The panicked players swarmed around Leona. They bumped into each other's shoulders and collided with each other. For those who were unlucky and fell, there was no other fate than being stepped on by the other players.
However, as a result, the flock of chickens could not finish them off quickly. Every time they jumped to attack one of the players, they could only kick that player, and instead of the player being thrown upwards or dying, the player would instead hit the other players behind them. Because their defenses were getting tighter.
Leona, who took the position at the very front among the players, dodged the attacks of the chickens nimbly. She was like a cat running amidst the crowd. Until finally Leona managed to get out of the crowd of players.
In fact, these players were professional gamers who kept their cool when fighting bosses as tall as a second-story house. However, Percha Island Online, which feels very much like the real world, made their fears as ordinary humans appear and shroud their minds. Coupled with the other players being killed in a gruesome manner made their faces pale and their eyes white.
Only Leona was able to think calmly because from the start she never thought she was in a game. For Leona, Percha Island Online was her homeland and a place that she considers home.
"Everyone! Stay close! I'll open a way out for all of us!" Leona ordered in a voice that drowned out the background theme music that kept on repeating itself and getting more and more terrifying with each verse.
Led by Leona, the players were getting closer and closer to the area outside the Field. However, the chickens didn't just sit there looking at the players who wanted to get out of the Field.
They changed their strategy, as they no longer targeted the players one by one but attacked them as a whole. The chickens jumped high and flapped their wings wide in the air. As a result, their bodies would float for a few seconds in the air before they plunge free into the ground.
Their pointed beaks dived down sharply and showered the players with attack after attack. Leona was finally able to clearly see the appearance of the chickens that were attacking them.
The chickens had long, black beaks. Their yellow eyes were similar to those of wild beasts that were hungry to eat their prey. Every time they opened their black beak, their snakelike tongue, which was split in half at the tip, detected the temperature of their prey's body. Their bodies were as big as puppies and covered in green scales like snakes. Their reptile-like wings flapped by half a meter on either side of its body. Their legs were muscular with sharp claws at the ends. Their long tails waved to maintain their balance in the air. Their appearance was not at all like the chicken they knew but like a demon that eats human flesh.
[Chicken Basilisk (Stage 3 Grunt).
Description; Derived from Empu Sutono's chickens that changed due to the revenge that was triggered by anger due to being transformed by the Solve Coagula curse. Those who used to peck rice and crow in the morning turned into scary monsters who liked human flesh.
Reminder: These chickens cannot be killed because their bodies are formed from the Solve Coagula curse. Catch them and give them to Empu Sutono to get rewards and affinity with Empu Sutono, The Blacksmith of The Village of Nyi Blorong]
The sound of flesh being torn apart and screams of pain could be heard filling the entire paddy field, which resonated with the horror background music, and turned into a torture symphony.
The players who saw the Chicken Basilisk information on their virtual interface were dumbfounded. After all, a basilisk is a basilisk, even though there is a chicken word in front of it, a basilisk is still a basilisk. How could newbie players be able to fight the basilisk while they were still in the starting village?!!!
Shouldn't they be fighting slimes, mice, goblins, or other weak monsters? Then why is there a basilisk in this place?!!! Isn't this game too hard to play?!!
The players felt despair. The rain of Chicken Basilisks continued to pierce their bodies. Even though they were slightly scratched by the poisonous beak of the Chicken Basilisk their wounds would turn blue in the blink of an eye with foul pus oozing out from it. This was truly a hellish experience, it was unknown how many people after this had been traumatized and could not eat chicken meat again.
The pain they received felt so real, that even though they kept screaming "This is just a game" "This is just a game" in their hearts their brains still told them that the pain they were experiencing was real. The shadow of death continued to haunt the players and made their feet freeze.
Leona kept shouting from the front asking the players to stay in formation and keep moving forward, but their trembling knees refused to move. Leona knew she had to do something before they were completely slaughtered.
The Full-dive feature which should have been an advantage in the game actually made the players unable to display their pro gamer skills.
While continuously dodging the Chicken Basilisk's rain attacks, Leona opened her virtual interface and looked for a way out of their predicament. Within seconds she found a way to restore the courage of the players. In the settings menu, there was a [Pain Receptor] option, they never tried to look for this because Percha Island Online was the world's first full-dive MMORPG game. So they forget that this setting option should exist and is always written in MMORPG genre novels.
Leona lowered her [Pain Receptor] from 100% to 80%. However, she immediately felt that something was missing from her body. She felt that her current self was no longer real and was just a game character from only a 20% decrease in the [Pain Receptor]. Leona refused to just be a game character played by Hendra. Then She returned the [Pain Receptor] to 100% and she felt alive again.
But this was the key for the other players to escape their fears, "Everyone!! Open your virtual interface, go to the menu, and click on settings, and decrease the [Pain Receptor] then you will feel better!" Leona shouted.
The players who were struck with fear suddenly came to their senses after hearing Leona's scream. They remembered the old-school MMORPG novels they had read before. And immediately they opened their virtual interface and lowered the [Pain Receptor].
After that, they no longer felt fear and their pain disappeared. Like people who survived drowning, they took a deep breath. However, in their hearts, there was no relief but anger towards the developers of this game for not telling them about the [Pain Receptor] in the setting.
They understood that as gamers they had to figure out every function in the game themselves, but at least the developer should tell them that the pain they would receive would be real in the game. What if one of them had a weak heart and died when the Chicken Basilisk pecked his head?
Before they erupted in anger, Leona once again made them aware of their current situation "Everyone! We can discuss this later after we get out of this place" she shouted.
Leona once again sidestepped and managed to dodge the Chicken Basilisk that was aiming for her head. Leona continued to move right and left nimbly to avoid the Chicken Basilisk rain of attacks, the players who saw Leona's evasive skill gulped loudly, they just understood why Leona is said to have skills like a professional gamer.
"We need to get out of this place! Stay in formation and protect the players next to you! Follow me, we'll break the siege of these Chicken Basilisks!" Leona said excitedly.
"YEAAHHH!!!" shouted the players without fear in their hearts.
They weren't too far into the Field so they were close enough to get out. However, the closer they got to the area outside the Field, the more ferocious the Chicken Basilisk's attack became. Their large numbers blotted the skies.
The players who were no longer afraid were trying their best to break the siege of the Chicken Basilisks. Leona as the vanguard continued to dodge and used her feet to kick the Chicken Basilisk away. Players protected each other by hitting or sacrificing their hands to withstand the Chicken Basilisk's rain of attacks.
It wasn't long before they finally exited the Field. Their numbers were greatly reduced from before, and only five players remained. Including Leona, they were Guta, Billy, Rou, and one more player with the ID name "IAM_A_CAT". It's a strange name because a beta tester can choose an ID name that matches their name because the possibility of there being an ID with the same name is very rare.
"What the fuck is that!!! How could there be a basilisk in the starting village?!!" Guta protested as he was out of breath.
"Moreover, why didn't the developer tell us about the pain receptors? The sound of the injured players' pain was real, they were really tormented by the wounds and poison in their bodies!" Billy commented on the information that should be shared by Doodle and the developers.
"Everyone, calm down first. We're in a safe place, we should rest and think about--"
"Oh, you're back. Did you manage to catch my chickens?" an old man's voice from behind them cut off Leona who wanted to calm the players down.
They all turned to the old man and sure enough, he was Empu Sutono. Empu Sutono stood with his hands behind his back, smiling, showing his black and hollow teeth. He looked like he was mocking the players which made the four men furious.
The frustration in their hearts made them want to find a scapegoat to vent their anger on. It just so happened that the person that caused them to go through what could be called a nightmare was standing in front of them.
"This is all your fault, you rotten old man!! What did you have in mind when you gave us the mission to capture the basilisk without a weapon!!" IAM_A_CAT jumped up and down and pointed at Empu Sutono's face.
But he still smiled and glanced at IAM_A_CAT in front of him and said one-word "Weak".
IAM_A_CAT's anger couldn't be contained anymore, he threw his fist at Empu Sutono's face, he didn't care that he was punching an old man. Empu Sutono was just an NPC, he was just a series of data formed to create a heartless character whose job is to help players in this game.
However, just before his fist touched Empu Sutono's nose, his body suddenly melted and turned into a pool of water with green-like fish scales in the middle.
[*Reminder: Please do not attack Non-Playable-Character or you will be punished with;
First offense: Death
Second offense: The character will be banned for 3 weeks.
Third offense: Character and ID will be deleted]
(A/N: Empu is an honorary title meaning "master")
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