Starting from Zero

Book 4, Chapter 16

GET THE THIEF!!

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We left the store. I noticed the area is even more populated now.

"That's a lot of people in this place." I spoke.

"Huh, you call that 'a lot of people'? You should try coming here on a holiday, nerd."

Ok. Red Moon loves bickering sooo much.

"Where are we going now?" I asked Yuri. "There're a lot more shops selling clothes or accessories. Want to see them?"

"Of course!"

We walked deeper into the street. I can see much interesting merchandise along the way. The problem is, it's becoming harder to get around because of all the people.

Someone bumped my shoulder. It's a nice-looking young lady. Nothing serious so I didn't stop.

But Yuri yelled beside me. "Ziri! Where's your robe?"

"Huh? What's wrong?" I lowered my head, only to see my black Dark Dragon Lord set on me. The robe I just bought is gone.

Red Moon raised her voice as well. "Hey I can see your red name. Pshhh. It looks like a light bulb in here."

"What??" I jumped. My bracelet has disappeared too!

"Damn it! That woman is a pickpocket!"

Red Moon is already laughing. "Bah-hahaha! You're real idiot! You lost two items within a minute. That's impressive!"

I turned to Yuri. "You go ahead. I'll go catch the thief!"

Then I dashed towards the woman.

She began 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 Night Shade. He can't sprint in the crowd but it's still better than running by myself.

The woman is escaping even more faster when she saw my mount. I still can't reach her 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. Looks like thievery increases your Evilness too so the woman is also a red name now.

Now it's my turn to get past the guard.

"Phantom Knights!"

They appeared in front of me in their battle array.\

"Break through the guards!"

"Yes sir!"

They turned into an arrow head in the next second and began to charge ahead. The thief was about to turn around and watch me getting caught by the guards but...what she saw was the two guards were easily squashed like pancakes, so she instantly jumped and ran again. Two level 800 guards are strong enough to keep most players at bay, but are still useless when going against 10 level 850 Phantom Knights.

The knights stayed behind to fend off any pursuers. I appeared in the middle of the city so the guards didn't have enough time to assemble a defense line yet. And I need to get my bracelet back before it happens!

But how can she move so fast?? I chased after her on Night Shade from the central area all the way to the east wall, without reaching her!

This is the situation now: A female thief is running in front, a rider wearing full black armor is chasing her, which is me, while 10 similar riders are racing behind, followed by a thousand city defense cavalries. This whole lot of people and thundering hoofsteps caused much freak-out among the citizens.

The thief dragged several passing by girls into the middle of the road, trying to stall us. Night Shade hopped above the panicking girls, while the following Phantom Knights caught them one by one onto their horsebacks, according to my instructions. At their level, grabbing someone when galloping at full speed looks easy enough.

I think the three girls are looking at their saviors with stars in their eyes. Too bad the knights are only NPCs. The ladies gonna be disappointed.

I saw a group of boys up ahead who look kind enough. When I went by I shouted to them: "Catch them!"

They didn't understand what's going on but the Phantom Knights are already tossing the girls into their arms. I wonder if it should be considered lucky when you get knocked dizzy by random pretty girls. Well, they look strong enough so the girls won't get hurt. Probably.

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Hawk and his group are just leaving the auction site when the event is over. They saw all the people standing on both sides of the road without moving.

Hawk lifted Elfy onto his shoulder. "Saw something?"

Just as Elfy steadied herself, she saw a girl dashing across the road at inhuman speed, followed by me and my Phantom Knight team, before countless city guards thundered after them. The ground is shaking!

"It's Ziri! He's chasing behind a woman!"

Wayne asked 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 so many people just for one woman?"

"Those are city guards. Ziri's name is exposed! The guards are after HIM, not the woman!"

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My private chat is ringing. It's hawk. I'm pretty busy now so I only opened voice-only mode.

"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?"

"You saw me??"

"Well of course! You just led like a thousand men passing in front of us! What the hell are you doing? What kind of pretty girl made you so determined?"

"It's not a pretty girl! A thief! She took my bracelet. I fu*king need that thing to survive in cities, I need to get it back NOW!"

"Oh I understand!"

"I hope you do! I need Elfy's help! And tell Razor to come with Sunshine. I need someone who can move fast!"

"What about me?"

"The bastard's too fast for warriors to deal with! Oh and Yuri is still underground, you can go find her."

"Got it!"

Elfy contacted me soon. "Where are you now and how do I find you?"

"A thousand horses are running in the city, just follow the noise!"

"Coming!"

Elfy and Razor joined me from a corner. "Yo. Is it fun chasing a girl?" Elfy joked.

"Do I look like having fun?? Watch it!"

Some more random girls are pushed onto the path. Night Shade doesn't need any warning as the thief tried this trick many times now. I was only reminding Elfy and Razor.

The pegasus went over the girls easily. It can fly after all. And Sunshine already demonstrated his jumping ability before.

Like always, the Phantom Knights picked up the girls and threw them into the crowds to get them out of harm's way. But they missed one this time. Well not my concern now. I can only hope the city guards are skilled enough to avoid her. Though it seems too much to hope, with that kind of number.

The guards jumped. Looks like they're serious about protecting normal players. But...some of the riders jumped too slow and stumbled, which caused a series of traffic accidents 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."

"Hey watch out!"

Some unlucky bystanders got dragged in front of us again. The still laughing Elfy didn't react in time and crashed into the roadside.

Her voice appeared in my channel. "Go on! I'll catch up! Sorry for that-- ouch!"

"We're just wasting our time running around the city like this!" Razor worried.

"Any good ideas?"

"Split up. I'll try to force her out of the city."

"Let's do it!"

Elfy appeared when Razor ran the other way. "What's he doing?"

"Split tactic. We'll flush her out of here! Once outside our mounts will be faster than her. "

"On it!" Elfy chose another direction.

They approached the thief from the sides, blocking her way to turn back into the alleyways. Now she can only run towards the main gate.

The gate is near, for some reason I don't see any guards. Don't tell me they all joined the army behind!

The thief rushed out of the gate, then us, followed by the thousand riders who just managed to recover from their accident. People traveling on the bridge are shocked in their places by the massive guard crowd. A small number of them managed to get clear while the majority fell into the city moat.

Now there are no more covers for the thief. The guards all retreated when we left the defense range.

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We finally cornered her!

"Lucky! Phiona! Loong'er!" I summoned all my companions. Let's see if that's enough to catch you!

"On foot." I asked Razor and Elfy to get off their mounts. She has no where to run now so we don't need to be riding anymore.

"Hand them back and I'll let you leave." I asked her in a threatening voice.

Unexpected, the thief simply charged at me.

I feel a sting on my shoulder before I can react. She wants to take me by surprise!

And shit! 3000 HP gone. What the fuc is that attack??

The thief also seems shocked as why I'm not dead yet. I think most people would, given that I'm wearing a full Artifact armor set.

When I'm about to attack her she already stepped a dozen meters away. Man that's some crazy agility.

She dodged past me and headed towards the city direction again. Looks like she knew the place is safer.

Night Shade moved into her way, she slid past from under 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 the left side when Lucky dropped down and stopped her, while Phiona is already standing on the other side.

Without a way out, she turned back and ran to me. I saw something in her hands. A series of sleeve knives flew towards my face. Dart jumped in front of me and caught the four knives between his teeth.

Elfy drew her bow. "Multi-shot!"

A barrage of arrows covered where the thief is standing. But she rolled out of the area!

Razor appeared behind her and stabbed using his kanata at extreme speed. The thief crouched to avoid his attack. Razor wasn't expecting her to notice him so he failed to stop his momentum and crashed into me instead.

He pulled me up while mumbling:" The woman's slippery like a loach! You guys got something to slow her down?"

"I can!" Elfy took her bow again and readied a headless arrow. Then she fixed a strange-looking tip onto the bare shaft.

"Advanced homing arrow, [Frozen Path]!"

Woosh! An arrow carrying some snow-white mist shot towards the thief. 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!"

Razor watched as the thief tries to avoid the attack. "Never heard of this skill before. Where did you learn it?"

Elfy took out another headless arrow and prepared it. "It's not my skill, it's special ammunition. I only got two on me by the way."

I pulled on her arm. "Don't waste that here."

She still 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 one fight."

"That's a relief."

We heard an explosion. When the scene cleared out we saw an ice cube standing ahead.

"Ouch. That was impressive." I checked at the ice cube. The thief is frozen inside! It's like a coffin made of ice. The woman is locked up in 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 ice scattered, leaving a wooden puppet behind.

"It's [Substitute]!" Razor yelled. "Taoist skill!"

As we stayed shocked, the thief emerged from a nearby grass rick and ran away.

"Who the hell is her? She's like, knows all kinds of moves!" I ordered all my companions to chase up while complaining.

As we try to get close, the thief stopped in her track and pressed her hands onto the ground. A fire pillar appeared and moved towards me.

"Get away!! That gonna blow us up!" Razor warned us aloud.

We immediately scattered. The pillar soon reached where we were staying and exploded. We already kept distance but the shock still stunned us a little.

The woman is taunting me!

"Damn it you asked for it! I was hoping I don't have to do this since you're a girl!"

I slapped off my left gauntlet and pressed on the fire gem on my helmet. Countless small red dots showed up around me like fireflies. Then the "fireflies" grew bigger, until they are the size of volleyballs.

I made a spell-like gesture in front of my chest (for show, of course), then locked my gaze onto the thief.

"Flame Hornets, go!!"

There were over 600 red balls, now they all turned into gigantic flying hornets. The terrible insects stretched their bodies to full size, by which I mean about 50 centimeters.

These crimson-black colored creatures carry weapons all over them. They have pincer-like mandibles on their mouthpart, three pairs of sharp legs which could probably be used as knives rather than movement tools. They're called hornets, of course 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 a bombard plane flying by. I can see the grass around us shaking.

But there's a problem. They just landed around the area instead of following my order and attacking the woman.

Razor already ran to a safe distance. He shouted towards me: "Ziri! Those are not Flame Hornets!!"

"Huh? They're not?"

I called Phantom. "What's going on? I thought my fire gem summons hornets?"

Phantom paused a bit before he explained: "These summoned creatures are different from your companions and servants. I can't talk to them, now I don't know why they came. But I've seen them before in the depth of the Perish Swamp. They're called Dragon Wasps. These things are only level 200 but they usually attack those who are two or three hundred levels above because they always stay in big swarms. They're famous for their speed and deadliness. Even level 700 minor bosses in the swamp will have to avoid them. I think the gem changed somehow because you inserted it into an Artifact. Now it called something much much scarier than hornets."

"I see... How do I control them though? They won't listen to me."

"You got the wrong name maybe?"

"Oops." I turned to the thief again. "So, Dragon Wasps. Attack!!"

They immediately took off which almost deafened me.

The woman backed off in panic. She threw some of her knives again and killed several wasps, which is totally negligible. The dead wasps didn't disappear but all turned into small fireballs and flew towards the woman with even higher speed. She jumped away in shock. The fireballs exploded on the ground, they don't look powerful but still caused mass fire around the grassy area.

Now I know why even strong monsters would run away. They're suicide bombers!

The thief dodged most of the fireballs but a single one managed to set her clothes on fire. She rolled on the ground to put it out. That left enough time for the rest of the wasps to bury the woman under their attacks. She may be fast but she can't prevent all these killers from leaving a good number of needle holes and gashes on her body.

One of the wasp clamped onto her neck and took a good bite. Blood splashed out, then some of the wasps snatched the liquid clean before a single drop can reach the ground. These little things drink blood for saint's sake! The woman stabbed the wasp on her neck to get it off, which caused it to explode and bring her more agony.

A minute hasn't passed and the thief's HP is almost empty now, while she only got rid of ten wasps. Or less.

Elfy watched the terrible scene and frowned. "This is...creepy."

Razor came to me too. "Seriously, this suicidal attack will just scare the shit out of any ordinary people before they can decide to fight back."

"I--I give up!! Sto--please stop! Please!!"

Finally.

"Dragon Wasp, come back." I called.

They turned direction and charged towards my head, almost with the same imposing manner as before. For a moment I thought I'm in trouble. But they just disappeared into the gem on my helmet.

We approached the thief with caution. When we got close enough we all dropped defense--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. A series of long stings are lodged deep inside her body. One of her leg is pinned solid on the ground. Man, I think I would beg for help too if I'm in the same situation.

Elfy tried to help her pull the stings out. When she did, the sting blew up and blasted her away.

"Oh you must be kidding. Thank god that one didn't hurt much."

"I'll do 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. Ziri is safe because he's the master."

Hawk and the rest of the group arrived when I'm trying to make the woman look better.

"Ziri! You found your items?" Yuri reached me first.

"Well, yes." I pointed at the lying thief who still carries a good number of needles on her.

"...Woooeeh. What happened to her? I think she needs help." She's too kind!

Yuri took out her flute, everyone else covered their ears. "What are you doing??"

"Um, use my Sun Anthem to ease her pain?"

"Ohhh. Go ahead." They dropped their hands.

Red Moon arrived too. "Oh gud. Whatever have you done to this poor lady? I was right when I said you're pervert!"

She went up and helped the thief with the stings. Of course, Boom.

It took 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're complaining now?? You ruined my sightseeing plan!"

"What kind of item did I take anyway? I haven't checked them. People would just chase me for like 5 minutes before giving up. But you kept on for half a day!"

I showed her the attributes. "See it now?"

"Ah... I was wondering why a thousand guards were behind me. So YOU were their target."

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