Sword Art Online at its core was still a "traditional" MMORPG, and the game's structure hadn't really changed much—the event formats included.
This Mid-Autumn Festival event was no exception.
Across all monster-spawning areas on the 40th floor, special event monsters called Moon Rabbits would sometimes spawn—though the system's official translation labeled them as "Mid-Autumn Bunnies."
At first, everyone assumed these monsters would be the usual small-sized, high-speed, low-HP type, with attack patterns similar to other normal animal-type mobs.
But reality proved them wrong.
The Mid-Autumn Bunnies had attack power, speed, and HP that were two tiers higher than the average monsters on this floor, making them elite among elites.
Even for players like Akimi, it still took one Sword Skill plus two to three regular attacks to bring one down.
On top of that, their AI seemed far more advanced, constantly targeting players' weak points.
If that was all, it might've been manageable—but things weren't that simple.
The Mid-Autumn Bunnies used a hybrid combat model, combining beast-type and humanoid-type traits.
They could fight with their bodies, but also wield Sword Skills with a dagger roughly 15 cm long.
That same dagger was the event item players needed to collect, with a system-designated drop rate of just 5%.
When a player entered their aggro range, the rabbits would sprint to within five meters, fix their glowing red eyes on the player, and lock on.
After a one-second targeting delay, they would draw their weapons and attack.
Once they locked onto a target, they would never switch until that target was dead.
The most outrageous part was that their dagger attacks ignored armor defense.
This made them especially punishing for heavy-armor players.
With already high attack power, pinpoint targeting, and armor-piercing damage, even someone like Heathcliff could probably only withstand six or seven hits.
(Heathcliff: lol.)
Because they were event mobs, the official announcement hadn't provided any info on them.
Everything players knew now came from firsthand experience—and one heavy-armor player had already lost his life.
Normally, enemies of this level wouldn't be enough to cause deaths, but combined with the special hazards of the 40th floor, the danger skyrocketed.
Those unavoidable cage traps paired with the Mid-Autumn Bunnies meant that if a solo player got caught, survival was impossible.
Even having companions didn't guarantee safety—if they hesitated even for a moment, the rabbits' high damage could easily finish off low-HP teammates.
And beyond the rabbits and cage traps, there was an outside threat as well.
Just as Akimi and the others had expected, PoH and his gang weren't about to waste this opportunity.
They had already begun hunting players.
In just a little over a day since the event began, two players had been killed.
The Black Iron Palace's Monument of Life listed their cause of death simply as "Killed by another player."
But at this stage, the only ones who would commit murder were PoH and his crew.
And as the saying goes, misfortunes never come alone.
Word of PoH's killings had spread among some players, and the resulting emotions weren't just fear.
Based on Akimi's estimation, within a week, it was highly likely that some Orange players would start to appear.
Even if they probably wouldn't dare to kill yet, theft, robbery, and scams would inevitably follow.
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August 17, 2023 – Outer perimeter of the 40th Floor Labyrinth Area.
"…Truly, this can be called a season of troubles."
Akimi folded up the special private edition of the Aincrad Daily in his hand and let out a faint sigh.
All sorts of problems had started surfacing over the past few days.
This Mid-Autumn event was practically like a slab of fat meat coated with a thick, fragrant bait on the outside, but hiding sharp hooks within—attracting the weak "chicks," the vicious "vultures," and even the seemingly harmless "flock of gulls."
If Argo hadn't immediately published detailed information about the Mid-Autumn Rabbits in the paper, along with a warning to lower-level players, the death toll by now would probably have already exceeded twenty.
Asuna, sitting beside him, shrugged helplessly when she heard Akimi's sigh—after all, whether low-level players came here or not, whether PoH made a move or not, or how difficult the event monsters were, none of those things were up to them.
Just then, both Akimi and Asuna received a message from Argo—the Boss Room on the 40th Floor had been discovered.
Well then, it wasn't just "misfortune never comes alone" anymore.
Though by timing it was indeed about right—perhaps even a bit late compared to before—it still couldn't have come at a worse moment.
"Trouble after trouble," Akimi muttered as he scratched his head in exasperation.
"Even if we wanted to help, it's beyond what we can handle."
With that, he pulled a sandwich out of the bamboo basket beside him and took a bite—it was something Asuna had made for him the day before yesterday, after he had pestered her endlessly following lunch at Jeireum's restaurant.
Couldn't let it go to waste.
As for PoH, the Boss, and everything else… those could wait until after he finished eating.
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