Desecration

"Manifest"

After creating a distance between himself and the group of Slayer candidates, Guilliman stretched his hand out and sent out a wave of soul energy.

Suddenly, a direwolf, reaching up to his abdomen, materialized from thin air. Its ghostly fur waved through the wind as its claws dug into the ground, radiating an unmatched pride.

The wolf raised its head high, preparing to let out a howl, but at the last moment, it was stopped by a firm hand pressing upon its head.

"Let's keep it quiet, Ghost," Guilliman said, looking at the direwolf. Its size had changed drastically after being summoned by him. Once a sacred beast of massive proportions, it was now a 4-foot-tall soul beast under his control.

—hiennn

The direwolf squirmed, seemingly enjoying having its head rubbed by its master.

"Can you find the Black-Rabbit King?" After a few seconds of playing with the wolf's fur, Guilliman looked down at it and asked.

As a sacred beast, the direwolf was one of the most feared beings in Claw-Wood Forest. It was more familiar with the forest than any of the human slayers. If anyone knew the Black-Rabbit King's whereabouts, it would be this wolf.

The wolf looked up at Guilliman in confusion for a few seconds as if not fully understanding him. However, after a brief moment, it chose a direction and started running toward it.

"Hehehe," Guilliman muttered, unsure if the wolf truly knew its whereabouts or not.

"Anyway," he thought, not having much of a choice, so he followed the wolf through the forest, moving from tree to tree, enclave to enclave.

Trying to find the Black-Rabbit King, after a while though , it became evident that the wolf had no real idea where to go.

It was just running in circles

…

[Ding!!

Black-Blade Rabbit Hunted –

+2 Gene Points]

Removing his dagger from a tree in the middle of the forest, a black furry mass fell to the ground, lifeless.

[Updating Stats:

Name: Guilliman

Rank: Level 1

Gene: 8/200

Class: Soul King

Affinity: Wind, Ice, Arcane

Agility: 15 Power: 20 Stamina: 25]

"Hehe, the way to level 2 is pretty far," Guilliman laughed bitterly. While others struggled to catch one Black-Blade Rabbit, he had successfully hunted it.

His speed, strength, and endurance had all increased, which was normal for a slayer. But he had hoped to hunt enough to reach level 2, and now that seemed like a pipe dream. It seemed impossible with the time they would be spending here.

"If only I could find the Black-Rabbit King," Guilliman sighed in frustration, looking into the sky, his mind racing. He didn't know how to maximize his gains.

If he could kill the mutant Black-Rabbit King, he would definitely reach level 2 or maybe even higher. He had to find it.

—humm

Suddenly, as he stood there, he felt a tug on his shirt. Looking down, his gaze landed on the little direwolf apparition below him.

Seeing that it had gotten his attention, the ghostly direwolf dropped the body of the Black-Blade Rabbit Guilliman had just killed into its maw and began moving away.

"Hmm, I wonder," Guilliman frowned. He had done this several times, taking the corpses of his kills and bringing them up a grassy cliff.

His curiosity finally boiled over, and he decided to follow the ghostly wolf up the cliff.

"What is this?" Guilliman squeezed his brows as he arrived at the top. All the corpses were up here as he had thought, but the way they were stacked on each other was incredibly disrespectful.

It looked awfully similar to them humping each other.

Guilliman looked at the ghostly wolf, which smiled with its sharp teeth, as if it was innocent.

Then, all of a sudden, it looked up at another cliff above them and bared its fangs, growling threateningly.

There, a shadowy figure could be seen, humanoid in shape, covered in fur, with two long blades attached to its hands.

"That's…." Guilliman froze.

The Black-Rabbit King was the leader and sole ruler of the Black-Blade Rabbits. They trusted it with their lives, and it ruled them as a father would its children.

Seeing their corpses—so many of them, used like this—hurt the King's pride. It would not let such blatant disrespect go unpunished.

There was only one way to see the King, and it was to disobey one of its sacred rules. Only then would one be graced by its presence.

Guilliman had broken one of those rules, and now he would have to deal with the consequences of the King's presence.

"Hmp!!" Guilliman gritted his teeth, twisting his dagger into a fighting position, staring seriously at the Black-Rabbit King.

—sniff

—sniff

The rabbit king jerked, revealing its buck teeth, and jumped into the air, crashing down at Guilliman's position.

—clang!!

The next second, the sound of metal clashing against metal resounded, followed by a crescendo of attacks.

Turning his dagger to the side and sliding it off the blade of the Rabbit King, Guilliman freed his dagger and struck at the Rabbit King several times, trying to maim it with his first strike.

But every attack was easily stopped by the Rabbit King, demonstrating the clear difference between both parties… however, Guilliman had one thing going for him: resilience.

He kept attacking, trying to push the Rabbit King into a corner. His heart was pumping, and the sweat from his body rushed as he felt a heavy warmth overflowing in him…

"As long as there's blood in your veins, keep fighting!!"

He screamed in his head, channeling all his energy into his body and swinging at the Rabbit King's neck.

But—

Halfway through, his dagger was caught between two blades, and with a snap…

Cing!!

It broke in two.

"Shit!!" Guilliman cursed, stunned by what had just happened.

Unfortunately, this moment of shock was followed by the Rabbit King, lifting itself into the air with a gentle hop and kicking across Guilliman's chest, sending him tumbling down the hill.