Before it could spot us and charge, I quickly aimed another arrow at its eyes.
Thud!
The same arrow, with the same force, but a different result.
Jung Yu-na, who had been silently watching, clapped her hands.
“The mana of horned rabbits is specialized for hearing sounds. They even divert the mana that should protect their eyes to their ears.”
“So you knew it was a weakness?”
“No, no. I hadn’t thought it would be a weakness. Who would think of exploiting a horned rabbit’s weaknesses to such an extent?”
That made sense.
The surrounding adventurers nodded in agreement.
“So why are the horns a weakness?”
“The horns are like armor to compensate for their lack of mana. They use the hardness of the horns, not mana, to protect their heads.”
“So, they’re hard but can be broken because they don’t have mana?”
“Yes. The nerves are concentrated there, so if you break them correctly, it’s instant death. They’re hard to break, though.”
I see.
This time, I clapped my hands like Jung Yu-na, although not as loudly as she did.
“What a fragile creature.”
“Yeah, that’s why they’re the lowest-level monsters.”
Yeoreum and Jung Yu-na exchanged awkward smiles with each other, likely due to the fact that they had almost been killed by these lowest-level monsters.
Sigh
Yeoreum, after a deep breath, stood in the center of the group and looked around.
“Everyone heard that, right? It’s easier to take them down by targeting the eyes and horns from a distance.”
“Even knowing the weak points, our accuracy suffers without mana. And here, the horned rabbits swarm in groups of hundreds.”
“That’s right. We’ve been running away because we couldn’t face so many at once.”
“Hmm…”
Yeoreum crossed her arms and turned to look at me.
Her gaze fell on the bow in my hand.
“Gyeoul, can you hit all the horned rabbits?”
“Yes. I’ve practiced a lot shooting without mana.”
I remembered the day I destroyed the tent with my hands, which led me to practice shooting a bow without mana.
Even without mana, the physical capabilities of a beast-kin were superior to normal humans, allowing me to shoot like an expert.
“Then, let’s make Gyeoul the main shooter…”
Yeoreum started to draw a plan on the ground with a stick she picked up somewhere.
With no better option, we all agreed to follow her plan.
✧✧✧✧✧
About twenty adventurers divided up the roles.
Those with quick feet lured the horned rabbits, while those capable of ranged attacks shot their weapons from the trees.
Thud!
I shot precisely ten arrows and killed ten horned rabbits.
An adventurer next to me, who had just taken down two rabbits, said,
“That’s amazing. I just shot thirteen arrows and only got two.”
“I–I practiced shooting without mana…”
The awe in the eyes of a more skilled adventurer made me uncomfortable.
Feeling shy, I looked down at the ground when Yeoreum gave an order to the adventurers perched in the trees.
“Next team, please collect the arrows.”
Adventurers skilled at climbing descended the trees to gather the arrows.
As I sat watching them from a tree, a woman who looked like a mage approached us from a distance.
“Yeoreum! I’ve figured out the dungeon-clearing condition!”
“Really?”
“Yes! Each time we kill a horned rabbit, the gate leading outside grows a bit. By my calculations, we only need to kill two hundred and seventeen more!”
Two hundred and seventeen more.
Given that I was taking down more than half, I would need to kill at least one hundred and fifty myself.
My arms would be sore from so much shooting.
Already feeling the strain, I massaged my forearms.
Just then, a swift adventurer who had gone to lure horned rabbits came running back towards us, screaming.
He was being chased by a horned rabbit, at least ten times larger than the regular ones.
“Help, save me!”
As he stretched his hand towards us…
I noticed the muscles in the legs of the giant horned rabbit tensing up.
“Ah.”
It’s going to jump.
Is it trying to leap and impale the young man with its horn?
Before I could even complete the thought, I reflexively shot an arrow.
My target was not the giant rabbit, but the young man running towards us, begging for help.
Swoosh!
The arrow swiftly flew and pierced through the hem of the man’s clothing, pinning him to the ground.
Suddenly anchored to the ground, the man fell.
And then, at that moment.
Boom!
The giant horned rabbit’s enormous horn brushed over the fallen man.
Despite its large size, the rabbit moved with incredible agility.
“What is that…?”
“I couldn’t even read its movement…”
A horned rabbit as big as a wild boar.
It seemed like a boss monster had appeared in the horned rabbit dungeon.