[SP-F9] Hunting the Bandits <<Bandit Camp>> (Complete)

[Hirru 0]

Hunting the Bandits

I found myself on the ninth floor today.  It seems that I've become more adventurous lately, as I would not have thought to visit this floor until I knew that I could become stronger.  That being said, some of the guild was telling me of a quest that a warrior non-player character was giving out.  It wasn't long until I found said NPC, as they stood out against any of the other people around here.  Their armor seemed more beat up than anyone that I have seen.  I talked with them to find out what they would give me.  It seemed that a group of bandits have been taking over a certain area where most warriors train.  As a hunter, I felt that I needed to do my part.

+2 DMG Potion used
+18 MIT Potion used

Edited April 5, 2016 by Hirru

[Hirru 0]

From the information gathered, they were camped out near a specific stronghold.  It was a few hours walk, so I didn't need the wagon to take me.  Besides, I needed the breather and I felt that everything would fall into place soon.  With the fact that I was now venturing to the upper floors, that only meant that I was becoming stronger.  Soon, I would be at the milestone, and join Mack and the others on the front lines.  I just needed a little push to get there, that was all that I needed.

[Hirru 0]

The volcanic fields of the ninth floor were quite something to explore.  The heat that came off of the lava filled pools felt real enough to burn one alive, if they fell in.  The caverns were even more treacherous too, if my memory of the Cerberus was any indicator for that.  If only I had more time, I would search around more, but my time was limited.  I needed to push through this floor before I am found by anything, or the guild needs me for something.  I needed to prove to everyone that I was a hunter that could take care of himself.

[Hirru 0]

As time passed on, I finally reached the stronghold that the warrior told me about.  Strong stone walls stood before me in a show of great architectural integrity.  Another reason to explore this floor later on, I was sure.  Without another moment to spare, I looked around for an opening that would fit myself, or a band of ruffians.  It wouldn't take long for me to find a wall that had crumbled into itself.  How it did would be a mystery to me, but that didn't matter.  I could hear voices on the other side, which meant that my search was finally over.

[Hirru 0]

Within the area were multitudes of broken or fallen stone buildings and walls.  Most of them looked to have aged quite some time.  The most peculiar ones, that caught my interests, were four that were arranged around a campfire.  Seated on the rubble were four people with dubious looking equipment.  Ragged for the most part, they didn't seem to friendly from their chatter.  They spoke of their last heist, or so they called it.  They had stolen quite a load of Col from a wandering warrior.  That must have been the one that gave me the mission to begin with.  Coming closer, I kicked over a rock that made quite a bit of noise.

"Who goes there?!"

All of them turned to me as they drew their blades.

"A measly man that wants trouble, it seems."

"Well, let's give it to him!"

With that, they rushed at me.

Hirru [92 / 92 hp // 23 / 23 en]

Bandit [70 / 70 hp]
Bandit [70 / 70 hp]
Bandit [70 / 70 hp]
Bandit [70 / 70 hp]

[Hirru 0]

It was over in a flash.

As the bandits came closer, with their blades drawing closer and forming their own sword arts, I started my own.  All four branched off and actively threw themselves at me from four sides, hoping to tag me with one of their attacks.  Possibly to end me right then and there, but the art that I activated was one that didn't need me to escape to either of their sides.  Immediately, I jumped into the air to perform a back flip, as Solace glowed a deep violet.  Soon, the blade was slammed into the ground as I landed, the violet energy surging all around me and striking the four enemies.  Every one of them screamed once, but fell silent before shattering into thousands of shards.

[ID: 53014]
[MD: 6-1] Miss
[BD: 5+2] Hit
[Sword Art: Lightning Fall] 1x7x10 = 70 AOE dmg

Hirru [92 / 92 hp // 9 / 23 en] (-14 en)

Bandit [0 / 70 hp] (-70 hp)
Bandit [0 / 70 hp] (-70 hp)
Bandit [0 / 70 hp] (-70 hp)
Bandit [0 / 70 hp] (-70 hp)

Edited March 24, 2016 by Hirru

[Hirru 0]

It didn't take too long after that for me to realize what I had done.  Those were people, for all that I knew.  I had killed these men without a second thought, and I don't know why.  They were bandits!  No good criminals, but that didn't mean that they needed to die!  What was more nerve wrecking, was that I felt nothing from it.  There was no remorse, anger, or sadness from the act.  Not until now, that is.  I killed them, without a second thought.  I looked down at my hand which clutched Solace loosely.  The blade fell from my hand and made a metallic clattering noise when it hit the ground.

[Hirru 0]

A low screaming could be heard from all around me.  The sound reverberated from the stone walls and into the starry night, which made it seem all the more clearer.  The noise carried on for quite some time as I fell to my knees.  I realized soon that the source of the screaming, was me.  My collective conscience had broken from the strain, and I may have lost my mind.  It would be in that instance that I ceased to be.  My vision turned to darkness before I felt the cold ground below me.  I had fainted.

[Hirru 0]

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"How long has it been?"

The voice crawled out from the darkness of my consciousness.  I didn't understand the question, as I don't remember hearing the voice ever in my life.  Or.. have I?  I couldn't remember, even here in my own mind, I didn't know who it was.

"Oh come on!  You know who I am."

"You can read my mind?"

I responded, though it felt as if I was moving my lips when I spoke that.  I didn't have a visual of myself or the voice in question, so I figured that I was in my own mind.

"No, but you're speaking to me in your sleep, so I thought that I may have a conversation with the unconscious you."

"Huh?"

[Hirru 0]

Realizing that I really was in asleep was something that I could not fathom.  If I really was asleep, then I would be able to dream the current voice and events.  With that, I remembered that I blacked out from the events of...

"Probably an hour, or so."

With that, my eyes were wide open to find myself on the ground, staring into the sky.  Pushing myself up, I found that I was still in the fortress on the ninth floor, but now I was next to the fire that the bandits were using.  The thought of those men that I slaughtered quickly made me go into a fetal position while sitting up.  It wasn't too long into that when a hand was placed on my shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

[Hirru 0]

Looking up from my horribly depressing state, I saw a face that I thought would never come back to me.  Scruffy blonde hair fell down from a hardened angular face.  A look of concern was all that I could discern from my weakened state of being, but what would come from the eyes of this man, if I really could see them.  Glassy, almost opaque, as if the life was really drained from him, not me.  We both were seated next to the fire, but he was sitting on one of the crumbled bricks that made up the broken wall.  I could feel the warmth of the fire as the night seemed to chill one to the bone.  Looking back into the fire, I responded.

"Yeah.."

[Hirru 0]

"So, you've fought against another human type mob, I see."

"Huh?"

I was confused by this.  I had killed four people not too long ago, but this man was acting as if it was nothing but another boar from the first floor.  I don't know if I felt rage, or sadness, but that made me tighten the grip on my legs as I pulled them closer to me.  He doesn't understand!  He has never..

"I've never killed anyone.  Is that what you're thinking?"

How did he know that?  I thought as I quickly turned to him with a questioning look.  He simple let out a chuckle before looking into the fire.

"You would be surprised, but what you did was not murder.  You didn't kill anyone."

"What do you mean?  Those were men, humans!"

"They were monsters.  The same as the boars and others beings on this god forsaken castle."

[Hirru 0]

Though the circumstances were still the same, I understood what this man meant.  This world was filled with creatures that everyone called monsters or mobs, for short.  They would come in all shapes and sizes, but always had something to denote their existence.  A red crystal would show their true colors, and mark them as monsters.  From the people of the third floor, I found that these crystals are something only humans can see.  From a tale that an old man told me, humans had possessed many lands in their time, but with the Great Division, that land was lost.  With the land came many artifacts, and two seemed to become embedded into the souls of all humans:  Trinket of Holding and Trinket of Foresight.

[Hirru 0]

Thinking back to when I fought those bandits, they did have the red crystal that denoted monsters, but I've never seen human type monsters before.  Well, at least not since the Gemini quest line, where I had to face a version of myself.  In fact, if I remember correctly, someone else saved me back then too.  Though, that time they brought me back to that floors main town for recovery.  It's been so long that I forgot about it.  Looking back towards the man sitting next to me, I smiled.

"You're right, Ignalo."

"Ah!  So you remember.  I thought you would completely forget."

[Hirru 0]

"Like I would forget one of the first people that I met in Aincrad."

"For a short time, I think you did."

For a second, my smile faltered from that comment; showing my weakness to an old friend.  Time had definitely passed by for both of them, and the changes were apparent.  I was now apart of the Crimson Blades, Elite Strike Force of the Knights of the Blood Oath.  The guild symbol and red armor were the huge indicators of that, but Ignalo changed just as much.  He wasn't in a guild, but something about him seemed to have changed him into something that I couldn't recognize for a time.  I didn't know if I should have been worried, but it seemed that he was stable, for the most part.  More than me, at least.

Edited April 4, 2016 by Hirru

[Hirru 0]

Trying to get back up, I felt that my legs were about to buckle from under me again.  It didn't take long for them to do so, but my hands fell upon something to grasp on to.  It was a long pole of sorts that was placed beside me, on the end of it was a flickering green flame that seemed to fill one with curiosity.  I recognized it as it was the same torch that was a signature part of the Merchant's caravan.  I used it to keep myself up, and before long could slightly stand without it.  Still somewhat wobbly, I looked to Ignalo, whom also stood up, though for a different reason.  From the distance, a group humanoid figures could be seen coming out of the fortress.  They looked almost like the bandits from before, but more burly.

"Looks like we have company."

"Seems like it."

[Hirru 0]

Brute
HP: 50
DMG: 27
MIT: 12

The enemy closed in on us as I struggled to keep myself up.  The energy from my body was still somewhat drained, and I couldn't move very well.  Because of that, the humanoids would cross the distance between us rather quickly.  From the amount of enemies, there seemed to be a large group.  Without any help, they could easily be outnumbered, but that didn't phase Ignalo.  He seemed to stare out towards their direction, not specifically at them, but more outwards.  Like a flash, he pushed out towards some of the enemies that came towards us, but some slipped past.  They tried to take a few chunks out of me, but I was able to duck away before anything significant could happen.

[ID: 55197]
[BD: 1] Miss
[MD: 2-1] Miss

Hirru [92 / 92 hp // 21 / 23 en] (-2 en)
Ignalo [??? / ??? hp / ??? / ??? en]

Brute [50 / 50 hp]
Brute [50 / 50 hp]
Brute [50 / 50 hp]
Brute [50 / 50 hp]

 

Edited April 4, 2016 by Hirru

[Hirru 0]

No matter what I did, it seemed that my legs wouldn't cooperate with me.  The brutes that had closed in on me started to make tell-tale signs of attacking, and I rolled out of the way of their consecutive attacks.  Though, with that motion, I was now flat on my back from rolling pursuit and could not attack the brutes.  In the background, I could only hear the clashing of steel on steel, which denoted the fight between Ignalo and the other brutes.  I needed to pull back into action, or this will be a short lived venture.

[ID: 55207]
[BD: 1] Miss
[MD: 1-1] Miss

Hirru [92 / 92 hp // 20 / 23 en] (+1 en / -2 en)
Ignalo [??? / ??? hp / ??? / ??? en]

Brute [50 / 50 hp]
Brute [50 / 50 hp]
Brute [50 / 50 hp]
Brute [50 / 50 hp]

Edited April 4, 2016 by Hirru

[Hirru 0]

While still on my back, the enemy came closer to me with their curved blades shimmering in the light of the fire.  Each of them slew their blades down into me causing a fair sized chunk of health to fall from me.  Each hit would push me farther back until I slammed into a wall, which I tried to reposition myself against.  Standing was out of the question, but I could still fight.  Propped against the wall, I tried to recreate a crude version of one of my more well known arts.  Solaces glow would tell me that I was right.  Somehow, my body started to move on its own, and strike towards the looming brutes.  With the thrusting attacks causing a fair shock wave of damage between them, they were all felled.

[ID: 55219]
[BD: 9+2] Crit +1
[Sword Art: Sharp Nail] 3x2x11= 66-12= 54 AOE dmg
[MD: 10-1] Crit (27+2-25)x4= 16 dmg
[CD: 3] Nope
[LD: 11+1] 50x5x4 = 1000 Col

Hirru [74 / 92 hp // 9 / 23 en] (+1 en / -12 en / -16 hp)
Ignalo [??? / ??? hp / ??? / ??? en]

Brute [0 / 50 hp] (-54 hp) [+1 Mat]
Brute [0 / 50 hp] (-54 hp) [+1 Mat]
Brute [0 / 50 hp] (-54 hp) [+1 Mat]
Brute [0 / 50 hp] (-54 hp) [+1 Mat]

Edited April 4, 2016 by Hirru

[Hirru 0]

With the end of the sword art, my body was returned to me, but I was able to strain myself to keep standing.  In the distance, I could see Ignalo take out the last of the brutes that were attacking him.  His style of fighting seemed.. brutal from my point of view.  He seemed to toy with the enemy before causing multiple strikes, but that was not the thing that was killing them.  His weapon must have had a bleed effect or something along those lines, as the enemies health seemed to bleed out heavily.  From my view, with the fire between us, the actions seemed more demonic than normal.

Walking back towards me, I could see him in a new light.  Things have definitely changed for him now, which made it all much more easily understood as I saw the crystal above his head.

It was orange.