Starting from Zero Chapter Book 3 - 34 – Failure?

Failure?

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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 ca in he stretched out his hand towards . 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 gods 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 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 hell? And why do you look so familiar?"

"Oh co on! I'm here for the quest! Tell 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 into jumping back. That was the right decision, because he bounced up and lunged at .

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 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 ca in just at the right ti 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 ca 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 ans 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. Ew

Now I'm looking at a corpse which is lying in a ss 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 nad players from using any ans of teleportation. It is mainly used to prevent criminals from suddenly rushing into a city, kill people, then escape via teleport.

This ans 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 .

Oh shit. Heavy crossbows!

It's too late for to realize what they're carrying. Tons a bolts are now flying straight at . 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 to escape their attack range.

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

Just as the bolts are about to reach , 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-ter-long super sized bolt flew straight at my head.

The bastards 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 . I'm invincible!

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

Yup, that was a death flag.

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

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

When I respawned, 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 aweso! Even when you're killed you would make it like a grand show. I would thought the system was raining equipnt for free if I didn't know it was you."

I began to re-equip my stuff. Only several rings stayed on after that death. Thank god 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 maid by others."

"Where are we?" I looked around the room. It looks like so 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 ga. The system even gave 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 ?"

"Private estate is like an embassy in foreign territories. It's free from the managent 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 equipnt. "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 to the guards if they see my na."

"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 becos 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 t her, I asked, embarrassed:

"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 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 asset 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 nas 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 dium 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 co up with sothing 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 an you can understand won very well. It doesn't matter if you can't do it. You're trying, that's enough."

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

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

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

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

"Oh stop it."