Cheerleader's Soul had completely overturned Ethan Carter's understanding of Innate Talents.
He had never even heard of a Secret-grade talent before. If outsiders discovered that such a talent existed, it would inevitably attract jealousy and hostility from those with malicious intentions. Worse still, the danger wouldn't necessarily stop with Ethan himself. His family could also become targets.
Ethan had already made up his mind.
Even those closest to him could never be allowed to know about Cheerleader's Soul.
And unless absolutely necessary, he couldn't use it in front of outsiders either.
There was no reason to invite unnecessary trouble.
The combat strength of this Evil Bunny was far beyond anything Ethan had read about Rare-grade Evil Bunnies. Even Warlord, empowered by Cheerleader's Soul, could only fight it to a standstill.
In truth, even after receiving the enhancement, Warlord was still slightly inferior in raw strength and speed.
The main reason it could fight the Evil Bunny evenly was intelligence.
Cheerleader's Soul hadn't merely increased Warlord's physical abilities.
It seemed to have enhanced its intelligence and perhaps several other capabilities as well.
Taking full advantage of its superior mind, Warlord constantly repositioned itself, using hit-and-run tactics to toy with an opponent that was physically stronger and faster.
The Evil Bunny's attacks were both fast and vicious. Its black butcher's knife flashed through the air like lightning, but Warlord repeatedly circled behind it, denying the creature any opportunity to properly unleash its overwhelming physical advantage.
"Warlord, you're incredible!"
"That's it! You're the greatest Guardian Hound in the world!"
"There's no Guardian Hound under heaven that could possibly compare to you!"
Ethan continued cheering from the side.
Yet after shouting several more exaggerated compliments, he quickly noticed that Warlord didn't seem to become any stronger.
Apparently, Cheerleader's Soul didn't become more effective simply because he used more words or shouted louder.
Nor did it seem to grant power from an external source.
Instead, it appeared to awaken potential that already existed within the target's life and soul.
The Evil Bunny, meanwhile, was becoming increasingly disoriented.
After repeatedly spinning around in place trying to follow Warlord's movements, its limited intelligence finally failed it.
For a split second, it exposed an opening.
Warlord instantly seized the opportunity.
Its jaws snapped shut around the Evil Bunny's paw.
The creature shrieked in pain.
Instinctively, its grip loosened around the butcher's knife while its other paw slashed toward Warlord's neck.
But Warlord's reactions had become frighteningly fast.
It seemed to have entered some kind of heightened state.
The moment it saw the incoming claw, Warlord released the rabbit's paw and dropped to the ground, simultaneously avoiding the attack.
Then one of its paws struck the butcher knife's handle.
The weapon flew from the Evil Bunny's grasp.
Straight toward Ethan.
Ethan's eyes widened as the spinning blade hurtled toward him.
He immediately threw himself aside.
With his current strength and eyesight, there was no chance he could reliably grab the handle of a weapon spinning through the air.
Trying would be suicidal.
If he misjudged it by even a little, the blade might cut him instead.
The butcher's knife flew past Ethan and struck a bone thicker than a man's thigh.
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CRACK!
The massive bone was severed in a single strike.
Fortunately, the impact also absorbed most of the weapon's momentum. The butcher's knife fell alongside the broken bone and disappeared into the surrounding pile of skeletal remains.
Ethan stared at it in shock.
That knife is ridiculously sharp.
Thank God Warlord didn't take a direct hit earlier. If that thing had actually landed, it might have cut him in half before I even had a chance to activate Cheerleader's Soul.
Without wasting another second, Ethan rushed toward the fallen weapon.
He covered the distance in several quick strides, reached down, wrapped his hand around the handle, and lifted it.
His arm immediately sank.
Heavy.
The butcher's knife wasn't particularly long, but its weight was astonishing.
Ethan was strong enough to lift it without much difficulty, but swinging it around as effortlessly as the Evil Bunny had was completely beyond him.
The Evil Bunny immediately attempted to recover its weapon.
But the instant it turned toward Ethan, Warlord attacked from behind.
Its jaws clamped down on the Evil Bunny's round, snowball-like tail.
Rip!
Warlord tore the entire tail off.
Blood immediately poured from the wound.
The Evil Bunny released a bizarre shriek and spun around, attempting to grab Warlord.
But Warlord had already retreated with the severed tail still between its teeth, circling around to the creature's opposite side.
The Evil Bunny completely lost control.
It chased Warlord in a frenzy.
Yet Warlord continued manipulating its position, changing direction and speed at exactly the right moments.
The rabbit simply wasn't clever enough to keep up.
It couldn't do anything to Warlord.
And while all its attention remained focused on the hound—
Ethan moved.
CRACK!
The black butcher's knife came down from behind.
Ethan swung it diagonally into the Evil Bunny's neck with everything he had.
The blade was terrifyingly sharp.
Yet even so, it only sank less than halfway through the creature's thick neck.
It failed to sever it completely.
Worse—
The blade became lodged inside.
Ethan gripped the handle with both hands, planted both feet against the Evil Bunny's back, and pulled with all his strength.
Nothing.
The butcher's knife wouldn't move.
Then Ethan realized something was wrong.
The Evil Bunny had stopped moving.
Slowly...
Its head began to turn.
Ethan froze.
The blood-red light in its eyes had become so intense that it almost resembled black flames.
Oh, hell.
Ethan immediately abandoned the weapon.
He released the handle, turned around, and ran.
Behind him, the Evil Bunny reached up and wrapped one paw around the butcher knife's handle.
Schlick!
It ripped the blade straight out of its own neck.
Its enormous hind legs slammed against the ground.
BOOM!
The Evil Bunny launched itself more than ten meters through the air.
Ethan barely had time to process what had happened before the enormous creature landed directly in front of him.
Its eyes burned with rage.
The fury within them seemed almost tangible.
The Evil Bunny raised the butcher's knife.
Ethan had virtually no time to react.
The blade came down toward his head even faster than before the creature had been injured.
A streak of black lightning tore through the air.
Ethan saw it.
His brain understood exactly what was happening.
MOVE!
His mind screamed at his body to dodge.
But his body couldn't react quickly enough.
The blade was already descending toward his skull.
Then—
A crimson figure came flying in from the side.
Warlord.
There was an unmistakable look of determination in the hound's eyes.
It didn't hesitate.
It didn't slow down.
Warlord threw itself directly at the Evil Bunny and sank its teeth into the forearm holding the butcher's knife.
The force of the impact knocked the blade off course.
SWISH!
The freezing edge passed so close to Ethan's arm that he could feel the air displaced by it.
A large section of his sleeve was sliced away.
The exposed skin beneath remained intact, but countless hairs on his arm had been cleanly severed.
Ethan felt as though his soul had nearly left his body.
He turned and ran.
This time, however, the Evil Bunny refused to release its weapon.
Despite Warlord's teeth sinking painfully into its arm, it violently shook the hound away, tightened its grip around the butcher's knife, and continued chasing Ethan.
Ethan scrambled desperately through the mountains of bones.
He stumbled, rolled, pushed himself back up, and kept running.
Behind him, the Evil Bunny wielded the butcher's knife like an enormous battle axe.
Anything blocking its path was destroyed.
Skeletons shattered beneath its attacks.
Even bones as thick as pillars were severed with a single swing.
Without Warlord constantly attacking from the side and forcing the Evil Bunny to divide its attention, Ethan would have already been cut down.
But after a short while...
Something changed.
The Evil Bunny began slowing down.
The wound in its neck had never stopped bleeding.
And after all the violent movement during the chase, the injury had opened even further.
Blood now sprayed from its neck almost like a fountain.
Its steps became unsteady.
Its enormous body swayed from side to side.
It had lost too much blood.
Finally—
BOOM!
The Evil Bunny collapsed.
Its massive body crashed into the mountain of white bones beneath it.
But even as death approached, the creature still wasn't finished.
With the last of its strength, it hurled the butcher's knife directly at Ethan.
A black streak flashed through the air.
Ethan didn't even have time to react.
SWISH!
The butcher's knife flew past his head.
For several seconds, Ethan simply stood there.
Motionless.
His face had lost every trace of color.
Cold sweat covered his entire body.
He genuinely felt as though his soul had already begun ascending toward heaven.
On the ground, the dying Evil Bunny stared at him.
When it realized its final attack had missed, its blood-red eyes widened until they looked almost like a pair of headlights.
It continued glaring at Ethan with furious unwillingness.
Then...
The light disappeared from its eyes.
It stopped breathing.
It had truly died with its eyes wide open.
Ethan, however, wasn't convinced.
He didn't know for certain whether the creature was actually dead, and there was absolutely no chance he was going to walk over and check.
Then something strange happened.
Tiny particles of red and white light began evaporating from the Evil Bunny's corpse.
Ethan stared.
More and more particles emerged.
Soon, they resembled countless fireflies floating above the dead creature.
Then all of them suddenly accelerated.
They rushed toward Ethan.
"What—"
Before he could react, the swarm of red-and-white particles reached his body.
They passed directly through his skin like ghosts.
One after another...
They sank into him.