Lake Region - An hour prior

Endel found himself kneeling on the shore of one of the islands that littered the area he found himself in, holding the [Glow Stone] over the ground with one hand as he used the other to pick through the piles of [Fire Agate] that they had retrieved to find the one in specific that they were looking for. The player known as [Aoili] to him had shown him what one looked like, the subtle differences between it and the others, but according to her there was about a 1 in a 100 chance of finding them.

So far they had found only one and he was starting to get bored. This led to him absentmindedly throwing the stones that didn't match what he was looking for into the lake next to him, as far as he could, to entertain himself. It was purely by accident that he hit a water mob and aggro'd it, pulling an [Lesser Axolotl].

The amphibious mob had a wide head and lidless eyes, resembling a cross between a walking fish and a lizard. It was roughly two feet in height and about the same across, coated in a slick black substance and bearing teeth as it opened its maw and charged up the shore towards Endel. Drawing his [Small Sword] he quickly engaged it, avoiding its sluggish charge and bringing the point of his sword across its torso.

From the long gash came a bluish-green ichor that spilled onto the shore as the mob gave a short death throe before it vanished in an explosion of pixels. The mob was weak, but it gave relatively decent XP for the lack of difficulty and the pop rate was fast since mere moments after it had been slain another marker appeared. His interest further peaked, Endel picked up another of the useless stones and tossed it at the marker, reeling in another one and dispatching it with just as much ease as before.

Seeing the opportunity to grind and pass the time, he repeated the process of spotting the distant makers that lurked in the water and slaying the weak mobs when they came to the shore of the island. He had paid no mind to his weapon, which had seen much use that day and had not been tended to, nor did he have any idea that for each one slain it added to an event counter. The invisible counter rose until it reached a threshold and the [Lesser Axolotls] stopped spawning completely for a moment, leaving Endel to toss the unnecessary stones to ease his reoccurring boredom until he saw one marker suddenly springing into existence and took a shot at it in haste, without noting that it was thrice the size of a normal marker.

That was when things went to hell as the marker shifted to hostile and a shriek emerged from the lake that reverberated throughout the area like a bomb being dropped as the fauna of the island shook along with the bones in the young boy's body. The water shifted, curving around the large creature as it raised its massive head out of the water and fixed its lidless gaze upon the target of its unrelenting aggression and gave another bone-shaking cry. The call seemed to reach all across the lake, and distant markers that should have been out of the pulling range suddenly turned hostile and amassed towards the largest of their kind as it began dragging its massive frame forward.

Aoili arrived from the green behind the young mere moments later, having heard the inhuman shriek. Witnessing the impending threat she inquired into what happened and he quickly confessed what he had done. She noted the name in the distance, [Ruin Axolotl], and that it had two health bars, indicating it was a serious threat, and grabbed the younger boy's hand and started to run. "Whether it's a [Flag Mob] or the [Field Boss] for the region doesn't matter, right now we need to get out of its range before it makes land!"

The pair made for the bridge connecting the island to the others and traversed it. The wooden planks groaned as the pair crossed, only stopping as their [Stamina] ran out as they made it to the end of the bridge. Both were panting as they looked back to see the [Ruin Axolotl's] hostile marker still growing closer as it traversed the water to reach them and was joined by the [Lesser Axolotls] that had answered its call as though they were [Adds].

"We have to keep moving!" Aoili claimed, only to snap to attention when hostile markers appeared from the fauna ahead of them and more of the weak mobs appeared to cut off their escape. Setting her hand on the hilt of her rapier affixed to her hip, she spanned the world in her view and noted that the numbers were sufficiently high. "It's a [Trap] after all."

Taking heavy breaths as his [Stamina] had yet to replenish itself and running was out of the question Endel drew his blade and charged at the ones to his front. The sword was swung with impudence, cleaving through the pair in his way as he said, "We'll have to cut our way forward! They're all really weak, so if we keep going we can make it!"

Unable to argue the point, the sound of her blade leaving her sheath was pronounced as she joined him in guarding his rear as they advanced in a straight line through the island, standing their ground once their stamina ran out and waiting until it filled again before sprinting ahead of the largest of the enemies that chased them. They made it across the second bridge in short order and faced more of the same, but there was only one more island to go and they would make landfall and safety.

With that in mind, Endel's grip on the handle of his sword grew tight enough that he could feel the worn leather that composed it eat into his skin. This was his fault. There was no doubt about that in his mind. After she went of her way to bring him along, all he did was make things worse.

He misjudged the effectiveness of his magecraft and she took a tusk in the back for him. He got bored when all he had to do was fish through the stones to find the one she was looking for after promising to help her, and then he started grinding XP instead. Now they were running for their lives because of him and all he could do was continue to swing his sword—

"Huh?" The sound of confusion came after the unmistakable noise of his [Short Sword] shattering into countless pixels as he brought it through the slimy body of another of the weak mobs. Coming out of his swing off-balanced at the sudden loss, Endel fell to a knee as, almost as if they were laughing at him, the [Lesser Axolotls] made a short and low gurgling sound as they advanced on the young boy staring at his now empty hand.

Aoili stepped in and struck them down in haste in response, standing over him as she checked the durability on her weapon. Behind pursed lips she gritted her teeth as she noticed it had sustained quite a hit and was nearing its end. Something was amiss, but there was no time to focus on that as another shriek shook her to her bones and she looked to the water to witness the [Ruin Axolotl] was nearing them, the speed at which it cut through the water had easily doubled as if some invisible condition had been met.

"Endel-kun," she called, snapping him out of his frightful gaze at the impending threat as she materialized the largest of the charged quartz she had in stock. "Use your magecraft to clear out the ones to our rear so we can keep running."

"Uh…right." Endel stood up and proceeded to summon up the lens that called forth the hoarfrost in controlled bursts, moving it with [Telekinesis] to run it along the incoming trash mobs that hindered their escape. The cold-blooded amphibians seemed to be extra susceptible to the effects of the ice, something he noted as he thinned out their ranks.

Taking largest quartz and utilizing the Throwing Skill, Aoili threw it. The luminous streak marked the path through which it cut through the air towards the impending mob before she snapped her fingers. It ruptured with a roar like dynamite and a flare of prana great enough that it was visible for a moment, like the star in the night, and the [Ruin Axolotl] made a pained noise as it sustained damage, perhaps one-seventh of its health taken.

But, despite the inflicted damage its gaze never left the young boy to her back. Aoili could only conclude that it had marked the original target of its aggression with [Hate], a similar situation to what she had heard from the fake boss of the fifth floor. If that was the case, if she could simply damage it enough to reduce its health to the second bar she could draw its ire and give him a chance to escape before she saved herself…

The thought died as quickly as it came once she spotted it health bar being replenished, regenerating as it crossed the distance. Doing the math of the remaining ten crystals she had and taking into account her weapon's durability as well as the additional mobs still approaching them, things looked grim but still manageable if she hit it with all of them at once. However, with a final shriek, there was no more time to think as the sensation of prana being pulled from the air and towards the advancing [Ruin Axolotl] made itself known. "It's using magecraft!?"

Water churned and gathered, piling onto itself at the entrance of its gaping maw as the prana melded with it and brought it under the creature's command. Bundled into a spiraling sphere that soaked in the water in its path, it launched towards the shoreline with impudence and ruptured upon hitting solid land, the prana holding it together releasing it and allowing it to return to its loose and spread natural state in a wave that came crashing down upon that pair.

Swept off her feet by the surge, Aoili's body ached as it caught itself against a tree and she let out a sharp cry as the impact slammed her shoulder against the unyielding wood that stood strong against her frail body. It hurt, pain radiating throughout her already sore and aching body with every breath as she gasped for air while writhing on the soaked grass at the base of tree. Gritting her teeth, she took hold of the pain and desperately pushed it aside to reach up for the pendant.

Taking shuddering breaths once she felt it was in her grasp, she allowed prana flow into it and be colored by it before she directed it towards the swollen and brushed flesh that was beneath the fabric of her clothing. Relief came quickly, the throbbing agony dulled as it did its work, and she let out a sigh of relief as she brushed the sopping wet hair clinging to her face out of her eyes.

That breath of relief quickly became one of despair as she and witnessed Endel struggling to get onto his knees as the creature entered the shallows of the island and its massive body emerged into clear view. Easily dwarfing them both, the [Ruin Axolotl] had the same shape as its lesser counterparts but was colored pale gold as it cast its shadow deep enough that it swallowed the young boy's as he desperately clutched near his chest, most likely having something bruised or cracked from the impact of the water slamming into him as well.

Ignoring how it hurt just to breathe, she yelled at the top of her lungs as she witnessed the elongated tail rise up to meet the moon above. "Endel-kun! Move!"

Only able to throw himself to the side in a desperate attempt to avoid being crushed, the massive tail came down like a hammer. His small and frail body was thrown backwards as it crashed down, the moist earth dirtying his clothes and such as he tumbled like a ragdoll. Looking to the corner, where their health bars were displayed, Aoili ignored that fact that she was in the Yellow Zone and instead focused on the fact that he was borderline red and he was barely moving as the enemy began to advance.

Time. She had to buy him time. Taking a deep breath and delving into her already active circuits, Aoili could only pray that the [Reinforcement] spell functioned as it was supposed to as she activated the spell and scooped up her rapier. As the spell took effect, she forced her body to move as fast as possible to intercept the massive creature before it could finish him off with the silver light of a Sword Skill illuminating her rapier.

Crossing the distance in five steps, leaped towards the [Ruin Axolotl] Aoili unleashed the skill [Linear] towards the lidless right eye. The blade plunged deep into the black sphere that was its eye, fluid leaking as it registered a [Critical Hit] and the mob flinched with a shriek of agony. Abandoning the blade where it was, Aoili continued to press forward and took cover in front of the young boy as the mob shook its head fiercely to loosen the wedged blade while its adds continued onwards.

Wasting no time, she materialized multiple quartz crystals of various sizes and qualities and tossed her payload in a spread. Letting them hit the ground before surging prana through the passes she had established before venturing out, the prana grenades ruptured along the wet and moist earth, throwing up clumps of the soil deposits and water that peppered the various amphibians alongside the hard fragment that were carried by the force.

The concurrent explosions served their purpose two-fold. Penetrating deep into the slimy flesh of the weaker [Lesser Axolotls], they sustained the most damage and their numbers were thinned as those within the closest proximity of the detonating gems were devastated by the shockwave and the shrapnel.

Grabbing Endel's body and holding him fast, Aoili ran into the fauna of the island to seek shelter while she had the opportunity to do so but only making it so far within as her stamina failed her upon reaching a large bolder that rose to twice their height. Clinging to the backside of the rocky protrusion and out of its immediate visual range, which she hoped was its primary sense rather than something like echolocation, Aoili went through her inventory and pulled up the [Concealment Amulet V.3] and materialized it into her right hand. Wrapping her fingers around it until they were closed tightly around it and holding the young boy tight against her, she uttered the words that served as her [Aria] to aid in her concentration as her circuits transferred prana into it. "S-Shroud!"

The words aid her as she cycled prana through the amulet and it then became a small shroud that wavered over their bodies like a second skin, slightly luminous as the prana that was colored by the amulet and given purpose. It worked steady as the [Ruin Axolotl] emerged from behind the outcropping and turned its head left and right. Aoili stilled her own breath, refusing to breathe until, despite being within its sight, they failed to draw its attention and it moved on further down the path.

Only then did she let out a deep breath as the [Reinforcement] spell gave out and pain once again lapped at her body.

-oOo-

2nd Floor Teleportation Gate – Urubus

"So we'll part here, said a young woman with a soft voice. With her body covered in a [Light Cloak] that fell to her shins and there was a [Steel Naginata] in her hand. "Will you be alright from here on, Sanda-kun?"

Wen Fukazawa, or [Sanda] as he named himself in homage to someone he looked up to, nodded. With a [Black Scarf] wrapped in a bundle over his shoulders and neck, hiding his mouth, he spoke reservedly with his voice somewhat muffled. "I…can't thank you enough for accompanying me…"

"You sure weren't much of a conversationalist, that's for sure," said the second figure, lifting the rim their [Straw Hat] to reveal a face belonging to an older man in his mid-twenties. Stubble was present on his chin and his black hair was in a ponytail. "Honestly, it felt like we were carrying the conversations ourselves."

"Sorry," Sanda apologized sincerely, his eyes downcast.

The older man set a strong hand on his shoulder and sighed. "I was jesting. Come on, you've got to stop being so feeble. Wasn't the reason you gained this Extra Skill was because you wanted to live up to someone else?"

"Still…" The young woman cast her gaze down at the [Iron Gauntlets] he wore, heavy-type equipment typically belonging as part a set of armor. They stood out compared to the rest of his equipment, which was all light armor, scratches and gouges on the metal around the knuckles. "Using the [Martial Arts] exclusively is a bit reckless isn't it. Are you sure you don't want to get a set of claw-type weapons instead?"

Sanda looked at his armored fists for a moment and thought. Ultimately, he shook his head. "To be like that person…I need to use my fists. If I hide behind a weapon…well, it would be the same as before."

The older man scrunched up his chin in thought before smiling and pulling down the rim of his hat to cover his eyes. Setting a hand on the [Steel Katana] affixed to his hip, he then said, "It's not like we can't understand that line of thought. Falling into the role of someone else was why we entered the game in the first place. All of the [Ronins] can sympathize with that much."

The young woman nodded as well, "True, but I can't help but worry. There were a lot of close calls to this point. "

"He'll be fine," the older man assured his companion. "He gained enough experience partying with us and practicing with [Reinforcement] to go from Level 2 to Level 8. Plus, he pointed out some good things that made the trip profitable for the duration of our stay at that hut. Then again, that's a Beta Tester for you."

"Well, I guess you're right…" Her expression of uncertainty vanished, replaced by warm smile again. "Just be careful. You're on our [Friend's List] so you can send us a message any time."

He gave single nod. "Farewell, Sakamoto-san. Nakano-san."

With that said he accessed the teleportation gate and was swept away from the second floor.

Part 3 - End