Capítulo 39: Drezo Regalia (II)
"I can't stand being around him for too long—I'm already itching to clean up after him," he muttered. He now understood why Reth did not like him. It was the mess that Garrett made.
As Zero got further away from Garrett, he slowed down and enjoyed his stroll around the library. There were many things that caught his attention. He stopped and looked upon the ancient artifacts and books. It was like he was a child again in a candy store. He wanted to try so many flavors that he didn't know where to begin.
"Wow, is that earthquake magic?" Zero's eyes piqued with interest as he walked towards the ancient artifacts encased in glass. He had his hands on the glass as he looked through it enthusiastically. Large scale elemental magic that affected the environment was rare to see, especially if it affected an area on a grand scale. Such abilities cost a lot of mana and had a high casting time. Even the cool down time took a while. He knew that right now he did not meet the requirements to even be able to learn such skills. Truthfully not even one of the players in Noriene had learned such grand scale magic nor was it heard of yet. Right now the magic on display was nothing in comparison to the legends he'd heard. The one on display was just a prototype of the legendary skills.
A passing group of children loudly talked amongst themselves about their assignment. Zero turned his head. He noticed them following a female rabbit as she explained the ancient history of the relics. The teacher chastised them, and they quietly followed after her. Small magical paper cranes whizzed past him as they delivered messages to their recipients.
What kind of magic did they use to make these? Zero thought as he watched the paper cranes fly past him. He hadn't seen these cranes in the city. Why is it that it only works in this library and not anywhere else? He continued to ponder as he watched them.
This could easily help with the mailing system around the city. It would be cheaper to send things from one to another, but the privacy could be a problem. He wondered why the King hadn't implemented the system into the city. It was a brilliant way to save money. He won't have to pay for the delivery of mail, just someone to enchant the birds to a specific sender. But there are couples of problems with that, from weather to possible interception. If it was up to him, he would find different ways to make this more profitable and efficient. It would less man power to send everyday mail throughout the kingdom and use his skills that he earned through the possible new job he was going to gain.
He continued on his way to his destination, and at the end of the hallway to the right, Zero noticed a giant reptilian dinosaur skeleton. Its large teeth gleamed evilly and its jaws were opened wide, looming over the spectators. It kind of reminded him of a merge between a pterodactyl and a T-Rex. It was something he would never want to meet in real life. Upon looking at it for a while it did remind him of a wyvern. Next to the giant skeleton, he noticed a small door the size of a child.
It was a peculiar single door. It did not feel out of place; it reminded him of a utility box that he had at home. The brown wooden door looked worn and old. Already he could see it slightly hanging off the edge of the copper hinges. Players and NPCs passed by it without a second thought as they continued on their daily routines. He was surprised by how people completely missed the door behind the giant bones and continued onwards.
Glancing around, he casually walked towards the door and picked up a book off the shelf. He did not want to look or act suspicious by hanging around too long at the door. He took his chance and quietly walked towards it with ease. He turned the handle and pushed. Nothing budged.
"It's locked." Zero squatted down as he checked to see if anyone was looking. The coast was clear. He pulled out two very thin lock picks that he'd bought awhile back at the blacksmith store. Fiddling around with the lock, he heard a soft click. With one last quick look around him, he pushed it open and entered.
It was a narrow stairway; the low ceiling reached down to his head. It felt like the stairs went on forever as he ascended towards the top floor. A couple of times Zero had to feel around because there were no visible lights. The air felt thin and dry, and he felt as if the walls were coming closer and closer together on him. There were a couple of times when the walls touched both his shoulders.
As he reached the top, he had to squeeze through sideways on the last hurdle. All that stood before him was a small red door. It was the same size as him. Turning the door handle, he gently pushed it open. Out before him lay a wide open space. A high circular dome ceiling was supported by thick wooden beams. In the middle of the room was a platform. On top of it was a gray pedestal with a single book laid open. Soft, light-blue orb lights danced around it as it lit up the room. Even the book had a soft glow that helped light up the surrounding. Zero looked around suspiciously. "This feels like a trap." He lightly stepped closer to the book. "Doesn't a game usually have a guardian somewhere or booby traps? It shouldn't be this easy." Zero warily moved towards the pedestal.
With each step he took, the blue magic light around the pedestal seemed to glow brighter and brighter. A magical pen automatically wrote down words he did not understand. It wrote in constant speed, and each page turned as it was filled.
He scanned around, looking for any clues of possible danger. He even took an extra step to search all around the pedestal. He did not want to take the chance of being caught in a trap.
Reaching over to pick up the book, with a swoosh of wind the book flipped through thousands of pages. In that brief moment of contact, he saw snippets of scenes of different people's lives play before him. Their life and death, sadness, and happiness, days he could not describe but understood.
As he continued to watch, a scene of the fat man from the mansion appeared. The fat man's whole life was played out before him from child to adulthood. Zero saw the twist of unfortunate events that took the fat man down the path of self-destruction: the betrayal of friends and loved ones, being captured and tortured to death, and at the last moment being saved by the vampire Dion in which he gave his eternal loyalty of servitude, bonding them together through a contract. Dion was his savior and master that twisted his heart to complete blackness.
As the years went on, the once young man's eyes and heart turned cold with hate. His body bloated from the wealth of food that he was given, and then his path began towards the torture of his captives. Then finally he encountered Zero, who killed him to end his atrocities. When this vision was done, the book closed and the pen stashed away inside the book.
"Did I just see that? How?" Zero looked upon the book with interest. What he saw was a personal in-depth history of the fat man's life. He had not wanted to see it, but now he understood how he had turned out the way he did.
Zero carefully pulled the book off the pedestal. He neatly packed it away in his wrist accessory and left the raised platform. The blue light disappeared and the room dimmed to darkness. He could not see anything in front of him.
"Well, that was easy," he muttered as he felt his way towards the small door. He was surprised it was this simple.
Kathump!
The whole room shook as something loud and heavy fell onto the ground. Bright red fiery orbs pulsated on as the whole room turned an angry red. Zero's eyes were wide open in surprise.
"No way. I should've known." Zero slapped his head. "Something this special would always have some kind of guardian. I was just too naive to think it didn't." Zero turned around to face his adversary.
A lion-like monster stood in front of him. Its sheer size encompassed him as he looked up at it. It was about the size of an elephant. It let out a deafening roar, and Zero was pushed back as he slammed into the wall. His bones shook and rattled from the bellowing roar.
"I hope the others didn't hear that," Zero said with worry. He did not want anyone else to find this place.
Zero shifted into his Origin form. His muscles tensed as they rippled with power. He grew as large as horse; his muscles became sleeker, his fur shorter, and his neck longer. His tail was still sleek and fluffy. He could now allow a small child to ride on his back.
"Everything seems a bit smaller." Zero blinked in surprise. It's been awhile since he'd shifted. The last time he had turned was at the Mansion of Dion; lately he had been strengthening his human form to compensate his weak form. So far not much had changed, but it was enough for him to handle the lower-level monsters in the area without his origin form.
Zero was surprised. Everything in his vision looked smaller in comparison to what he was normally used to seeing, but still the lion was larger and taller than him.
With another powerful roar, thousands of snakes fell from the ceiling. They rustled, rattled, and hissed beneath Zero's feet as he struck down upon them. Already he was feeling a bit woozy from their venomous bites. If he did not take care of this predicament soon, he knew he would die.
Large and small snakes emerged from the littered dead snakes. Dodging their venomous fangs, he snapped at them in the air and ripped them apart with his teeth. But they multiplied like maggots, and he could not keep this up. In a matter of minutes, the room could be full of them. Zero zipped through the snakes as he ran forward toward the lion.
Another blast of an ear-splitting roar pushed Zero back, and he could not move a single step forward.
"Again? Damn it," growled Zero as he struggled to push forward. With each step he took, numerous blasts of powerful roars were let off. Thousands of hissing snakes snapped at his heels.
"At this rate I am going to die from snake bites." Zero snapped at a snake that was ready to bite into his back heel.
With one giant inhale of breath, Zero spewed out green noxious gas that stunned the surrounding snakes. He quickly pulled out a small piece of flint and jumped toward the lion. With a flick of his nails on the flint, he ignited the area.
Whoosh! Kaboom!
The flaming shockwave pushed the surrounding snakes off the ground, while the others were completely vaporized. No new snakes were made as they dissipated into nothingness. Zero rode the air current towards the lion's gaping mouth. With claws outstretched, Zero clasped down upon the top of its gaping jaws. His nails dug in deeply, securing his position. The monster flung its head like a captured wild stallion, and it tossed him around like a ragdoll. Grasping down upon it, Zero bit down hard, drawing blue blood. It bucked hard like a bull. He did not let go. It was a life-and-death fight and he was going to win.
Zero's throat rumbled in a deep growl.
"No way are you getting away," muttered Zero with fur and skin in his mouth.
A sudden sharp strike came from behind him. It penetrated his skin. Gasping in surprise, he let go. Zero was flung backwards onto the ground and he skidded to a stop against the wall. A large, black, demonic-looking snake appeared as a tail from the lion. From his golden mane a goat face emerged bleating loudly.
"A chimera," Zero whispered.
With a vicious growl Zero sprang forward into a sprint. He was not going to lose. Weaving in-between its legs like a snake, Zero slashed at its heels. While he was running through, it was getting a bit difficult to dodge between the snapping snakes and the chimera's claws. Several snakes sank their teeth into him, and he had to yank them out with his teeth.
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