Chapter 77. Collecting Leather (3)

Creak - Bang!

A sound from behind.

Some people, seeing the entrance to the Animal Forest close, stiffened and muttered.

"…This reminds me of the Forest of Beginnings."

"What are they planning to do this time?"

The 300 cautiously moved forward.

Just as they stepped into the outskirts of the Animal Forest—

Thud.

The steps of the 50th cohort naturally stopped.

What halted them was none other than a male senior from the 49th cohort wearing a yellow armband.

"It's… it's the 49th cohort senior."

"Why is he here?"

The sudden appearance of the 49th cohort senior.

Those who remembered the nightmare of the Dragon Scale quest instinctively stopped in their tracks.

But those who were a bit more relaxed quickly noticed something odd.

"What is that?"

"…Rabbit ears?"

On the head of the 49th cohort senior.

There was a headband with long, pure white rabbit ears attached.

As everyone blinked at the bizarre and strange scene,

The 49th cohort senior with the rabbit ears averted his gaze.

Then, gritting his teeth, he spat out just one word.

"Kang-chuk."

"……"

Silence instantly enveloped the area.

Another word was uttered in the silence.

"…Kang-chuk."

Various emotions flickered in the eyes of those who heard it.

'Is that kid blushing right now?'

'Ah, how embarrassing.'

Bewildered gazes flew from all directions.

Or rather, the eyes of those who were clearly cursing turned red.

Finally, unable to hold back, he…

"Kang-chuk!"

Started running away.

Staring blankly at his fleeing figure, a few people exchanged bewildered comments.

"So, the 49th cohort is a rabbit? That… 49th cohort?"

"If it's a rabbit, it's definitely one of the animals we need to hunt, right?"

"…Right?"

At that moment, someone asked the crowd.

"Did you see that? He didn't even have a weapon. Since rabbits are herbivores… he can't attack us, right?"

"……"

Silence fell at his words.

In the silence, everyone recalled the same thing.

'I don't know what's going on, but…'

This is the chance to avenge the humiliation of that day!

The memory of being tormented by the 49th cohort as prey during the Dragon Scale quest came flooding back.

One person shouted loudly.

"Get that kid!"

Dozens of people immediately rushed out to chase the rabbit.

"Uwooo!"

"Skin him!"

Strange cries filled the air as the leather collection quest officially began.

* * *

Waaaaa!

Like soldiers full of morale charging into enemy lines.

Or as if possessed, the 50th cohort members rushed into the forest after the rabbit.

Of course, not everyone did.

Less than 100 people rushed into the Animal Forest.

About 200 out of the 300 remained behind, quietly observing the situation.

Yuri was also among them.

'The cradle is starting some weird antics again.'

When she was told to collect leather and that animals were released, she thought it was literal.

But it turned out that the animals were actually people in costumes.

It finally made sense.

'After all, it wouldn't make sense otherwise with that flimsy fence.'

As Yuri suspected, the flimsy fence that couldn't even stop a rabbit was meant to mark the boundary, not to contain animals.

'So… in the end, what we need to catch are people, not animals.'

The man with glasses said there were five animals in the Animal Forest.

Rabbit, deer, wolf, bear, and tiger.

'Looking at this, they probably set it up so we can't catch them easily.'

The 1,000-point rabbit was from the 49th cohort.

Then, what could the higher-point animals be?

Especially the 5,000,000-point tiger.

It was likely that they were meant to be impossible to catch from the start.

'Of course, the cradle wouldn't give out points so easily.'

Yuri rolled her eyes and looked around.

Many people had already sneaked into the forest, aside from those who rushed in first.

Those who were willing to act individually had already left, and about 100 remained.

These were people who had realized what the cradle was about and were more cautious.

They suspected the cradle might be up to something and were more focused on observing the situation and finding allies.

'Working together is safer than acting individually, but the problem is that we have to share the points…'

It wasn't something Yuri particularly wanted to do.

'What about those guys?'

Looking around, she couldn't see Arin or Poppi.

'Are they really mad at me?'

Or had they given up?

She thought they would come to her for cooperation, but it seemed they were either acting individually or sticking together.

For Yuri, it was a good situation to avoid getting involved in something troublesome.

"Alright, I'll move too…"

Just as Yuri was about to enter the forest, she paused, remembering something.

'Wait… if the animals are from the 49th cohort?'

A scene flashed through her mind.

Therese, hesitating to explain the leather collection quest.

And finally, avoiding the question and running away.

'…Could it be?'

A small doubt arose and quickly turned into certainty, a wicked smile forming on Yuri's lips.

"Wow, this is going to be fun. I should go tease our Tetsuya senior."

Her sprint into the forest was as light and joyful as a rabbit's.

* * *

One rabbit man was running through the forest.

Dozens of 50th cohort members were in hot pursuit.

Their eyes wide, they shouted loudly.

"Got to catch him!"

"Try to escape, will you? I'll skin you alive!"

While skinning was the goal, the situation made their words sound truly menacing.

The chase continued for a while, but the distance to the rabbit didn't seem to close.

Instead, those who couldn't keep up with the rabbit's speed fell behind, leaving only a dozen or so.

"Damn! Why is this rabbit so fast?!"

"Rabbits are naturally fast, aren't they?"

The rabbit man darted through the forest.

Seeing they might lose him, the 50th cohort members widened their encirclement.

'Push him to one side!'

'Prevent him from escaping!'

After focusing on the rabbit hunt, they finally succeeded.

"Got him."

"Hehe, now you can't escape."

The rabbit man's face was clearly panicked.

"Kang… kang-chuk."

He tried to find a gap to escape, but was repeatedly blocked by the 50th cohort.

"Hehe, now, senior… or should I say, Mr. Rabbit? It's time to hand over that skin."

The encirclement tightened, and the rabbit man despaired.

There was no way out.

Just as he was about to give up and sigh deeply,

Meh-.

The sudden sound made the 50th cohort members look around in confusion.

Conversely, the rabbit man's face lit up.

Meh-.

The sound came again.

From the side of the encirclement, a person emerged from the bushes.

"Meh! Who dares to torment our cute rabbit!"

The strange cry and the appearance of the newcomer made the encircling 50th cohort members tilt their heads.

"…Horns?"

The newcomer was also from the 49th cohort, wearing a yellow armband.

A burly, muscular 49th cohort male.

But he wore a headband with antlers like branches.

"…Is that a deer's antlers?"

"Seems like it?"

"But why is a deer making a 'meh' sound? Isn't that a goat?"

"How would I know? Maybe deer make 'meh' sounds too."

A brief debate ensued over the sound.

One person cut in.

"Idiots, if you were going to question it, you should have done it from the start! Did you see the rabbit making 'kang-chuk' sounds?"

"…You're right? You're pretty smart?"

The debate over the sound ended, and they turned their attention to the new deer.

"He has a weapon."

Unlike the rabbit, who had no weapons, the deer was armed.

But since his appearance, he hadn't drawn his weapon.

He just crossed his arms and observed the situation.

As time passed, the 50th cohort members grew puzzled.

"What's going on? He's not attacking?"

Someone muttered.

"Wait, if the rabbit is a herbivore, and the deer is also a herbivore…?"

They didn't say it out loud, but everyone knew what it meant.

'Maybe neither of them can attack?'

The 50th cohort members exchanged glances.

'What should we do?'

'The deer skin is worth 5,000 points, right?'

The people who had set up the encirclement exchanged looks.

Chasing the rabbit had left them in a smaller group, and they had naturally formed an encirclement.

But they weren't really working together.

They were in competition, trying to catch the rabbit.

Now, a deer worth five times more than the rabbit had appeared before them.

Naturally, someone couldn't resist the temptation and acted first.

The 50th cohort member closest to the deer.

"The deer is mine!"

He swung his sword at the deer.

"Kang-chuk!"

The rabbit took advantage of the gap and quickly escaped.

"That bastard!"

"Hey!"

"Damn, he beat us to it! Now what?"

As they were flustered by the turn of events,

Clang!

A loud metallic sound echoed.

The source was the deer and the 50th cohort member who had attacked him.

The 50th cohort member was surprised by his sword being deflected.

"Huh? What, what is this? He… he can't attack, right?"

The deer man sneered.

"No matter how gentle a deer is… getting hit first makes anyone angry."

Seeing the veins bulging in the deer man's arm, the 50th cohort member's face turned pale.

"Now, just a moment…"

His voice trembled.

But it wasn't enough to stop the deer's enraged attack.

Meh-!

Aaah!

The loud goat-like cry mixed with human screams spread throughout the forest.

* * *

At the same time that some seniors were being thrown around by the angry deer.

Yuri, who had entered the forest, soon found another rabbit.

This rabbit was also a male senior from the 49th cohort.

"Wow, a rabbit."

The rabbit man, seeing Yuri approaching with her hands in her pockets, flinched.

His eyes darted around, clearly ready to run.

Yuri spat on the ground.

"Hey, ugly rabbit man? If you hand over your skin, we can avoid a bloody mess. So, let's not make things difficult for each other and just hand it over, okay?"

Her tone suggested she had done this more than once.

Her delivery, pronunciation, and modulation were impeccable.

"Come on, come over here. This way."

Yuri waved her white hand at the rabbit.

But the rabbit made a bad choice.

"Kang… kang-chuk!"

He darted away.

Yuri's face twisted with annoyance.

"Really, you're such a nuisance."

Just as her face contorted with frustration,

Thud!

Her figure shot forward like a cannonball, catching up to the rabbit.

In an instant, she grabbed the rabbit's back.

"I said…"

She leaped into the air.

"Let's not make things difficult for each other!"

She kicked the rabbit's back with both feet.

"Ku- ku!"

The rabbit made a strange sound, rolled forward, and disappeared into the bushes.

Thud.

"Phew!"

Yuri landed gracefully after a somersault, straightening her bangs with a short breath.

"Anyway, they don't listen when you're nice to them."

Putting her hands back in her pockets, Yuri headed towards the bushes where the rabbit had flown.

"Meh! I'm a deer!"

"……"

"Meh-! Who dares to crumple and throw our cute rabbit like used toilet paper…"

Hearing the familiar voice from the bushes, Yuri peeked in.

At that moment, her eyes met the gaze of a 49th cohort senior with deer antlers.

"……"

"……"

A brief silence fell between them.

"…Damn, this crazy rabbit kid."

The 49th cohort senior with deer antlers cursed at the sight of his unconscious rabbit classmate.

"If he was going to die, he should have done it alone… why bring a crazy hunter with him?"

The 49th cohort deer man scowled.

In contrast, Yuri waved at him cheerfully.

"Tetsuya senior, long time no see!"