[SP-KE-F8] (Complete) <<Monkey King>> Say hey we're the monkies!

[Baldur 0]

After a bit of searching, Baldur found what he was looking for. The entrance to the dungeon they had discovered all that time ago. A giant bridge crossed a seemingly bottomless pit. It could have dropped into a black hole or the floor below for all that Baldur could see from the stone bridge.

The stone sentinels, he remembered, could move and attack, but he was a much higher level than they had been when he first came here with his randomly selected, but carefully honed team.

Rushing forward, Baldur ran past the four living statues in order to activate them all at once. Quickly spinning on his heels, Baldur spun to face them and activate his <<charge>> skill. He was a blue and orange streak back across the bridge. His sword art blazing to life as he drew the black blade of redemption, Susano'o, from its saya and cut the stone monster with a single powerful blow that caused it to erupt into polygons.

Pushing off of the immense stone form with a booted foot, he leaped to towards the next, slashing through it as he came down on it from an equal height, even those the form towered above him. Bringing his blade back up, he swept through the third and then spun, avoiding a blow from the forth while hie horizontal blow cut it in half as well. The four stone guardians exploded into light around him.

 

---

[ID# 66102 BD: 6 LD: 19+3 (HP x10 Col & 2 Mats)]

<<Baldur>> HP 132/132 | 21/33 NRG | 54 MIT | 12 DMG
<<Stone Sentinel>> 0/67 | MIT 17 - Drops 2 Mat & 670 Col
<<Stone Sentinel>> 0/67 | MIT 17 - Drops 2 Mat & 670 Col 
<<Stone Sentinel>> 0/67 | MIT 17 - Drops 2 Mat & 670 Col
<<Stone Sentinel>> 0/67 | MIT 17 - Drops 2 Mat & 670 Col

Total: 38 Mats & 7700 Col

4/10 Dungeon mobs slain.

Edited August 17, 2016 by Baldur

[Baldur 0]

Baldur pressed on down the stone bridge past the guardians. They had made it to the door, but turned back when they realized they had gone too far for their levels. It had taken their entire party a protracted battle to overcome what Baldur had just AoEed in one sword art. It gave him a fair bit of confidence in what he was doing in an area that had almost long been revered to him.

The length of bridge he now traveled stretched over the bottomless mists. He wondered, idly when he saw the mists, what ever became of players who jumped from the tower. He knew that they died, but how did they go? Did they hit something at the bottom, or did the game just eventually sever them.

Was there anything at the bottom? Perhaps they would never know. Perhaps that's what would have been revealed had anyone paid attention to the story, or if they ever completed the castle, perhaps it would return to the earth.

As he neared the giant doors, however, Baldur saw that the archway above it was actually made up of four large stone guardians. In a heartbeat, their eyes lit up and they jumped down to engage Baldur. Turning quickly to engage, Baldur activated his <<charge>> skill and closed the distance as he drew his sword, blue light casting deep shadows against the temple wall as he cut the four mobs down with his <<Gen Getsu>> sword art.

As the polygons filled the hair, Baldur let out a sigh of relief and examined the doorway.

---

[ID# 66225 BD: 3+3=6 (hit) LD: 11+3 (14) loot]

<<Baldur>> HP 132/132 | 10/33 NRG | 54 MIT | 12 DMG (-12/+1 NRG)
<<Stone Sentinel>> 0/67 | MIT 17 - Drops 1 Mat & 335 Col
<<Stone Sentinel>> 0/67 | MIT 17 - Drops 1 Mat & 335 Col 
<<Stone Sentinel>> 0/67 | MIT 17 - Drops 1 Mat & 335 Col
<<Stone Sentinel>> 0/67 | MIT 17 - Drops 1 Mat & 335 Col

Total: 42 Mats & 9040 Col

8/10 Dungeon mobs slain.

Edited August 20, 2016 by Baldur

[Baldur 0]

With the guardians slain, Baldur had a moment to catch his breath. Whipping his sword about in a chiburi, he slowly and ceremoniously sheathed his sword as he examined the giant double doors set into the massive tree. The tree itself was perhaps a hundred feet across or more, who knew how deep it went, but the entire stone platform they were on couldn't even give him a full sight of the tree's thickness. Here, where the bridge ended and was absorbed by the tree stood two bronze colored wooden doors. The wood of the doors were two solid pieces, each about ten feet wide and at least three times as tall. The <<Monkey King>> himself probably could have fit through the doors, though he would have had to squeeze. Maybe it was built for him before he went crazy on bananas once he gave up on trying to make the Monkey Queen happy.

The giant wooden doors were carved with an epic struggle that seemed to flow over time. It showed the giant trees and cities built within them that seemed to be home to monkeys of all shapes and sizes. And then it showed what Baldur assumed to be either humans or elves assaulting the forest. Cutting down the trees and killing the monkeys. Then it seemed to show some kind of ritual here at this giant tree, and then what Baldur assumed to be the <<Monkey King>> emerging and fighting off the human tribe.

Of course, were Baldur's interpretation wrong, this could mean horrible things.

He leaned into the door, but it didn't want to give.

[Baldur 0]

Taking a step back, Baldur reexamined the relief in front of him. There was obviously something that he was missing when it came to this puzzle before him. Was there something that moved? A relief that looked like it needed to be filled by a gem? Was there a keyhole? A code word? None of them would surprise him as he had seen stuff like this numerous times in his life as a gamer. There was always a trick, always a clue.

"If I were a giant monkey god, where would I hid the clue?"

His eyes immediately shot around looking for bananas, but no such thing was found within the trees. It was at that point, that his eye caught the symbol that was in the middle of the ritual the monkeys were performing. Many people didn't know the difference between a pentacle and a pentagram. One would have made sense for a magical ceremony, the other would not have made sense given the lore of the floating castle and the world they had set up. Reaching up to the symbol, Baldur tapped it and summoned what appeared to be a contextual menu. When he selected to rotate it counter-clockwise, the symbol spun into the proper alignment and the doors played a sound and a click was heard to let him know he had solved a puzzle and opened the door.

And no sooner had the doors opened then two heavily armed and armored Monkey Soldiers leapt out at him.

[Baldur 0]

Baldur was caught completely off guard by the sudden attack launched against him from within the doors. He had expected an attack inside, but not the moment the doors were opened. While it wasn't uncommon, it was rare. Normally they gave you enough time to establish a presence in the new zone, but Baldur didn't even have the music shift in time to make him feel uneasy about the aspect of combat. It was a true ambush the likes of which Baldur had never fallen prey to before.

Quickly trying to duck to the side, the <<Monkey Warriors>> slammed their giant cudgels into the ground where they landed and the shockwave from both cause an area effect attack the likes of which Baldur was unable to dodge on the small platform even though the weapons didn't hit him.

"Unf!" Baldur cried out in shock as he saw his health meter drop. It was so very rare for anything like this to happen to him he felt ashamed he was surprised to see it move.

---

[ID# 66321 BD: 1 MD: 8] No Action

<<Monkey Warrior>> 67/67 | MIT 17 | DMG 24
<<Monkey Warrior>> 67/67 | MIT 17 | DMG 24
<<Baldur>> HP 130/132 | 13/33 NRG | 54 MIT | 12 DMG ( +1 NRG)(-2 dmg)

Edited August 23, 2016 by Baldur

[Baldur 0]

Baldur dip dived and ducked around as many of the blows as he could while the monkey warriors wailed on at him. Grunting, Baldur felt one of the giant cudgels hit him, and while he was thrown off balance he was hit by the second. These two warriors seemed to operate as a pair quite well, but Baldur would end that quickly.

"Enough!" 

Baldur cursed as he grabbed the handle of his blade. He was too lose to use charge, so instead he took up the stance for <<Zekkai>> the single, powerful slash cutting down the first warrior as he drew the blade and brought it down through the armored monkey's head. A shower of polygons accompanied the blow as he squared off against the remaining beast.

---

[ID#66322 BD: 3+3 (hit) MD: 7 (hit) LD 12+3]

<<Monkey Warrior>> 0/67 | MIT 17 | DMG 24 - drops 1 mat & 335 Col
<<Monkey Warrior>> 67/67 | MIT 17 | DMG 24
<<Baldur>> HP 128/132 | 7/33 NRG | 54 MIT | 12 DMG ( +1/-7) NRG

Edited August 23, 2016 by Baldur

[Baldur 0]

Now that Baldur had managed to kill one of the warriors, he was able to back off and get some distance with the second. His blade clashed against the Monkey Warrior's, but the beast's powerful blow overwhelmed Baldur's parry and struck him lightly on the shoulder. Thankfully his armor absorbed the brunt of it, but they were whittling down his his HP bit by bit. Pushing back, Baldur gained the space he needed to perform another <<Zekkai>>, this katana slicing down into the mob with an azure after image trailing his black blade as he tore through the entire wire frame.

A moment later, the <<Monkey Warrior>> exploded into thousands of polygons and Baldur was left standing in the entrance of a giant chamber within the tree. The tree, as it appeared to Baldur, was almost hollow. Instead, a giant hole opened up in the middle, and at his level a platform extended around the perimeter of the tree. When it disappeared into the darkness in the middle, there appeared to be a spiral walkway heading deeper and deeper down.

 

---

[ID# 66359 BD: 3+3= (hit) LD: 6+3 MD: 7]

<<Monkey Warrior>> 0/67 | MIT 17 | DMG 24 - drops 1 mat
<<Baldur>> HP 127/132 | 1/33 NRG | 54 MIT | 12 DMG (+1/-7 EN)

 

Total: 44 Mats & 9375 Col

10/10 Dungeon mobs slain

Edited August 25, 2016 by Baldur

[Baldur 0]

[ID# 66487 LD: 16+3]

Baldur pressed into the giant open tree and began to take the rounding staircase down into the darkness. Soon, the light cast through the door almost looked like a beam that projected through the otherwise complete darkness. Had this been the real world, that beam of light would have reflected and bounced all over the place, giving some illumination to the entire room, but the physics worked a bit more uniformly here in the game, and so it was like a laser of daylight.

Surely this means something more than artistic flare.

Baldur paused at where the beam of light illuminated a section of wall he happened to pass. What he had only faintly taken for wood grain pattern on the inside of the tree was actually a continuation of the a giant, hand carved mural. His breath was caught in his mouth. This must have taken artists forever to make all of this. Though the carvings were primitive in style, they were awe inspiring in scope.

As he traced his hand along the carvings, he found another symbol like he had on the entry door, and when he turned it to be in the correct alignment, a door opened up where the light illuminated the wall.

Edited August 29, 2016 by Baldur

[Baldur 0]

Following the secret passage that he had opened, Baldur continued to explore the tree. How far down was he from the original entrance? He would have to use a crystal to get out of this place without taking up another entire day. Hopefully he would come across a safezone in this dungeon before anything too risky came out. He was way out of his league being in a place like this alone.

"Come on Baldur, you know better than this."

If he came across a safe zone, at least he would have a place he could retreat to. The last village he crossed was at least an hour behind him, and who knows if he could end up kiting a huge spawn. Those guardians on the bridge could stun, if he remembered, and that was a dangerous thing to try and kite. If he got chain CCed by the mobs, he would be done for.

The tunnel he walked down was sloped just perfectly to allow the light from the outside to shine straight down his path, but this also cause his shadow to loom like a giant in front of him. This was not helping Baldur's nerves, but then the path turned, and the light was lost. Baldur tried feeling his way down the wall, but then green lights suddenly ignited from sconces along the wall leading him on.

Usually this meant a boss fight.

Edited August 29, 2016 by Baldur

[Baldur 0]

This was it. The safezone before a boss room. The green sconces lined the larger room, but in the middle were four smaller totems with familiar glowing runes that meant this area would protect him from any enemies. Fighting within the bounds of this small area was restricted. Baldur quickly rushed over through the magical barrier, the air rippling like he was a stone in a pond, before Baldur felt that familiar feeling washing over him. It was entirely in his mind he was sure, but that feeling of safety was a palpable relief. Now that he had this place to fall back to, he knew that he could get home safely.

"What a relief." Baldur whispers to himself as he lays down on the floor for a moment, letting his brain unravel and relax for a moment before he sits up and looks around.

There it was, before him, was a giant door that would lead to an undiscovered boss room.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained." He said to himself as he stood up. He had a crystal on him, so at least he could get out if things were overwhelming.

Edited August 29, 2016 by Baldur

[Baldur 0]

Pushing open the giant doors Baldur entered the boss room.

What he expected to see was some giant monster like the monkey king... some primate inspired by king kong. Instead, as the lights ignited and illuminated the gigantic room, Baldur saw a silverhaired monkey. Well, a mob that appeared to be some mix of human and ape. It stood straight on hind legs, though it had monkey feet. It wore clothes, and held a giant staff with metal caps on either end that was spiked like a mace. There was something more intelligent about this boss than the other he had fought.

Dammit.

This was going to be a tight fight.

"Here I come!" Baldur shouted, raising his will into his voice as his fighting spirit echoed through the chamber. He immediately entered a sprint, trying to get in range of <<Charge>> before the monkey could try anything. Once in range, Baldur's eyes were able to capture it.

<<Sun WuKong - The Monkey Sage>>

Dammit. This thing has a name?!

It was time, and his body knew what to do. As soon as the range was crossed, he began his charged version of <<Iai>>. I swore after what happened with Cygnus I would always begin with a stun.

His form accelerated beyond human ability and the the blue light that exploded across the room as he traced a straight line through it and the monkey sage as his slash landed with incredible power.

---

[ID# 66519 BD: 6+3 (hit)] 12+2=14 x 10 = 140 DMG

<<Baldur>> HP: 132/132 | EN: 20/33 | 54 MIT | 12 DMG
<<Sun WuKong>> HP: 340/480 | 56 DMG (stunned)

Edited August 29, 2016 by Baldur

[Baldur 0]

Baldur took advantage of Sun WuKong being stunned while as he spun about, unleashing his most powerful sword art on the sage. Without being able to defend himself, the azure arcs of Baldur's sword art continued to dig into the silver fur revealing the wire frame beneath.

"Come on... come on!!" Baldur shouted through gritted teeth as he unloaded everything he could. His alpha strike was speant and by his guess, there was still too much of the Sage's HP left for Baldur to be able to take him down.

And then the staff caught him upside the chin and knocked him back. His eyes immediately flashed to where his health bar hovered, and it barely ticked down.

Thank you.

Baldur whispered a silent prayer as he saw how little damage the move did. It was above the minimum, but just barely, which meant he could take this thing down. The monkey sage suddenly flipped through the air, gaining some distance and then held the staff out, prepared for a true fight now. There was an intelligence in those eyes, and they expressed... sadness?

 

---

[ID# 66520 BD: 4+3 (hit) MD: 7] <<San Ge>> 12 x 12 = 144 DMG

<<Baldur>> HP: 130/132 | EN: 9/33 | 54 MIT | 12 DMG
<<Sun WuKong>> HP: 196/480 | 56 DMG (deals 56-54=2 DMG to Baldur)

Edited August 29, 2016 by Baldur

[Baldur 0]

The monkey's eyes held... sadness? Baldur was caught a bit off guard.

"Are you capable of understanding me?"

He had never tried speaking with a boss before.

"Why is it that those of the human kingdom always assume anyone not like them is unintelligent?" The Monkey spoke with a Yamanote Tokyo style accent. It made him the English equivalent of... British?

"Probably because you usually aren't!"

Baldur let out a roar and charged, unleashing his <<Sinonome>> sword art. Three powerful slashes of blue light cut through the Monkey Sage, dropping his HP even lower, but still nowhere near where Baldur could finish him off.

Dammit, that was just about everything I had.

Without giving a response, the sage whirled his staff around and stuck Baldur square in the chest as if he hadn't tried to dodge it at all, and Baldur found himself flung back from the boss.

---

[ID: 66521 BD: 3 MD: 10] <<Sinonome>> 12 x 9 = 109 DMG

<<Baldur>> HP: 130/132 | EN: 1/33 | 54 MIT | 12 DMG (+1/-9)
<<Sun WuKong>> HP: 88/480 | 56 DMG (+2 DMG crit, deals 4 to Baldur)

Edited August 29, 2016 by Baldur

[Baldur 0]

Quickly taking out one of the green teas that Takao had given him, Baldur drank it down in a single gulp.

Throwing the cup aside where it would shatter and then digitize, Baldur quickly tried to regain his footing and take a stance against the monkey, but the sage was one step ahead of him and Baldur had to throw himself to the ground to avoid the massive spiked staff.

"You're not stopping me from getting out of here." The sage informed Baldur.

That's new.

"What do you mean?" Stopping him from getting out of here? Was he trapped in the tree, or in the game?

Could Kayaba have trapped staff members in this game as well as enemies?

No, that doesn't add up. The mobs don't act intelligently enough for real people to behind them, and I've never seen one act scared or try to run away.

While reason won out, the alternative thought had shaken Baldur to his core.

 

---

[ID: 66522 BD: 1 MD: 4]

<<Baldur>> HP: 130/132 | EN: 8/33 | 54 MIT | 12 DMG (gains +1 energy regen, +6 from green tea)
<<Sun WuKong>> HP: 196/480 | 56 DMG (+2 DMG crit, deals 4 to Baldur)

-1 <<Green Tea>>

Edited August 29, 2016 by Baldur

[Baldur 0]

This was the longest fight Baldur could remember having. He charged the monkey sage once again, his blade meeting the staff and the metal on metal clang rang out through the empty chamber. Normally a room this large would be filled to the brim with dozens of players and mobs, and the din would fill the large room, but here, with just the two of them, it seemed an epic battle and they were the only two in the entire world.

"I know how you feel!" Baldur shouted at the sage as he redirected the blade lock and spun around behind Sun WuKong.

Immediately as his energy ticked up another regen point, Baldur activated <<Sinonome>> once more, and the three almost simultaneous strikes tore into the clothed form of Sun WuKong, and it was then that the realized why there was sadness in the Sage's eyes.

It had known it was going to lose.

"But I will get out of this tower, and drag everyone with me."

 

---

[ID# 66523 BD: 5+3 (hit) LD: 15+5]

<<Baldur>> HP: 130/132 | EN: 0/33 | 54 MIT | 12 DMG (+1/-9)
<<Sun WuKong>> HP: 196/480 | 56 DMG - Drops 2 Mats & 2,400 Col

Total: 46 Mats & 11,775 Col

Edited August 29, 2016 by Baldur

[Baldur 0]

Baldur, now having defeated the boss, dragged his mentally exhausted form back over to the safe zone and collapsed. He was completely drained of energy, both numerically and mentally.

You're not stopping me from getting out of here either. You, Sun WuKong, or Kayaba. I will get back to them all.

Baldur reached up towards an invisible future as he lay there on his back, so exhausted he didn't even sheath his sword. He just held onto it, as if he couldn't let it go.

His thoughts, before the darkness truely closed in on him, were of his family. His brothers and his cousins. At least my brother didn't end up in this god forsaken game with me. It had been his older brother who had instilled in Baldur a love of gaming. What must he think about gaming now? It was different when it wasn't someone you knew, someone on the other side of the world. Had this story even made the news in America? Probably, they loved to smear the name of video games, and now they had 10,000 perfectly good reasons. This event was unlike anything the world had ever seen. It had probably run on CNN 24 hours a day for an entire week.

And now everyone in America had probably forgotten, except for his family.

[Baldur 0]

In his dream, Baldur could see his family again. It was the going away party before he left for Japan with Rhoan. That was her name. Before the game took them she was known as Rhoan. His spark of fire. She had been far more fierce of the two of them, and when he lost her fire, he had lost his desire to progress in the tower. At least, until Lessa had shown him the way again.

They had all gathered together. It was just after new years before he had left for the other side of the world. His whole family had shown up, many of whom he had not seen for years. It was a great day, a wondrous day. It had been the last day he had seen any of them. He had lived, peacefully, in japan for several years before SAO, but it had been too far to expect his family to travel. Even his parents, who loved to travel, tended to stay away from long plane fights.

It was, perhaps, the happiest memory he had.

[Baldur 0]

When Baldur woke up, he was still surrounded by those rune carved pillars that marked the boundary of the safe zone. For a moment, just one moment, he had been back with his family dreaming of camping in an entirely different forest. The pain in his back had been from a rock under his sleeping back as he looked up at the stars, not a root as he looked up into perfect blackness.

"Get it together Baldur."

For a moment, he had thought this was all just a bad dream, and that it would be behind him. He was out there in the world, free and clear of this nightmare.

"Get it together, Jason."

The sound of his name felt foreign. He segmented his persona to try and make sure that there was a Jason when he got out of this game, and that he wouldn't be Baldur forever, but the name felt foreign, like it belong to someone else.

Good.

[Baldur 0]

Getting back to his feet, Baldur pushed himself up and dusted off his blue and white haori. As it rippled from the motion, the flames seemed to dance about. Bending over to pick up <<Susano'o>> Baldur cleaned the blade off against his sleeve before he slowly sheathed it back at his side.

"Thank you, my friend." Baldur address the katana, but also perhaps some to Oikawa as well, who had forged it, and his armor.

Without his friends, Baldur's... or Jason's... path would have ended long ago. Truth be told, it was Tyger who had carried him through the early levels when he was so enamored with the idea of using a katana in spite of the fact that it tanked his DPS until he could catch the skill rank back up to where it had been. Without her, he would not have gotten his first set of perfect gear so quickly either, and that was the life blood of a player in Aincrad.

[Baldur 0]

With one last glance around the giant, cavernous hollow of the largest tree in the giant forest, Baldur turned towards the exit. Would he still have that perfectly aimed beam of light coming in from the front door, or would he find himself surrounded by darkness and have to fight those monkies on his way out? Either way, Baldur wasn't sure, but he knew one thing as a certainty in the wake of fighting Sun Wukong. He would make it out of this tower with blade in hand, or he would die trying. Whatever challenges Kayaba put against him, Baldur would put everything he had to overcome them.

Nothing is going to stop me from getting out of here.

He rested his hand on the katana at his side, as his steel blue eyes canned the darkness, relying on his boosted Search and Detect skill to alert him of any danger.

Did you hear that Kayaba? You're not stopping me from getting out of here.