Purplish-red blood splattered out.
Under Burton's strike, the Armored Demon Rabbit's neck was cut nearly two-thirds of the way through, almost completely decapitating it.
Yaka, not far away, watched with a fiery gaze.
Combat Skill!
This was another new term he had never heard of before.
He didn't see any difference between Burton's strike and an ordinary slash, but he knew very well that if he or Yaka's father had struck like Burton just did, the result would have been like Burton's initial strike on the Armored Demon Rabbit's head—just a few sparks, not nearly decapitating the Armored Demon Rabbit with a single blow, even though the neck was the Armored Demon Rabbit's only weak point.
So there was only one answer.
That was the special ability belonging to a Combat Skill!
"Ha!"
Burton exhaled again, suddenly exerting force, wanting to quickly cut down with this strike to completely decapitate the Armored Demon Rabbit.
But no matter how much force he exerted, he couldn't completely cut down with the strike; instead, his continuous exertion of force made the Armored Demon Rabbit even more enraged due to the pain.
With just a shake and a push from its hind legs, Burton momentarily lost his grip, unable to suppress the Armored Demon Rabbit's rampage.
The first to bear the brunt were the soldiers who were nocking arrows.
They had first thrown the glow sticks and then shot the first round of arrows, so their arrows hadn't been reloaded yet.
The soldiers who had already reloaded their arrows nearby, seeing this, quickly raised their hands and shot.
However, the now completely enraged Armored Demon Rabbit wouldn't stop because of these attacks; on the contrary, the pain from the penetrating wounds caused by the armor-piercing arrows made it even more furious.
As a result, these few soldiers who couldn't escape were directly crushed, their breastbones shattered, and they died on the spot.
The Armored Demon Rabbit's charge didn't stop, and it rushed towards the soldiers in front again.
The few soldiers on the right, who were not in the Armored Demon Rabbit's attack range, were fine; they were busily reloading their crossbows again, but the few soldiers on the left, who were within the Armored Demon Rabbit's charge range, were not so lucky.
In an instant, the scene began to turn chaotic.
"Damn it!" Seeing the originally favorable situation suddenly turn messy, and half of the thirteen soldiers he brought already dead in this short time, even Burton, who had always appeared quite humble, finally couldn't help but become enraged, "Everyone get out of the way! Don't stand directly in front of it!"
Burton looked at the bloodstains covering the ground; he knew the Armored Demon Rabbit was doomed, the only difference being how much longer it would take to die.
He knew very well that if his uncles were here, they would undoubtedly choose to sacrifice the lives of these soldiers to block the Armored Demon Rabbit, buying him an opportunity to completely decapitate it.
But Burton didn't want to do that.
He didn't want to leave Yaka with a ruthless impression, so as long as the Armored Demon Rabbit didn't run towards the surface, he didn't mind spending more time wearing it down, after all, he already knew the outcome of this trial.
"Block the cave entrance, don't let it run out.
With Hughes falsifying the scent outside, the demons outside won't come in."
Burton began to order the surviving soldiers to scatter the Armored Demon Rabbit's most hated scent at the cave entrance.
At this moment, he was only glad that he had listened to advice, made several preparations, and anticipated the possibility of fighting in the underground cave; otherwise, he might really have had to sacrifice lives to win this trial.
It was also at this time that Burton finally had the leisure to examine the environment of the underground cave.
But he hadn't noticed it when he hadn't looked closely before; now, as he truly began to examine it, Burton's heart suddenly jolted.
Because he discovered that the scale of this Armored Demon Rabbit's underground nest was somewhat excessive!
The Kasein Family's Bloodline was related to the Armored Demon Rabbit, so their family's research into the Armored Demon Rabbit was naturally very deep, and as the future star of the family, even being exceptionally promoted to the position of first-in-line heir, Burton could be said to remember these details very clearly.
So with one glance, he saw that the scale of the Armored Demon Rabbit's nest completely exceeded the records.
"Could it be..."
Burton's breathing began to quicken, and a sense of panic quickly seized his heart.
"Twin Nest!"
"Woo—"
A piercing, roaring cry echoed from the unexplored depths of the nest.
Immediately after, the ground began to shake violently.
A furious aura instantly appeared beside Burton.
At this moment, layers of fine, silvery-white scales, like snake scales, suddenly appeared on Burton's body.
"Bang—"
A violent collision sound followed.
Burton was immediately sent flying horizontally, then crashed into the stone wall on one side, and then slid down the stone wall.
Before he could speak, he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood as he opened his mouth, and his left arm hung limply, clearly fractured.
The only thing still worth celebrating was probably that his body showed no other signs of fractures or deformities; the situation hadn't become critical to the point of near death.
And facing this sudden attack, the other surviving soldiers not far away were all stunned.
Because they never expected that there was a second Armored Demon Rabbit in this nest!
"Fire!"
Just when everyone's minds went blank, a furious roar suddenly rang out, instantly causing these soldiers to instinctively begin executing tactical movements: they all raised their crossbows, which had already been reloaded with armor-piercing arrows, and then simultaneously pulled the triggers, attacking this second Armored Demon Rabbit.
But it wasn't until the moment they pulled the triggers and launched the attack that these surviving soldiers suddenly realized they shouldn't have attacked this enraged Armored Demon Rabbit at that moment.
However, by the time they realized it, it was clearly too late, because the Armored Demon Rabbit had already turned around and begun attacking these soldiers.
It pushed off with its legs, and its calf-like body charged out with a bang.
These soldiers couldn't even track its movement; they just saw a blood mist suddenly explode within the crowd, as one soldier couldn't withstand the Armored Demon Rabbit's charge and was directly shattered by the immense impact.
Having lost any effective means of attack against this Armored Demon Rabbit, an intense fear of death and despair instantly caused these resilient soldiers to completely collapse.
With a shout of "Run!" from an unknown voice, chaos instantly erupted.
The soldiers ran frantically like headless chickens.
Some fled into the dark depths of the nest, while others turned and climbed up the slope of the underground cave.
Burton watched the chaos erupting right before his eyes with a complex expression.
He had heard it very clearly just now; both the "Fire!" and the "Run!" were shouted by Yaka.
But he couldn't open his mouth to command anything, because if he hadn't ordered those soldiers to shoot at the second Armored Demon Rabbit, he, as the primary target, would probably have died there the next second.
And as for the later shout to run, even he had to admit it was indeed a brilliant command.
Because if these soldiers hadn't been completely overwhelmed by fear and started scattering to distract the Armored Demon Rabbit, then after the Armored Demon Rabbit killed those soldiers, the next to die would be himself, who had completely lost the ability to move.
"Are you alright?"
Yaka's whispered voice sounded nearby.
Burton looked towards Yaka with some difficulty; he felt as if his whole body was about to fall apart, and he couldn't even struggle to get up, so he could only give a helpless wry smile: "I didn't expect there to be a second Armored Demon Rabbit."
"There was always a second one; it's just that Yaka's father and I didn't tell you."
Burton, who was about to say something else, heard Yaka's words and his brain instantly crashed.
His face even flushed with anger: "You... you said... what! Don't you know..."
"Don't make that expression."
Yaka walked in front of Burton, then pried open his right hand and placed the handle of the broadsword he had retrieved from the first Armored Demon Rabbit into his right palm, "Hughes wanted to kill Yaka's father and me; Yaka's father and I were just trying to protect ourselves.
...Just like I let your soldiers go to their deaths to buy you more time to live, didn't you accept it as a matter of course?"
Burton was completely stunned by Yaka's words.
"I! I already stopped him!"
"I know."
Yaka nodded, "You told him to only give us a warning, but I can't let such a potential risk exist.
You are a Second-Tier Bloodline User; Yaka's father and I might not be able to defeat you, but fortunately, this is the Death Forest, and you were eager to find the Armored Demon Rabbit."
"So, this was a trap from beginning to end?!" Burton was both angry and anxious, his face flushed red, "Do you know who I am?"
"I only know you're a big shot we can't afford to offend."
Yaka whispered, "Don't say things like 'let us take you away, and you'll let us go.' You and I both know that's impossible, isn't it?"
Burton stared coldly at Yaka, who was slowly retreating.
He watched as Yaka poured the foul-smelling, viscous liquid that Armored Demon Rabbits hated most onto himself, carefully spreading it on his face, neck, and all exposed skin, and then spilling it on his clothes, disguising himself as a pile of feces in the Armored Demon Rabbit's eyes.
He finally let out a cold laugh: "I'll be waiting for you in the underworld, believe me, it won't be long..."
"Bang—"
Before Burton could finish speaking, a dark shadow instantly charged out and slammed into Burton.
Blood and flesh splattered everywhere.