Lament of the Slave

Chapter 115: Prowl

As I prowled through the knee-high grass, I couldn't help but think back to the last time I hunted here.

Well, calling it a hunt was a stretch. It was on my first visit to [Floor 1], when all I wanted was a peek, to see what Labyrinth has to offer. Instead, I ended up fighting two of the beasts.

Both horned rabbits were below level 40, yet I had a lot of trouble defeating them and almost got beaten myself and lost in the Labyrinth in the meantime.

Despite my confidence that nothing like this would happen again, now and then, doubt crept into my mind. After all, I didn't go through any combat training and still fought my way. That was the clumsy form I showed in the fight with the guardsman. The brute style, as some called it, and I even got a class in evolution for it.

But that wasn't the point. It was the fight itself. I almost beat Clay if he hadn't cheated. Yeah, I was still bitter about that. Even so, a close fight. So when I could keep up with a trained guardsman, killing a horned rabbit shouldn't be such a problem anymore, in theory.

In my experience, nothing ever went exactly as planned, and I didn't expect that to change while struggling with rabbits.

As I said, I had my doubts now and then. Was it a sign of weakness? Nah, I'd say nothing weird. I would find it odd if I didn't have some. Moreover, according to Deckard, overconfidence has been the undoing of many seekers.

Speaking of the devil, spotting the horned rabbit was much easier without my mentor around. Unfortunately, I saw my first prey before I got close enough for the rabbit to be in the range of [Sense of Beast]. Thinking about it, 200m wasn't that much, not here between the green meadows and rolling hills. I know. It was only the first tier of this skill, and I could expect that range to grow with the following tiers.

Except that was it! I could grow a more useful skill in its place.

"Ha!" I let out a heavy sigh if only in my mind, soothing it with [Indomitable Will] and using [Silent Prowl] to calm my heart and breathing. I masked my presence to hide from the sensations of my prey on which I set my eyes.

Cautiously creeping forward, I was conscious of the rustling of the grass as I moved through it. Not a lot of noise, but the rabbit's ears seemed to be as sensitive as mine, if I remember correctly. Unfortunately, there wasn't much more I could do about it.

And so I moved forward step by step, expecting that at any moment, the beast might notice my presence.

It didn't happen, not even after I got within range of [Sense of Beast], and I felt the full effects of it for the first time.

Even though the hornet rabbit was still far away, I was aware of its every breath, twitch of its nose, or flick of its ears. Needless to say, it was weird. Helpful in gauging its reactions but odd, making my prey more alive than I needed right now. The rabbit was just grazing peacefully on the fresh grass, minding its own business, unaware of me and my intention to kill it.

What did that make me? A murderer? A killer? No! Right now, I was a predator.

To my amazement, I got within 50 meters of the beast before it reacted. Quite an unexpected feat, considering the noise I was making. My footsteps may have been light and soundless, as the skill description said, but me forcing my way through knee-high grass was not.

The horned rabbit paused, pricked up its ears, just to turn his head in my direction. At that moment, I knew it had caught wind of me. The spell of my prowl vanished.

Not waiting for the rabbit's next move, be it to rush me down or hop on me so it could crush me with its weight, I dashed forward as fast as I could, using [Swift as a Whip] to its full potential. Tensing my muscles and tendons under the weight of the double speed, I covered the distance in fewer steps than I expected, reaching the rabbit just as it turned its body to face me.