Book 4, Chapter 31

The Palace

           "Nice idea!" Pa.s.serby applauded.

　　    "Possible.

This means everyone must die once right?" Razor looked among all the

people. "We should carefully go over the plan, and maybe bring the

necessary members only. I don't think we ALL need to lose level. Besides, you

should change your setup. Put on something cheap. Level 900 enemies will easily

kill anyone whatever we wear, and you don't want to lose your valuable

equipment by accident."

　　    "Razor

made a good point." Elfy nodded. "Yuri and Rose can stay behind, we

don't really need healers this time."

　　    I

looked at Elfy. "You should quit too. We need tanks or anyone with enough

HP to move the cannon as close to the palace gate as possible. Let's try making

the casualty minimum."

　　    Hawk

nodded to Elfy. "As he said. Stay outside and help me carry extra

equipment."

　　    "I

want to go with you!" Elfy gave Hawk a stern look. "We all know you'll

die, then let me at least be there with you. That's what a wife does!"

　　    "Elfy!!"

Hawk held Elfy's shoulders and called her name in a really dramatic way.

　　    Elfy

also threw herself into Hawk's arms. "You big fool!" 　　

           "Ahem!!"

Big Pot turned his head away. "Knock it! There are d.a.m.n singles here! A

lot of them! Be kind and don't hurt our feelings further, okay??"

　　    "Leave us alone. This is family problem! "

　　    I

patted on Big Pot's shoulder. "Easy. Don't you already know they're couple

of the year?"

　　    Big

Pot brushed my hand away and grabbed Pa.s.serby. "You don't understand how

we feel!"

　　    Pa.s.serby

played along. "Yeah! You have enough pretties around you. Give us some

s.p.a.ce!"

　　    Rose

walked behind them and gave each of them a good knock on the head using her mage staff.

           "Back

to topic!"

　 　   I

cleaned my throat. "Okay now, still, the less people the better. I'll now

decide the team. No objections.

           First, me and Zirai. We can't go without our

companions. 

           Hawk is in. He's the best

tank we have.

           Wayne stays behind. A caster won't help much in this case.

           Yuri

and Rose will stay outside. This will probably only take several minutes, there's

no time for you to heal us. Rose should be on reviving duty. It

will be of great help if we lose less level."

　　    Rose

opened her mouth but didn't anything. She knows my decision will be

better.

　 　   I

continued: "Elfy's shooting skills aren't really effective here, so don't

go. You can observe the situation and give us orders accordingly.

           Coin will

come with us. We need your speed and your knowledge of the palace layout.

           Merciless

is out. Your a.s.sa.s.sination skills won't work against those level 900 guards.

           Big

Pot and Violet will join. You both have good defenses, and Ashura is pretty

strong.

           Pa.s.serby...you can decide for yourself. I don't know about your cla.s.s."

　　    He

quickly stepped up. "Of course I'll join. You haven't seen my special

skill! That's a perfect skill to draw monster attention!"

　　    "You

can do that?" Zirai turned to him. "You never told me about it."

　　    Pa.s.serby

scratched his head. "It's a skill of my Roachy. It kinda...stinks, I don't

usually use it in front of girls. But I a.s.sure you it works wonders!"

　 　    "Alright,

come with us then."

            I need enough people and also need to make sure less people

die at the same time. Guess I can't satisfy both.

            "Razor is fast but you

won't work well against high level enemies, stay with Elfy and help us with

situation control."

　　    He

nodded without a word. He talks the least among us. Besides Merciless, maybe. 　　

            "Do

we start right now?" Zirai seems anxious about getting the cannon. She

came up with the plan first!

　　    I

checked the system clock. "Not now. The NPC army should be still up. The

cannons will fire at us at this moment."

　　    Yuri

raised her hand: "Um, there are THREE major cities, right?" 　　

            Zirai

dragged her over hugged her tight. "I love you!!"

　　    Yuri

is blus.h.i.+ng hard. I think that's the same expression when a girl goes on the

date for the first time.

            ???

            Oh dear. I hope she's not looking at Zirai in place of me.

　　    "Great

idea!" Hawk interrupted my random thought. "We can go to the

Celestial City or Cloudtop! Which one's the target?"

　　    "Cloudtop

then." Pa.s.serby suggested. "It's my home city so I know it well. It's also

the smallest city among the three, which means the palace must be smaller. This

will make the quest a lot easier."

　　    "Let's

take Pa.s.serby's advice. Now, gather up in front of the palace gate in Cloudtop.

Share your teleport scrolls if anyone doesn't have any, go to any city and use

the teleport station to our destination."

           Then I held Rose's hand and

directly teleported to the station in Cloudtop city.

　　    Everyone

walked out of the station soon. Pa.s.serby has several scrolls to this city on

him. As he said, you should prepare enough major city teleport scrolls because

you will need to get to them often. 　　

           We

soon reached the palace gate in the city center. The gate arch structure is as

tall as the main city gate itself! 　　

           "How

do we get in?" Hawk looked up at the impressively fortified rampart.

　　    Pa.s.serby

gave him a mysterious grin. "Time for my Roachy to show his wonders again!"

            He summoned the giant bug.

　　    "What

are you gonna do?"

　　    "If

anyone doesn't know how to climb the wall, come here and hold onto one of his

legs. I'll take you in." 　　

            "For

real? You want me to hug a c.o.c.kroach leg? I'd rather die!" Violet moved back a bit.

            I totally

understand why Violet would say that.

　　    Coin

nodded, supporting Violet. "No, no, not c.o.c.kroach, never. Zirai has a

dragon right? She can bring a dozen people without problem. And Ziri has

another!"

　　    "Yeah!"

Big Pot nodded quickly. I can also understand why he doesn't want to hug a

c.o.c.kroach. As a man. "Two dragons, a phoenix, that's enough to transport

several teams of people!"

　　    I

shook my head. "We're going stealth. This is not a sightseeing tour. What do you think will happen if a giant dragon went into the city palace by

air?"

　　    "Oh...I

see." Big Pot tilted his head.

　　    With

the dragon transport plan busted, Pa.s.serby began to sell his bug bus again. "Come

on come on! Try Roachy, fast, and safe! No noise! No hazard! Almost."

　　    "Rosa!"

I ignored Pa.s.serby's advertis.e.m.e.nt. I already have an idea. And personally I

don't want to choose the c.o.c.kroach either if I have a second choice.

            "Make a

ladder for us."

　 　    Rosa

crossed his vines onto the wall and created a plant ladder within seconds. I

took off my armors and handed them to Rose. The ladder is narrow but shouldn't

be a problem to climb as long as we're careful enough. As for coming back out...We

can just jump. That little fall damage won't cause any issue for us Warrior types.

　　    The

palace must have that virtual s.p.a.ce technology as well. It's too large compared

to what we saw from outside! 　　

            Just

as we landed on the ground, a group of imperial patrols appeared around the

corner ahead.

            I rolled on the ground and hid myself behind a garden rockwork, followed

closely by Hawk. Violet jumped into a flower bed, followed by Big Pot (clumsily). Coin ran around behind another big rock. Zirai panicked a

little before she squeezed herself inside an open gap in the rock.

            Pa.s.serby is the

only one exposed now. He insisted on riding on Roachy so he landed a bit slower

than us. When the NPCs appeared he hasn't balanced himself yet!

　　    I

prepared for a fierce fight, which never happened. The patrol team walked in

front of Pa.s.serby without doing anything.

           We all left our hiding places when they

pa.s.sed around.

　　    "What

the fuc?? You almost ruined everything from the start!" Coin said angrily

while trying to keep her voice low.

　　    "Did

you use skill or something?" Hawk asked. "The guards can't miss you

out without a reason."

　　    "Yeah,

one of Roachy's skills. It's called [Mimic]. We can blend into the background

as long as we stand still. That's why I didn't move an inch back there."

　　    "Ooh.

Nice trick buddy." Big Pot commented.

　　    "Heh, thanks."

　　    Another

team showed up. Everyone dashed away into their original covers. Expect for

Pa.s.serby, who still stood there like last time.

           When the guards pa.s.sed we

quickly looked around the area and tried to change location.

　　    "This

way!" Coin rushed into a door across the path. But a patrol came up before

anyone can go after her, so we hid again. Thank G.o.d no one went too fast or they'll

be caught in the middle of the road.

　　    When

it's clear, Coin poked her head out of the door and contacted us via team chat.

           "One at a time. Run!"

　　    I

went first. The patrols appeared mid-way, I immediately expanded my cape and

stood still. It was a good choice to keep my cape and other accessories instead

of leaving them all behind.

　 　    The

cape perfectly covered my body. The guards marched past me about only a meter

away from my face. I had to hold my breath!

            I reached Coin's room when they

disappeared. I told the others to wait and observe the patrols.

            We noticed there were

more than one team patrolling this area. Two teams are walking on two different

patterns, that's why there will be a certain point when they both show up

together.

　　    Finding

their patterns means finding a solution. I've played the Commandos before, that

game was way harder than this. The rest of the group went into the room

successfully, following my command.

　　    Coin

guided us outside the other door of the room, into a courtyard. We proceeded past

some distance while hiding, running, hiding, running again. We finally reached

right below the crystal cannon. 

            Ha! There's no guard here!

　 　    When

everyone's ready, I gave the signal and we all moved. With the experience from

last time, Zirai first summoned her t.i.tans to lift the giant half-sphere cover

off the cannon. Loong'er hooked the cannon up using her tail, while Skyfire

helped her carry the cannon towards the gate. We should be safe as long as we

can get the cannon to the exit!

　　    All

NPC guards in the city moved the moment we touched the cannon. Countless city

defenders sp.a.w.ned. They surrounded the palace but couldn't do anything else. 

           Several

imperial patrol teams also noticed us. Rosa

trapped the approaching soldiers but his tentacles were all cut down within 5 seconds. These enemies are way more terrible than the city defense out there!

　　    Skyfire

can only fly a little above the palace wall height with the cannon, which

means the intercepting guards ahead can attack him. A team of archers and

crossbowmen appeared in our path. They aimed their weapons high, obviously

planning to shoot Skyfire down!

　 　    Hundreds

of arrows and bolts went into the air before we can react. Lucky is the only

who managed to do something -- he simply placed himself in front of Skyfire as

a meat s.h.i.+eld.  The projectiles decorated

Lucky into a porcupine. Thankfully, his thick scales absorbed most of the

damage. He looks badly hurt but those arrows didn't go deep. However from the

status bar I can see he's not going to survive another attack like that.

　　    Lucky's

move gave Skyfire enough time to fly past the archers. When they turned around

and loaded their next attack, Phiona and Loong'er launched their skills at the same time, covering the shooters in both flame and ice. 　　

           The

first long-range team is thrown off their feet but a second team appeared soon.

Lucky blocked their attack again, which of course, resulted in his death. 

           Phiona

tried to replace his position and she was killed soon by the fierce attack. Even

if she can instantly resurrect where she died, she got instantly killed for a

second time.

　　    This

means I'll need to wait for a while to summon Lucky or Phiona again. The 4th

round of arrows didn't give us any time to arrange our defense. Dart jumped in

front of Skyfire in time and intercepted a good number of arrows. But the rest

of the attack can be still deadly.

　　    A shadow appeared and protected Skyfire. It's one of Zirai's t.i.tans.  As we watch the giant body fell, we all came up with the same

conclusion.

　　    We

proceeded with the rest of our escape plan while keeping Skyfire in the air by

sacrificing members. We each ordered our companions to take the attacks, and when there's

no companion left, we go in ourselves. 

            Now only me, Pa.s.serby and Zirai are still alive.

　 　    When

the main force of our pursuers got close, Pa.s.serby's Roachy suddenly moved. We were expecting the c.o.c.kroach to hold off the last round of attacks, but it decided to stay behind for some reason.

           I saw its

belly swelling up. 

           Fffffffffffffft! 

           A terrible stench spread in the air. I almost

vomitted on the spot. Then we fell the ground shaking. Endless c.o.c.kroaches

crawled out from under our feet!

　　    Pa.s.serby's

companion must be a c.o.c.kroach king or something. It can summon allies! 

　 　    The

tiny c.o.c.kroaches swarmed up against the NPC army. They don't have much damage

but the sight of them is terrifying enough! In the next second, every single

NPC soldier is covered in c.o.c.kroaches. They tried to clean them off but more

bugs will get onto their bodies even faster!

　　    They

soon realized it's impossible to get rid of these nuisance so they decided to

keep coming for us, while carrying all the bugs on their faces. However, the

brief chaos provided us enough time to reach the palace wall. The outside is

just within reach, our mission is finished.

　　    The

following NPC army readied their bows and unleashed the last arrow rain, pinning

us onto the wall. Our corpses all carried smiles instead of fear, before we vanished.

　　    Our

souls were teleported to the resurrection hall after the time limit. The NPC

resurrection wizard rushed to us to provide business, which of course, was

declined. Rose is already running to us with Elfy and Yuri following behind. Though

Rose is the only one who can see us now.

　　    Rose's

reviving skill is quite impressive. Violet is the only one who got unlucky

enough to lose two levels. If we let the old NPC do the work we probably would

have lost way more than that.

　　    I

took my armors back from Rose, put them on, and headed to the palace with

everyone. According to Coin, the dropped cannon should be absolutely safe there.

But I'm not sure until I get it into my own hands. That's why I asked everyone

to run as fast as we can.

　 　    It's

been half an hour since we died. The palace perimeter is completely clear of

any city guards. I summoned Rosa again to take us over the wall. Zirai quickly

ordered Skyfire and her remaining t.i.tan to get the cannon out. It only took

less than a minute. When the imperials found us we had already escaped.

　　    As

Coin said, the imperials didn't come after us outside the wall, and the city

guards totally ignored our actions. We were quite nervous when we saw a team of

city patrols walking in front of us. Thankfully they didn't even spare a glance

at the giant cannon we're holding. 

           That doesn't mean the players will ignore us

though. A lot of people decided to come to us and satisfy their curiosity. This

is expected. We already know a t.i.tan carrying a big cannon walking in the city

would cause a scene.

　　    "What

is that, miss?" A blind dude asked me.

　　    "Look

for yourself! You can't even tell man from woman??" I hate these kind of

people!

　　    A

Warrior player spoke: "It looks like a, I don't know, cannon? The game got

cannons? Wait a minute..."

           Following his words, everyone turned their heads towards the tall ornamental

column in the city center. 　　

          "They

carried the city defense cannon away!!" Someone yelled. 

           And it invoked a

serious panic among the people. More players came and stuffed the road without

giving us any s.p.a.ce to move! 

           It were the city guards who helped

us out of the situation. An

NPC team came and started to break up the player crowd because they are "holding

up the traffic". There are still too many players around for us to walk

easily though. It took some effort to reach the city gate. 

           Then the t.i.tan made

a huge mistake!

　　    He

b.u.mped into the gate while holding the cannon! I don't know if we're just

unfortunate, or the cannon got some problem with it. It miss-fired again! A

cannon sh.e.l.l went out and landed among a player crowd in the city! 

　 　    Before

we can take in the situation, the t.i.tan turned around too fast which caused the

cannon base to b.u.mp into the gate again. A second bullet exploded right under

our feet and sent us flying out of the city wall! 

            The damaged

t.i.tan let go of the cannon. Dammit we worked so hard to get this one, we can't

afford to break it again!

　　    "Phantom

Knights!" I summoned my ace card. "Catch that thing!"

　　    The

knights followed my finger and saw the falling weaponry. They all charged and

placed their bodies under the cannon with professional baseball player style. Now

the cannon is safe, I can finally breathe again. Pheeew! 

　　    "CATCH

THEM DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY!!" 

            A voice behind us startled me for good. But

NPC guards never shout like that! 

            Could it be...?!