Zajcica

Yuki face palmed at the witch's pitiful attempts to sound threatening. This was probably one of the most annoying bosses that she had met to date. The Hebi was pretty bad because it ate her sure, but at least it didn't needlessly lecture her on how it was going to kill her and all this other dumb [censored]. 

With that, the paladin notice Shield was back to his feet. "Good, I was beginning to get worried that the effect might be a special one. I've been afflicted with every status effect in this game, but paralysis is one that terrifies me especially." She explained. Now that she knew Shield was alright, she could focus more on the fight. Her grip on her giant lance tightened as she reared it back for the attack. Lance pushed forward and in an amazing feat of dexterity, the witch somehow used her tiny dagger to deflect her attack. She cackled crazily.

"I told you I wont be hit that eas-" The witches voice was cut off by a fist to the face. Yuki's gauntleted hand pounded the bosses nose in. "Will you shut up already and die! I didn't come here to listen to your rambling all night!"

[H:4/4/4/22] Shield: HP: 1850/1850 | EN: 156/176 | DMG: 2 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 181 | BH:92 | HB: 48 | THN: 99 | ENV: 18/4
[H: 0/0/0/19] Yuki: 720/720 | 60/66 | DMG: 5 | MIT 81 | EVA: -1 | ACC: 3| THN: 18 | BLD: 24

Elite Flying Monkey 1: 0/220 | 90(45) | MIT: 35
Elite Flying Monkey 2: 0/220 | 90(45) | MIT: 35
Elite Flying Monkey 3: 0/220 | 90(45) | MIT: 35
The Witch: 110/700 | DMG: 100 | MIT: 70 | EVA: 1 | [ENV - 18/2]

Shield was unable to respond correctly, but judging from the sounds he was trying to give her, she suspected that he was alright. After all, the wall of thorns and armor didn't need to move to be effective at killing an enemy like the witch. Hopefully the effect would wear off soon, or she might start getting scared.

"Oi! You best not forget that there's more than a single person here! Forget about me an you'll regret it, stupid!" The paladin quickly moved onto the witch raised the blade like a sword and swiped her from the side. The bladed edge cut through her skin and the weight of the massive lance knocked her to the ground with ease. Following up with another attack, Yuki attempts to impale the witch with the tip of the weapon. Her adversary is just fast enough to roll out of the way. If she kept up the pressure on the witch, Shield would be able to recover from the status condition.

[H:4/4/4/21] Shield: HP: 1850/1850 | EN: 156/176 | DMG: 2 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 181 | BH:92 | HB: 48 | THN: 99 | ENV: 18/4 [PAR/0]
[H: 0/0/0/17] Yuki: 720/720 | 60/66 | DMG: 5 | MIT 81 | EVA: -1 | ACC: 3| THN: 18 | BLD: 24

Elite Flying Monkey 1: 0/220 | 90(45) | MIT: 35
Elite Flying Monkey 2: 0/220 | 90(45) | MIT: 35
Elite Flying Monkey 3: 0/220 | 90(45) | MIT: 35
The Witch: 228/700 | DMG: 100 | MIT: 70 | [BLD: 24/0] [ENV - 18/3]

Getting up from her seat, Yuki started walking towards the quest area. Having been to this floor many times for several different quests, the layout of the floor had basically been embedded into her mind. Essence of Steel was just an easier version of Absolute Zero, kinda, so this wouldn't be difficult at all. Especially with Mari's help. Approaching the edge of the forest, through the white blanket of falling snow, Yuki could see her old friend. The orange beacon of hair and clothing was difficult to miss.

Perhaps she was fretting a little too much since she became worried with every step closer. The two of them left off on a tense foot and she wasn't entirely sure if she was ready to get scolded like the last time they had met. Nevertheless, her feet sooner or later carried her into earshot of Mari.

"O-Oi." The paladin choked out with a wave to her friend. She was afraid to really say much about the past right now, at least until she figured out where Mari's mood was today, and how she felt about her. "The enemy we're fighting can't do any more than 50 damage to me, barely. I could use potions and junk, but it would just be easier for me to bring a friend and share the reward right? Then I don't waste valuable consumables, and you get the reward in case you ever need it."

The paladin gave Mari a weak smile. As hard as she tried, she couldn't get their last meetings out of her mind.

@Mari

Seeing the thing that nearly swallowed her for the second time was not pleasant at all. The paladin recoiled nearly instantly. A sound of distress uttered from her lips. As Night jumped into combat, Yuki couldn't help but follow her in. She could stay here and just not do anything. The onlt reason that Yuki was here was to be an extra collection of the quest item. No. There was no way she was going to take the chance that her friend get swallowed. If Night was to get eaten by this thing, she would have no way to help her. Yuki would gladly put herself in danger again to ensure her safety.

"Screw you you dumb snake! I'm back for revenge!" Her tone was no where near believable, and she was so scared that she actually lost track of the Hebi as she swung her lance in its direction. Something about snakes now made it impossible for her to take the fight as seriously as possible. She hid behind her shield like a scared little girl.

Yuki nodded at Night's question. The item gained from Witch of the West was a useful one for Merchants especially. "Yeah, I'm going to be giving the item to a merchant to drink in conjunction for identifying my equipment. It will increase the odds of finding unique items for a single batch. I need to get an armor or shield that has one of the elemental auras or thorns on it. It's crucial to the build that I'm trying to put together."

Dreading every single step was no way to prepare yourself for battle, but Yuki couldn't help but feel pressured as the neared ever closer to the slithering demon they were intending to fight. If she gotten eaten again, she would cry for days. "Where is this stupid boss already? Can we just get it over with? I don't want to go anywhere near it in the first place, so hopefully you can off it quickly.

Yuki quickly took off her armor, a dangerous thing to do when she was nearly at half her total hit points, but they were done with combat so it would be safe enough now. Once she was in her dry kimono, she took the extra layer from Crow and the extra-extra layer from Night to warm herself up as quickly as possible.

"Y-You dummy! You're all wet now too! I w-would have been fine s-swimming back on my own... Think a little more before you jump into a frozen lake!" Actually unsure if she was actually going to do so while being so heavily damaged, she tried not to think about what would have happened if she couldn't have made it back. "L-Let's get out of here."

Even if she had changed her clothing, her skin and hair were still wet from the dip. They needed to get somewhere warm before some in-game status effect like frostbite actually did kick in.

@NIGHT @Crozeph

As Shield's body seized up, Yuki got a little worried, but to be fair, he would be fine in a situation like this. The status effect would keep him down, but would wear off in a few seconds. Meanwhile, Yuki needed to stay focused on what she was tasked with doing and put her spear through this witch's chest. The effect of bleed would wear of easily if she didn't keep up the attacks.

The weapon reared back and jammed forward with all of Yuki's might behind it. It was another devastating hit, but not good enough to reinflict the bleed status effect. How unfortunate and annoying at the same time.

The paladin looked over to her tanking mentor and asked, "Uh, hey, you going to be alright?" She wasn't sure how long the status effect would last from this enemy. It could just be normal paralysis, but after the Snake, she wasn't willing to take chances with the paralysis effect.

[H:4/4/4/21] Shield: HP: 1850/1850 | EN: 155/176 | DMG: 2 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 181 | BH:92 | HB: 48 | THN: 99 | ENV: 18/4 [PAR/1]
[H: 0/0/0/15] Yuki: 720/720 | 60/66 | DMG: 5 | MIT 81 | EVA: -1 | ACC: 3| THN: 18 | BLD: 24

Elite Flying Monkey 1: 0/220 | 90(45) | MIT: 35
Elite Flying Monkey 2: 0/220 | 90(45) | MIT: 35 [ENV - 18/3]
Elite Flying Monkey 3: 0/220 | 90(45) | MIT: 35
The Witch: 370/700 | DMG: 100 | MIT: 70 | [BLD: 24/1] [ENV - 18/4]

The girl blushed and giggled lightly as she thought about it. Her finger scratched her cheek awkwardly when she had to admit the real reason. "Um, to be honest, I happened to miss this quest and I need the experience for it. It won't be as much as I could get for a higher level quest, but it's still easy to do. In fact, it was so easy that I felt obligated to help a new player."

Yuki went off to the side to watch the boy, taking a seat with her legs crossed in the grass she paid careful attention. Her massive spear laid in her lap carefully, ready to be used if she needed to jump in and help him.

"Good luck! Stay calm and use your sword arts. Don't let the enemy intimidate you! You are stronger than him! He should be scared of you." Another big toothy smile brightened the shade of the trees.

@Se7en

Yuki: 820/820 | 76/76 | DMG: 5 | MIT: 104 | Thorns: 36 | EVA:-1 | BLD: 24/2 |  BH: 8
Se7en: 20/20 | 2/2 | DMG: 2 | MIT: 9 | ACC: 3 | BLD: 12/2

Dark Elf: 12/12 | Dmg: 9

Yuki could see the dread wringing out the boy's expression. Maybe some input would help strengthen his resolve. "Hey, you look like you could use a jump-start! Here! You can use this here to help you win." The paladin unhooked the black celtic-knotted horn from her belt and held it out to the boy as a gift. "I would like it back when you are done, okay? It'll help make sure that your attacks hit home." She explained happily with a smile.

"Are you sure about me being able to do this?" Yuki gave him a tooth grin as the duo entered the mob's territory.

"Absolutely! This is the easiest field boss that you'll ever meet in the game. It can't kill you without doing around 10-20 attacks. If you start struggling, I'll jump in and make sure he doesn't get the better of you, okay? I'm a tank, I won't let you die!" A smile shined with reassurance.

"Oi!" The pink haired player waved him down with her big smile. The boy looked pretty new to the game judging by his equipment. She wondered if those items even had enhancements on them. Almost as soon as he began speaking, he started walking the other direction. Perhaps he wasn't the best at putting words out the open. "Oi, Oi! Wait!" She caught up with him and halted him, hands against her hips. "You're keen. I am indeed a higher level player, but I'm not more different than you are. It's all just numbers. Orewa Yuki-desu. Yoroshikune~" The girl ran through her usual dialogue of a greeting. Always the same with her: I'm Yuki, nice to meet you. Maybe it was time to switch it up.

"So hey, you're coming to fight that boss, yeah? I can help you out with that - though you look geared well enough to beat it alone." Her smile was almost unbearable. "You go fight it out right now, and I'll make sure nothing overwhelms you. I could kill this boss easily by just letting it hit me."

@Se7en

The pink paladin found herself on floor 3. How in the world had she missed out on such an easy quest this early?! This was literally the easiest field boss in the game and was basically free experience for her to gobble up. The benefits of her slime farm were back too, so it would be an easy trigger to push ahead in the game of SP. Block wasn't going to learn itself after all.

Approaching the blacksmith's home, she got her quest activated and started making her way to the spawn area that the dark elf would be waiting in. This boss was insanely easy for her to kill off on her own, but it wouldn't be fair if she just murdered it one her own. Somehow she missed this quest, she was sure that everyone on her friends list had already completed it and didn't need the experience. If she waited long enough, would she just run into a noob looking to find the boss? It would be worth it wait for anyone at least for a while near his spawn zone.

@Se7en

Using a Yui's grace and a mega slime farm bonus for plus 3 SP at the end of the thread.

Time it was. The need for Tier three gear was getting ever more urgent and the Paladin knew that she was going to need some unique gear if she really wanted to join the front line and make an impact on the world around her. They were a fourth of the way to the top of the tower after years. The front lines would really need help from new players. Yuki was one of those upstarts that believed in the strength in numbers. She may have been scared of this digital prison when she was first put behind bars, but those cells would no longer hold her fears hostage.

Night had already sent her message. Yuki knew it was time, so she collected the foods that she had prepared for this day specifically and made her way to the Coral teleportation pad. Another name crossed her thoughts when she scrolled down to Night's to reply. Arabelle was a person she had met from Cord and Mari. She recalled her wanting to join the paladin for grinding, so she pulled up her menu and sent her message, attaching some foods to the delivery.

This shop was such easy access for the paladin with it being right next to her house. It was no more than a short ten minute walk between her shop and to Firm Anima's Guild Hall. The Fox there was a decent enough person, so hopefully she was a high enough merchant level to sell her what she needed. The paladin opened the sliding door and took off her shoes on the tatami mat floor.

"Oi, Fox, I'm just looking for a bunch of Immolation potions for my level. You can't get them from crafters, so I need to buy them from you, here's enough col for 15 of them." She said setting the sack of money on the counter and completing the trade.

The branches pierced the paladin's chest. Without the help from her armor, to blunt the blow and being completely impaled, she fell to the ground and coughed a fit momentarily until the sensation replacing the pain faded. "Ugh... That one hurt. Don't worry Mari, I won't let this guy take you down easily." She winced looking up at her and everyone else's health bars. If they continued to miss attacks, they would fall to this thing extremely quickly. 

Yuki readied her weapon again, still feeling unnerved about the red holes in her chest, she took a swing of her axe at the trees base, still finding it hard to connect with the bark. A note was made to never go into the lumberjack business with her skill at using an axe. "Ku-Kuso, how do I keep missing this stupid thing, it's the size of a freaking building!" The paladin backed up again and took a stance in front of Mari, ready to block an attack for again, and take the downed status like Zandra for her ginger-haired friend if she had to.

Attack missed!

Rares:

Perfects:

Day 32

(1)Fail: 2
(2)Salvage: 3
(3)Uncommon: 7
(5)Rare: 5
(8)Perfect: 3

EXP:  (2+6+21+25+24)+(6*20) Total: 2,441

The paladin swung open the doors to the quaint little cafe that was run on floor one. An interesting little alchemy shop that was also repurposed as a place to eat and relax. The ongoers of Aincrad really found good ways to keep the game feeling fun and interesting. Approaching the counter she was met with the owner of the shop, the girl had a cute smile, and even more interesting, she had two different colored eyes.

"Good afternoon! I haven't been able to find any amount of crafter respites in stock from anywhere in the higher floors, so I came back down here to see wheat I could get. They're pretty hard to come by, so I'll pay whatever you've got for your stock right now. How's this?" The girl said putting a sack of Col down on the counter and allowing her to inspect the contents of about 3000 col to confirm her purchase.

Buying Three Dragon's Breaths

The tower of ice and freeze cold was falling. Night's last attack had put it down to a low enough point that it's status affects would kill it, but it wasn't dead just yet. The paladin continued to struggle with the Absolute Zero's massive force bearing on her. She resisted, her herculean digital strength somehow able to combat with something so massive. All she had to do was survive until the next damage over time effect came.

The Absolute Zero wasn't finished with her just yet. It raised it's thorny arm leaving the girl still unable to get up an move, since she wouldn't have time to try and dodge, she turtled behind her shield. The monster brought down it's arms on the tiny girl once more. Cracking ice shattered around the paladin as she was sent through the ice and into the water below. The moment the Zero made contact with her, it exploded into nothing but blue coding in the shape of polygons.

Underneath the water, random fish type mobs swam, ignoring the massive hulk of armor that just sank into the water like a bobber to a fishing pole. The all seemed somewhat majestic compared to mobs on the surface level, but no time to think about that. The water was freezing down to the paladin's core. The heavy armor that weighed her down made it difficult to swim, still she found the will to make it back up to the surface after an entire minute. The girl came gasping up for air, trying to get help from one of her friends.

Finally back on land, water poured off her braided lock and dripped from her weapons and armor. "Mou... Its freezing..."

Absolute Zero | HP: 0/850 (-72+36) | ACC: 3 | DMG: 200 | EVA: -2 | MIT: 75 | FREEZE: 2 | CD12: GRAND SLAM | MD9: +50DMG | MD10: +100DMG | BURNING (24) [1/2] | BLIGHTED (24) [1/2] | BLEEDING: [1/2]

[3] NIGHT | HP: 990/990 | EN: 79/96 (+1, -9) | ACC: 3 | DMG: 22 | EVA: 2 | MIT: 6 | BURN: 24 | BLIGHT: 24 | PARAV-D: 1 | LD: 3 | Antidote: 2
[4] Zajcica | HP: 680/880 | EN: 66/70 | DMG: 8 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 134 | THORNS: 38 | RECOVERY: 2
[2] Crozeph | HP: 630/630 | EN: 24/64 | DMG: 12 | EVA: -1 | BLEED: 24 | SAVVY: 1 | REGEN: 10 | BH: 10

The blighted sword crashed into the tower of ice that made up this monster. It reminded her of the Avalanche, but it was supposed to be a reborn version of the field boss so it wasn't surprising. The paladin moved to a side area, away from her two damage friends, calling out to the monster with her loudest voice.

"Oi! Oi! I'm you're target you stupid hunk of ice! Focus on me!" The Absolute Zero looked her way, even after being pelted by the katana and the blighted sword. Getting up to it's giant feet, it clasping its hands together. Both falling directly on the paladin's shield and sending her onto her back. "Kaa-!!" She cried while underneath the giant ice arm. Her golden lance took it's usual pink hue, stabbing into the frozen water's scaly body with ease and afflicting it further with status effects. "Oi! Guys! You can kill it on the next attack! Help me out here!"

Absolute Zero | HP: 390/850 (-1-24) | ACC: 3 | DMG: 200 | EVA: -2 | MIT: 75 | FREEZE: 2 | CD12: GRAND SLAM | MD9: +50DMG | MD10: +100DMG | BURNING (24) [1/2] | BLIGHTED (24) [1/2] | BLEEDING: [1/2]

[2] NIGHT | HP: 990/990 | EN: 87/96 | ACC: 3 | DMG: 22 | EVA: 0 | MIT: 6 | BURN: 24 | BLIGHT: 24 | PARAV-D: 1 | LD: 3 | Antidote: 2
[4] Zajcica | HP: 746/880 | EN: 66/70 (-4) | DMG: 8 | EVA: -3 | MIT: 134 | THORNS: 38 | RECOVERY: 2
[1] Crozeph | HP: 630/630 | EN: 39/64 | DMG: 12 | EVA: -1 | BLEED: 24 | SAVVY: 1 | REGEN: 10 | BH: 12

The paladin dipped through trees and boggy swamps following behind the crusader she normally quested with again. Why did she have to bring her back through this quest again? She was promised no more snakes.

"I know, I know. It's not like me to cower like this, but snakes... I'll do it for you Night. I know this consumable thingie is important to you. In return, you should help me grind the Witch's consumable. That's one that I need often for gear identification." The paladin dreaded every single step of walking closer to this stupid snake, but she wouldn't hide from it. She would do her best to tank it as she needed to for her friend.

"Like I said when you one-shot the Sando Satsu, I won't back down from a fight. I'm here with you until the end, alright? Don't think a silly little fear of snakes is going to me in to the point where I can't do my job. Just know that you are the ONLY person I will do this for. Don't tell anyone else."

Yuki worked around, looking for a place to strike. Focusing was easier without crazed flying monkeys screaming at absolutely nothing for no reason. Her lance feeling ever so lighter as she approached the witch from behind, not necessarily the most quiet of clanking metal, she stabbed the spear directly through the chest of the witch and grinned. The icon of bleed inflicted her for the first time in this long battle. It was nice to know that she was doing something to help. Bleed was all just luck, so it was difficult to blame herself but even still. 

The paladin took a quick glance up to her health bars to check on their lower leveled friend. She was still at full health, so she was likely doing a good job at avoiding unnecessary conflict by herself. That was a relief at least. "Oi Shield, your friend Shye seems like a resourceful person for someone with no damage or tanking. You got lucky finding her. I'm sure she'll be a great healer when she levels up."

[H:4/4/4/18] Shield: HP: 1850/1850 | EN: 155/176 | DMG: 2 | EVA: -1 | MIT: 181 | BH:92 | HB: 48 | THN: 99 | ENV: 18/4
[H: 0/0/0/13] Yuki: 720/720 | 60/66 | DMG: 5 | MIT 81 | EVA: -1 | ACC: 3| THN: 18 | BLD: 24

Elite Flying Monkey 1: 0/220 | 90(45) | MIT: 35
Elite Flying Monkey 2: 12/220 | 90(45) | MIT: 35 [ENV - 18/4]
Elite Flying Monkey 3: 0/220 | 90(45) | MIT: 35
The Witch: 396/700 | DMG: 100 | MIT: 70 | [BLD: 24/2]

Gritting her teeth down to every single word, the paladin stayed quiet. Anyone was redeemable if they just tried. This boy was not trying. He had grown so attached to the idea that he was the villain of this world, not taking into the account of the man named Kayaba. No one in here was to blame. If this stupid game had never happened, none of them likely would have gone to this kind of life. Maybe Yuki was hopeless. Maybe she saw too much good in people and ignored the bad just so she could hope that they were redeemable. No matter what, it was becoming quite clear that she couldn't do anything for this boy in her current state.

"Y-You have a lot of balls to talk about people like you know them! Mari would never hurt another person again! H-Hidden needs some work but she is trying! Y-You! You're nothing but a monster! Believing in only evil leads to disaster and you will meet your end if you continue to wear that orange cursor like it was a goddamn noose! I'm not stupid for believing that people can all be good if they work at bettering themselves, I'm stupid for trying to put my energy into someone as irredeemable as you! If you want to live life as a target and a victim to everyone's judgement, then keep wearing that stupid orange cursor like a medal. I'm going to put my time into people that actually need it." The paladin's anger was unmatched. Her teeth basically crushing her jaw she turned and ran back to the closest safe zone. This one really was unable to be saved, wasn't he? She couldn't save everyone... But that won't stop her from trying to help everyone damned by this stupid digital world.

@Pinball

Finally able to land a hit on one of these stupid overgrown ferns was nice. She had messed up so many attacks thus far, but she was still somewhat inexperienced so it kind of made sense. Though you would think that it would be easy to chop a giant tree down with an axe when the thing was this slow and large.

It's spiny arm reached past the people around and stabbed Mari directly through the chest. Yuki had almost forgotten her role as a tank, but how was she supposed to tank like this? This weapon and armor wouldn't let her last long, but Mari was in danger. She took another chop at the Tree's base, barely missing the bark of trunk and backed off in front of the orange haired player. The axe she wielded was ill-suited as a make shift shield but she would put it to work if the boss attempted to hit Mari again. "Mari-chan! I have your back!"

Misses Axe Attack 3 on Tree of Winter

Yuki stepped on to floor four. A cold and harsh environment always bit her in snow ridden floor. A new quest she had yet to complete was on this floor and she had almost run the quests dry on this floor. Although, it would be hard to pull off without some help from a damager friend. Even with her new armor, she would have some trouble dealing enough damage to kill the golem before it killed her. Offsetting that balance with DPS would be the only way she could get the quest item that she desperately needed to make her weapon more viable. She opened her menu and scrolled down to Night as usual, crossing over a familiar name that she hadn't heard anything from in a long while: Mari.

Mari's probably still a little bitter after what happened in Nemean Lion and the Familiar Quest. It would be a gamble, but maybe she should give the girl a nudge and see if they can work out some of these problems. Instead of just messaging Night and doing it the easy way, she should message Mari. She opened her private messages with the red head and started typing something out.

moine