Ren made his way back up to his room, a plate of food in one hand and a bottle of juice in the other. He sat the plate down on his desk as he sat down, checking his e-mails on his laptop. He began aimlessly searching the internet as he ate his food. He clicked through a few various websites as he quickly finished his late night snack and downed his drink. He looked down at the time in the corner of the screen, it read eleven-forty.
"Twenty minutes until the event ends… good, I need some sleep," Ren said as he picked up his AmuSphere and placed it over his eyes. He climbed down onto his bed and closed his eyes. "Alright, let's finish this," he said as he took a deep breath, "link start!"
Chrome slipped out of his bed and equipped his sword and shield. As he stepped outside the house, he was greeted by a scene quite different to when he logged out. A heavy rain now fell across Lindas and he could see his allies running towards his house. They all had their weapons drawn and Chrome could now hear yelling coming from the centre of town. He looked up into the downpour and could see something over the rooftops, it appeared to be a dragon.
"Chrome!" Kotetsu called out as he reached the swordsman before Arcadia and Vakross. "The event boss is here, we have to kill it to get the rewards," he explained, looking over at the dragon as it began to take flight.
"It's certainly… big. Any idea on a level?" Chrome asked, looking at the massive monster.
"I heard someone say it's about level fifty-five," Vakross replied, twirling his katana around in his hand.
"I guess that means we shouldn't try to fight it head-on," Arcadia said, a worried expression on her face.
"Hey, we didn't come this far just to chicken out on this boss fight did we?" Chrome said, drawing Amethyst Edge. He pointed it straight at the dragon and continued talking. "There's no point in just standing around and letting everyone else earn our rewards for us. We decided to do this event to help us level up, if we don't help to kill this boss then what was the point of these last twenty-four hours? We're gonna go in there and we're gonna kill us a dragon."
"Not a bad speech coming from you," Kotetsu said with a grin. Chrome looked at Arcadia and Vakross who both had eager expressions on their faces. Without another word, the party set off for the centre of town.
When they arrived, Chrome looked at the massive dragon that everyone was fighting. Its scales were a pale green colour and its golden eyes were full of fury. Sparks off electricity crackled around its mouth as numerous players battered the monster with attacks. Chrome glanced just above it now where he read The Storm Breather and saw its four HP bars, the first one only just approaching half empty.
As Chrome looked around at the players he could see a few familiar faces. Lisbeth was crouched down behind a large chunk of stone, most likely waiting for her HP to regenerate. He could see Hakuya standing atop a house, launching attacks at the creature's wing with several other spear-users. On the ground he could also see Kurogane and his guild, battering the dragon's lower body with attacks.
"I guess for now, everyone's fighting together," he murmured. "Alright everyone, Arcadia and I will take point, Vakross and Kotetsu, you two be ready to switch in." Chrome and Arcadia charged forward, their weapons ready as they joined the fray. The Storm Breather swung one of its massive claws, sweeping several players off a nearby rooftop, only one of them surviving the attack and fall. Chrome's sword lit up and he jumped at the dragon, delivering a spinning slash that tore open a small gash in the monster's scales.
"Right there!" Arcadia yelled, following up his attack immediately. She jumped into the air and delivered a devastating swing of her axe that collided with the wound Chrome made, increasing the size of the gash.
"Cover me!" Chrome yelled to Arcadia as he crouched down beneath the dragon. Arcadia moved forward, delivering a series of heavy strikes to The Storm Breather's leg. The blade of the Amethyst Edge went golden as Chrome switched it to a reverse grip, his skill charging slowly. He heard a sound as his skill finished charging and he quickly unleashed his Raising Burst. Chrome landed on the ground after his attack finished and watched a small amount of the dragon's HP decrease.
"Chrome! We can't have Kotetsu and Vakross standing around doing nothing, we need to be dealing as much damage to this thing as we can!" Arcadia called out, crouching low and using her axe to block the sweeping tail of the dragon. Chrome nodded his agreement and moved out of the frontlines with Arcadia, moving back to their other party members.
"Time for us to switch already?" Kotetsu asked, twirling his dagger around.
"No, Arcadia figured it'd be best if you guys were attacking this thing as well, that way we're all dealing damage," Chrome explained.
"Seems like a fair plan to me, I was getting bored anyway," Vakross remarked, watching as Arcadia sipped at a health potion. "Do we have a plan or is it just go in and start swinging?"
"Not dying is a pretty good plan don't you think?" Arcadia asked. Vakross shrugged and the party turned towards the dragon.
"I can't afford to take any direct hits so I'm gonna try and help out with attacking its wings!" Kotetsu called out as he latched onto a ladder on the building behind him and began climbing. Chrome, Arcadia and Vakross all turned back to the dragon and began running towards the massive beast.
A long battled ensued as the large group of players slowly chipped away at The Storm Breather's HP bars. There had been thirty-seven players in Lindas when the event started. It was now eleven fifty-five and twenty-five still remained. As The Storm Breather was reduced to half of its final HP bar, the group of players went into a frenzy. Everyone charged in and began attacking, strategy went straight out the window.
Kotetsu stood beside Hakuya, the two sending flurries of blows into the right wing of the massive green dragon. Kotetsu delivered a quick five-hit aerial combo and Hakuya unleashed the combo he had used on Kurogane earlier. The boss' wing was ridden with holes, data pouring out from each one.
"Is this guy ever gonna go down?" Hakuya asked, jumping back and leaning on his spear a little.
"We've only got five minutes before the event ends, we need to hurry this up," Kotetsu muttered, crouched low beside the spearman. He glanced down at the force fighting the dragon on the ground and his eyes went wide. The Storm Breather's mouth opened wide and fierce lighting crackled around in its open maw.
"Well that looks like a rather bad thing," Hakuya said, taking hold of his spear.
"Everyone, get out of there now! It's going to use a breath attack!" Kotetsu yelled, running to the edge of the roof. Hakuya repeated the warning after him, hoping people heard it. The dragon pointed its head down and the static gathering in the area between the rows of buildings where people were fighting was enough to make people's hair stand on end.
There was a huge flash of light before the whole corridor formed by the buildings was engulfed with electricity. Kotetsu and Hakuya heard many screams as players were caught in the attack and killed. Kotetsu's eyes went to the top corner of his HUD. Chrome, Arcadia and Vakross' HP were all down in the red. The dagger user let out a sigh of relief.
"No time to stand around, we've gotta kill scales there before he can do that again," Hakuya said, walking to the edge of the rooftop, the rain hammering down on him.
"Do you have a plan for that?"
"I do. I didn't want to use this but right now I don't have much choice."
Kotetsu watched as Hakuya opened up his menu. His plain spear disappeared and in its place, a weapon that made Kotetsu's jaw drop appeared. It was a spear that was easily longer than Hakuya was tall. The shaft of the weapon was a majestic purple with two thin strips of gold running along its length. The base of the tip was made up of two lengths of pale blue metal twisting around each other and then joining together in a long and incredibly sharp point. The whole weapon seemed to shine and Kotetsu could tell with a single glance that was one high level weapon.
"What the…"
"The legendary spear used by Odin himself, Gungnir." Hakuya twirled the spear around, the air seeming to shimmer wherever the blade went. "Let's kill us a dragon," Hakuya said, a serious expression on his face.
Chrome slowly rose to his feet with a groan, leaning on his sword. He looked at his left arm when his shield had been a few moments ago. At the moment The Storm Breather had unleashed its attack he had dove into a nearby alleyway with Arcadia, Vakross and four other players. They had all managed to survive but had still been caught by the edge of the attack. Chrome glanced up at the corner of his HUD as he took several deep breaths. They had four minutes left.
"We can't sit here, we have to finish that thing off now," he said, standing up straight.
"Are you nuts? If we go out there in this condition that thing will slaughter us!" one of the players in the alley said with a slight shriek.
"But if we wait for everyone to fully heal we're going to run out of time and all of this will have been pointless," Arcadia said, brandishing her Axe of Fury. Chrome looked to Vakross and the katana user nodded. The three ran out to the dragon, two of the other players with them following. Chrome could see Lisbeth as well as Kurogane and four of his guild members. On the roof he could see Kotetsu standing beside Hakuya wielding a spear that he didn't recognise.
"Let's end this!" Chrome roared, charging forward with his sword in both hands. The remaining players let out a roar as they all began attacking furiously, the clock slowly counting down.
Arcadia stood with Kurogane and Lisbeth, the three of them using their powerful weapons to strike at already weakened parts of The Storm Breather, dealing heavy damage and opening up large wounds. Kotetsu leapt from the building, rain beating down as he did several acrobatic movements, delivering numerous blows to the boss as he fell. Hakuya crouched down on the rooftop, his eyes closed and his entire spear glowing white. Chrome and Vakross leapt up the body of the massive, wounded dragon, delivering strong blows as they went.
The clock hit eleven fifty-nine and the dragon's final HP bar fell into the red. Hakuya's eyes flung open and he rose to his feet, his Gungnir shining a bright white. "Let's see if grinding my spear skill to a thousand paid off," he said with a slight grin. He ran along the buildings away from The Storm Breather before turning and leaping off. He turned in mid-air, facing the dragon with his spear held back. "Infinite Spears!" Hakuya roared, launching his glowing spear like a missile.
Gungnir travelled through the air at incredible speed, heading straight for the massive dragon. Chrome watched as the immense skill took place. Before the spear reached the dragon it seemed to explode into a mass of spears made of light. The dragon let out a loud roar as the spears tore through its body. Everyone could only watch in awe as the sixty-hit combo struck home and dropped The Storm Breather to zero HP.
The boss gave one final roar before it shattered into shards of data and vanished. Everyone except for the members of the Death Blade Alliance ran over to Hakuya, thanking and congratulating the spear user. There was an explosion in the sky and confetti fell from the sky as the rain stopped. The word congratulations appeared in the sky and all of the players could hear a fanfare playing.
"Well, I guess since I just cleared the event for us I should get a reward," Hakuya said with a grin. He spun slightly and held a rose out to Arcadia, brushing his bangs from his eyes slightly with his free hand. "A date with an angel such as yourself will more than suffice."
"Not a chance," Arcadia groaned, turning away. There was a roar of laughter as Hakuya was shot down. Chrome sheathed his sword his sword and looked up at the small rewards screen that appeared on his HUD. He watched his level jump up by six and his Col drastically rose. He clicked on the item that was listed amongst the rewards. It was called Shield of the Storm. Chrome figured he would check it out later.
He looked around between his allies with a calm smile on his face. It had been a gruelling twenty-four hours but it had definitely been worth it. Not only had his level greatly increased, he'd earned a ton of money and he'd made a strong new friend as well.
Fighting alongside powerful enemies with friends. Making new friends in the midst of battle. Living a life that he couldn't possibly enjoy in reality. It was times like these that really made Chrome love this game.
Ren slipped the AmuSphere from his head and stared up at the ceiling of his room. He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. He was utterly exhausted. Images of his recurring dream flashed through his mind and it sent shivers up his spine. Even if the dream did come true at some point, he and the others were levelling up fast and now they had Vakross and Hakuya that they could call on. Everything would be fine… right?