{PP-F9} Stronger Flames -Hidden and Myself-

[Domarus 0]

Domarus could not help but chuckle upon Hidden's words.  She mentioned how she would far more prefer to stalk in the shadows than fight her enemies head on.  In fact, her words began to draw out a light laughter from Domarus.  When he finished he turned to Hidden.
     "You honestly believe that was my plan?  Charge head on and destroy them with wild strikes?  Wow is your faith in me poor.  No.  But neither is it just going to be stealth as well.  Deception.  Misdirection.  Those are the tools that will be vital to our success.  I will gain their attention and fight them on my own.  My ax is designed for multiple targets, and my heavy armor and mitigation consumables will make it far more difficult to defeat me.  While I have them distracted, you will either release Aereth, or strike them from the shadows.  Know that once you've left stealth mode, there's no going back so when we go to rescue him it must.  Count."  Domarus watched as she went out to search for a chest.  Domarus doubted there would be one, he wasn't that lucky.  However he also didn't like the idea of simply passing an opportunity by like that either.  When she returned she confirmed his suspicion and he accepted it.  
     "Very well then.  I suppose we should advance forward then.  I believe I see the entrance.  I wonder if they'll create a floor that is essentially hell incarnate." 

@Hidden

[Hidden 1]

Hidden watched as Domarus let out a chuckle and then went on as he told her that he was not about widly charging into battle, that his plans led on to deception and misdirection. His plans were quite complex. She rolled her eyes and then replied, "Well, obviously I wasn't talking about you. If you wildly charged into places, then you would probably be dead by now. Obviously, I was talking about Aereth. Something tells me, Aereth getting captured is part of your plan as much as you speak of it. You are just waiting for it to happen to exploit the location, create some distraction or something" She turned to the entrance to the cave. "Anyway, you are the best tank we have so far, so you start the charge on in" She looked over to the shadow where Umbra was walking over. She knew that this wasn't the familiar's favorite floor, but instead the tenth floor was. She liked pitch black, and the familiar was stronger where the darkness was greatest. Luckily, Hidden was strong enough for both of them.

@Domarus

[Domarus 0]

Domarus listened to hidden and it appeared as though he had misinterpreted her.  Evidently she was referring to Aereth instead of him.  She talked about wildly charging into places and while he was working on the charge skill, he knew what she truly meant, and she was correct.  Domarus preferred to analyze his opponent and exploit his or her weaknesses.  Some believed that people only had one true weakness, but that wasn't true.  Kind or cruel, selfish or selfless, everyone had a series of weaknesses.  The only question was, were they intelligent enough to cover up and protect such weaknesses.
     "Aereth insisted on taking men like this on alone so as to, 'keep others from perishing'.  His getting captured was inevitable, whether or not I helped him.  If not now it would have been later.  Therefore I decided to let him get captured and plan a rescue.  Give him time for this event to make him think, and hopefully make him more reliable than before hand."  While it was true that he was the best tank they had thus far due to his armor, he wasn't a true tank.  He focused on damage.  Once he maximized his damage to the fullest however, he would be working on his defensive skills.  He wanted to one day gain armor that possessed unique enhancements designed for maximum counter damage to his opponents.  Once he collected said gear, and combined it with his hopebreaker armor that gave him mitigation, then he would possess incredible defense and damage.  If he could get armor that had four slots of mitigation that would be far more effective protection for him.  Domarus watched as something approached them.  Three hellhounds that growled and glared their eyes at them.  So, pathetic he thought.  Domarus activated charge as he knew these creatures were not strong enough to be considered a threat to him.  However they seemed evasive enough to avoid getting hit by the sword art he used.  They came around and attempted to bite him.  While they succeeded in attacking him, they also succeeded in nearly killing themselves in the process due to his thorns.  Not only that but their damage was so pathetically weak that he only received three points of damage.

Spoiler

 

ID#  87670  BD:  2+3=5  MD:  6  
Sword art used:  Smash.  -4 EN

Domarus:  637/640  -  60/64  -  54 MIT  -  14-15 DMG  -  3-4 ACC  -  24 THRN  -  50-54=1x3=3
@Hidden:  480/480  -  47/48  -  0 MIT  -  8 DMG  -  3 ACC - 3 EVA

Hellhoundx3:  6/30 HP  -  50 dmg

 

 

Edited August 8, 2017 by Domarus

[Hidden 1]

Hidden walked forward, her steps taking a quiet manner as they moved along back toward the cave entrance where Cereberus would lie in waiting for them. Domarus would consider her words for a moment before giving in that he suspected that Aereth would get captured, and they would give him a bit to think about his actions before charging in and rescuing him, making him more of a valuable and closer part of the operation. She looked away for a second and wondered to herself for a moment what Sey would think if he knew of the stuff that she became involved in. A rustle was heard in the distance, her small scout skill picking up the crunching of the dead grass. She flicked her wrist, her dagger shooting into her hand before she whirled around, in a stance for a defense or an attack form close range. Orange light picked up upon her dagger. "Something approaches" she told Domarus and he turned as three hellhounds came into view, snarling and beginning to form a triangle formation around the two of them. She let her body untense as it wasn't another player. Battling became dangerous as soon as you began to fight creatures that had the ability to process tactics and use it against you. Domarus was the first to move, his assault missing the hellhounds and  they immediately moved upon his unprepared form. They dealt little damage, but did manage to almost kill themselves on Domarus's thorns. 'No point in attacking here. I deal only single target damage and uncapable of taking on each of these' She would defend herself if needed but made no advance on the creatures. 

@Domarus

[Domarus 0]

The Hellhounds circled around Domarus but he wasn't going to sit around and wait for them.  He pounded the butt of his ax against the ground causing it to shake.  This in turn caused the hellhounds to lose their footing temporarily.  Domarus took the opportunity and released the sword art smash.  However something was different this time around.  Domarus didn't know this yet, but the system had updated, causing his sword art to function differently than it had before.  Instead of a single roll behind the digital coding of Aincrad, there was one for each monster he struck at.  This affected things very greatly.  The first monster had leaped over his ax mid swing, landing another bite on him before shattering into pixels from the thorns damage.  The second monster had leaped backward to avoid the blow altogether.  Domarus had noticed the second aberration and adjusted his swing to more accurately target the final monster, which had also tried to leap back but was struck by Domarus' ax and shattered as well.  Domarus began to lose balance and thus rolled forward to regain a stable stance when he stood up again.  Keres bit her lip behind the two warriors as she was wondering how Domarus would react to this sudden change in the system.
     "Hidden.  Do you want the honors of finishing off the last pathetic mongrel?"  He said without looking behind.  There seemed to be a blade of sorts in his words, as he was controlling his frustrations with the system changing on him during the middle of a battle.  He had handled it beautifully of course, but the fact remained that Kayaba had no sense of timing or warning for that matter.

Spoiler

ID#  89743  BD:  1  MD:  6  - miss / thorns activated
ID#  89744  BD:  1  MD:  1  - miss
ID#  89745  BD:  4+3=7  MD:  3

19x2=38 dmg

Domarus:  636/640  -  56/64  -  54 MIT  -  14-15 DMG  -  3-4 ACC  -  24 THRN  -  50-54=1x3=3
@Hidden:  480/480  -  47/48  -  0 MIT  -  8 DMG  -  3 ACC - 3 EVA

Hellhound 1:  0/30 HP -24 thorns -  50 dmg
Hellhound 2:  6/30 HP  -  50 dmg
Hellhound 3:  0/30 HP  -38 damage -  50 dmg

 

Edited October 22, 2017 by Domarus

[Hidden 1]

She watched intently, analyzing Domarus's attack patterns and diverse strategy. He was rather strong with his attacks and several blows that attacked and damaged several of the targets all at once. He managed to completely decimate each of the hellhounds except one that remained at lower health. Domarus offered her the last one to which she would oblige. She darted forward, her dagger began exerting a dark orange light, that of a Pker crystal. The Hellhound growled as she got near and she noticed it tense, ready for a quick evasion. She leapt to the side, becoming a blur or a shadow as she slammed into the rock and hurtled herself coming from a different direction and through the air. She struck with accuracy and percision. It was overkill, but she activated her strongest Sword Art. She spun wildly with her dagger, becoming a black tornado of destruction as she whirled at her enemy. Her dagger shredded through the opponent that had once stood there. She burst upward, using her momentum to do a series of backflips and aeria spins before gracefully landing upon the ground with a  smile. She was quick, agile, and able to easily maneuver through the air. She flaunted her speed, and how that it was much higher than most players her level. "Granted as wished" she smiled. "Not much lies ahead of us now, we should continue on our quest" 
 

Spoiler

 

Roll: 90040

BD:8+3

9*13=117 DMG dealt. 

@Domarus:  636/640  -  56/64  -  54 MIT  -  14-15 DMG  -  3-4 ACC  -  24 THRN  -  50-54=1x3=3
Hidden:  480/480  -  47/48  -  0 MIT  -  8 DMG  -  3 ACC - 3 EVA

Hellhound 1:  0/30 HP -24 thorns -  50 dmg
Hellhound 2:  0/30 HP  -  50 dmg
Hellhound 3:  0/30 HP  -38 damage -  50 dmg

 

 

Edited October 28, 2017 by Hidden

[Domarus 0]

Domarus watched as Hidden charged in and finished off the last mob before suggesting they move on.  Domarus nodded.  There was only one more mob to face and that was the boss.  The boss itself wasn't very strong at all so this shouldn't take long.  That was one of the things that frustrated him.  The mobs in this game weren't tough at all, and from what he could tell the floor bosses weren't all that different.  It was all stat based, so as long as you were a high enough level with the appropriate buffs, you would have absolutely nothing to worry about.  One of the reasons he was trying to increase his level so that he could hit the front lines.  He was a long way from it at the current moment.  That's why dungeons and quests were important, despite the fragility of these mobs.
     "While we head towards the quest boss, I'll be looking over the update that just came out.  Keep your eyes sharp for any incoming enemies while I go over them."  Domarus began to open his menu to the updates section and began going over them.  He ignored crafting, that could be looked at later.  Skill points would be slightly harder to retrieve, which made things difficult.  A skill refund system was now in place where you paid col to remove a skill.  Health regeneration outside combat has been edited.  Stealth and Detection were changed.  Switch was changed from a skill to an in game mechanic.  Sword arts no longer hit every mob if the first is hit during an AoE sword art.  All houses and guild halls have been revoked.  He closed the menu.  This update was massive.  He'd need to double check everything once they were done here, but one of the things changed was dungeons.  He turned to Hidden.  
     "Plan's changed.  Mobs and dungeons have been updated, so we won't be getting any worthwhile experience on this floor.  Not with our current level that is.  Either we think of going to another floor after this, or we call it a day once we've killed the boss."  Domarus spotted some materials and added them to his inventory, noting that instead of four he had received three.  
     "I'll need to go over this update in greater detail after this quest is over..."

ID#  90502  CD:  9  LD:  18  +3 MAT

@Hidden 

Edited November 7, 2017 by Domarus

[Hidden 1]

Hidden turned her head as Domarus spoke to her, incurring that she would need to take watch as he went over the broad details in the the new update. Nodding her head, she tapped into her low level search skill. She had spotted nothing out of the ordinary when he had finished. He turned to her and stated that the dungeons had changed and they would be required to move on to a different floor instead of searching for one in which they currently resided. She grimaced, but said nothing. Her overall tone was bored as she spoke. "I guess we will have to do a dungeon some other time then" Her eyes flicked over to the cave entrance, betting their boss was indeed in the cave somewhere. "Let's move or we will bring to much attention to ourselves" Her gaze shifted from the cave to Domarus, and finally from Domarus to Umbra. The black fox drifted forward, completely vanishing from sight as it entered the cave ahead. Grinning slightly, she put one foot forward and sprung off of it, heading forward at a speed which she was practically flying as her feet barely hit the games floor. The system was mostly carrying her, and since she was of the smaller build and had practiced enough, she liked to think herself as one of the faster players in the game, more or less, her tier. 

Crouching in the darkness, she was able to feel the immense heat coming from inside the cave. She looked behind to find Domarus still coming. A hundred feet away, she could see the large hunk of a body. 'There is the target!' She shifted her body, moving into a better position for attack. She focused, her  dagger becoming a orange blaze of light. A grunt was heard from Cerberus. She darted forward, leaping off the ground and aiming straight at the first head.  In the air, she began to spin like a tornado, becoming a whirlwind of shadow. Her dagger struck the first head many times before it shattered. She kit the creatures body and kicked off, backflipping before she landed upon the ground in a crouch. Cerberus roared in anger and defiance, the room finally lighting up to show it features. It lunged forward, each of its remaining heads striking her body. Grunting, she kicked off the ground and shouted <<SWITCH>> to Domarus, hoping he would strike forward. 

91157 BD:3+3 MD:8

Hidden 320/320 <<20 Burn DMG 1/1>>
@Domarus 640/640

Cerberus
Head 1 0/30
Head 2 30/30
Head 3 30/30

Edited November 24, 2017 by Hidden

[Domarus 0]

Hidden's grimace was not lost to him with the hood on her head.  He could still determine a certain number of facial expressions by observing the lower half of a face.  And faces like a grimace, scowl, overjoyed, etc. were not at all hard to discern.  He also was upset as each dungeon, no matter what floor should give experience in some form or another.  Yet cardinal deemed it important to remove experience entirely for players who had made progress.  Punishing them for working hard it seemed.  Domarus wasn't about to bow down to cardinal however.  Once he cleared out most of the quests in this world, he would have Hidden, Aereth, and hopefully several others he could work with when it came to dungeon clearing.  And with Domarus' powerful damage output, all they really needed was a supporter and/or tank.  Once that was achieved they were set as a very powerful force to be reckoned with.
     "Nothing we can do about it now, other than plan out our next move.  I'll need to do some research on the new system for dungeons in depth later, so perhaps I'll find a suitable floor we can go on another time."  Hidden had then suggested they move on else they drew more attention to himself.  He cocked an eyebrow under his helmet but moved on anyways.  They did need to get this quest cleared out, so there was nothing wrong with it.  They also needed the experience, and from what he could tell the monsters on this floor had a set level range.  According to the quest their enemy was the massive three headed hound that guarded the entrance to the underworld of Greek Mythology.  Hopefully it would be a challenge for once....  He couldn't be more wrong.  He watched as Hidden launched herself at the boss, effectively one shotting the first of three heads.  So the boss was to be pathetically weak again.  Fantastic...  Domarus himself activated charge and lashed out the Smash sword art, utterly destroying both heads with the damage output he had made.  The first head got a hyper critical on him which annoyed Domarus but nothing more than that.  Domarus landed as the monster shattered.
     "What a nuisance.  You'd think Cardinal would update quests along with it's stat changes to keep them a challenge..."

ID#  91416  BD:  3+3=6

ID#  91417  BD:  10

15+5x2=40 dmg, KO to both heads

@Hidden

Edited December 6, 2017 by Domarus

[Hidden 1]

As she flew through the air, her cloak billowed around her, making her seem like a cloud of shadows, moving quickly through the air. She made a flip midair, allowing herself to get a view of Domarus charging the last two heads confidently. She finally began her decent downwards, moving quickly becoming a dart. Her feet met the ground, her figure moving into a crouched position. She watched as the two heads shattered instantly, filling the room with the blue shards. She stood, sighing. If one could see her face, they would find it full of annoyance. She looked over, her violet eyes flashing towards Domarus. He seemed to be of the same opinion according to his words. She smiled softly, her eyes becoming pleased at the thought that he agreed. Umbra came to her side as the battle ended, staying silent and hard to see from the low lighting. The shadow fox became one with shadows when it wanted to, or was depressed. 

She silently walked forward, her pace humble enough. "Shall we depart now then? I am quite sure there are better things to attend to" 

@Domarus