"One."

"Two."

"Three."

By the time Zephyr counted down to three, the ground under them began to tremble slightly.

"They are here."

He muttered, staring at the ground.

Immediately, the soil around them began to cave in. The rabbits were digging up.

"Quagmire." Aurelia chanted suddenly.

She didn't even use a hand gesture. She simply spoke, and the world obeyed. The solid ground beneath them momentarily became loose and fluid.

The tunnel systems the rabbits had so meticulously excavated became their own traps. The shifting mud displaced the space and swallowed the berserk creatures before they could even break the surface.

"Great," Zephyr muttered, watching the earth settle into a heavy silence.

Aurelia stood there as if she didn't consider it a great achievement.

"The tunnel they dug will become their grave." She commented with a mocking smile.

Instantly, hundreds of berserk rabbits died. The quagmire had swallowed them whole.

However, the quagmire didn't cover the area around them entirely. Some of the ones that were far away dug themselves out of the ground and began dashing towards the group.

The brown and grey fur of the rabbits trembled and stood up. Their enlarged bodies, pumped with blood, gave them enough strength to cover a few metres in a single leap.

They were covering the distance between them quickly. Fortunately, the muddy ground created by the quagmire spell slowed them down a bit.

"Elenor, defend."

"Zephyr, don't die."

"Moss, stay put."

Aurelia took on the role of the leader naturally, giving each of them orders.

"What do you mean, don't die? You speak as though I have a death wish."

Zephyr was offended. Among the people who cared about living, he was certainly at the top, or so he thought. Thus, Aurelia's assumption that he would do something to harm his life was both offensive and unwarranted.

"Just a few minutes ago, you almost died." Aurelia countered.

"That was a mistake. A mistake you see."

"Then, don't make any mistakes like that."

"I won't."

Zephyr sighed.

He slowly raised his arm, preparing his very own attack spell.

The rabbits were already upon them. There was no more time to waste.

"Let the battle begin." Zephyr released the first spell.

A mana bolt carrying a single lightning modifier flew off from his fingertip, directly towards the leading rabbit. It was sent to test whether it can kill a rabbit or not.

A blue spark appeared momentarily over his finger tip, before it flew, drilling into the rabbit's head.

"Tud. Spark."

With a muffled sound, the rabbit fell into the mud.

It died even before knowing what struck it.

"Thirty-six core worth of mana to kill one," Zephyr mumbled. "I could kill about 60 rabbits before I run out of mana. That's not enough."

Hundreds of small holes were forming all around them. From just a simple estimation, he could see that there were far more than a few hundred rabbits left. And more were coming from far away.

"Stone Skin." He chanted, activating a defensive skill.

With it, he could survive a few seconds against the rabbit's teeth.

"Fortunately, they are not attacking the villagers. That's the only good thing about the situation." He mumbled.

Then they went right back to attacking the few he could see.

Aurelia joined in by releasing a large fireball spell at a group of a few dozen.

Elenor shifted the ground, creating a solid platform under their foot before raising it a couple of meters.

Zephyr was startled. Now, the rabbits won't be able to surprise attack them from underground, and at the same time, the elevated platform would prevent them from easily attacking them.

Aurelia and Elenor took the smarter approach when dealing with foes before then.

Zephyr preferred this way. Rushing at the enemy guns blazing when they did not even know how many there were was a bad idea. For now, a conservative battle plan was the right one.

"Boom."

The fireball crashed into the group of rabbits. Immediately, it swallowed their body, charring their fur and skin, cooking their inside to medium rare. The rapid heating made their eyes explode before they fell to the ground, dead.

Aurelia was not showing a single ounce of hesitation.

'If I had more mana…' Zephyr silently wished, his eyes darting towards a lone rabbit jumping from behind them.

He flicked his finger and threw a lightning mana bolt.

"Spark…swish…thud."

The rabbit mid-jump died.

"Elenor, can you lift the platform a few more meters high? Also, smooth the edges and make a curved outer ring that stops rabbits from climbing?" Zephyr asked.

The current platform was a six-meter-wide circular disk, raised to three meters in height. The edges were vertical, making it difficult to scale, but you never know what a berserk creature would do.

Zephyr asked her to raise the platform to completely eliminate the threat of them scaling to the top. The downward drooping curved edge and smooth surface would make it difficult for the rabbits to reach the top, ensuring their safety a little more.

At the same time, both combined will give them a chance to fly away and leave if they sense the villagers are in danger. Or they could leave Moss and Zephyr alone on the raised platform to rescue the villagers.

'If we are playing tower defence, let's do it properly.' Zephyr said in his mind.

Elenor paused, thought for a second, before executing the plan. Instantly, the platform rose like a pillar, growing to almost ten meters high.

Then, the top edge expanded outwards and curved down, exactly as Zephyr intended.

He raised a hand and gave her thumbs up.

"Now, you should go and save the villagers. Do the same, both of you." Zephyr said to the ladies.

Using Aurelia and Elenor to kill them was like using a bazooka to kill a fly. It was a waste of time, effort, and mana.

"Leave. I can handle the rest."

Although the rabbits hadn't yet attacked the villagers nearby, they couldn't be one hundred percent sure without checking it in person.

"Will you be okay?"

Aurelia asked.

"Yes." Zephyr turned to look at Moss. "If this guy is like the carriage driver, I will push him down to feed the rabbits, don't worry." Zephyr winked, assuring them.

A chilly wind flew over Moss.

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