(Third Person's POV)
It's supposed to be another peaceful day for all the rabbits living inside the dungeon known as [Rabbit Paradise], but it turned into something else entirely. From a strong member of the Demon King Faction visiting, to a strong bunny dropping by to defeat said Demon King Faction elite…
Many things transpired during this day, enough for these usually lazy rabbits to fall asleep after it all ended. It was such a turbulent day, with many ups and downs, and these kinds of chaotic turn of events is not something that occurs daily.
"Ahh, strawberries… Like… *slurrp*" one rabbit said as he began to dream of a mountain of strawberries crushing him and entering his insatiable mouth.
Many rabbits also had the same dreams as this one particular rabbit while others dreamt of flying through the sky or eating endless amounts of carrots.
Watching these rabbits squirm around and sleep talk on the sidelines was an extremely embarrassed orange rabbit called Dungeon Core Number 629, and a bunny with light green eyes and some light green coloration on her fur called Tsuka. Currently, the former one is hiding his face from the latter whilst the latter one is busy chewing on some fresh looking strawberries.
Even though Tsuka was consuming many strawberries at a fast rate, she still maintained some sort of table manners while emitting this regal aura that's unique to nobles and royalties. This shocked Number 629 as he never saw someone so young emit this kind of regal aura so naturally.
'I chose the right Dungeon Master! She's a natural born leader, and so strong too, even at a young age!' Number 629 thought. He's slowly turning into some fanatic who'd readily spread the word about his God's greatness. That would of course come with many embellishments and exaggerations.
Number 629 could already see the rise of his dungeon, the [Rabbit Paradise], and the entire rabbitkind with Tsuka on the helm.
While he was busy daydreaming, Tsuka suddenly spoke, making the orange rabbit straighten his back.
"Squeak~! Squeak, squeak~! Delicious~! But Master cooking, still the best~!" Tsuka nodded to herself. After tasting various foods during her journey, she's now fully convinced that her master cooks the best food without a doubt.
"M-M-M-Master!? R-Rabbit God-sama, you have a Master!? I-Is he perhaps the God of Cooking or is he the God of Creation!?" Since Number 629 and the rabbits now look up to Tsuka as if she's their God, inside their head, it's safe to assume that Tsuka's so called Master is also a God.
"Squeak…? Squeak, squeak! Squeak~! God… Master? Master cooking good, good at fighting too! Master, the bestest~!" This might be the longest sentence that Tsuka has ever said.
Since she still can't properly speak even in [Rabbit Language], Tsuka rarely spoke in longer sentences since she wanted to protect her pride, even more so when she's in front of her master. Because Number 629 asked about her master, and since it's the first time Tsuka got the chance to talk to a rabbit who could speak normally(somewhat), Tsuka became more talkative.
"O-Oh… Not only is he the Cooking God, but he's also a God at fighting? Does that mean he's a War God, a Sword God, or is he something else?"
In Number 629's ears, good was automatically translated into God, making him come to this conclusion. Besides, Tsuka's pronunciation wasn't the best so the misunderstanding grew even further.
"Squeak, squeak! Squeak~! Yes, master good swords! Master good, any weapons~!"
"T-That's really frightening… To think that he's like that, the God of many weapons, it's really amazing…" Number 629 was amazed. The only people who he looked up to up until now was the Beast King and Father, the one who made all of them, the Dungeon Cores. Members of the Demon King Faction even believe that he's the God of Creation.
Now, here is someone so unfathomably strong, telling him that her master is a God with many titles. This news should be told to every rabbit alive in this world, so that they'll know that the Rabbit God has descended and that her Master is also with her!
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While Tsuka was busy eating some snacks, Number 629 called out his Messenger Rabbits — small rabbits who could run fast and jump high. He told them to spread the news to the whole rabbitkind, the news about the Rabbit God's descend to this mortal plain.
"But Number 629, won't they ask us how they'll pray to the Rabbit God or something eventually?" one of the many Messenger Rabbits inquired.
"Yeah, he's right."
Number 629 was stomped.
They're right. How would they pray to the Rabbit God? Are they supposed to do that strange pose that they did earlier?
Number 629 glanced at Tsuka to see if she's still busy consuming the 'offerings' that he gave her and saw her take out a small biscuit from out of nowhere. She then dipped it on something like a strawberry jam before consuming and showing an expression of delight.
Like he experienced one of those moments of enlightenment, Number 629 showed a eureka expression.
"Tell them to take any food, a small bread is preferable, dip it in any kind of jam and relish on the flavor. The Rabbit God will be happy as long as you are happy!"
""""Ooooooh!""""
Every Messenger Rabbit was awed by what Number 629 said. This was really eye opening.
"Now go! Spread the word to the whole rabbitkind!" Number 629 dramatically spread his paws up in the air like some priest. or prophet, or whatever you want to call him.
"""We're more than happy to, Number 629!"""
Along with their enthusiastic shouts, the Messenger Rabbits went away one by one.
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"So umm… Master?"
"Squeak? Squeak, squeak~! Hmm, yes? Call Tsuka, Tsuka. Name given to Tsuka, by Master~!"
"O-Oh… Then, Master Tsuka?" Number 629 asked in a rather hesitant manner.
"Squeak! Squeak, squeak? That right! What is, it?"
"Umm… Well, now that you're my Dungeon Master, do you have any thoughts about my dungeon?"
At Number 629's question, Tsuka began looking around for a few seconds before saying one word that utterly broke Number 629's heart.
"Squeak~! Boooring~!"
The sound of Number 629's heart chattering was so loud that everybody near could probably hear it. He didn't expect that Tsuka would say such words his face so bluntly.
"Mggh. But, Master Tsuka, we have a 0% intruder survival rate, you know!? It's absolutely awesome! Our strategy here is to have these guys hold off the enemy while Wizard Rabbits and Soldier Rabbits rush over from that other room over there. There hasn't been an adventurer yet that survived it! The strategy's unbeatable!" Number 629 said with a shake of his tail.
"Squeak, squeak squeak, squeak~. But, didn't work, on the weird human, he survived~."
"…I stopped them since I noticed he was a Core. Though, erm, they probably would have all died if I hadn't." Number 629 stomped the ground, frustrated. He wanted to boast about the redeeming features regarding his dungeon, but Tsuka immediately shut him down.
Well, it's actually good that he knows his limits. Though in truth, he only ever had to face newbie adventurers. This is mainly the reason why his strategy always worked.
Even D-Rankers in Tsia basically live off rabbit hunting, and not many of them are strong enough to survive a swarm of monsters ambushing them. It's basically trial and error gameplay, except it's real life so they die after one error.
Given that zero percent of adventurers survived and this was a dungeon that ate corpses for DP, his strategy actually was pretty effective. Despite its flaws, of course. If Shun were to see this dungeon, he might actually praise Number 629 because he at least got a better dungeon than Rokuko.
Even though he was proud of this strategy, it actually wasn't him who originally came up with it. It was an older rabbit-type Dungeon Core that told him about it. He was basically the one who taught Number 629 that there is strength in numbers.
Regarding Dungeon Core Number 576, he wasn't particularly significant in the Demon King faction. He was one batch above Number 629, yes, but he was small-time enough that he might even be around the rankings as Number 629 in the Dungeon Core Rankings.
Even though he was a much older core, he's not earning DP higher than Number 629. The reason why he didn't attack with too many people at once was because the Demon King faction valued individual strength and courage.
Number 629 was obviously weaker than him, so if he charged in and tried to win through overwhelming numbers he would be doing nothing but shaming himself. That's also the reason why his own body is so much stronger than Rokuko or Number 629. Dungeon Cores could also buy [Skill Scrolls] and such to upgrade their strength, after all.
"Squeak~! Let's go~!" Tsuka suddenly said before promptly dragging the orange rabbit by the scruff of his neck.
"Wha?!" Number 629 tilted his head in surprise. "What do you mean, 'Let's Go' Master Tsuka?"
"Squeak, squeak. Squeak, squeak~! Go to, master. Ask about, dungeon~!"
"Whoa… Now that's an idea I'm all in for." asking a God regarding how he could develop his dungeon is more than welcome to Number 629. This is like a dream come true to him.
And so, Tsuka dragged her new friend back to the [Ordinary Cave], with the rabbits from the [Rabbit Paradise] watching them in confusion.
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※~To be continued~※
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Author's Remarks:
※ Well, that's gonna be the end of our 7th arc and also the end of Tsuka's short journey. I will be finishing up on the LDM world in the next arc, so that we could finally move on to a new chapter of our story. Man, I never expected that I'd manage to reach 100 chapters while creating chapters daily(with a pretty tough work schedule).
Special thanks to the generous members of my ko-fi page!
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