[PP-NK-F17] On the Trail We Blaze

[Kooh 0]

While the pair of players walked through a forest on the seventeenth floor, Kooh remained silent. Hands shoved into her pockets, the blonde was expressionless as they traveled. They had bid Sey farewell--or at least Aereth had--and parted from the white-haired player at least ten minutes ago, though Kooh hadn't offered a word of conversation since their journey officially began. Silently accepting her fate, the girl had decided that arguing against Aereth's plan would have been more effort than it was worth, and depending on how stubborn the man was it may not have even gotten her anywhere.

Garnet eyes occasionally scanned the ground in front of her to avoid tripping over raised tree roots or other obstacles that littered the forest floor. Kooh hadn't seen much of the seventeenth floor--and little to nothing of the floors beneath it to the eleventh. Her mind briefly recalled the brunette's words before and how he had explained it would take several days just to cross a few floors on foot. 'Ridiculous.' She had to hold herself back from displaying a scowl on her face. She only assumed Aereth's opinion of her was unfavorable, and who knows how Sey's mindset might have changed. 'It was stupid to call him out here.' The girl mentally kicked herself. His tone seemed to indicate indifference toward the end of their conversation. Perhaps once time had passed and her cursor returned to green they would return to their normal interactions. Still, she wasn't sure if she liked that thought. Sey had always been a complicated one--someone who was capable of seeing through her but didn't seem to care enough to act upon it. She wasn't sure if she was grateful for his detachment or not.

While the cloak that draped over her shoulders gently swayed with her steps, Kooh gave a quick sideways glance toward the player that walked beside her. The brunette was an odd one, she had determined. After his thorough explanation of what it meant to have an orange cursor--to be marked as a 'criminal'--she was only left to wonder what sort of action had warranted the identical color that hovered over his own head. His willingness to watch over her was even more perplexing. What did the man have to gain by escorting her through several floors? Had he not realized that she had been lying to him since they first met? Did he really think her the least bit trustworthy? Or was she so weak in level that it didn't matter either way?

@Aereth

[Aereth 1]

After the silver haired boy left, Kooh silently put on the black cloak Aereth had handed her and the two of them started walking towards the seventeenth floor labyrinth, in order to make it down as fast as possible. Even though Aereth appreciated the silence while they walked, something was on his mind ever since he saw the blonde hit the guy in the face. And the few words she exchanged with Sey didn't do anything good in keeping this thing from his mind.

Turning his head slightly, in order to see her from the corner of his eyes the brunette asked. "Hey. Why did you f*ck with me back when we first met today at the beach? You played the weak little girl, but in reality you are a tough and self-sufficient woman, that could seriously kick some a**." a short pause. "I'm not even sure, if you told me the right way back then." he added in a low and annoyed voice. To be honest, he could care less about that. Now it was only important to help her getting down safely, since it was partially Aereth's fault that she now had this orange cursor. But he just couldn't get this question out of his head.

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

Kooh nearly froze up as the man's question broke the silence. Her step hesitated for a fraction of a second before she continued walking, facing forward with a dull expression. Should she tell him the truth? 'What even is the truth?' She answered herself with another question. 'That I want to seem like a better person than I actually am? So I lie to everyone, including strangers, just because I can?' Kooh's bottom lip twitched into the slightest frown. She would normally try to determine what Aereth would want to hear in response and tell him that. But she was likely going to be stuck with him for a long time, and she already had their first exchange coming back to haunt her. Should she be sarcastic? Friendly? Play it off as a joke? She had very little time to formulate her response, remaining silent for a few paces while the gears in her mind turned.

"Thanks, I guess," She started quietly, keeping her eyes forward while buying herself a couple of extra seconds. She thought back to earlier in the day and all that had transpired in the past couple of hours, trying not to let her frown deepen."Look, I wasn't trying to mess with you." Her tone was neither apologetic nor confrontational. "And when those guys showed up, I just lost my temper." She gave a sidelong glance in the opposite direction from the brunette, as if to avert her gaze from him even further. Despite the fact that she had indeed intended to mess with Aereth when they first met, and despite the fact that striking that other player across the jaw was a calculated decision, Kooh left her explanation at that.

@Aereth

Edited May 17, 2017 by Kooh

[Aereth 1]

Even though the 'thank you' kind of hit Aereth off guard, he still didn't intend to let her off the hook. "There's no need to thank me. I just did what I do every time. Getting myself into trouble..." he said, adding the last part in a low voice. "But you know what is interesting? A 'shy and fragile' turning into a complete bada**, that punches the face of one guy in while his friend is standing directly besides him." Aereth chuckled. 

But suddenly, Aereth heard some voices coming near their direction, and before Kooh could give an answer to what Aereth just said, he grabbed her by her arm, pulled her away from the main road into the dense bushes, in order to hide themselves. Pushing Kooh down under him, Aereth activated his searching skill and spotted a group of five players approaching them. Kooh would now lie on her back and Aereth would be just above her but he instantly gestured to her to be quiet. "Sh*t... I didn't think they would come back so quickly..." he thought. "Don't move. The guys that harassed you earlier are back with some friends." Aereth said in a barely audible voice and slowly pointed into the direction they were coming from.

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

Kooh was about to mentally curse, thinking the man still wasn't letting it go. Had it really been that drastic? Sure, she had exaggerated a bit, but she hadn't thought she was overselling anything. And why was it so out of character for a reserved girl to hit someone? Despite the tone of her previous words not coming off as defensive, her thoughts were certainly were now. She could gamble again and assume that Aereth hadn't actually heard what the dagger wielder had said to her. Maybe she could get away with claiming he said something that would better justify her actions. 'Although I don't see why the things he did said wouldn't warrant a good fist in his face.' She thought rather bitterly.

Just before Kooh, absorbed in her thoughts, could open her mouth to speak, she felt a tight grip on her arm. Startled by the forced motion, her chest tightened before she could let out a shout in protest. As her back hit the forest floor, Kooh winced at the light tingling sensation that seemed to dance across her skin. "Hey, what--" She was about to snap at the brunette when his index finger hovered over his lips to urge her silence. Despite her instinct to raise a fuss anyway, Aereth's distracted nature caused her to hold her tongue, an impatient frown tugging down at the corners of her mouth. His brown eyes began to emit a soft glow, catching the blonde's attention as they scanned the area through the brush. As if she suddenly realized their position and the closeness of the man's face to her own, Kooh quickly averted her gaze. A faint redness began to tinge the skin of her cheeks before she registered Aereth's words. Thankfully, a distraction helped her to regain her composure as a small, "Tch." escaped her a slightly narrowed brow. "Guess they really liked us." The sarcastic comment almost felt like a defense mechanism, a reaction that left her without much thought.

@Aereth

[Aereth 1]

As the group of five drew closer to them Aereth finally got to see some more details about them. The group consisted out of three orange players as well as the same two green players they encountered earlier. It would seem like the three orange players were armed to the teeth, and ready to strike hard at any given moment. A low  "F*ck." escaped Aereth, when he started to think about how he would get them out of this situation. One of the many reasons, why Aereth usually didn't leave back any witnesses. Dead men tell no tales after all. Right now he couldn't risk attack all of them at once since they'd most certainly would overpower him and the girl he was protecting.

When one the players started to turn into their direction, Aereth quickly ducked his head and body even lower in order not to get detected. Pressing his body even tighter to the ground and thus tighter on Kooh, Aereth finally noticed the faint blush on the cheeks of the girl under him. "D-Don't get any wrong ideas." Aereth whispered into the ear of @Kooh, while fighting a small blush on his own. "I'm just trying to ensure our survival..."

[Kooh 0]

The snapping of twigs and crunching of leaves underneath heavy boots was all Kooh had to determine how far away the other players were, causing the blonde's fingers to twitch gently. The whole situation had the girl nervous, and she felt her virtual heart beating faster in her chest. Was she scared? Her feelings were rather jumbled, and she was more uncomfortable than anything else. Interrupting her thoughts, she suddenly felt Aereth's chest pressing down against her. The girl tensed up beneath him, wondering for a moment whether he realized their position. She almost flinched when Aereth spoke up, but the falter in his voice had a small smirk tug at her lips. The blonde had to stop herself from letting out a quip, a teasing flirtatious line already forming in her mind.

"You two, check the beach again." A voice not far in the distance cut through the silence, causing Kooh to keep herself quiet. "And you two, check the side of the forest that leads to the plain. If they're both orange they won't be heading to the town." What must have been their leader began barking orders to the other players. After the shuffling of footsteps that slowly began to fade from earshot, one pair of heavy boots continued through the forest towards the brush Kooh and Aereth were hiding in. 'At least now there's only one...' Kooh thought, as if trying to find some sort of silver lining to practically being hunted down in a forest in the middle of nowhere.

@Aereth

[Aereth 1]

When the squad leader suddenly ordered the group to split up in order to search for them separately, Aereth couldn't help but to let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. He slowly rose his head again just to be able to face @Kooh. "I need us to also split up for now. You will follow this way until the path splits up again. Take the left way and it will take you to the entrance of the labyrinth. But don't go in there without me. And if I don't come back in about an hour, message Sey." The heavy steps drew closer and closer to them, with every moment Aereth was speaking.

Just before the leader would have spotted them, Aereth pushed himself away from Kooh, and emerged  from the bushes. His left fist was glowing in a dark blue color, and with his absolute strongest technique, the <<All Might>> sword art, the brunette hit the leader of the squad directly into his abdominal region. After that he quickly removed his coat, and got into a fighting stance. "I won't make the same mistake twice..." Aereth thought while the leader was recovering from the strong hit

[Kooh 0]

Kooh blinked in surprise after she heard the sound of Aereth's voice again, this time explaining some sort of plan where she was being sent off on her own. Her brows narrowed slightly, comprehending his instructions with mild, lingering confusion. She stayed silent, but the man didn't wait long enough to force a response out of her before pushing himself off the ground and to his feet in front of the mysterious player in a quick, fluid motion. With the presence directly above her gone, Kooh pulled up her knees and propped herself up on her elbows, regaining her sense of surroundings for a moment.

As if her body was acting without her mind's guidance or permission, the girl flipped over to her hands and knees before picking herself up from the ground. On her feet, the blonde broke out into a run, passing the armed player and making her way down the path they had traveled. "What-- Hey!" The leader yelled as he spotted the girl. Before he could turn or stop Kooh from escaping, a single strike knocked the wind out of the man. He doubled over, Aereth's attacking taking him off guard while he clutched his stomach and stared up at the brunette. "Why you..." The man growled out, reaching for a spear that was sheathed at his back.

Meanwhile, the black cloak that Kooh wore billowed behind her as she ran. The black and white hood of her normal clothing had fallen to her shoulders, and her bare knees and hands were lightly coated with dirt from the forest floor. 'What was that Luna, what the hell was any of that?!' The blonde scolded herself. The massive structure that Aereth had referred to as the labyrinth loomed before her, and Kooh wasted little time in finding the entrance. 'I don't care how long this stupid orange thing lasts, I just want out of this mess!' She allowed her mental complaints, thankful that she was finally alone again. Curious to see if she could keep it that way, the girl gave a glance over her shoulder before disappearing into the sixteenth floor's labyrinth.

@Aereth

Edited May 19, 2017 by Kooh

[Aereth 1]

"So the two chickens ran home and reported everything. Idiots... But belief me one thing, I won't make the same mistake twice." Aereth said to the man while he readied his spear. This guy certainly was no pushover, but Aereth needed to take him down quickly, before one or more of his companions decided to come back. Aereth then locked eyes with the man in front of him, and also began to draw his blade. He would use both of his offensive skill to take this guy down. Unfortunately he wasn't able to use the two skills at the same time, but since he had grand mastered both of his skills, Aereth had trained himself to be able to switch between the two while being in combat. "This time I won't leave a witness to tell anybody." Aereth told the man in a grim tone while placing his sword in a backhanded position. After the last word was spoken, he pressed forward and readied his meteor break sword art. His sword began to shine in a dark blue light as he closed in, and when he reached the player, Aereth fainted the beginning of his barrage to come from the left upper corner, waited for the attempt to block, and would correct the movement of his blade so, that he would be able to hit the man one more time. Even though he knew that this would let him wide open for a retaliation blow, Aereth decided that he would have the upper hand in close range combat. Or at least he thought he would...

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

Unaware of the scene unfolding back in the forest, Kooh glanced side to side down long hallways on either side of her before continuing on through the labyrinth. From what little she'd seen of the dungeon-like structure, she wasn't sure if the monsters that once lurked its passageways had been permanently defeated, or if she had just gotten lucky so far. The blonde pulled up her hood once more, treading carefully while her footsteps echoed through the dimly-lit corridors. "Good going, Luna."The girl mumbled out scarcely above a whisper. "What's your next brilliant plan, huh?" She continued to scold herself for the colossal mess she'd gotten herself into.

The girl couldn't care less about the orange cursor spinning idly above her head. The thought of the brunette that would likely be following after her at any moment, however, caused a scowl to form on her features. "Tch, idiot." She growled. She still had no idea why Aereth insisted on watching over her. At this point, Kooh was tempted to chalk it up to some naive sense of nobility or honor. Can't just leave the helpless girl to fend for herself, right?

After what might have been ten minutes of wandering through the labyrinth, Kooh still wasn't sure if she was heading in the right direction, let alone the path she had taken to get to where she was. She strained her ears to listen for any sign of players or monsters alike, but was met with a dead silence that hung over the dungeon. She let out a small sigh, legs feeling as weary as her mind. Out of the corner of her eye, the girl spotted a stone staircase, her gaze shifting down to the small empty space beneath it. The girl stoppee and frowned a few long moments before finally making a decision. Carefully slipping past the stone bricks, Kooh ended up sitting on the floor in the crawlspace, wrapping her arms around her knees as she pulled them close to her chest. The black cloak nearly wrapped around the girl completely, and she allowed her forehead to drop down against her forearm, letting out a long, unsteady breath.

Hiding - stealth rating 10+1 (low light conditions) = 11

@Aereth

Edited May 19, 2017 by Kooh

[Aereth 1]

It was exactly like Aereth planned. The other player fell for the feint and he was able to release a furry of blows onto the other players body. Unfortunately the other player notice Aereth's opening and immediately retaliated with a huge blow on his own. Aereth grunted and looked at his life bar. Both of them seemed to be heavy DPS builds and evenly matched in terms of damage. Only thing that helped Aereth over the other player was his unique enhancement. It slowly chipped away bit by bit of the man's health.

Both players fought equally for dominance over the other for a couple of minutes, which caused both of the to drop to the red zone. thanks to the Flame Aura of Aereth's armor he was having slightly more rest health than the other player, but either way, the next hit that anyone managed to hit would definitely be the last. It had been a long time since Aereth had fought so hard, but even though he was at the edge of dying, Aereth did his best to stay calm and focused on the battle. Then both players charged at each other simultanously. The person who could react faster would win this battle. Spear met sword, and for one last time the two fought for dominance. Aereth however had something different in mind. He shifted his body, let go of his sword, and released a last <<All Might>> sword art directly to the face of Kiho. The players HP dropped to zero, and Aereth sank to his knees. His energy bar was almost completely empty, and only a tiny bit on his HP bar was left. "I need to find her..." he thought before he got back up to his feet once more, and started to sprint in the direction of the labyrinth entrance...

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

Kooh's grip on her arms tightened for a moment, squeezing her knees closer to her before relaxing slightly again. She took in a choked breath, akin to one that was trying to fight back tears. 'What good will feeling sorry for yourself do?' She quickly asked herself, pressing her forehead more firmly against her arm. 'There's no changing this mess, just damage control now.' She tried to reassure herself. The blonde picked up her head for a moment, listening again for any sounds other than her soft breathing that would echo through the dungeon. 'I'll just wait it out. She decided, allowing herself to put her head back down and her eyes to close.

Whether Aereth came and wasn't able to find her lost and hidden inside of the labyrinth, or never showed up at all, Kooh decided she would wait. When she'd felt that enough time had passed, she would pick herself up and find her way out of the labyrinth, whether she found herself on the sixteenth floor or back on the seventeenth she didn't really care. She would wait out the orange cursor hovering over her head, and then everything would go back to normal.

@Aereth

[Aereth 1]

After a couple of minutes filled with running towards the labyrinth, Aereth finally reached the entrance of said labyrinth and started to look for Kooh. His health, though regenerated at least a little bit due to his survival skill, was still dangerously low at about 15% "Where is she?" Aereth asked himself mentally and activated everything in his arsenal to find the blonde female. After a couple of moments, Aereth yanked his head towards the entrance and thought. "Oh no, she wouldn't... God damn it. She would." Aereth cursed mentally and immediately started to head into the labyrinth. It seemed like she really liked screwing his plans over and over again. Initially he wanted to stay out of the labyrinth until his health was completely regenerated, but now he had no choice. "Going into a high level labyrinth with little to no health... Great idea, Aereth. Great idea." he muttered and walked inside.

The sun had already started to set when he entered the labyrinth, and the vision inside of the labyrinth was beginning to become worse with every moment Aereth ran through the dark place. About twenty minutes passed until he finally found a stone staircase with somebody sitting underneath it. "Found her." he thought while his anger started to quell to the outside. Slowly walking over to the girl, Aereth took a deep breath and was just about to ask @Kooh if she went completely insane, when saw in which pose she was in. Legs tightly hugged and her face lowered onto her knees. Slightly taken aback by this sight, Aereth swallowed his anger and approached the girl. "Kooh..." He said in a gentle voice. "You ok? I thought I told you to hide outside of that stupid dungeon."

ID# 84688 results:
Loot: 11+5, Kooh found

[Kooh 0]

Kooh wasn't sure why she hadn't heard Aereth's footsteps echoing through the labyrinth's tunnels. Had she been lost in thought? Had she started dozing off? The blonde's head raised suddenly when her username was called out, startled by the man's voice despite his soft tone. She looked up to the brunette standing in the middle of the hallway, a somewhat concerned expression on his face. She couldn't tell if there was another emotion mixed in--annoyance, anger, maybe exhaustion--but his choice of words indicated that the man wasn't pleased with her actions. 'Crap.' Her head was the slightest bit fuzzy as the single word was all that came to the girl's mind. Her expression was blank, save for a bit of lingering surprise to see the man standing before her.

'Now what?' As they had again and again today, her plan had failed. Aereth was either incredibly lucky, or somehow skilled at tracking the girl down. A brief memory surfaced, recalling how the brunette's eyes had glowed during their encounter with the other players, and she quickly decided it must be the latter. At least if it was dumb luck she might have had a chance to continue trying.

So running away wasn't an option anymore. At least, not unless she was willing to risk his patience running out completely. So, what else was there? Was she really out of options? "Yeah...sorry." The girl's voice was quiet as her gaze lowered to the dungeon floor and lingered for a moment. Releasing the grip on her arms, Kooh slid herself out from the crawlspace that had become her hiding spot and got to her feet, brushing her hands against her clothes as if to remove the dirt from them. The girl placed her hands in her pockets while the dark cloak slipped over her shoulders. Though she did her best not to show it, Kooh was defeated.

@Aereth

[Aereth 1]

Aereth didn't understand. Why was the girl acting the way she did. He just couldn't get behind her motives. And this fact made him angry again. "Tell me. Do you want to die? Cause if you have a f*cking death wish, I could help you right here, right now." Aereth closed his eyes. The moment these words left his mouth, he already regretted that he had said them. But it was too late to stop right now.  "Three times. I've been saving your life, and still you always try to run away from me, so please tell me. Why do you do this?" Aereth grunted, and let himself drop to the ground in a sitting position. "You know what, forget what I just said. I just need some rest, in order to re-organize my thoughts and finally get my health out of the red zone. Just gimme some minutes." After that he opened his inventory, grabbed two bottles of water, and offered Kooh one of them, before closing his eyes and taking a big sip from his own bottle. He was exhausted. Physically and mentally. He once again had taken another life, added one more soul that would try and haunt him. "Sorry for what I said before... I didn't mean it... " Aereth said after a couple of moments, before opening his eyes once more and locking them with @Kooh's

[Kooh 0]

Kooh felt her jaw clench as the threat left the brunette. Once again, she held her tongue. As strong as the urge was to snap right back at the man, to tell him that she never asked for his help and that maybe he should take her repeated attempts to get away from him as a hint, she knew full well that no good would come from it. 'And why do you care?' Again, holding back the urge to voice her own questions. Kooh's bottom lip twitched into another small frown at his exasperation. Wordlessly accepting the bottle he handed to her, Kooh simply held the item while Aereth took some time to rest.

As silence took over them, Kooh was allowed a moment to calm down. 'Fine, you win.' She couldn't seem to force the words to leave her, or find a way to get her point across more politely. It seemed that the brunette also took the reprieve to collect himself, and when the Kooh's eyes drifted back to the man his eyes were locked onto hers. Freezing up for a second, the blonde was unsure how to react. Surely he was still angry with her, but did he think he had gone too far? Releasing the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, Kooh finally tore her gaze away from Aereth's, mumbling a small "Mm... I deserved it."

[Aereth 1]

"No, you don't deserve death just for hitting an a**hole in the face and running away from your stalker... I just went a little bit overboard with what I said before, I'm sorry. Just know that you can't do everything on your own. This is a dangerous place for orange players." Aereth said, also moving his view back to the water bottle he was holding in his hands. He still wasn't sure on how to feel. He wanted to feel really really angry, but at the same time he just couldn't bring it over his heart to lash out on the girl more than he did earlier. Aereth himself wasn't even sure why he offered to help the girl in the first place. With his stupid helper syndrome he was getting himself into more trouble than he likes to admit, but after the loss of HER, things changed...

Shaking his head in order to clear out his thoughts once more, Aereth downed his water and got back up to his feet. His energy was almost full, and his health was at about 45%. "Enough to continue." he thought. "I'm ready. Let's get going. That idiot from before and your hide and seek session cost us some important time. We need to make it out of this labyrinth as quick as possible. After that we need to find a safe place to sleep..." Aereth said.

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

The bottle of water in Kooh's hand vanished as the girl dismissed the item to her inventory. She had determined she either wasn't thirsty somehow, or more likely, didn't have the will to consume anything right now. Her jaw clenched for a moment and relaxed once more at his comment that she didn't deserve to die for what she'd done, half-tempted to let her cynicism voice itself. Once again, she kept herself silent, not eager to get herself into any more verbal scuffles at the moment.

The blonde simply nodded in agreement when Aereth stated he was ready to keep moving. She didn't bother asking any questions, or speaking up at all since Aereth's explanation of a plan. The girl simply slipped her now free hand back into her pocket and followed after the man's lead, a couple of paces short from walking beside him. Kooh, as it seemed had become the norm, had no interest in speaking any more than the bare minimum, so the blonde wouldn't be starting any small talk while they wandered through the twists and turns of the labyrinth. The brunette seemed to know more or less where they were going and which way was the right way, or else he was very good at determining it as they went.

Unable to tell how much time had passed before the pair finally found the dungeon's exit that would deliver them to the sixteenth floor, Kooh didn't have to squint or shield her eyes from the sun as they emerged from the darkness of the labyrinth. Rather than a bright sun hanging overhead, a half moon and dozens of twinkling stars were all that illuminated the area before them. Wild grass met their feet, pushing up against the stone that marked the dungeon floor. Before them, a quiet grassy field lay out with little to no sign of movement. Few trees or shrubs to block their sight, with a visible stretch of ocean in the distance, laying between their land mass and what looked like a main island several times bigger than the one they had found themselves on. Kooh's head turned to either side, surveying their surroundings before she felt her muscles begin to tense up. Though she couldn't be sure that the entirety of the island was visible from their current position, the blonde could spot nothing of interest. No monsters, no players, and no signs of a city. Certainly no path to the next labyrinth to bring them down to the fifteenth floor. Her garnet eyes traveled back to the huge volcanic island off in the distance, jaw growing tight as she began to surmise that they would have to find a way there to press on.

@Aereth

[Aereth 1]

After Aereth said that they should get going, none of them decided to speak up again, so they traveled quietly through the dungeon, and as they finally made it out, it was already deep into the night, and they needed to find a place to sleep. On the island they currently entred was nothing but grass, some trees and the two orange players. A short sigh escaped Aereth's mouth, as he started to look for a place where the would be able to spend the night.

After they made quite some distance between them and the entrance of the labyrinth, Aereth unstrapped his sword from his back and sat down cross-legged under a tree. "You can sleep if you want, I'll stay up and keep guard. Maybe the sh*theads are trying to follow us down here, so it would be too risky for both of us to sleep at the same time..." Aereth simply stated in a indifferent voice. 

@Kooh