Starting from Zero Volume 4 Chapter 25

Book 4, Chapter 25

The Tank

           Different from other Iron Beetles, this thing has a pair of highly developed fore limps. And they're obviously weapons! They have been folded close to the beetle's chest part until we see them.

           They're long. The outer part has a structure like a bone hammer, and the inside is sharp, jagged blade. They are like mantis scythes equipped with hard rock!
　　
　　   The knight leader was knocked away by that hammer part. And now the limbs are completely stretched in front of us. The hammer is located a bit below the pointy tip. A stab of that thing could prove lethal.

           The beetle rubbed its two limbs against each other like knife and fork, as if someone is planning to enjoy a feast!
　　
　　    I recalled Dart and Night Shade. They won't help here. Phiona is down, so she's out. And only 7 out of 10 Phantom Knights...

           This is not good.
　　
　　   "Attack!"

           The beetle slashed the scythe at me. I dodged it by putting myself against the ground, but the other one stabbed downward and there's no way I can avoid this one!

            Loong'er dropped from above and entangled her own body onto the scythe. Then she began to release electricity. I didn't expect she can do that kind of move like a shock eel.
　　
　　    Rosa released dozens of tentacles and wrapped them around the beetle with several layers. Some of them pulled on its six legs. 　　
　　   

            Lucky lunged and sunk his fangs into where the beetle's head is connected with the body. It's the only part without any hard sh.e.l.l. Usually that spot is not easily reached since the beetle can hide it by raising its head. He revealed that weakness because of all the distractions.
　　
　　    The Phantom Knights all went up with their lances. These experienced fighters are good at picking out vulnerable parts--they stabbed at the joints on the legs which are less protected compared to elsewhere. 　　
　　  

           I crawled up and pressed my dragon lance against the beetle's head.

          "[Heart Piercer]!"

           Boom! I was knocked away by the blast power of my own skill.

           The beetle suddenly raised. The first one to get hurt is Rosa, all the tentacles were torn up one after one!

           Then it retracted its scythes. Loong'er got locked inside the blade and shrieked in pain.

           Her voice stopped soon. With a Snap! The beetle completely closed up its fore limbs, slicing Loong'er's body into several pieces. Golden blood showered down on me and the knights who were trying to help her.
　　
　　    My heart stopped for a bit. I know they can be revived but...this hurts.

           Before I can react, the scythes bounced open again. The bone hammers knocked away two Phantom Knights as if they're toy figures. I tried to catch one of them and was then sent flying by the enormous force as well. Thank G.o.d the sand is soft so the landing didn't hurt us further.
　　
　　    Lucky has completely climbed onto the beetle and won't release his bite. The beetle tried to reach for Lucky but realized his limbs aren't long enough. It shook violently, without success, so it can only jump and spin in place.
　　
　　    Maybe it knows I'm the master of Lucky so the beetle simply charged at me again. That giant body, added with Lucky's weight, is now causing an earthquake. The Phantom Knights tried to distract it from behind.
　　
　　    I heard Phantom's voice. "Don't worry master. Loong'er is coming back soon!"

            A dark cloud appeared in the sky and Loong'er emerged from it. I forgot about Phiona's special skill which is shared to everyone. We can get revived for once! Watching Loong'er die like that really disrupted my mind.
　　
　　    "Master! Can I use my new skill?" Loong'er talked to me while swimming in the cloud.
　　
　　    "What skill?" 　　
　　 

            "[Heaven Storm]!" 　　
　　 

            "What does it do? Nevermind just do it!"
　　
　　    She went back into the cloud and disappeared. The piece of dark cloud grew bigger, until it covered a huge area of the sky above our heads. I think this can be a good move when I want to escape from the harsh sunlight!
　　
　　    Rolling thunder came from the cloud, then a lightning came down and hit the ground. It's pretty far from the beetle, so the skill's accuracy is poor?

            I'm wondering if we can hit the beetle at all when more lightening pillars appeared non-stop.

           Holy cheese 'n' rice! This is literally a "thunder storm"! Countless lightening strikes rained down from the cloud and swept through the entire battlefield, hitting everything inside including me and my team.
　　
　　    Thankfully the spell doesn't hurt friendlies. Electric arcs ran all over my armor but I'm not feeling anything.

           On the other hand, the Gold Beetle is now burnt into a ladybug with G.o.d knows how many spots.

            Lucky is still hanging on the beetle's neck. I can see Lucky's HP almost empty.
　　
　　    The dark cloud didn't go away when the lightening stopped. Instead, large water drops began to pour on us. A rainstorm followed the lightening attack, a big one! I'm surprised when I see my HP bar getting filled up, same for my team. The rain can heal us!
　　
　　    As a plant, Rosa must loved the weather. His damaged tentacles all recovered. Numerous of them emerged from the ground and wrapped onto the beetle again.

           The immobilized beetle started to draw in air, and its belly is growing. It's going the breath fire again!
　　
　　    I called everyone to retreat. Lucky should be safe for now, since the beetle won't be throwing that fire onto its own back.

           The beetle stopped breathing. But it didn't use fire, it let out a greenish fluid instead.

           The first victim is Rosa again. The liquid melted most of the tentacles in an instant like strong weed killer!

           A Phantom Knight was knocked into the attack. His armor immediately disappeared! I quickly unsummoned him. This is bionic acid d.a.m.n it!
　　
　　    All the knights ran away from the terrible attack. Their armor can be restored after some time but their lives cannot. It's not wise to keep fighting upfront now.
　　
　　    When I'm un-summoning all the knights, the beetle turned its head and brought the acid stream towards me! There's no time to avoid. The only thing I can do is to lower my mask and cover my face.

           The green, viscous slime engulfed me for good. I heard some "fizzzzz" sound. Then I lifted my hand and checked. Weird, apart from all the smoke, I'm not receiving any damage.

           I looked at my equipment durability. Nope, nothing.
　　
　　    "Ah-ha!" I cried in joy. The Dark Dragon Lord armor is immune to acid! Which means the beetle's last resort can't hurt me at all!

           Wahhahaha! Meet your doom today, bug!!
　　
　　    The attack stopped. I don't know if it's because the beetle realized my resistance or it used up its liquid stock. But it didn't give up. It followed up with a green flame attack. This time I intentionally took the attack head-on.

           0 damage!
　　
　　    Poor bug. Your breath weapons all aren't gonna work.

           The beetle then began to rotate that strange looking mouthpart. I saw two holes hidden under it.

            Bam!

            I was then knocked flying by a great force. My HP dropped alarmingly. Two more hits like that will kill me!
　　
　　    "Phantom! What was that?"
　　
　　    "I don't know. Maybe the hammer?" 　　
　　   

           "No. That thing can't reach this far!"
　　
　　    Loong'er spoke from above: "I think it spit something from its mouth. But I didn't see it."
　　
　　    Phantom added: "Rosa said he sensed something flying just above the surface!" 　　
　　  

            The beetle's belly grew and shrank. I'm blasted away again. I saw it this time! The b.a.s.t.a.r.d can use air cannon. Those holes must be its nose or something. It compresses the air inside its body and releases it with great speed. And it's powerful!
　　
　　    When I'm getting ready to dodge a third air shot, that ruby flashed again. It's going to use its laser weapon instead.

           Oh come on, this thing's a freaking mobile artillery battery! It's acting more and more like a real tank!
　　
　　    The beetle didn't actually use any of the weapons. It began to dig the sand and...went underground! The hole was quickly covered up by the surrounding sand. Lucky can't survive underground so he could only give up his position and flew into the air. Now our only effective damage won't work!
　　
　　    "Rosa! Give me its position!" 

           Can this fight become more complicated?? Jesus.
　　
　　    Before Phantom can translate Rosa's message, the sand in front of us rose, then the ground shook. A stream of dark green liquid sprayed out and soaked a large area of sand.　
　　  

            I don't need Phantom to tell me now cause I saw it from the system. Rosa was easily killed by the beetle! So the green liquid was Rosa's blood!

            I de-summoned the revived Rosa. He'll only be killed again if he remains there.
　　
　　    A series of long needles suddenly emerged from under my feet. I rolled aside to avoid them. Another needle array immediately followed to where I landed. I opened my wings to dodge this time.

           This will be troublesome.
　　
　　    The beetle lost target and stayed motionless for a while, then needles erupted under one of the Phantom Knights. All the knights avoided the attack by turning into bats. 　　
　　   

           f.u.c.k. How do we attack this thing like this?? Rosa is our only member that can move underground and he can't do anything.
　　
　　    I summoned Phiona again. She looks better after the rest.

            "Can you set fire under the surface? The bug escaped there!"
　　
　　    "Let me try!" Phiona circled around in the sky for a bit and quickly dived into the sand.
　　
　　    The sand started to shift, and we can already see the surface turning red. The ground shook again. Then a b.u.mp appeared, followed by the beetle's giant body.

           "There you are stupid bug. Phiona, get out of there!" I recalled Phiona and prepared to confront the annoying enemy again.
　　
　　    Our team is pretty battered up but I can see from my Star Gaze that the beetle doesn't have much HP left now. Lucky did most of the damage by tearing up its neck. We're almost there!
　　
　　    Right. I should try to capture it after all these effort. I'm glad this idea came up in time or I'll kill it any time soon. 　　
　　  

           I concentrated my magic onto the gem on my forehead and summoned the Dragon Wasp swarm. I ordered them to attack anywhere on the beetle that looks soft. The beetle may be powerful but it doesn't have much to counter these tiny killers. It tried to use its air cannon, and it's like using artillery to shoot mosquitoes, just won't work. Looks like being big isn't all about advantage.
　　
　　    I watched as its HP dropped to about 20. The beetle is already having a hard time standing straight. I de-summoned the wasps as the beetle finally fell, then I asked Dart to hit it using plain attacks. Dart's Attack is not near enough to penetrate that Defense so he can only do 1 damage each time. And that's just what I needed.

           We stopped at 1 HP. Now there's no better chance to capture such an impressive companion.
　　
　　    After a dozen tries, the beetle turned into a green egg. I didn't hesitate to drop my blood on it. A pitch-black miniature Gold Beetle cracked the sh.e.l.l and crawled out. Oh shoot. It's black again. Every companion of mine is black except Dart. Actually Dart is only white on the outside, if I smooth his fur aside I'll see the black skin beneath. This demonize effect on me is a headache.
　　
　　    The beetle on my hand is only about a foot long. That's no problem since I'm sure it'll grow to its full size in the future. I named the little bug as [Tank], cause that's literally what it is! 

　　
　　    [Gold Beetle], rank level 900 (current level 0)

           Attack 100-200,

           Defense 200,

           Speed 100,

           HP 2,000,

           MP 500.

           Attacks carry poison effect.

           Talent skill [Strong Acid Spit], damage 120, causes continuous damage for 1,200 seconds.

           Physical Resistance 50%,

           Magical Resistance 45%. 　　
　　  

           That's not all its skills. Maybe I need to level it up to activate them. Should be easy enough. Companions level faster, it is usually my own level that restricts their levels in the end. And the fact that I always ask them to kill monsters for me only makes it more obvious.

           Now I think about it, I've already have a good number of companions. Lucky, Phiona, Loong'er, Night Shade, Phantom, Rosa, Dart and now Tank...That's 8 of them. My slot limit is 9. I should be careful with it. It's a good thing that everyone I captured so far turned out to be strong helper. I'm still relying on the Phantom Knights to soak most of the damage now but I think these Boss level companions will become the actual heavy hitters when I get my level high enough.
　　
　　    My private chat interrupted my thoughts. It's from...Merciless?

           "What's the matter?"
　　
　　    "I saw the quest done, and I already claimed the reward. Come here and I'll give you your share."

           Ohh, nice. Usually most people will just run with the spoil in such cases.
　　
　　    "You keep them. I'll just consider this as a level campaign. I got three levels in two hours! If I find more of these quests I can try go for the top of the rank."
　　
　　    "Well no!" He became...excited? "Come and take them. You did the whole quest, I don't want to just be a tour guide or something!"
　　
　　    "Huh. Wait for me then."

            I looked around the battlefield for any good drops. Nope. I spent some time searching around and only discovered all sorts of trash. There are over a thousand items lying on the ground, most of them are necklaces! Why the h.e.l.l did they only drop one type of equipment? Are those spiders fond of collecting necklace??

           Well shoot. I'm short on money anyway, so any reward is welcomed. I managed to pick up every single item thanks to my patience. That felt like a homeless scavenger. Owww, my back... (*)
　　
　　    Just as I'm finished, Merciless pinged me again.

           "What are you doing bud? Did you fall into another pit?"
　　
　　    "Very funny. I'm picking money!"
　　
　　    "Picking money?" 　　
　　   

           "Yes! The place is full of junk. Maybe 10 crystals or so."

            I can't help it. I owe people big time! I do have those money from selling the companion eggs but that's far from enough!
　　
　　    "You mean, all those monsters only dropped useless common equipment?" Merciless exclaimed in surprise.
　　
　　    "Worse. They are all necklaces, about 700 of them. All trash, as in, the likes that give you one bonus attribute point or two. The rest are random weapons or other parts with one or two bonuses. Not even one valuable piece."
　　
　　    Merciless's mouth fell open. "Wait wait wait you're not joking right? 700, necklaces??"
　　
　　    "Yeah. What's wrong? Let me see, small ones, big ones, colorful ones, for men and for women or for orcs. All kinds of them. I can give you a dozen or two for free if you want them."
　　
　　    "Well, I mean, just come back! I'll explain it in front of you."
　　
　　    "Alright." 　　
　　   

            I teleported to the station in the Far Land city. I sent Merciless a private chat to find out he's waiting for me at the city gate. He ran towards the station, panting.

            "You have recall scrolls? I thought you were going to come back on foot."
　　
　　    "Where's the NPC shop? I need to sell this mess." 　　
　　  

           "Wait." He sent me a trade request and put a companion egg, a champion badge and 10k crystals in it. "Take them!"
　　
　　    I glanced at the items. "I'll take the money, you keep the egg and badge."
　　
　　    He only took the egg off. "Just take them. I already earned big. I have my rules you know!"
　　
　　    "Okay then." I confirmed. The badge gives you +1 Luck and 10% HP regeneration speed. Not too shabby.

            "Here, have a necklace as a souvenir."
　　
　　    "However did you get this thing? I mean, you are carrying a whole bunch of them right?"
　　
　　    "Yeah, as I said, about 700 of them. All similar ones, they give you one or two attribute point bonus. Not very useful." 　　
　　   

            "NOT USEFUL??"

            Woah the dude's eyeb.a.l.l.s gonna stick out.

            "They give you BASE attributes! The points you set up upon character creation! Do you know how much actual bonus you'll get, with all the other multipliers??"
　　
　　    "Really?"

            I picked out a necklace with a "+1 Luck" and equipped it. All my base attributes became 14! Holy moses. This is almost Artifact level! (**)

            I'm rich! Thank goodness I didn't discard or sell them.  Looks like I know how to get rid of my debt crisis now!
　　
　　    Merciless watched as I giggled like an idiot. "Are you alright?"
　　
　　    "Oh, I'm totally fine!" I wiped my saliva clean. "Let's go celebrate!"

(*) It happened again. The author forgot his auto-loot bracelet. Please just ignore these logic bugs.

(**) The MC has something that modifies all his base attribute points to the same level as the highest one.