Book 4, Chapter 4
Hawk
I got into the game early the next morning.As father expected, I need to go to j.a.pan region and sabotage something whenthe nation war system is implanted. There"s no doubt I"ll need some seriouspower to do that.
I already have strong companions, servants and gear, theonly problem is my level. Nothing serious though, six months should be more thanenough for me to get enough levels.
I need helpers too. To fight against a wholecountry...There"s no way I can do it alone. Even the most powerful boss in thegame would probably be dead fast if tens of thousands of players try to kill it at thesame time. And ten thousand is not really a big number, if you look at thecurrent game population.
Yes, I"ll need a large-scaled Guild. But...I know my limits. Thebest I can do is to command like 50 people, no more.
Hum. I"ll try to find someelite players with similar ideas as myself then. Quality values more thannumbers. We just need to annoy them, not to fight an all-out war. We don"t needa whole army for that.
That"s decided then. I should go to Yuri first, as her skillsare not something I should ignore. As for Wayne...Nope. He got a nice hiddencla.s.s too but isn"t that powerful. It"s best if I ask him to do the supportjobs.
I was lying just outside the Lost City and looking atthe skies when going over these plans (well, I like cloudy weathers!). Someoneappeared and cast his shadow over my face.
"Excuse me, sir." A deep, malevoice came over.
I tilted my head and looked at him. It"s a strong, warrior-likeplayer. His hair is soaked in sweat, panting heavily, and is wearing a worriedlook. Though his face told me that this man probably is the sunny type.
He...shouldbe wearing a golden colored knight armor, but it"s covered in blood, and thechest protections are all torn up. There"s a really big sword hanging behind his back. I can only seethe hilt from my point, the long handle suggests that it"s a long, two-handed blade.
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Hawk has been really unlucky today. A random punk insulted hisgirlfriend when they"re trying to level up together in the morning, and theywent up into a fight. What he wasn"texpecting is that the thug called his guild members for help. He couldn"t holdhimself against so many people, and was eventually killed after picking outseveral enemies too.
Luckily, his gf was teleported away by the system"sprotection mechanism. (In [Zero], female players can choose to instantly escapeto a certain city, or teleport the target 10 kilos away when receiving s.e.xualhara.s.sment. The first option will apply if the player is unable to make thedecision, such as when stunned or hypnotized. I"m not sure about male playersthough...cause I never heard of something similar happening to guys, yet.)
Next,he found himself resp.a.w.ned in a big, grand-looking city. The problem is there"snot a single living soul at the place. He left the resurrection point and exitedthe city without meeting anyone along the entire way. It crept him out.
He tried to leave the place from the teleport stationbut was prompted that the station is unavailable to white-name players duringthe day. So he could only leave on foot. Now he stumbled into this messgraveyard! He"s sure this place is totally haunted or something. Who wouldbuild a graveyard the size of a national park?
He wandered around in the graveyard for a while when hesaw a black object lying on a crumbled tombstone. He approached it carefullyand noticed that it"s actually a human, or at least something looks like a human. Thefigure"s helmet covered its entire face. A spike stood out from between theeyebrows like some sort of horn, with a "V" mark at its base. Themask part is obviously retractable. The eyes are the only parts that are notcompleted covered, but he cannot see the eyes as there"s a V-shaped violetcrystal embedded there like gla.s.ses, like those eye lens in j.a.paneserobot animes.
The...creature, not sure if it"s a player, is equippedwith full metal armor of similar black color. Two dragon emblems are engravedupon the breast part. The broad shoulder pieces suggest that it"s for male. Variousgems are set on the ta.s.set, below which is a pair of black leg guards, alsowithout much seams or visible joints. The left leg is crossed on the other, revealinga blade behind the heel.
Finally, the two gauntlets. Their tips are shaped liketwo life-like dragon heads. Their "horns" point towards the back, apparentlyweapons too. The part behind the hand is thicker, obviously there"s somethinghiding inside it.
Conclusion: the whole armor is terribly deadly.
From the twoswords on the waist and that cavalry lance lying on the ground, the man must be amelee cla.s.s. Hawk is confident in close combat, so he decided to move over andask him some questions.
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I sat up and looked at the man in front of me. "Somethingyou need?"
He responded with quite some politeness. "I...thinkI lost my way. May I ask which way should I go to leave this place?"
"Leave? There"s a teleport station right?" Someonewho doesn"t know about teleport stations is still a new sight these days.
"I found it. But it told me that only red namescan use it, white name players need to wait for nighttime."
"You"re notred name?" I stood up and retracted my wing blades. I spread them when Ilied down to make it more comfortable.
The man was shocked a bit when he saw the wings, butrecovered quickly.
"I"m not red, as you can see."
"That...can"t be. This area is meant for crimedplayers. Only those with really high Evilness will get sent here, how did youend up in that city?"
"But that"s what happened. And my name is white, forreal. I did fight someone but it was judged self-defence because I wasn"t theone doing damage first."
"Now this is strange." I walked around him. Thistime I can fully see that sword he"s carrying--not only the hilt is long, theblade itself is nothing like an ordinary sword I"ve ever seen. Similar to hisarmor, the sword is also tainted in blood and lots of cracks and turns. He musthave been fighting with a lot of people.
But I was just planning to find stronghelpers! Now one of them is standing right in front of me.
"Are youcarrying anything related to darkness?"
"Huh? Maybe this one?" He took out a red gem."I got this drop from a lich boss. I don"t know what it is for though."
"That should be it. There"s a chance thatyou will be teleported here if any dark or evil object sits in your pocket. Andthis thing must be a really powerful one, if my guess is right."
The knightbecame worried again. "But, how will I get out of the place now?"
"That"s simple." My observations told me hecan be a very decent partner, I may just ask him to join me. "I knoweverything about this place, and I can do anything in this place. Sending youaway should be a piece of cake. Just tell me the coordinate you want to go, Ican take you there."
The Teleport Ring will do the job nice and quick.
"For real?"
Ok, he"s doubting me. Totallylegit.
"The name is [Hawk]. Thank you in advance!"
"I"m [Ziri]. Don"t thank me yet. Don"t expect freeservice. Fight me, I"ll send you if you win. No worries though, I just wantto see your real strength, the outcome doesn"t really matter."
"Of course. Bring it on!"
Shiing. He alreadygot his sword in hands. That speed is impressive, only someone who PvP"d a lotcan get prepared so fast.
"No potions and items. It"s just practice, won"t benecessary to waste any money on it."
"Agreed."
"Let"s begin!"
I lost target the moment I said that. Holy--I can"t believeit! I wasn"t expecting that kind of speed from someone big with heavy armors!
Hawkcharged at me from one side.
"[Holy Hammer]!"
He smashed the facepart of the sword on my left shoulder!
-100!
Paladin skill!
I tookthe full hit without defending myself and got knocked sideways. Before I fell, Hawkcrouched below me and gave me a powerful upper-cut. "[Sky Upper]!"
-200!
"Ahhhhh--"
I"m sent into mid-air. I can"tresist the forces at all, probably because they"re part of the skill"s specialeffects.
Hawk didn"t stop though. He jumped above me when I"m still flyingupwards.
"[Falling Sun]!"
-400!
A downward leg-swipe at my stomach. NowI"m falling back towards the ground. I don"t know how he did it but he reachedthe ground first. He steadied himself using only one leg, and kicked the otherleg at me.
"[Rising Halo]!"
-600!
I"m flying again. d.a.m.n, thissuperman got on top of me. However did he do that?
"[Meteor Drop]!"
-800!
He fellupside down from high above and smashed into me using his two arms at fullspeed, sending me down again. You guessed it. He flashed below me like before.
He landed on his hands this time, while bending hisarms to dampen the speed and charge up his kick. He bent his legs all the wayto the same level as his arms before kicking them at lightning speed, at justthe right time when I reached him.
"[Leaping Rabbit]!"
-1200!
"AHRRRH--"
I"m rising for the third time! I sawa shadowed figure went past me again. He"s trying to finish me off in one combo!
I managed to flip myself 180 degree, and triggered my claw blades.
"[Heaven Impact]!"
-1400!
He gave me a shatteringkick, crane style. I caught his ankle in my claw and cut off his leg guard likeopening a metal can. It didn"t prevent his attack though.
That move surprised him. I know breaking hisequipment won"t actually do any damage, the problem is I can"t touch him!
He tried to usethe other leg to kick me again. I grabbed his leg and did a barrel-roll. Now I"mthe one behind him.
I aimed my claw at the back of his head. He tried to blockit by putting his hand in the way.
Crack! His gauntlet got cut down. He rolled over and kicked at me. I was sent away again.
That was quite aseries of attacks, but they all happened in a short period before we reach the ground.
I touched down safely and kept some distance withhim.
Hawk looked at his bare leg and hand. "Impressive.This is the first time someone broke out of my ultimate combo. I never lost toanyone in a 1-on-1 fight you know."
"Likewise. I lost 4700 HP. So each attack causedouble damage than the last one? And I believe you hadn"t finished that combo?"
"Yeah. I created that move. You interrupted mebefore I can finish. After [Heaven Impact], I would kick you up again using [PerishedLand], then do a 10-hit flurry attack using my sword as a finisher. I neverexpected you would catch me though. May I ask what"s your level? 4700 damageshould be enough to knock out any type of player at this stage. That Big Bladeon the ranking top is the only one with 5000+ HP, as far as I know."
"I"m313 now. I got 5000 HP too."
"Are you a tank?How did you set your points? But there"s no way you can get that much HP at 313.Big Blade is, let me see, level 477!"
"I uh, have some really nice equipment." Ipointed at my armor. "Look, you don"t find these stuff in market stalls."
Hawk waved his hand, a tall, white unicorn appeared athis side.
"I thought this is not necessary, but looks like I"ll have touse my full power to win. Careful now. As a rider, I can do much much better than whatI did without my horse!"
He jumped onto his mount and grabbed that lancehanging beside the saddles. "You should do the same! I saw your lance backthere. You have your horse too I a.s.sume?"
"Oh of course." I smiled, and pressed my handon the ground, creating a shining spell pentagram.