[F-01] [SP] Ruined Temple, Ruined Blade <<Katana Acquisition>>

[Tsurei 0]

“…Tch,” Takumi clicked his tongue in annoyance as the sound of a fleshy slap echoed in the silence of the forest, once more, he had slapped at a fly that was annoying him,

“Stop that!” Yuta cried out, nearly jumping out of his skin at the sudden sound,

“Y-yeah…” Kenji agreed, he too had jumped and shuddered violently at the sound, Rei simply looked over, his reflexes was too slow to react, he jumped slightly and casually looked over at Takumi,

“These flies are annoying,” he frowned deeply,

“There shouldn’t be flies in winter,” Yuta shrugged,

“I beg to differ,” Takumi frowned, “They’ve been flying at my face and mouth non stop,”

“Maybe they’re attracted to you,”

“… That is highly disturbing and I will pretend you never said that.”

“… Maybe they’re-“

Takumi quickly kicked at Yuta’s shins causing him to yelp in pain and clutch at the afflicted limb, hopping around madly,

 

 ID# 134039

LD: 2 = No treasure

Edited January 8, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“What was that for!?” Yuta cried out angrily,

“Don’t just repeat it!” Takumi matched it by shouting at him,

“N-now, now…” Kenji tried to get between them but they just glared at each other past him,

“Come on, let’s just keep moving folks,” Rei sighed, walking over behind the group and pushing them along forcefully,

“W-why don’t we play a game?” Kenji suggested hopefully, quickly catching the attention of the bored boys,

“Like what?” Yuta asked curiously,

“How about… eye see?”

“… Right…” Takumi frowned, not seeing the point,

“I’ll start,” Rei sighed, “I see with my little eye, something beginning with Y”

“Y?” Yuta frowned deeply, glancing around him, “The hell around here begins with a Y?”

“…” Takumi similarly looked around with a studious glare, try as he might, he was having a hard time as well,

“… It wouldn’t be `Yuta`, would it?” Kenji asked dubiously,

“Yup,” Rei nodded, “I see a Yuta,”

“Oi,” Yuta glanced over mildly annoyed,

[Tsurei 0]

“Tch, my turn,” Yuta frowned, turning his head around to look for something, “I see something that starts with P”

“P?” they looked around confused,

“Pine Tree?” Rei guessed hopefully,

“Nope,” Yuta folded his arms,

“A pigeon?” Takumi sighed,

“Nah,”

"What?" Takumi was so sure he got it,

“… It wouldn’t possible be a pe-“ Kenji looked over worriedly but he got cut off,

“It better not be a [asdas]” Rei glared over,

“Ah..haha…” Yuta looked away quickly, sweat dripping,

“Next!” Rei declared, waving his hand dismissively,

“Hey! It’s still my turn!”

“You’re disqualified, moving on,” Rei glanced over, “Kenji, you’re next,”

“M-me?! U-Um… Uh… I, Uh…”

“Hurry up,” Yuta sighed impatiently,

“I see with my little eye… something beginning with T,”

“It’s a tree, right?” Rei shot quickly,

“Y-yeah…”

There was a collective sigh of disappointment, it was just a show of how bored they were wandering these woods with nothing but more woods in all directions.

“Alright, moving on, Takumi, your turn,” Rei announced.

[Tsurei 0]

Rubbing his chin, Takumi looked around carefully, surrounded by snow and dead trees, distant mobs of giant hornets that weren’t close enough for them to engage without going out of their way to do so. The sky above him barely visible with the tree’s thick green and white layer blocking their view, casting a heavy shadow over their path. Roots growing on the surface of the dirt made it hard to walk along with the shrubbery and overgrown grass that made it hard to easy to navigate in a straight line as they wished to. Then his eyes caught something.

“I see with my little eye, something beginning with B” he decided on it,

“B? Is it a bee? You know, like wasps?” Rei guessed,

“No,” Takumi shook his head,

“Er… a beech tree?” Yuta shrugged,

“We’re in a pine forest,” Takumi rolled his eyes at his friend’s idiocy,

“They’re all just trees in my eyes,” Yuta shrugs with a frown,

Edited January 9, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“I feel you there,” Rei nodded, sure there were distinctions, but they didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things,

“Can you give us a hint?” Kenji gave up after a while, in response, Takumi nodded,

“Sure,” he proceeded to stop and point vaguely to the front left of the party,

“Huh?” the others all followed his finger and glanced in the direction,

“What is it? I can’t see,” Yuta frowned, leaning left and right trying to change angles, meanwhile Rei and Kenji froze up,

“Er… Takumi, I think that begins with S” Rei looked over at a large, purple scaled snake, thicker than a tree trunk that was lazily draped on the branches of several trees, almost like a festival banner, decoration, the massive snake was awake and had it’s piercing eyes glaring in their direction from about a few tens of meters away.

“Nope,” Takumi smiled innocently with hidden malice, “It’s a `Big [fasckisf] Snake`,”

“Right…I see where you’re coming from,” Rei sighed defeatedly,

[Tsurei 0]

All four of them scattered in two directions, on either side of the snake as it lunged forward like a crossbow bolt, crashing into the ground between them kicking up dirt and stone that clumped back down to the ground or clattered off the trees around them. It was truly a desperate dive to the side as they all fell hard against the ground, winded, they scrambled to their feet and materialised their items.

“Ow ow ow…” Rei winced as he clutched at his chest momentarily, heaving his blade onto his back, he charged for the art, Takumi was a bit slower to his feet beside him, on the other side of the snake as if it was a dividing river, Yuta had stabbed rapidly at the snake’s thick hide and Kenji was shuddering on the ground in fear.

Rei glanced to the side and saw the snake’s head curling around towards them, seeing that Takumi was closest, it lunged and clamped onto him, luckily his shield was in the way, but it didn’t help alleviate it too much due to it’s size.

 

ID# 134095 
BD: 3+3 = Hit [Rage Blow]
MD: 2 = Miss

Damage Dealt= 3 x 2 = 6

Rei: HP: 260/260 | EN: 24(-2)/26| 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Giant Snake: HP: 44/50| 15 DMG | 1 PSN

Edited January 9, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

The long, sword like fangs were 25% impaled into Takumi’s thigh and shoulder, from the top and bottom of the snake’s flexible jaws, his eyes widened in fear when he realised that the snake was about to swallow him whole, the jaws blocking out the light and he feared that he would be greeted by empty darkness as the snake’s stomach acid digested him into nothing, the notion that this was all just a game was swept in awe of the visual information he was perceiving this moment, he fully believed he was going to be eaten alive.

Then the light came back and he was tumbling through the air onto his back, cracking against a root painfully, he looked up, seeing that Rei had struck at the snake and blown it back slightly.

As the snake reared it’s head up with a glare at Rei, it swayed left and right like the serpent it was before lunging at Rei, already charged his Art.

 

ID# 134096
BD: 10+3 = Crit +2 [Rage Blow][Bleed Inflicted]
MD: 1 = Miss

Damage Dealt= (3 + 2) x 2 = 10

Rei: HP: 260/260 | EN: 23(-2+1)/26| 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Giant Snake [Bleeding 1/2] : HP: 22/50| 15 DMG | 1 PSN

Edited January 9, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

 He unleashed it to the side as he jumped, whilst his blade exploded into the snake’s jaws, his outstretched off hand was caught by the snake to his horror. As the fangs dug into him like a painful injection with a particularly large needle, it was apt since he quickly felt the burning poison course through his veins and his HP deplete steadily.

Lifted up in the snake’s jaws, he was practically dangling from it in the air, struggling somewhat.

“Rei!” Yuta cried out, seeing the situation, whilst Kenji paled from his position cowering on the ground whilst Takumi stared wide eyed at it all.

Looking around Yuta sprinted towards him, running between the trees, he jumped up, using one of the rocks as a platform with all his might he unleashed a Sword Art in the air, propelling him forwards with the two quick lunges of [Round Accel] he lashed out at the snake’s eyes, barely reaching it with the second attack, the first spent as movement instead.

 

ID# 134097
BD: 7 +3 = Hit [Rage Blow]
MD: 10 = Crit +2

Damage Dealt= 3 x 2 = 6

Damage Received = 15 + 2 - 8 = 9 [Poison Inflicted]

Rei [Poisoned 2/3] : HP: 243/260 | EN: 22(-2+1)/26| 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Giant Snake : HP: 4/50| 15 DMG | 1 PSN

Edited January 9, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

The pain was enough along with the Bleed Rei inflicted, for the snake to howl in pain, dropping Rei to the ground, crashing hard to the ground and nearly feeling his legs fall out under him, he grunted as he stood back up, his knees aching, he watched as Yuta made the same painful landing,

“Are you alright?” Yuta questioned worriedly, glancing at his health bar, he frowned before his eyes widened, “You’re poisoned!”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” he shook off his concern, charging his blade for one last attack to finish off the giant snake, but he head a cry behind him, looking over, he found Takumi and Kenji on their feet, their weapons shining with their unique lights of green and gold, plunging into the snake from both sides of it’s body, shredding it to pieces in retaliation, and with that, the monster’s health ran out and shattered into pieces.

 

ID# 134098
BD: 8 +3 = Hit [Rage Blow]
MD: 6 = Hit

Damage Dealt= 3 x 2 = 6

Rei [Poisoned 1/3]  : HP: 235/260 | EN: 21(-2+1)/26| 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Giant Snake : HP: 4/50| 15 DMG | 1 PSN

Edited January 9, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

Everyone glanced at each other, panting slightly from the sudden burst of physical exertion, Takumi’s eyes wandered over to Rei’s health bar, seeing it deplete still,

“What’s going on?” he frowned, walking over,

“A bit of poison,” Rei waved if off, slightly amused by the burning pains in his body as he let it fade, “It’s gone now,”

“… That is dangerous,” Yuta frowned seriously, “Status Inflictions ignore defense, if we’re not careful, we’ll die to poison more than anything else,”

“Yeah, we need to be careful around here,” Rei nodded, “It looks like we’re in the clear right now, let’s get moving, and maybe point out the giant [asdsa] snake earlier next time,” he shot a small smile at Takumi,

“Yeah, I know,” he shrugged half seriously, dematerialising his spear and shield.

“It’s nearly dark out, it would be best to find a good place to camp,” Yuta noted, squinting at the sky that was dyed a purplish orange,

 

Rei: HP: 227/260 | EN: 22(+1)/26| 3 DMG | 8 MIT | 0 EVA| 3 ACC| 1 BLD

Edited January 9, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“Y-yeah… gee, it is really getting dark quickly,” Kenji also looked up at the sky,

“Well, it is winter after all,” Rei shrugged, “Let’s go,”

They wandered through the dead forest, no monsters in their path luckily, they soon found the terrain rising up a small slope, it looks like they were getting closer to the point where they could start climbing the mountain, thanks to the fight from earlier, they were all utterly disorientated, no landmark in sight, it was almost impossible for them to reorient themselves, so right now they could only wander in a direction and hope they were right. They had weeks of food and water on them, along with tents and sleeping bags, they were well set for this situation, they shouldn’t have any trouble.

They were lucky to find a nice clearing within the forest, surrounded by dense snowy forest, they didn’t have much time, so they quickly cleared out some snow and planted their tents, securing them with iron spikes into the ground and setting the structure up.

[Tsurei 0]

Just like they practiced in their few camping trips in school, it was set up at least passably, each of them had been busy working in pairs to set up the two tents, so they didn’t get much time to gather firewood, it was already dark, but they did their best to work up the courage to scavenge around.

Soon enough, it was pitch black and they had barely set up a stone campfire, it was already dark, but they had plenty they needed to do, first off, they grabbed a few branches as torches and found a few logs, Yuta, Rei and Takumi would do their best to shove it back to camp as Kenji held the torch, shuddering occasionally and startling them.

The log was heavy as expected, but they weren’t about to sit on the snow. Once they had two logs on either side of the campfire, they also went out to gather more firewood using the torches, they weren’t sure how much they needed, so they made sure to have a veritable pile.

[Tsurei 0]

And only after what felt like an extra few hours after sunset, they gathered around the fire to finally warm up and dig into their food and drink, they were ravished and happily wolfed their food down with gusto, it was nothing more than a few sandwiches and the such, but hungry as they were, it was delicious. Along with water, they got some juice as well, none of these provided actual mechanical buffs so it was relatively cheap to get.

Now staring into the darkness around them, the campfire between them and the moon behind the dark clouds above them as the only light sources, it became abundantly clear how dangerous this would be, any player would find them and kill them since this was no safe zone, and any monster could end up wandering over. It was a vulnerable position to be stuck camping out like this.

Maybe it was a stupid precaution, but they hurriedly set up a simple alarm system around their camp, a few rocks and twigs, enough to create a nice clatter or snap if anyone approached, at the same time, they ensured that two of them would be on watch at any one time, just in case.

[Tsurei 0]

The first two at the first shift of night watch was Takumi and Yuta, being late sleepers and used to staying up late almost as a requirement, meanwhile Rei and Takumi would take the second watch, being early risers.

Before any of that, they were simply hanging out.

“I never thought we’d get the chance to go camping like this again,” Yuta smiled softly,

“If I had my way, we wouldn’t, it’s cold and uncomfortable,” Takumi sighed, “Why do you want to go camping anyway?”

“Well, it’s not so much the camping, it’s mostly to hang out with you guys,” he looked up embarrassedly,

“… I guess that’s fair,” Rei breathed out gently, “We don’t have much contact unless we’re in person, pretty much radio silence for half the year,”

“We meet up during the holidays though,” Kenji pointed out,

“Yeah… last time you broke Kenji’s dart board, didn’t you?” Yuta looked over at Rei with a small smile,

[Tsurei 0]

“And you broke his phone by dropping it in the pool,” Rei raised a brow back at him,

“Er… yeah…” Yuta scratched his cheek awkwardly,

“…” Takumi stayed silent, hoping that no one noticed how he broke one of the mini statue decorations in the living room, sweating slightly from the campfire that felt hotter than usual,

“It’s fine…” Kenji smiled lightly, “Don’t worry about it,”

“I promise I’ll pay you back once I actually get a job,” Yuta sent a worried, guilty look,

“It’s fine…”

“No, I refuse to have a debt, so I’ll seriously pay once I have the money,”

“same, I’ll get you a dart board eventually,” Rei nodded,

“Hey, isn’t that a little too vague,” Yuta rolled his eyes,

“Well yeah,” Rei shrugged, “We’ve been stuck in this game for 2 years now, the only thing I can promise is the possibility at this point,”

“Right…” Yuta nodded understandingly, sobering quickly and solemnly looking into the fire,

[Tsurei 0]

“Well, that’s how it is, so let’s survive this and make it back alive, yeah?” Rei smiled raising a mug, the others gave a small soft smile at his characteristically vague and lacklustre attempts at encouragement, it helped nonetheless since this was the Rei they remembered and stuck with all these years, they all raised their mugs,

“Cheers to that,” Kenji nodded determinedly,

“I’d prefer this was actual alcohol though,” Takumi waved his mug a bit,

“You need to lay off, you alcoholic,” Yuta joked,

“Hey, I’ve only had ten blackouts last semester,”

“…Seriously?” Rei raised a brow,

“Almost, it was more like 12,” Takumi shrugged half jokingly,

“Right…”

“I don’t get why you like alcohol, it tastes terrible,” Yuta frowned,

“It’s all about the social event,” Takumi replied off-handedly, “The alcohol is just there to make people do crazy things,”

“Juice tastes better,” Rei shrugged,

“I know right!” Yuta completely agreed,

“I mean, I don’t know… Rei was downing that vodka pretty intensely last Christmas,” Kenji smiled wryly,

[Tsurei 0]

“It was a free gift, of course I was,” Rei shrugged nonchalantly,

“I’m surprised you didn’t black out after that,” Yuta raised a brow,

“I mean, I was stumbling around for a bit afterwards,” he pointed out,

“Yeah, you nearly fell into Airi of all people,” Yuta suddenly laughed, slapping his leg,

“Right, yeah, that was not a great day,” Rei smiled grimly, “It was hard running away when you’re half sober from a woman that’s out to get you,”

“Jump you more like, and I remember it being pretty one sided,” Takumi raised a brow,

“Aye, you didn’t get very far, like, a few meters, before she knocked you down,” Kenji agreed,

“Well, I’m sure the rest of you had truly wonderful perfect nights,” Rei rolled his eyes and glared at each of them, a small blush on his cheeks, “I mean, I didn’t get to stay for the whole thing since she dragged me off, but last I remember…” Rei pointed to them in turn, “Yuta was shirtless and on stage, Takumi was drunk out of his mind at the bar, and Takumi was making snow angels and sobbing on the dance floor,”

Edited January 9, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

They each diverted their gazes and scratched their heads,

“Well, that was… you know,” Yuta excused,

“No, I don’t know,” Rei rolled his eyes at the attempt, “How did that end up?”

“… I got thrown out by the guards, and the video was passed around for a while” he sighed deeply, slumping over,

“Ha!” Rei laughed,

“I was well and truly blacked out for the rest of the night, I don’t remember a thing,” Takumi mused seriously, “it’s a shame, since I woke the next day in a girl’s bed,”

“Really?” Yuta looked over surprised,

“Yeah, I mean, we were both drunk as hell and we didn’t do anything, we just slept and that was it,”

“You guys were really out of it huh? Who was the girl?” Rei asked,

“It think it was... that dark haired girl with the braids and glasses from from the chemistry department,” Takumi pondered, looking off to the side to remember,

“Sayako, her!? Seriously!?” Rei cried out, sharing a look with Yuta, eyes wide with horror,

Edited January 9, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“…Why? What’s wrong?” Takumi asked carefully, disturbed,

“… She’s… kind crazy…” Rei admitted,

“Yeah…” Yuta nodded, echoing his statement, “She threatened us not to say anything,”

“We’re in the game now, and it’s not like she’ll know, so tell me,” Takumi pressed,

“Yeah no, we value our lives,” Rei shook his head,

“Come on!”

“… Let’s just say Rei and I stumbled upon something we shouldn’t have seen,” Yuta slowly forced out, “Er… something involving her and Mashita in the other class,”

“And it was…?” Takumi pressed, not letting this go now that it made him curious since it was about his neighbour and all,

“Let’s just say, er… he has a rather obsessed fan,” Rei cleared his throat,

“… You mean a stalker?” Takumi leaned back, mystery solved and a conclusion reached, he couldn’t quite believe that one of his neighbours had a stalker,

“Kinda,” Yuta nodded, Takumi let things hang there, he vaguely remembered how Mashita complained that someone kept breaking into his house but never stealing anything,

Edited January 9, 2020 by Tsurei

[Tsurei 0]

“Let’s move on, yeah?” Rei hoped,

“Fine,” Takumi sighed, looking over at Kenji, “So? What happened to you in the end?”

“I ended up outside and made out with a lamp post, since it was christmas, I got stuck to the pole for a while,” he replied steadily,

“That’s… rough,” Rei winced, “When did you get help?”

“I’m pretty sure it took at least two hours,” Kenji shuddered, remembering how cold he was that night,

“You have my sympathies,” Yuta clapped his hands together in prayer, Takumi and Rei quickly echoed the prayer, clapping their hands as the campfire crackled and popped as if doing the same.

“Oi,” Kenji frowned, slightly annoyed, “What about you then Rei?” he shot a glare over,

“Hm?” Rei looked at him curiously,

“You know what I mean!”

“You were dragged off and we didn’t see you until the end of the week with Airi clinging to your arm,” Yuta added, “What happened?”

Edited January 9, 2020 by Tsurei