He could feel the effect of the poison coursing through his veins. His legs shook and gave up on him. In that split moment the chimera pounced on him like a cat and swiped him hard.
Tumbling through the air, he flew across the room. Zero coughed up blood. His eyes gleamed with life. He could feel his side throbbing in pain. Already a couple of patches of fur were gone.
"Tch. This is nothing. I have been through worse than this." He coughed up more blood.
Steadily getting on his feet, he pulled out small black-colored eggs. They were filled with flint that he had carefully ground into fine powder. It had taken him awhile to fill the eggs, but it was worth it. He was going to try out a new idea he'd thought up a day ago. All he needed to do was to detonate the eggs in his mouth at the right time after he spewed out his noxious gas. He worried about it possibly igniting in his mouth and blowing his brains to smithereens, but for some reason extremely hot things did not damage his mouth.
Gently stuffing the black eggs into his mouth, he carefully arranged the fragile eggs into rows in his cheeks. Right now if he looked in the mirror, he probably looked like a chipmunk that stuffed its mouth full with food.
The chimera and Zero charged forward at each other. They tore through fur and drew blood as they clashed. There were severe slashes on both their bodies, and large bite wounds covered the lion's head. They tumbled onto the ground trying to get the upper hand. Zero's aim was to tear off that wretched snake that bit him.
Rolling into a feral frenzy, Zero weaseled out of the chimera's grasp. He already felt a large bruise forming on his ribs. There were a couple of close calls where the snake almost constricted him to death. He loosened up the hold by furiously tearing at its skin with his jaws. Blue blood matted his black fur around his mouth.
With his claws, he slashed down upon the snake, severing it into two. In a roaring pain, the chimera slammed its paws across his face, and the eggs cracked in his mouth. Without realizing it, he swallowed the pieces of powdered flint into his stomach.
Zero's eyes widened as he realized what just happened. That was a horrible idea, thought Zero. His mind raced through many scenarios of what could happen next, but it was cut short by his stomach bubbling and gurgling. A noxious smell and smoke escaped through his nose as if his stomach was on fire.
Zero felt bloated and was about to hurl. Luckily his head was aimed towards the chimera. He blew a curtain of fire. The inferno blazed across the chimera's face, a storm of heat and smoke, burning all over its fur.
He looked upon the blazing chimera with his jaw agape. Zero was stunned.
Before he could give it a second thought, he felt another gurgle in his stomach. With the chance he was given he rushed in and blew another noxious flame onto the chimera. With quick strides he jumped in midair and pulled out small pieces of flint. One after another, like a machine gun, he ignited them and shot them toward the chimera.
The flints made a sound like firecrackers, and then a simultaneous chain reaction of explosions surrounded the chimera. Blue blood and patches of fur flew in every direction. Roaring loudly in pain, the chimera fell on the ground, lifeless. With it last dying breath, its chest caved in on itself as air escaped.
Panting loudly, Zero steadied himself. "That…took…a bit longer…than expected." He wheezed with every breath. Glancing around, he noticed a small pile of silver coins and monster items: things that he could either sell or use to create or upgrade items. There were also large canine teeth left behind by the dissipating burning carcass.
"Lucky." Zero whistled in delight. Scampering around like a cockroach, he quickly picked up the treasures and stashed them away.
"That was a workout." Zero wiped his sweat with his paw. He was satisfied with the outcome. Not only that, he leveled up three times. It was a great exercise. He didn't expect that being over level one hundred would make things this much easier. It was time to get back to Garrett.
#####
Zero pulled out the book with his paw and then gripped it in his jaw. He was only a couple of feet away from Garrett. Walking through the small passageway was a lot easier than when he was in his human form. A lot of players and NPCs stared at him while he was walking around in the library, and the rabbits were bent on kicking him out, but he dodged them.
Zero walked up to Garrett who was sitting in between the towers of books. Garrett's gaze was completely focused on the book that he was reading. Zero trotted up towards Garrett and dropped the book in front of him. With a loud thump, it landed perfectly between Garrett's legs. Zero sat down and looked up at him.
Garrett stopped what he was doing and adjusted his monocle. "A dog?" He peered at Zero.
"It's me, Zero."
"Is that really you? You look different. I swear I thought you were a human the last time I saw you." Zero's fur was missing in a couple of patches, but he didn't look too bad. A couple of cuts and blemishes, and a lightly bruised eye—it had been awhile since he'd gotten this beaten up. Zero ears flopped over as he tilted his head.
"You look quite beat up." Garrett looked upon Zero with a smile.
"Yeah. Well, you didn't tell me there was a chimera guarding the place." Zero pushed the book in front of Garrett. He was a bit annoyed that such vital information was not relayed to him. Possibly a good smack on his face would wake this senile rabbit, he thought.
"I'm surprised you succeeded. Most people would die upon meeting the chimera," said Garrett, surprised. He carefully picked up the book from the ground.
"So you're saying you sent me on a death run knowing there was a chance I could die? Wouldn't a little bit of a warning be of some help?" said Zero, annoyed.
"No. It was a test to see if you could pass. And you did splendidly." Garrett adjusted his broken monocle again. He peered toward Zero with interest and got up. He walked carefully around him to examine him.
"Ah, yes. Now I remember. Drrrezo Rrregalia," said Garrett, rolling his Rs. "I read about it somewhere a long time ago. Drezo Regalia is what you are," he said with glee.
"Wait. I'm Drezo Regalia? It wasn't a job?" Zero raised his eyebrows. He thought he was going to get a cool-sounding job.
"A job?" said Garrett, appalled, "You call Drezo Regalia a job? This is your race we are talking about. You are the last remaining individual of an ancient race of humanoid dragons."
Zero mouth fell open. "Wait. A dragon? Do you see me as a dragon? I'm a fluffy creature. Where are my scales? My wings? I thought I was a werewolf or a giant fox-dog." Zero pulled on his skin to show him his fur with his paw and danced around to look at his back.
"Did you breathe your first fire? You should be that age right now." Garrett inspected Zero closely. Zero stopped what he was doing and looked at Garrett with wide eyes.
"Actually, I just did a while ago up at the top floor. I almost choked on flint," said Zero. His paws went up to his throat, hoping he didn't singe off patches of his fur.
"Flint you say." Garrett poked at Zero's stomach and then lifted his chin from left to right. He brushed his hands on Zero's fur as he let go.
"Interesting," murmured Garrett as he raised Zero's paws over his head. "Look at this." He lifted Zero's chest fur. "You have a small crystal growing on the middle of your chest, hidden underneath your coat." A golf-ball-sized crystal grew on his chest. It was an interesting mixture of black and gold swirling constantly together in a pattern. Garrett lightly tapped it with his fingers. It softly glowed golden.
"Interesting. Very interesting." Garrett tapped at it a couple more times. The crystal glowed brighter, pulsating like a heartbeat. "I must say this is truly unusual. I wonder what it is?" Garrett continued to tap at it harder. His face inched closer to it, trying to see what it would do. As he tapped it once more, the crystal fell off Zero's chest and hit the ground. A single pure sound echoed out.
"What did you do?!" gasped Zero, flabbergasted at Garrett's actions. His paws wildly patted at his chest. He felt an empty cavity where the golden black crystal had been.
"I'm going to die!" Zero swooned. He tried to steady himself. He stumbled around like a drunkard and fell. He thought he was already seeing the end of his life flashing before his eyes.
"Oh, quit your whining. I don't see death upon you," declared Garrett as he rolled his eyes. He hunched over and picked up the crystal.
"How do you know I'm not dying?" Zero eyes widened. He quickly sat up. His ears perked up and he looked upon Garrett as if he was crazy. He wished this insane rabbit would make sense for once.
"I can see when someone is going to die. Right now there is nothing. You're healthy as a buck." Garrett dismissed him. He closely examined the stone that he picked up.
"Fascinating. It's truly fascinating. If you don't mind I would like to study this crystal more. I will surely give it back the next time you come by. It might take a bit of time though." Garrett's eyes sparkled with the possibility to find out something new.
"Are you sure I won't die?" Zero looked at him suspiciously. He knew this old rabbit was a loony, but after checking his status menu there wasn't any difference in his health or mana. It was like it was meant to fall off.
"Yes. Yes," Garrett quickly said. He twirled it under the light. Dazzling sparkles of gold and black light cascaded down upon the floor. Garrett turned towards Zero with a wide grin.
"I wonder if you have more." Garrett's stepped towards him as if he was some new specimen that he had to decipher.
Just as he was about to pick up Zero's tail, Zero yelled out, "Hey! Hands off." Giving him an evil glare, Zero snatched it out of Garrett's hands. Zero held onto his fluffy tail and stroked it. Nobody was going to come near him to check him from behind. He did not like how dogs sniffed his behind when he was in his origin form. He'd had to whack a couple of them away from him in the past.
"After you find out what it is, you need to tell me right away. Got it?" Zero asked with a bit of suspicion. That small crystal was a part of him. He was a bit worried that it might be something like his heart, or worse, a part of it. He shuddered. "Let me look at it." Zero opened his paws towards Garrett. Garrett placed it on his paw.
An automatic message appeared before him.
Krustallos
A magical crystal that is formed throughout one's age. A source of power that dissipates when used. It can be detached without harming the owner of the crystal. No other information is known.
Zero handed it back.