Chapter 31: Hobbunnies
The Ardenthals watched from a distance with expressions a mix of shock at the scene that unfolded before them.
Ahead of them, surrounded in sparse vegetation, was Luca whom they now referred to as their prey.
It had been a minute since they found him, and quite frankly, they didn’t know what to feel.
Daryon– the archer had an incredulous look which he quickly used to check his partner, Orveth, who hid behind a massive mushroom stalk.
As expected, his partner had the same look.
"Huh, Orveth, didn’t he have a 5%?"
Orveth slowly looked up from his position, a deep frown on his face.
"Didn’t we both hear the instructions from our fathers? And didn’t you see the ranks after he was scanned?"
He scoffed.
Daryon turned to the scene again and then back at Orveth. "Where have you seen an Egoist with a base of 5% move like that?"
Both were aware of his Ego Manifest score, and though it was high for an Explorer, 20% of 5% was still nothing.
Even a 5% of 15% was better, but not even they could move the way they watched Luca move as he slaughtered a group of Null Buds.
"idiot! I’m seeing it for the first time also! How do you expect me to know?"
Their voices were loud whispers, but with the sound of battle and Luca’s seemingly intense focus, they had assumed he wouldn’t be able to hear them.
"So, what do we do? Attack?"
"Are you scared?" Daryon asked teasingly.
Orveth didn’t respond, but his silence itself was an answer.
They knew they couldn’t turn back after their underhanded tactic. Any high-ranked Archer within the Academy will tell at once that Luca was marked and if they trace it to them, they would be in a boatload of trouble.
Not just from the Institution, but their family as well.
"Domar wouldn’t like it if we didn’t bring results. So let’s just wait and ambush the motherfucker once his guard is down."
They continued watching in silence, certain of their motives, while Luca continued with his onslaught.
In an open field with sparse vegetation, Luca had landed upon a small group of Mild Null Buds.
Four-legged creatures that were as tall as him.
They had pure white skin and long, powerful hind legs that let them jump high and far.
Their forelimbs were thin– almost broom-like, with two long, dangling ears that shot all the way to their back and a stout, bony tail at their rear.
These were Hogbunnies, one of the least deadly Null Buds to ever encounter and Luca was making quick work of them.
They usually moved in herds of ten to twenty, with an alpha that was nearly twice as large as the herd with a thicker fur coat and black spots.
Luca had just sliced through two of them with a sleek motion of his sword. The weapon hummed with a violent delight as blood propulsed into the air in a straight line.
It splashed on the ground as Luca suddenly sliced in multiple erratic angles and jumped back for a retreat.
The two bunnies swelled then exploded in a rain of gore and black ichor.
The alpha landed on the spot that Luca had just evaded, its pulsing red eyes glowed with a feral anger.
Its maw widened into three distinctive sides and a row of black teeth shimmered with a malevolent hue.
It let out a roar– a low, vibrational gurgle before it lunged at Luca.
Luca lunged to the side with a gust of wind and something more– an absolute control that could never be replicated.
This was more than just his trait, Mercuryborne which let him adapt. It was his form, the Control Form which Luca had begun to span in an effort to use it better.
Of course, this offloaded his Ego energy, but unlike what others thought, he had an endless supply.
100% hidden behind a digit that was meant to fool the world.
As Luca landed, his thought process spun.
’That’s about ten of them. How many are left?’
He looked around with a visible hint of excitement.
Two bunnies were rushing into the forest– a plain effort to escape.
Another two humping at each other, indeed, their intelligence was terrible and the Boss– the Alpha, wanted its head.
’Is it angry because I took its partner first?’
When Luca had found these creatures, he had come to see them performing a mating rite, or what he assumed it would be.
He was a farmer’s child, but they never reared animals.
Animals were as rare as gold in their time, as most were already turned into Null Buds. The majority of which were inedible.
’Still, can’t it just find another? It’s the Alpha, it can get whatever female it wants.’
Luca couldn’t wrap his head around it.
’Or perhaps it’s because I killed its partner while they were in the act?’
He shrugged.
Why would that concern him?
Luca suddenly hovered slightly into the air, as if the wind picked him up, dodging the Alpha which rammed into space.
His use of control had gotten better, but he was still limited by his usage of Ego and mastery.
Even if he had absolute control, it was still at Dormant. He needed at least an Ascended-ranked control to achieve flight, but with time, he knew he would achieve it.
As he landed, he turned and swept his sword through the air from below towards the bunny. His blade whizzed through it with a metallic sheen as he carved through one of its powerful hind legs.
The Alpha buckled and fell on one knee. A guttural, hollow screech expected its lips as it glared at Luca.
It pushed forward with its one good leg and jumped with its leg stretched for a kick.
Luca arched his brow as he lifted his arm.
The bunny’s body suddenly tipped as its leg curved–on its own–to the left, missing its target entirely.
The creature’s eyes widened in shock, but Luca ignored it.
He pushed forward with quick steps to its side and lunged into the air, drawing his sword in an arch as he traced a line across the back of the bunny’s neck.
His sword followed it as it cleanly, slithered through the neck all the way to the other end, drawing black blood in the process.
Luca landed with a second sound following. A muffled thud of a head that rolled to his feet.
The alpha’s body jerked as blood shot out like a fountain. Its black ichor glistened under the sun’s light before it fell to the ground– dead.
Luca glanced around and charged forward.
The rest were easy picking and he cleanly cut them apart by beheading them and the rest of their body.
Even the love bunnies that attempted to escape were caught and killed.
A few minutes passed and Luca had not only whipped out the herd, but gathered their bodies together.
He sat under a canopy of a giant tree with a sigh as he began to carve the heads of the Hobbunnies.
Null Cores, like Ego Cores formed in the heads of Null Creatures, supplying the beasts through the same pathway as Egoists.
When Luca had read through this the first time, he had seen it was intuitive, but after cutting out his first, he had to admit– the similarities were uncanny.
’It’s like we’re the same... just with different ideologies?’
He let his thoughts wander to some theories before fully focusing on the task.
’Now, I wonder just how many of you have one.’
This was another problem he encountered, and frankly, Luca wasn’t pleased about it.
You see, Null Cores are rare.
Their cores were meant to serve as power units. A source of energy, you might say, for a particular function.
The first two Null Buds he had killed– the Vallion tiger and Bulk Rhino both had it. Perhaps, he was lucky to find Null Buds which possessed an ability.
The Bulk was its bone armour which needed corrupted ego to manifest and harden, and the tiger was its beam, an active attack that would naturally require a unit.
Since then, he had found about two herds of different Mild Null Creatures, but no Null Core.
They neither had an active attack nor a variation.
’I’m already certain that none here do... but the Alpha on the other hand.’
As he carved the head open with his sword and began the process of breaking through its powerful sternum, a delightful discovery welcomed him.
"It did have one. Thank goodness, this makes three."
Luca wasn’t certain how long he had left, but at this pace, he knew he would have to speed run the whole Forest and find more.
He still needed to reach the top ten, after all.
Black blood oozed out of the bunny’s head as Luca pulled apart its brain and picked up the small, round, black ball, the size of a baseball.
He cleaned it with the nearby grass and raised it to eye level to observe it more clearly.
"Nice."
Just as he was about to drop it, the air whizzed and a projectile shot through the air in a straight line.
Luca paused as the world seemed to slow to a snail’s pace. His lips curled to the side and a golden gust shielded his face.
Time resumed and just as the arrow reached close to his face, its direction warped and changed trajectory, stabbing into the ground beside him with a loud thud.
The earth cracked and a crater formed.
Luca’s gaze lingered on it before he turned in the direction of the source. His smirk widened.
"You finally decided to reveal yourself."