Chapter 17: Rabbits

Leon walked toward the F ranked gate on the edge of town.

It was one of the few gates available in the area, and he had no real idea what to expect from it. He only knew that he wanted to test one out. Now that he had the platinum star, he wanted to see if he could handle weaker monsters and maybe make some money while he was at it.

’It’s F rank. How bad can it be?’

He got his answer about the crowd when he arrived.

The gate sat in the middle of a fenced area, a swirling disc of pale blue light, and a lot of young hunters were gathered around it. Some stood in groups, checking their gear. Others waited in a long line, shuffling forward a few steps at a time.

A few trainers were there as well, leading small groups of trainees in matching jackets. One of them was giving a speech about staying together and never going off alone. The trainees nodded and looked terrified.

Leon joined the line.

When he reached the front, a guard in a grey uniform held out his hand.

"ID, please."

Leon passed over his card. The guard scanned it, glanced at the screen, and looked back at him.

"F ranked," he said.

"That’s right."

The guard did not seem surprised. He handed the card back without any change in his face.

"We get a lot of people like you," he said. "Hunters at the bottom who feel they can handle the weaker monsters and make a little money on the side. Just be careful in there. F rank doesn’t mean harmless, and a bad day is a bad day at any rank."

"I’ll keep that in mind," Leon said.

The guard tapped a code into the console, and the gate flared brighter. "You’re keyed in. Go ahead."

Leon nodded and stepped through.

The light swallowed him, and for a moment, there was nothing but a cold tingle across his skin. Then the ground came back under his feet, and the light faded.

He was standing on a plain.

Grass stretched out in every direction, tall and green, rippling in a soft wind as far as he could see. Overhead, there was a pale sky and a sun that did not seem to move. A forest rose in the distance, a dark line of trees that was far enough away to look small.

He turned in a slow circle.

There was nobody. The other hunters who had gone in ahead of him were nowhere in sight, and it seemed he was alone in this part of the gate.

"Huh," he said. "That’s a lot of nothing."

He took a few steps and scanned the grass, wondering what could be hiding in it. Then something came to him on the spot, and he stopped.

He had no weapon.

He looked down at his hands. They were empty. He had walked through a gate into a monster zone with nothing but his bodysuit and his phone.

"Shit," he muttered. "I’m an idiot."

’Don’t panic. You have the system.’

He closed his eyes for a second and focused.

A screen unfolded in front of him, and he scrolled through the shop until he found the weapons section. Most of it was far too expensive, but near the bottom, there was something cheap and simple.

[Basic Katana]

He selected it and confirmed.

A weight settled into his right hand. He opened his eyes and looked down at a plain katana with a black grip and a straight, unadorned blade. It was nothing special, but it was sharp, and it was a weapon.

"Good enough," he said.

He had never used a sword in his life. He held it out in front of him with both hands, trying to copy what he had seen on streams, and the blade wobbled.

’Okay. Don’t get caught off guard. Watch around you, and be ready for when the attack comes.’

He stood still, his back straight, his eyes sweeping the plain.

It did not take long.

A patch of grass twitched to his left. Then another ahead of him, and another behind. The movement spread through the field in small ripples, as if something low to the ground was running through it.

Leon’s grip tightened.

Then the grass parted, and a small shape bounded out.

It was a bunny. It was white as fresh snow, about the size of a large dog. Its fur was clean and soft, and it would have looked cute if not for its eyes, which were blood red, and its mouth, which was filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth.

More followed. Four, then six, then ten, springing out of the grass on all sides.

"Okay," Leon said slowly. "That’s not what I expected."

The first one leaped.

It was faster than he could follow. It cleared three meters in a single bound and went straight for his throat. He yelped, swung the katana, and missed by a wide margin. The bunny landed on his shoulder and sank its teeth in.

Leon froze.

He felt a pressure and a scraping, but no pain. The teeth skidded across the black plates of his suit, leaving not a single mark.

"Oh," he breathed. "It works."

He grabbed the bunny with his free hand and threw it off.

The others did not wait. They came all at once, from the front, from the sides, and from behind, bounding high and snapping their jaws. Leon spun and swung wildly. The blade whistled through the air and hit nothing. A bunny sank its teeth into his calf. Another clamped onto his arm.

Their bites hit hard, and he could feel every one of them, a dull thud and a heavy squeeze, but the suit held. The danger signal in his collar buzzed softly with each strike, as if it was telling him he was doing something wrong.

"Get off!" he shouted, shaking his arm.

He stumbled backward and nearly tripped over his own feet. A bunny jumped on his back, and he swung the katana over his shoulder and almost cut his own ear.

’This is a mess. I’m swinging like an idiot.’

He kicked two of them off and backed up until the grass came up to his knees. His breath came fast, and his heart pounded. They circled him, the red eyes bright, the teeth clicking.

"Calm down," he told himself. "Watch them."

He stopped flailing and stood still.

Two of them crouched low, their hind legs coiled. He saw it clearly now. Right before every jump, they dropped their shoulders and flattened their ears. There was a tiny moment between the crouch and the leap.

’That’s the gap.’

The first one jumped.

Leon stepped back, and this time he did not swing wide. He brought the katana up in a short, straight line, the way he had seen it done, and the blade caught the bunny in mid-air.

SHING!

It split cleanly, and the two halves hit the ground on either side of him.

Leon blinked at the blade.

"Huh. That works."

Another one came, and he cut it. A third leaped at his chest, and he sidestepped and sliced it as it passed. The motions were stiff, but they were getting smoother with each one.

He found his footing, bent his knees, and kept the sword close to his body instead of swinging it out. The bunnies kept coming, and the suit blocked every bite that got through, but he was no longer waiting to be hit. He moved with them.

One at a time, they fell.

He cut a bunny out of the air and kicked another away. He ducked under a leap and drove the point down through a third. His hands stopped shaking. His breath evened out. The three-times strength from the suit made every swing faster than he expected, and he began to use it, snapping the blade through gaps before the bunnies finished crouching.

The last two jumped together.

Leon planted his feet, took a breath, and swung the katana in a wide, clean arc.

SLASH!

Both fell in the grass.

Silence came back to the plain. The wind rustled through the blades, and the field was still.

Leon stood in the middle of it, the katana hanging from one hand, his chest rising and falling. White fur and red stains lay scattered all around him.

He looked down at the blade. It was streaked with blood, and it had held without a single chip.

"Not bad," he said.

He wiped the katana against the grass and looked toward the forest in the distance.