18 A Persistent Woman

Silvia drew her weapon and was about to use her skill when all four Horned Rabbits attacked her all at once, and she was completely caught off guard.

–10

–17 Critical Hit!

–10

–15 Critical Hit!

Silvia was surprised that the Horned Rabbits were faster than the normal ones. Bigger too. They were about knee in height, and their large bucktooth was sharper than it appeared.

What's more, two of the rabbits managed to circle her and attacked her on the back, landing Critical Hits in return.

Silvia immediately took a step back, creating distance between the rabbits and her. She was about to consume her potions when the Horned Rabbits attacked again.

–10

–9

–7

Silvia was stunned and didn't expect that she wouldn't even get the chance to attack before her HP bar quickly flashed red and emptied.

And when she came too, she was nothing but a wisp on top of her body that was laying on the hard cold ground, which felt strange to her.

There was a notification on her screen saying that she had to pay the death penalty with ATP since her EXP was insufficient.

The notification wouldn't leave her screen, and there was no exit. She had no choice but to pay the death penalty.

Gritting her teeth, Silvia paid –5 ATP points from her MP, STR, INT, a total of 500 EXP that she should have otherwise gotten as a reward if she defeated the Horned Rabbits.

After which, her body burst into particles, and Silvia found herself back at the entrance of Euclid Village near the Teleportation/Save Crystal.

Silvia's heart was heavy. Those were 5 ATP points!

Such a minuscule number, but it had a great impact on the game!

Her advantage over the others was now reduced, and she couldn't sleep knowing that she had lost 5 of her hard-earned ATP.

But despite her frustration, there was a hint of a smile on Silvia's lips.

It was her fault for underestimating the Horned Rabbits.

This time, she wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

She lacked the information about the group of Horned Rabbits, and the [World Chat] didn't provide any information either except that they were strong or a lot of players were killed when they attempted to kill those beasts. After they suffered tremendous ATP loss, they thoroughly gave up on the group of horned rabbits after just a single try.

But Silvia was different. The more she suffered defeat, the more motivated she'd become.

She wouldn't stop until she got what she wanted.

And her eyes were locked on those group of Horned Rabbits.

Through her parent's money, Silvia acquired information about the game. Not much but sill useful than the limited information and guide the developers posted on their website.

There was supposed to be an item that would let her see the stats of the beasts and monsters she encountered.

Due to her confidence, she made the mistake of not checking the information of her foes. A newbie mistake that could have been prevented if she hadn't underestimated her enemy.

It won't happen again. Silvia thought.

She went to the shop and bought [Monocle x1].

In the real world, Silvia didn't have to check the prices of what she bought. But in here, she made a twice-over encased that her Gil got depleted without her knowing.

She wasn't used to it, but it felt nice for once.

The challenge was always welcomed. Silvia thought to herself before she went back to where the group of Horned Rabbits was.

Silvia didn't know what happened back there and why she died before she had the chance to attack, but she was determined to find out, even at the cost of another death and EXP penalty.

Sacrifices had to be made for her advancement.

At this moment, all Silvia thought was defeating the group of Horned Rabbits and nothing else. Even Pamela was left out of her mind.

Silvia approached the rabbits with careful steps though the beasts heard her footstep, and loud screeching noises escaped from their wide mouths.

They surrounded Silvia once more, and the four beasts attacked her from all sides the moment Silvia pressed <ENGAGED>. This time, Silvia was ready and anticipated their attacks.

She jumped to the side and avoided a [Bite] from the Rabbits' mouths.

Miss!

Silvia smiled at the words flashing in her view. As long as she knew the pattern of their attacks, she could easily avoid them with her AGI.

However, her smile fell right off her face when the rabbits thumped their bigfoot against the ground in a blink and easily jumped towards her with their bucktooth on wide display.

Since Silvia was still in the air, she couldn't avoid the rabbits' attacks, and her HP flashed red in alarm.

–19 Critical Hit!

–15 Critical Hit!

–17 Critical Hit!

–16 Critical Hit!

When the rabbits all paused for a second, Silvia used her [Monocle] instead of attacking them.

[Used Monocle x1

Remaining number of Monocle: 0]

‖ H O R D E S O F

H O R N E D R A B B I T S ‖

Location: Euclid Forest

Description:

❶ A family of Horned Rabbits living in Euclid Forest.

❷ Do not engage if ATPs are below two digits.

‖ A T T R I B U T E ‖

HP: 75

MP: 20

STRG: 7

DEF: 6

MDF: 5

INT: 5

AGL: 10

LCK: 12

‖ S K I L L ‖

Passive Skill:

❶ Rabbit's LCK

–– 100% chance of double attack when the enemy's AGI and LCK are lower.

Active Skill:

❶ Rabbit's Screech Lv. 2

–– MP –20

–– 50% chance of calling for reinforcement

‖ W E A K N E S S ‖

❶ Fire

‖ E N D ‖

Silvia was surprised because the group of Horned Rabbits had different skills than the individual rabbits running rampant in the forest. She thought that they were the same. That was why she was confident that she could kill them even if most of her ATP's were in the single digit.

What's more, their ATPs were high!

So high!

Higher than her, that Silvia was even thinking of giving up.

Silvia shook her head.

NO!

She would not give up until this group of midgets were nothing but rabbit meats and feet.

Such horrid and savage thoughts for someone so beautiful, but Silvia didn't care for the Rabbits were now going to attack her.

Silvia closed her eyes, bracing for impact, and before she knew it, a notification appeared on her screen.

". . ."

Silvia blinked. It was 500 before but now a 600 EXP penalty?

How?

Why?

WHAT?!

Silvia forced herself to calm down and thought things through.

The system was calculating the penalties based on the amount of EXP she gets from defeating her enemy. And the amount of EXP she gets from killing her enemy was based on her ATP and the amount of time for her to defeat her foes.

Then that meant . . .

It was because her ATP was reduced by five a while ago that was why her amount of EXP, should she had defeated the group of Horned Rabbits, was increased to 600 EXP.

Damn!

Then that meant that the more she was killed, the higher the EXP reduction!

Silvia began to panic now. 600 EXP was no joke! She would definitely feel the burn of it.

Her ATP was surely going to suffer from this second loss. Her advantage over the other players would be null as well.

Calm down.

Silvia repeated the mantra over her head.

It also meant that if she defeated the Hordes of Horned Rabbits, she could get back most of her lost ATP points.

Silvia took a large intake of air and planned her next move. She needed to increase her AGI to 10, so the group of Horned Rabbits' skills wouldn't work against her, and they couldn't perform double attacks.

And with her fighting experience, she could avoid most of their attacks and finish them one by one.

Silvia nodded to herself. What she needed was to grind until she had 300 EXP. And by then . . .

Silvia's wisp form locked on the group of Horne Rabbits who resumed their daily lives of eating grass and collecting food. Their innocent eyes looked happy and content.

Silvia didn't know why but she was pissed looking at them.

She would surely kill those rabbits even if it were the last thing she did!

Paying for the death penalty, Silvia once again found herself inside the entrance of Euclid Village.

Instead of wallowing in her frustration and annoyance, Silvia marched towards the forest once more and grind like her life depended on it.

She totally forgot about her best friend Pamela at this point.

Some players were also doing their daily grind. Upon seeing the beautiful lady marching with dark mist shrouding her entire aura, eyes glinting dangerously, everyone gave way almost immediately.

Their fantasy of saving a damsel in distress and showing off to attract her vanished in thin air like the Crazed Wolf she slew with her sword in a single strike.