"Thanks for the knife, the bread, and for not trying to rape me."
Eron said as he tightened his belt and adjusted his robe like he was heading out to a delightful torture party.
Garon was sitting on a rock, chewing on something that looked like firewood.
"Where to?"
"A stroll. Exploring. Searching for meaning in my life among the trees—or at least a rabbit to feed my bloody machine."
"The forest isn't a picnic, priest."
Eron turned, raising an eyebrow:
"Forest? I was going to say the village toilet, but… well, same thing."
Garon shook his head, sighing like a disappointed father.
"Don't be late. The night here… isn't kind."
"Neither am I."
He waved at him and left.
The forest, from afar, looked like an old saddle forgotten by an angry god.
Everything in it bled a pale green. Every sound felt like the creak of a boot on a damp corpse.
Eron muttered:
"Alright. Looking for bloody rabbits. Not something you say out loud without sounding like someone freshly escaped a mental hospital."
He stepped into the trees and advanced.
"The system asked for ten rabbits. Not five. Not one… ten. Like it's planning a sadistic stew."
He walked slowly, eyes scanning the ground like a thief searching for a treasure of fur and claws.
"Where are you, you fur-wrapped insects?"
Then—he stopped.
There.
A small movement in the grass.
A tiny log shifted. A faint sniffle. White fur like a virgin's crotch in early winter.
Eron crouched, narrowing his eyes.
"Is that…?"
It was a rabbit.
A rabbit in every sense of the word—trivial, beautiful, soft, and naive.
Sitting peacefully. Cleaning its tiny face with a front paw, licking its fur like it was starring in a beauty product ad for animals.
Ding!
> [Predatory Beast: Bloody Rabbit (Level 5)]
[Note: Unreasonably fast, hostile when interrupted, gets more excited if it smells sweat.]
[Survival chances via combat: 8%.]
[Survival chances via escape: 4%.]
[Additional warning: It can stab your butt… with painfully precise accuracy.]
"All this… for a rabbit?"
He looked at the panel, then at the rabbit.
Then at himself.
Then laughed.
"Fast? Gets excited when it smells me? And its claw threatens my ass? Who wrote this filth?"
The rabbit tilted its head.
Its eyes were wide. Gentle. As if someone had stuffed a saint's soul inside it.
"I might adopt it instead of killing it… Maybe I'll give it a name. Let's see… White Death? Lust Fang?"
The rabbit smiled.
Then licked its claw—slowly.
And Eron… felt something.
Something strange.
As if this rabbit didn't belong to this world. Or did—but only to make his ending more absurd.
"Damn it… the system's delirious."
Eron lazily raised the knife.
"Come here, little one… for your first stew. I'll skin you like an old debt."
But...
The rabbit didn't move.
Didn't attack.
It… disappeared.
"Huh?"
A second.
No sound. No flutter. No hop.
Then—
Suddenly, a white streak shot toward him like a cannonball from a broken barrel.
Something pierced the air between his eyes and his palm.
His instincts—not his consciousness—saved him.
His hand moved on its own.
The knife's edge hit something soft… then blood.
"Damn it!!"
He staggered back, tripped, hit a trunk, his eyes wide in shock.
The rabbit stood where his face had been a moment ago.
Its claw tainted with a drop of blood.
Its face changed.
No longer innocent. No longer soft.
It became a small nightmare wearing fake fur.
"It almost gouged my eyes…"
Eron wiped the blood off his cheek and looked at his trembling hand.
"If not for that dumb move… I'd be blind now."
Then he remembered.
"Wait… my level! It rose after entering the cell."
He opened the panel quickly:
> [Current Level: 4]
[Notes: Slight improvement in sensory perception and neuromuscular balance]
"That reaction… wasn't mine. It was the system's."
He smiled with a mix of sarcasm and awe:
"Nice… something inside me finally doesn't want to die disgracefully."
Then—
The rabbit jumped again.
But this time, it wasn't going for the face.
This time, its target was the throat.
Eron twisted his body, taking the hit on the shoulder.
Burning pain.
"Damn, damn, damn!"
The rabbit's claws tore through his fabric and nearly reached the bone.
But it landed away—balanced, like a small sword wrapped in fur.
Then the rabbit… started circling him.
Fast, circular movement. Soft steps. Claws sparking lightly against the ground.
Eron muttered:
"That's no rabbit. That's a bastard from a death arena."
He raised the knife.
Breathed slowly.
"Alright, bastard… you think you're quick?"
He backed up, placing a tree trunk behind him, scooped mud from the ground, smeared it on his face.
"Let's play your game… because I've got something under my skin too."
The rabbit leaped.
But Eron didn't attack directly.
He dropped to the side—a feint.
The rabbit's claw passed in front of his face like a ghost.
Eron spun fast and stabbed into the void.
But the rabbit… had already jumped again.
Above him now.
Eron fell on his back.
Quickly raised the knife—and the rabbit...
Descended.
Eyes glowing.
And the sky? Silent, as if watching a movie about a stupid man's stupid end.
The knife was heavy.
Eron's hand trembled, sweat and blood mixing in his palm.
The rabbit…
Was no longer on the ground.
It was now disappearing and reappearing among the high branches—like a shadow of a lethal thought.
Each jump was swift, impossible to predict.
"What is this… did it turn into a ninja?!"
Jump from the right.
Shredded his shirt.
Jump from above.
A light wound on the neck—deep enough to say: I could kill you, I just don't feel like it yet.
Eron backed up.
Breathing heavy. Vision narrowing.
Then—
[Warning: Health below 30%]
[Skill Activated: Survival Surge – Lv.1]
[Increased strike power by 20% for 10 seconds]
"No, no, no… damn you, system, I didn't ask for this now!"
He stared at the panel as he backed away, heart pounding like drums at a funeral.
"Now? I use my best skill on the first rabbit of ten?"
But he had no choice.
Every extra second meant another wound. Another pain.
Then he noticed the second skill:
• Groin Kick – Lv.1
❝A targeted strike to sensitive areas (effective against males or females, based on weak points)❞
Note: You can use it without any cost.
"...The hell?"
He chuckled half a second.
"Why do I have this ridiculous skill?!"
He looked up. The rabbit gleamed in the shadows.
Another jump… too fast.
"Groin kick? On a rabbit?!"
He read the description again.
Words flashed before him:
sensitive areas
based on weak points
not necessarily genitalia
"...Wait."
His eyes gleamed.
"That includes eyes. Ears. Nose… any main pain point?"
The rabbit reappeared.
But this time, the attack didn't come from the void.
Eron was ready.
Knife in his left hand. Right leg bent.
His brain worked at a new speed. Every part of him screaming: Now!
"If you're a bomb-sized rat… let me be the right boot."
The rabbit jumped.
Wind howled.
Air shifted.
And in the blink of an eye—
Eron twisted, pulled back his leg, then kicked with all his might… toward the face.
No…
Straight into the right eye.
The kick hit.
The rabbit's scream came from hell itself.
Not a squeal.
Not a howl.
But the sound of a small creature tasting its personal damnation.
It recoiled, thrashed, then fell off a trunk.
Eron didn't wait.
One leap.
First stab. In the stomach.
Second. In the neck.
Third… between the eyes.
He breathed.
Everything went silent.
The knife buried in the rabbit's chest… to the hilt.
Eron stared.
The beast… didn't move.
> [Congratulations! Bloody Rabbit Defeated (Rank E)]
[Kill Count: 1 / 10]
[Rewards: EXP ×22 | Random Item (Unidentified)]
[Weak Point Discovered: Right Eye – Extreme sensitivity to direct vision]
Eron sat down.
Didn't laugh.
Didn't cry.
He just said:
"...Groin kick. To a rabbit's eye."
Then sighed, staring at the small corpse like he couldn't believe this fluffy thing was moments ago a murder attempt.
Then—
Something bugged him… or surprised him, rather.
"Rank E?"
He frowned.
"A minute ago, the system was using numbers… Level 2, Level 3—like I was in a combat math class."
Now?
Letters.
Ranks.
"Rank E? That means there's D, C, B, and A… and maybe S? Damn it, am I in a manga now?"
Then something else:
[EXP Gained: ×22]
He opened the panel, for the first time seeing it like this:
[Total EXP: 88 / 120 to level up to 5]
"Alright… now I have a progress bar. Like a student waiting for his grades after a real fight."
Then—
[Random Item (Unidentified)]
This actually made him raise an eyebrow.
"Random item?"
He remembered the first time he got a digital map… it was like a joke—but it had appeared with no fanfare.
Now, the system laid rewards on the table like it was running a weekly giveaway.
"What changed? Is the system… growing? Evolving? Or… did it just start taking me seriously?"
He sighed.
"And if this rabbit took all that… what about the ninth? Or the tenth?"
Then he looked at the corpse one last time, wiping the blood from his knife's edge.
"If this is the beginning… what the hell will the ending look like?"