Chapter 270: The Snowfall
Even though Dhruv knew that the monster couldn’t do any harm to them, he cautiously moved towards it. When he finally reached a distance from where he could see the monster without mana sense he stopped.
After going through numerous battles, he at least had the ability to roughly estimate his opponent’s strength. And so, just by looking at the monster, Dhruv quickly had a rough idea about its offensive and defensive capabilities.
’It is some type of rabbit-like monster, not suited for offence. A new species, perhaps,’ Dhruv thought, realizing that this was the first time he had seen this bread of monster.
The monster was four times the size of a normal adult rabbit, with fur so white that it almost blended with the snow around it. The only offensive feature Dhruv noticed was its slightly blue curved claws, which looked really sharp.
Like Dhruv, the monster sensed his presence as well and looked into his eyes.
The moment Dhruv saw this reaction, he quickly manipulated his mana, prepared to either trap or kill it at a moment’s notice. But to his surprise, the monster did nothing and just looked at him with tired its eyes.
’Huh!?’ Dhruv couldn’t help but question whether the thing in front of him was just an ’animal’ or really a monster.
No matter how much Dhruv moved around the monster, the rabbit didn’t attack and instead began to walk round and round in a small area while occasionally looking toward him.
The monster continued with no change; occasionally, it would burrow into the snow... and then once again, it would walk in a circular pattern nonstop as if it was searching for something in that small area.
After a minute or two, it stopped looking toward Dhruv completely and just forgot about his existence.
’Does it have some sort of mental illness or what.’ Looking at the weird behavior Dhruv couldn’t help but question the monster’s mental state.
Even though he had thought about this, he knew it was almost impossible for a Tier II monster to be ill... under normal circumstances, that is.
Hesitating for a moment, Dhruv bent down near the rabbit. This action of his caught the monster’s attention once again as it stopped moving and instead looked toward him.
After looking at the monster for a few seconds, Dhruv started moving his hand toward it, hoping to lift it. This idea proved to be unwise, as the moment he tried to touch it, the monster jumped... leaping toward his face.
Woosh!
But before it could reach him, a small dark sphere came from behind and struck the monster directly in its head.
’Huh! So it was a monster after all...’ Dhruv thought, surprised by the sudden action of the monster.
Turning around, he silently nodded toward Azarex, thanking him for his quick action. Although he would have preferred the monster alive, it wouldn’t matter even if the thing was dead.
’It sure is nice having a guardian who can protect your back...’
With a smile, Dhruv looked at the monster whose head had turned black. As expected, there was no trace of life left in it. Moving his hand forward, he extended his nails and ripped the core out from its lifeless body.
After looking at the core for a moment, Dhruv sighed.
’So it was just a normal monster after all.’ After reading the monster’s status, Dhruv confirmed that there wasn’t anything special about the rabbit. It was just a regular monster.
Looking at the corpse for a second, Dhruv took a deep breath and turned around.
"There was nothing wrong here... Let’s move on." Saying these words, Dhruv once again began to follow Azarex, who silently took the lead. Not wanting to fill his inventory with a Tier II monster, he left the corpse behind.
While continuing his journey through the snow, Dhruv resumed his thinking, trying to find any way that could help them reach the perimeter quickly. In the middle of his thoughts, he couldn’t help but notice that his mind kept getting distracted.
’Huh! What was the name of the monster...’ For some reason, his focus always went towards the monster as if...
...As if he was missing something.
Wanting to know the name of the monster, he brought the core back from his inventory and inspected it.
[Name: Lesser Frostburrow Rabbit’s Core]
[Rank: Uncommon]
[Tier: I]
[Description: The Lesser Frostburrow Rabbit’s core is an uncommon item, originating from a deceased Lesser Frostburrow Rabbit.
The Frostburrow rabbit is the next evolutionary option of the snow rabbit, which specializes in hiding due to its white fur that matches the snow. Their claws are very efficient in burrowing in the ground as well as hunting weaker monsters.]
’It’s pretty standard. There is nothing interesting about that little guy... Still, why couldn’t I get my mind off this one?’ Dhruv thought as he continued to read the description for the second... then third... fourth... He finally closed the window after reading it for the fifth time.
This time he had spent reading the description wasn’t for naught as Dhruv got the answer of why this monster was able to come this far.
’Because of its brilliant camouflage, it was able to come this far without being hunted,’ Dhruv thought.
This wasn’t the only thing he had figured out either. After spending multiple hours, Dhruv obviously wasn’t oblivious to his surroundings and formed a few theories of his own.
One of them was about why the monsters aren’t present on this side of the bridge... Out of all the theories, this one has the greatest possibility of being true as well.
It was very simple and straightforward as well. According to Dhruv, the cystillions must hunt all the monsters which directly dare to cross the bridge, and other monsters which arrive on this side through other methods must regularly get hunted as well.
Which sounds very plausible as well... after all, nobody would be happy when some monsters would come knocking on their door.
The reason behind the rabbit’s appearance this deep in the snow could be attributed to its good camouflage ability, allowing it to somehow manage to get past the other monsters and cystillions alike.
Thinking about the rabbit and other things, Dhruv continues to move forward, hoping for some clue. But, not to his surprise, nothing happens.
***
As usual, two pairs of legs were moving forward in the snow. One was leading the way while the other carefully followed, maintaining a rhythm.
The rhythm couldn’t last for long as the pair of legs that was following suddenly stopped. The legs trembled for a brief moment before becoming still.
"What happened, master?" Noticing the stop, Azarex turned and asked.
Azarex didn’t get any answer for a few seconds, but when he get one, he became more confused...
"The snowfall is getting thinner, right?"
Hearing this, Azarex quickly turned around and began to look in all directions but couldn’t find the change. The snowfall was still the same. It wasn’t getting any thinner.
