Starting from Zero

Book 4, Chapter 11

Escape

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The travel from the prison to the city gate is safe at least. Not surprising, cause I won't be making the move at this moment if I'm the robber.

I gave the bracelet to Hawk as soon as we left the city range. "Be careful you two!"

"Ha! I won't even sweat in the face of a dozen people or two. Any more and I'll just flee. No one can catch Sunshine that easily."

Elfy protested: "Don't forget about me! I'm not a decoration you know."

"Alright. Try your best. Oh wait, let me trying something first."

I summoned all of my companions and the Phantom Knights.

"I wonder if the NPCs will attack my companions even if I don't go in there myself. If they don't, I'll ask these guys to protect you."

"Oh they won't attack. But your companions won't help either."

"Why?"

"One of my friend did it before. The guards will only attack red named players and will just ignore their companions, unless the pets do something first. But...companions cannot go outside their master's view. In other words your companions can only move where you can see them."

"That can't be," I spoke in surprise. "When I was grinding outside the Lost City, I would ask Lucky to fly back to the city and bring me some potions. Of course I can't see through the city walls. There's another time when I asked him to find some trees to make a towing cart (when I was trying to get inside the underground dungeon). He went towards a forest which was pretty far away."

"Wait wait wait, your companions buy potions for you?" Elfy is quite shocked.

"Only Lucky. The other companions don't have inventory so they can't carry any items. But still, I can ask them to fight or do something simple outside my sight as long as they can understand what I'm saying."

"...There must be something special on you! I've never heard of any companions so smart that can help their master run errands!"

Hawk nodded in agreement.

"I can't think of anything. Maybe it's because they're special? Or because that's how high-level companions act, since you never see any high level ones before." I pondered. "Never mind. I'm pretty sure they can help you get in there safely. Let's do it now. The enemies may be assembling, it'll be more dangerous the longer we take."

"Okay then. We're going in." There they go.

I ordered the Phantom Knights to follow them, and split into two groups if necessary. They'll be acting as stand-out bodyguards. I believe five level 850 monsters are enough to keep most people away.

I can't forget Rosa either, as he can conveniently hide underground. His job is not to protect the couple, but to get the bracelet to safety if anything went wrong.

Phantom will be following Hawk and interfere with any pursuers using his mental attacks.

Dart is to protect the bracelet as well. No one can snatch the item faster then this little creature.

As for Phiona, Loong'er and Lucky...they'll stay outside since their size would probably cause trouble in the city.

I just wait. I would like to be patient but those guards are making it very hard by staring at me and keep reaching for their quivers.

Hawk isn't having an easy time either. We were right, someone among those girls already spread the message to someone. Well, more than just "someone". They ran into a whole band of highjackers not long after they entered the city. A crowd is standing in line across the main road, completely blocking it. The usual passers-by are pretty annoyed by the sudden inconvenience but they can only choose another way since there's nothing they can do against such a huge group.

Hawk looked at the scene. That's at least a hundred people. As he considered about how to get past them, the Phantom Knight Leader moved in front of him.

"We'll clear the way. Follow us!"

They didn't really wait for Hawk's answer between the knights formed up an arrow head array.

"Phantom Knights! Onward!"

The other knights gave out a loud battle cry.

"Crush them!"

Hawk wasn't expecting them to be so aggressive. That's how they were when I first met with them, and they haven't tried to change that.

The people in the front of the group were mostly knights and warriors. However, most of them don't have mounts, since it's not really easy to get one.

They still know what it means to face someone charging on a horse though.

The Phantom Knights approached the roadblock with alarming speed. Hawk grasped onto his sword as well, ready to face anyone that might get past the knights' formation, which never happened. The first knights to contact with the enemies didn't even use their weapons. They simply placed their shields in front of them to bash people away. The players standing in front are all fierce attackers like Orc Berserkers, however they still can't withstand the charging horses just with their bodies--they were knocked away like bowling pins.

The crowd scattered in an instance. The knights at the tip of the formation didn't slow down in one bit, the other knights readied their lances and started killing anyone who gets close. Hawk stayed in the middle of the formation. He feels like surrounded by a solid iron wall, no one managed to went through, not with that kind of level gap.

I'm sitting outside the city, looking at my Evilness bar. I can't see what's going on in there but I can pretty much imagine, since the digits are growing like water meter running at full speed.

The robbers planned to keep Hawk and Elfy busy using their front-line berserkers and do damage with their wizards and archers. The plan is good on itself but...no one expected the Phantom Knights to break through their 27 Berserkers and 43 high-level Iron Knights like cutting a piece of paper. The Wizards and Archers in the back didn't get the chance to prepare their first attacks when they saw their defenders were all sent to the rooftops nearby, and were soon stomped to death by the war horses.

The most unfortunate one among those people is none other than my previous enemy, Mr. Loong. He was just dragged to death outside the city, now he went back to his guild and heard the information about an anti-red name bracelet so he led some men here to get the valuable treasure. Of course he joined the group himself for the merit. Now he became the first batch of wizard corpses.

A hundred people can't make a very thick defense so the Phantom Knights charged all the way to the other side within 3 seconds. A bloody path was left behind them, with several remaining warriors groaning on the ground. The weaker classes have already disappeared. The scene looks grim but the actual casualty is not really big. Ten knights won't cover a lot of area, those who died are mostly unlucky wizards.

A wounded guy jumped up and decided to call the others to retaliate. But the Phantom Knight leader re-assembled his team before the idiot have the chance to give any orders.

"Fools! Your trophy looks pathetic! Do you not remember the codes for us Phantom Knights? Tell me, aloud!"

The other knights roared in unite.

"Leave no one standing! Crush them!"

Then they charged back!

The remaining defenders panicked. They no longer have any standing defenses left, so the knights just killed the last of them like a pack of wolves into a sheep herd. Even some bystanders were involved inside the chaos.

Elfy sent me the video feed in her private chat and told me to "admire the heroic deeds of my subordinate". I almost fell from Night Shade when I saw it.

"Tell them to move NOW! It's an order!"

God dammit. Leave no one standing?? I need to give them some serious lectures after this.

"Let's go! Your boss is angry with you guys!" Elfy yelled to the knights.

Woosh! An arrow pierced the air, towards Elfy's heart with extreme speed. But a shadow blocked the arrow with even better speed.

Dart did a back-flip and landed on Sunshine's head, with the arrow still in his mouth. A masked man stood up on a rooftop across the road.

"But that's impossible!"

He drew his bow and shot at Elfy again. Dart caught the arrow, with exact the same trick.

Elfy looked at Dart who's now standing on the ground. "Nice move little one! Now I really regret cutting Ziri's hand like that, or you'll be mine already..."

The man on the rooftop is obviously unable to accept what's going on. He pulled on his bow again. When Dart prepared to intercept the attack, the arrow suddenly turned into three.

"Multi-shot!" Elfy is an experienced Archer, of course she recognized the skill.

Dart however, made a swift U-turn in the air. He caught all three arrows before he landed.

"What the fuc??" The Archer's voice is shaking now. That's too much shock in a day.

Hawk decided to ignore the assailant and asked the Phantom Knights to ran towards the prison. I sighed in relief when I noticed my Evilness has stopped growing.

"Bastards. Five minutes away from my sight and they're already causing me troubles."

Hawk and Elfy saw another group of people running towards them just after they cut a corner. Another wave of robbers, but they were too slow. Hawk dashed past their intended point of defense before they can reach it.

One of the leading Fighters shouted towards Hawk: "Stop right--"

An arrow shut him up by pinning into his helmet. Elfy did that while sitting on Hawk's shoulder, the arrow is well-aimed at between the man's eyebrows but it didn't actually get in. For Elfy didn't want to earn herself a red name just because this. That shot was merely a warning.

The whole route is quite a mixed bag. Hawk and Elfy encountered 15 groups who tried to stop them before they reached the prison. Of course they reported it back to me. Now I can see people's insane thirst for equipments.

"We got Rose. We're on our way back now!"

Rose contacted me as well. "Finally! Hey Ziri, you have to take me to wash my name! I don't want to be in that place again!"

"You said it. We should go shopping in cities later!"

"But aren't you red yourself?"

"The bracelet! I'll take it back once you clean your name, then this No.1 criminal will go for walks in those cities as he likes!"

"Oh oops. Let's talk later. We have some more company here."

Hawk is stopped this time because...a group of beautiful girls are standing in front of him.

"Hey Ziri! We got trouble! Can I have some air support?"

"What's the matter?"

"Just look!" Hawk opened his video feed and pointed at front.

"Huh? It's Red Moon!"

"You know each other?" Hawk asked in surprise.

"Yes we do. Get closer, lemme talk to her."

Hawk unmounted and walked towards Red Moon, with his hands raised. I spoke when they're close enough.

"Hey Red Moon, do you have to do this?"

She seems angered. "I'll ask you one last time, do you join Goddess Alliance?"

I frowned. "Is that very important? I'll help you get your members out, but I won't join you. Don't push me!"

"I do hope you don't push me into pushing you! You will join us at your own will!"

"Crap. What's that supposed to mean?"

"I meant well!"

I'm seeing too much anger from her eyes as if I owe her a million dollars. I almost owe that much money to Clark, and he never gave me that look!

"...I see. So we must settle this with a fight then?" I lost my patience. "I know girls tend to act up. But don't take it too far!"

"You want me to kill Rose and your friends so I just take your bracelet by force?" Her brain is obviously heating up as well.

"THAT'S IT!" I cut the chat. "Lucky!"

I hopped on Lucky's back. Getting in by the ground is not an option. My wing blades can help me fly but there are restrictions. I can't avoid those archers with it. While Lucky can easily fly way higher than me. I'm not sure if that's enough to get out of the archers' attack range but it will be safer.

I told Lucky to head to their location from above and asked Rose to hang on for a while. The city is big in size but we can get there in a matter of a dozen seconds. We spent most of our time trying to climb high. With the help of Star Gaze, I can already see Rose's escort team fighting with Red Moon's guild members. As a Paladin, Hawk is having a hard time dealing with the young ladies. His honor doesn't allow him to use his full strength. On the other hand, Elfy and Red Moon don't have that kind of problem. They don't need to hold anything back in a girl's fight.

As for those Phantom Knights...Well they're just too good at drawing attentions. Wherever they go, people will see screaming girls running all over the place.

They never tried to control their damage in the least. Let's say they don't even know why you should go easy on girls--they simply charged around like how they did to those berserkers and warriors. Of course those delicate lasses don't have any chance against them. Half of the females are lying on the ground after only one round of attacks.

The other on-lookers decided to help Goddess Alliance for some reason.

Maybe not realizing what's happening, or maybe just because he's dumb, a player wearing scholar suit walked in front of the leader knight and scolded: "How can you call yourself a man?? How can you do such a thing to those beautiful ladies??"

Ugh. Apparently this guy saw Phantom Knights as some high level players.

The leader is surprised by the sudden intruder as well. He even believed that the guy must be someone really powerful so he can ignore the danger around him.

He pointed his lance at the scholar, who's still giving out his moral theories like a teacher lecturing a group of students.

The scholar screamed when he finally saw the lance tip at his own neck. "What-what-what are you doing??"

The knight thrust his lance forward, turning the idiot into a white flash. "Oh lord. I though he was a Grand Priest from the God's Altar or something."

Another Phantom Knight moved over. "Maybe that was a reserve priest. He was blabbering just like those heretics. But he was too weak!"

"Cut the small talk." The leader held up his lance. "Our codes!"

"Leave no one standing! Crush them!"

People began to flee when they hear this line again.

"YOU'ALL COME BACK NOW!"

Lucky almost crashed himself onto the ground. People close to us all fell down. I don't have time to explain so I just pulled Rose up, threw two recall scrolls to the Lost City to Hawk and un-summoned all other companions and servants.

"Use the scroll! Let's meet over there!"

I patted on Lucky's neck to tell him to take off. Red Moon noticed my intentions and charged towards me, with her female members following behind.

Lucky kicked at the ground and flapped his giant wings, causing a strong wind current which helped us up while causing the enemies to tumble away.

"We're safe!" I hugged Rose in my arms.

We're already at a safe distance when the NPCs arrived at the scene. Some still tried to shoot at us but those arrows don't have any power left at such an altitude.

"...h...elp...! ....ahhh....! ..."

Rose pushed my hands (close to her breast) away and asked: "Did you hear something?"

"Yeah. No idea what it is. The wind is too strong." I looked around, and looked below us. "Well we can't be hearing anything this high up. Must be imagination, or it's just the wind. We never tried to fly this high before. Hey Lucky, lower yourself a bit, and take it slow."

"...aaa...me...halp...!"

It came again. The wind is not so loud this time since we went a lot lower. We can hear the voice clearer.

"I think there is something..." I looked about again. I even used my Star Gaze as a binocular but I still don't see anything. "Strange. A ghost maybe?"

Rose leaned into me again and looked around nervously. "Gho-ghost?? You're right! That sounded like some woman is crying!"

"So, a woman ghost. Did you make someone hate you before, and now she came to get revenge?" I joked.

"Heelp! ...*sob* Somebody help me please!"

I heard it again. It's very obvious this time. Indeed a woman's cry, trembling. Man, creepy.

"I'm sorry!!" Rose nudged her head against my chest and won't get out.

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