Instinct kicking in

*SHING*

"SCWEEEEEEEE!"

But because of the ridiculously short distance that Viria had to traverse in order for his attack to connect, the monster wasn't able to react in time and screeched in pain when the prison shiv cut open its back.

"DAMN IT!"

Viria growled through his teeth in anger mixed with disappointment and fear.

The mole-rabbit's fur turned out to be far thicker than the young man has assumed and managed to disrupt the attack, making it not strong enough to actually cut through the bones.

The monster was alive...

"SCWEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

*THUMP*

...and furious...

While Viria was just slowing down and regaining his balance after the charge, the mole-rabbit had already smashed the ground, pushing itself off of it with its powerful hind paws, sending itself flying straight at the young man!

"!!!!"

Viria panicked at the sight of the bloodthirsty furry bullet locked-on on him and took a step back, losing his balance – no matter what, there was no martial art that he had learned that would help him in this situation!

For a moment it felt as if time slowed down for the young man. He saw the light of the lantern reflected in the monster's massive yellowish front teeth and both of his lives began flashing in before his eyes.

Before his heart would beat one more time, those teeth would tear open his throat and he will be dead.

As that thought appeared in his brain, another image flashed in his mind.

Back in his previous life, back when he was Jackie, an up-and-coming boxer, during a match that destroyed his career, his opponent recklessly charged him. Dropping all of his defenses with no other chance of even landing a proper hit, the cheating fool with a metal weight sticking through his glove rushed the school's star. The sight of a flash of metal during an official match was so infuriating that Jackie lost all control he had and went full power on the audacious idiot...

The flash of teeth and the flash of the metal sticking through the boxing glove melted into one and the fear of death was replaced by pure ire!

*WHAM* *CRACK*

"SCWEEUGHRGH?!"

*CRUSH*

Forgetting about the shiv in his right hand, Viria bared his teeth and using his entire body as a leaver, delivering a devastating jaw-breaking uppercut to the monster's head, sending the shocked monster flying and slamming it against the gate.

*thump* *thump*

The monster and the man fell to the ground at the same time.

"S-scwee... eee..."

"...haa... haaa.... what in the...?"

The mole-rabbit squealed and kicked up its hind legs weakly, stunned while trembling Viria sat up staring at it in disbelief.

Did that just really happen...?

The young man gulped down his saliva and moved his eyes from the twitching monster to his own bloodied left hand.

It was trembling, his knuckles were scraped to bare bones, and his entire hand was going numb.

"Scweee..."

"...!"

The mole-rabbit screech sounding as if the monster was coming to its senses caused Viria to come to his senses.

There really was no time to waste, was there?

The young man stood up and got to the beast before it had a chance to actually got up.

*SHING*

"Scwee-uegh..."

Not wanting to chance it, Viria aimed his prison shiv at the creature's throat and cut it open aiding himself with the rabbit strike ability, ending the beast's life in one fell swoop.

"...tssss..."

Viria breathed out through his teeth, feeling the adrenaline leaving his veins.

If he hadn't...

"Scwee...? SCWEEEE!"

"!!!"

Interrupting the young man's thoughts, another mole-rabbit showed up from the deeper part of the spawning grounds and screeched at him in bloodlust, and pulled back, getting itself a runaway to get the full use of its powerful hind paws.

*THUMP*

Sucking up the air in shock, Viria grabbed the corpses of the two monsters he already killed and pushed open the gate with his shoulder hearing the third mole-rabbit kicking off the ground in a reckless charge.

*WHAM*

"SCWEEEEEEEE!"

The very next second after Viria blocked the gate, the rabid monster slammed against it and squealed in fury.

"SCWEEEE!"

The next moment it was already scratching against the gate, pushing its snout between the bars of the small hatch, sniffing out the blood and meat of its fallen kin that it wanted to consume.

"Holy shit...!"

*thump*

Viria breathed out putting his back against the barrier, away from the hatch, and sliding down until he was sitting on the ground.

He dropped the monster's carcass and pulled up his knees, resting his forehead against them.

Honestly, Viria wasn't sure how much time he spent like this, but he didn't move a muscle until his breath calmed down.

"SCWEEEE! SCWEEEEE!"

One thing was sure – no matter how long he was resting, it wasn't long enough for the mole-rabbit to give up, as its screeches and clapping of its jaws were going as strong as the moment they started.

"What, you dumbass - want to have a bite out of your friends?"

Viria, who honestly started to get annoyed because of the mole-rabbit's single-minded pursuit, got up and stood in front of the hatch, dangling the corpse of the first monster he killed in front of the bars.

"SCWEEE! SCWEEE! SCWEEEEE!"

The third mole-rabbit became restless, with the bloodied corpse that had a big chunk of flesh already bitten off, and forced its head even further, exposing not only his skull but the entire neck too...

...prime to strike...

"Iiiidiot."

*SHING*

"SCWEUGhhhh..."

Viria scoffed mockingly, glaring down with disgust at the creature blinded by gluttony, and struck it down with a single ability-augmented strike, cutting its head clean off.

"Hmm...? That felt as if it went a bit easier..."

The young man wondered, hurriedly opening the gate and snatching up the monster's corpse before another mole-rabbit would show up.

"..."

Viria furrowed his brows and looked at his shiv after throwing the body next to the other one.

[Prison shiv (mole-rabbit bone) – low-grade soul artifact – it sometimes breaks but can be remade from any kind of trash in your possession.

Abilities – Bone weapon (The higher the mastery level, the higher the damage dealt by the weapon) - - Rabbit strike (Adds the speed of a mole-rabbit's jump to the attack)

Mastery – level 1/10

Durability 12/30 –repair– -remake-

???]