The Horned Rabbit's Last Fireworks
Wait. There was something I wanted to try.
The pillar of fire I had just fired completely missed the horned rabbit.
BOOM!
“…….”
The horned rabbit was fine.
If anything, it looked even angrier.
Ipda spoke carefully.
“Han Seok-beom.”
“Yes.”
“It missed.”
“I saw.”
The horned rabbit scraped the ground with its forepaws.
Small body. Small horn. But the look in its eyes was murderous.
That was no rabbit.
That was rage shaped like a rabbit.
“You said it was a weak mana beast.”
“It’s on the weaker side.”
“Can we ban the word ‘side’?”
The horned rabbit launched itself.
This time it wasn’t coming for me.
It was going for Ipda.
My body moved first.
I swept my fingertip through the empty air.
"DEFEND"
⟨ Barrier ⟩
A transparent membrane sprang up in front of Ipda.
CRASH!
The horned rabbit slammed into it.
The barrier shuddered.
My wrist bent with it.
“Ugh.”
Ipda had supplied the mana.
But the impact still came straight to me.
The horned rabbit bounced back.
It spun around at once.
Crimson energy gathered at the tip of its horn.
Characters rose above it.
CHARGE
HORN REINFORCEMENT
MANA CONCENTRATION
Mana the horned rabbit had drawn up from inside its own body.
It was gathering at the tip of the horn.
In that instant, a brilliant idea hit me.
Wait.
The first time I stopped Fire, I had overlaid Stop on top of the formula Rayan had made.
When I used Defend, I had always been borrowing someone else’s mana…
Then.
Couldn’t I do the same thing here?
I locked my eyes on the tip of the horned rabbit’s horn.
The red mana was swelling bigger by the second.
Mana that thing had pulled up from its own body.
Mana it had gathered itself to power up.
“Ipda.”
“Yes?”
I raised my fingertips.
“Wait—there’s something I want to try!”
“Huh?”
I recalled the characters I had seen at the Academy Duel Ground.
Fire. Flame. Chain. Shoot.
The continuous formula Rayan had used. Flame Barrage.
Back then it had been flying at me, which was the problem.
All I had to do was change the direction.
Target: above.
Purpose: waste it.
Output: everything.
I aimed my fingertips at the tip of the horned rabbit’s horn.
"TARGET — Horned Rabbit"
"DIRECTION — Sky Above"
"SHOOT"
"FLAME BARRAGE"
⟨ OUTPUT: 10 ⟩
The horned rabbit kicked off the ground.
But the mana gathered at its horn tip was sucked straight into the characters I had written.
Upward.
Piyuuuuung—
BOOM!
A red flower exploded above the forest.
Second.
Third.
Fourth.
Piyuung!
BOOM!
BOOM-BOOM!
The horned rabbit’s mana turned into flames and shot into the sky in rapid succession.
Pure waste.
Spectacular, glittering mana waste.
The sky flashed crimson.
Birds shrieked and scattered into the air.
Ipda stared up at the sky, dazed.
“It’s pretty~”
I spoke while my fingertips trembled.
“That rabbit’s last fireworks of its life.”
The final bloom burst.
The horned rabbit staggered.
The red energy at its horn tip snuffed out.
It toppled forward, limp.
Thud.
Mana Remaining:0
Combat Status:INCAPABLE
I slowly lowered my hand.
My fingertips hurt.
My head rang a little too.
But it had worked.
The meat wasn’t burned.
The horned rabbit was down.
And the sky still held the afterglow of red fireworks.
“Han Seok-beom.”
“Yes.”
“That just now… was a little cool.”
I caught my breath.
Honestly.
I thought so too.
But cool didn’t last long.
My stomach spoke first.
Grrrrlk.
“…….”
Ipda looked at my midsection.
I cleared my throat.
“Side effect of the formula just now.”
“From your stomach?”
“…….”
Flame Barrage or not, I hadn’t eaten anything proper.
I had used someone else’s mana.
So why was it my stamina that got drained? I had no idea.
This world was unreasonable.
I looked down at the fallen horned rabbit.
“Ipda.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s roast it and eat.”
I glanced at the red afterglow still hanging over the forest.
“To be honest, I feel like we should probably run.”
“Then shouldn’t we run?”
“When I’m hungry I can’t do anything.”
Ipda thought for a moment.
Then she nodded with complete seriousness.
“That’s true.”
Good.
The princess was learning reality.
We hastily set up camp.
There was no need to start a new fire.
Ipda laid her hand over my fingertips.
Faint mana flowed in.
I carefully drew a small Fire right there.
"FIRE"
"OUTPUT: 1"
⟨ MAINTAIN ⟩
Fwoosh.
Flame caught on the dry branches.
Perfect.
Ipda dressed the horned rabbit.
Her hands didn’t hesitate nearly as much as I expected.
I asked, a little surprised.
“Ipda.”
“Yes?”
“You know how to do that?”
“I’ve seen it in books.”
“You can just do it after seeing it in a book?”
“If I can’t, we starve.”
“……Not a princess. A survival expert.”
“Call me Ipda… like before.”
“Ah.”
I corrected myself at once.
“Ipda.”
She smiled, small.
This time it looked like a real smile.
Horned rabbit meat was skewered on a branch.
It began to cook slowly over the fire.
Sizzle.
Fat dripped and the flames jumped a little.
The smell rose.
Meat smell.
A little gamey.
A little scorched.
And the overwhelming fragrance of survival.
I swallowed.
“No salt, I assume?”
“No.”
“Pepper?”
“No.”
“Ssamjang?”
“What’s that?”
“The essence of civilization.”
“Is it important?”
“Extremely.”
We would just have to eat without it.
I tore off the first piece.
It was hot.
I nearly burned my tongue.
It was tough.
My jaw ached.
No seasoning at all.
And yet.
It was delicious.
Insanely delicious.
I closed my eyes.
I was alive.
I was really alive.
Of everything I had eaten since coming to this world, this was the first proper piece of meat.
It didn’t even compare to the watery soup they served in the custodial dorms.
Meat.
Real meat!!
“It’s good.”
Ipda said it brightly, smiling as she held her own piece.
“First time eating it?”
“Like this, yes. First time.”
“How do they eat meat in the palace?”
“Cut into tiny pieces. A taster eats first, then a detoxification formula is applied.”
“So by then it’s completely cold.”
“Yes.”
Ipda looked down at the meat in her hands.
Horned rabbit, just pulled from the fire.
She took a very careful bite.
Then her eyes went round.
“…….”
“What? Is it weird?”
Ipda didn’t answer.
Instead she took another bite.
Bigger this time.
Grease smeared the corner of her mouth.
She pursed her lips against the heat, but she didn’t let go of the meat.
“Meat eaten while it’s still hot…”
Ipda said softly.
“Tastes like this!”
That line caught strangely in my chest.
It wasn’t something a princess should say.
Someone raised in the palace.
Someone who should have eaten the finest food in the world.
Her eyes were sparkling over a saltless horned rabbit roast.
“Eat slowly. You’ll get indigestion.”
“Okay.”
Ipda kept tearing off small pieces and eating them.
Smile.
The corners of her mouth lifted.
Another bite.
Smile.
This time her cheeks even puffed a little.
I watched her for a moment.
More than a princess, she looked like someone having late-night snacks for the first time.
“Is it good?”
Ipda nodded hard.
“Yes!”
Then she beamed again.
“So good!!”
I turned my head for no real reason.
Maybe it was the campfire.
Or something else.
My face felt a little warm.
Energy comes from meat.
Common sense.
When I swallowed the second piece, a sentence floated up in front of my eyes.
STAMINA RECOVERY
I paused.
“Oh.”
“What is it?”
“It says I recover when I eat meat.”
“You can even see that?”
“Yes.”
I looked down at the meat.
I definitely needed to keep eating.
Humans don’t live on magic.
They live on food.
That was when Ipda spoke while looking at her meat.
“Han Seok-beom.”
“Yes.”
“That formula earlier.”
“The fireworks?”
“Yes.”
She chose her words carefully, then asked.
“Can you use mana that isn’t mine too?”
“I’m not completely sure, but… I think so.”
It was a really good question.
Because I had only just confirmed it myself.
“I’m not completely sure either.”
I looked down at my fingertips.
They were still trembling.
“So……”
I searched for the right phrasing, then just said it as honestly as I could.
“It seems I can freely use other people’s mana too.”
“How far away can the mana be?”
“I don’t know.”
“How much?”
“Don’t know that either.”
“What if the other person refuses?”
“That……”
I stopped for a second.
I recalled the sensation still left in my fingertips.
The horned rabbit’s mana had been rough.
Different from Ipda’s.
When I forced it out, it had felt like something scraping the inside of my fingertips raw.
“Every mana seems to have a different nature. Yours was stable, but the horned rabbit’s was rough.”
“Because it’s a mana beast’s.”
“The cult bastards’ mana is probably even weirder, right?”
“If it’s holy power, your body might reject it.”
“Just hearing that makes me hate it.”
But I could use it.
That was what mattered.
That was when it happened.
The underbrush split open.
A woman in a white robe appeared.
A gold emblem on her chest.
A short dagger in her hand.
Characters rose above the blade.
SHADOW STITCH
BLOOD SEAL
TRACKING
“Get down!”
My mouth moved before my brain did.
I grabbed Ipda’s shoulder and yanked her down.
At the same time—
Whiiish—!
Slash.
Something cold grazed my cheek.
Blood ran down my jawline.
In that instant the characters on the dagger flared.
BLOOD SEAL
TRACKING COORDINATES FIXED
“…….”
Ah.
This.
I wasn’t supposed to get hit by that.
The woman flicked her dagger as if shaking something off.
My blood on the tip of the blade turned gold.
“Han Seok-beom.”
She already knew my name.
“Confirmed.”
The feeling was foul.
Golden script rose from the place where the blood had touched.
TRACKING MARK ATTACHED
Release Condition:CASTER ELIMINATION
I slowly looked at the woman.
The characters on the blade changed.
SUTURE COMPLETE
She looked at us and spoke.
“Using spatial formulas will do you no good.”
“Your shadow is already stitched to my blade.”
“Wherever you move, I will follow that suture line.”
Release condition.
Caster elimination…
I clenched my teeth.
The way out was clear.
I just had to kill that woman.