Zectas Book II: Heraldic City of Coatl (11 page)

 

 

Smoke raised his flamdius for maximum leverage and ardently stroke down Sagen. His opponent was plowed forcefully to the ground.

 

 

With his eyes still closed, Smoke used his right foot and stepped on Sagen's back, pushing hard against the ring. He drove his flamdius fiercely on the ground, missing Sagen's face by an inch.

 

 

"Know this. I'm prepared for your entire guild to come at me. But, the moment one of your members attack me, I will not stop until I've reduced all of your levels to zero."

 

 

Sagen nodded meekly and tried to speak but Smoke pushed his foot down even harder.

 

 

"I hope this fight will teach you how to obey the rules and play fairly."

 

 

"Of course, I've definitely learned my lesson. I concede. You can throw me off the ri..."

 

 

Smoke pulled his flamdius and stabbed Sagen in the back. Sagen's lifebar went down to zero and was killed. Dying meant that he was blocked from Zectas for another twenty four hours.

 

 

The announcer's voice exploded and covered the entire stadium with the results of the Swordsman to Knight Tournament.

 

 

"And the champion for the 5th bi-annual Swordsman to Knight Tournament is... Ilad!"

 

 

The audience jumped from their seats. Cheering and shouting came from everywhere. The guild members of 'Feras' discreetly exited the arena. The crowd could not believe how Smoke completely dominated Sagen. A replay of the finals match kept playing on the main screen.

 

 

 

                    

 

 

 

 

After winning the tournament, Smoke, Gandiva, and Laernea went to the central district's Knight Academia. The walk that should have taken only ten minutes was lengthened into thirty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sea of people could not be parted. NPCs and players alike kept on asking him for friend requests. Smoke politely declined all of them but was bothered by the numerous system notifications that he decided to disable the option.

 

 

He finally reached the Knight academia. There, Smoke spoke with various NPCs and after a few minutes he went to a secluded corner.

 

 

As he was equipping the 'Gora Ruby Knight Set', Smoke realized that it had been twenty four hours since he had spoken with Sierra.

 

 

In all the excitement he had completely forgotten to inform her that he had won the tournament.

 

 

He thought about giving her a call now, but as soon as he had equipped the 'Gora Plate Armor' and the 'Gora Helm' he decided to, finish Ilad's 'Job Change' from Swordsman to Knight.

 

 

Smoke emerged, fully equipped in the tungsten carbide, Knight equipment set. His 'Gora Helm' only revealed his eyes. It had two bent horns on the sides that pointed upwards and one in front.

 

 

His 'Gora Plate Armor', 'Gora Gloves', 'Gora leggings', 'Gora Boots' were all thick and had black metal linings but they still gave him a great range of motion.

 

 

His 'Gora Shield' had the crest of a ram on it. The shield's defense was 500 points below his 'Armored Armadillo Shield' and had no effects or abilities. However, he still wore the poorer equipment in order to complete the set.

 

 

Due to his low Beggar level, the fully equipped Knight armor looked tattered, to the point of near destruction.

 

 

He thought that the rustic look gave him an aura of a well traveled Knight.

 

 

Smoke stepped out of the Knight's academia and tried to go over to the mayor's villa. He wanted to have an audience with him. Smoke had hoped that Duke Burmistrz would allow him entry into the labyrinth.

 

 

Sadly, Smoke's plans were foiled when the inner city's guards stopped him on his tracks. Even if he had received the title of 'Swordsman to Knight' he is still not allowed to go beyond the second layer of the city.

 

 

"Psst. Psst. Ilad, over here."

 

 

Smoke looked around and tried to find the voice that was calling out to him. In a dark corner, Cavalry Knight Macher, was waving out to Smoke, calling him out.

 

 

With his failed attempt of gaining access to the inner layers of Coatl city. Smoke decided to see what Macher was up to.

 

 

"Great job on winning the tournament! I won't waste your time, so I'll get right down to business. I have a lucrative business opportunity and I think you're just the right man to turn it to a complete success. Are you interested?"

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Three: Cuezaltzinity or Tlaltezinism

 

 

Smoke gave Sierra command over the rest of his private army. They were assigned to look for the labyrinth's exit.

 

 

The moment they arrived in Coatl, Smoke immediately asked Sierra to begin her own mission of 'Liberating the Maneators' quest.

 

 

This was Smoke's first time to see a main city. Sierra knew this fact, which helped her understand why he was very excited to explore the wonders that Coatl had to offer ASAP.

 

 

Sierra had only passed by the Heraldic city of Coatl herself and didn't know much about it. She wanted to go with him and explore the city together.

 

 

However, her Werebear form hindered her to enter most settlements, let alone a main city. Sierra was pulled out from her musings when Thyrsus tapped her shoulders to give his falcon's updates.

 

 

"Thyr's initial scouting revealed five villages matching Mitleid's description of where he escaped from the labyrinth. Two of these villages are east from here, while the rest are to the west."

 

 

It has been a few hours since Sierra and the rest of Smoke's private army were separated from their leader.

 

 

Sierra speedily assessed the situation and decided that splitting the army meant she had to prepare to face the consequence of their reduced manpower.

 

 

Yet conversely, it significantly increased their searched area of Coatl's southern region.

 

 

"Nice going, Thyrsus. Please tell your falcon to return ASAP. My map tells me that the villages in the east are Poludnie and Nisko, while the villages in the west are Silap, Salah, and Betul. I know that all of you except for Adder came to Coatl to change jobs. Did any of you get a chance to visit these villages? Remember, we're looking for a big white mausoleum."

 

 

Sharanga, the young brunette WoodElf, was the first one to speak up.

 

 

"Vijaya and I have been to Poludnie and Silap. We went there to look for the manjur recurve bow. There were rumors that these villages have information about the bow that was used by the 'Guardian Vicars' of the great god, Cuezaltzin. But I don't remember seeing any cemeteries in those villages. There was a huge white warehouse though."

 

 

Ichaival waited for Sharanga to finish before he added in his knowledge of those villages.

 

 

"I went to Salah village. I think they had a cemetery, but the reason I went there was because I heard they had a special treatment to turn black hair permanently into brown. Sadly, I didn't have enough zecs to pay for the treatment but now..."

 

 

In an irritated voice, Sharanga interrupted Ichaival.

 

 

"What does that have to do with our mission?"

 

 

"I'm just saying I could go visit Salah again and get the treatment. Smoke, gave us a hefty honorarium and I could finally afford to get my hair into the color that you liked."

 

 

"It wouldn't matter what color your hair was. I still see you as the same snot nosed kid who used to drop worms into my back."

 

 

"But, Shar..."

 

 

Sierra stomped the ground hard. She had to interrupt Sharanga and Ichaival's quarrel.

 

 

"Both of you stop it. This isn't the time or the place for that. Let's just double check all these villages. Adder, you take Jinggu, Sharanga, and Thyrsus to the villages in the east. The rest of us will take the villages in the west. Also for our cover story, let's just say that we are looking for the manjur recurve bow. Everybody got that?"

 

 

Ichaival was clearly disappointed with Sierra's decision. He had wanted to be grouped together with Sharanga.

 

 

They were tasked to find the exit in one of these villages. Once found, they were to try to enter the labyrinth and use the exit.

 

 

If they couldn't, then they should at least secure the area in preparation for Smoke and the other Maneators' escape.

 

 

"Adder, I trust your leadership skills. However, please remember that our primary objective is to find the exit. If you encounter any form of danger, please escape. Everyone, please remember that your lives are more important than any quest or mission."

 

 

Adder nodded.

 

 

"You've got nothing to worry about. We've got the eastern villages covered."

 

 

"Alright, give us a call when you're done investigating those two villages. We will do the same on our end."

 

 

Adder and his group headed out to the nearest village, Poludnie.

 

 

                                        

 

 

 

Their one armed commander lead the way as they carried on and traveled inside one of the patches of Otaczac forest. Sharanga and Thyrsus followed closely while Jinggu stayed behind a couple of feet to guard the rear.

 

 

Otaczac forest used to completely surround Coatl. When the city started to expand, the mayor ordered that they cut down the trees to make roads and farmlands.

 

 

Despite that, the forest started to reclaim its lost land and grew back on the roads that were not frequently used. There were many forest fragmentation which tried to connect with each other as they did in the past.

 

 

Otaczac forest permeated with life. There were creatures of various shapes and sizes, from the insects that crawled to the monsters that flew over the branches.

 

 

Adder and his men only focused on the beasts that were either a threat to them or were useful. They hunted down any of these monsters that came within their range.

 

 

Smoke had ordered them to loot and to hunt, even on a reconnaissance mission like this one. They were told to gain more levels and items. He kept on telling them this one line.

 

 

'Why waste your precious time doing just one thing when you can effectively multi-task and do several?'

 

 

Adder remembered how Smoke trained his passive abilities. While Smoke acquired knowledge with a book in each hand, he also dodged four monsters' attack to increase his passive abilities. 

 

 

He knew that he had to follow the example of his young master.

 

 

Frequently, they met a nye of blood pheasants, a small bird which averaged a height of twenty inches. These creatures' levels were from 30 to 40.

 

 

Their feathers varied from smoke white to ash gray but all of them retained the blood red colored feathers below their beaks and tails.

 

 

These monsters weren't much of a threat to them, but their sheer number could become a nuisance.

 

 

Adder and his team killed these monsters with a single hit, which prevented any potential swarm of blood pheasants.

 

 

The blood pheasant's meat and feathers came really handy to the Hunters who needed food and raw materials for their arrows.

 

 

Seldomly, they also met a group of pine martens, slender monsters with weasel-like bodies and a length averaging four feet. These creatures had huge rounded ears and stubby legs.

 

 

These monsters levels were from 48 to 57. Adder and his men had often seen pine martens that carried a carcass of a blood pheasant into their hole, up on the thick trees.

 

 

Then there's your extremely rare strigidae owls. There were just a few of them scattered in Otaczac forest. These huge silvery owls stood at five feet with wingspans of twelve feet.

 

 

These monster's levels varied from 70 to 80. They mostly hunted groups of pine martens and nests of blood pheasants.

 

 

Jinggu had a contest with his twin on who could bag the most strigidae owls. He wanted to hunt at least one, but they never saw any of that monstrous bird get within their range.

 

 

After a few hours, Poludnie finally came into view.