Starting from Zero Volume 3 Chapter 34

Book 3, Chapter 34
Failure?

    With Wayne's directions we soon found our target NPC -- an old man with a...mostly rotten body. I thought he was a zombie on the first sight.

    According to the scroll, I need to find an old man who was bitten by zombie in Dragon State, take his [Desecrated Heart] to the Garden of Life and wash it clean with holy water to finish the quest.

    Looking at him, I've no doubt he's now affected by zombie virus or whatever disease it is. He was groaning on his bed. When we came in he stretched out his hand towards me. I think the only difference between that hand and a skeleton's is a layer of thin skin covering it.

    "Finally, a capable young man! I was hurt by a zombie and will soon turn into one myself. The G.o.ds will not forgive a zombie. I need your help!"

    "So what can I do for you?"

    "After I die, *cough cough* take, take, my heart...to, to..."

    "Hey! To where? Don't die so fast! I do know my destination but my quest won't proceed before you tell me the next objective you know!"

    I shook the old man violently trying to wake him up.

    He did open his eyes. Huh, that actually worked?

    "Am I dead? Am I...in h.e.l.l? And why do you look so familiar?"

    "Oh come on! I'm here for the quest! Tell me now, where should I go?"

    "Oh. Go to the Garden of Life and wash my heart using the holy water there. I will be able to ascend to heaven if you can cleanse it!"

    Then he started to convulse like mad, scaring me into jumping back. That was the right decision, because he bounced up and lunged at me. 

    He turned for real!

    "Spirit Seal!" Wayne quickly stroke a posture, like those mudras in ninja movies, and activated his skill. The old man (zombie) shook, and fell on the ground with a now stiff body.

    " 'Kay, That does the trick."

    "Oh nice one. You're pretty good! Can you get that heart for me too please?"

    "Forget it. You're the one doing the quest. I don't wanna touch that thing. Dig in yourself." He gave a small dagger. "The great and powerful wizard, master Wayne, now bestow this holy dagger upon you. Use it well!"

    "Screw you." I kicked him outside the door, when one of the Phantom Knights came in just at the right time and caught him.

    "Sir! They're going to break through soon!"

    "Got it. Hold for another minute, then retreat your defenses towards my position."

    "Yes sir!" He turned and left.

    I looked at the rotten corpse on the ground. Dammit. Who came up with this gross idea? Though I've seen a lot of fallen body parts or broken limbs and stuff in the corporation's laboratories. This one is not an issue.

    I triggered my claw blades. Ching! The 1-feet blades sprung out. The best part with these claws is that they are very suitable to cause bleeding wounds. Which means i can use them as dissecting tools as well.

    I fished out a black-ish heart while trying to suppress the urge to vomit. This thing itself emits the odor of a corpse that has been exposed to warm and wet weather for a whole week!

    I took the bed sheet and wrapped up the terrible organ. Ewwww.

    Now I'm looking at a corpse which is lying in a mess blood pool. Never expected there was so much blood in this skinny old man. He was giving out blood like a water pump when I ripped him open.

    I left the room to see my team of Phantom Knights holding their position just outside. Yup, the city guards are powerful enough. These mighty knights could only hold them off for several minutes.

    I spoke to Wayne: "They'll not do anything to you. Leave the city by yourself after I get away."

    "You get it boss." He stepped to a corner to see us off.

    I activated my teleport ring. No reaction. Then I noticed the blinking help bar, which says there is teleport suppression system in cities which will prevent red named players from using any means of teleportation. It is mainly used to prevent criminals from suddenly rus.h.i.+ng into a city, kill people, then escape via teleport.

    This means I can only get away by flying. I hope there's no anti-air defenses in the city.

    I activated my wing blades behind my back. Now I think about it, I've never tried it before.

    Controls....Hmm, seems easy enough. I pushed my feet against the ground hard and rushed upwards.

    Weeee! This feels good!

    However, I didn't get the chance to fly very high before I noticed a group of city guards in square formation standing on a roof not far from me.

    Oh s.h.i.+t. Heavy crossbows!

    It's too late for me to realize what they're carrying. Tons a bolts are now flying straight at me. I already de-summoned the Phantom Knights. They can't fly anyway. Phiona and Lucky are distracting their main forces elsewhere, Phantom's [Blink] won't be enough for me to escape their attack range.

    Oh yes, I still have my [Absolute Defense]! That's a talent skill of my wing blades, if I remembered right.

    Just as the bolts are about to reach me, I yelled: "Absolute, Defeeense!!"

    A blue, half-transparent sphere shaped barrier appeared around my body. None of the attacks got through.

    I thought that's that last of it when a 3-meter-long super sized bolt flew straight at my head.

    The b.a.s.t.a.r.ds turned their city defense ballista towards inside the city!

    Clang! It crashed into the barrier. That thing can break a freaking city wall for christ's sake!

    To my relief, my barrier still bounced it away.

    Now that's certainly Absolute defense. Nothing can break it! Several rounds of attacks and a dozen ballista bolts following behind were all repelled without causing a scratch to me. I'm invincible!

    I taunted in mid-air: "None shall defeat me!!"

    Yup, that was a death flag.

    The blue barrier began to blink, before it complete vanished. Of course there is a time limit!

    In the next second, I'm decorated into a hedgehog by countless bolts and died before I can reach the ground.

    When I resp.a.w.ned, I found myself in a room with Wayne.

    "What were you doing, boss? Here!" He took out the whole Dark Dragon Lord set from the bracelet. "That was awesome! Even when you're killed you would make it like a grand show. I would thought the system was raining equipment for free if I didn't know it was you."

    I began to re-equip my stuff. Only several rings stayed on me after that death. Thank G.o.d I asked Wayne to help reclaim them.

    "Your bracelet is the best tool I've ever seen. It got everything before they reached the ground! It would be hopeless if they actually fell into the crowd. You don't want to know how many people were waiting to fight over the drops. Anyone who got his hands on one piece would get instantly maimed by others."
     

    "Where are we?" I looked around the room. It looks like some kind of bedroom. 

    "A private estate I bought in the Dragon State." He explained proudly, "I was the first player to buy a house in the game. The system even gave me a reward, any houses I buy from now on will have their prices cut to 80%! Too bad you can't sell your houses. Or I'd make a fortune!"

    "No NPC is coming at me?"

    "Private estate is like an emba.s.sy in foreign territories. It's free from the management of city NPCs. Speaking of which, that was close! As undead wizard I can seal your soul and take it here to revive you. If you were caught by your enemies you will be transported to jail!"

    "How do I get out now?" I finished putting on my last equipment. "I can wait for tomorrow and use my barrier again but that won't be long enough to get away. "

    Wayne lifted my cloak. "Have you tried this?"

    "Invisibility?"

    "Um-hmm. Just walk out while disguised! NPCs won't see you."

    "But players may report me to the guards if they see my name."

    "That's simple." Wayne raised his hand and made a "slit" gesture against his neck.

    "Ohh, I like it." 

    We logged off after the discussion. I still decided to wait for tomorrow when my barrier becomes available, just to be safe.

    Since I got nothing else to do, I drove to the college labs to pick up Rose. I figured her researches should be done sooner or later. 

    When I met her, I asked, embarra.s.sed: 

    "Well... Can you wait for a bit before you get online?"

    "What's wrong?" She tilted her head.

    "I'm doing a job quest in Dragon State."

    "And?"

    "I was killed! Wayne helped me recover my lost gear so I didn't lose anything apart from two levels. "

    (Wayne used a resurrection scroll for he can't revive players. Using that scroll will lose two levels, fixed) 

    I explained, "I'm afraid I don't have enough a.s.set to save you now. I thought I just needed to get in, but now I can't get back out! I managed to barge into the city today, though once I accepted my quest I got trapped inside. And red names are not allowed to use teleportation in cites.  Besides, Dragon State is a small city and my target was not far from the city gate. But the Bright City is on another level. It's medium sized, it must have more NPCs than Dragon State, and the prison is almost in the center. I don't think I can make it at this rate. So..I'm sorry but, you'll need to wait a bit longer. I need to come up with something else." 

    Rose kept her smile. "Surely you didn't think I would be angry just for this right?"

    "You won't?"

    "Hum. Your looks don't mean you can understand women very well. It doesn't matter if you can't do it. You're trying, that's enough." 

    Rose gave me a peck on the cheek. "Take it slow. My project is going well and the professors asked me to go further. So I...probably will need to spend another month."

    "I promise. I don't need that much time to find a solution."

    "Yeah I believe you. Come, my treat tonight. Don't pick anything too expensive you hear?" Rose joked.

    I gave her a wicked grin. "So that means I need to find out which place costs most. When you can't pay the bill, someone would buy you as slave, and I can buy you back, then...Eehehehe!"

    "Oh stop it."