Summary: Maple Story, The Swordsman Zoro sees the danger that awaits him in the Zakum Dungeon.

AN: This is my first story, comments appreciated =)

Zoro looked up at the monolith entrance that was the Zakum Dungeon. The stories he had heard as a child loomed over him as he took a loud, “gulp.” He turned his head slightly to look at those with besides, his teammates that, like him, had trained and trained to get to this place. He admired and envied their strength and courage as they one-by-one strode forward into the dark abyss of the cave. Zoro was the last one to walk slowly into the cave, taking in the numerous warnings and cave painting that surrounded him. Suddenly, he heard a loud scream that came from the party that was now a good ways ahead of him.

Zoro raced ahead to see what all the commotion was, only to find that one of the ranger girls, Nami, had gotten spooked by a large, hideous bat. Zoro thought it looked something like the Balrogs of his past trials. A nearby magician of whom Zoro did not know lit up the cave with a marvelous blue light that shone with power of 20 torches easy. Now they could all see the cave was full of the bat-like creatures, also known as Stirges. Harmless to a party of their stature, they continued quickly, weary of their surroundings.

The party soon came to realize that they seemed to be going in circles, their tracks marked by crescent shaped circles carved out by the party assassin with his steelies. Zoro had heard a lot about the assassins that came from Maple Island. They were said to be quicker than the Lupins of Florina Beach and more deadly than the Balrog itself. He stared at the assassin dumb-foundedly, almost as if paralyzed. This was his first meeting with an assassin, seeing as few dared to tackle the challenge of actually becoming one.

“What are you looking at?” The assassin said, now realizing that Zoro was staring straight at him with a stupid look on his face.

Zoro turned away quickly and apologized under his breath, embarassed by his mistake. Continuing on, the party straightened out their path and they all knew they were indeed close to the chamber of the monster Zakum. Stories told to children to steer them away from becoming a member of the Maple Army described Zakum as a huge stone beast who would stop at nothing to see blood and bones before him . Many people were in fact turned away from the army by these stories and most became merchants or warehouseman.

While looking down at his feet, Zoro seemed to have missed the big gate that lie before them, as the party let out a large sound of awe and wonder.

“My friends, and teammates, this is the moment we have waited for all our lives!” the leaders voice booming throughout the cavern. “Are you ready to risk your life for the protection and future of the people you have so bravely fought for in the past!?” Everyone let out a low and hopeless “Aye.” “I cant hear you!” The leader said with a look of disapproval on his face. “AYE CAPTAIN MORGAN!!” the party now shouted, lively once again.

As they continued into the next room , shouts and screams of disgust were everywhere. Piles of bones of the people who had challenged Zakum before them were strewn across the room , some looked half-chewed and broken.

The screams had done it too, they now heard a large rumbling sound coming from the center of the room . A small circle tablet opened in the ceiling, letting a small beam of light enter the room. The light revealed what was what the stories had described, a large statue-like behemoth of granite and lava now looked down upon them. On each side were 3 arms massive enough to hold 3 men. The base of the monster had a lower portion that consisted of two small hands holding a tablet with ancient writing, which most likely allowed Zakum to call on the powers of thunder and fire and summon his demon servants from hell. The upper portion contained a head with gruesome teeth made of stone set in a mouth large enough to swally 2 people whole –with ease. It was two sets of eyes that he stared at the anxious party before him. Atop of his head sat a gold crown like figure, amplifying the look of power and grandure the monster already displayed. Now, it was time to showdown.

The Battle Begins

Suddenly Zakum started flailing its arms with tremendous speed and power, so much that the whole cavern shook as if in an earthquake. Coming out of what seemed like an age-long daze, Zoro quickly looked around him at his party members. What he saw looked a stampede of wild, untamed horses. He saw what the might of a party of fully trained archers, assassins, warriors, and magicians looked like. He swelled up with a pride, running in for his first slash at the beast. It wasnt long before he was hit, the feeling of extreme pain surging through his body. What followed was something strange, a feeling of power and excitement ran through every vein in his body. He soon realized what he feeling was the healing ability of a powerful cleric. Without clerics there would be no Maple Army, everyone learned when they signed up. Clerics were in every party, everywhere. Their constant power to heal wounds was one of the biggest factors in keeping up a parties health -and morale.

“Thanks!” Zoro shouted, excited as he was to feel the strange effect of the cleric’s healing.

Angry that he had stopped fighting the cleric yelled “GET BACK IN THERE, DONT STOP FIGHTING!”

Zoro nodded his head and turned around to continue the fight. Warriors were the front line in the battle, located at the base of Zakum, while the Archers and Assassins were at top level, firing at the arms.

– – –

After what seemed like a lifetime, Zoro looked up at their progress. What he saw was devastating. Out of his party of 20, only 8 remained. The arms of the beast had been destroyed, the remainder of the parties focus now on the main shaft. The only thing the monster could do now was call in his many servants, all of which were killed instantly. Feeling the battle was now coming to an end, the parties morale was now revived and they continued on with full strength. After a short while, the beast stopped moving completely, the cavern now dull with silence. It didnt take much to for the party to realize, they had won.

To finish it off, Zoro slammed the now seeming pile of rocks with a blast so hard he stumbled to his knees. What was in its place was one, small, stone pebble. He limped over to the stone, picked it up, and gripped it tight.

“VICTORY!!!!” he shouted, holding the remaining pebble up, the party now cheering and shouting in joy, and some disbelief.

They had succeeded where hundreds before them has failed. They were victorious. Their names would be remembered throughout history as the ones who defeated Zakum and ultimately saved the island of Ossyria from complete destruction.

If you managed to actually read all this, I appluade and thank you.

– Dedicated to my friend Airielle for (somehow) inspiring me to write what is in my opinion, my first masterpiece =P Also in rememberance of the first party in Bera server that took on and defeated the mighty Zakum and won.

** – If you are interested in what the Zakum beast really looks like and what a real party fighting Zakum looks like, go to link and at the very top is the link to open the videos. I recommend the two videos “Zakum Death” and “Awesome KMS Zakum”