007: First Mission (2)

Zero briefs the mission plans, and the players listen intently.

The group will be divided into two. While Zero will guide the ladies, the male group will be guided by Helio.

Of course, the male group is not easily accepting. They are going to fight against a level D-grade monster. Zero speaks to Jaeha calmly to reassure them,

"You don't need to worry. Helio might be just a little kid, but he's a master at finding a safe route. I've trained him a lot, so he's experienced. Right, Helio?"

Zero smiles at Helio, who excitedly answers,

"Yes, yes... Boss trained me a lot. He even left me alone in a monster nest. That is the best training method! Hahaha!"

He laughs heartily, snorting as he puts his hands on his hips, showing his confidence.

Jaeha and the rest look on in disbelief. Did they just hear that right? Did he leave a little kid in a monster nest?

Zero then looks at the ladies and speaks,

"I'll guide the two of you on your mission, but I can't get involved in the mission task. You must do it yourselves."

Hyuna says,

"I don't know why I need to do this stuff. Picking a mushroom on a monster corpse? What is that?"

"Yeah, If I was in your position I would think the same." Zero answer

He then continues,

"But isn't it better than what you used to? Picking a mushroom is just a menial task. As long as you complete the mission, the system will reward you."

Hyuna is not convinced. She looks at Zero, who is smiling. Somehow, he resembles a conman she used to deal with in her previous life.

Seoyeon wants to join the conversation, but she keeps delaying it.

From the direction of the mansion, Elio runs with his hands full of weapons. The size of the weapons is much larger than his body. Just how he runs while the weapons block his vision.

Elio runs towards Jaeha, as it seems he wants Jaeha to pick a weapon.

The weapons that Elio brought were two wooden swords and a baseball bat.

Jaeha takes the wooden sword, followed by Taegeuk, while Noah gets the baseball bat.

He complains,

"Why am I the only one with a bat? This is discrimination."

Jaeha ignores Noah's complaint as he assesses the weapon. It might be just a wooden sword, but the material is durable and lighter. The moment he handles the wooden sword, a strange feeling enters his body. As he tries swinging the wooden sword, he tries to recreate the same move Zero had made during the fight with the dog-headed monster.

Seeing Jaeha's movement, Zero looks surprised. Jaeha can copy the movement perfectly, and Zero reflexes this by giving Jaeha a round of applause.

Jaeha looks at Zero, feeling like he's stealing someone else's move. But seeing Zero clap for him, he feels appreciated.

Zero then walks toward Jaeha closely as he speaks,

"Your movement is good. As expected."

He smiles at Jaeha and pats Jaeha's shoulder,

"I believe in you. Even without me, I'm sure this mission will proceed easily. While swinging your weapon, make sure to aim only at the upper part. Shepherds' weak point is their necks. If you strike them fast on their neck, they will slowly fall."

Jaeha nods, feeling motivated. Taegeuk listens intently, while Noah is still salty about the bat.

Jaeha asks Taegeuk and Noah to form a team, and they put their hands together. The system notification rings in their minds.

[Co-op mode is active:

Player Yoon Jaeha, Player Kim Taegeuk, and Player Noah Valois.

Note that when you use the co-op feature, your experience will be distributed fairly. While the co-op feature is active, experience is boosted by 15%

Would you like to give a name for the party?

If you ignore the message, we will go with the default, Party 1.]

Jaeha and Taegeuk don't mind going with the default, but Noah insists on giving the name,

"Let's go with Three Musketeers. It looks cool."

His eyes brighten as he looks at Jaeha, seeming to have forgotten about his bat already.

Jaeha just sighs. He doesn't care about the party name, although Noah's suggestion is kind of lame.

Taegeuk doesn't understand what it means but agrees with it.

The male party is finally formed as the Three Musketeers.

Noah is excited. Finally, something is going his way.

Hyuna and Seoyeon also form a party.

Hyuna suggests a name, but Seoyeon doesn't like it. They debate with each other, and in the end, the system decides the name for them as Miss A.

The name is familiar, although Hyuna doesn't like it, she also doesn't disagree with it.

Seoyeon seems to be looking a bit down. Does the name matter that much? Zero thought.

Now both teams are finally formed. The male team will go to Block F, which is located a few kilometers from Eden towards the eastern part of the city, while the ladies, along with Zero, will go toward the shopping mall district located in the center of the city.

The players are ready for their mission. They look determined, although deep down, they still have worries.

Helio guides them to Block F. Upon leaving Eden, huge towering buildings can be seen. The ruined buildings block the sun as they walk through the ghostly city.

They walk straight, following the same path as they went to Eden before. Helio talks as they walk,

"Mister, is this your first time hunting monsters?"

He asks curiously. as he walks.

He then continues,

"Boss usually doesn't invite others to Eden. I'm a little curious about you. Why does it seem the boss treats you so differently?"

Jaeha, Taegeuk, and Noah have no idea. They just think maybe it's how Zero was programmed, but they can't tell the kid, as he might not understand the meaning of an NPC.

Helio then continues to talk,

"I like boss. He's very kind to me and Elio. Although sometimes, boss can be a little scary. I'm happy if boss is happy."

Helio speaks as he smiles. The look on his face is still pure and innocent, but the mention of Zero being scary sticks in their minds.

Zero was quite scary when facing a monster, but they didn't know he could be even scarier. They imagine this as they walk.

Jaeha then tries to ask a question to Helio,

"Where are your parents? Does nobody live in Eden besides Zero-nim and you guys?"

Helio explains,

"Mom and Dad are in Eden, but I can't be with them anymore. Even if I try to talk to them, they don't answer."

Helio speaks casually. He doesn't seem to be bothered by the question, but Jaeha and the rest seem to understand what it means.

They continue to walk the empty street. They finally reach the place where they were attacked outside. The hole in the building where Zero was attacked by the huge shadow is still there.

They are curious about what attacked them, so they stop to check it out. Helio then asks why they suddenly stop,

"Mister, we still have a few more walks. What are you doing?"

Jaeha and Noah go to the side building, while Taegeuk just stands beside Helio, not wanting to know about it.

When Jaeha and Noah take a peek into the hole, they see a huge corpse. It has huge feathers, seeming to be the wings of an avian-type creature.

Noah was reflexive as he cursed,

"What the F... is that?"

He continued,

"Did Mister Savior just get attacked by this huge thing?"

Noah was in disbelief. Suddenly, he felt more guilty about it. If Zero hadn't pushed him back then, he would already be dead.

Jaeha was looking at the monster. When he was swinging his sword back then, he felt confident in his skill. But when he saw this huge monster corpse, he began to doubt himself.

The monster was huge, its size similar to a mini-van. The left wing seemed to be cut as it was not intact. When he tried to remember the attack, this creature could attack very fast. To think that in the blink of an eye attack, Zero could manage to cut the wing, Jaeha was humbled by Zero.

Although he could copy Zero's movement, seeing this made him less confident that he could bring the same impact as Zero.

Just as both of them were engrossed with the monster's corpse, Helio approached them, curious about what made them suddenly stop in the middle.

As he climbed the rubble from the holed building, he then saw what Jaeha and Noah had been looking at.

Helio was shocked as he excitedly spoke,

"That's a falcon!"

Helio was very excited as he continued,

"Did Boss kill this?"

He asked excitedly at Jaeha and Noah as they nodded.

"Boss is amazing. But does it mean the one who injured Boss yesterday was this thing?"

Helio explained the basic information,

"Falcons usually don't roam in this area. Their nests are mostly in the western part of the city, where there are more tall buildings where they usually make their nests."

Jaeha then asked him,

"Then, why are they roaming here? We were attacked by this last time. If Zero-nim hadn't noticed the attack, we would be dead."

"Boss has a very high perception. Falcons are no match for him. I was curious, how could Boss get injured by this? It's very unlikely unless someone wasn't paying attention."

Helio was not being sarcastic, but hearing this, Noah was stabbed by the words.

Helio then continued,

"I don't know why they are roaming here. We can ask Boss later. For now, let's continue our walk, mister. The sun will get hot later once it's noon."

He urged everyone to continue their walk.

Jaeha nodded as they continued to their destination. They just hoped everything would go according to the plan. Just please don't you dare to appear, they thought.