Book 4, Chapter 16
GET THE THIEF!!
We left the store. I noticed the area iseven more populated now.
"That"s a lot of people in this place." Ispoke.
"Huh, you call that "a lot of people"? You should try coming here on a holiday, nerd."
Ok. Red Moon loves bickering sooo much.
"Whereare we going now?" I asked Yuri. "There"re a lot more shops sellingclothes or accessories. Want to see them?"
"Ofcourse!"
Wewalked deeper into the street. I can see much interesting merchandise along theway. The problem is, it"s becoming harder to get around because of all thepeople.
Someone b.u.mped my shoulder. It"s a nice-looking young lady. Nothingserious so I didn"t stop.
But Yuri yelled beside me. "Ziri! Where"s yourrobe?"
"Huh?What"s wrong?" I lowered my head, only to see my black Dark Dragon Lordset on me. The robe I just bought is gone.
RedMoon raised her voice as well. "Hey I can see your red name. Pshhh. It lookslike a light bulb in here."
"What??"I jumped. My bracelet has disappeared too!
"d.a.m.n it! That woman is apickpocket!"
RedMoon is already laughing. "Bah-hahaha! You"re real idiot! You lost two itemswithin a minute. That"s impressive!"
Iturned to Yuri. "You go ahead. I"ll go catch the thief!"
Then Idashed towards the woman.
Shebegan to move faster when she noticed me. She keeps jumping around in the crowd,our distance is getting bigger!
Man she"s fast! This won"t do.
I summoned NightShade. He can"t sprint in the crowd but it"s still better than running bymyself.
Thewoman is escaping even more faster when she saw my mount. I still can"t reachher in this dense crowd!
We soon reached the exit to the ground level.The thief zapped past the guard, who obviously attempted to catch her. Ouch. Lookslike thievery increases your Evilness too so the woman is also a red name now.
Nowit"s my turn to get past the guard.
"Phantom Knights!"
They appearedin front of me in their battle array.
"Break through the guards!"
"Yessir!"
They turned into an arrow head in the next second and began tocharge ahead. The thief was about to turn around and watch me getting caught bythe guards but...what she saw was the two guards were easily squashed like pancakes, so she instantly jumpedand ran again. Two level 800 guards are strong enough to keep most players atbay, but are still useless when going against 10 level 850 Phantom Knights.
Theknights stayed behind to fend off any pursuers. I appeared in themiddle of the city so the guards didn"t have enough time to a.s.semble a defenseline yet. And I need to get my bracelet back before it happens!
Buthow can she move so fast?? I chased after her on Night Shade from the centralarea all the way to the east wall, without reaching her!
This is the situationnow: A female thief is running in front, a rider wearing full black armor ischasing her, which is me, while 10 similar riders are racing behind, followedby a thousand city defense cavalries. This whole lot of people and thunderinghoofsteps caused much freak-out among the citizens.
Thethief dragged several pa.s.sing by girls into the middle of the road, trying tostall us. Night Shade hopped above the panicking girls, while the followingPhantom Knights caught them one by one onto their horsebacks, according to myinstructions. At their level, grabbing someone when galloping at full speedlooks easy enough.
Ithink the three girls are looking at their saviors with stars in their eyes. Toobad the knights are only NPCs. The ladies gonna be disappointed.
I saw a group ofboys up ahead who look kind enough. When I went by I shouted to them: "Catchthem!"
Theydidn"t understand what"s going on but the Phantom Knights are already tossingthe girls into their arms. I wonder if it should be considered lucky when youget knocked dizzy by random pretty girls. Well, they look strong enough so thegirls won"t get hurt. Probably.
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Hawkand his group are just leaving the auction site when the event is over. Theysaw all the people standing on both sides of the road without moving.
Hawklifted Elfy onto his shoulder. "Saw something?"
Justas Elfy steadied herself, she saw a girl dashing across the road at inhumanspeed, followed by me and my Phantom Knight team, before countless city guardsthundered after them. The ground is shaking!
"It"sZiri! He"s chasing behind a woman!"
Wayneasked in surprise: "He"s fighting with Red Moon again?"
"No. Never saw her before."
Razor:"Huh? It sounded like a thunderstorm out there. Does he need to call somany people just for one woman?"
"Thoseare city guards. Ziri"s name is exposed! The guards are after HIM, not thewoman!"
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Myprivate chat is ringing. It"s hawk. I"m pretty busy now so I only opened voice-onlymode.
"What"s going on, Ziri? We haven"t been apart for long and you"re already causing a scene to the whole city!Are you doing a parade?"
"Yousaw me??"
"Wellof course! You just led like a thousand men pa.s.sing in front of us! What theh.e.l.l are you doing? What kind of pretty girl made you so determined?"
"It"snot a pretty girl! A thief! She took my bracelet. I fu*king need that thing tosurvive in cities, I need to get it back NOW!"
"OhI understand!"
"Ihope you do! I need Elfy"s help! And tell Razor to come with Sunshine. I needsomeone who can move fast!"
"Whatabout me?"
"The b.a.s.t.a.r.d"stoo fast for warriors to deal with! Oh and Yuri is still underground, you cango find her."
"Gotit!"
Elfy contacted me soon. "Where are you now and how do I find you?"
"Athousand horses are running in the city, just follow the noise!"
"Coming!"
Elfyand Razor joined me from a corner. "Yo. Is it fun chasing a girl?" Elfyjoked.
"DoI look like having fun?? Watch it!"
Some more random girls are pushed ontothe path. Night Shade doesn"t need any warning as the thief tried this trickmany times now. I was only reminding Elfy and Razor.
Thepegasus went over the girls easily. It can fly after all. And Sunshine alreadydemonstrated his jumping ability before.
Like always, the Phantom Knights picked up the girls and threw them intothe crowds to get them out of harm"s way. But they missed one this time. Wellnot my concern now. I can only hope the city guards are skilled enough to avoidher. Though it seems too much to hope, with that kind of number.
Theguards jumped. Looks like they"re serious about protecting normal players. But...someof the riders jumped too slow and stumbled, which caused a series of trafficaccidents to their comrades.
"...Hahaha!"Elfy laughed when she saw the pile of helpless city guards. "I only saw that kind of move in Disney cartoons."
"Heywatch out!"
Some unlucky bystanders got dragged in front of us again. Thestill laughing Elfy didn"t react in time and crashed into the roadside.
Hervoice appeared in my channel. "Go on! I"ll catch up! Sorry for that-- ouch!"
"We"rejust wasting our time running around the city like this!" Razor worried.
"Any good ideas?"
"Splitup. I"ll try to force her out of the city."
"Let"sdo it!"
Elfyappeared when Razor ran the other way. "What"s he doing?"
"Splittactic. We"ll flush her out of here! Once outside our mounts will be faster than her."
"On it!" Elfy chose another direction.
Theyapproached the thief from the sides, blocking her way to turn back into thealleyways. Now she can only run towards the main gate.
Thegate is near, for some reason I don"t see any guards. Don"t tell methey all joined the army behind!
Thethief rushed out of the gate, then us, followed by the thousand riders who justmanaged to recover from their accident. People traveling on the bridge areshocked in their places by the ma.s.sive guard crowd. A small number of themmanaged to get clear while the majority fell into the city moat.
Nowthere are no more covers for the thief. The guards all retreated when we left the defense range.
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Wefinally cornered her!
"Lucky! Phiona! Loong"er!" I summoned all mycompanions. Let"s see if that"s enough to catch you!
"Onfoot." I asked Razor and Elfy to get off their mounts. She has no where torun now so we don"t need to be riding anymore.
"Handthem back and I"ll let you leave." I asked her in a threateningvoice.
Unexpected,the thief simply charged at me.
I feel a sting on my shoulder before I canreact. She wants to take me by surprise!
And s.h.i.t! 3000 HP gone. Whatthe fuc is that attack??
Thethief also seems shocked as why I"m not dead yet. I think most people would, giventhat I"m wearing a full Artifact armor set.
When I"m about to attack her shealready stepped a dozen meters away. Man that"s some crazy agility.
Shedodged past me and headed towards the city direction again. Looks like she knewthe place is safer.
Night Shade moved into her way, she slid past fromunder him. She looks quite experienced about how to avoid pursuers.
"Rosa!Get her!"
Rosa quickly built a wall on her path. The thief dashed to theleft side when Lucky dropped down and stopped her, while Phiona is alreadystanding on the other side.
Without a way out, she turned back and ran to me. Isaw something in her hands. A series of sleeve knives flew towards my face. Dartjumped in front of me and caught the four knives between his teeth.
Elfydrew her bow. "Multi-shot!"
A barrage of arrows covered where thethief is standing. But she rolled out of the area!
Razor appeared behind herand stabbed using his kanata at extreme speed. The thief crouched to avoid hisattack. Razor wasn"t expecting her to notice him so he failed to stop hismomentum and crashed into me instead.
Hepulled me up while mumbling:" The woman"s slippery like a loach! You guysgot something to slow her down?"
"Ican!" Elfy took her bow again and readied a headless arrow. Then she fixeda strange-looking tip onto the bare shaft.
"Advanced homing arrow, [FrozenPath]!"
Woosh! An arrow carrying some snow-white mist shot towards thethief. The thief rolled and jumped around but the arrow followed her.
"Ha! That thing will follow you until it hits or you die! Just give up!"
Razorwatched as the thief tries to avoid the attack. "Never heard of this skillbefore. Where did you learn it?"
Elfytook out another headless arrow and prepared it. "It"s not my skill, it"sspecial ammunition. I only got two on me by the way."
Ipulled on her arm. "Don"t waste that here."
Shestill released her shot. "Oh don"t worry. I"m not as generous as you think.That arrow regenerates on its own, just a bit slow. I never used all two in onefight."
"That"sa relief."
Weheard an explosion. When the scene cleared out we saw an ice cube standingahead.
"Ouch. That was impressive." I checked at the ice cube. Thethief is frozen inside! It"s like a coffin made of ice. The woman is locked upin there while still carrying the posture when she was blown away.
Pom!Before we can claim victory, the thief"s body turned into smoke. Then the icescattered, leaving a wooden puppet behind.
"It"s [Subst.i.tute]!" Razoryelled. "Taoist skill!"
As we stayed shocked, the thief emerged from a nearby gra.s.s rick and ran away.
"Who the h.e.l.l is her? She"s like, knows all kinds of moves!" Iordered all my companions to chase up while complaining.
Aswe try to get close, the thief stopped in her track and pressed her hands ontothe ground. A fire pillar appeared and moved towards me.
"Get away!! Thatgonna blow us up!" Razor warned us aloud.
Weimmediately scattered. The pillar soon reached where we were staying andexploded. We already kept distance but the shock still stunned us a little.
The woman is taunting me!
"d.a.m.n it you asked for it!I was hoping I don"t have to do this since you"re a girl!"
I slapped offmy left gauntlet and pressed on the fire gem on my helmet. Countless small reddots showed up around me like fireflies. Then the "fireflies" grewbigger, until they are the size of volleyb.a.l.l.s.
Imade a spell-like gesture in front of my chest (for show, of course), thenlocked my gaze onto the thief.
"Flame Hornets, go!!"
There were over 600red b.a.l.l.s, now they all turned into gigantic flying hornets. The terribleinsects stretched their bodies to full size, by which I mean about 50 centimeters.
These crimson-black colored creatures carry weapons all over them. They havepincer-like mandibles on their mouthpart, three pairs of sharp legs which couldprobably be used as knives rather than movement tools. They"re called hornets, ofcourse the most scary part is the sting, also with a deep red color. The thing"s almost half a foot in length!
The noise caused by these 600 giant insects is like abombard plane flying by. I can see the gra.s.s around us shaking.
But there"s aproblem. They just landed around the area instead of following my order andattacking the woman.
Razoralready ran to a safe distance. He shouted towards me: "Ziri! Those are notFlame Hornets!!"
"Huh?They"re not?"
I called Phantom. "What"s going on? I thought my firegem summons hornets?"
Phantompaused a bit before he explained: "These summoned creatures are differentfrom your companions and servants. I can"t talk to them, now I don"t know whythey came. But I"ve seen them before in the depth of the Perish Swamp. They"re calledDragon Wasps. These things are only level 200 but they usually attack those whoare two or three hundred levels above because they always stay in big swarms. They"refamous for their speed and deadliness. Even level 700 minor bosses in the swampwill have to avoid them. I think the gem changed somehow because youinserted it into an Artifact. Now it called something much much scarier thanhornets."
"Isee... How do I control them though? They won"t listen to me."
"Yougot the wrong name maybe?"
"Oops."I turned to the thief again. "So, Dragon Wasps. Attack!!"
Theyimmediately took off which almost deafened me.
The woman backedoff in panic. She threw some of her knives again and killed several wasps, whichis totally negligible. The dead wasps didn"t disappear but all turned intosmall fireb.a.l.l.s and flew towards the woman with even higher speed. She jumpedaway in shock. The fireb.a.l.l.s exploded on the ground, they don"t lookpowerful but still caused ma.s.s fire around the gra.s.sy area.
NowI know why even strong monsters would run away. They"re suicidebombers!
Thethief dodged most of the fireb.a.l.l.s but a single one managed to set her clotheson fire. She rolled on the ground to put it out. That left enough time for therest of the wasps to bury the woman under their attacks. She may be fast butshe can"t prevent all these killers from leaving a good number of needle holesand gashes on her body.
One of the wasp clamped onto her neck and took a goodbite. Blood splashed out, then some of the wasps s.n.a.t.c.hed the liquid cleanbefore a single drop can reach the ground. These little things drink blood forsaint"s sake! The woman stabbed the wasp on her neck to get it off, which caused it to explode and bring her more agony.
Aminute hasn"t pa.s.sed and the thief"s HP is almost empty now, while she only gotrid of ten wasps. Or less.
Elfy watched the terrible scene and frowned. "Thisis...creepy."
Razorcame to me too. "Seriously, this suicidal attack will just scare the s.h.i.tout of any ordinary people before they can decide to fight back."
"I--Igive up!! Sto--please stop! Please!!"
Finally.
"DragonWasp, come back." I called.
They turned direction and charged towards myhead, almost with the same imposing manner as before. For a moment I thought I"min trouble. But they just disappeared into the gem on my helmet.
Weapproached the thief with caution. When we got close enough we all droppeddefense--it doesn"t look like she can even lift a finger now. She"s trembling on the ground, and her clothes are all torn into ragged pieces. Aseries of long stings are lodged deep inside her body. One of her leg is pinnedsolid on the ground. Man, I think I would beg for help too if I"m in the samesituation.
Elfytried to help her pull the stings out. When she did, the sting blew up and blasted her away.
"Oh you must be kidding. Thank G.o.d that one didn"t hurtmuch."
"I"lldo it." I picked on the stings. They didn"t react this time.
Razor:" So there"s even a last safe to prevent the target from getting healed. Ziriis safe because he"s the master."
Hawkand the rest of the group arrived when I"m trying to make the woman look better.
"Ziri! You found your items?" Yurireached me first.
"Well,yes." I pointed at the lying thief who still carries a good number ofneedles on her.
"...Woooeeh.What happened to her? I think she needs help." She"stoo kind!
Yuritook out her flute, everyone else covered their ears. "What are you doing??"
"Um, usemy Sun Anthem to ease her pain?"
"Ohhh.Go ahead." They dropped their hands.
RedMoon arrived too. "Oh gud. Whatever have you done to this poor lady? Iwas right when I said you"re pervert!"
She went up and helped the thiefwith the stings. Of course, Boom.
Ittook some time for me to clean away all the mess. That was at least 500 shots.Though it seems it wasn"t enough to kill her, since she took a lot of potions as well.
She handed over my items unwillingly. "Really bad hit today. Why didn"t I choose anyone else? Geez."
"You"recomplaining now?? You ruined my sightseeing plan!"
"Whatkind of item did I take anyway? I haven"t checked them. People would just chaseme for like 5 minutes before giving up. But you kept on for half a day!"
Ishowed her the attributes. "See it now?"
"Ah...I was wondering why a thousand guards were behind me. So YOU were their target."