Ch7 – Snow (Part I)
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In the End forest, there was a section where, the trees monopolized the sunlight by covering the sky with their wide and thick branches and where the ground had little to no vegetation, that place was inhabited by the infamous species who consumed everything, even themselves... Horned Rabbits.

"It's here."  A lightly armored man said, pointing at a 1m hole in the ground.

"There's one here too." Said another lightly armored man.

"There's a couple here too."

The holes were located in a small open area in the dark section of the forest, the ground was barren and that area was surrounded by decaying trees.

"Prepare the monster ward bombs." Said a big and muscled man wearing a slightly blue metal breastplate, gauntlets and metal boots, he held a short sword on his right hand, and had a bow with a leather quiver on his back, he's name was bill, also known as Hunter Red.

"They're ready." 

"Ok, on my signal, use it in that one." Bill instructed, pointing at a hole.

"Red, aren't these more than what was reported?" A armored man asked Bill, he was one the Hunters that lived in the Usari Village.

"Yes, they are probably multiplying faster than we thought, let's just take care of them fast."

"Right."

Bill signaled the adventurer with the bomb.

The adventurer used fire magic to light the bomb, then threw it into a pretty big hole.

The bomb didn't make a big explosion, burning everything in the hole, instead, it just made a muffled blast as it released a thick cloud of green smoke.

All the adventurers were quietly waiting for their prey to come out. They all had their swords and spears equiped and ready to attack every single Horned rabbit that would come out.

"!!!" Horned rabbits began pouring out of the holes.

"""Now!""""

"...Barrier." Someone chanted, sealing the area around the holes. "You have 10 minutes, boys." A mid-rank adventurer, she had red hair, black eyes, was a little short and wore light leather armor and held a plain wooden staff with a crystal at the tip.

"Righ, let's go." Said a very handsome man, and his companions followed.

They were part of a mid-rank party of 6, they called themselves Wyvern's claw.

The star group was composed of 6 parties, 3 made up of mid-rank adventurers, 2 low-rank ones and one made up of the village's elite hunters, each had at least 7 adventurers.

"Bill." One of the village's elite, Robert, cautioned, after he sense something... unusual coming from the ground.

"Yeah, i know."

The sealed area was now completely filled with  Horned rabbits, their fur was as white as snow, their eyes a crimson red and their horn, as sharp and as big as a dagger.

"Now guys, be careful, don't let your guard down just because they are cute, ok?" Said the leader of the low-rank party 'Red Ogre', grinning and taking the lead with his spear on his shoulder.

"!??" The rabbits were hitting their horns against the barrier.

"Let them come, mia." Said the leader of Wyvern's claw, following behind Red Ogre's leader.

Mia, the adventurer opened a hole in her magic barrier, from which, rabbits flowed like water.

As soon as the rabbits got out of the barrier...

"IYAH!" They were pierced.

"「Thousand blades」" Sliced.

"Take this."Stabbed.

"「Fireball」Burned.

" 「Frost 」" Freezed and crushed.

"Rah." With his last Slash decapitating a rabbit that had jumped at him, the Wyvern's claw leader cleaned and sheathed his sword, slaughter was over. "That's all of them." He said, staring at the party which didn't participate, The Hunters.

"What are they doing?" Asked one female adventurer.

The village hunters were looking at the ground, with their weapons at the ready, they were very still, only moving their eyes following something... Invisible on the ground.

"They're looking for coins, hahaha." Joked one the low-rank adventurers, no one laughed, it was a really bad joke.

"Maybe they'r-" he had let his guard down.

Several rabbits jumped out of the ground.

One aiming his big sharp horn at his stomach, It was so fast that he couldn't even Dodge.

Noticing the rabbit, a hunter kicked the ground and in a split second he had single handedly sliced in half all the rabbits that had come out.

"Wh-wha-" his eyes widened, he didn't understand how, but he had been saved,  everyone looked at the sliced up rabbits in confusion.

"!!!" Several more rabbits began to jump out, launching themselves like arrows, each horn aimed at vital points.

"Watch out!"  Someone said to no one in particular.

Only the hunters were fast enough to react, they sliced and minced every single rabbit in mid-air.

The 2 low-rank adventurers were confused, they didn't understand what was happening, while the 3 mid-rank ones had snapped out of their confusin and focused on defending themselves.

Seeing their seniors fighting, they low-rank began to fight, but they were no match to the rabbits.

"Ahh." One of them screamed, a member of Red ogre, he had been pierced in the stomach, he removed the rabbit from his  stomach as he fell on his back, he was bleeding profusely from the hole that could be seen on his body, and his blood which was flowing as fast as a river, had painted the rabbit a crimson red, the rabbit didn't lose time as it quickly closed the distance and began ripping off pieces of the young man's flesh with its tiny mouth.

More rabbits came to feast, eating his hands and some methodically weakening him by eating his tendons and muscles.

"Help!" He cried for help, but everyone was busy protecting themselves and others.

"Ahh." He tried to remove them with his hands, but... He no longer had any...

"Wh-." His face, which was contorted with agony and terror, somehow was able to get even more horrified, as he realized that no one was coming.

I'm am... Going to die? He thought.

They had already been completely devoured.

"Shyve mee." He could feel it... Death was approaching.

His distorted screams attracted unwanted attention, several more rabbits emerged from the ground, quickly identifying him as prey, they jumped on top of him and began eating him alive.

He could feel every individual bite on his flesh, he could see his blood spraying everywhere, he didn't even have time to think, he wasted all his time thrashing about.

"Ahhh, helwaaa-help mee!" He screamed more and more, as they devoured his face, guts, legs, arms... the pain he was experiencing was unmeasurable.

"!!" Rabbits began to pierce him with their horns, digging their way inside him.

His companions could only watch in horror. 

"Ahh...obwaa" He couldn't scream anymore, they were already inside him, eating him from the inside out, he couldn't focus on anything except for the... excruciating pain and anguish.

Close by...

Having bought some time by quickly killing several rabbits,  hunter Robert dashed to where the screams he heard came from, there he saw 10 rabbits viciously eating a young man or... what remained of him.

He was dead.

"Reeeek" they jumped at him. "..." He took a step back and silently cut them all with precise, and clean cuts, using only three strikes.

The rabbits stopped coming, but no one lowered their guard.

"No, no, nooo." A female adventurer, a companion of the young man who died cried, getting close to the remains of her friend.

The hunters continued looking around.

"Don't let your guard down." They warned the low-rank adventurers who had just lost their companion.

"Why? Why?" She wailed, she kneeled down close to her... Childhood friend, and looking at him closely, he seemed to be breathing.

"He's alive." She cried, looking at her other companions, and holding to the last bit of hope.

She saw one of the hunters, Bill, widening his eyes, he began to sprint in her direction seemingly in panic.

He was too far to make any difference.

As soon as she turned her head to look at her friend again, her forehead was pierced, a horn had run through her skull, exiting at the back of her head.

She couldn't cry, scream or understand what had happened.

She had died instantly.

The rabbits quickly removed itself from the girls skull and tried to go back underground, he was met with a very fast sword, which only cut his horn in half, permitting his escape.

"Damm it." Bill said angrily, gritting his teeth.

The others realizing what had just happened began to panic.

"Moona?" One of her colleagues called, not believing in his own eyes.

"She isn't dead right? right?" 

"..." One just stared wide eyed at the corpses of his companions.

"Noo, I-I... This is all my fault, if i hadn't-" their leader tried to say. 

"SHUT UP!" Another member of their party cried.

"Please focus, i understand what you are feeling, but don't let your guard down yet, this isn't over, you will be able to mourn their death later." Bill said, with a pained expression.

They gritted their teeth then took stances.

Then... More rabbits came flying out of the ground.

"Rah." They used their frustration and began to cut down and burn every rabbit that came out.

"ah." Their leader's leg was bitten but he quickly pierced the rabbit with his spear.

The other parties had some injuries but only one person had died, a mage from a mid-rank party had tried to use healing magic, and was pierced in the heart while chanting the spell.

"Hunter Red." The leader of Axel, a mid-rank party called, pointing at something beyond the trees that surrounded the nest area.

Bill squinted as he looked at what he was pointing beyond the trees, the lighting difference made it difficult to notice but, it could still be seem, a multitude of... Horned rabbits. 

Color drained from their face, as they realized the predicament they were in, they looked at each other, and faked a smile as they both thought:

"Shit! We're surrounded."

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