Zectas Book II: Heraldic City of Coatl (40 page)

 

 

After Espion completed both puzzles, a low red light glowed on each one. Both puzzles started to change the image depicted on them. The mixed creatures were fused better.

 

 

Then the names of each creature appeared on each puzzle. The images on the puzzles started to move as the new monsters were fused together.

 

 

The one with the upper body of a man and the lower body of the horse was labeled as Centaur. Smoke had known about Centaurs, this was the reason why he thought to swap the two puzzles.

 

 

However, the other puzzle with the upper body of a horse and the lower body of a man was alien to him. He had never known about such a creature.

 

 

The second puzzle was labeled as Tikbalang. This monster had red eyes, it had gnashing teeth. It's mane was made out of sharp black spines.

 

 

The Tikbalang's upper limbs were from the horse's limbs which gave the monster a hunched over appearance due to its extra long front arms which reached to its Human like feet.

 

 

Espion was astonished when he saw the two jigsaw puzzles changed.

 

 

"Whoa! I would have never thought to try that out. I think you were right about those jigsaw puzzles outside. Once I saw these two puzzles. My only thoughts were to solve them quickly."

 

 

"Don't worry about it. If I were in your situation, and was stuck here for months. I think I would have fallen for the same trick as you..."

 

 

Smoke wasn't able to finish talking. Due to the pedestal that came out from the center of the room. On top of the pedestal was a shiny emerald colored gem.

 

 

The DarkElf went to pedestal and took the precious stone on top of it.

 

 

+ Received Stone of Vision.

 

 

"Espion, we just found the stone of vision. I think we better head for that room that was asking for this stone."

 

 

With an open mouth, the young Spy nodded his head with anticipation.

 

 

"But, I have to log out for now. I'm gonna update my private army about our progress in the labyrinth."

 

 

Espion looked confused.

 

 

"How can you tell them when you're inside here with me?"

 

 

"I'm a Sonstwelter, remember? I have only one Sonstwelter friend that I can trust, and She'll spread the news to the rest of our members."

 

 

 

 

Nash got out of the gamepod and was pumped to continue on. However, he knew it was necessary to take his scheduled break, and get some shut eye.

 

 

There were numerous times that Nash wasn't able to keep up with the strict schedule of the Uberman sleeping pattern.

 

 

In those times his head felt heavy, and his nose bled a little. He endured through those ailments and played on inside Zectas.

 

 

However, whenever his scheduled time to sleep appeared. He would often be in a situation where his adrenaline was high, and it was almost impossible to calm his mind.

 

 

Before he would try to go to sleep. Nash performed the meditation method that grandmaster Cacoy taught him with eskrima. He also drank a glass of warm milk with nutmeg and honey.

 

 

The warm milk was at mima Daphne's suggestion, and he was surprised that it really helped him meditate into a tranquil place.

 

 

TUN-TA-TUN-TUN-TUUN! TA-TA-TA-TA-TUUN! TA-TUN-TUN-TUUN!

 

 

Nash's unique alarm tone woke him up. He reflexively sat upright after he slept through the required amount of rest.

 

 

He quickly grabbed his cellphone. It was always in the same spot. Since, he only used it to check for the text of the manager of the game center.

 

 

As he picked up his phone to leave Sherry another voicemail, he was surprised to see that he received a message from her instead.

 

 

“Hey, Nash. It's really great to hear your voice… Yeah, everyone's worried about you. Especially Laernea, I think she might have a crush on you. I never knew Zectians could have feelings for Sonstwelters. Anyway I just called to tell you that we're all doing great. Your plan on securing the other villages and gathering more men worked. We've recruited 500 men already. 300 Farmers and 200 Fishermen. Although, there was one occasion where we were almost wiped out, but a friend came and rescued us. We've secured practically the whole area where the exit is suppose to be. So, we've got you covered. Hope to see you outside of the Labyrinth soon...”

 

 

Nash was smiling, but he didn't know what he was smiling about. He thought maybe it was simply because he heard Sherry's voice?

 

 

Their being addicted to Zectas made it impossible to see each other in the real world. They couldn't even catch each other on the phone.

 

 

However, he was still happy with their situation. He wasn't ready for anything beyond what they had now.

 

 

Nash made a quick recall of what he was going to say before he called Sherry's phone and left his voicemail.

 

 

After he updated Sherry with all the information he had gathered. He focused on a more important issue. His latest video feed in Zectas.

 

 

It was just four days since he uploaded the feed, and it was already at 119,921,267 views. This assured him of a check worth $10,000. He needed 200,000,000 views in order to get $15,000.

 

 

He needed $14,000 a month, for him to pay his grandmother's medical bills, his brothers' educational fund, his mortgage on the house, and for their day to day expenses.

 

 

Nash still had ten days before the video feed cycle ends. It was still a long way to go before he could hit the needed views, but he was still optimistic.

 

 

He then checked on the longest thread in the official Zectas forum. A thread entitled 'Tristan vs. Amahan vs. Smoke'.

 

 

When Nash read that Amahan was dead last, he immediately wanted to know who was first between him and Tristan. He checked on Tristan's video feed views, and was dismayed when he saw that it was at 218,084,943 views.

 

 

He decided to check on Amahan's number of views and was disappointed that he was only ahead of him by around 50,000 views.

 

 

Nash took a deep breath. He needed to clear his negative thoughts, and decided to do some eskrima practice to clear his mind.

 

 

 

 

 

Smoke and Espion headed for the hidden room which required the stone of vision. Espion estimated the journey to take them four days at most.

 

 

The journey to the furthest room from the hidden air chamber kept on with Smoke and Espion's ongoing competition.

 

 

Smoke was impressed with Espion's tenacity. Even if he only made one kill shot to Smoke's ten, it still showed his perseverance, determination, and his progress.

 

 

They already spent two days of the four day trip. In the past days, Smoke had increased his level by one, while Espion increased his by two.

 

 

As they passed the central area of the labyrinth. The three krampus monsters that were out looking for Espion got a hold of his scent once more.

 

 

With Smoke and Espion's constant sprint competition, The DarkElf had gotten a sense of how to travel inside labyrinth in these past few days. He found his movement speed had a noticeable increase.

 

 

Then a window notification appeared.

 

 

Smoke eyes grew wide as saucers. He never knew that the Beggar's Adaptation had this kind of effect. He wondered if this was only exclusive to dungeon maps. This Zuchthaus Labyrinth was his first dungeon after all.

 

 

With the increased speed, Smoke thought he could almost match Espion's movement, but the young Spy was still ten meters ahead of him. Nevertheless, with this speed it was now possible to run away from the krampus monsters if they did encounter them.

 

 

Smoke wondered how it came to be. He checked on his ability list and found that his 'Agility of the Horned Rabbit' had increased its level. It was now at Advance level 5 with a bonus of +450 to Agility.

 

 

This made them out maneuver the three krampus monsters. Both Smoke and Espion ran for the nearest great hall. They needed to use the throng of monsters to block the three krampus' path.

 

 

The DarkElf used his Rzeka glaive as a pole vault and leapt across the feuding monsters of fire salamanders and crested newts. While Espion vigilantly leapt over their heads.

 

 

When they were safely across. Smoke decided to test his arrows against one of the krampus monsters. He used a poison arrow, a fire arrow, and an electro arrow to see which element the krampus were weak against.

 

 

All three arrows were in the same damage range of 1,200-1,400. Smoke decided to use the poison arrows if ever they needed to face the krampus.

 

 

However, a quick mental calculation based on his inflicted damage told him that he would need approximately two hours in order to kill just one of them.

 

 

There was no possibility they could win against all three krampus monsters at once. Smoke followed Espion as he ran into a tunnel.

 

 

Espion cleverly lost the krampus monsters behind. Smoke and the young Spy kept on their fast pace as they made sure to have a far distance between them and the krampus monsters.

 

 

As their journey proceeded, Smoke asked Espion to head to all the great halls, and monster dens. He told him that they needed to increase their levels and their battle compatibility.

 

 

The DarkElf also took all of Espion's weapons and equipment. He transmuted them with monster hides and the wolf spider's threads.

 

 

Espion's armor had increased its durability and defense. Smoke also increased the damage of Espion's throwing knives.

 

 

Smoke thought that they couldn't keep on running away from the krampus monsters forever. The four-day peregrination turned into a six-day training session.

 

 

Igniz was very useful as he served as a diversion when they fought against the monsters. The dark ember sprite also refined his firewall creation, and turned it into a blinding wall of light. Which gave Smoke and Espion their needed space to regroup.

 

 

Smoke had minimal improvement in terms of level increase. He only raised his level to 94. However, he wasn't after his personal training.

 

 

For them to have a chance against the krampus, he needed to have a decent party member. What Smoke truly wanted was to raise Espion's fighting ability.

 

 

Espion was only at level 82 when they met, but now he was at level 87. The young Spy was able to dodge up to eleven monsters at once.