|Aug. 27th 20:35|
|Sword Art Online BETA, Floor 1, Town of Beginnings|
Huddled up in one of the town's many inns at nightfall, Nagi sat in a comfy room with a large window overlooking the street below, a light on above with his katana resting against the nightstand. The walls were a cream tint with two walls planked like the flooring. On the bed, in his casual wear, Nagi typed away at the paragraphs he needed to revise.
"'-in conclusion, those wanting to participate in confronting the tenth-floor boss to achieve the eleventh floor before the Closed Beta concludes should acquire the Darkmorn Armour for its high armour stats and bonus to movement speed to counteract the boss's wide attack range'," He recited with a smack of his lips, nodding. "Okay, that should be everything, *Yawn*,"
It had been nearly two hours since he returned from questing before he decided to tackle Argo's newest post ahead of schedule. Saving the file for Argo later tonight outside the game, Nagi closed his tabs and sat back with a sigh. "Maybe sleeping in the game for a bit wouldn't be so bad..." It would still be the same as if he were to perform the act IRL, right? "I'll try not... to sleep... long..."
Zzz...
Zzz...
Zzz...
*Ting!*
Nagi wasn't asleep for long as he cracked an eye open to the red exclamation mark flashing on a message titled 'Message SOS'. It was a short alert for friends to send out either as a wide message to gather teammates for something important or just a standard alert. What woke Nagi up from his drowsy state was the sender; Argo.
|SOS Message|
|Help. 5F. Realy Bad|
|~Argo|
"What?" He jumped out of bed, grabbing his trusty katana and haori as he threw the onyx jacket on, dashing for the doorway. Given the nature of the message, he thought against sending one back seeing as she typed it in a hurry. "Argo isn't the kind of person to get into trouble without a plan... Argo..."
Arriving in the 5th-floor town was brief as Nagi shot past various players to enter the vast maze of ruins. Floor Five, in all its glory, was a haunted, cursed place. Nicknamed the 'Ruins Floor', it consisted of gloomy lakes, dark, dead trees, and what was once a massive city reduced to crypts and darkness in every direction, all bathed in an endless night.
Nagi ignored the undead mobs, taking to the collapsed ruins for a vantage over the haunted ruins, leaping between buildings and fallen structures in the direction of Argo's icon on his map, using the 'Friend Tracker' to locate her general whereabouts.
Once he was in the general area, Nagi leapt down onto the street, taking cover behind a small cobblestone wall as a Humid Mummy shambled by, its rotten orange flesh wrapped behind moldy cloth as it groaned. Once the danger passed, Nagi sighed as something grabbed his coat. "Yah!"
"Shh!" From the shadow cast between two buildings, Argo pressed her finger to Nagi's lips, waiting for the coast to clear before she slumped, tugging at his haori. "You showed up, thank you, thank you, thank yoU,"
Argo looked frazzled under her hood, stepping back as she clutched her dagger tightly in its sheath. "Argo, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm... just on edgE," Her smirk twitched, "Bit abnormal for lil ol' mE,"
He shook his head with a reassuring smile, "So long as you're fine," Nagi's serious expression began to form. "So, what happened?"
Her fingers curled, beckoning him to follow her through the alleyways under darkness, not saying a word. Nagi followed, keeping quiet until they reached whatever Argo wanted to show him. Traversing the city with Argo equipping a torch to light the way left flickering shadows all around.
Once at a collapsed slope of rubble, Argo ushered Nagi to stay low as they ascended the slope, extinguishing the torch as Argo knelt at the remains of the upper floor of a building facing the outside world beyond. What Nagi saw made his eyes widen.
Beyond the buildings was a large, square courtyard completely cut off from the rest of the city ruins. Instead, various piles of timber burned, various corpses of the monsters present on the floor stained the courtyard under the star-filled night. And standing present at the centre was the culprit.
A figure dressed in black samurai equipment with a black robe cast down from his waist to his knees, torn by time billowed in the calm wind. His face was obscured by a large, pointed black straw hat and bandana. Attached to his right hip was his carbon black sword, hand resting against the hilt.
"Argo?" Nagi asked as she grimaced.
"I stumbled on it while diggin' around for clues to some quests, outta nowhere this guy comes runnin' after me after I took thiS," She materialized what appeared to be a bundle of pale purple powder. "Whatever it is, I ain't seen any other player talk about it, let alone mention a quest about fightin' some suited up samuraI,"
"You think it's...?" Nagi's voice trailed as Argo slit her glare.
"The Field Boss, yep, definitely got the bar and stats for iT," She shared his nervous smile. "Thinkin' what I'm thinkiN'?" Her fingers tapped along the wall like a piano with anticipation.
Nagi took the pouch from her, eyeing the motionless samurai with an anxious bite to his cheek, even his right hand was shaking momentarily before it smoothed against the wall. Nagi let out a small huff, "So, same as always?" He smiled at the winning grin on the Rat's whiskered face.
"Work your magic, HerO," Her hand slapped against his as they tapped the backs of their palms together. Then Nagi rolled up and over the building, landing on the misty cobblestone with a grunt. Up above, Argo cracked her fingers, pulling up a tab to keep notes on the fight.
"Okay, keep your wits about you, there's no guides or weaknesses to exploit," Nagi's pep-talk steeled his resolve, stepping into view of the field boss as it raised its head, face obscured by the hat's shadow as it gave Nagi a small bow, slowly drawing its aged Ninjatō, casting the mist away from its feet. "A Shinobi's weapon?"
/Danuja, the Tero Senshi - Lv. 25\
"Hmph!" Danuja lunged with a thrust so Nagi immediately slammed down on the blade with 'Uchikesu', striking the boss with 'Whirlwind Slash', the twin strikes digging into the samurai's chest as he blocked two more slants from Nagi, spinning to strike side-to-side, the brunette parrying the strikes as the third swept wide, forcing Nagi to leap and slam on the boss's head.
The force made it stumble as it held its weapon back, striking upward to clash with Nagi's katana, the two pushing away. Danuja lunged again, leaving his side open to Nagi's glowing sword, "Scarlet Fang!" His double slash up and down with a thrust wasn't enough to stop a sudden sweep that carved into Nagi's thigh.
Backing away from the boss's constant two-handed strikes from the shoulders, sheathing his blade tinted blue against the orange backdrop. "Serpent Slash!" The instant streaks of blue tore into the samurai as it swung only to be parried again by Nagi, his left elbow blue as it slammed into its face, then a palm-hell strike to the chest to stun-lock the boss for another elbow jab. "Thunder Clap!"
Suddenly, the boss spun into the air, striking down with a snap kick against Nagi's katana, spinning low to strut his foot forward, shoving Nagi's defence back with impressive force, keeping its balance on one leg to deliver a sweeping kick, followed by a final, powerful kick that Nagi immediately countered with 'Uchikesu' again, delivering an impressive roundhouse strike of his own. "Water Moon!"
"This boss can use martial arts too, probably sword skills like mine, this is a seriously tough field boss," It was a relentless foe, and one that kept the swordsman on his toes with a palpitation in his chest. Nagi blocked to strikes, rolling under a sweeping attack to slash in a spiral again at its back, "Its health is still dropping slowly, what could be a weakness?"
Then his eyes flickered to the spot between its shoulder blades. Lodged in the samurai's back was a dark purple gemstone of some kind, pulsating with a black aura. Whatever it vanished as a blade skimmed Nagi's cheek, had his inverted guard not diverted the thrust into the ground, though another sharp kick to his side threw the boy across the courtyard. But he found its weak point.
Clasping his katana above his head, his sword skill erupted to counteract Danuja's white skill, his hands holding the edge of the Ninjatō skyward, the thrust skill, Ripple Thrust. Taking in a long breath through his nose, Nagi could smell the encroaching coppery scent. Loosening his stance, he held stiff as the moonlit blade traveled across the misty battleground, streaking through the darkness.
"Ichimonji!" With a wave of light blue light expanding at their feet, the brute force of his sword left a static buzz over Danuja's form, the skill he cast fizzling away for Nagi to rush behind its body, bringing his sword high for a rising slash through the gemstone, splitting the item and the boss's health into pieces.
"Grah!" The boss gasped, stumbling forward as it fell to its knees, blade clattering next to it before it ultimately fell over into the mist.
"Hah, that was really something," Nagi sighed, sheathing his sword as he turned to where Argo observed, the Rat was busy investigating the area for clues when she finally decided to turn and watch the fight herself to study the boss's attack patterns and skills. "Hey, Argo!" He waved triumphantly, then lowered his hand slowly. "Wait... there's no reward bo-"
"Nagi!" Her voice cried out, forming an 'X' multiple times above her head with her arms frantically.
The mist was receding into the cracks of the courtyard, and the flames from the rubble had grown to bathe the whole area in an orange pitch. Behind Nagi, he spun around to face the fallen warrior now on his right knee, the Ninjatō sunk into the ground, spewing bright purple flames from the guard as this flame coiled around the samurai, giving it a radiant, astral complexion, its eyes turned amethyst with two blazing, demonic horns piercing its straw hat.
"A second phase..." Nagi winced, stepping back slightly as pale purple clouds expanded from its body for a short distance, applying a strange bar below Nagi's health and status. This new effect was steadily rising too in the purple smog. "What is this debuff? No, I don't have time to overthink this, I need to remove it!" He shook his thoughts clear, stepping out of range of the dissipating smoke.
Thinking on the fly, he scrambled through his quick-select and spawned the pouch Argo gave him, "Please don't be poison!" He dusted himself in the powder, he winced, cracking an eye open to find that the debuff vanished, replaced with an icon in his status screen that when focused on said the word 'Blessing'. "That's something, okay, now on to the bigger picture,"
The samurai stood tall, clasping his now elongated sword in both hands at its right, practically twice the size of the boss. Not taking any chances, Nagi rushed in with a lunging strike, slashing with 'Whirlwind Strike' and two follow-up swipes that were quickly deflected, to his horror, not a single point of damage was taken on the boss's part. Instead, it pressed the attack, striking in its high-stance twice then swinging wide, pushing Nagi to roll back from it as thrust attack swept by his face, gouging out a portion of his torso with a blazing skill.
"Argo, I need you to find a weak spot or clue to this - ah!" Nagi held back the massive blade as it slammed down from a leaping attack, followed by a thrust he parried with his foot again, shoving it away. "None of my attacks are damaging it!" He relayed as he blocked another series of strikes, swinging them away from his shoulders.
"What about that dusT!?" She ran along the buildings adjacent to Nagi, inspecting her surroundings with her 'Search' skill.
"It got rid of a debuff and is keeping me immune to this purple - yah - flames effect, but nothing else is - ack - is working~!" He strained from the red 'V' scarring his chest as he rolled away from another thrust skill that left a trail of fire in its wake. "I'm being toasted!"
"On it! Hang in there for a biT!" Argo yelled back, hopping down into the arena herself to inspect the various mobs for clues or items. Sweat broke out on her face as every ringing sword made her worry deepen. Argo paused, slapping her cheeks to shove those thoughts aside, squinting at the area now illuminated fully by the bonfires.
Her eyes scanned every entity quickly, zipping between the various mobs for clues, a message, even a connected weakness shared by the monsters. Suddenly, by one of the bonfires, something shimmered under the arms of an Orc. Kicking its protective green arms away, she gasped as a small wooden box became visible. Picking up the item caused its stats to appear. "Ah-haH!"
Across the courtyard, Nagi dove forward over the sweeping, cursed blade, twirling around to block a slash from the right, then the left as the boss leapt high, slamming his blade down on Nagi who was thrown back on his feet, panting from the forceful attack. By now, his health was dropping into the yellow, and he only had '2M' left on that Blessing buff of his.
Through the amethyst flames, the samurai took a slow approach, blade in both hands. "Argo, any - eh?" He blinked, seeing the rectangular box inches from his face as it smacked him backwards onto his ass, leaving a red square on his face. "Ah, tch-tch-tch...!"
"Nyahaha, sorry 'bout that, HerO!" Argo waved sheepishly, pointing at the box. "Use it, it'll buff your weapon's damagE!"
|Quick Item - Sakura Confetti|
Confetti imbued with a divine blessing made for celebrations for those that have passed to be welcomed to visit their loved ones. In being blessed with holy water during its manufacturing, the sakura-like confetti can ward away demonic spirits, and even harm them.
Popping the lid off, Nagi took a handful of the vibrant pink petals and scattered them over his body and blade. In moments, Danuja leapt above the swordsman, striking down with a tremendous force that obscured the pair in a veil of dust.
Argo gasped, thinking it may be time to turn tail but noticed that Nagi's health bar hadn't depleted below hers, and instead, another buff appeared beside his immunity to the cursed flames. "Heh, there ya go, Mr HerO," She grinned ear to ear.
"Thank you, Argo," Through the dust, Nagi stood behind the boss, a red gash visible on its waist while bright purple flames dripped from his katana. "Gave me the thing I needed!"
The samurai spun around, blade passing over Nagi's bangs as the boy spun around to deliver a twin slash to its chest, the vibrant blade making contact with its astral form. "Whirlwind Slash!" He landed, using 'Kick-Step' to lunge over the boss's consecutive sweeps, striking its back on the way down before rolling back from a wide pivot and slam of the extended Ninjatō.
Through the flames, Danuja threw himself forward with another 'Ripple Thrust', chaining into a powerful lunge strike that Nagi deflected, followed by a basic thrust attack from the right, forcing Nagi's foot down with 'Uchikesu', providing an opening to unsheath his sword in a rising slash, another parallel toward the ground. "Serpent Slash!" He dodged to the left, evading the swing as Danuja swung left, again parried centimeters from Nagi's form.
The pair pressed against each other's weapons, forcing Nagi to yell loudly as he moved forward, his brighter flames scorching down the length of the Ninjatō, "Rising Tide!" The sudden, vertical crescent threw the boss's head back momentarily. The boss's eyes flashed red, and it performed an inhuman lunge with its upper body, striking the ground in front of it to release a ring of fire around them.
Nagi had left the earth with a forward handstand, blade clenched in both hands toward its neck. "Waterfall!" He cast proudly, the sheer force behind the attack overpowering the samurai as it stumbled back, twirling its weapon to rest near the hip with the blade-tip forward. The boy rolled into a similar stance, both using 'Ripple Thrust' as the last thirty seconds of Nagi's Blessing began to tick away, even his buffed weapon only had half that time. "I have to end this with one blow!"
Danuja's blade skimmed Nagi's side again, but the brunette's pierced its chest, the guard nearly flush against its armour. Danuja grunted, grabbing Nagi by the face to throw him away. Nagi hunched low, blade spun around in both hands to strike at the neck as their weapons locked, Nagi towering over the leaning samurai's piercing eyes. With a yell on top, Nagi threw the boss away, giving him the opening he needed.
Once the field boss spun around again, Nagi plunged the last of his embered sword through its chest, spraying glass shards, hand reaching out for Nagi before it fell. Releasing his sword from its chest, he let the samurai stumble past, falling to its knees with what sounded like a sigh of... relief. It plunged its Ninjatō into the ground before toppling over, turning bright blue before shattering into thousands of pieces.
|Field Boss Cleared!|
|Level Up! 24 - 25|
|Last Attack Bonus: Abizcatter|
Catching his breath, Nagi hit 'equip', swapping out his standard katana for the new and impressive Ninjatō by his side. The straight blade appeared in his hands with the sheath on his left hip. The blade had a black handle with a square guard, the blade itself was a clean silver coat with the flat half of the blade tinted a pale black hue.
"Nice," Nagi spun the lighter sword around for a quick test before slowly placing it back into the sheath. Argo ran over now that the battle had concluded, turning off her record button. "Wait, you were recording that?" Nagi pointed, looking surprised with a pink hue on his face, hiding his eyes behind his hand. "Ooooh, I said my sword skills out loud too..."
"Aw, but you looked so cool when you diD~" Argo teasingly nudged his bicep, swooning dramatically. "I nearly fell for ya if not the tons that will see thiS," His whines of embarrassment persisted at her cheeky smile. Argo patted his back. "There, there, your broker's gotchA,"
Once he had calmed down, the pair sat by a smaller bonfire to study what they knew of the field boss, rather, the 'Hidden Field Boss'. "So, unless someone has a combination of that Purification Powder and the Sakura Confetti, they wouldn't be able to cause damage to the boss," Nagi concluded.
Argo's lips pursed as she typed it down. "Not to mention if any other enemies could appear with the same effecT," She ran a hand through her hair, whiskers twitching. "Tch, tricky situation, but at least it'll help in launcH," The Rat then smirked with a hand on her chin. "Plus that juicy sword of yours," She was drooling after looking at the stats.
Nagi held it away from her as she scooted closer. "Come on, just think of the Col made with thaT,"
"No," Nagi persisted, holding it back as she tried to climb over his head, stomach pressed against his head. "No!"
"Gimmie-Gimmie, just for five minuteS!" She whined, frantically trying to take the weapon.
"Argo!" Nagi complained, trying to shove her back with his hand against her chin. "Please stop using me like a surfboard!"
"I helped you, it's a fifty-fifty spliT!" She protested.
"Ar~go~!" Their argument spanned throughout the ruins.
|Sword Art Online, Floor 10, Boss Room|
Flames danced amongst the halls of the grand stage, a single, scorching arc of orange flames tore through several players at once, their shadows cast onto the walls by jagged flames, bodies shattered into pieces. The clang and crash thundered with metal and embers. Towering over Kirito's form, a great shadow overwhelmed him, his health burnt down to a mere few digits as the large hands grasped the burning crescent high.
"Crap..." Was all he had to say as the blaze came crashing down, the impact exploding, draining the last of his health bar.
|You Are Dead|
To Be Continued...
A sudden battle with a field boss with an interesting mechanic, and the looming threat of the floor boss at the end for what's to come, I'm excited for this! I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Beta Testers!
005 - Curtain Call
The final hours are upon the Beta Testers, one boss stands in their way of Floor 11, time is running out...