I didn’t want to experiment, so I just made a couple of stacks of vulture egg omelets and ate them, removing my debuff. I grabbed a firestarter and some tinder to take with me, along with a pan. I found barrels of wine and ale in the tavern’s cellar and tossed them into my endless inventory. Next I went to the well and poured the wine out, glad that Flaygray and Patrick weren’t there to see it. I filled the empty barrel with water. That would have been far harder to accomplish in real life.
After checking all my things and making sure I was ready for a trip outside the city, I headed off in search of adventure.
I walked through the familiar city gates, saw a white rabbit and stopped, remembering when they’d been a danger to me. Seeing me, it hopped toward me in short jumps.
I smiled… and my jaw dropped.
Rabbit, level 14933 animal
I rubbed my eyes. It had to be tiredness; I was seeing things. The rabbit suddenly sped up, and when it got to me… Its maw stretched like a snake’s, baring gleaming metal teeth, and the creature bit my leg off at the knee!
Rabbit dealt you critical damage: 3,981,837,110!
Bleeding:—3% health every 5 seconds (1 minute).
Damage fully absorbed by Diamond Skin of Justice.
The rabbit failed to tear off my leg only thanks to Diamond Skin, but everything inside was mangled. Bones crunched, a horrific pain lanced through my knee and I lost my balance, falling onto my back. The fall winded me and tears came to my eyes. I shook my head, screamed. What the hell?! I was undead, there shouldn’t be effects like these! Or rabbits with that damage, that level! In the sandbox!
Through sheer force of will, repeating the mantra that this was just a game and my body was safe, I cut off the pain and found the strength to look through my logs:
Resilience (rank II) level increased: +39. Current level: 90.
You completely ignore penalties in battle against enemies at a higher level than you. 90% of damage taken is reflected and ricochets back at the enemy. Resistance to all types of damage increased by 90%. Pain sensation reduced by 90%. If your health drops below 10%, Diamond Skin of Justice activates.
90% of damage taken is reflected and ricochets back to the enemy.
Reached Resilience cap at current rank!
You have damaged Rabbit (Reflection): 198,253,870,774.
The nightmarish mob, powerful enough to conquer all Disgardium, squeaked in annoyance—he’d taken a big hit from Reflection… relatively speaking. Actually, the critter had only lost seven percent of its health. Unable to tear off my leg, it shook itself, throwing me through the grass this way and that. Then it dropped me and looked at me balefully with its gleaming button eyes. Probably figuring out what to try and bite off next.
Unfortunately, I was below level three hundred, so I didn’t have the next rank of Resilience unlocked. There was nothing I could level up, which meant it was best to run. Diamond Skin had half a minute left on it, and the mob still had over ninety percent health.
I tried to push the rabbit away with my good leg to retreat to the city where mobs couldn’t go, but it had other ideas. The bloodthirsty beast grabbed me by my healthy limb and pulled. The longeared monster was so strong that it pulled me several yards.
It didn’t even let me get to my feet. Jumping high, the little white critter squeaked triumphantly and dropped down on my chest like a sledgehammer, crushing my ribs. My dead heart was already not beating, but after that hit, there was nothing left to beat. The furry foe kicked its back legs, tearing open my stomach. I screamed in pain and realized with amazement that the bastard’s claws were adamantite with the characteristic purple gleam.
Still, it couldn’t tear through Diamond Skin. It did, however, damage the mob pretty badly. I launched a series of Combos at it, which was pointless for damage, but the lifesteal healed me.
The nightmarish mob finished itself off with Reflection after all in the few seconds before my invulnerability from Diamond Skin ended. Squeaking, the rabbit flipped over onto its back, its paws twitching, and stilled. Its claws and fangs retracted and now it looked like just an ordinary rabbit. Only its twisted bloody mouth signaled its true nature.
Fanfares trumpeted like a broken record, one after the other, and they didn’t stop for a long time. At the same time, notifications sped by:
Rabbit is dead.
You leveled up…!
You leveled up…!
You leveled up…!
• • •
You leveled up! Current level: 1178.
4495 free attribute points available!
I stood, struck dumb by the numbers, and three more rabbits appeared and attacked me. There was nothing to protect me, and I’d lost my chance to escape into the city. I hadn’t gotten any achievement for my jaw-dropping victory.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Three sets of jaws closed at once: one rabbit latched onto my arm while the other two grabbed my legs.
My scream cut off and I watched with the colorless vision of a corpse as the longeared killers tore into my body, threw back their heads and swallowed chunks of flesh.
You are dead.
Reviving in 59:59— 59:58… 59:57-
In ordinary Dis, when you died for the second time that day (even though I slept, it was the same day here, right?) you didn’t have to spend an hour in the limbo of the afterlife; the player could quit. But in the game version I was in, there was no such option. I hung nowhere, in a great nothingness. The more time passed, the more
