Yvlena woke up to Sprite tugging on her hair. The girl groaned, forgetting she was actively trying to return Dylan to his hometown. The quest had been one of the most stressful she’d ever taken but it was worth it to revisit the outskirts and check on one of the storylines.

  ‘Only, it doesn’t just feel like a story when I’m in here.’ Yvlena thought standing up and rubbing her eyes.

  It seemed that while her body within the game slept, her health and stamina were fully restored. It must have been a pretty long nap.

  “Where’s Dylan?” Yvlena asked, still in a daze from waking up in her game. She looked towards Sprite who was angrily buzzing in her face.

  “I’m awake now, I’m sorry I slept off in the middle of the return journey.” Yvlena said, placing her hands on her hips and pouting.

  ‘These guys wouldn’t believe what I just went through irl.’ she thought.

  “Dylan ran off into the forest Yvlena, we have to find that rascal before he gets himself in serious trouble!” Sprite said.

  Yvlena threw her neck back and groaned. Of course, he would run off after she had fallen asleep. He didn’t even know where he was and now he’d run off.

  Again.

  “This is getting super annoying.” Yvlena said under her breath but didn’t blame Dylan much, she had spent most of the day asleep and she would need to go back soon to catch some z’s before the moving truck in her world would come.

  ‘Enough thoughts of the outside world, it’s time to have fun playing as Yvlena the elf.’ she thought.

  ----------

  “Dylan?” Yvlena called as she walked through the forest, so far she hadn’t encountered any of the usual mobs she would find here. There was still no sign of the young man and Yvlena was starting to worry that a wild creature might have picked him off.

  “Yvlena!” a voice called. The voice was small, faint as if he was far into the foliage and so far Yvlena hadn’t bothered to venture beyond the path outlined by old merchant carts on their way to Bloom Haven.

  “Dylan?” She shouted again looking beyond. No answer came, forcing her to dive head first into the thicket.

  Yvlena followed the voice into the thicket and reached in with some hesitance, she stepped forward into an almost identical path to the one she was on before but the game notified her she was on another level.

  Bloom Forest L3

  “Level 3?” She asked herself. It made sense though, on the forums most dungeons had five or more floors with five floors minimum.

  She always found it weird how the Bloom Forest stopped at level 2, but now she understood it was because she had not explored the forest area enough to find the rest of the levels.

  “Hey, that means Bavga’s Swamp has more levels too.” The realization made her frown, but it was worth it for the exp. That area was the most intense she had come across so far and she hadn’t checked the rarity of the items she could find there.

  ‘So much to do.’ She thought.

  “Dylan?” Yvlena called, cupping her hands over her mouth to scream his name. Kuti chirruped and lifted a lace-clothed hand to point toward a creature watching them. The sound of something thudding suddenly against the ground repeatedly drew Yvlena’s gaze in the direction her summon pointed.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Before the party was a familiar enemy with a new twist, rather than the single horned rabbit they had encountered so far, Yvlena and her group were up against a larger creature with a set of jagged antlers. The rabbit was large, almost the size of the wild boar they had fought within the outskirts.

  Yvlena gulped.

  “I don’t suppose it’s friendly.” She said with a nervous laugh, one glance to her side told her the summons were gearing up for a fight and it would be a tough one.

  The pounding against the floor stopped and in a flash, the creature leaped forward.

  [Jackalope Cast Dash]

  With blinding speed, Yvlena almost couldn’t match the creature kicking its foot as it sought to gore her on its antlers.

  Rabbit Knight jumped forward, parrying the attack with its rapier and giving Yvlena an opening to cast her skill.

  [Yvlena cast Harvest Skill: Wide Sweep]

  [Kuti cast Weaken (03MP)]

  [Jackalope afflicted with weakness -30% HP and attack]

  Two skills working as one slowed the creature’s attack just long enough for the jackalope to pause in its next move.

  Yvlena could tell it was more intelligent than its lesser cousins. The horned rabbits would simply rush forward uncaring of who their enemy was, but this rabbit creature was sizing her up. Would it run away if it couldn’t fight her?

  ‘I’m not giving it the chance to figure that out.’

  “Sprite cast bind on it.” Yvlena said, running forward and raising her sickle to strike. The jackalope moved to attack but found itself constrained by thorny vines wrapping around its strong legs. The creature struggled even as Yvlena brought down her weapon hard.

  Her sickle’s blade clanged against the antlers, getting caught in one of the spaces in between. She pulled it back but forgot the effects of Sprite’s bind had already worn off.

  [Jackalope cast headbutt]

  The rabbit surged, striking Yvlena’s midsection with maximum force. The elven girl felt the wind push out of her lungs and a sharp sensation overcame her. She yelped.

  “Ahh!” she clutched her middle tightly noticing her HP had gone down significantly but what was she expecting from taking such a hit directly?

  “Yvlena!” Sprite called, rushing to heal the summoner while Rabbit Knight unleashed his sword skills upon the Jackalope.

  [Sprite cast Cure (05 MP)]

  [Rabbit Knight Cast Slash (03MP)]

  “I’m alright, it just caught me off guard.” She said breathlessly. When she saw Dylan again, she was going to hit him as hard as she could for putting her in this situation.

  Again.

  Yvlena stood up, gripping her sickle in one hand and still holding her stomach.

  “Kuti cast paralyze quickly, let’s see if the status ailments stack.” Yvlena ordered. The doll nodded and lifted her hands to use her skill.

  [Kuti cast Paralyze (05MP)]

  [Jackalope afflicted with paralyze, Jackalope might be unable to move]

  The rabbit creature froze in place allowing Yvlena to strike it with a decisive blow of her own. It yelped as it died, disappearing into flakes of light as Yvlena sighed in relief.

  “Finally, that was almost as hard as killing the boar!” she said.

  [Yvlena Acquired

  Exp: 1400/2070

  ***

  Rabbit Meat x5

  Jackalope Antlers x2

  ***

  Moon Points x500]

  [Harvest Skill: Wide Sweep leveled up]

  [Class Skill Summon Leveled up]

  [Rabbit Knight gained a level +1]

  [Sprite gained a level +1]

  “Whew, that was quite the battle.” Yvlena said, looking through the system messages. She read through the level-up messages and nodded in appreciation. It had been quite some time since she had seen any of her skills go up but she supposed that was her fault.

  Lately, her real life hadn’t allowed her to focus so much on gaming, but things would have been better if she had moved into the new apartment.

  “Let’s go.” Yvlena said pressing onward.