Zajcica

Opening her menu, she sent the boy a friend request. Although it was pretty upsetting that he hadn't gotten the item as well, she would make him another offer.

"Alright then, if you ever need this item in the future, or just any help with any boss. You just ping me and tell me where to meet you. Except for snake. Do not message me to fight that crappy snake." Her face got serious upon mentioning the snake. Memories that were better left to the depths of time and to the only two people who knew about it. [censored], Paralysis.

"I'm always free to party up, don't think that I'm busy just cause I'm a 'high-level player'. I'm just as much a person as you are and we all need help from each other if we want to make it out of here alive. Now, let's get you back to the safe zone."

With another gracious opportunity opened up by Freyd, Yuki rushes forward once more, her golden-white lance taking on it's pretty pink hum once more. With a few precise jabs to the head of the beast and a tick of bleed, it momentarily paused and exploded into nothing but data. The paladin sighed and willed her spear back into her hammerspace. A wave of her hand opened up her menu to ensure that the quest item had been moved to her inventory. Thankfully, it was there.

"Nice. Now that that is finished, I can improve my weapon. Very much needed even though I'm coming close to being Tier three." She pulled the Essence of Steel out of her inventory and showed it to Freyd. "You too should have an item that looks something like this in your inventory. Keep hold of it and if you ever find an item that you like that isn't kitted out to the best of it's abilities, than use this to make it better."

[13]Yuki: 668/820 | 58/76 | DMG: 6 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 99 | ACC: 3 | DoT: 25%+25% | Thorns: 56 | BH: 8 | Conc. CD: [0/3]
[4]Freyd: 20/20 | 0/2 | DMG: 1

Frost Beast: 0/250 (-8*6+24) | DMG: 160(Min: 24) | BLEED: [2/2] (24)

Never one to miss an event, Yuki hurriedly made her way to the first floor. "If you want your freedom-" Was Kayaba offing them the keys to their prison, or was he simply handing them the noose for taking so long clear only 25 floors? Missing the chance to be apart of any type of event would be like shooting oneself in the foot, especially if they were working on leveling like she was. Getting to tier three was going be fast than she expected and she would do anything expedite the process.

Arriving at the location the message had entailed, Yuki summoned her massive lance. It looks like she was the first of the event participants to get here, or maybe she was the only one who was going to be here in the first place. That would be pretty disappointing all things considered. Who knows if this would actually be freedom for the participants of the game.

With the Frost Beast on it's back, Yuki could basically get a free shot in. She rushed over to it's fallen position and attempted to sink her spear into it's head, but was only met with the urgency to block the monster's stub of a fist. The ice made a horrific noise as it grind across her hand, making her attack go wide and get stuck in the ground. A groan of annoyance sounded from the paladin as this battle continued to drag out much longer than she had anticipated.

"Mou! Could you be any worse at sucker punching? Hell, if you were somewhat good at it you would be dead already!" She voiced her complaints, clearly getting enraged by the fact that this mob basically refused to attack her. It was like it didn't actually want to die or something. "Good job Freyd, keep doing what you are doing."

[13]Yuki: 668/820 | 58/76 | DMG: 6 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 99 | ACC: 3 | DoT: 25%+25% | Thorns: 56 | BH: 8 | Conc. CD: [0/3]
[3]Freyd: 20/20 | 0/2 | DMG: 1

Frost Beast: 62/250 (-1) | DMG: 160(Min: 24)

The Beast was relentless. Nothing in her information had told her about the enemy getting a second wind like a ton of other bosses. Perhaps it was recognizing just how screwed it was and was doing everything it could to stay alive. The only way is going to win this battle though was if Yuki missed several more attacks and it had hit her with nothing but critical attacks.

Weaving through more dangerous attacks Yuki rushed through it's guard and pierced her lance into it's chest, dragging the golden blade across the enemies front and leaving a wide open gash. One more good round of attacks and the thing would cease to exist. That item was just moments away from being hers and finally she could up her damage even further. Remembering that she had brought company, the paladin looked over to make sure Freyd was alright. Thankfully, it looked like he was getting ready to launch another attack.

[12]Yuki: 668/820 | 60/76 | DMG: 6 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 99 | ACC: 3 | DoT: 25%+25% | Thorns: 56 | BH: 8 | Conc. CD: [0/3]
[2]Freyd: 20/20 | 0/2 | DMG: 1

Frost Beast: 63/250 (6*4) | DMG: 160(Min: 24)

Yuki weaved through and onslaught of attacks. For the Beast's stature and size, it was faster than she had expected it to be. While it was important to get hit to trigger her thorns, getting hit by a barrage of critical hits would be dangerous. Deflecting punches with her spear and sidestepping so many attacks, she looked for her moment to strike. Reaching in to stab the monster in it's side, she is caught mid-attack and send a few feet onto her back. Hardly scratched, she gets up, noticing the critical attack just moments before the Frost Beast is upon her again. She quickly dives out of the way and deflects another attack.

"Oi! What's gotten in to you?! You were so slow then suddenly you're coming at me like this?!" The paladin complained, completely heated in battle to responsd to her tag along who was cheering for her victory.

[9]Yuki: 660/820 | 64/76 | DMG: 6 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 99 | ACC: 3 | DoT: 25%+25% | Thorns: 56 | BH: 8 | Conc. CD: [0/3]
[2]Freyd: 20/20 | 0/2 | DMG: 1

Frost Beast: 87/250 (-2) | DMG: 160(Min: 24)

"I think you could consider use both higher-leveled players comparatively. I mean, you're Tier three now and I'm not too far away from it. We may not be front liners but we're no pushovers or anything." The girl mentioned at Night's humbleness to accept such a claim. "If we keep up the speed we're at, we'll get to max level in no time."

Night went ahead of her, walking towards the teleporter to get to floor 16 as quickly as possible. Yuki herself wasn't as eager to find her way up to that floor, so she hesitantly lagged behind her friend. "I'll be right behind you." She mentioned slowly making her way up to the teleporter and sighing when she had to say these dreadful activation words another time. At least they wouldn't have to fight the Hebishinu this time around. Night wouldn't be cruel enough to make her fight it a fourth time... right?

"Yep, Freyd. He's a bit of an upstart, I'm not sure if we'll be seeing him up in our levels soon, but I'll reserve that judgement for later. I don't know him all that well. In fact, he was actually pretty surprised to see someone of my level on floor four. Weird in my opinion. Tons of higher leveled players find themselves on lower floors to clear up quests they missed. I guess he hadn't seen that many before. It's still weird to consider myself a high level player since I was literally level 10 just last month. He was using a vanity level 1 handed straight sword I think. Never told me what he planned to settle on." Turning the corner of the crossroads, the paladin continued to follow her companion through the tunnels, as she probably knew them better.

"Yeah, so I'll be seeing merchants for immolation potion purchases from now on. I'll likely try help non-maxed merchants get experience so I can bring them unidentified gear when they're at their bests. It's a win-win situation, you know?"

Entering the humble little shop with a creak of the entrance door, Yuki stepped in with her dark-haired companion and was greeted by the musky smell of hard back covers. Unbothered by the scent, she walked up to the counter where she was greeted by the snow-haired player and a much more organized area. Cleanliness wasn't much a bother to her anyways.

"Ore wa Yuki, yoroshikune!~" She greeted who she assumed was Andromeda and turned to Night while she collected her unidentified gear on the shopkeeps counter. "My friend here recommended that I bring you some unidentified gear. Mind having a look at these to see if we get anything Unique? I would prefer a weapon with Blight or an Armor piece with Elemental aura or thorns."

Total Cost: 11,020

Teleporting down to the beginner's city - man it had be some time since she was down on this floor, but it was nice to see it again - she reunited with Night and made her way through the dark twists and turn that were the back streets of the Town of Beginnings. It wouldn't be long before the duo was outside the door to the shop known simply as Andromeda's Wares. She admired the simplicity of the name, since her shop was similiarly named "Yuki's Grill".

As she was about to step in, she saw the sign on the door. 8pm to 11pm, Wow those were some prime time hours for buying and selling. The paladin quickly glanced at the clock to make sure the time was right. 8:36pm, so she had just opened no too long ago. "Welp, let's get this done then."

"Name's Freyd. Looked like a new DPS, but I wasn't too sure. He was level 1, easily and had basic starting gear. The Frost Beast's stats kind of suck so I outlasted it with thorns and my armor. No AoEs or special abilities or anything, but a good drop comes with it. Let's you raise an item's type all the way up to perfect if isn't already and lets you choose the enhancement on it. I'm willing to have more than just one of those on deck if you're willing to go do that boss some time, for sure." She laughed with Night for a moment, glad that the tension had been broken up a bit from her gloomy expression that she had earlier.

"The potions are named 'Immolation Potions' they raise your thorns damage based on what tier you buy them at. Unfortunately I cannot use the Tier 3 ones, since I'm not tier 3 yet, but it would be nice to have that extra damage."

Yuki smiled and looked at the gear now residing in her inventory that was ready to be identified. Why not go ahead and take them to her so the items don't get lost in her inventory. She wasn't that worried about second tier gear, but wasn't willing to see them junked without a chance to get a nice enhancement.

"Why don't you take me down to her right now then? You know the way and we can go have her identify these before heading to the next boss. Maybe I'll get a unique to use until I finish up the last few levels of Tier two and she'll get some good business and experience from identifying them. I try to make it a mission to visit many stores and not just rely solely on one store per profession, that way everyone gets business." The paladin said as the town started to come into view from the line of trees.

Yuki smiled, glad that her friend had taken notice of her improved gear and tactics. Even if it had felt like she was lagging behind for level, it was nice to have her newest gear being recognized.

"I went to a shop recently that sells the potions that increase a player's thorns damage and have been using them to help deal more damage on every quest I go on. I recently took a player through Essence of Steel and was able to help them kill the boss. They were a pretty low level so I boosted them quite a bit with that quest. Only took me about three hits to kill it off, maybe four. These potions have been helping me a lot, I bought them in bulk." She would continue to use them til she was up to tier three too, after which she would replace them with the stronger versions and be doing even more damage.

Yuki shook her head to Night's assumptions, accepting the trade when it was finished and walking along side her friend with a smile. "None of that. Shield is just a good friend and I don't mind paying his rates. He was one of the only merchants that I knew about until that tiny fox mask girl set up a shop just down the road from mine. If you have a friend that needs business, I will gladly pay their rates as well. The Col is insignificant to me. I already have an amazing house and no need for much more than a couple consumables."

Now that she had been weakened, Night could see that Yuki was much more on her guard on the way back to town. Her eyes scanned around every tree to avoid another ambush on their hands. It could be dangerous for them to get attacked again when Yuki was sitting just above half her maximum HP.

Yuki stretched her arms loose and picked her lance back up, returning it back to its usual place in her database. Night had indeed gotten some useful item drops from the Lamia it seemed and some Col as well.

"Our usual loot terms. You get the consumables and materials, I get the equipment and such. All the weapons and armor are more useful to me at this point than they are to you. Maybe I can find some nice items in their to replace this armor, even though I just got it not too long ago. Heavy Momentum isn't so helpful for someone that uses area of effect attacks so it's not really the best enhancement for me." She said opening up her trade menu with Night, hoping that there was a good bounty of items for her to take. Armor with auras or weapons with DoTs would be preferable, but first she'd need to get them identified obviously. "As for Col, you can keep the most of it. I'm not worried about it. Just need enough to identify the items."

Yuki followed up behind the knight, transferring the lance back to her space. Thank god that was over before it got of hand. There was a chance that the boss could have started to over power the two of them if they handed finished then and there.

Feeling the frustration coming off of Night, she hoped that the dark-haired girl was alright. Perhaps this floor bugged her the same way that floor 16 bugged her. Unfortunately, that's where the duo had to go next if they wanted to continue this quest line. At least there were no snakes involved in the next one. Turning to her friend with a big smile, she gave her a thumbs up. "No matter how many times I see it, your strength ceases to amaze me Night. I'm really glad that you have my back." The luck that she was able to meet Night was probably the greatest boon that she had received from this awful world.

A welcome reprieve washed over Yuki as the heat from the attacks was thinned out. Three of them down and out and the remaining one of them grounded from the knights boot, the paladin took her moment to breathe. These things may have momentarily triggered her fear, but at least she had Night here to help her fight. A happy smile went across her face when the mobs did drop loot. She wondered if night would be willing to let her have the gear, but she would have to ask her once they finished off this remaining serpent.

Launching off her feet again, the paladin dug her massive lance into the mob's chest before it had the time to stand up. It clawed back at her instantly, leaving it with barely any remaining health points, Yuki kept her spear embedding the poor serpent to the ground. Probably best for Night to get the killing blow anyways, since she had the better luck with these loot drops.

Seeing it's HP low, the Lich called for reinforcements instantly. Wailing a shrill shriek from it's disgusting maw and summoning to more of the undead warriors. It was going to absorb them again Yuki wasn't liking that idea. A hum of her pink lance and another kick off her feet to gain some momentum, she slammed the lance into the ground, missing her target. The Lich retaliated, but couldn't seem to find it's target either.

With the liches new minions on the field, it wasted no time absorbing them and regaining a ton of it's health at once. Yuki's eyes widened. If it continued this, it might start getting a bit too strong for her to tank. Gritting her teeth, the paladin stood from her spot and observed the new health point bar. Nothing to worry about now. Night could probably finish it with her next attack easily, and if not, Yuki herself could do it.

Working her way through this stupid fear, she soon realized that these enemies didn't have any paralysis or else she would have been on the ground from the last attack, and it wasn't likely that she would be eaten by one of them.... right? Shaking that awful thought off, the paladin's face got more stern and focused. her lance lit up it's beautiful pink color once more and slashed through each one of her targets easily. Even able to inflict bleed, a smirk ran across her face.

The Lamia were still up and ready to fight even with their HP already drained a bit. Each one took their turns raking their claws against her armor and paying the price for it. Somehow, even two of them missed their attacks. The paladin sighed in relief. "Th-These things aren't as scary. They're just annoying." A glance over to Night, the paladin nodded at her to finish them off. Hopefully they were loot valid mobs for her.

Lamia #1 | HP: 78/550 (-7*6+56) | ACC: 3 | DMG: 150 | EVA: -3
Lamia #2 | HP: 396/550 (-7*6+56) | ACC: 3 | DMG: 150 | EVA: -3
Lamia #3 | HP: 134/550 (-7*6) | ACC: 3 | DMG: 150 | EVA: -3
Lamia #4 | HP: 160/550 (-8*6+24) | ACC: 3 | DMG: 150 | EVA: -3 | BLEED: [1/2] (24)

[2, 0, 2, 2] NIGHT | HP: 1045/1045 | EN: 70/100 (+1, -14) | ACC: 4 | DMG: 23 | EVA: 2 | LD: 9 | REC: 2 | TAUNT | PARAIMMUNE
[6, 4, 6, 7] Zajcica | HP: 554/860 -(150-99)*2+8 | EN: 60/76 | ACC: 3 | DMG: 6 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 99 | DoT: -25%-25% | THORNS: 56 | BH: 8

Watching the group of Stygian Warriors meet their end to either the boss or the blade of her ally, Yuki found her opening to make sure this thing was stopped before it got too much stronger. She raised her lance to the ceiling of the cave and charged ahead of Night, making sure that she overtook the aggro on the beast before it could attack Night.

Kicking off the ground with the help of the Cardinal system, Yuki lunged through the air and dug her golden lance into the beast's chest(?). The Lich seemed less bothered about the attack, however, as sit grabbed Yuki with two of its appendages and sucked some light from the paladin's body. It was draining her HP with attacks as well? Good thing it couldn't do enough to heal itself a lot. The creature then dropped the paladin to the ground, who let out a loud "Kah-" As she plunked against the floor with her weapon.

Getting up to her feet just in time to see the demise of the fish. Yuki let out a sigh and returned her weapon to it's hammerspace where it belonged. That had gone by much more quickly than she assumed it would. She expected the fish to be harder than the Lich was since it was on a higher floor, but even the lich had some mechanics that made him a bit tricky to deal with. They would need to head back to the teleporter now to get the next subsidiary quest done.

"Let's make our way back and do the next quest. Best to get them all done as soon as possible, right?" The paladin said with a shrug, leading the way back to the main settlement. On their way back, things would get a little more exciting than she expected, however. A group of Lamia wailed from off the trail, converging on the duo quickly. Yuki's heart stopped when she saw the serpentine bodies. "Nai! Stay away!" Drawing her sword and reactively activating a sword art the paladin took a slash at all of them at once. Only missing one of them even with the completely misguided attack, Yuki tried to back off but was surrounded too quickly to react, getting raked by claws from every angle. "G-Get off me!"

[0, 0, 0, 0] NIGHT | HP: 1045/1045 | EN: 83/100 (+1, -9) | ACC: 4 | DMG: 23 | EVA: 2 | LD:9 | REC: 2 | TAUNT | PARAIMMUNE
[3, 1, 3, 3] Zajcica | HP: 648/860 -(150-99)*4+8 | EN: 60/80 (-6+6) | DMG: 6 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 99 | DoT: -25%-25% | THORNS: 56 | BH: 8

Lamia 1: 452/550 -(7*6+56) | DMG: 150 | ACC: 3 | EVA: -3
Lamia 2: 494/550 -(56) | DMG: 150 | ACC: 3 | EVA: -3
Lamia 3: 452/550 -(7*6+56) | DMG: 150 | ACC: 3 | EVA: -3
Lamia 4: 508/550 -(7*6) | DMG: 150 | ACC: 3 | EVA: -3

As the Morestuna stood to its stubby little feet, Yuki stayed attached to it with her weapon. It struggled around like crazy to get the girl off it's back but the paladin was difficult to shake off. It only succeeded in hurting itself more on her thorns and making her dizzy. "Ugh, stop! Hold still you crazy freakin' beast!"

Night's definite strike melted more than half it's health points instantly. The next attack would send it back to the Cardinal for sure. Drawing her lance out of the fishes body and landing unceremoniously on her stomach, Yuki rose as quickly as possible, making sure the fish wouldn't grab her and drag her under the water. It would do so if it got the chance and she wasn't ready to get eaten by another freaking animal. Night would kill it before it got another chance to attack her probably. That would put her doubts to rest at least.

"I don't intend to be as successful as you, but it is nice to know that not everything can just mitigate my damage any more. After you've seen so many 1 damage attacks, you start to wonder if you're doing anything useful. I understand my job as a tank, don't get me wrong. I just wish I could do more, y'know?" The caverns were damp and a bit dim. It would probably take them some time to find their target, but when they did, it would be done quickly. These quests weren't difficult, Yuki had just never noticed them before. The totems would be an amazing boon for her build and it seemed foolish to not complete this quest line.

"We need all these totems to use their benefits right? And we can only use one. I wonder which one I should use since I'm something of a multi class build. More damage or more protection? Hmm.." The paladin wondered out loud, trying to see what Night was thinking about doing with her buff when they acquired all the totems.

Arriving at the river in a much more timely manner, the paladin readied for the lich minions to appear. They rose from the water just in time to meet Yuki's pink lance Only striking two of her targets. They surrounded her quickly after. Once the mobs had made their attacks on Yuki, the Lich rose from the river's surface attempting to claw Night with it's flesh appendage. Unable to move from her position, the paladin called out. "Look out!" Trying to break free, she needed to make an attack on the Lich as soon as possible, but with its minions still on the battlefield, it sucks out their souls and disappears out of reach from the two. "Its getting stronger by eating the small guys? We need to kill them quick then!"

[1, 4, 1, 3]Yuki: 860/860 -(4+8) | 66/80 -(6+8) | DMG: 7 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 99 | ACC: 3 | DoT: 25%+25% | Thorns: 56 | BH: 8 | Conc. CD: [0/3]
[0, 0, 0, 0]]NIGHT: HP: 1045/1045 -(50) | EN: 100/100 | ACC: 4 | DMG: 23* | EVA: 2 | LD: 9 | REC: 2 | TAUNT | PARAIMMUNE | Stealth Detection: 3

Stygian Warrior 1: 100/100 | DMG: 25 | MIT: 5 | ACC: 1
Stygian Warrior 2: 27/100 -(9*6+24) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 5 | ACC: 1
Stygian Warrior 3: 44/100 -(56) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 5 | ACC: 1
Stygian Warrior 4: 7/100 -(7*6+56) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 5 | ACC: 1
The Leech Lich: 250/250 | DMG: 50 | MIT: 25 | ACC: 2

Watching the bobber in the water and observing the condition of the rod as it was cast, she tried to remember everything that her dad had taught her mixed with what she had witnessed from Shield when she was more of a pipsqueak of a player. With those in her mind, sooner or later, Night would find the catch. "Wait!" She called out as her companion looked ready to tug it in. The bobber went back and forth going under then back up. She waited for the right time...

Suddenly it sank and the line began feeding into the lake. "Now! Now!" With a bit of struggle, Night would soon be able to pull the beast close enough to shore to fight. Yuki summoned her lance. "You're mine!" Leaping into the air, the paladin jumped on the back of the giant beast and dug her spear into it's back like she was spear fishing. Only difference being that this thing would surely not die from first contact. The paladin held on to her spear as the best struggled about to get her off.

[3]Yuki: 860/860 (100-99+8) | 74/80 (-6) | DMG: 7 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 99 | ACC: 3 | DoT: 25%+25% | Thorns: 56 | BH: 8 | Conc. CD: [0/3]
[0]NIGHT: HP: 1045/1045 | EN: 100/100 | ACC: 4 | DMG: 23* | EVA: 2 | LD: 9 | REC: 2 | TAUNT | PARAIMMUNE | Stealth Detection: 3

Moretsuna: 427/500 -(7*6-25+56) | DMG: 100 | MIT: 25 | ACC: 2 | EVA: 1

The paladin grinned happily as his attack landed true. He hadn't activated a sword art, but at least he had the guts to strike an attack against something that could destroy him with a single strike. However, that's what she was here for, this boss wouldn't get the best of her no matter how hard it tried to breach her defenses.

"Keep up the fight! It isn't dead yet. Don't stand on ceremony until you've come out on top!" On queue, her lance lit up pink with a beautiful quiet hum. The bladed end of her lance just barely missed the massive golem, being completely ineffective. It raised it's arm, ready to strike again. It attempted to swat her away, but unfortunately for it, she was like a wall made of lead. Her feet planted in the ground, she barely moved from her position. The beast was pricked from her thorns. "One more good tun, and you're finished!"

[8]Yuki: 660/820 (-160-99+8)| 64/76 | DMG: 6 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 99 | ACC: 3 | DoT: 25%+25% | Thorns: 56 | BH: 8 | Conc. CD: [0/3]
[1]Freyd: 20/20 | 0/2 | DMG: 1

Frost Beast: 89/250 (-56) | DMG: 160(Min: 24)