Book 4, Chapter 9

Infuriate

           "Give us the loot. We want the

treasure not your lives. WE were the ones dealing with all those monsters, now

we can't just let you take it for free. Hand them over or we will take them

by force!"

           The speaker is a wizard-like player wearing black robe. He seems willing to talk but... Maybe he's just planning about how to take us

down inside his mind.

　　    That's

quite a big group behind him, about 500 people. From their broken weapons and

ragged clothes, they are those unfortunate guys who were fending off the

monsters on the other side.

            We were just trying to head back to the city so I

already un-summoned everyone except Phiona, who is now standing on my shoulder

as a small aurora bird.

            "Are these guys the ones you mentioned?"

　　    "Yeah.

But there were several thousands of them back then."

　　    I

asked Hawk to get closer and whispered to him: "So they brought thousands of

people here and now this is what's left of them, which means they don't have

much supply on them now. We three, plus my companions, should be enough to take

care of them." 　　

　　    "But

he was true, we can get the treasure because they helped keeping monsters away.

We should at least give them half of the loot, and hopefully settle this

without a fight."

　　    "Um, if you say so."

           Hawk is quite the honest guy it seems. Well, he chose to be a

Paladin anyway, I guess honor is important to him.

　　    Hawk

spoke to the wizard: "We didn't know you were here, and we opened

the secret entrance too. It was pretty tricky one, I don't think you would have

made it. How about this, we'll share half of what we got, let's consider the

work done as a team."

　　    The

black robe began to consider. But a warrior beside him yelled: "How do we

know how many items you took? You can just tell us a fake number and give us

less stuff, am I right?"

　　    The

wizard silenced him. "To tell the truth, we wouldn't have made it up here. Those

monsters suddenly stopped coming, I guess that's because you opened the secret

room. I believe you, we'll accept half of the treasures."

　　    Hawk

took off his ring and stretched his hand towards Elfy. 

            "What?"

　　    "Give

them the bow."

　　    Elfy

held it tightly and shook her head. "No! Why should I? It's mine!"

　　    "Elfy!"

　　    "No

I won't!"

　　    "Listen, we aren't really justified here, we should at least give them what they

deserve."

            Now that's the first time I saw some anger from Hawk.

　　    Elfy

looked at Hawk's serious expression and decided to comply. Though unwillingly.

           "Fine..."

           She looks about to cry. Sadly there's nothing much I can

do in such a situation.

　　    Hawk

threw the bow and his ring over to the wizard. "Four items in all. I gave

a bracelet to my friend, and an egg, already hatched so we can't give it back

even if we want to."

　　    The

wizard looked at the items. "I'm [Fate Revenger], master of the Black Moon,

our guild. We have several branches now, among most major cities. Come visit us

when you have the time. I appreciate your honorable decision. Let's at least

become allies. If your girl friend over there really wants the bow, you can come

to our auction sale next week. We usually sell our loot this way and share the

profit for everyone. As their leader, I can't break that rule. But still, I can make an

exception this time and ask you only 90% of the bidding."

　　    Hawk

answered politely: "We did take your advantage, I should apologize. That

bow is indeed valuable to my friend, we will be there."

　　    "Farewell

then."

            Fate began to lead his men off the mountain. Not everyone followed

him though, we saw a small group left behind.

            Fate noticed the out-standers and

turned back. "Mr. Loong?"

　　    A

wizard wearing blue robe stepped ahead. "You Black Moon can leave now since

you got no more business. Don't forget to give us the share for the items. We

got something else to do."

　　    Fate

turned to Hawk: "Careful brother, this man is far from the kind type. We

can't help you because of...our agreement. Be on guard."

           Then he humphed

and left with his members.

　　    The

"Mr. Loong" sized us up for a bit.

           "Huh. Fate is an

idiot but I'm not. I believe you are all smart guys too so let's get this

straight. The black outfit you're wearing, friend, is also one of the reward I

a.s.sume? We won't ask much...sell it, and we'll share the money seventy-thirty. We

take the seventy of course. How about it? You can get thirty percent out of it

without even lifting a finger, just call it free. I know I'm always the

nice guy."

　　    Well,

if anyone can see my face they would notice I'm extremely p.i.s.sed off right now.

I immediately saw what he was going to do when he stayed, and I planned to give

up the bracelet too. He's going to sell it anyway, the worst case is I can just

borrow some money from father and buy it back. Elfy is already the pegasus'

master so even the system would not have the right to take it away.

           What I'm

not expecting is that the b.a.s.t.a.r.d wants my armors! I don't know how much it

would sell and I don't care. The two months' worth of effort is already enough

to make it surpa.s.s any treasures we might find on this tiny mountain tip.

　　    "...Ha-hahaha!"

I really feel like laughing to let off some of my anger. "Just tell us

straight if you want dead! Of course I'll help you with it."

　　    "What'cha

saying huh??" A minion came up but Mr. Loong dragged him back.

　　    "Now

now my friend, do you know you should never take your words too far? Your voice...sounds

like someone just went over the age of 10. Do you want me to teach you the

rules of the world out there?" Then he dropped his att.i.tude. "Your

equipment won't help you fight against 200 people. How long can you stand if

we attack you together? Now be clever so you don't suffer too much."

　　    I

didn't respond, cause I don't know what else I can say to this moron. Oh well, time

for some actions.

           I raised my hand to my shoulder. Phiona jumped on it. Then

I threw her into the air (a little more gently).

          She turned into her true form while

creating a hot wave around us, cause several people in the front of the group

to stagger.

　　    "A

phoenix!"

　　    "Black

phoenix!!"

　　    The

group scattered. That's what I expected would happen when someone who don't

even know about companions see a real one. Hawk and Elfy are well-knowledged and they still tried to climb a

tree.

           Someone in the group

are already taking out their recall scrolls.

　　    Mr.

Loong shouted and stopped their movement.

           "STOP IT! It's just one phoenix, and

it doesn't look a real one! Use our advantage and kill the player so his

companion will just disappear! Stay in your positions!"

           The group is still

a bit chaotic but is under control in general. However, Mr. Loong's face is not

really "under control". He must have realized something is not going to proceed as he planned.

　　    The

turns of his expressions look quite fun. I wonder what will happen if I give

him some more surprises.

            I stretched out my right hand, a giant black portal

appeared beside me. A mighty roar came out of the portal and caused a visible

air shock, knocking some people down.

           I rubbed my ears. I did tell him to "make

a show". But I should have opened the portal a little far from myself. Now

my right ear is ringing.

　　    Lucky

shot himself out of the portal, gliding close the ground and swept past their

head. He also caught two very unlucky people in his claws, who gave out some

terrible inhuman screams out of fear, which caused the other people on the ground

to shake.

　　    People

lose their intelligence when stressed or terrified, that's what's going on in

front of me--someone forgot they are still playing a game and began to beg for

their lives.

           "I DONT WANNA DIE!!"

　　    Lucky

threw the yelling madman into the crowd with some force. The falling human bomb

crashed into something solid head-first and caused some blood splashes. Some female players

fainted. Good. I don't really enjoy scaring girls. Now they're out cold so they

don't have to see what's coming next.

　　    I

pointed towards the sky. Loong'er appeared around me and slowly floated upwards

while recovering to her full size. Mr. Loong seems helpless at how to control

the situation. His men are crying like Christians who are meeting with Jesus

face to face. (*)

　　    I

summoned Rosy. Now I'm going to jump scare them for good, even give some people

a heart attack, if I can.

           Several thick plant vines emerged from under their

feet and brought some people down with them. More yelling.

　　    Mr.

Loong's face has turned into the color of purple.

           I'm not satisfied though, I asked Phantom to

find someone unconscious and control him.

          The poor guy's body suddenly stood up.

"NOOOO! I CAN'T TAKE IT! DEVIL! IT'S THE DEVILS!" He screamed in

hysteria and clawed at his own face. He did it so hard that he now looks like a

living zombie. The man has no idea what's happening since he's not awake at all.

But those people around him aren't aware of the fact, what they saw is one of

their comrade just went insane.

　　    I

took the chance when everyone has lost their mind and shot my dragon cords at

Mr. Loong. Now I'm pretty good at it after all these days' practice. The

cords only become sharp when I inject my MP into them, otherwise I can just use

them as really strong ropes.

           I caught the man's neck like throwing a la.s.so and

began to retrieve it. The cord wrapped around his neck firmly.

　　    I attached the other end of the cord onto my saddle before I shook Hawk and Elfy

back to their senses. They have been staring at the scene with their mouths

agape for a while now.

           "I caught the prey! Now run for it! Ahoy, Night

Shade!"

           Night Shade bolted away, with Mr. Loong hanging behind us who just

realized what's going on. He pulled on the cord around his neck in order to

breath a little.

　　    His

condition is of no concern to me so I just asked Night Shade to gallop as he

wish. I also tried to choose the most painful routes--whichever path with the

most th.o.r.n.y plants or ragged rocks.

           When we left the mountain range the only

piece of cloth left on the unfortunate dude is the unbreakable underpants used

to hide his embarra.s.sment. His equipments are no where to be found.

           Hawk and

Elfy caught up from behind. Elfy glanced at the now dying Mr. Loong. "Ziri,

let him go. That's enough revenge."

　　    "Not

gonna. This is the first time someone tries to pull that off on me.  I

won't stop before I get rid of all the bad mood. You two can get back to the city

and have a rest, I'll be there when I'm done with him."

           Without waiting

for an answer, I asked Night Shade to charge faster and left the couple behind.

　　    After

a while, I felt a weight go away, and the cord retracted itself. I turned

my head to see a white light. So I finally dragged away Mr. Loong's last point of

HP. Hmm. I could have done worse if I finished him off using my Revenger and take

2 levels off him instead of 1.

　　    I

opened the chat. "Hawk, where are you? Let's have some fun in the city!"

　　    "You

done with the guy?"

　　    "Not

really. He just died on the ground."

　　    Elfy

nudged into the screen. "You looked scary! I thought you were going to

eat him or something."

　　    "I'm

not a monster! I was just a bit over my head, did I do anything bad to you?"

　　    "No.

So we're going to the city together?"

　　    "Yeah.

I've always wanted to see what's inside a city, now's the chance to lift up the

spirit a bit. I got a close friend called Wayne who's been blasting about all

the fun in various cities beside my ears all day long. I think he's doing it on

purpose!"

　　    "Alright.

Which city's on your mind?"

　　    "The

Bright City!"

　　    "Bright

City? That's not really a big city. There are a lot of bigger ones to have more fun."

　　    "Not

for fun this time, my gf is in jail. I need to rescue her from the Bright City

and it'll be best if you can help me with it."

　　    Hawk

nudged back into the screen. "Um, I do want to help but, you know those

guards will just kill us in one hit right? You will need at least ten or twenty

thousand of people to attack a city!"

　　    "I'm

not asking you to fight the NPCs."

           Ugh. It's best to explain this in

detail in front their faces, so I used my Star Gaze ring to detect their

location and just teleported there, which of course, startled them.

　　    "You--"

They stared at me as if an alien has come to visit.

　　    "Ask

questions later!" I showed them my new bracelet. "Now this thing, will

hide my red name. I need you to take this bracelet to my girlfriend so she can

just walk out of the prison like taking a walk in the afternoon."

　　    "Good

idea!" Hawk took the bracelet. "Tell us what she looks like in the

private chat so we can find her."

　　    "She...is

not on. A second, I'll go call her."

　　    "Be

quick!"

　　    I

logged out the game and called Rose's phone. Her roommate answered it.

            "Can I speak to Rose?"

　　    "She

just went into the game. I'll tell her you called."

　　    "Nonono,

I'm hoping she would do that."

　　    "Ah,

good for you. See ya then!"

　　    I appeared in front of the pair again. They're leaning on each

other, enjoying the scenery.

           I'm hurt! Must they show off their love at such a

time??

           I called them to join Rose's private channel.

　　   Rose's beautiful face showed up in the group chat. I pulled off my helmet and tried to speak but Rose

took the initiate.

           "Hey dear. Welcome back! I was just--ehhahaha--ahh don't--HAHAHAHA!

Hey wait--AH!"

           The screen shook violently, I see the figures of several

girls in there. A nice looking girl came up to the display.

           "Hey you! So you're Ziri?"

　　    I

frowned. "Who are you?"

　　    "You don't know me? Which rural part did you come from? You don't know this vice

master of the second biggest guild in the whole game?"

　　    "Oh

excuse me ma'am. I don't even know about the chief master of the first biggest

guild."

　　    "Why

you--!"

            Ohh this is fun. I see smoke coming out of her head.

            "I'll

only tell you once: I'm from the G.o.ddess Alliance. Join us now. I give you 30 seconds,

or you won't like what I'm about to do to Rose!"

            Rose's screaming came

from the screen. "No! Ah!...Urf!... Stop it!"

　　    "What

the fuc is this all about?" 　　

            "I

told you, silly. Join our guild. I heard that you got some really nice

equipment. Oh and your Luck would help us a lot too."

(*) This reminds me, apart from being offensive to certain nations, the author will make all kinds jokes against some religions and various G.o.ds from other cultures too. Example, s.h.i.+va from Hinduism, Anubis from Egypt. I think he even tried to turn Lady Liberty into a Boss or something.

     Though you'll only see such content in later stages.