Starting from Zero

I didn\'t find a title for this chapter, and the story seems a bit off, like something is amiss.

The author mentioned he was busy with his graduation so he made some mistake here.

I guess the story starts from when the characters defeated the minotaur, exited the dungeon and was stopped by those previous thugs who asked for money.

"Oh lookey here! A pair of couple on their honeymoon!"

That came from a black knight in front of me. This guy is wearing a cheap, gray-colored knight armor set. It\'s still a lot better compared to the others. He doesn\'t even have a horse, though I can tell he\'s a Black Knight from that lance he\'s carrying.

"What do you want?" I asked while checking my surroundings. From a vague look I can make out about 50 people. Or more. This is the first time I saw so many players together. Well, I\'ve always been hanging around NPCs.

I kept talking nonsense with him to buy time and assess the situation. The 50+ players are obviously from the same guild, and the one talking with me is their leader. They have crap gears. Really. Look at those--mops and sticks and broken swords from garbage dumps. They look more like armed refugees.

However, they\'re organized. The ones in the back are apparently priestesses. I think Wayne mentioned he always wanted to meet a cute looking little priestess. This class has nearly no damage, with poor HP and hard to grind. That\'s why few people would play it. In [Zero], most priestesses would be some mild girls who are too afraid to see blood. They can greatly enhance the battle capabilities of their team so this class is one of the most welcomed. There are few cases when a priest or priestess would get killed by other players, since they never go out alone.

So...This guild brought a full team, including healers, just for me. Well I\'ll be.

"Haha! You know what, we just talked about this. We will let you go, as long as you leave that girl behind."

Yuri flinched behind my back. That\'s all I need to see.

"I\'m not afraid of you lot. Look at what I\'m wearing, we\'re not on the same level."

I\'m confident I can deal with this group and escape. But...I have Yuri behind my back. With that HP she\'s easily killed. I can\'t fight against 50 people while keeping her safe at the same time. So the best outcome is that I can successfully bluff my way out of this. I\'m not sure I can manage that though.

"Well, you do have some nice equipment on ya. But did you ever notice we have 57 members? Seriously, 57 to 2. We\'re on the upper hand here!"

"Is that soooooo...?" I intentionally asked that question in a dramatic way. "Night Shade! Lucky! Phiona! Loong\'er! Come!"

I didn\'t call the Phantom Knights. Normally I can pass them as players to fool people but now it\'ll be meaningless if I do that in front of their face.

"You--what--how--" The black knight stepped back and fell on his hips. The others moved back too, someone even took out their town recall scrolls.

"Off with you. I do not have time for trash talk. Don\'t make me kill all of you!"

"But tha-that\'s impossible! Don\'t get scared you all! Those are fake. That girl must be an illusionist!"

I was going to tell Lucky to charge in when Yuri pulled on my hand. She spoke up.

"Leave. I don\'t want to kill anyone. We all came to this game to have fun, can we not take any personal issues in here?"

The black knight stood up. "Cut that out lady. We\'re enough to crush you with our manpower! Besides, I have companion too! Come out, \'Punk\'!"

A...big lizard, appeared and began to display its claws and teeth at us.

But it froze up the moment it saw Lucky.

Lucky looked at the "small dude" and stretched a claw like a "hi there" in front of the lizard, who just slumped down like a deflated balloon. Then Lucky grinned, revealing his white, shiny fangs. I wonder what kind of toothpaste can make your teeth clean like that.

The lizard ran away like flying!

Yuri giggled. "You look scary but never thought you\'re humorous too!"

Lucky puffed up to that compliment and roared proudly. Some more companions in that group fainted, and it seems that lizard wasn\'t the only one who ran away.

Their masters could only watch as their companions fled and can\'t do anything. They know it will be more trouble if they break their formations.

"So you\'re not getting out of the way. I have no choice then." Yuri held up her flute. "[Variation of the Fallen Ones, Chapter Two--Melody of the Dead]."

We\'re now in the same team so I simply enjoyed the music without receiving any effects. The rest of the people, however, began to show minor symptoms. But none noticed it because the music is so nice to the ears. Besides, Yuri\'s skills will not cause any system notices, unlike the ones that you will receive when taking regular attacks.

Three minutes passed. The idiots still haven\'t noticed anything!

"Wait, I can\'t move!"

Pfft. Finally.

I\'ll not let this pass though, it\'s my motto to get back to anyone who dares to offend.

"Told you. You wouldn\'t believe us, now I\'ll make you believe us."

I quit the team in order not to bring any Evilness to Yuri too. I walked to that leading black knight.

"You asked for it. Don\'t worry, no biggie. Just a little sting."

A nice and clean cut to the neck.

I asked Lucky to finish off the rest of the people. I don\'t really like the feeling of slaughtering. That\'s not something I can enjoy.

"Is this the right choice?" Yuri looked at the falling corpses as Lucky does his job. "Are we taking it too far? They didn\'t attack us for real."

"To me, their intention is enough. I don\'t think there\'s much difference between actual murder and intended murder. They are already planning to hurt us, so that means I need to get rid of them. The faster the better. Nothing to worry about here."

We left the woods after I comforted Yuri.

"Do you have any plans from now on?"

"Not for now."

"Then...can you help me with something?" Yuri\'s skills are quite handy, I should make use of this.

"Go ahead. Anything I can help. You kinda rescued me out of that place, just returning the favor." She patted on her chest as if ready to dive through flame and flood.

"The truth is, I\'m not playing solo, I had a girl friend with me."

"So where is she?"

"She\'s caught and locked up into prison because of red name. I wanted to rescue her. I tried to break into a small city, and I did, but couldn\'t get back out."

"You want me to stall the guards?"

I love talking with smart people.

"Eeyup. I think I can manage it with your help."

Yuri pondered for a moment. "There are...some problems."

"What kind of problem?"

"First, I\'m only level 171, and I never tried to confront any city guards. I don\'t know if my skills can affect them at all. It may work, but it\'s very possible that my songs will only have reduced effect on them. Besides, how do we survive the first 3 minutes? I\'m sure those level 800 guards can one-shot me even if I only took a minor scratch from them."

"I have plan for that. The reduced effect can be a problem. As for protecting you, do you remember those riders I brought with me?"

"I saw them."

"They are called the Phantom Knights, level 850. They should be able to keep the guards away for 10 minutes at least."

Yuri raised her eyebrows. "How did you capture level 850 monsters in the first place?"

"Well, I sort of, tricked them over. But let\'s talk about this later. Now we should find a city guard and try if this will work."

"Wait, for real? As in, right now?"

"Umhmm. Right now."

I pushed her onto Night Shade, then jumped on Lucky\'s back myself.

"Here we go!"