The Moe Cafe and the Terror of Zomok

"Hey guys. We've been taking Basic and Mid Level quests for months now. Isn't it about time to go higher up? I mean, we're close to achieving Spirit Level. We just need a good quest that will get us all the XP we need to get to the Spirit Level." Said Nux.

"He's right. We need to increase our levels as soon as possible. Verkonis can come back anytime." Said Johnny.

"Yeah. And let's not forget our classes. We need to improve those too." Said Dono.

"Well, how about this quest?" Said John looking up at a the quest board.

"Defeating the anti-human terrorist organization led by the former Ogre general, Mero." Said Tekking as he read it out loud.

"I've heard of him before. Isn't he the Ogre general that went rogue and tried to assassinate the Ogre king for making peace with the humans?" Said Animak.

"Yeah. That's him. Heard he's an Angle Level. And quite a strong one at that. But I think we can take him." Said Hirito.

"Hmm. It's gonna be a tough one. But based on my calculations, if we take out this organization along with Mero, we should easily be able to go up a level and class." Said John.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's get moving." Said SOS.

"It's settled then. Let's take it." Said Recon.

The ten took on the quest and set out. In the guild, Gigguk, Aki and Mastar were talking amongst themselves about the ten.

"You think they're gonna be alright?" Asked Mastar.

"That I don't know. Truthfully speaking, anything can happen." Said Mastar.

"If they manage to come back with it, then we will be one step closer to defeating Verkonis once and for all." Said Gigguk as he touched his sword.

*****

"So where are we heading to?" Asked Johnny.

"Apparently their hideout is located in the Dark Whispering Peaks." Said Recon.

"Awesome. Doesn't sound creepy at all." Said Hirito.

"But giving who Mero is, wouldn't this whole quest be the Ogres' job? I mean, he tried to assassinate the Ogre king after all." Said Animak.

"That's true. But with time he became a huge threat to both humans and ogres. After fleeing the Ogres, he has been raiding both human and ogre villages and towns. The reason why he turned his hatred towards his own people was because they all turned against him. He felt betrayed." Said Briggs.

"That's terrible. But that's an even bigger reason of why he should be considered an international threat and be taken out by both the Ogres and humans." Said Dono.

"They have done that. But he has defeated and repelled every attack sent their way." Said Briggs.

"So seeing how they couldn't deal with him, they left it up to the adventurers to take him out?" Said SOS.

"Looks like it." Said Hirito.

"Great. We have to take out an enemy that not even two whole nations could." Said Evan thinking about the battle that was waiting for them.

"Aww. Don't tell me you wanna chicken out." Said Nux.

"M-Me?! Chicken out? Who do you think you're talking to? I could take him out without breaking a sweat."

"Hear that guys? Evan said he wants to take on Mero alone." Said Nux.

"Really Evan?" Asked Tekking.

"What?!" Asked Evan.

"Wow. You must be really strong then." Said Recon.

"Thanks a lot Evan. I was actually pretty scared to face him." Said Animak.

"Yeah. Now I don't have to worry about anything if you're there" Said Dono.

"Hey! I never said that I will be fighting him alone."

"Oh but didn't you say that you could take him out without breaking your sweat?" Said Nux, teasing him.

"Shut up Nuxy!" Said Evan as he started to chase Nux.

The ten kept walking for hours. Even though they could fly pretty decently without the spirits' help. But they wanted to save as much magic as possible for the upcoming battle. Because from the information that they got about Mero and his organization, he would be a very tough opponent to beat. Especially since they decided to not rely on the spirits too much. Not to mention their spirit transformation. To get to the Dark Whispering Peaks it took them two days.

"We're almost there guys. Let's go over the plan again." Said Animak.

"So like we discussed, Hirito, Tekking and Animak will be the ones up front. They'll be our main defenses while Evan, Recon and I will be the ones who will be attacking. SOS and Johnny will create a dark mist that won't look too out of the ordinary in order to distract the enemy. Nux and Dono are gonna go into the enemy's base via Nux's Shadow Movement and cause some chaos and make them chase them here. Once they are in range, Evan, Recon and I will ambush them. I'm one hundred percent sure that Mero won't come out. He'll just send his men to take us out. Once we're done with them, we go and take out Mero together. All good?" Said Briggs as he explained the plan.

"All good mate." Said Recon.

"Let's get ourselves an Ogre." Said Dono as he stood up, ready for action.

They once again set out towards the Dark Whispering Peaks. As they got closer, they started to feel an ominous presence.

"Something's not right." Said Hirito.

"Yeah. I sense danger." Said Tekking.

"Surely is just the atmosphere of the Dark Whispering Peaks." Said Johnny.

"Yeah. I don't know. Let's just get this done and go. Nux, Dono, you're up." Said Briggs.

"Right. See you guys in a bit." Said Nux as he and Dono got into the shadows.

"Alright guys. Remember the plan. Just follow it and everything will be alright." Said Briggs. "SOS, Johnny, get the mist ready."

Just then, Nux and Dono come back out of the shadows in a huge hurry. Both their faces were pale.

"What happened?" Asked Evan.

"Are you guys okay?" Asked Animak.

"Y-You g-guys have t-to see this." Said Dono.

The rest just looked at each other and wondered what could have scared the two so much. They all followed Nux and Dono into the shadows and were taken just outside Mero's base. When they got there, they realized what scared Nux and Dono. Right there in front of them was nothing short of a massacre.

"What the hell happened here?!" Asked Johnny taking a step back.

"Who could have done this?" Asked Animak.

"Guys. Look." Said Hirito as he pointed to a corpse.

"That's..." Said Tekking, but was too shocked to finish.

"That's Mero." Said Briggs.

"That's him. He looks just like the wanted poster." Said Nux.

"Do you think someone else could have gotten here before us and taken them out?" Asked SOS.

"I don't think so." Said Briggs.

"What do you mean?" Asked Evan.

"Look around you." Said Briggs.

Everyone started to look around and soon realized what Briggs was referring to. There were claws and teeth marks everywhere. Not to mention that the whole area looked like it was affected by a strong storm.

"Oh hell no. What kind of beast could cause all this?" Asked Hirito.

"Well, I for one don't want to stick around to find out. I say we get out of here." Said Nux.

"I second that. Let's get out of here." Said Evan as he began to leave. "It's best that we don't alert what...ever...did...this." Said Evan as he looked back towards his friends. His face grew pale like never before and started to sweat buckets.

"Hey Evan. What's wrong?" Asked Johnny.

"Are you okay?" Asked Dono.

"Behind...you." Said Evan as he took a step back.

They all turned around to see what got Evan so scared. Once they saw, they finally understood. Their minds were telling them to run, but their bodies wouldn't move. They were filled with terror. Right above them was a giant, red serpentine dragon. Clouds that were shooting out lightning was surrounding it.

"Everyone, do not move a muscle." Whispered Recon.

"Does that look like a dinosaur to you?" Asked Hirito.

"Guys, just back away. Slowly." Said Animak.

They all followed Animak's instructions and began to move away. But just when they were about to take the first step, a lightning bolt shot from the dragon's cloud and struck the ground right behind Briggs.

"Why does it seem to be staring at me?" Thought Briggs to himself.

"Looks like it won't let us go that easily." Said SOS.

"So what now? Do we fight it?" Asked Nux.

"Fight it?! Are you crazy?" Said Johnny.

"Nux is right. We can't leave without a fight. Or at least a distraction." Said Briggs.

"Well, we're dead." Said Evan.

"Mama. Thank you for bringing me into this world. I mean, the other world." Said Dono.

"Okay guys. We all trained these past few months. And we are stronger than the average High Levels. If we fight together, we will win." Said Briggs.

"Go power of friendship." Said Hirito sarcastically.

"This is what we'll do. First we distract him with a dark mist. Dark World should be good enough. After that, we all split up and attack from different sides and try our best to move away from it as fast as possible." Said Animak.

"Okay. Sounds good." Said Briggs.

"Good luck guys. And don't die." Said Tekking.

"On three. One. Two. THREE!!!" Said Animak as he signaled everyone.

"DARK WORLD!!!" Shouted everyone.

By casting that spell, they managed to distract the dragon long enough to split up. They surrounded that dragon and based on Animak's plan, they started attacking it while retreating. It seemed to have been working as the dragon was constantly being distorted by the mist and the constant attacks coming from the ten.

"It's working! Keep going!" Shouted Recon.

Suddenly, the dragon stopped moving. The cloud around it started growing. The cloud then left its body and covered the sky. A huge gush of wind came out of nowhere and cleared away the effects of Dark World.

"What?! That's impossible. That was pure dark magic. Dark World can't be stopped unless the caster stops it or a greater magic attack cancels it out." Thought Briggs to himself.

"Everyone, don't bother attacking anymore! Just run!" Shouted Animak after noticing the cloud.

The cloud grew bigger and bigger. Soon enough it started shooting out lighting strikes towards the ten. They tried to dodge as best as they could, but it was impossible to dodge all of them. Dono, Tekking, Recon and Evan ended up getting hit.

"Johnny! We need your Sanctuary skill!" Shouted Hirito.

"I know, but dodging all this lightning is making it hard to get to them." Said Johnny as he was dodging the attacks with everything he got.

The dragon let out a huge roar which attracted everyone's attention. The lightning attacks stopped. The cloud around him started to get bigger. So big that it seemed to have covered the entire sky. Soon after, tornados started forming around the ten, cutting off their escape route.

"Damn! We're closed in." Said SOS.

"Tornados too? It can't be. Is it really him?!" Thought Briggs to himself.

"Nux! Can you get those four to Johnny with your Shadow Movement?!" Shouted Animak.

"I'll try! Just keep that monstrosity off my back!" Said Nux as he made his way to each of the four.

The dragon ended up noticing him. It then opened up his mouth. They all stared at it as it was gathering magic in its mouth getting ready to let out a huge blast.

"We're so dead." Said Hirito.

"Everyone! Do your best to dodge!" Shouted Animak.

"Guys, if this is it, just know that I love you all very much." Said Nux after bringing the last of the four to Johnny.

The dragon seemed to have finished gathering up magic and turned towards the ten and got ready to fire. But just as he was about to, the dragon stopped. The dragon closed its mouth and together with with the cloud, it stopped attacking the ten.

"Zomok! Stand down!" Shouted Briggs as he stood in front of the dragon.

The other nine just stared at Briggs in shock.

"Briggs! Are you crazy?!" Asked Nux in shock.

"Don't worry guys. Leave this to me." Said Briggs. He then walked towards the dragon. "Zomok! Once again I ask you to stand down."

At that, the dragon let out a small growl. The tornados stopped and the cloud soon started to shrink back. Then the dragon flew back down and set itself right in front of Briggs.

"It has been a while since anyone has called me by that name." Said the dragon.

"T-T-THE DRAGON TALKED!!!" Shouted everyone.

"I read about you. You are the dragon Zomok. The one that rules over the weather of this world." Said Briggs.

"Yes. You are quite informed. And brave as well if I must say." Said the dragon. "Not many stood before me and lived to tell the tale."

"I knew how amazing and powerful you really are. I read about you. And I know much more than just your dragon name. You go by another name. The Holy Sword Terium."

"The holy what now?" Asked Hirito.

"Does that dragon look like a sword to you?" Asked Johnny.

"You are correct. My true from is that of the Holy Sword Terium. One of the ten great Holy Swords. You are but the second person to ever find that out. And also my second master." Said the dragon as he bowed before Briggs.

"MASTER?!!" Said the others in shock.

"You called me by my two names and posses the skill True Knight. These things are what qualify you to become my master and wield me in battle."

"This is insane." Said Evan.

"Oh you're awake now?" Asked Animak.

"It will be my honor to be your master." Said Briggs.

"Thank you master. From now on I shall always be by your side as your blade and guardian. Use me as you see fit. And as for the rest of you, you are all brave warriors. I look forward to fighting alongside you." Said the dragon. And with that, the dragon started shining in a blinding light. It then turned into a beautiful blue sword with a golden blade. "Master, whenever you need me to come out of the sword and into my dragon form, just call out to me and I shall be there."

"Thank you Zomok." Said Briggs as he held the sword.

"And now he is a sword and the sword can talk." Said Recon.

"Well, it is a fantasy world after all." Said Tekking.

"Well, we managed to get one of the Holy Swords of legend that has never been found. So that's a huge plus." Said Dono.

"And we have a huge bonus to add to that. Check your levels guys." Said Animak.

"No way. I'm a Spirit Level now. And I have enough points to go up a class too." Said Hirito.

"Me too." Said SOS.

"I think we all do." Said Nux.

"Well then, I believe this is mission accomplished." Said Johnny.

"Try over-accomplished." Said Animak, patting Briggs on the back.

"Well then Moe Crew, why don't we head home?" Said Hirito.

"That sounds like a great idea. But what do we do about Mero here?" Asked Dono.

"Well, Zomok killed, right?" Said Tekking.

"That is correct. He and his men had the gall to try and tame me and use me for their own barbaric and selfish reasons. So I showed them what true terror feels like. You lasted longer than he and his men did." Said Zomok.

"Hear that guys? We're awesome." Said Nux.

"We sure are." Said Briggs.

"Come on. Let's go home. Melody and the others must be waiting." Said Animak.