I move over to Hessian. His eyes are still wide open as if he has experienced war itself. I feel bad for him. If something like that had happened to me, I would have put a gun to my mouth and ended it already.

He mumbles some words, but I can’t understand what he is saying, so I lower my ears near his mouth to get a proper grasp of whatever he wants to say.

“Time…”

“Huh? What is it?” I ask, confused.

“Can’t you… rewind time already? Just… rewind anything from ever happening…”

Oh, like hell. That probably costs a shit ton of skill points — which I don't have.

I shake my head. “Nope. Sorry.”

“Useless child…”

Normally, I would have been upset about that, but in this situation, he gets a pass.

I wonder, how long is he going to stay like this? Is he going to need therapy?

“Baru!” Nearby, a blue rabbit-like creature with 5 ears makes various sounds.

Hm, I should test out this HUD feature more.

I scroll through settings in the world perception setting and find “Information on newly seen creatures.” After ticking it on, a tab opens:

BLUEBIT

LEVEL 1

I expected much more information than that. Like, show me some vital information about what it is.

...

Nothing.

It doesn’t react at all.

So, you know the name, but nothing more?! Useless.

Hessian makes eye contact with the creature and then says, “Ah… that’s the answer. I just need to get stronger to kill that toilet fiend.”

“What?” He plans to go back after it, even after it nearly killed him?

“Hehehehehhe.” He laughs manically before pushing himself up, similar to a zombie. He points at the innocent creature, who tilts its head in response.

He proclaims, “If I kill you, I will level up!”

Oh, that was what he meant. But, it’s so cute though!

I get in Hessian's way. “Wait wait! It’s way too cute to be killed! Kill something ugly instead!”

My logic makes a lot of sense. We kill spiders because they look ugly as shit, but kittens? Kill a kitten and everyone hates you — including me. Rabbits are cute enough to be protected.

He looks me up and down skeptically. “I don’t discriminate…”

Tough luck. “I do! Now, leave it alone!”

“No! Just move out of the damn way!” He gets a hold of my shoulder and pushes me to the side, so I grab his leg, the same one Vacinay hit with a rock.

“Argh!” He bellows before falling. “That was already hurting!”

“I know!” I release my grip on him and backpedal toward the bluebit creature.

He glares at me with murderous intent, but then he appears confused. “Wait, what the…?”

Is he trying to trick me?

He slowly backs up as he screams, “Behind you! That shit isn’t any cute rabbit!”

… Please tell me he's joking.

Do I act stupid and… No, I don’t think I will.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Grh…” A very strong growl greets my ears.

A cold sweat runs down my back as I slowly turn toward the creature.

The cute rabbit-like creature is gone. Instead, a smiling 2.5-meter-tall man-rabbit on hyper-steroids stands before me with a huge grin.

RABBIT-MAN

LEVEL 18

Has it evolved?

The wind wails as its huge forearm makes contact with my head.

Oh. I am f—

Splat.

Hessian looks me up and down skeptically. “I don’t discriminate…”

Wait… Huh? I am so confused. What the hell? I thought I had my head broken.

I look at him, then at the bluebit creature, who rolls on the ground, playfully.

Am… I losing it?

Hessian notices that I don’t react to his words, so he pushes me aside as he marches forth to the creature.

He picks up a stone, too.

… Oh shit. I can timeloop!

That must be my passive skill! Holy shit! That's cool as hell! Well, excluding the dying part!

I rush at Hessian and grab his hands. “That’s not an easy target! It’s some kind of monster!”

He ignores my claims and simply keeps moving as if I am a feather.

I kinda am to him. This dude is 6”2 and weighs 220 pounds. He's just about 4 inches taller than Vacinay.

"It's a powerful monster!" I shout, but he ignores me again.

Just like in the previous loop, I try to attack his hurt foot, but I am too slow. He reacts by lifting his leg quickly. Then he pushes me off him.

Okay, new plan. I obviously am not going to be able to convince him… but… I know who could and by force.

“Ghomas! Stop Hessian, he is going to try to kill himself!” Technically that isn't a lie.

Ghomas is taken by surprise and immediately runs towards us.

Hessian is obviously angry about my claims. “Stop lying on me!”

“I am not!”

Vacinay, who can barely move, gets up too. “Damn it… this dude is always giving me work!”

When Hessian sees them approaching at high speeds, he runs forward.

He puts all his force into sending the rock at the bluebit's head.

Damn it! It's going to transform—

“Ke!” It screeches when the stone knocks it over.

A puddle of blood that flows from its head begins to dye its fur.

Huh? Why isn't it transforming?

Hessian runs over to check to see if it is still alive. After a couple of seconds, it doesn’t make a move. That’s weird…

“What the hell? Where is the level up?” He complains out loud.

Ghomas and Vacinay have caught up.

Ghomas asks, “I thought you said he was going to kill himself—“ Ghomas is cut off when Hessian quite literally loses his head.

I blink a couple of times, staring at the same rabbit-man monster that had killed me before.

Where the hell did this shit sneak up from?!

It looks at us like prey. While it grins, water drips from its fur.

Yeah… We gotta run.

As soon as I turn back to run, I remember if I died, I could rewind time.

There is just one problem with that, I don't wanna die!

Remembering that forearm coming towards my head with that kind of speed is so terrifying.

Thud!

It leaps over us and lands loudly.

God damn it! I also have no idea how much my death can also rewind time by. And I don’t have the time to check.

But I suspect if I wait too long—

“Ke!” A rabbit-like creature screeches as it is dying.

Oh shit!

I spring into action. I immediately call Ghomas. "Run away with Hessien as fast as possible! Or else his guts would explode!”

“What—“ Before Ghomas can question it, I repeat what I said, and he listens.

Vacinay runs over, exhausted. “Uh. So he went from being suicidal to now having exploding guts?”

I tell her, “I died twice and looped back in time. That rabbit-weird monster keeps killing us.”

Vacinay raises an eyebrow and stares at me like I am crazy.

After a couple of seconds, she believes me. “You do have a time card…”

As she talks, Ghomas has gotten Hessian in a headlock and is walking back to us.

Ghomas is actually a bit bigger than Hessian.

Okay… rabbit… You know, why the hell are we still here?

I declare, “Guards! There is a monster here!”

They are around since they directed us here. While they fight the monster, we will run away.

I dash away. “Let's go now!”

“Huh?! Oh right, time loop shit!” Vacinay understands fast and trusts my reasoning.

“Wait for me!” Ghomas follows us while restraining Hessien.

While running, I keep my eyes on the corpse of the bluebit. Then something catches my attention at the corner of my eye.

There are ripples in the spring. From it, a giant rabbit-man creature swims out.

…

Vacinay sees it too. We are too shocked to even really react!

Hessian was right about spring monsters! Damn it! We have to be defenders of this world?! It is cursed! It should be burned down with fire!

The guards who heard our call rush to our aid and run besides us.

“What is it?!” They ask.

I feel bad for why I called them.

Without a beat, I tell them, “Rabbit-monster thing, strong, fast. Save us from it!”

Basically, I am telling them to be cannon fodder so that we could escape.

They look at each other. “Oh hell nah!”

“We don’t wanna die!”

“I got kids, damn it!”

… Damn it!

Something moves through the air quickly. It lands in front of us while somersaulting!

With a flourish of its arms, it prepares to leap forward.

I make a stupid decision. Stepping forward, I place my hands on my waist, along with an annoyed expression. “Oi Oi, You want to kill me?”

As soon as I end my sentence, 7-inch-long claws are near my eyes.

It tilts its head in confusion.

Holy shit, it can understand me? And that shit works?!

I swallow the saliva in my mouth and force a smile.

I Ignore the drenching sweat that covers my face and flourish my arms. “Let’s play a game, me vs. you. If you win, I will show you where thousands of people reside. If I win, you have to kill yourself.”