The Curse of the Rabbit God

The moment he stepped inside, a cascade of system messages popped up.

'I literally have the Rabbit Slayer title, though. Is it really okay for him to hold me in high esteem?'

Tae-hyun felt a bit weird, but since the other party was rating him highly on their own, he decided to let it slide. After all, a good thing was a good thing!

'But what even is a Rabbit God? Sounds like a pretty weak deity...'

As if reading his thoughts, the system messages continued.

"...!"

Tae-hyun was startled by the message and braced himself for a fight. Fighting a boss monster while continuously losing HP? He was already tense because it was a high-difficulty dungeon boss, and now the difficulty had ramped up even further!

However, no battle took place.

'Is the boss not spawning because Karbanog holds me in high esteem?'

The giant rabbit statue in the back-center was a bit suspicious. Usually, in these situations, things like that would crack, move, or come to life... but nothing happened.

'Well, if it doesn't spawn, that's fine by me.'

Tae-hyun quickly looked around. Time was tight, so he planned to grab only the important things and get out.

Starting with the chest in the corner, he swept up everything in sight. Since he had caused such a massive scene here with Jang Ssu-an, even if Jang Ssu-an's friends didn't show up, other players would eventually find this dungeon. That meant all the rewards in this boss room would be plundered, so he might as well clean it out beforehand.

'Ah, if only I had the time, I could grind my Constitution stat here...'

An opportunity to safely and continuously drain his HP didn't come around often. Especially for someone like Tae-hyun. Anyone else would have thought about escaping as quickly as possible, but Tae-hyun's first instinct was to use this for stat grinding.

'Well, there'll be another chance after the tournament.'

The sweeping was done. Tae-hyun dusted off his hands and looked at the rabbit statue. The giant, suspicious rabbit statue was still staring at him, completely motionless.

"Thanks for the loot," Tae-hyun offered his gratitude. It was a casual, thoughtless greeting. Since he was getting away with a free meal, he felt like he should at least say thank you!

"!!!"

What kind of windfall was this? Tae-hyun was touched. He had slightly looked down on him for being a "Rabbit God," but to think he would give such a gift!

'As expected of a god, they really are on another level!'

"..."

Tae-hyun's face contorted as if he had just chewed on a bug.

"You really made it back in thirty minutes?!"

"What about the outside?"

"No one's here. Let's slip away. I'll cast an invisibility spell on you at the entrance, so just move along with us."

Lee Se-yeon was thorough. Even though she had confirmed there were no enemies nearby, she took extra precautions just in case.

"Why ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠do you look like that?"

"It's nothing..." Tae-hyun replied in a drained voice.

For someone who had just rushed through a dungeon, his demeanor was incredibly bizarre! Lee Se-yeon tilted her head in confusion.

'Did he turn back because the dungeon difficulty was too high?'

Tae-hyun sighed and checked the skill again.

No matter how many times he looked, the skill description didn't change. It was literally just a skill to turn into a rabbit!

Of all the Authority skills Tae-hyun had seen, this was the most absurd and useless one. Although Tae-hyun was famous for finding creative ways to utilize weak, off-meta skills that others discarded, this was truly...

'Where on earth am I supposed to use this?'

The description "It is cute" felt like a direct mockery. Tae-hyun let out another sigh and closed his skill window.

In truth, he should be satisfied just by the fact that his Holy stat had increased and he had secured some items. Besides, he had accomplished his main goal of taking down Jang Ssu-an...

Tae-hyun checked his inventory.

'Seriously, what is up with this dungeon?!'

Even for someone as patient as Tae-hyun, pulling two duds in a row was starting to feel unfair. It was a good thing he had stripped some high-quality gear off Jang Ssu-an and his guild members, otherwise...

'Where am I even supposed to use this token? There are plenty of other ways to keep rabbits away.'

Besides, there weren't many situations where one needed to fend off rabbits. Maybe during farming? But Tae-hyun's class wasn't a farmer, nor was he leveling up farming skills, and his territory wasn't focused on agriculture either. Farmer players usually settled in areas with fertile soil and flowing water; they wouldn't go all the way to a gloomy, monster-infested valley like his to grow crops.

'Is this a sign telling me to start farming...? If any player wants to farm in my territory, I guess I can just place this down to help them out.'

With that thought, Tae-hyun finished checking his items.

The other items were reasonably good. There were weapons and armor dropped by Jang Ssu-an and his guild members, and a pendant from the final room of the dungeon. The pendant was decent, but Tae-hyun already had the necklace he had extorted... no, received from the Auston Kingdom. Since that necklace was so outstanding, he doubted he would ever use this pendant.

'And the skills are clearly inferior...'

Looking at Karbanog made Tae-hyun reflect a little. Ah, Akisus was actually a pretty decent god after all! Aside from the fact that he had made enemies in every direction, causing every demon he met for the first time to grind their teeth, Akisus was quite a respectable deity.

"Now that I think about it, while we were waiting, I saw some dark, shadowy thing rush out of the entrance. Did you touch something in there?"

"?"

Tae-hyun tilted his head at Cain's words.

'Ah, was that the curse of the Sanctuary escaping to the outside world?'

"I think I saw a notification about a curse being released."

"What?! Isn't that dangerous then?!"

"Nah, it's fine. It's fine. This isn't that dangerous of a dungeon."

Judging by Karbanog's nature, Tae-hyun felt that even if it was a curse, it wouldn't be anything major. At worst, it would be some rabbit-related curse!

However, Tae-hyun did not yet know.

Just how much rabbits could torment humanity.

When news spread across the internet that Jang Ssu-an had been ambushed and wouldn't be able to log in on the day of the tournament, the forums erupted.

People who read the tearful post written by Jang Ssu-an began criticizing Tae-hyun's team. Especially Cain.

However, not everyone was criticizing them.

There were quite a few opinions like this as well.

Furthermore, when rumors spread that Jang Ssu-an was close with the Restaurant Guild—who had previously poisoned the arena to win a tournament—people began to turn on him, saying, "He kept quiet when he was doing it, but now he's crying foul because he's the one who got hit."

As public opinion soured, those who criticized Tae-hyun's team directly contacted the Pan-On company. They asked if the death penalty could be lifted early so he could log in for the tournament!

Many people waited for the response. And the answer came.

An answer that completely sided with Tae-hyun's team!

The fans supporting Tae-hyun's team were ecstatic. The fans of the Chinese team ground their teeth and retorted.

While the fans were locked in a fierce emotional battle, some took a more practical approach.

High-level players, judging the monster levels to be manageable, began to gather. They boldly set out to conquer the dungeon.

"Argh! What's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with these rabbits...!"

"Block them! Just block that one!"

They were shocked by the insane attack power, but since they had already seen it in the video, they managed to cope somehow.

Eventually, they made it all the way to the Sanctuary of Karbanog!

Unlike when Tae-hyun entered, Karbanog welcomed them with pure hostility! This was how the boss monster reacted if you killed the rabbits on your way in.

"We're not doing any damage!"

"Holy crap, what level is this thing?!"

"Is that really a rabbit?! Isn't it a dragon?!"

The high-level players, who had cleared several famous dungeons, crumbled in an instant. With just one attempt, they realized something.

This was not a dungeon that players of their current level could clear!

"Retreat! Retreat!"

Though the shock was great, the players weren't too surprised. This wasn't the first uncleared dungeon they had encountered. It was just humiliating that their opponent was a rabbit!

The raiding parties quickly lost interest in Karbanog's dungeon. If it was a dungeon they couldn't clear right now, there was no point in wasting time and effort on it. It wasn't like there was a shortage of other dungeons!

And around the time people forgot about Karbanog's dungeon and refocused on the tournament, posts began to appear on the bulletin boards.

At first, the high-level farmer players didn't believe the beginners. Beginners often failed to execute the right methods properly.

However, it wasn't just one or two people; dozens of similar testimonies began to flood in.

Something was definitely wrong!

Suddenly, rabbits began appearing even in the fields of high-level farmers.

The fields of high-level farmers, heavily fortified with sturdy fences and various monster-repelling skills, were places where even wolves and bears found it difficult to approach.

Yet, rabbits were breaking through.

This was no ordinary occurrence.