet, but he decided to try bleeding it at least.

The guild archive had said that bleeding reduces the smell of the meat, and he wanted to gradually expand what he could do.

Since the arrow had already pierced its neck, he inserted his knife into the wound.

A strange, squishy resistance made him grimace.

“…The neck blood vessels…? Ugh, whatever! Whatever!”

Not knowing exactly where the neck vessels were, he pushed the knife in roughly.

Dark red blood began to flow out from the wound.

“…Did I do it…? Now I just hang it upside down…”

Holding the rope with both hands carefully to avoid getting blood on his shoes, he suspended the rabbit upside down as bright red drops fell onto the grass below.

A bird’s cry echoed above his head.