The rabbits rushed to the coffin, their feet pounding in sync. In the corner of the party's vision, they saw more rabbits come inside from a system of small tunnels.
They took the place of that man in the coffin. With their black fur in the darkness, they looked like shadows.
These shadows squirmed around in the coffin, combining and creating a bigger and united shadow.
Some rabbits tried to enter the room from the path, but Krys started ending their lives.
Then all movement halted in the ancient room.
Krys's senses warned him about the threat. He took Marie in his arms and ran back, screaming at the other two to follow him.
Just before the brothers got out of a daze and Krys escaped the room, the door leading outside was closed on his face.
The noise reverberated around the hall, jolting the other three awake. Marie got her senses back and looked behind her.
The light illuminating the room was erased from existence. A pang of pain bounced around her head with an unfamiliar and broken voice.
"Kiii...iiinnng..."
"Miiine..."
"My... kiiing…"
This voice was heard by all the people in the room. Gilbert and Basil who just woke up from a daze fell into despair as they tried to tear away their eyes, but they failed.
When there were no more rabbits left, a figure of a gigantic man emerged from the coffin. He rose to his feet with extreme difficulty and fell down.
He had grimy black fur on his skin which still wriggled once in a while.
He spat out something and a ball of meat and bones appeared on the ground.
The two of them slowly moved back to the stairs with their eyes focused on the creature and his voice still in their minds.
With them being completely terrified by the man, they couldn't hear Krys's fists banging on the door.
*bang* *bang* *bang*
Their tablet had completely lost its energy at this point and they fell into a deep darkness. The only thing they could see was the moving eyes of the creature fixating on them.
The intensity and volume of the noise increased as Marie joined.
*bang* *bang* *bang* *bang*
The alignment of the eyes changed around the man's head and more sets of golden eyes glowed in the dark.
*bang* *bang* *bang* *bang*
"Hu… man?"
*bang* *bang*
The noises stopped suddenly as the eyes stopped moving.
They creeped closer to the stairs and stared at each of the intruders.
*bang* *bang*
The broken voice turned into a loud scream.
"YOU… ARE… NOT…"
*bang*
The door broke open and sunlight shone down on the stairs. When the rays hit the eyes of the creature, it sank back to darkness with a loud physical scream.
Krys threw Marie out of the stairs and ran back outside with the other two in his arms.
Krys picked up the beaten door and jammed it back into the hole before the creature escaped.
He took one look at his companions to check their state but instead sensed an unusual crowd in the forest.
He could feel the presence of dozens of people running around in very close proximity. They likely heard the commotion and were rushing close to them.
He took one look at each of his companions. The brothers were petrified and collapsed onto the ground.
Marie, who was starting to get used to this stuff, got up and faced Krys. She had a scared look on her face, but she was not as helpless as her past self.
The wolf was much more dangerous but the atmosphere underground was still terrifying.
Dozens of men in a guard's armour carrying bloodied halberds with black fur on it, as well as some people in citizen's clothes with swords or bows arrived at their location.
Marie recognised the men as the officers who had escorted her that day.
Selira and Jared appeared at the same time. All eyes stared at the four adventurers.
Before they could communicate, a herd of rabbits came out from the system of burrows. They crowded in one location as if forming a tower.
Without warning, Krys took out his sword and started hacking away at the rabbits before the structure could be completed.
But the rabbits didn't stop. Not only the burrows, but from all over the forest, rabbits ran to the location.
Not abandoning the original anchor, they started crowding at a nearby location. Suddenly there were two locations to keep track of.
The crowd was dumbstruck. Only Marie knew what was going on. If the tower is completed, the creature from underground will appear.
Lending a hand, she started hacking away at the second pile. But her speed couldn't match the numbers.
As Krys was occupied with one tower, the other tower rose to 7 feet. Marie was horrified at the looming danger as well as cursing her weakness. Still… she raised her sword. Her hands burning with pain and bleeding profusely. She hacked as the human-like shape began to take form.
Just before despair arrived in her heart, the rabbits were cut to pieces in an instant. The dark tower of danger turned to a waterfall of blood and meat scraps.
In her vision, Marie saw a man carrying a sword with two more on his hip, the pieces of horned-rabbit scraps falling between them.