MMORPG: Rise of the Peerless Pumpkinmancer

━━━━━━ POV ━━━━━━━

Back in New Leaf+ Village, a few youngsters were surrounded by a pack of deadly wolves. 

The creatures licked their lips in expectation at the delicious meal that had thrown itself at them. With powerful howls, they all charged forward. 

They never noticed how calm the "preys" were… 

.

.

.

Lilly's party relaxedly gossiped as they slaughtered the wolves. 

"Hey, did you hear? Apparently, something big happened in Timber City!" 

"What? Also, where's Timber City?" 

"New Leaf+, Sprigfield, then you have Timber…." 

The edgy self-proclaimed "Lord Evolver" slowly explained the whole Towers situation. Honestly, his information-gathering abilities were far above his fighting capabilities. 

Then again, it wasn't like much fighting was needed right now… 

— Shriek! Shriek! — 

A sea of black creatures assaulted the wolves, utterly bullying them as they devoured the flesh. This was Lilly's signature move: the ungodly rat swarm. 

This thing was enough to make grown men cry at its mere mention. They still remembered the earlier event. 

They had been traveling in the Forest when a group of three uncles had blocked their paths, rejoicing as soon as they saw their emblem-less chests. 

— Wild PK Players Appeared! — 

Sadly for them, they had picked the wrong target. A second later, Lilly had waived her slender hand, and thus the nightmare had begun. 

— Rat Swarm Appeared! — 

Rat Swarm > PK Players

While the rats were only level 5, a sea of them was enough to terrify even the Wolf Overlord that watched over the area. 

As for bandits … ⎧ᴿᴵᴾ⎫ 

Legend said their screams still echoed in the Forest to this day. They had since then reformed. PK? Them? No way! They were upright citizens! 

— Dying Wolf Noises! — 

Even now, they barely had anything to do. The challenge wasn't to survive or even defeat the wolves. Nope, they only had to worry about being able to steal the kill! 

They could slowly upgrade their abilities as long as they dealt the final blow. Luke's bonus damage. / Evolver's bloodline evolution. /Tiphany's witchy trinkets. 

"Tch— You guys sure are bad. You can't even out-damage a few rats." Lilly cheekily commented. 

"A few?! You call this a few?!… Can you lend me a FEW credits then?" Evolver quickly retorted. 

Once again, another round of playful banter started. Still, Lilly soon showed a serious expression. "You guys….I think we should leave New Leaf." 

"W-what?! Why? We're not done farming!" 

"Think about it. Every day new stuff comes out, like those Towers. We'll never progress if we always stick to the beginner area." 

She sure had a point, but they all had classes that could get stronger even when their levels stayed the same. Even her rats could grow stronger the more they devoured. 

Pro —> Really strong for their level 

Con —> Harder to level up since they didn't only rely on XP 

"Hear me out. What if right now we're eating the crumbs and missing the pie? Perhaps we'll be able to kill wolves later, higher-level ones even…"Lilly argued. 

They all ceased fighting in deep reflection. In any case, the rats would take care of the monsters. 

— Howls of Agony in the background — 

"So, what do you propose?" Luke spoke up.

"Easy, we complete all the dungeons, and then we leave ASAP," Lilly stated. 

While they stared at each other, a few players screamed after having stumbled upon the rat swarm. They were now getting a free teleport back to the village. 

Silence remained for a solid minute until they reached a conclusion. 

"Fine." 

"Alright." 

"Guess we all agree!" 

They knew better than to leave their secret weapon's side! 

Perhaps it would have been different in other circumstances, but as things stood, she was stronger than all of them combined! 

They were even considered elites for their levels, but that rat swarm skill was just too perverse. It was like bringing an atomic bomb to a fistfight! 

But just as they were about to resume their grinding, the bushes rustled as about 40 players appeared. They seemed mean and armed for a war, metal weapons and all! 

"Wow, that's a lot of people!" Lilly casually commented. 

For some reason, they seemed to be looking her way? Their leader even stepped forward, pointing at her. "You!! Today is the day you and your pet rats all perish!!" 

"…" 

"Haha, are you regretting now? It's far too late!" 

"So, who are you again?" Lilly innocently asked. 

"Y-y-you bitch!" He screamed. 

Evolver suddenly chimed in: "Ah! I recognize this high-pitched girly scream! It's that one blind dude who keeps walking in the rat swarm and dying!"

"What?! That wasn't a girl?!" Tiphany exclaimed, shocked. 

That's when the leader lost his mind. 

"#%?! Kill them all!" 

Lilly's Party VS 40 Bloodthirsty Players 

Her party was severely outnumbered 10 to 1, and their assailants were also filled with righteous fury. All of them were blind idiots who the rat swarm had devoured. 

"Defeat the Rat Demon Queen!" 

"We need her head on a stick!" 

Rat Demon Queen? What kind of silly title was this? Also, wouldn't a pike be cooler than a stick? 

Lilly made sure to stay far away from the enemy lines, but even then, her companions died one after the other. 

"Take care of my kid!" 

"Tell my wife I love her!" 

"Lilly, you must survive at all cost!" 

What was up with the cheesy lines? They didn't even have any loss-on-death items, none at all! Since this was the tutorial, they would just need to walk back. 

Rat Swarm VS 28 Bloothristy players. 

The fight was intense, bloody, and horror-movie worthy. No matter what the players threw at the rat swarm, it lived! They felt like they were facing an invincible enemy. 

Lilly was even enjoying the show when disaster struck. 

— Woosh! — 

Out of nowhere, five assassins appeared! Had they been hiding all this time just to assassinate her?! They struck so fast, not giving her any chance…. Yet she avoided! 

"How?!" 

"Goddamnit!" 

They cursed as she navigated their attacks. She even took the opportunity to attack them with a short sword. 

— Clang! Clang! — 

But even then, there was nothing that she could do against 5 of…

"ARGGG!" 

The assassins froze in stupefaction. She had just thrown a dagger into a man's throat. What the hell was her actual class?! 

While they were confused, she managed to wound one of them, but the blow wasn't decisive. 

"So resistant!" She complained. 

At this moment, they almost fainted from anger. SHE was complaining?! The girl fighting five assassins as a tamer while her creatures slaughtered 30 others complained?! 

They felt like throwing up blood. 

This girl was crazy! 

Lilly Vs. 4 Assassins 

Before, she had taken them by surprise, but now they knew better. They stayed strong, not giving her an inch. It didn't take long for her to be cornered.

But that's when shrieks were heard: her swarm was done dealing with the other enemies! She would win this fight as long as she could survive a bit longer! 

She adopted what she thought was a defensive posture. Sadly, her defensive posture was sorely lacking. She found out as a longsword pierced her chest from side to side. 

As her avatar slowly disappeared into countless pieces, she felt terrible.

This had all happened because she had been slacking. 

Supervise the rats? She should have been training alongside them! She had been relying too much on a single OP skill. 

"The Demon Rat Queen is dead, and so are her rats. She's finished!" Her killers celebrated their achievements. 

Little did they know that she was no tamer but a summoner that could resummon a swarm whenever. This assault also made her realize her flaws. 

They had unknowingly created a monster…