"I understand that I was called to the tea party immediately after the "return from death", but while I am talking to you here, what will happen outside?" Subaru asked
"Didn't I say it before? This is the Castle of Dreams. Now there are only souls. During the time here, not only is it isolated from the outside world, it is even isolated from time. Although it cannot be said that time does not move at all, the influence on the outside world
It’s very small, so on the other hand, generally speaking, there will be no chance of being woken up by the outside.”
"That's it... In this case, we can avoid leaving Emilia lying on the cold floor for several hours. This is good news."
Since the rebirth point has not changed, the body is still lying in the stone room, next to Emilia who is undergoing a "trial", and she should be having a nightmare from which she cannot wake up.
It would be pitiful if this encounter would prolong her nightmare, Subaru was so worried
"Your ridiculous worries about the princess are unnecessary. So, the problem you want to use my wisdom to solve is? Isn't it because you are afraid that the princess's limbs will get cold?"
"I'm worried, but your words are very harsh. What's wrong?"
"No? If you want me to tell you, after chasing the witch, you immediately start to care about other girls. From a general point of view, this would be a problem."
"I don't remember chasing you, and the person who just said it was rude to compare witches to ordinary people is you."
It's already very troublesome just because the "Jealous Witch" who has no memory of her is obsessed with him. It would be very troublesome if Echidna bites the naughty words and threatens her just now. I hope her teasing will stop.
, so far
After sighing deeply, Subaru raised his head and faced the solution to the situation with a serious expression.
"This time, everything happened that I didn't know about, and the most confusing thing among them was the guy at the end... who ate me... who ate me to death."
"————"
"It's embarrassing to say that I was killed by a palm-sized rabbit. It seemed to be omnivorous and the owner might be a bad person, so it seemed to be very hungry. Because of this, I was completely eaten...
"
It’s an experience that makes one’s hair stand on end just thinking about it. Subaru deliberately told it in a playful way.
Although it is expressed in a tactful way, the level of misery is beyond description. His whole body was bitten by teeth, his flesh, bones and even blood were eaten away. The memory of being ravaged left a strong color on Subaru's soul.
It had reached the point where if it hadn't been for the intervention of the tea party and Echidna, Subaru's heart would have collapsed and could not be reassembled.
"It would be too funny to say that she is the owner. In fact, Daphne did not teach Duotu any manners at all."
"...Big Rabbit?"
"To be precise, it's not "big", but "many". Many rabbits were rumored to be big rabbits. The monster "big rabbit" is the negative legacy left by the "Gluttony Witch" Daphne, and it is also one of the three major monsters."
"The big rabbit among the three major magical beasts, Yurius mentioned before..."
Subaru had heard of it. It was the name of the monster that came up in the conversation after defeating the white whale and rendezvousing with Yurius. It was said that its threat was equal to that of the white whale. It did not disgrace the names of the three major monsters at all.
Now when I heard Echidna say it, I realized that it was a relic created by the witch in the past to cause trouble for people.
"Three major monsters...? We just defeated the White Whale, and another one appears right away? Please spare me..."
"Even I can't help but sympathize with your suffering, and Big Rabbit is the most troublesome opponent."
The unexpected disaster made Subaru hold his head and cry, while Echidna also looked inexplicably gloomy.
"Looking at your expression, I have a nasty feeling...Which one is stronger, the white whale or the big rabbit?"
"If we compare purely in terms of combat effectiveness, White Whale wins overwhelmingly. However, given the situation, what should be prioritized is not combat effectiveness, but the difficulty of the expedition. This is why Big Rabbit wins overwhelmingly."
"The difficulty of the subjugation...does it mean it's difficult to defeat?"
Just like killing the white whale, the best result is of course to kill the big rabbit as well.
Echidna raised her index finger towards Subaru who was making this wishful thinking and said:
"Listen up? You seem to think of the three major monsters as beings that are slightly more troublesome than ordinary monsters."
"No way, I know they are not the ones who deserve such a cute rating..."
"If I want to use a word that fits the three major monsters, it would be "natural disaster""
The words were interrupted, but Subaru could not laugh at the exaggeration of what Echidna said next.
Precisely because Subaru had directly confronted the white whale and understood its horror, he couldn't laugh when faced with the witch.
"Big rabbits basically move in groups. If their appetites are not full, they will eat everything. For big rabbits, all other living things are food. Apart from eating other living things to satisfy their hunger, they have no other desires.
They just eat, and the place they eat will turn into a wilderness, you should have witnessed it with your own eyes."
"A wilderness, do you mean... you mean the "sacred area"!?"
The characteristics of the big rabbit and the damage caused by Echidna made Subaru's expression change and he shouted loudly.
In the uninhabited "sanctuary", those rabbits were greedy for Subaru's whole body, and similarly, if the people in the settlement were also eaten by the teeth of those demonic beasts, the result would be that uninhabited scene——
Emilia, Roswaal, Ryuz, and even the beast-turned-Gafir are no exception.
Everyone is surrounded by those teeth, tastes the loss and pain of being eaten, and then dies——
"Oh, evil...!"
The moment he thought of it, Subaru's stomach hurt like a knot, and he felt a sense of vomiting. Because he has experienced it personally and vividly, he can understand the pain that everyone has experienced.
Locust plague—this word flashed through Subaru’s mind
The so-called locust plague refers to the disaster phenomenon caused by a large number of locusts. Strictly speaking, it is not caused by locusts, but a large number of grasshoppers that suddenly mutate and eat up the crops in the fields, leading to harvest failure and subsequent famine.
The habits of the big rabbit are similar to the locust plague that Subaru knows about
However, they are different from grasshoppers. They do not eat crops but the flesh and blood of living creatures. They are a real natural disaster.
"Is there, is there no... way to repel it?"
"It's difficult. When there is only one big rabbit, it is not very strong. The problem is its fertility... As long as one rabbit can divide and reproduce indefinitely, no matter how hard you kill it, you can't kill them all."
"One can...reproduce indefinitely!? Is it an amoeba!? No, no, wait a minute! They are a group, right? In that case, defeating the leader of the group can disintegrate them, right?"
The laws of the human world: capture the thief first and capture the king first. As long as the leader is killed, the rest of the group will be a piece of loose sand. But according to the laws of the animal world, after the leader of the group dies, the second person may just take over. I don’t know about Warcraft.
Which side is the ecology like?
After hearing Subaru's deduction, Echidna shrugged and said:
"Unfortunately, although I said they are a group, the big rabbit itself has no such concept. Did I say that before? They are monsters that can divide and reproduce indefinitely as long as one. In other words, if we trace their origins, they are the same Only, countless big rabbits share the same hunger. Even if there is no prey to eat, they will eat each other to survive hunger. This is how they exist."
There is not even a sense of clan. Such a weird ecology makes Subaru speechless.
Indeed, it is common sense for organisms to prey on other organisms to maintain life. However, individuals will divide and reproduce, and they will eat each other's individuals to satisfy hunger. This is not common sense in any way.
——As far as living creatures are concerned, the big rabbit is completely a monster whose possibility has ended.
"If we want to eliminate them, we can only annihilate all the rabbits at once, but that is no different from letting all the raindrops evaporate. That's what I think."
An exaggerated metaphor, but it’s so absurd
After listening to Echidna's explanation, Subaru felt dizzy at how difficult it was to defeat the big rabbit. If the defeat was this difficult, he would have no other choice but to run away when the big rabbit attacked.
However, to escape from the group of big rabbits appearing in the "Sacred Area"——
"——There is a barrier blocking the road. As long as there is that, Emilia and the others will not be able to get outside."
This situation is simply practiced to the point of ambush from all sides, and everything is covered.
The ecology of Big Rabbit and the environment of the "sacred territory", there is no malice that is more suitable than this.
There is a killer in the mansion, a rabbit in the "sanctuary", and different threats will visit on the fifth day
Before that, the barrier of the "Sanctuary" must be lifted and Emilia and the others must be liberated.
Before that, the necessary combat forces must be gathered at the mansion to repel Elsa and the others.