A/N: This arc's probably my favourite, then again, most of them are, to that really dumbs down my statement. In any case, this'll be good; Time for the reviews.
To Isshion: Artorias is getting risky with her stunts...
[Artorias]: Way to make me sound like a sociopath.
[Nagi]: Um, well...
[Daora]: Dumbass
[Artorias]: Oi!
To Preussisch Error: I'm really happy to hear that, agreed, watched every episode and read the manga and light novel for Progressive. The fact my story can invoke nostalgia in you is a good feeling. I'll do my best with every arc, and agreed, all Daora needs is to be alone with Artorias, and a good alibi.
[Artorias]: The fuck's with everyone against me today? Also, the chances of that washed up mutt laying a scratch on me is laughable.
[Daora]: Hahaha, prove it then! I'm ready to go!
[Nagi]: Guys... in any case, it's touching to know our stories are exciting, thank you!
Enjoy.
|April. 25th, 07:15|
|Sword Art Online, Floor 29, Seliana|
Floor 29 was a vast frozen tundra, dotted with snow plains, frozen lakes, and ruins of lost civilizations buried in ice. Red 'veins' of an unknown mineral ran under patches of the ice like magma, giving the land a sinister sensation as well as the isolating stretch of white. Seliana was the main settlement of this floor; built in and around the massive husk of a giant iron golem sunken into the earth. It stood directly south with the north horizon on clearer days giving a very faint view of the labyrinth piercing the sky.
Housed inside the carcass of the golem, secured in a meeting room within its head with its eyes working as windows into the calm snowfall beyond, a large table was placed in the middle of the ancient machine. Its controls long since shot, now serving as a meeting grounds between Nagi and Argo, Heathcliff and Asuna of KoB, and Lind and Hafner of DKB.
"I'll keep this brief to avoid any complications-" Heathcliff began, arms crossed in deep thought. "Argo, are you aware of the growing concern of a thief on this floor?"
"If yer talkin' about a player nabbin' the first two key items to progress, then yeah, heard they'd slip away at the last seconD," Argo replied, no one in the room was surprised by this. Nagi and Argo worked closely, whatever the raven-brunette heard, he'd pass along to the Rat. "Sounds like a handful, even for the two big guildS,"
"Yes... we'd attempt to detain them before they escaped, however, they carry level four paralysis with them, something I never thought possible until now," Lind scoffed, his brow furrowed with bitterness.
"Do we know what their goal or angle is?" Asuna spoke up, looking over her notes in her menu before eyeing those present. "Argo?"
"Got nothin' A-Chan, whoever they are ain't lettin' any hints slip bY," Argo shrugged, waving her hands up in defeat. "Unfortunately, our best bet's still to corner them at the last sitE,"
Unlike previous floors, 29 was different in that there was no main quest to follow to meet and interact with NPCs; collect three relics across the tundra and present them to the labyrinth, that was it. But the architecture for both the labyrinth and the dungeons was eerily familiar to Nagi, Argo, and Asuna. A metallic black material with angular interiors, wall canopies, and glaring strips of light dug into the walls, reacting on movement. Just like the Deep Slate Crypt.
The first relic was called 'Fragment of Rage', a sphere of marble with a dark red center, pulsing with a chilling touch. And the second was a 'Fragment of Isolation', a single narrow triangular piece of black metal from the dungeon itself, the faces would react to a person's touch, releasing a small field of orange energy. The third was unknown, for now.
"So why aren't we moving the guilds out now? If we all corner this guy there's no possible way for him to fight all of us, even with paralysis weapons," Hafner exclaimed his anger but Heathcliff put his hand up, eyeing Asuna.
"Asuna, what do you believe we should do?" He had a lot of faith in his second-in-command, something Asuna didn't take lightly as she cleared her throat.
"I understand everyone's frustrations, believe me, I know that when I lost the second relic," Swallowing that pill, she pressed. "But simply crowding the last dungeon would be reckless and obvious we're planning on cornering whoever this is, they'd want us to be paranoid,"
"Then what can we do?" Lind asked, ushering her to speak on.
"We send one group right now, ahead of KoB, give them an hour head start; that should still draw the thief in but not arouse suspicion if the only information they have is that the other guilds plan to 'capture' him, but what they'll learn from Nagi's party is that his is simply wanting to explore the dungeon first ahead of the big guilds," Asuna explained furrowly.
"I see, by fooling our thief into believing Nagi's party acts alone, we in turn will follow shortly after and meet this thief as they attempt to flee," Heathcliff realized as Asuna smirked a bit but it fell for a serious look of a leader.
"That's how we'll take back the relics and capture this player before anymore harm can come to us," Asuna summed up.
"Huh, not a bad plan... what about him?" Hafner nudged his shoulder in Nagi's direction. "Really think a small group like his can beat the boss inside?"
"Nyahaha, considerin' they're all frontrunners, not ta mention their friendly relations with a small guild consistin' of two strong players too, I can vouch they can handle that boss without much issuE," Argo grinned as she caught Nagi's grateful smile, nudging his hip with her free hand under her cloak. "How's about it, Hero, wanna live up ta yer titlE?"
"If everyone is in agreement...?" Nagi looked around. Lind nodded once, Hafner said nothing, expression hidden by his helmet. Asuna also gave a nod of approval.
"How many will you take with you?" Heathcliff asked, curious of the boy's answer.
"My party, as well as one guild; The Sleeping Knights, that'll bring our count to ten so it'll be more than enough, I trust their abilities as frontrunners, not just my own bias but from others who've said likeminded things," Nagi rationalized his choices, and that seemed to pass by the leader of KoB with a small but firm smile.
"Very well, I trust your judgement, we will depart an hour after yourselves, however, refrain from mentioning this plan, if our thief catches wind of even a hint of our plan they may get desperate, and your safety take top priority," Heathcliff warned.
"Of course, thank you," Nagi bowed his head. Although, he didn't like the idea of keeping this information from the others, he learned a lot from Argo about the good withholding intel can be until revealed when necessary so he didn't complain, only feeling some guilt crop up. And with that, the plan was set in motion.
Once the group disbanded, Argo leaned against a railing connected from the head of the golem to a snow tunnel that fed down into the rest of the rustic town cocooned by the metal beast, torches lighting the balcony overlooking the tundra, the small viewpoint hidden by a snow arch. Nagi leaned with her, staring out into the frozen world.
"Bet it's gratin' yA?" She guessed, hearing him sigh as she shuffled closer to share his body heat.
"It'll only be for a bit, that's what I keep telling myself that is," Nagi replied, lowering his head a bit. "This always the case with you?"
"Ya know better than anyone how I operate, HerO," She grinned cheekily, then leaned forward to peck his cheek. "You'll do fine, now rally up and get ta work for lil ol' mE,"
"Right, right, on my way, boss," Nagi chuckled, thankful for her support like always, returning the kiss to her own cool cheek as her whiskers twitched with a soft smile as he took off, leaving her to pull up her menu and work herself on gathering all the information possible, her beating heart making her much warmer now.
|April. 25th, 08:20|
|Floor 29, Windswept Wastes|
Snow as far as the eye could trace the horizon. The occasional mound of snow, rock formation for caves, or sheet of ice of a frozen body of water, even a few relics akin to the golem lay scattered far and wide over the wastelands. But once the snow storm settled in, a white haze obscured it all, forcing the group to walk in a single file line with lanterns out to guide their way less they be afflicted by Darkness. There was also Ice Blight, causing their stamina to deplete faster and will occasionally cause them to take tick damage, which is why they all stocked up on one of the unique items sold at settlements, a Hot Drink, capable of starving off the cold affects for twenty minutes.
"So this dungeon's to the far east!?" Talken yelled over the howling winds.
"Pretty much, sucks, but that last village is the closest one to it!" Yuuki hollered back as she held her sister's shoulder to keep her path straight. "I know it's just simulated senses and all, but this wind's so loud!"
"At least the Hot Drink's starving off the frigid temperature!" Ran answered back as she glanced at Artorias and Nagi leading the way. "Hey, how far is it now!?"
"Not a damn clue, even my night vision potion can't do much in this!" Artorias grunted, tossing the vial back into her inventory as she squinted beside Nagi. "Any ideas, Nagi? We're being turned around in this storm!"
"Map doesn't work when a storm happens, so really, if we hunker down at one of the small caves nearby we can wait this out," Nagi conversed as the rest gathered behind them slowly.
Artorias didn't like that plan, frowning a bit before she brought up her own map of the floor. It only showed her the areas seen by them and the other guilds, but since that was the case, it meant the line cutting across toward the outer edge of the floor was obviously them. She closed her menu, turning right a little. "Fine, I'll do it myself,"
"What?" Nagi winced, trying to look to Artorias who withdrew something sparkling from her inventory. A second later, Artorias sped off through the snow, using her greater agility combined with buffs from her potions to run through the deep snow that dragged them back, leaving behind shiny stones of vibrant colours in her path. "Artorias, wait!"
"Did he just leave us!?" Jun exclaimed in fright. "That ass, what about us!?"
"Look! Shimmering Stones, neat trick!" Daora lifted after tossing snow behind him, raising the useless decoration item. But in a storm like this it was the perfect breadcrumbs to follow. "He's leading us through the storm!"
"He's right, let's follow them before they despawn!" Yuuki waved her hand forward. Then she frowned with a worried noise. "Ugh, but this snow's so deep!"
"Ah-" Ran snapped her fingers, "-I got it; Tecchi, Jun, use your weapons to plough a path following the stones!" Ran instructed the pair who ran to the vanguard ahead of Nagi, Tecchi slammed his shield down, and Jun helped push against it as they dragged the tower shield through the thick layers of snow, creating a traversable path through the storm and heavy snow.
"Just follow the lead!" Jun grinned, grunting as he and Tecchi dug out the path, following after Artorias' breadcrumbs.
Artorias left a number of Shimmering Stones to mark her way, but eventually, the haze of white left an unmistakable imprint in the storm, a dark shadow lost in the blizzard. Jun and Tecchi stopped as the group waded through the snow near their knees, finding the level of snow decreasing as solid metal replaced their footing, a black, frozen surface buried in the ice and snow. Then the message appeared, 'Tomb of the Lost'.
The ice that surrounded this new black domain was broke apart below its surface with molten red cracks, the ice forming arching fangs that curled above their heads, snow piled at the base but upon closer inspection with his hand, Nagi realized why. "This surface is warm, must be that strange ambience like the Crypt,"
"Am I the only one getting a red flag here?" Jun asked nervously, keeping his weapon drawn.
"What, can't handle horror, Jun?" From above, Artorias hopped off a black rectangular pillar, startling Jun to slip and fall onto his backside, clutching his greatsword. "Figured if I left a path we'd avoid running in circles or wasting time,"
"I wish you said that earlier..." Nagi sighed, but showed a relieved smile. "Good work though,"
"Anything for you, Nagi," Artorias tipped an invisible hat, then stared toward the stumpy pyramid. "Final relic's buried, ready?"
"We'll let you lead," Ran spoke up to her cousin, "You've navigated a structure similar to this before, right?"
"Yeah, can't say I enjoyed it either," That place nearly killed him, Philia, and Argo, all thanks to that red player, Harriet. Nagi instinctively tucked on his similar amigasa hat. "Be wary of traps, Daora, can you help with that?"
"On it, since you asked," He moved to the front, looking around for a bit as Nagi led the way again toward the main entrance.
Like with the Deep Slate Crypt, the entrance slid apart in two pieces, a narrow stairwell leading deeper. Two sets of three pillars marked their way to the door as the howling winds became a distant wail once they delved into the warmer space underground. White lights burned to life at their movements, and the Tomb opened up into a long, tall hallway of black with suspended thin lights, three doors present at the end.
"Creepy..." Yuuki shivered, keeping her sword pointed straight.
"I suppose this would very much fit the already chilling and isolating ambience of this floor," Siune noted grimly, brushing a strand of het black hair behind her ear, adjusting her glasses. "What were the other dungeons like?"
"Similar to this, take the wrong path and a trap springs, not to mention the mobs are the same as they are outside," Artorias summed up curtly, stopping them at the three doors. "This was part of the puzzle, right?" He asked Nagi.
"Argo said these symbols always showed up," Nagi pointed up; to the left-hand side of each door were three symbols. On an obelisk to the left wall were matching symbols. "First, does anyone have a new buff that says 'Resonate'?"
"Um... m-me?" Talken raised his hand. "What do y-you need me to d-do?"
"You can see an obelisk on the right wall, tell me the symbols you see," Nagi asked him as Talken noted he couldn't see any symbols on the one to their left. With a shaky nod, he turned to observe his obelisk. The three were from top to bottom. "Um, a star, square, and ring?"
On the left was a triangle, hexagon, and ring. Nagi pointed to the right door. "Someone use a throwing item on the ring,"
Without a second to lose, Artorias flung a throwing pick up, striking the only ring visible on any of the doors, it glowed and the door opened. The others all looked surprised by this as a message appear in their view from Nagi, details of the twelve symbols' names and their corresponding image. "So these pictures open the right door for us, what if we hit the wrong one then?" Daora asked, itching to find out.
"Don't," Several shot at the wolfman who slumped with a huff.
"If we hit the wrong symbol then mobs or a trap will occur," Nagi warned them, walking through the safe doorway to a new room with a smile. "Communication is key, that's why our party's the best for this job, we can clear out this dungeon in no time,"
"Alright!" They exclaimed, following him through into the Tomb. Artorias lingered on the symbols present, eventually shadowing the group silently.
|April. 25th, 08:45|
Delving deeper into the Tomb evidently made the sequences of shapes more tricky to find. Case and point, in searching several rooms with two people able to see unseen patterns and a combination of two pairs to find for the doorway, they had their hands full, that and the ice-themed mobs getting in their way.
"Alright, got it-!" Yuuki waved as she ran out of a room to Nagi's left. "Ours is Square, Spiral, Cross."
"Ring, Spiral, Helix," Daora answered for his side confidently.
"And that leaves us with Crescent as our matching pair," Artorias replied, drawing her throwing picks, tossing one to Nagi as both swung their arms back to strike the two symbols out of six at either side of the door.
"W-wait, it's Ring for our...!" But Ran's voice broke through too late to cover for Yuuki's mistake as one symbol lit up, and the other caused a low horn to blare, the text, 'Rejection' appearing in red briefly. "...side..."
"S-sorry, my bad," Yuuki winced as all of them were forcibly teleported to a long, dark corridor as the lights turned red, and a large gap was in the floor ahead, only accessible via pillars to the other side. "Uh oh..."
"'Uh oh' indeed," Nori grimaced as several flashes of light appeared down a dip in the path toward the jumping segment, followed by several large Dire Wolves with pure white coats, flaked with icy tips and blue fangs, a Dire Frost Lv. 58, four above most of them. At the edge of the chasm were two Striders at the same level, they were undead coated in snow and frost too, drawing bows in their withered, skeletal arms behind murky, tattered cloaks.
"Run for it!" Jun exclaimed, getting the whole team moving as they tore through the pack of wolves head-on.
They only dealt with what was ahead, running along the narrow paths either side of the dip where the Dire Frosts spawned. With a combined Shield Bash from Artorias and Tecchi, the two Striders were thrown into the misty void below, shattering a few seconds later, proving there was a death wall down there. Artorias jumped first, hopping from pillar to pillar before bringing his sword wide with Horizontal Arc, drawing the Striders on the other side toward him as more Dire Frosts spawned due to proximity.
Tecchi managed to jump across, everyone going one by one while Ran and Yuuki fended off the rear, striking back the constant spawn of wolves before the siblings leapt over onto the same pillar, two wolves plummeting into the pit behind them. Once everyone managed to jump across with some arms waiting to pull the others to solid ground again, Nagi took the lead with Daora.
"Whirlwind!" The wolfman howled, cleaving the middle route of mobs as a rapid stream of water sawed through the airborne Dire Frosts, Nagi splitting them into polygons with Scarlet Fang. Then a cyan streak swept over his head in a triangular thrust from Siune, her rapier plunged through another wolf that pounced from the walkway over his head. She gave a curt nod, and the crowd ran for what appeared to be the exit.
"T-that's probably the way out!" Nagi rallied, taking the plunge first as his foot slipped down, the 'exit' having been a literal chute as he accidently caught Siune's robe as both fell forward, soon, the whole tunnel was filled with yells of surprise or shock as their bodies were spat out of the wall through the doorway they had opened incorrectly in a large pile of bodies, the wall sealing itself up again like it was never there. "...sorry..." Nagi groaned.
"Apology accepted..." Siune added too, smiling slightly. "B-but we made it through,"
"Somehow, my foot is behind my ear and I don't think it's supposed to do that," Yuuki whined in discomfort.
"Spectacular," Artorias grumbled as she pried herself free of the dog pile.
|April. 25th, 09:05|
A door to the right of everyone opened, and Artorias stepped through with Ran, both dripping wet and utterly bemused by the fact as they restored their health to full. "Okay, why does this dungeon even have a lever like that?"
"The mechanic doesn't even make sense," Ran agreed, flicking her hair from her eyes as Yuuki snickered behind her hand with the rest of her guild.
"Well, we're here," Nagi pulled the focus towards the final door, with several knives, they threw them at the symbols; Spiral, Pentagon, and Square. Completing the sequence awarded them with the mechanism for the diagonally spilt doors to retract into the walls again, revealing the next room from atop a square overlook.
The room opened up into a wide, hexagonal chamber with tall walls and a ceiling sporting a strange white glow that illuminated the distinct boss arena. A narrow balcony wrapped around the whole arena from where they stood, three other doors wide open into darkness, clearly to spawn mobs when triggered. Lastly, four obelisks stood around the arena at compass points with various symbols, and above each doorway inside was a single symbol.
But floating above the center of the arena was what can only be assumed was the final relic. It let off a light green glow around itself, a helmet similar to that of a roman Galea helmet, but the silver metal was tainted and cracked, the decorative crest blackened and old. Standing beneath it was a sinister sight.
Towering over a player, it wore armor stained black with some streaks of green from crystals breaking through its thick armor. It was bulky, more jagged with tattered purple fabric adorning its pauldron. The head had a glowing green line through it, horns more prominent at the sides of the skull. Held in both hands with the head held toward the ground was a large two-sided ax made of solid steel, the left blade broken off.
/Narga, Blade of the Deep - Lv. 58\
"So we hit the matching symbols again to start this fight?" Siune asked, looking up above their heads. "We've got a circle above us,"
"Then across is a Star, Octagon, and Cross," Nagi answered, seeing Artorias and Daora linger on the boss itself. "Guys?"
"Guess we called it back then, figures it be back," Artorias huffed, drawing her sword slowly next to the man's trick ax.
"That's the same freakshow that annoyed us on floor ten - time for round two!" Daora cackled grimly, scraping his ax off the ground. "I'll land the killing blow this time, and I won't miss either!"
"So that's the player killer from back then..." Nagi had never seen it, only what the pair described it as to Argo. Now he understood how intimidating it was. Clenching NightSky tightly, he nodded to Yuuki and Ran. "Divide yourselves using the walkways, I have a feeling the second we jump down the boss battle will trigger, let me, Daora, and Artorias take the vanguard to draw it's attention, when we do, strike the matching symbols of the obelisks."
"Gotcha," The twins chimed, Yuuki taking Siune, Jun, and Nori while Ran went right, followed by Tecchi and Talken.
"Let's get this over with," Artorias drew her sword forward, hopping down into the arena as Daora and Nagi quickly followed the mild-tempered redhead. Daora turned to Nagi for a pregnant pause, and in turn, Nagi nodded and jogged to pace with Artorias' stride. "What is it? You have that stupid look on your face - to which I reply, I'm fine,"
"Artorias... listen, I know we're close, and we'll get there, just a little bit more time-" But that only made the redhead quicken her pace, and Nagi tried again. "I promise we'll fix your glitch, I said I would all the way back on the 4th Floor, remember?"
"Then let's not keep the Ruinous Gaze waitin'," With a simple slash of her sword, she cut across the beast, but then the familiar hexagon appeared, 'Immortal Object'. Nagi bit his cheek, stepping back slowly with Artorias as Daora caught up to see the boss draw back its broken ax through the ground, sharpening it as it raised the large weapon with one hand, a burning emerald green flame erupting around it. "Evade!"
Heeding the call, all three turned to watch a straight path of scorching flames tear through the ground like a volcanic blast of heat, but thanks to the charm they received from Shirayuki on Floor 25, the Corruption debuff didn't start accumulating yet. But the attack was wide as it let out an unholy howl, its health bars, two to be exact, manifested as it brought it's gaze toward the one that struck first, Artorias.
"Let's go..." With a sharp rose skill over her shoulders, Artorias lunged, blocking a downward slam of the ax with her shield, sliding onto her knees as she tore two horizontal streaks through its shins, leaping high to swipe the arm twice that turned sharply to block. The four streaks connected in a Vertical Square while Artorias flew back.
Nagi dove forward, parrying the next slam, throwing back the boss' arms with Rising Tide, "Switch!" The wolfman swung, unleashing a blast of air pressure from his dark ax as the boss slid back, casting another vertical wave of cursed flames that caught Daora, inflicting a small amount of Corruption and Cursed Flames, symbolized as a green flame on a white backdrop, it was a faster tick rate than normal Burn as he patted his bare chest licked by flames.
"How's that puzzle going!?" Artorias yelled over the commotion.
"The symbols changed, almost got them!" Ran called down as she struck with her newly acquired Martial Arts skill, Water Moon, flinging a mob toward the arena as it burst into polygons. "Tecchi, Helix! Talken, Star!"
The boys leapt down after clearing the Dire Frosts and Striders that spawned, heading toward their obelisks as the girls did the same, they struck the four obelisks while Daora continued to trade blows with Narga, drawing aggro for the others as the boss remained unaffected, but Daora's Corruption was building with the constant proximity to the boss. When Nori struck the correct symbol on her obelisk, the symbols on both them and the doors faded away, and a loud bell chime resonated across the chamber.
Daora rolled back from a scorching slam as the boss roared, disappearing in a burst of green flames back to the center as the exposed crystals shattered from its armoured hide, causing a bit of damage to prove it was indeed vulnerable. "Hey, it worked!" Daora laughed with glee, his ax burning silvery-grey. "Now it's my turn to have some fun! Hyraaaah!"
"Right behind you! Everyone, keep up Ad clear for us!" Nagi waved.
"Gotcha!" Yuuki sprang across the balconies, sweeping her blade through several Striders in an elaborate dance of violet, followed by Jun's overhead slam of his blade with a front flip, causing a massive AOE to scatter the archers.
The whiplash of Daora's skill threw the boss out of its stupor, sweeping its ax in two wide arcs of burning green flames, Nagi countered with a slosh of water, performing a handstand over one of the arcs, drawing down NightSky in a vicious surge. "Waterfall!" The torrent collided with Narga's shoulder, the raven-brunette sailing over its frame as it tried to clip him with a backswing that scattered several small arcs in every direction.
Artorias shoved past Daora, accidently knocking him into a flame arc as she swept her blade in a complex flurry of strokes from Phantom Rave, puncturing Narga with a series of violent pink arcs ending in an overhead vertical toward the ground, the invisible burst of blades ripping through its chitin and HP with a blinding blast. Narga, not to be outdone, struck the redhead across the cheek with its left hook, but that only made her face twist into a snarl, ignoring the blunt force to plunge her blade through its abdomen, hoisting herself high with a swing, carving a deep horizontal through the stomach and a vertical crescent down its shoulder and back. A two-hit skill, Cross Arc.
"Artorias, Switch!" But Nagi had to quickly evade another slam of the ax that threw him back due to the force, the redhead standing her ground with Ward from her shield before switching to a sword skill, cleaving the air with Vorpal Strike. The shockwave forced Narga into disappearing in another burst of flames, appearing closer to the north obelisk as it swung at the air, unleashing more scorching bursts that caught Jun and Nori by surprise, Yuuki barely dodging herself while parrying the arrows plucked her way.
To close the gap quickly, Nagi sprinted and cast Solar Brilliance, the pull of the skill thrust NightSky into Narga's right thigh across to the left, then either side of its lower back before it turned to draw blades with the sweeping horizontal arc that followed. "Renewal!" Again, Solar Brilliance stripped through the towering knight, Grand Destruction from behind again forced it to teleport away from him and Daora.
"South-East!" Ran tagged for them while she blocked a pair of fangs from taking a chunk out of her stomach. The flames appeared, but already Daora was upon it, or until a pair of feet hopped off his shoulders, to dive to the side of Narga's vertical blaze slam.
"Grrr!" Daora was beyond agitated that he powered through the twin debuffs, banishing the cursed flames with his skill as it gleamed in the pale lighting, cleaving left to right as his body spun three times, the third knocking the boss to a knee where Artorias spun to deliver her own slash through the nape with Vertical Square, the last tow diagonal slashes through its stomach, gutting through the first health bar into the second.
"Daora, heal, quick!" Nagi warned as the wolfman held back while Artorias ran after the warping boss as it flung arcs of fire everywhere now in an enraged second phase.
Daora healed and used a potion to cure his ailments alongside some Purifying Agent sprinkled over his form. But he was fuming next to Nagi. "I'm gonna tear him apart for that! What the hell's his problem using me like some stepping stone!?"
"He's getting reckless, come on, we need to put this boss now for good this time!" But again, the symbols appeared, and all they got was a grunt of frustration from Artorias who took two hits across the chest as she retreated, kiting the boss after her while evading a continuous secondary arc of flames that spewed from the boss' broken ax. "Yuuki, Ran, Sit-Rep!?"
"Behind you, it's Crescent!" Ran called over. "Tecchi, take Circle behind me!" The raven-brunette covered the big guy as she switched with Talken, the two destroying two more wolves.
"We've got ours covered!" Yuuki yelled, backflipping as her foot clipped a Strider for Nori to smash into the floor with her hammer, diving over the second archer to draw its attention for her leader to stab with two thrusts.
In a matter of seconds, the bell chimed, and the boss warped back to the middle, more cracks widened on its chitin body, expanding its critical spots that Artorias instantly took advantage of. "Let's get in there, Dagi!" Daora mispronounced, swinging his trick ax wildly above his head while Nagi sheathed his katana in hot pursuit too.
Artorias tanked two blazing arcs with her shield, slamming it into the face of the ax twice, sweeping her arm back to clear the space between them as rosy stars pelted her longsword. "Star Q Prominence!" In five thin slices, the outline of a star dug through a layer of chitin, streaks of silver and ultramarine blue crashed into the relentless slams of Narga's. Daora unleashed Ultimate Breaker, carving in two diagonal slants into a overhead spin and slam toward the earth, blasting debris to blind the beast's vertical flame attack, water snuffing the harsh green embers out with the mighty roar of a dragon that clapped like thunder with a single streak from Nagi's sheath.
"Dragon's Breath!" The howl collided like a full weight of a drake, shattering the breastplate of the mighty Blade of the Deep. Narga stumbled, its health falling into the red as it roared, drawing down its ax in frantic, animalistic slashes and slams on all fours now, chasing the trio. One backswing caught NightSky, and Nagi was tossed over the boss onto his face. Daora traded two blows before he was trampled without Artorias' help.
The redhead stood still, drawing back her sword slowly, cast in a deep shade of pink that almost appeared crimson. Artorias rushed the boss, cutting through the stray arcs to dispel them, Corruption rising close to triggering but she didn't so much as realize this, even as the skull appeared, stripping away a large chunk of her health. Letting out a hateful cry, Artorias swung down in a single, heavy crescent, pinning the ax below her left foot as she dove up the length of Narga, carving her blade near the guard through flesh and chitin until it spilled green flames from a wide gash through the shoulder, rose particles scattered as the last of its health disappeared behind Artorias who stumbled forward, health dark orange but otherwise alive.
Narga howled in agony, crumbling to pieces in a final burst of sickly flames, the other monster above despawning as a result, and the three doors sealed themselves, indicating they had beaten the challenge. The remains of the boss burst into blue polygons like everything else, and the Sleeping Knights and Nagi's team rejoiced at their victory for the final relic that slowly fell toward Artorias' awaiting hands, the helmet touched her skin as she held it's underside tightly. "...'Fragment of Servitude', the final piece..."
"What the hell were you thinking!? I'm not your stool, I got burnt! I'm so angry I can't form a real argument!" Daora swung at Artorias as Nagi held him his thrashing back with his arms looped under the wolfman's armpits. "Graaa!"
"Right, right, got reckless there, that's on me, sorry," Artorias sighed, placing the helmet into her inventory as she then held out a deep red potion with a golden brace of careful melded gold. "Only have a couple, so here, It'll restore a good chunk of HP, on the house,"
Daora shrugged off Nagi's arm, swiping the potion, "Hmph, apology accepted, since it is so expensive," He pushed his mask up a bit to bite down and yank the cork off while Nagi gave Artorias a worried look.
"We won, but... Artorias, this was really dangerous, even for you," Nagi was afraid of what this would mean for the Floor Boss. There was still some distance between them, but Nagi's nose twitched as the strong scent of the potion Daora drank hit his nose.
"Yeah, what's with you? You're more full of yourself than usual," Nori jabbed lightly, leaning on her hammer from a further distance with her friends.
"Artorias...?" Yuuki asked, trying to prod the redhead to speak, but Artorias' bangs shadowed her gaze as Daora choked on the potion, quickly tossing the bottle away as it shattered like a pin hitting the floor.
"W-w-what the c-c-crap!?" His voice strained before his back met the ground, unable to move as tiny gold bolts trickled across his body, leaving... a Level 4 Paralysis debuff on his status. No matter how hard he struggled, Daora was utterly defenceless.
Nagi gasped, moving slightly toward Daora only to freeze. "The only reason he's paralyzed now is..." His irises shrank a little, turning with an anxious sweat toward the only culprit.
Not a hidden mob or some unknown effect of the boss battle.
But to the redheaded warrior that kept her lips sealed in a thin frown. "...Artorias?"
She finally raised her head, and her pink gaze was devoid of emotion.
To Be Continued...
Plot Twist! ...or not, who knows if anyone saw this coming to a degree, right? Yep, Artorias has turned her sights on her own team. This arc is obviously heavily focused on Artorias' story this time around, and I can't wait to show the rest to follow. If not obvious, the obelisk trend for puzzles is inspired heavily by Destiny 2's Vow of the Disciple raid, though with much more simple symbols to save my sanity. I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Players!
045 - One Versus The World
Daora has been paralyzed, and all suspicions are drawn to Artorias. This conflict will only end one way, one Nagi fears the most...