Starting from Zero - Volume 4 Chapter 25
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Volume 4 Chapter 25

Book 4, Chapter 5

Elfy

           The same pentagram appeared under my lance,

[Tail Spike of the Dark Dragon Lord], which has been leaning on a tombstone. It

sunk into the ground as if it's standing in a swamp.

           The pentagram below me got

brighter. I slowly raised my hand, with the grip of the lance following my palm.

Then I grabbed the lance and pulled it out in a flash. 

            I found this move when I was trying random things out in boredom---I

can call back my Dark Dragon Lord parts as long as I still possess more than

half of them. Apart from being useful (I don't need to worry about missing

any equipment parts), one other thing is that I can play cool in front

of others, like this.

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Night

Shade!"

            I jumped high as a black portal appeared behind me. Night Shade

sprinted out of it with some lightening sparks around his horn, he accurately caught me

on his back.

           "Let's do this."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    Hawk

whistled. "Ooh, looks like I found myself one heck of an opponent today! That's

a nightmare, right?"

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Good

eye." I gave Night Shade a pat on the neck.

           *Snoooort*

           Aw come on.

          "Watch

it. He's fast and is pretty violent."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€  Hawk

touched his unicorn too. "Just about right. My Sunlight is about the

same--fast, bad temper."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€  "Charge!"

We yelled at exact the same time. Now I want him as a partner even more.

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€  Hawk

wasn't lying, Sunlight is surely fast. But his direction is too straightforward. When

we're about to clash, Night Shade feinted to one side and dodged the attack by

rus.h.i.+ng to the other. I knew Night Shade's plan all along, so I wasn't using my

s.h.i.+eld at all. I was holding my lance diagonally to give him a poke for good

from the flank.

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    Sunlight

halted abruptly and almost did a forward flip due too his high speed. While

Hawk tried very hard to balance himself--he was pointing his lance and s.h.i.+eld

dead towards ahead, expecting a hard collision with me. Though he still fell

down from Sunlight because of that awkward positioning. It's a fatal mistake

for a rider to fall from his horse during combat, but this time it saved his

life--now I can't hit him.

           Sunlight raced back to Hawk upon hearing his call. He

skillfully got mounted and charged at me again.

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    I

asked Night Shade to turn around and face him too. Sunlight is charging slower

than before, probably to prevent me from tricking him again. And this is what I'm

waiting for.

           "[Heart Piercer]!"

           The spear head exploded into five and launched towards Hawk.

After some metal clas.h.i.+ng noises, Sunlight galloped past me without anyone on his

back. Hawk is now standing several meters away, holding his s.h.i.+eld with five

holes on it. The five spear heads locked themselves onto his body, each with a

red colored steel wire connected to it, all the way towards the lance in my hand.

My HP bar is filling up--the wires are draining Hawk's health.

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    He

realized it too and tried to pull off the stings. But when he touched the first

one, an electric arc went from my end to him and shocked him back. He still

knocked the head off him though. He quickly pried away the other spear heads

using his own weapon. When the last head fell to the ground, the wires began to

retract themselves. The five spear heads combined into one and returned to my

lance.

             This is the first time I tried this skill, and man it's dandy!

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "The h.e.l.l is that attack??" Hawk struggled up using his lance as a walking

stick.

            "That was the most horrible weapon I ever seen." He waved his broken s.h.i.+eld. " I give up! I gonna lose it for sure if you use any more of

those moves."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "How

much damage did I do to you?"

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "3000

on the first hit. 500 HP drained away, and 200 more with that shock. I only got

like 20 HP left. For cheese's sake! My s.h.i.+eld defense is above 2k you know! And

that was a successful block! It went through like paper! Are you sure you're

only 313? I'm 443 by the way. I don't meet many people who can even break my

defense. I killed like 10 people in that fight when a hundred are trying to

attack me. Do you get traps and tricks all over your body? "

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Well,

not really. That was actually the first time I use the skill. Oh, I kinda used

you as practice, sorry about that... But you're quite good. I'll send you out of here."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    I

teleported Hawk to the Storm Cloud city. Well, a certain distance away from the

city at least. Any closer and I'll have to speak with the guards again.

           Hawk

sent a whisper to his girlfriend to come here, so we waited. I

don't think we should just stand here so I tried to recruit him.

            "Hey Hawk,

that was impressive. Can you help me level up when you have the time?"

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Ah ha-ha. Me? Help you? You should be the one helping me. You get less EXP when

carried by someone higher than you because you either kill low level monsters and

get little EXP, or try to kill high level monsters when the weaker player tends

to die a lot AND get little EXP. Not many people are willing to help low level

players unless they're good friends. Buuut if you can help me, I believe my

level will just go skyrocket. You're more powerful so we can go against

monsters much much higher than us. So...will ya?"

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Deal.

Let's do it together. By the way, you're not going to repair your stuff?" I

pointed at those holes on his s.h.i.+eld.

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Oh.

This..." He gave it a glance. "My golden set recovers durability

on its own when I equip it as a whole. I don't need to worry about repairing it."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Really?"

I looked at his gear with stars in my eyes. "Awww, why no such convenient

attribute on my equipment..."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Oh

come on. You like it? Let's switch then. I'm the envious one right now!"

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    I

thought about that horrible repair fee I still owe Clark. Sigh.

           "Everyone

got his own problems I guess. They say it's easy to buy a nice car but hard to keep it

in good condition. I'm in the same situation now, they look good but I don't

have the money to repair it!"

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "So

how much? I heard that you need really huge sum to repair

Artifact. And some special materials too."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Ugh.

No, don't remind me anymore.  Someone paid for me anyway." I looked at the sky. "I'm

not sure I'll ever repay the debt..."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Someone did? Now that's some serious friend you got there."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€   

           "Hawk!''

Someone shouted.

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Elfy!

Are you alright? Did they come after you?" Hawk embraced with a girl who's a

lot smaller in size. When he straightened himself he lifted the girl off ground.

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Put

me down you silly buffalo! Someone's watching!"

           Yup, that seems a smart

girl.

           Hawk dropped her down with a red face.

          "h.e.l.lo! I'm [Misty Elf], as in, a real Elf. Level

422, Elven Archer. So you helped my love escape? Thank you very much!" 

           Her

Elven character has long, green hair, pointy facial features and delicate skin, just

like those exquisite elves in stories. She has a long bow behind her back and is wearing

rattan protections. That sunny character though...They look like born couple.

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Nice

knowing you. I'm [Ziri]. level 313 Divine Demon D&P Rider plus Soul

Manipulator."

 γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    She lowered her head for a moment before exclaiming: "You're that number

one criminal Ziri! I knew I heard about you somewhere. How did you kill soooo

many people in one day? Did you actually wipe out an entire city?"

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Ohh

ho ho I would like to try that if I can." I think I'm

getting affected by their style too. "So are you going to grind, or get

some revenge on those people?"

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Forget

about those suckers. There are too many, we won't win. Let's go level up. We

already wasted enough time today. We planned to get three levels before noon!"

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    To get 3 levels in one morning is easy job

for me. I suppose it's terribly hard for other people though. "Where are

we going then?"

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Definitely

not the same place in the morning...Let's go to the Wonder Forest." Elfy

suggested. "Be careful Ziri, the monsters will be higher leveled than you, just

hide and share exp with us."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Nah, leave him be. He's a monster." Hawk commented.

 γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "What

do you mean?"

 γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "We

were fighting just now. He almost one-shot me with one skill."

 γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "...A

warrior, getting one-shot by someone 100 levels below? And those golden armors

you're wearing are not just decorations you know."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    Hawk

handed over his s.h.i.+eld, still with the five holes on it. "I got proof. He

did this to me!"

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Oh

my. Who

made a Paladin s.h.i.+eld with 2000+ defense into a pepper shaker?" She tossed

the s.h.i.+eld back to him. "It's decided then!"

            Hum. Looks like Elfy is the decision maker here. I don't know much about the places other than

the Lost City so I just followed them without a word.

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    The

forest is quite near from the city. They seem familiar with the place enough.

           We

avoided crowded areas and marched straight towards the center. We eventually

stopped at an open ground among the woods. According to Hawk, monsters sp.a.w.n

pretty fast around here and few people would come to such depth.

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    We

soon encountered a pack of [Saw Teeth]. They look like ordinary wild boars with

really scary tusks.

           Hawk explained: "They're level 430, both high attack

and high defense. But their HP is low, and can't move fast. They usually stay

in large groups."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    I'm

going to get them into my guild anyway so there's no need to lay low. I just

summoned all of my companions and servants in one breath.

           "Yah!!"

           Hawk

and Elfy jumped onto a tree.

           "What are you doing? Get back. These are my

friends."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€   "Dra-dra-dra-dragon!"

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    Elfy

clamped herself on the tree like a koala. "Several days ago a group of

people were fighting near the forest over a valuable gem. Then more people

heard about it and came. The fight became an all-out brawl involving thousands

of people. Then a dragon pa.s.sed by, s.n.a.t.c.hed the gem away and wiped all players

with a single fire breath. Hawk was there too, am I Right?"

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Yeah

I saw it! Thank G.o.d we didn't get there too soon or we would be barbeque'd! We

didn't have much equipment back then. But the corpses left tons of them on the

ground, we sold them for some money, that's how we got what we're wearing now."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Well

you can get down here. This guy is still teenage, he can't do that even if he wants to."

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    Hawk

is still hugging the tree like dear. "Are you sure about that??"

 γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    Elfy:

"I have...uh, right, dragonphobia!"

 γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    I

walked around the tree. "Are you getting down or not?"

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "NO!"

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "Last

time. Get back here."

 γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    "What-what

are you planning?"

 γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    Elfy

is sure the smart one of the two. She soon realized my "evil intentions". Too late though.

           I looked at Lucky. He nodded and gave the tree a poke.

           They

slipped from the shaking tree and fell. Two tentacles appeared out of the

ground and caught them.

γ€€γ€€

γ€€γ€€    Hawk

stared at the thing and decided not to struggle. There is a green crystal ball

at the tip of it, with two leaves around which move like eyelids. The whole

structure looks like a monster's head. There's even a mouth on it--some barbs

that s.h.i.+ft like a meat grinder!