Records of Rebirth

Chapter 21 - Devour

I had to free myself from the horns before more things came to attack. I felt around the wound, careful not to pull too much, moving was already painful.

I heard something scrape from deep within the tunnel. It seemed another one was coming.

Unable to completely unravel myself in time, I moved around the dead rabbit using its soft body as a shield, just as another pair of ribbed horns charged at me.

This time I was able to evade. Bridging the gap, I fully extended myself. The new arrival missed its mark as I slipped over its horns. It stabbed the body of the dead rabbit instead.

I quickly delivered a bite to the rabbit who was now stuck.

?You have defeated LV1 Novus Lapin?

Behind it, I saw a third. I skilfully dodged the horns coming at me. Utilising the space between them to strike its head. My attack stopped the rabbit before it even saw me coming.

?You have defeated LV1 Novus Lapin?

The tunnel was now jammed with the three bodies, becoming too tight to move. My lower body was still stuck to the wolf corpse by the first rabbit's horns.

The bleeding was not as much because I didn't try pull the horns out, but it was still agonising.

I breathed an exhausted sigh. My lower body tingling with pain made it very hard to think. It took everything not to make too many large movements that would force my injury to tear.

But if I didn't remove the horns, the wound wouldn't be able to heal and the pain would only get worse. With the three rabbits dead my focus returned. I needed to break the horns to free myself.

As I was about to start, I heard more scraping sounds from the tunnel.

Just how many of these things were there!

Struggling with pain, I hastily raised my head to bite down on the horn of the first rabbit, breaking it with the force of my jaw.

To my surprise it shatters like a glass, the broken pieces splintering, cutting up soft tissues on the roof of my mouth. I screamed from the pain, my mouth letting out a furious hiss.

My head felt cloudy from the blood loss. Biting it was a stupid idea but what else was I supposed to do to break free. I could only endure it.

I managed to disentangle myself, pulling out the broken horn from my skin, just as another rabbit arrived.

Finally free I slipped through the bodies until I was right before it. I wrapped the rabbit tight in a constriction hold before it was able to impale its horn in my flesh.

It squirmed about trying to shake me off but my grip was too strong.

I was about to bite it when another pair of horns reared out of the tunnel, appearing out of nowhere from a hole that wasn't there before.

Another rabbit, a much smaller one had broken through to this tunnel from another one, completely taking me by surprise.

It had hidden in the shadows just waiting for an opportunity to strike. Even as I used the rabbit in my constriction hold to shield myself from the new set of horns, it still managed to pierce me.

I resisted the urge to pass out as sharp pains riddled my body. The horn skewered through me and the constricted rabbit like a knife through a block of tofu.

Gritting my teeth I quickly tightened my hold, smothering the caught rabbit before striking out at the one that had impaled me. It could not escape considering its horn was lodged through me.

?You have defeated LV1 Novus Lapin?

?You have defeated LV2 Novus Lapin?

The notifications did not bring me any pleasure. I was far too unhappy to be dealt with so easily. Releasing my constriction hold I threw off the now dead rabbits, angry at their repeated attacks.

I quickly got to work, releasing myself from the new horn stabbing me. Shattering it with my jaws, I could taste the metallic tinge in my mouth.

My whole head hurt. I had lost quite a lot of blood causing me to feel faint. My whole body was shaking but I forced myself to stay awake.

My eyes hyper focused, I scanned around me for any vibrations or sign of something coming through the walls. And I felt it, a subtle vibration deep within the tunnel. There was another one!

These persistent pricks!

It waited just further down in the tunnel, seeming to watch me, hesitating. I focused in on its direction, watching its every move. Why did it not attack? Was it waiting for the others to return?

Too bad that wasn't going to happen.

Those annoying things had actually managed to harm me twice. How embarrassing! As a former human I couldn't even handle a bunch of rabbits. I was pissed.

I refused to wait for it to attack, slithering into the tunnel after it. It saw me approach and readied its horn. I skilfully manoeuvred between the gaps embedding one strike of venom in to its flesh. The rabbit instantly keeled over.

?You have defeated LV1 Novus Lapin?

?You have earned 32XP?

Shrugging off the dead rabbit I patiently waited in the tunnel, alert to every sound. I kept expecting another rabbit to appear out of nowhere with its frightening horns.

I did not dare to relax, conducting one more sweep with heat sense after scanning around for any vibrations.

When nothing came I relaxed enough to check my wounds. The punctures in my skin were lightly bleeding, already beginning to clot. The pain was horrible but somehow I was able to endure it.

I felt exhausted like I could pass out at any time but I steeled myself. To fall asleep here would be suicide, especially if more rabbits came. Luckily, the rabbit's horns did not contain any poison and my wounds were just that.

I looked at all the rabbit corpses around me and sighed.

I needed to leave the rabbit hole before more trouble arrived. But what was I to do with all the bodies? There was also the wolf corpse.

I should eat them but the thought made me feel disgusted. Rabbit meat was nice, but in its raw form? Even a glutton like myself who ate anything was reluctant to try it like this.

"You wouldn't happen to know how to start a fire?" I asked Sensei.

«With which hand?»

His blunt response made me want to laugh. I would have if I wasn't in pain. As usual he was right. If I was in better condition I would have thrown a tantrum.

Whose fault was it again that I didn't have any arms?

I wanted to slap the face of that smug voice.

I missed being able to do the simple things. How easy would everything be if I actually had hands? I could climb out of this hole, skin the rabbits, make some furs, and set a fire to roast the meat.

The memory of roasted meat made me want to drool.

I moved over to a dead rabbit, looking at it from every angle. It shouldn't taste too bad if it was fresh. How should I start. Snakes couldn't chew. They swallowed everything whole, horns, furs, bones and all.

Gulp.

I tentatively nibbled at the corner of a rabbits foot.

«Just open your mouth and swallow. It's not quantum physics.»

"S-Shut up! Don't make this awkward!"

The barbed horns got in the way. If I swallowed the rabbits whole, that thing would definitely get stuck in my throat. Could snakes die of asphyxiation?

I began by snapping them with my teeth. Ignoring the pain that sprang up in my mouth. I started with the first bunny, crunching down hard on its dark horn with a big bite before following through with three more.

?Skill Aptitude Increase?Bite LV 2?has become?Bite LV 3??

It was just like chewing glass. Awesome but painful.

I felt the pain from the cuts numbing over after the system alert. It encouraged me to continue. I guess my mouth has gotten stronger.

I continued till I snapped every horn. Six rabbit corpses lay in front of me in a neat pile. I chose the juiciest looking one and began to eat.

Yuck.

It was nasty. Just as I thought.

I forced myself to keep it down, continuing to eat until I had swallowed all six rabbits. I felt lethargic from eating so much and decided to rest.

This would be a good time to look at my stats. A bunch of things had happened since I last checked them.

?You have been granted the title?Coldblooded??

Heh?

"Hey! How am I coldblooded? How rude."

«You just killed six baby rabbits. They were defending their home from you, the invader.»

"What? Those were babies? They looked so big, how was I supposed to know? They came after me. Its not like I could talk to them to tell them to stop attacking. It's not like I wanted to do it."

«I'm not judging you, I'm only explaining the reason for the title.»

"What an impolite title! Who decides these things?"

«You'd have to make your complaints to the gods. I'm not responsible.»

It was not that I didn't feel remorse. My actions were only natural. Rodents were the prey of snakes.

I had entered their nest, It was instinctive for them to attack me, similar to what the nestlings would do if anything strange entered our nest. It was kill or be killed. What I'd done was just natural pest control.

?Devour has reached maximum satiation for specimen?Novus Lapin?

Evolution tree of ?Ailith Jackalope?has been unlocked. Would you like to acquire attribute?Obsidian Horn?(Accept | Reject)?

Eh?

Another weird thing has appeared.

Wasn't this that skill that didn't seem to do anything? I'd nearly forgotten about it. What was the system trying to say?

I chose 'Accept' purely out of curiosity.

Immediately I felt a burning pain on top of my head right above my eyes. It was so painful I felt my eyes water. Was I going blind?

I closed my eyes feeling the headache growing more intense. I felt something slowly grow out of my skull. Its weight getting heavier the more it grew.

I wished I had arms to feel exactly what was happening.

Why the hell did I accept!

The thing continued to grow, the pain felt like something was digging deep into my skin to draw something out. After what seemed like an hour it stopped, all pain vanishing.

What just happened?

I look at my reflection through one of the horns lying on the ground.

On my head were a set of inky black horns, two large curved ones above each eye and two smaller ones sticking out from the side of my head, reaching towards the back.

Horns exactly the same as the rabbits I killed.