"Hmm? Oh! Hey there kiddos! Do you want to work for me today too? If you're game, go ahead and start with that mound – just be careful not to get on this side or you might get hurt."
The young man noticed the three frozen children and waved at them with a cheerful expression between pointing around him.
The scenery could be best described as hell – for mole rabbits, that is.
The corpses upon corpses upon corpses of the rodent monsters troublesome for the early cultivators were thrown around everywhere.
Although because of how mangled they were it was sometimes hard to tell for sure whether they were mole-rabbits or not.
The scariest part was that the mound on the left which the kids were supposed to start transporting if they were willing to do so, was higher than the three of them standing on top of each other's shoulders...
But even all of those things combined did not match with the most problematic thing of all – the young man was standing IN THE WIDE OPEN GATE.
A gate that should be open only briefly so that whoever wanted to hunt would sneak in or out, no longer as giving monsters the opportunity to leave the first barrier could lead to them overflowing the area and then rushing into the town.
Needless to say, not every single prisoner was a proper cultivator, not everyone wanted or even could fight monsters.
Was there really a need to explain such obvious things?
Apparently so!
"Mister! What are you doing?! The gate needs to be closed!"
Kirrie gasped and immediately ran towards the gate, and latched onto it, kicking off the corpse of the mole-rabbit that Viria propped to serve as a stopper.
"I know, I know. Since you are here it means that the spawning rate will go up, right? Sure, let's close it."
The young man didn't protest and the three girls all breathed out in relief...
"SCWEEEE!"
"!!!"
...until a screech of a frenzied mole-rabbit smelling blood pierced the air in the hunting ground...
The creature was particularly big – even bigger than the one that Viria killed the previous evening - it also had a slightly different color than normal, and actually had two tiny horns protruding from its skull.
"R-r-r-r-RARE SPAWN! CLOSE THE GATE! CLOSE IT! CLOSE IT! CLOSE IT!"
Kirri's eyes widened in fear at the sight of the beast shaking its massive body readying itself for a pounce, and the resolute girl shouted in panic, pushing the heavy hate with all of her might.
"TIR! LAOR! HANDSOME MISTER! DON'T STAND THERE! HELP ME CLOSE THE GATE BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!"
"O-okay...!"
"Yes...!"
The resolute girl growled, seeing the monster and knowing that she alone will not manage to close and lock the door before the monster that must have been in the same weigh-class as her – or heavier – would charge and break through.
Thankfully, her two friends managed to shake off the shock and run up to help her.
*WHAM*
"SCWEEEEeeEEEEE!"
...only that it was too late... the rare spawn mole-rabbit kicked off the ground, actually managing to crack the boulder it was standing on, and launched itself towards the first barrier that was still wide open.
"RUN!"
Kirrie changed the plan on the spot and grabbed both Tir and Laor by the collars of their shirts and pulled them with her, praying for the monster's attention to focus on anything other than the three of them.
That handsome mister for example...
"Oh, no...! MISTER...!"
The resolute girl dug her heels into the ground and turned around the moment she stopped, with a panicked cry of warning...
*WHAM* *CRACK*
"SCWEEEUGHUGH...!"
*thump*
Kirri did that with perfect timing to see Viria twist his entire body, delivering a monstrously fast and powerful left hook at the jaw of a monster that was about to smash into his chest and rip out his throat – and when the hit landed, the monster's head bounced to the side before its whole body followed it and the creature got burrowed half-way through into the corpses of its common spawn brethren.
"...wh...wha...?"
"...eh...?"
"H...how...?!"
The three girls gasped at the same time, staring in disbelief at the back of the young man once again drenched in the blood of the monsters he killed.
"...oww... yep... definitely broke the ring and the pinky one..."
Meanwhile Viria breathed out clenching his trembling left hand and feeling the burning sensation spread from the tip of his fingers all the way to his elbow.
Still, it was not the time to just turn around and go look for Bossac to heal him.
First of all, the young man closed the gate just as he told Kirri he should, then he walked over to the twitching rare-spawn mole rabbit.
*THWOMP*
"Whoa there...!"
The moment Viria was close, the beast started kicking up with its powerful hind legs either trying to get him or just wanting to break free.
"Tsk... you could at least stay down until the count of ten."
The young man scoffed, gulping down his saliva and wiping the sweat off of his brow after barely dodging the thrashing.
"...you really got lodged in there, didn't you? Poor guy. Tough luck. Hope you will have a monster core~"
Viria snickered, patting the mole-rabbit's side and causing it to start trashing even more vigorously, but it was all futile.
"Do yourself a favor and die before the durability will run out."
Viria added, changing the grip on the bone prison shiv in his right hand and focusing on the skill.
*STAB* x7
After the initial hit that required the most strength to pierce through the skin and muscles of the creature, all the following ones went deeper and deeper, surprising even Viria with how much his soul artifact could actually take.
*crack*
Still – after a few good hits the weapon simply fell apart and some of its parts got stuck inside the rare spawn monster's body.
"...scweeeeh...!"
The creature tried to kick up again, but it was already too weak so it only released one final muffled screech and its hind legs slid apart limply, giving out as the monster finally died.