Chapter 3. At the Very Last Moment

Chapter 3. At the Very Last Moment

I ran with everything I had. My heart thundered in my chest, my breath broke into ragged bursts. I glanced back a couple of times—and very quickly realized I didn’t want to do that again.

God… how many of them are there?

They moved almost soundlessly; only the faint rustle of grass betrayed their approach. But even without hearing them, I could feel… feel their eyes.

I ran as hard as I could. My heart pounded, my breathing turned jagged. I looked back a couple more times—and just as quickly decided never to do it again.

God… how many of them are there?

They moved nearly without a sound, just a light swish of grass. And even if I didn’t hear them, I could feel… their stares, as if dozens of red points were drilling into my back.

I forced myself to look again.

“Damn…” I breathed.

They weren’t just keeping up—step by step, the distance between us seemed to be shrinking.

I snapped my head forward and, teeth clenched, pushed for more speed.

I needed a plan… fast.

I veered toward the river.

“This should work… like last time,” I hoped.

I plunged into the water and waded toward the opposite bank. It was a little deeper here than before. Damn… I hauled myself up the far side, bending low and bracing my hand on the ground. In that instant a white ball of fur leapt onto my neck and sank its teeth in.

“Damn it!” I barked as a sharp pain flared.

I grabbed the beast, tore it off, and slammed it into the ground. With a dull thud, it burst into a brief flash of light, leaving behind only a tiny glowing crystal.

“I hate rabbits…” flashed through my head.

I lurched forward again and sprinted flat-out. Thankfully, the bite wasn’t as bad as I’d first thought. I glanced back. As expected, some of the rabbits were falling behind… but the rest simply jumped into the river and were slowly swimming to my side. The first were already clambering onto the bank and continuing the chase.

“Damn!” I spat, forcing my legs faster.

“Training Room!” I tried to activate the skill, but nothing happened. Again… still nothing.

“Why? It should’ve advanced to rank two by now… does it need more time?”

I ground my teeth.

“Fine. Run. Just run. Hopefully I’ll be able to use my skill again soon…”

—

“How long have I been running…?” My thoughts tangled. “An hour? Two?.. No, unlikely. It’s probably only been five minutes… maybe ten…”

But it felt like an eternity. I ran at full tilt, feeling fatigue creep over me like iron bands. Every movement took more effort. My breathing shattered, my legs turned to lead.

“Maybe I should just… give up?.. Yeah… just give up… and it’ll all be over…”

No. I don’t want to die like that. If it were some huge monster, it would kill me quickly. But to be torn apart alive… by rabbits?..

Images flashed across my eyes—dozens of white lumps with razor teeth tearing into my body.

“No!” I shouted.

A jolt of adrenaline shot through me, and I sped up. But that burst lasted only a couple of minutes. My strength bled away. The fatigue became nearly unbearable.

“What’s that?..” I squinted. In the distance, under the blazing noonday sun, I thought I saw two shapes. Human-like.

“What’s that?..” I squinted again. Through the wavering grass and the hot midday haze, I thought I saw two figures. Human-like.

“People?.. I can make it!”

I clenched what little strength I had left and tried to accelerate, but my body barely responded—the speed hardly changed.

The closer I got, the clearer their silhouettes became. They looked like… two girls. Damn… if I drag these things to them, I’ll just bring disaster down on their heads.

They wore some kind of armor, and in one girl’s hands I noticed a large sword. But… there were far too many rabbits.

“No… I can’t just run to them and deliver death along with me. If I’m going to die… I don’t want to take two more people with me…”

I slowed. Then stopped completely. Shouts carried from afar—they were yelling something to me, waving their arms. Looked like they were telling me to run faster.

But I’d already decided. My chest heaved, my throat burned, my voice broke.

“Get… out…” I croaked.

My voice barely carried. But to my horror, they… ran toward me.

I turned back to the rabbits. They were almost on top of me.

I clenched my fists and stepped toward them.

The first rabbit, the fastest, kicked off and launched through the air—straight for me.

So this is it.

What a shame… Because of my stupidity—my cowardice and weakness—two more people are going to die.

I braced for the end.

But the rabbit that should have reached me first vanished midair.

Whoosh! Something whipped through it, and it burst into a small flash of light.

One after another, dozens of rabbits began to wink out.

Right in front of me, maybe ten meters away, a white magic circle with intricate patterns flared to life. Two, maybe three meters across.

From the circle rose a new monster—a stone golem. Twice my height, maybe more—around four meters tall.

Just what I needed. Like there weren’t enough rabbits already…

But to my surprise, the moment it appeared, the golem smashed its fist into the ground.

The impact rippled through the earth, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The rabbits immediately shifted focus to the new enemy and hurled themselves at it.

They leapt, bit, tried to get at its legs…

But it barely seemed to notice them. Each step, each blow crushed several at once.

Maybe… I really am lucky?

I survived?

They’re not chasing me anymore…

That thought flickered through my head—and the world began to dim.

Everything swam.

When I refocused, I was already lying in the grass.

Doesn’t matter… I just want to rest a bit.

Yeah… just a couple of minutes…

—

POV: Rem

“Do you think the dungeon really is in this ravine?” Sherial asked me.

“Yes, I’m almost sure of it,” I replied.

“Oh, another one,” Sherial said, drawing her bowstring.

A moment later she loosed an arrow toward the far bank, into the grass. You couldn’t see the rabbit-monster from here, but it was hard to hide anything from her eyes.

We were walking along a narrow ravine cut by a small river. Right now it was shallow, but in the rainy season this trickle becomes a torrent, and passing through here is impossible.

We came here on a guild assignment. It was a lucky commission for us: we’d just reached C-rank, and even for seekers at that level, such jobs are rare—not too difficult, yet nicely profitable.

The gist was simple: not far from here, village hunters came across a strange rabbit. When they killed it, its body vanished, leaving behind a magic stone. And the only monsters that disappear on death while leaving magic stones are dungeon monsters. Everyone knows that.

Considering there are no officially registered dungeons in the nearby districts, the situation was unusual.

What’s more, dungeon monsters almost never leave their lairs… with rare exceptions. For example, when a new dungeon appears. Then it releases some monsters into the outside world—almost as if on purpose, to draw attention. No one really knows why, but discovering a new dungeon in any region is like striking a new vein of gold.

And if a dungeon really is found, those who first report it to the guild are rewarded well. Since new dungeons appear extremely rarely, assignments like ours don’t come often.

You could say we were very fortunate. No, we probably wouldn’t find rare artifacts or climb in rank, but financially this job was worthwhile and shouldn’t take too long.

“Oh, someone’s approaching,” Sherial said.

I narrowed my eyes, looking ahead. Yes—her eyesight and reflexes were always better than mine. She notices everything first.

“Oh! Looks like a person,” Sherial said, squinting. “And he’s being chased… by rabbits?”

A faint smile tugged at her lips.

We halted. Yes, we needed to hurry if we wanted to save that man, but… it could also be dangerous for us.

What if he wasn’t a victim at all, but bait?

Maybe he was just some bandit who deliberately drew the rabbit-monsters to set an ambush. Such cases are rare, but caution comes first.

One mistake—and it can end in death.

And for women, if the enemies turn out to be people… it can mean something worse than death.

As for the rabbits—even several hundred posed no real threat. We could handle them easily.

Yes, these rabbits aren’t a problem at all. Even ordinary villagers can deal with several on their own. In large numbers they’re dangerous to common folk—very much so—but not to us.

As the man came closer, it became clear he was injured. He seemed to have lost a lot of blood—his clothes were soaked in it. Our safety comes first, yes, but I couldn’t just stand and watch a person die in front of us.

When he got within range, he suddenly slowed down.

“Hey, idiot! Run faster if you want to live!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

But the fool stopped completely.

Damn it!

I flicked a look at the rabbits. They were almost on him.

We couldn’t just stand there and watch him die.

Sherial and I sprinted forward.

And the idiot even turned to face the rabbits… Looked like he truly meant to meet death head-on.

Damn it! We won’t make it at this rate.

Sherial started shooting. Her arrows slammed, unerring, into the heads of the nearest rabbits, snuffing out the ones already about to reach the guy.

I didn’t want to do this—but I had to.

I activated my special skill—Golem Summon.

A magic circle flared a little ahead of the man. A stone golem rose from it immediately. Without wasting a heartbeat after appearing, it crashed into the rabbits, blocking their path.

Just as I expected: dungeon monsters are simple creatures. They have no tactics—they always attack the closest target.

The moment the golem appeared, the whole pack veered and swarmed it.

By the time we drew near, the man collapsed to the ground.

Damn… Are we too late? the anxious thought flashed through me.

No. People don’t die instantly. We still had time.

By the time we reached him, most of the rabbits had already been crushed by my golem. I curtly ordered it to move on and finish off any stragglers still approaching from afar.

Sherial knelt beside the man and quickly checked his condition.

“How is he?” I asked.

“Breathing is weak. He’s lost a lot of blood,” she said, frowning.

“Good… If he’s still breathing, we can save him,” I said, activating my storage skill.

A first-rank health potion appeared in my hand.

Yes, this guy’s an ordinary human. For him, a potion like this is more than enough to heal even mortal wounds.

Sherial helped by gently prying his mouth open. I didn’t hesitate—I poured the potion straight in.

Thankfully, a health potion begins working the moment it touches the mouth—you don’t need to swallow it.

Within seconds the effect was visible.

The wound on his neck began to knit up before our eyes, and moments later there wasn’t a trace of it. Whether he had other injuries was impossible to tell—his clothes were soaked through with blood.

“His breathing has stabilized. I think he’ll be fine,” Sherial said, straightening.

“Good. When do you think he’ll wake?” I asked.

“I’d say in a couple of hours at most,” she replied.

“We’re not leaving him here like this, are we? Unconscious?” Sherial added.

As if I’d abandon him. Hey, I’m not heartless, Sherial. I’m not stupid either. We saved his life, spent a potion, and now we’d leave him here to die? That would be peak idiocy.

“All right. Let’s have lunch while we wait for him to come to,” I said. “We skipped it anyway.”

“Okay, I’ll get a fire going and cook something,” Sherial said. “Could you catch some fish? It’s been a while since we had any fresh.”

“Sure,” I replied. “A short break won’t hurt us. And we’ll make sure those rabbits don’t take another bite out of him while he’s out.”