Starting from Zero

"Hawk?"

When I connected to Hawk I heard something strange.

"Ziri, huff... Ugrh! What’s...the matter?"

Is he doing "business" with Elfy? Man.

"Something happened. Can you come find me at the south gate of God\'s Design city, when you are, well, done?"

"Ten minutes!"

He quickly cut the chat. Maybe I picked a bad time to call him.

Next is Wayne. The guy is hanging out with everyone else, which saved me a lot of time.

Several minutes later, Zirai and the rest of the group appeared from the city gate, and came to me when they saw me waving to them from the forest.

"What happened?"

"Rose and Yuri are captured by someone, the crystals and shields we bought are all taken away!"

"What?? Who the fu*k is messing up with our preparation against Japan?" Zirai is getting furious again. "Tell me their names. I\'m so going to send them back to level 20!"

I pointed at the city from which they just came out. "It\'s a guild, the God\'s Design. This is their city. The leader is called Big Blade, I guess you all know him."

"Him again??" Wayne jumped.

"You know each other?" Coin asked him.

"I don’t want to know him but yes! He killed me and took away my equipment back then. Boss helped me get revenge."

"An old enemy huh?" That\'s Hawk. He just arrived.

"You two are satisfied?" I asked the couple while carrying a wicked grin.

"Oh screw you." Elfy retorted with a red face.

The other ones just looked at us in puzzle.

"Back to topic. The lost items aren’t really a big deal, but we need to get Rose and Yuri out of there fast. They have some cage that can prevent you from escaping, that\'s how they’re holding the girls, and my Phiona."

"Phiona? Your companion? You can’t even summon her now?" Elfy asked.

"Tried, and no. The cage nullifies everything related to teleportation, including the harassment protection for female players."

"What? Don\'t tell me that Big Blade can do something...??" Elfy sounds worried.

"That’s why I called you all as soon as I can!"

"What’s your plan?"

"The gate guards won’t let me in. They can decide to block certain players from their own city, so my only choice now is go in there by force."

"A siege you mean?" Passerby came up. "We\'re in your guild now, if more than 30% of our members attack a city, the system will declare the action as a guild war. The losing guild is responsible for paying all the war expenses and loss, and they\'ll be disbanded if they can’t pay up."

Coin: "That’s not a problem. We don’t have city, or any asset for that matter. Getting disbanded means nothing to us."

"I agree. Our guild is only a title for now. Besides I don’t think we’ll lose that easily." Razor folded his arms.

"Let\'s take a vote. Raise your hand if you agree to attack." Zirai suggested and raised her hand first.

And everyone followed.

"That’s settled. Let\'s give it a shot!"

Merciless is trying to block the already charging Zirai: "Do we go find helpers from Goddess Alliance or Righteous League? I know we’re all strong but it\'s an entire guild we\'re fighting with. See the crystal cannon? They must have city defense NPCs too. Maybe not as many as other system cities but there should be at least one or two hundred level 800 guards. Can we go against all of them?"

"Good point. No matter how good we are we can’t win a war just with a dozen people." Elfy nodded. "I suggest we borrow some force from Gale. We can pay him if necessary. What do you say?"

"We don’t have to pay as long as our boss is willing to lend his body to Miss Moon. Believe me, that girl will lead her entire guild here and stampede the enemy city to ruins!" Wayne raised a terrible joke.

I kicked him away and turned to Elfy: "Good idea but I don\'t--"

"You don’t feel like asking them for more help? I\'ll do it." Zirai came up. "Now tell me, how many men do we ask?"

"That will depend on how many players are online in their guilds. And I don’t think they can send everyone."

"I\'ll just contact them then, and discuss the details later." Zirai opened her chat and connected to Red Moon.

"Miss Moon?"

"Oh, is that Zirai?"

They have their video on, and Red Moon instantly recognized "the other me".

"That’s right."

"What’s up?"

"I’m asking for some help."

"Help? Go ahead, anything I can do."

Weird. This is not the Red Moon I knew.

"We need to attack a city, and--"

"You need more people?" Red Moon is quick enough. "How many?"

"Well..."

"Oh, right. Tell me their city\'s size, which guild it belongs to, and how many defenders."

Elfy moved in front of the screen. "We only know it\'s a player-built city."

"Big Blade\'s God\'s Design?"

"How did you know that??"

"He’s the number one on the rankings! Of course we would pay attention to his movements. The God\'s Design is the third largest guild in the region, and the only guild with their own city."

"Um, so you and your brother haven’t built a city yet?"

"It’s...complicated. For certain reason we haven\'t found an available land yet, and someone went ahead of us first. So you\'re going to mess up that guild? Good, now we don’t have to worry about getting surpassed by someone."

...I knew she won’t help us for no reason.

"My suggestion is you wait for two or three days before you attack."

"Huh? Why?" I asked.

Red Moon paused when she saw me, but recovered soon enough.

"Wait for Saturday so I can assemble more people. My brother is not online now, the Righteous League knew who I am but I don’t think I can give them orders."

"How many people do you have right now?"

She doesn’t know I\'m in a big hurry. Red Moon talked with someone behind her and turned back. "20 thousand within an hour. No more."

"That’s fine. Thank you!"

My thank is sincere. She smiled back, which gives me a really strange feeling.

"Well uh, later!"

Time for preparation. My first task is to declare war to the enemy city. This will notify everyone inside the city to leave. Once the war begins the teleportation station will shut off, and anyone still online will be considered enemy. Of course this gives the enemy guild time to prepare as well but if we don’t do this, our action will be deemed as ambush and our guild will receive Evilness points. I don’t mind getting more of that but I can’t let my whole guild flagged as public enemy.

I teleported to a nearby city and found an NPC to apply for a guild war, which cost me a thousand gold pieces. The NPC also told me that if we agree to take their war correspondent along in our team, he can help us cut the preparation time down to half.

Of course I accepted, we don’t need much time to prepare but it will probably cause Big Blade a big problem.

When I returned to our point, Red Moon already took most of her people here. There\'s a problem though. Apart from 3 thousand male and female warriors, the rest of the team are purely composed of priestesses and female oracles. More than three quarter are female players!

I walked to the front of the formation, where Hawk is sorting out the roaster.

"What\'s going on?"

"This is my army!" Before Hawk can answer, Red Moon\'s voice appeared behind me.

"Oh, uh, hi!"I looked at her in embarrassment. "Well...!"

"This is the best team in Goddess Alliance. Don’t you dare lose it all."

"But there are only three thousand warriors, and half of them are girls!" How do we fight a war with all these healers and supports??

Red Moon looks offended. "Just get on with it. My healer team will show you how they fight."

"I should thank you though. I\'ll pay for any loss in this fight."

"I don’t ask for payment. Remember my request last time? Occupy a Japan city for a day, this is my only condition."

"Right. I\'ll do it!" I reached out my hand.

"With pleasure."

"Come on you two! They raised their cannon!" Hawk shouted at us from his position.

We moved to the front. As he said, the city gate is closing, and the crystal cannon stationed in the city center is slowly turning its head towards us.

"Our team aren’t going to survive the attack!" Red Moon yelled.

"Leave it to me."

I summoned all my companions and prepared.

"Tank, use your cannon at the crystal cannon up there, and fast!"

Tank steadied himself on the ground and took aim.

"Fire!"

A green bullet was pumped out of Tank\'s organic cannon and moved towards the target. The enemy players screamed as they watched the strange shot landed on their crystal cannon, creating a small mushroom cloud.

Tank is out of the fight for now, he already done his job--the only crystal cannon in the city is now busted.

Red Moon turned around and gave the order in her guild channel.

"Attack!"

Only the 3 thousand warriors moved, while all the healers stayed behind.

Maybe this is their own tactic, which means I shouldn’t ask.

"Hawk, let’s do it!"

"Go!!"

I charged in front on Night Shade, leaving the warriors from Goddess Alliance behind. Zirai followed on her Skyfire, while Lucky accompanied them.

We didn’t reach the city before we\'re welcomed by a barrage of arrows. The two dragons pushed through the attack using their thick defense. I saw Lucky’s HP bar drop madly, but a light beam from the healer formation went into Lucky’s body, restoring his HP in a blink of an eye.

So that’s how their support team works.

Lucky and Skyfire are now flying along the city wall while breathing fire. Most players on the wall are forced into the water below. Zirai ordered her titans to grab two tree trunks and use them to smash the city gate. It only took two or three blows for them to break through.

I reached the entrance when a group of NPC guards rushed to stop me. Under the attack of several level 800 guards, my HP is emptied out fast, but I’m not defeated yet since my companions are sharing their health with me. Before the next round of attacks I already saw my own HP as well as my companions’ getting filled up.

Hawk is fighting beside me, and I see the same expression on his face.

I\'m not planning to stand here getting damaged though. I punched at two approaching guards as hard as I can and sent them tumbling away. I\'m under werewolf mode now, and using my claws feels better than using weapons.

The Phantom Knights, as expected, are doing far greater than me. They charged into the NPC formation at full speed, bringing them into the air, while also slamming some players into the city wall.

"Sir? Are you sure the enemies are level 800? They are so weak." The leader knight approached my position and asked. "Maybe we should switch target?"

I asked them to wipe out enemy NPCs since they pose a greater threat to us. But now I also noticed that they\'re not really strong, even I can manage to fight with one of them 50-50.

"Give me a moment."

I checked the status of several NPC guards in sight. They are...level 550! That’s still higher than most players but there\'s no way they can defeat the Phantom Knights. The only reason I can think of is that Big Blade didn’t have enough money to hire better guards for his city.

Elfy flew past my head on her pegasus. Her job is to deal with any casters among the enemies from far away.

We broke through the guard formation and headed towards inside the city, now we\'re engaged in a head-on fight with the players from God\'s Design. Red Moon\'s secret army began to show their true merit--my HP bar never drops now! I can\'t die as long as no one finishes me off in one hit, which is quite impossible.

I no longer need to worry about the warriors from Goddess Alliance now. They are simply running into enemies like army ants, since someone else always keeps their HP full.

I noticed a white flash nearby. This means we got casualty, and whoever can kill our people now may be someone I need to take care of myself. Maybe it’s Big Blade himself.

I ordered my knights to close in and the other players to back away. A warrior with a tall and slim build soon came into my view. He’s wearing different equipment but I instantly recognized my former enemy. He’s literally carrying a "big blade" to slash people.

Hearing my message, all players from the Goddess Alliance moved behind me, and the Phantom Knights lined up along the street, blocking any escape routes.

"We meet again!"

"Do I know you?" He looked at me in doubt.

I canceled my werewolf skill and returned to my usual body.

"What about now?"

"Ziri huh? I remember you, and I always will!"

"Cut the talks, let\'s see how strong you are!" I lowered my helmet mask and took out my lance.

"Phantom Knights, charge!" The leader knight also moved.

"Leave no one standing! "

I called Night Shade over and charged ahead with the knights. The eleven of us can cover the entire street, there\'s no way to get past us now!

Before we reach Big Blade he called out to someone. "Come to me, Blade Dreamer!"

Another warrior dropped down from a nearby building and crashed into me, knocking me off my mount. When we’re on the ground, he held tight onto my waist and called to Big Blade:

"Boss, run! I\'ll stop him!"

"Knock it off!" I punched at this guy but he\'s not releasing me.

"Knights, a little help here!"

They can’t use any violent means in such a situation so they just tried to pull the warrior off me, without much success.

"I\'ll do it!" A warrior from Goddess Alliance poked his sword precisely at the man\'s neck. The sudden pain caused him to finally give up his grasp, I quickly kicked him away.

When he tried to rush me again, I triggered my claw blades and opened up six bleeding holes on his body, killing him at last.

However Big Blade is already nowhere to be found!

"Phantom Knights! On me!"

I led them to move towards the city center. I saw a lot of enemy players on the way but they already lost their will to fight when they found out the alliances can’t be killed at all.

This is not how a siege works. Usually, we should have suffered the most casualties when we’re trying the breach the city gate, during which the enemy can well cause some damage to us using their archers and crystal cannon. What they weren’t expecting is that I knocked their cannon out of the fight from the start and went through the city gate before they can organize enough people.

"Sir! Over there!" One of the knights found our target. It\'s a small plaza, with three cages hanging in the air by ropes. Rose, Yuri and Phiona are in the cages, while below them is a...dung pool. I can already smell the stink in the distance!

Big Blade is standing beside the supporting point of the ropes. He just needs one movement to send the cages into the terrible pit.

"Come any closer and your two girls and this stupid bird will have to eat shit for dinner! Well?"

"Oh really?"

I raised my hand. Some bubbles emerged from the mucky liquid, before countless plant vines appeared from it, covering it up. That\'s perfect soil for Rosa, however I need to tell him to clean up afterwards.

"You can try. Come on."

Big Blade looked at the now useless trap and turned tail immediately. Lucky dropped down from the sky, completely blocking his path. Before he can even think about going another way, Loong\'er showed up at the only remaining exit.

"Hey! Do you dare to have a one-on-one duel with me?" He suddenly suggested.

Somehow I was expecting him to rely on this.

"If I win, you let me go and I won’t ask for anything to compensate our loss."

"What if you lose?"

"Lose??"

Okay. He didn’t even consider that possibility.

"I disband my guild and delete my character!"

"Deal!" Actually I always wanted to fight with the so-called No.1 player again. "Any rules?"

"We go solo, use our own weapons, no companions or servants, no potions!"

"Pfff. You don’t have helper so you want solo fight, you don’t have companions and servants so you ban them, and I guess you used up all your potions too? Aren\'t you clever. But whatever, let\'s do just that. You know what, you don’t even need to keep your promise. I’ll do it for you! I\'m going to hunt you down until you\'re back to the rookie village and delete your character yourself. Now have at you!"