Fool's Gold? (I)

"Well, I'll be; Alan was right," said Zeraph. He slowly pulled out his bow and nocked an arrow. Then, pulling it back, he aimed toward the Leprechaun.

Zero had never seen such ugly and dirty-looking Leprechauns before. To him, the Leprechauns had the physical appearance of a small troll rather than the slim stereotypical Leprechaun that people usually know. They were wearing green, but their clothes looked like they had gone through a blender instead of a nice green suit. Even their green hats had large holes the size of his fist.

"Are you sure those are Leprechauns?" Agnis quietly asked, trying not to startle the Leprechauns away.

"Yea. That's what the name says when you identify them to see what monsters they are. They have quite unusually high luck," Alan whispered. He had an identity scroll that allowed him to see what kind of monster it was.

"Wait. Wait. Wait. Don't kill it." Alan raised his hands towards Zeraph pushing his bow down.

"Why?"

"Come on, think about it. It might have piles of gold stashed away somewhere."

"That Leprechaun looks like a hobo that can't even find a penny. What makes you think that Leprechaun has a stash of gold looking like that?"

"It could be a disguise," Alan strongly suggested. Everyone could see the greed overflowing from Alan's body. "Let's just follow it. It could lead us to the stash of gold."

Zeraph sighed and shook his head in disbelief. He reached over towards his back to put away his sleek black bow. "If you insist. I don't think we'll be getting anywhere from our little squabble that'll differentiate a poor Leprechaun from a rich one."

While Alan and Zeraph were arguing, Zero noticed more Leprechauns around them. He did not know if they were lucky or something was happening that brought more hobo-looking Leprechauns.

"Hey guys," Zero said with a nervous tone. The Leprechauns were increasing in numbers. Even though he noticed that the Leprechauns weren't over level 50, creatures, for some odd reason, kept on appearing before them. The Leprechaun's eyes glowed dangerously green, almost like a blood-thirsty hyena.

"Guys! We got company!" Zero yelled. Everyone's attention snapped towards Zero. They noticed that they were cornered by hundreds of hobo-looking Leprechauns. In a matter of seconds, the Leprechauns charged forward like lightning. Small amounts of their money, weapons, drops, and monster parts were stolen as they disappeared back into the Forest like ghosts. The one who was hit the hardest was Alan. The Leprechauns targeted him because they could smell money from his bag like a bloodhound.

"What the-!" Screams of his companion's voices rang out in outrage.

"They're thieves! Catch them!" Alan cried out in anger. He swung his arms around, trying to stop them from running away.

"They're just too fast!" Agnis tripped over a fallen log on the side of the road while she was trying to catch one of them. The Leprechaun stuck out his tongue and smacked his butt, aggravating Agnis for not being able to catch them. "Why, you little!" She scrambled up to smack one but failed.

On the other hand, Jack was playing whack-a-mole with them one-by-one with his large hammer, trying to stun them, but he miserably failed. Zero could already see Jack breathing heavily from the wasted energy.

Zeraph, on the other hand, was using his quick draw techniques to slice them in half instead of catching them but did not succeed in killing even one.

Zero knew that this would not solve the problem, a good portion of their money was gone, and they needed to catch one but not slay them like Zeraph. Even his map was stolen from him. A message popped up from Zero's screen.

The Quest to retrieve the Golden Eye has been updated.

Retrieve the map back from the Leprechaun that has stolen it from you. Without the map, it would be very difficult to find the location of the Maze of Geruem.

An ancient contract between the Drezo Regalia and the King has been brought back to life. The King has asked to bring back the Golden Eye in the Maze of Geruem for the Drezo Regalia to truly own the building of Draconis Library.

Difficulty: C

Reward: The 2nd half of the Certificate of Draconis Library.

Failure: The loss of Draconis Library

Zero couldn't believe what just happened; anger flared up in seconds at the Leprechauns. His one-way ticket to retrieve the Golden Eye was gone.

His forehead started to tingle, and at that moment, the unusual skill that he had learned in real life activated, Telepathy. The basic level was where he could read the target's mind for three seconds. His ability consumed a large amount of his stamina and magic. He already felt a bit tired from using this ability and knew he could not use it again for a while.

A clear thought came up in his mind, Left, then a slide to the right. With his left hand, he whipped toward the direction he heard in his mind and slid to the right. Zero caught the bouncing Leprechaun in seconds by its foot as it dangled upside down in the air. His second passive skill of mind reading activated when information about any monsters was shown before him. The only problem was that the window did not always pop up before him. So there was a low chance of seeing the information of the enemy. Zero knew he had to continually hone his skill to effectively use it.

The Leprechauns

Since ancient times, Leprechauns have been known to collect large piles of gold for their own selfish desires. They represent luck and great fortune. However, there is a saying that finding the pot of gold is at the end of the rainbow. Catching a Leprechaun supposedly brings luck, but for some reason, these Leprechauns do not have a high density of luck magic surrounding them.

The remaining Leprechauns ran away back into the dark Forest and disappeared.

"Let go!" The hobo-looking Leprechaun screamed while he struggled to get out of Zero's hand.

Zero was having difficulty with the Leprechaun. He threw the Leprechaun towards Zeraph and yelled, "Catch Zeraph! Don't kill him!" Like a hot potato being thrown over to another, the Leprechaun was gracefully thrown towards Zeraph. Zeraph caught the flying Leprechaun in mid-air, and once again, the Leprechaun was dangling upside down by his foot. If Zero had not said not to kill him, Zeraph would have taken his sword and sliced the Leprechaun in half.

"Huhuhuhu. What do we have here?" Alan mischievously snuck up towards the Leprechaun with evil intent. He was already thinking about hundreds of ways to torture the Leprechaun for his gold.

The others angrily surrounded the Leprechaun, hoping to get a couple of hits.

"Give the Leprechaun some space," Zero called out. He squeezed past Jack and Alan.

The Leprechaun stopped squirming and angrily retorted. "I'm not telling you! I'm not telling you!" It yelled repeatedly. "I'm not telling you money grubbers! Pickpockets! Life-stealers!" The Leprechauns continued to cuss them.

"This little minx called us thieves when he did the thieving just a moment ago." Zeraph started a bit dumbfounded at what the Leprechaun was saying. Already Zero saw Seraph's hand go towards his sword, ready to slice the Leprechaun in half. Zero didn't know when Seraph's temper would snap. He would strike like a snake and end their one chance to get their things back.

"Hold on, Zeraph. Let me try something." Zero pushed down his sword. He transformed into his Origin form on the spot. With a flick of his tail, he grabbed the legs of the Leprechaun and threw them up into the air. Then, with his mouth gaping wide open, he snatched him into his mouth. The Leprechaun screamed at the top of his lungs as he saw his evident doom coming towards him in seconds.

Like a caged rat in between sharp teeth, the Leprechaun was hyperventilating and screaming for his life. If anyone else were present, they would think that Zero's group was torturing a small creature to death.

"Oh, shut up. If you don't, you're going to be food soon." Zero growled. He was already starting to activate his fire, making the Leprechaun uncomfortable.

"Why are you doing this to me? I only took a couple of pennies to save my hungry family," the Leprechaun wallowed in despair and created a melodramatic mood. He begged each of the teammates with his sorrowful eyes trying to catch their attention, but none heeded his plea.

"Zero, give it a couple of your famous dragon flames to make him squeak." Alan already had a devilish gleam in his eyes. His product was his life and for the Leprechauns to steal them away was a huge hit. He had a crazy gleam in his eyes, ready to deal some heavy damage if he had to.