章 22: Chapter 22: The hunt(2)

In one morning, the sun rose as usual, and the birds high above the canopy chirped as always. As the morning light entered a hole somewhere in the forest, a small horned head poked out. It was a horned rabbit. One of the indigenous species of this forest

As always, the rabbit froze with its head poking out of the hole. As it stood frozen, one could mistake it for a stuffed animal. But those who knew would know that those perky ears were always listening, and those eyes were watching. If something just a little irregular appeared within its senses, it would disappear from the spot as though it were teleported.

After a few minutes of standing, the rabbit slowly got out of its hole and walked out.

This was just one of its many normal mornings. So the rabbit did as usual. It picked out what it wanted to eat for the day.

That's right, it picked out what it wanted to eat. Because of their cheat-level speed, the horned rabbits are the only few species in the forest that can pick out what they want to eat. Be a few insects, birds, or a few fruits. It can acquire them all so easily because of its speed.

And today, it chose to eat meat. A lizard or two would fill its belly from morning to noon, so it opted to have that for breakfast.

And as always, it didn't take long for the rabbit to find its prey. In the large canopy of trees below, two birds fluttered up and down. From the looks of it, these birds were a couple making a nest. As they constantly flew down to pick up a few fallen branches on the ground,

Seeing how big they were, the rabbit felt that they would do well as breakfast. So, like always, it stood almost perfectly still. Looking at its prey creepily and intently. Only, it was not still; deep within the little rabbit's chest, its heart started pumping like crazy. This was done in order to prepare for a leap.

After all, unprepared and instantaneous moments can be quite detrimental to its lung and heart health.

So it waited for the perfect moment. Right when one of the birds fell to grab a branch...

Bam!

The rabbit pounced. With a single leap, the rabbit cleared at least half the distance between it and the birds. Mid-sleep, the bird was able to hear the rabbit's legs kicking against the ground. So the bird flapped and flew, but sadly, that was within the rabbit's calculation. With the second step, the rabbit leaped into the air with its usually cute paws up in front.

But these pawds now held deadly claws that gripped the poor bird in its hands. With strong momentum, both the rabbit and the bird rolled on the ground.

The bird flapped and did all it could, but alas, it could not escape from the rabbit's grasp. The rabbit watched the bird in its futile attempt to get away. This was always its favorite part, watching its prayer writhe in its hands while trying to escape. Only to end up in its belly. Sometimes, just for the fun of it, horned rabbits even let go of their prey and watch them run away, only to catch them again.

But of course, this was a bird, not a lizard or bug. If it let it fly away, there was no way it was going to catch it. So it opened its mouth to reveal the sharp row of teeth, fully intent on chewing the bird's head off.

But suddenly, something caught its attention. It was green, tall (sort of), and had big ears. The creature stood on its hind legs, just like it would when eating. As of now, it was crouching down and doing something the rabbit could not quite clearly see.

Goblin.

Seeing the goblin, the rabbit grew angry just from seeing it. The sight of this creature has clearly brought back some unfavorable memories. When these memories surfaced, the rabbit could not help but touch its half-cut ear.

With the green-skinned creature right in front of it, the rabbit saw no reason to hold on to the bird. So it just let it go, and with such a saving grace out of nowhere, there was no chance the bird was not going to take it.

Hearing the bird flapping its wings, the green-skinned goblin looked back. But it was too late; the rabbit had already finished preparing its heart and muscles.

With a kick from its legs, the rabbit sprinted for the goblin!

Bam!

Luckily for the goblin, though, it had a shield in its left hand, so the shield took the full brunt of the attack. But it and the shield were forced back. And while it flew, it failed to hold on to its shield.

While the goblin tried to stand up again, the rabbit stabilized its body. The impact with the shield was not nonexistent after all. Plus, the rabbit had to be sure it was not ambushed like last time.

But even when the goblin managed to stand up, there was not another goblin in sight. So the rabbit was now without worries. Before the goblin could go for the shield it had lost, the rabbit bolted towards the goblin.

Bam!

A hit to the abdomen made the poor goblin fly away. Cracking sounds could be clearly heard from the poor creature's ribs. From the looks of it, its future is bleak as long as it doesn't get any treatment.

The rabbit, on the other hand, is pretty much okay. Although it had made two full collisions in a short time, all it needed was a few seconds, and it would be back in perfect shape.

But it did not get those few seconds it needed, as suddenly, out of nowhere, something wooshed from a tricky angle. With its perceptive ears, the rabbit was able to hear the incoming item. But as it had just rammed an opponent, the rabbit wasn't able to properly dodge in time. Said thing stabbed the rabbit's hind.

The rabbit was so fearful that it bolted to hide. With its ears and perceptive eyes, the rabbit was able to see that the creature that attacked it had the same idea.

The rabbit then turned back. What it saw was another green-skinned creature running away.

When the rabbit looked back at its hind, it saw a stick-like thing sticking out of its hind. The rabbit pulled it out and was surprised at how deep the stick was.

'It's not a rock,' is what the rabbit would have thought if it knew how to speak.

Seeing that the one who attacked it was not its nemesis, the rabbit grew angry. It looks at the direction the goblin ran towards and bolted there itself.

...