Alpha (II)

This was the first time Zero had heard of a curse set on his race. Knowing the curse was lifted for this event brought him only temporary relief. Who had set it and why? He wanted to know, but there weren't any answers to his questions.

An explosion of disgruntled and horrified voices rose throughout the field. Panic erupted from the NPCs as their fears increased exponentially. They pushed anxiously to enter into the city walls and shoved each other aside. The player's voices had rung with worry or anticipation at the double waves that were coming. It was unheard of for two unknown forces to appear at the same time.

"Are you serious? Is this game rigged?"

"How are we going to survive?" asked a worried female player.

"Special Zone Alpha? What does that mean?"

"Is this some kind of sick joke?"

"This is unheard of. Why the hell did Hercules Guild have to complete the Seed Shard quest and initiate something insane like this?" The voices of the disgruntled residents were blaming the misfortune towards their savior for the fear of death.

"Calm down, it's nothing. We won't die." A player patted his friend, trying to calm him down.

"That's not the problem. Look at the requirements. It's insane. We have to keep at least 3/4ths of the residents alive, plus kill the first wave, then the oncoming second, and then there is also a possibility of a boss. If there isn't, we're saved. If there is, we're screwed. Have you thought of that?" asked an exasperated male player.

"No biggie, we got Grand Legion and Hercules with us. It'll be a cinch," said another player with indifference.

His friend slapped his head and his jaw dropped in disbelief.

But the other half of the players cried out in excitement.

"Hell yes, more experience points!"

"This is too cool."

"Who wants to see who can kill the most?"

A multitude of different cries and cheers mixed together, drowning out one another.

Zero quietly listened in on their conversations. He understood why everyone was worried, but this was the best time to increase a large amount of experience in a short amount of time. He was giddy with excitement and nervous for the possible outcome.

He looked out into the distance. A lot was on his mind.

"Zero, what are we doing out here? Shouldn't we be in there?" Agnis pointed towards the city wall.

"Yeah, but I wanted to check on something. It just doesn't seem right, give me a second." Zero stared out into the distance and raised his nose. He caught a faint scent like rotting flesh. It was neither human nor creature. It reminded him of death and an odd foul odor that he could not describe.

"Do you think we will be alright?" asked Agnis worriedly. She scooted closer to the point of touching.

"I don't know, Agnis. I don't know," replied Zero in a mellow-toned voice. He wasn't sure how to comfort her about the oncoming problem. His stomach turned with nervousness and his heart beat quickly. This was his first raid battle of this caliber. Truthfully it was the first for every player in Noriene.

"Did you buy enough herbs?" asked Agnis.

"Yes."

"How about some extra arrows?"

"Yep."

"Bandages?"

"Yes, Agnis."

"Then what about some daggers?"

"Agnis." He turned around to face her. "I have everything ready. Just calm down, okay?"

She nodded, and her hands grasped onto his fur. Her white hair fluttered slightly from the wind that blew across their faces. A pungent stench of rot crept toward the city.

"What's that smell?" Agnis's face scrunched up in disgust, and she blanched, ready to throw up.

"Death," Zero replied with a stoic face.

Zero stood like a stone, watching off into the distance. His Origin form let him see long distances in the dark, even though his human form didn't have any particular seeing abilities. He got up, ready to leave and go back into the city walls, when the neighing of a horse brought his attention back towards the darkness.

In the distance, he saw a lone female elf riding hard on a brown horse. Her silver hair glittered underneath the moonlight, and her small stature held on tightly to her horse's back. Deep wounds covered her body. She looked like she was about to fall off.

"What's wrong?" Agnis asked worriedly. She teetered on her toes, trying to see what Zero was looking at.

"Agnis, I need you to go back. Wait for me inside."

"Why?"

"There is a horse carrying a female elf and a monster chasing her," said Zero. He stood up and bolted toward her at full speed. Time was of the essence, and he could already see her slipping from the back of the horse. A couple of feet behind her were the ugliest looking monster he had ever seen. It looked like a giant centipede with a human head. It had a hard brown shell with thousands of human-like hands moving fluidly like a single entity. Razor-sharp pincer jaws protruded from the side of its mouth. Red gleaming eyes lit the dark starry night as it snapped at the horse's heels.

Fifty feet. Forty-five. Forty. I need to get to her faster. With a burst of energy he rushed forward to snap her up by the back before she hit the ground. The horse neighed in fright and thrashed its hooves towards Zero almost hitting him in the process.

Zero moved out of the way before he was harmed from the thrashing hooves. The monster was upon them in seconds like ravenous wolves. With its razor sharp pincers, the monster sliced the horse's head off clean and sent it flying. The monster was the same size as Zero. Zero could not run fast with an elf uncomfortably in his mouth. So instead he quickly set her down and attacked.

With claws extended and snarling teeth showing, Zero dashed around the monster. Like a snake the monster attacked, aiming for his head. He ducked from the oncoming razor-sharp tail.

It was a dance of death between Zero and the monster, both trying to outmaneuver the other. His claws skimmed past the hard shell that protected its outer body. Zero growled an animalistic growl, trying to force it to move away. Circling around like a panther, he began to formulate a plan. He knew now that attacking its outer shell would not be enough to kill it. And he could not let it harm the elf girl.

Several times they met claw to claw, and Zero blocked its strikes to stop it from harming the elf. It was a dashing dance between the monster and him, each avoiding one another.

How am I going to kill it? he thought. One word entered his mind like a yell. Fire. He knew bugs hated fire. Pulling in a deep breath, Zero blew flames. To him it felt like a tickle in his stomach. In preparation for the land shark battle, he'd eaten enough flint to make him feel sick. He didn't know if he would get another chance to stock up again.

The multi-colored red flames sprayed the monster in its face. Its scream brought goosebumps to Zero's skin. It thrashed and swiped its tail at him. Zero had to dodge out of harm's way before it could impale him in the process.

Jumping from side to side, he rushed in and head butted the monster in the chest. It toppled like a tree onto its back with a sickening thud. Squirming with its legs up in the air, it tried to twist back up. But Zero was too fast to allow that. He pounced on it like a cat and clawed deeply into its chest.

Each swipe dug deeper as black blood and guts spilled onto the ground. A howling scream erupted from its mouth as the monster tried to raise its head. It struggled to swipe down upon Zero, trying to break free. With one terrifying breath, Zero blew fire into the hole that he had created. It screamed, and screamed, and screamed. Its body flailed around till it finally stopped moving.

Panting, he got off the monster. His whole body tingled with the thrill of the battle. It seemed that the new zone implementation was the key. Everything felt even more real and alive. The smell, the touch, the taste, the sight, and even the sounds wrapped him tighter and tighter into the world. He felt a nick of pain on his side, but it was soon forgotten in the rush of adrenaline.

Even his fire breath was already becoming a weapon of his own. In the beginning his fire breath hadn't done much damage, but now it was strong enough to defeat a monster, albeit slowly.

He checked for any items or money that would appear as a reward for his battle, but he was disappointed. Only a couple of gold coins were present.

"Cheap monster," Zero grumbled and kicked it. The monster twitched. He jumped back growling, but nothing else happened.

Zero walked over to the elf that was on the ground and noticed her injuries, from cuts all over her body to a possible broken rib where her armor looked like it was pierced through. He bent over, listening to her breathing. It was barely audible. What made him most curious was why she was in such state. He especially knew that when players were close to zero health they were still able to fight or run away, not be barely alive and unmoving. This was something new.

The girl elf slowly blinked her eyes open and coughed up blood. Zero pulled up his menu and looked through his item storage for some healing items. He had two health potions that he had specifically saved up for in case of an emergency. Buying one of these potions cost him a fortune.

Gently holding up her head with his paw-like hands, he poured the potion into her mouth, a few drops at a time. She woke up a bit more energized. Her hands clasped around the potion like a hungry baby and took it out of his hands.

"Yummmm, strawberry." The elf girl chugged the rest of the potion and wiped it off her face. Little by little her wounds started to disappear. She hiccupped.

"Taste good?" Zero's face fell from depression. My money. He silently cried out with sadness.

"Thank you." She stopped and glanced up in shock. "A talking horse." Her mouth moved with awe. Her hands shakily rose up to his face, trying to touch him like he was some kind of scared animal that would run away if one did not slowly reached outwards to him.

"A horse?" Zero bent over closer to the elf girl, confused. "Do I look like a horse?"

"I-I-I…." she stuttered. Startle, she pulled her hands away.

"You alright?" Zero curiously peered down at her, overshadowing her.

"Oh!" She sat bolt upright and slammed into his head.

Zero reeled backwards in pain. His eyes scrunched up and his hands grasped his forehead. That was a serious head butt that had made him slightly dizzy.

"Owwww." The elf rubbed her head furiously. She stopped and her eyes opened up in a flash. "The enemy is coming," she whispered. "They're right behind me!" she gasped out loud.

"Calm down. Are you talking about the land sharks?"

"No. It's worse than that." The elf grabbed his head and shook him. Her eyes were like those of a crazed madman, while her hair was disheveled. He wouldn't be surprised if she was mistaken as one at the moment.

Zero pulled back getting out of her grasp. He was even dizzier than before. "What could be worse than that?"

The elf girl scrambled up and dusted off her clothes hurriedly. "Manslaughters," she whispered.

"You mean one of those." He motioned towards where the dead manslaughter lay.

"Did you kill it?" she asked. She gaped at him, jaw hanging open.

"Yeah. You don't have to worry about it anymore. It's dead."

"That's not the only one." She began to hoist herself up onto Zero.

"Whoa, little girl, what are you doing?" He quickly moved back. She stumbled forward but caught herself.

"We need to go now," she said in a panicked voice. "Everyone needs to know that the manslaughters are right behind me. They're going to be here soon!"

Zero closed his eyes. This is a special circumstance. Just this once, he thought. He clenched his teeth and squatted down. Turning his head towards the elf girl, he said, "Get on."

The elf girl happily climbed on top of his back by pulling herself up by his fur. She made herself comfortable and wrapped her hands around his neck.

"Hold on tight, okay?"

"Okay." She grasped even tighter. He barely even felt the squeeze.

"Graaaaaawwwwgrgh!"

Zero's head snapped towards the sound. He squinted into the darkness and noticed movement from fifty feet away. Three more manslaughters were rushing in his direction, screaming at the top of their lungs.

He silently cursed. "Is this some kind of horror movie?" he was not a huge fan.

"They're here," the elf girl said and shivered. Her hands pulled on his fur to the point of pulling it out.

"Ow ow ow. Hold. Not pull. Please," said Zero with a tinge of pain in his voice.

"Sorry," she whispered. She loosened her hands and snuggled deeply into his fur.

In a single push, Zero bolted towards the city wall. With each step he took, he could feel his powerful legs digging deeply into the dirt, giving him a burst of speed. No horse or man could outrun him now; he felt like he was going as fast as a cheetah. Behind him the three manslaughters pursued.

"What's your name, elf?" he yelled while running. The rushing wind blew past them, creating a loud whistling sound.

"Lara."

"I'm Zero. Where did you find these monsters?"

"At the mansion of Dion." She hiccupped. "I'm sorry. We couldn't hold them back." Lara had begun to sniffle.

"Please don't cry. I don't blame you for it. Just what happened?" Zero sprung forward and latched onto the wall. His claws dug into a crevice. He pulled himself up by the strength of his arms. He could hear the crunching sound of stone breaking underneath his claws.

"I swear we didn't do anything. My party heard a yell from the mansion of Dion and rushed over to see what had happened. What we saw was just horrible. It was completely overrun by monsters." Lara held on tighter, trying not to fall off his back. "They came in hordes. All you could hear was the screams of the dying. My friends…" Her voice trembled and became softer. "They protected me and were left behind. I haven't been able to contact them…"

"You can't contact them? Does the messaging not work?" he said with a surprise.

"Yes. Something is wrong with the game system. It has been happening since the attack. I think there is some kind of interference going on."

Zero jumped upward and grasped onto a protruding stone. His grip slipped and he missed.

"Kyaaaa!" Lara screamed as she dangled from his back. The three manslaughters had reached the base of the city walls. Hundreds of arrows flew downwards towards the manslaughters. Most of the arrows bounced off their hard shells, but others made contact on the soft tissues around their joints and eyes.

Already they looked like porcupines as two fell backward dead. The third was right on his heels, snapping its ugly jaws and clawing its way up the wall.

"We're almost there." Zero gritted his teeth. This was going to be a lot harder than he'd thought. He felt stupid that he didn't take the easy way and went through the gates, but it would have taken too long and people were already present. By the time they did that, the enemy would have been upon them. Climbing the wall was the fastest route. He had the strength to do it.

An arrow whizzed past his head and bounced off the wall.

Don't these people know how to aim? Zero thought. Today he did not want to be target practice.

With one claw after another he pulled himself three-fourths of the way up. The last manslaughter caught up and bit down hard on his tail. Zero yelped in pain and faltered. His grip slipped from the extra weight.

"Hold on. I have something that might help," said Lara. She fidgeted in her pockets and pulled out a potion. Dangling off of Zero's neck, she dropped the vial onto the face of the manslaughter, and the green acidic liquid splashed onto its face. A loud sizzling sound could be heard as the liquid started to melt its face showing meat and bone. It let go of Zero's tail to howl a painful cry, and it slipped and fell backwards onto the ground with a loud thud.

Another shower of arrows fell downwards like rain and pierced its soft underbelly. With one last howl, it went quiet. Overhead, a thick rope dangled in his front of Zero's face.

"Zero! Hold on!" yelled Agnis over the wall. She waved to catch his attention.

Without a moment to lose, Zero clamped onto the rope. He was almost yanked off the wall, but he caught himself. With each pull he climbed ten feet higher, making his goal ever so closer.