Rabbit Battle
Rabbit Battle
After that, similar situations happened a few more times.
Because there were still plenty of monsters that were too dangerous for Chae-rin to handle after all.
So whenever something a bit strong showed up, I repeated the work of filtering it out for her a few times.
I'd never actually played the VR version of [Demon's Saga], but I at least knew that a ten-level difference was pretty significant.
Huh. A guy like me, even giving her this kind of consideration. I seemed fairly thoughtful.
"...Hnnn."
But Chae-rin's reaction was a little strange.
I was clearly just filtering the monsters for her sake, yet she'd gotten considerably dejected.
Her shoulders were drooped, her usual lively demeanour had vanished, and she looked quite disheartened.
Even the viewers were sympathising and trying to comfort her.
[It's okay Chae-rin, the opponent was just a bad match]
[But don't go 'hnnn' about it, fuck, have you become a grown man just to show such a weak display?]
[And right now Yor is the grown man here, no?]
[Strong man... please be just a little moderately strong... ]
[Everything's a one-shot cut lol wtf haha]
It seemed my consideration had scratched her pride.
Maybe it was because I'd spent too long cut off from society, but it was really hard to gauge another person's feelings.
I mean, it wasn't like I'd ever met people all that often.
"Strange... I'm sure the wolf I met before wasn't that high-level..."
"It was probably a sub-adult."
"...You're saying a creature that isn't even an adult yet is that strong?"
"Well, there's no way a carnivore would be weaker than a water deer, right?"
But on the other hand, my mood was slightly buoyant too.
It was a universal human trait.
Doesn't a person's self-esteem naturally rise when they're in a field they're confident in? That was exactly my state.
At least where this forest was concerned, there were hardly any people more knowledgeable than me.
"Ah, that one looks decent."
After wandering around for quite a while, we finally found a monster suited to her level.
"Kkyu?"
[Mutated Rabbit Lv 81]
It was a rabbit.
Still, perhaps because it had the 'Mutated' tag, the aura of magical power I sensed was considerable, and its size was fairly large too.
Though even then it was only about half her size.
Anyway, it absolutely wasn't a level to dismiss just because it was a rabbit.
Even thinking about it regardless of level, the thing was swift and aggressive.
And fitting its trait as a herbivore, it was also extremely cautious.
Honestly, I'd had a rough time with rabbits like that in the past too.
But its appearance held a certain inherent triviality.
The moment she saw the rabbit, ridicule burst out in the chat window.
[We walked around forever and what she's dealing with is a rabbihaha]
[Yor says, the best you can do is hunt a rabbit]
[He says you're way too small-fry to take on a wolf~]
"Ah, no. Look at the level! It's not to be ignored!"
She snapped and shouted after seeing the chat window.
Of course, I agreed with her. Judging by appearance alone was a foolish thing to do. Arrogance and carelessness were a shortcut to death.
So I decided to cheer her on a little and boost her courage.
"Right. You can do it. Don't let your guard down, watch your opponent carefully, and stay wary."
[That's right Chae-rin, you can do it, there there~]
[Dandling~ Our baby can catch the rabbit, right?]
[???: You mustn't be careless just because it's a rabbit (says while one-shotting an Owlbear)]
"...Ugh!"
Though, of course, it seemed that kind of encouragement wasn't much help to her.
Anyway, having found a worthy opponent, she began charging at the rabbit. The twin daggers made from wolf fangs gleamed.
The creature reacted to the sudden bloodlust.
"Kyuu?"
With a cute animal cry, the battle began.
Yoo Chae-rin's intersecting blades were dodged as the creature hopped nimbly on its two feet.
The Mutated Rabbit's body wasn't that big.
At best, it only came up to about her waist in height.
In other words, inside that small frame it held the strength of a B-Rank Adventurer.
Indeed, befitting a swift rabbit, it had ease to spare even against the agile thief's attacks.
Yoo Chae-rin's twin daggers were being thoroughly toyed with by the creature's quickness.
No matter how wildly she flailed her blades, she couldn't even touch a hair on the creature.
Then, in the midst of that, she even allowed an attack from the creature.
"Kyuucck!"
"Ack!"
Her right shoulder was clipped by the creature's hind-leg kick.
The monster's body was so small that it wasn't a serious injury, but it had definitely dealt damage.
Seeing that, the viewers started teasing her again.
[She's fighting so pathetically lololol]
[Hahahaha can't she land a single hit]
[Hey I'll tell you how to win just attack the opponent and hit them k?]
"Ah, it's distracting so shut up a sec!"
Of course, Chae-rin got annoyed each time.
I thought I understood the viewers' feelings.
Because waging a life-or-death duel against a cute rabbit not even half her size would clearly look comical from a third-party perspective.
But to me, having fought a bloody battle against a rabbit in the past, it came across a bit differently.
'...She fights fairly well.'
She had a decent combat sense in her own way.
Looking closely at her swordsmanship, she wasn't just swinging blindly; she was swinging while predicting the creature's trajectory. It was just that the creature was so swift that she couldn't land hits well.
Because rabbit-type creatures, more than others, had their stats particularly heavily focused on speed,
To the point they were faster than carnivores several levels higher.
It was only natural that she, currently one level lower than the rabbit, couldn't catch it.
'Now then, what are you going to do?'
I asked the question inwardly as I watched the fight.
If the fight kept going like this, it would just run in parallel. Maybe her stamina would drain first and she'd retire and lose.
Meaning she might lose if she didn't come up with another method.
Fortunately, she had prepared that method.
"Kyuuch!"
Again, the rabbit's two feet flew toward her.
A small and cute kick, but not one whose damage could be ignored. Normally, defending would be the right choice.
But what she chose wasn't defense, but a preparatory stance for the next attack. She watched the kick carefully and raised her dagger high into the air.
Soon, the creature's kick landed true on her side.
Thwack—!
"Guck!"
Along with a faint groan, she launched an attack.
Seizing the opening when the rabbit was defenceless after attacking, her dagger surged forth.
The rabbit, having already used its turn, had no choice but to bare its heart.
I let out a small sound of admiration.
"Oh."
To seize an attack opportunity while enduring pain. It wasn't a tactic one could easily think of.
Was it possible thanks to her low Assimilation Rate? Whatever the case, it was fairly decent nerve.
Clap clap clap.
Watching her gulp rough breaths, I gave a small round of applause. With sincerity.
"Well done. You fight better than I thought."
"... You're mocking me right now, aren't you?"
Though I wasn't sure if my sincerity got through.
[Our guy's t-bagging a bit here]
[Inner thoughts) This small-fry fight is fun, yo haha]
Anyway, the situation was similar after that too.
If a monster came out that she absolutely couldn't catch, I'd cut it down for her appropriately, and if a suitable one appeared, I'd watch the fight.
Maybe the experience gain was really big as she'd said, because I could even see her levelling up in real time.
There was just an effect; her health or mana didn't actually refill.
It was fun, kind of like raising a newbie.
"Do you know about that?"
I could pick up bits of information here and there too.
Though today's content was supposedly hunting, that didn't mean there was a monster every moment.
Honestly, the walking time was undeniably long too.
Since we couldn't just spend that time in silence, she'd offer up trivial information every now and then.
"This time, the number-one rank among the Otherworlders has changed."
She wrapped her wound with bandages as she continued.
"The original first place was a user in a country called China, and they'd been taking first place by pouring in tons of money. But it seems their growth gradually hit a wall after they passed level 100."
And taking advantage of that Chinese user's stalled growth, a user in the United States had apparently reclaimed first place. Though of course, that fellow had also poured in money.
Anyway, the current number-one-ranked player's level was said to be 103.
Hearing that, I nodded lightly.
'103, huh...'
I didn't know exactly about levels, but I'd heard from her that the minimum level for an A-Rank Adventurer was roughly 110.
And to the people here, the A-Rank wall was also a very high one.
Since among the hundreds of humans who made combat their profession, only a few ever reached that rank.
It was understandable to hit a wall gradually around the level 100 range.
No, rather, it was astonishing that they'd climbed all the way up to A-Rank Adventurer in a mere nine months.
Even if they could infinitely resurrect and adjust their pain levels.
As expected, when you broadened the scope to a global scale, talent was overflowing.
While I was thinking about such things, a sudden question popped into my head.
'Come to think of it, what's my level?'
First, seeing that even adventurers had precise standards based on levels, there seemed to be some method of measuring it.
They likely couldn't just keep an NPC's level hidden indefinitely, and there might even be an item that directly measures levels.
"...Hmm."
I was slightly curious, but I decided not to bother looking into it.
Though I did trust her, that didn't mean I had to show all my cards to her.
So I'd just leave it as simple curiosity for now.
Thinking that, I helped with her content.
By just before sunset, she had risen to a level where she could fight two Mutated Rabbits at the same time.
Tremendous progress. Though the chat window was full of mockery, of course.
And so, I returned to my home, eating the pastry I'd saved.
*
A few days later, disturbing news came from the outside world.
The news that a new demon, Seere, had descended.