[SP] [F01] 4 Way Boss Fight «The Third Lesson, Is Just As Free»

[Tsurei 0]

Spoiler

Stats

Level: 9

Hit Points: 180

Energy: 18

Combat Stats

Damage: 3

Mitigation: 8

Accuracy: 0

Evasion: 0

Weapons

- [T1] [Uncommon] [Curved Sword] Scimitar (Damage 1)

Armour

- [Vanity] [Light Armour] Dark Leather Armour

Battle Ready Items

5 x [T1] [Uncommon] Health Potions  (+40hp) 1 x [T1] Damage Potion (+1 Damage) 1 x [T1] Over-Health Potion (+50 Temp HP) 1 x Snake Venom (A coating which grants a weapon a poison effect which activates on a critical hit, dealing 4 damage for 10 turns to an enemy. Lasts for one thread. Takes a post action to apply.) 1 x [T1] Safeguard Potion [Quest Item - Nullify first hit]

 

Arriving back at the Silver Horned Inn, the party were able to let out a deep sigh as they collectively slumped in their chairs, leaning back and stared up at the ceiling, finally getting some rest, the fight against some simple boar pups was draining in all manner of ways.

After a few moments, they send wry glances at each other grins and smirks spreading across their faces inevitably,

“Jeez… that sure was tough, huh?” Rei laughed after a while,

“Yeah… no kidding,” Takumi crashed his head against the table, leaning on his arms, “I wish there was a easier way of doing this…”

“Yeah… those things were so hard to hit…” Kenji nodded,

“I didn’t have as much trouble as you guys, but they were pretty small targets after all,” Yuta shrugged nonchalantly,

“Next up on the list is whatever’s in that deep dark cave we’ll be sent to,” Rei added,

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“Whatever it is, it’s bound to be worse than simple boar pups this time,” Takumi agreed, “The guide says there’s the stone guardian golem which attacks us when we find the gem, but there’s also giant spiders in there,” he shuddered grabbing at his own shoulders,

“Are you going to be alright?” Yuta sent him a worried glance,

“Oh yeah, you have arachnophobia,” Kenji realised, sending him a sympathetic look,

“Yeah… I really hope we don’t find any of them,”

“We probably will, I don’t really deal well with insects either,” Rei sighed, “I hope we can even hurt this stone golem with our weapons, stone and steel not really good matches,”

“It’s a game so it should be fine, right?” Kenji looked over,

“Depends on how realistic it decides to be,” Yuta shrugged,

“It says here that because there’s no light inside, we’ll have a hard time seeing anything,” Takumi replied, “Meaning it’d be even harder to search and hit things,”

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“Prepare to be jumped by spiders from all directions,” Rei sighed, much to Takumi’s horror, “Giant spiders,” he added and Takumi paled further,

“Can’t we just make some torches or something?” Yuta frowned,

“I feel like we should be able to…” Kenji shrugged uncertainly,

“I don’t think the game has a function like that,” Rei sighed,

“So much for realism,” Takumi threw his hands in the air angrily,

“Well, it’s a game in the end,” Kenji pointed out,

“It’s annoying when they do things by halves,” Yuta agreed with Takumi,

“Yeah, yeah!” Takumi roared, mostly agitated due to the whole idea of giant spiders, their thick black hairy legs, many red eyes, crawling movements and venomous fangs, it made the hair on their necks stand on end, in Takumi’s case, it made his skin crawl with goosebumps.

“I guess so, they did spend 10 years on it, you’d think they’ve managed to do more with it, I wonder if they just spend a huge amount of budget on the 5 senses, it’d make sense,” Rei conjectured,

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Their food soon arrived, delivered by the cheerful bar maid as ever, by reflex, they all said rather cheerfully, “Thanks!” as she placed several plates of food on their table.

“No problem,” the girl smiled, “You guys are always here huh?”

“Huh?” Rei was surprised that the girl responded, she was just a normal NPC after all, they’ve been here for ages and she’s never even spoke to them in all that time, Rei quickly shared a glance with his friends and they were all stunned at a loss, “Y-yeah,” he turned around and replied with a awkward smile,

“You really should eat some vegetables, just having meat all the time is no good,” she wagged her finger at Rei, he looked up at her weirdly motherly gripe about their eating habits, she was a simple girl, long, straight brown hair tied into a pony tail, strangely vibrant, deep green eyes, somehow flawless fair skin spotted with freckles, she wore a short sleeved blouse and dress, the skirt of which went down to her ankles.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Her body was averagely developed, it was easy to see that she was a growing lady, her general appearance was really not all that bad, it would be pretty good looking in their original world, but in the virtual game, it was par for the course for almost everyone to be rather good looking.

In any other situation, they wouldn’t have really noticed her all that much, but somehow, their perceptions have changed.

“What?” she frowned when she saw him staring, “Is there something on my face?”

“N-no, just never really took a good look at you before,” Rei replied automatically, before his face froze, that seemed weird, right?

“Hmph!” she turned her head, breathing out annoyed, “You adventurers are all the same, a gloomy bunch of people who treat us like servants!”

“Wait, wait, we don’t it’s just a lot of things happened,” Rei quickly excused,

“Like what? Just because it’s tough out there doesn’t mean you can forget human decency!” she had her hands on her hips and chided him,

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“Hey, look, what would you do if you were suddenly thrown out in the middle of nowhere and told to fight?” Rei sighed, looking at her with an expression that said that `she wouldn’t understand`,

“Well, I wouldn’t lounge about like a bunch of weeds and do nothing, I’m not complaining ‘cuz we’re getting paid properly, but you guys are bringing the mood down!” she shouted,

Here he was, being shouted at by an NPC, just what was going on here?

“Yeah, yeah, sorry about that, geez, we’re trying,” Rei sighed deeper, glancing away,

“Hmph! So long as you understand!” she folded her arms and glared off to the side as well, this moment continued for a few seconds before she looked back at Rei’s somewhat peeved expression,

“I can see that you’re trying at least, what happened? You guys were never this lively before,” she leaned over, supporting herself with her hands against the table,

[Tsurei 0]

“Huh? Well, we nearly ran out of money you see…” Rei gestured vaguely, “We sold off our items and potions and used up our money, so there was really no choice but to get out there and do something about it,”

“At least you’re not useless and lazy,” the girl nodded,

“Hey, that’s harsh,” Rei looked at her, “Though not entirely untrue. Everyone, including us were afraid of fighting out there, since we could die at any moment,”

“Isn’t that obvious though?”

“Yeah, I guess, but it wasn’t always the case you know? A lot of people thought it would be all fun and games and adventures, but then things went downhill,”

“Yeah, of course being an adventurer’s tough, but that’s what you guys are all about, right? Brave warriors who rise up to conquer Aincrad, right?”

“Some of us just want to survive you know,”

“Pfh, you guys have no ambition,”

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“Who needs ambition, all you gotta do is have fun, right?” Rei dismissed,

“Aaahhh… you’re no good,” she sighed, shaking her head,

“What’s with that?” Rei frowned,

“A young man like you should have ambition to rise to greater heights, you’re not a kid anymore,”

“Well, excuse me, missy, and how old are you huh?”

“I’m 18! And I'm doing a proper job here helping out at the inn,” she puffed her chest out proudly,

“I see…” Rei shrugged, leaning back in his chair, “well, whatever,”

“How old are you, mister?” she looked at him mischievously,

“Don’t call me mister, I’m only 23,”

“Oh my… you lazed about like a shut in for nearly 2 years now,” she pressed her hand to her lips in mock horror,

“Lay off,” Rei pouted, mocking anger, “Anyway, thanks for the food, it’s great as always,” he replied, taking a bite from the sausage,

“Good to hear it, dad’s a really good cook you know!” she beamed proudly,

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Looking over along with her, Rei could see her bad working in the kitchen, currently cleaning the dishes in the sink, her father was a burly, large man, he seemed like he had a lot of brawls back in his day, wearing a buttoned shirt with rolled up sleeves and open chest displaying his hairy chest and arms, he had a stern, square jaw, sharp black eyes and a clean trimmed hairstyle and beard.

Along with that, there was another woman working here, a finely shaped woman with short brown hair and green eyes, she had a motherly figure and worked gracefully and efficiently in the bar.

“So you and your family run the shop, huh?” Rei observed,

“Yup, obviously,” she rolled her eyes at him, “You’ve been here for 2 years, you should know that by now,”

“Yeah, yeah, I was blinded with an existential life and death crisis, excuse me,”

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“Excuses, excuses,” she shrugged, “Anyway, I’m Rossa, that’s my mom, Fiore, and that’s my dad, Garda, in case you’re wondering, ‘cuz, you know, you never ask,”

“Gee thanks,” Rei rolled his eyes, “I’m Rei, this is Yuta, Takumi and Kenji,” he went around the table, introducing the others, they nodded as they were introduced but most of them were blanked out, not sure how to react to the NPC, meanwhile Rei was running on auto mode, speaking to the girl as naturally as he would any other person.

“Nice to meet you guys, finally,” she laughed, “So? What are you up to? Not too long ago you came back looking like a total mess, what were you doing? Playing in the mud?”

“We were hunting boars for tusks for Lyle over at the Sylveren Blacksmith,” Rei explained, “They were more slippery than we realised, we didn’t get hurt, but we sure got pushed around,”

Rossa burst out laughing, holding onto her stomach, “You got beat up by some boars?”

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“Shush, it was pretty good for our first fight after lazing around for 2 years,” Rei shrugged,

“So you admit it!” she jabbed a finger, “What’re you doing now?”

“We’re going to have to find a girl called Hannah, an artisan,” Rei explained,

“Hannah? I think I saw her painting something over near the town square,” Rossa tilted her head in thought,

“Seriously? Thanks, that really helps,” Rei was surprised, he didn’t expect to get any information off the NPCs,

“You know… if you want to thank me… you should give me a tip,” she smiled mischievously,

“You little scamp,” Rei smiled harmlessly, “Sure, fair enough, here you go,”

“Thanks for the business!” she beamed before skipping away.

Rei turned back to the group and saw their stunned stares, “What?”

“What just happened?” Kenji stammered,

“Was that really an NPC?” Yuta frowned,

“That was… interesting…” Takumi also frowned, deep in thought,

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“I don’t get it either,” Rei shook his head, as he glanced over, seeing Rossa skip up to her mom, Fiore, showing off her tip with a happy smile, “But maybe things aren’t all what they seem to be,”

“…”

There was a long silence across the table until Rei spoke again,

“Anyway, let’s eat up and head on over, we’ve got ourselves a dark cave to explore and spiders to hunt,”

“please, no…” Takumi sighed,

“There’s an item called a Glow Stone,” Yuta noted, “we could use that for the cave, we can buy it for Col off a merchant shop,”

“Yeah, it uses up the weapon slot though,” Rei sighed,

“We can just have someone hold it and the rest of us fight,” Takumi pointed out,

“Yeah, but we’d leave that person defenceless, worse still, the thing’s not even all that bright,” Rei added,

“It’s better than nothing, right?”

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Whatever the case, deciding against using the Glow Stone, they went to the town square, a wide square stone pavement as expected, a large clearing in the town with a circular fountain in the middle. It was still winter and most people were still despondent about everything, no one was willing to do much in this weather and situation, anyone motivated enough to fight this world was long gone, only the hopeless were left.

Sitting up on one of the leafless trees was a young girl, she was stunningly serene and pretty, with long brown hair in twin braids that went down to her waist, hanging loosely and fluttering in the gentle wind, she had slightly tanned skin and wore a simple white and brown dress with a leather vest, nestled nearby was her leather satchel, notebook and paints, in her hand was a canvas on which she painted a gentle scenery of the town, the grasslands, the lake, the forest and the mountains beyond, over the town walls.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Hannah fixed her glasses and gently brushed her hair behind her ears, noticing as the four of them walked over to her,

“Hello, can I help you?” she looked at them kindly but confused,

“Hannah?” Rei raised a brow,

“Yes, that’s me,” she nodded, a little perturbed,

“We’ve got a package from Lyle, it’s the gold ring band,”

“Oh!”

She gently set aside her canvas and leapt down to them nimbly and gently, the four of them handed her the packages at the same time, which seemed a bit awkward, but she dematerialised them in her imaginary back pocket and held up a golden ring band to the sky, reflecting off the sun, as small smile on her face,

“As expected of Lyle, it looks good,” she lowers it and looks over at them, “But I still need something else, you’re adventurers, right? Can I hire you to get something for me?”

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“Sure, what do you need?” Rei nodded,

“Great! I need a gemstone from the Ithvri Caves around the side of the city,” she explains, “If you follow the city walls to the left and walk along the edge, there’ll be a path down the side that leads to the cave, it’s dark so bring a Glow Stone, you can buy them off most merchants,”

“Alright,”

“In return, I’ll give each of you a special ring, it’s enhanced so it can help you in combat, either in avoiding attacks or helping in landing your hits more often,”

“Sounds great, we’ll be off then,”

“Yep, come back safe!” she waved cheerfully as they walked off,

“Yeah!” Rei waved back as they went down the streets to the town gates,

“Shouldn’t we buy that Glow Stone after all?” Kenji worried,

“Yeah, I’d very much prefer to not be jumped by spiders in the dark!” Takumi fiercely agreed,

“Fine, fine, let’s go find somewhere then,” Rei gave in, it sounded reasonable after all, and he couldn't let his stinginess screw them over.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“Oh, this place looks new,” Rei remarked, looking at one of the stores on the street,

“`Best Kept Secrets` … Sounds shady,” Yuta frowned at the sign,

“It looks really old school,” Kenji commented,

“Come on, let’s go take a look,” Rei spurred onwards, pushing open the door and stepping inside, once they do, the nostalgic 8bit music hits them in the face,

“Whoa…” Yuta murmured,

“That is really old school,” Rei nodded as he looked at the wooden decorations, glancing over at the cheerful, bright girl at the counter greeting them.

The owner of the store was a bright and cheerful girl, with wavy medium length fire red hair and pink coloured eyes, with fair skin and a vivid robe, she was very beautiful, enough to make their breaths caught in their throats, not willing to stare too long, Rei gathered his composure and began to make the trade, soon leaving amicably without issues.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“Well, that went well,” Rei remarked as they left the store,

“She was really cheerful,” Kenji smiled happily, the energy displayed by the girl seemingly spread to him as well,

“Were people like that always around?” Yuta frowned in wonderment,

“Maybe we just weren’t looking properly,” Rei shrugged,

“Entirely possible,” Takumi nodded in agreement,

“We were probably too busy caught up in our own problems and the who, y’know, we gonna die part of the thing,” Rei added,

“True… even saying that, we’re headed to a dark cave full of giant spiders waiting to eat us,” Yuta shrugged offhandedly,

“Don’t say that…” Takumi sighed,

“Anyway, we have our Glow Stone now,” Rei assured,

“Great, so we can watch as they do it to us,” Yuta smiled,

“Yuta…” Takumi glared,

“It’s good we’ve found a place to buy cheap materials though, it’ll come in handy when we buy some equipment for ourselves,” Rei nodded in thought,

“What’s this about getting a store ourselves? I haven’t heard about that?” Yuta frowned,

“Well, I’m not entirely sure about that just yet, but we could start selling stuff and earning money that way,” Rei explained, “Though I’m not sure what’s in demand or not. We’ll deal with that when we get there,”

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Strolling through the town, they left it’s gates, taking a hard left following the town’s walls as they were instructed, with the wall to their side, all there really was to see was on their right, the vast grasslands. Being that the Town of Beginnings was on the southern edge of the first floor, it took half an hour before they hit the edge, a straight sheer drop to the end of the world, or at the very least, this Aincrad seemed to be above the clouds, if they fell from here, that would be a sure, instant death.

Rei briefly wondered what he would see past those clouds, if the game even allowed it or maybe it just disintegrated them when they hit the kill box below, only the dead would ever know for sure, he wondered, how many people went past giving up and simply ended their lives by walking off this edge?

He’s seen a few of them and he will never forget their faces.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“Geez…” Rei sighs, trying not to look at the edge,

“It’s a long way down,” Yuta comments, peering over,

“Good bloody god, who thought this was a good idea!?” Takumi cried out, clinging to the cliff’s wall,

“Apparently we did,” Kenji replied,

“We’re idiots!” Takumi declared, “Let’s just go back, yeah?”

“We have to complete this quest to get the rewards for the quest chain,” Rei sighed, “At the very least, we’ll be on solid land soon,”

“Yeah, if you consider the dark cave and giant spiders to be fine,” Yuta joked,

“If you don’t stop talking about s-spiders, I’ll kick you here and now,” Takumi glared,

“Right…” Yuta shrugs,

They take the descending, curving path around the side of the landmass, to where the outcropping platform and the cave entrance lies. The light doesn’t seem to go far into the cave that seems to go pretty deep into the darkness, they all draw their weapons and carefully proceed, Rei pulls out the Glow Stone and uses that to illuminate their path going forward.

 

[Tsurei 0]

It was a large cave network, no particular path, just a cavern, less so dirt and earthen, but mostly stone, dark, cold and damp, from the wind outside, considering that it was on the side of the landmass that was torn from the earth and made to be the first floor of Aincrad, hanging on the side expose to the open air, even the gentle wind that assailed them howled through the caves, echoing through them like a ghastly wail, sending shivers down their spines as they tentatively moved forward, Rei had passed the Glow Stone to Kenji, who would be protected by the three of them, with Rei in front, new scimitar drawn and ready. He had upgraded his light armour skill to Rank 2, with 8 Mitigation, low as it was, he hoped that nothing here would break through that, considering the boss of this quest did 5 damage regularly only.

ID# 133006

LD: 5 = Fail

Edited December 31, 2019 by Tsurei