[F7|PP]Ew, Wyrms; ft Mac

[Zajcica 0]

Yuki found herself outside Nimbus. She had relied entirely on others to carry her though quests and levels since she began her Aincrad career. It was time for her to take advantage of her gained skills and learn to fight on her own. She still had problems dealing damage, but she could handle the damage this boss dealt by herself thanks to her new shield and extra levels in Heavy armor. She is tougher than she ever was before. She made her way down the mountain side and toward the quest area. If things did get dangerous, she always had the option to run. If she well below 100 HP she would start running and comeback to the boss when she was stronger.

Yuki wondered how Mari was doing after their little spat. They did mend the situation because Yuki was able to shut her mouth and take Mari's feelings into consideration. She made friends with Mari so quickly, but it was then that she realized that she could just as easily lose her.

@Macradon

Spoiler

General
Level: 15 | HP:  300+30 | Energy: 30 Hate: 1/3/4(M/H/C)

Stats
DMG: 3+1 | EVA: 0 | MIT: 44 | ACC: 0 | Thorns: 18 | Regen: 5

Skills
R2 OHAS, R1 Heavy Armor, Fighting Spirit, Concentration

Equipment(In use)
Regal Cuirass(Heavy Armor): 1 MIT, 2 Thorns
Icewall(Shield): 3 MIT
White Spear - Lux(OHAS): 2 Bleed, 1 Taunt

Equipment(Standby)
Silver Serpent Ring: +2 LD
Covetous Gold Serpent Ring: +1 LD

Consumables
2xStarter Healing Potions(50HP)
The Matriarch's Stinger DMG 1 <Using 1
Woodland Armor: MIT 1 (2/3)
3xOyakodon with Miso - Overhealth 2 <Using 1

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by Zajcica

[Macradon 0]

Enjoying the sun up on the virtual skies, Macradon sat on a peak of one of the mountains, his favorite resting place, if he could get his house to be up here, he would’ve, but the accessibility of being on the first floor was too much for him to give up. He sighed deeply and took a sip from his thermos he brought with him. He was sitting in a legged position, sword over his legs in its scabbard, clothes were his usual casual attire, and Belphegor was just laying there on the rocky surface, rolling back and forth, getting a good scratch from the rocks.

He sat there on his favorite spot, reminiscing of time past, he had done a quest on this floor before, the serpent quest thingy … was it some kind of worm? Wyrm? He couldn’t really recall it that well, all he could remember was some kind of serpenty thing ravaging the area and needed to be taken down. But today was different, he wasn’t out to get any materials, he wasn’t out to get any quests done, he just had a relaxing day off from working at his smithy, hopefully.

Spoiler

Macradon - Lvl 88
1805 HP
189 Energy
2 Accuracy
0 Evasion
19 Base Damage (31 w/ Holy)
- (1 Base +7 Skill +1 Athletics +9 Familiar +1 Ferocity)
35 Mitigation 
- (35 Skill)

Items
Blade of the Dictator ............ // +12 Holy Damage, Phase
Count of Death ................... // +2 Heavy Momentum
Templar's Necklace ............... // +6 Recovery, +1 Accuracy

Belphegor - Familiar ............. // +9 Damage

Battle Ready Inventory
Silverlight ...................... // +72 Mitigation, 36 Frost Thorn(21 on a Crit), 6 Freeze damage(2 turns)
Empty inventory slot ............. //
Empty inventory slot ............. //
Empty inventory slot ............. //
Empty inventory slot ............. //
Empty inventory slot ............. //

Buffs
Rested ........................... // -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat.
Filling .......................... // Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot.
Relaxed .......................... // Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
Col Deposit ...................... // +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col
from treasure chests.

Skills
Two Handed Straight Sword  | Rank 5: +7 Damage
Heavy Armor                | Rank 5: +35 Damage Mitigation
Searching                  | Rank 5: +5 LD. +5 Stealth Detection
Battle Healing             | Rank 5: Heal 5%(90) HP each post In-Battle
Fighting Spirit            | +1 Hate generation
Hiding                   | Rank 5: +5 Stealth roll
Extended Mod Limit       | Rank 3: +3 Mod Slots
Parry                    | Reduce incoming damage by 50%(rounded down)
Energist                 | Add 5xTier(15) Energy to your max pool
Charge                   | Rank 5: +5 on Initial hit

Disguise                   | +1 to your BD and +1 to your opponent’s BD
Survival                   | Heal 45 HP when out of battle
Familiar Mastery: Fighter  | Rank 3: +9(Tier x Rank) Damage
Meditation                 | Recover 3xTier(15) energy with post action. Recover 2xTier(10) energy if you are hit before your next round

Skill Mods
Precision                  | +1 Accuracy
Athletics                  | +1 Damage, +45 Health
Ferocity                   | Increases Base Damage by 1
Finesse                    | Rank 3: Decreases Energy Cost of attacks by 3
Reveal                     | +2 LD when searching for dungeons and labyrinths. You may also search for a sub-dungeon or labyrinth once every 15 posts (instead of 20)
Surprise Attack          | Cannot miss from stealth. +1xTier(3) base damage on first attack
Vengeful Riposte         | Return 50% of damage(mitigatable) to target
Vanish                   | In combat post action to stealth. Free action in combat to stealth if mob has been slain
Justified Riposte        | Stun attacker for 1 turn
Tracking                   | Allows the user to track a previously-encountered monster, NPC, or other player. Negates all bonuses to the target’s Stealth Rating. After tracking, your first attack against the tracked creature cannot miss. Cannot be used in combat

 

[Zajcica 0]

The girl walked through the clearing where the boss would spawn. She was ready for this, consumables taken and an escape plan if needed. Hopefully she could get through this easily. Her damage was low, but the boss actually had lower health than she did herself. She could deal enough damage with her sword arts to kill it, but she hoped that even without her regen, she could tank the boss just fine.

The ground began to shake a bit, telling her she should probably get her weapon out. She drew the shinning lance from her inventory and readied her new shield. The wyrm busted from the ground in front of her, hissing loudly in her face. More terrifying types of bosses, and gross ones.

She swiped the edge of her spear at the serpents body, but it only coiled away from her. The shifting sand under her feet made it difficult to attack. It retaliated, biting its large maw down on her arm, injecting some toxic poison into her. She looked at the poison icon above her health bar and winced. This got off to a great start..

Yuki: HP 282/330 -26+20+2=48 EN 26/30 -4 H: 1 Status: Poisoned: 4 turns left
Serpens: HP 157/175 -18 thorns BD: 6-1 Miss; MD: 10

Edited March 30, 2020 by Zajcica

[Macradon 0]

Macradon took another sip and took in the delicious fresh mountain air stirring up around him, it was a nice fresh smell of the wild … it was interesting that even a virtual game could mimic smells … He stretched out his body in a low moan from the pleasures of feeling alive once again, it was cold up here, but not that cold that it showed any hindrance to him in any way, it was merely another tool for Macradon to experience life once again. He had been through so much that he needed a refresher every now and again to make sure that this wasn’t just some surrealistic dream.

He closed his eyes to listen to the mountainous wilderness and took a sip again, only to be disturbed from the very sounds of the wilderness, something was going on. He sighed somewhat irritated and tried to locate the sound which didn’t take long, the serpent thing had appeared again. He would take a look at what it was chasing this time as it spun around, slamming its body against all the rocks and mountain walls as it could, creating a big dust storm everywhere.

Spotting the pink hair as well as the armor he had been crafting, he saw Yuki be the one to fight, but she already looked like she were in a disadvantage, curious to how his armor would work, the knight would keep himself up on the top of the mountain and observe quietly.

[Zajcica 0]

The pinkette readied herself for the serpents next attack. If she could block it, the poison wouldn't hurt bad enough to cause lasting damage. She raised her shield as it tucked in to deal more damage to her. The shield stopped it at first, but it wasn't enough. Yuki was sent flying into a wall from the force of the blow, lowing her health bar even further. She coughed as the sand flew into her passages. Only more angry now, the paladin cursed under her breath and charged the beast. The glowing pink lance landed just out of reach of the monster before it slithered back to evade her attack.

Yuki's expression grew worried and strained all at once. If this battle drug on too long, she would be poisoned the entire time and die from that. She held her shield to the beast and tried to work on something to give her an advantage. If only she could land a good attack on it and apply her own damage over time. That would even the playing field.

@Macradon

Yuki: HP 236/330 -26+20=46 EN 22/30 -4 H: 1 Status: Poisoned: 3 turns left
Serpens: HP 139/175 -18 thorns BD: 5-1 Miss; MD: 8+1

Edited April 1, 2020 by Zajcica

[Macradon 0]

The knight kept watching, looking out for his patron. He was curious as to how this battle would go, how it would unfold, how well Yuki would be able to handle this kind of battle. He didn’t know much about her, not much about her fighting style nor the type of role she wanted to fit into in a party, but deducing by her equipment, it was probably a tank, since no DPS would forego Martial Arts for a shield. There was the slight possibility of being a Support role as well, which could mingle well with the armor. He watched as the serpent kept hammering onto Yuki with its body, biting down with his gigantic maw and pierce with its venomous fangs. From the knowledge of Yuki being below level 15 and the armor she was wearing, she would be able to tank attacks for a while, even with the poison effect slowly ticking down. 

@Zajcica

[Zajcica 0]

Yuki rolled out of the way of the serpents next attack, thankfully. She was already taking too much damage as it was, however, it was sort of a blighted blessing. If it didn't hit her, thorns would not proc and she wouldn't deal her most reliable damage to it. She had to land an attack on it and make bleed happen or else start running from the battle. She could always come back and kill it later. There was also the option of calling up Life or Mari, but she needed to do these things for herself at some point and she could easily beat this thing if she could only hit it.

The golden lance Lux glowed with it's beautiful pink shimmer once again. With another rush she attempted to pierce the ugly snake's scales. Unfortunately, a rock catches her foot just as she makes the attack. Sending her to the ground and wasting her energy. She quickly rolled out of the way of another bit attack and readied herself for the next round.

Yuki: HP 216/330 -20 EN 22/30 -4 Status: Poisoned: 2 turns left
Serpens: HP 139/175 -18 thorns

BD: 1-1 Miss; MD: 4+1

Edited April 1, 2020 by Zajcica

[Macradon 0]

It seems like Yuki’s fighting was off, either she didn’t have enough experience, or she just had a bad day fighting this slithering beast, either way, Macradon would stay put and just keep observing. From his standpoint, there was no reason to interject the fight even though his patron wasn’t doing that hot against the field boss. If things were to go down south by a steep angle, he would probably rush in to help the pink knight “Heh, haven’t seen pink in a while.” he said smirking at the memories of how Mari used to be and how she was addressed back in those days, the Pink PKer, but she was much more than that now for the positive. He chuckled and thought “I will watch your career with great interest” and snickered with thought of yet another pop culture reference landed in this hellhole of a game. Even though he wasn’t too fond of being trapped in here, at least his existence felt more worthwhile with all the jokes.

@Zajcica

[Zajcica 0]

The pinkette tried her best to calm down. She would get her next attack in and kill the stupid thing already. It hissed in her face angrily lunging it's slithering body at the paladin, biting straight past her defenses. It's teeth jabbed into numerous parts of her body, injecting the venom into her once again. At this rate, Yuki would really die! When it was done with it venom attack, it launched Yuki into the nearby cliff face, below where Macradon secretly observed. The dampened pain still shocked through her back momentarily.

It was time to run.

The only problem was, if she attempted to run, she could leave herself open to an easy attack. It approached her as she sat on the ground, only her weapon in hand.

"S-Stay away! I-I'll kill you!" She nervously tried to threaten the field boss. Her lies were more bark than bite, however. She swung the weapon in front of her as the snake approached, it was easy for it to dodge since Yuki didn't really take time to aim it. "M-Mari! L-Life! D-Dasukette!!" She was starting to break down now, scared to know that her life was approaching its end if she wasn't gifted a miracle.

@Macradon

Yuki: HP 152/330 -46+20+2 EN 18/30 -4 Status: Poisoned: 5 turns left
Serpens: HP 121/175 -18 thorns

BD: 4-1 Miss; MD: 10+1

Edited April 1, 2020 by Zajcica

[Macradon 0]

The battle was still going on, and the favor slowly crept over to the serpent’s side with every interaction the two did. He would watch as every attack the girl tried to launch at the serpent were futile, bounced off as if it were nothing. Meanwhile the big snake just continued its onslaught and kept thrashing towards the girl. From this distance, Macradon would not be able to tell whether the girl was in any prominent danger, but when she called out for help, for Mari … for Life? Macradon quickly grabbed his sword and tugged at Belphegor “Let’s go before it's too late.” he said and began rushing down the mountain side while still trying to remain silent. With every step he took down the cliff side of the mountain, Macradon remained light and nimble, landing gently with every descending small hop. If time let him, he would be there in time enough for the big beast to be slain in a fell swoop.

@Zajcica

ID: 139037
LD: 5+5=10 Stealth Rating

[Zajcica 0]

Help up against the wall, Yuki didn't really have anywhere to run at this point. She was stuck. When the beast came close to her, she waved her spear around effortlessly at it. Her only hope was that she could scare it off, but she knew that's not how it worked. The Amphis simply moved around her attacks and swung it's massive body into her chest, slamming her into the cliff side and pinning her against it. A groaned and pain 'Kyaa!" escaped her mouth when she was smashed.

"I-Itatata-..." The serpent seemed finished with the pinkette at this point. It was ready to finish her off for good. The words Mari told her were ringing true in her head now if she thought about thing before rushing into them like an idiot, she wouldn't be in this situation. Well, now she was probably going to die for her inability to listen to her. A tear dropped down her face and she could barely get out her last words.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen Mari..."

Yuki: HP 86/330 -46+20 EN 14/30 -4 Status: Poisoned: 4 turns left
Serpens: HP 103/175 -18 thorns

BD: 1-1 Miss; MD: 5+1

Edited April 1, 2020 by Zajcica

[Macradon 0]

She had been thrown into a corner, stuck and unable to counteract anything, if Macradon didn’t react now, it would probably be too late. He went down the mountain side faster, sliding down the rocky sandy surface as he sped down towards the battlefield. One hand clenched firmly around his sword’s scabbard, the other in a silver gauntlet clutching towards the rocky surface so that he could somewhat control the speed he fell down with. It did not take long before he reached the bottom and quickly ran towards the serpentine beast. Yuki was all pushed up, being attacked again and again by the big snake, Macradon would come to the rescue. 

“Ugh … why do I always have to rescue people when I’m getting my first actual first hand impression …” he groaned for himself as he jumped into the air to execute his <Galaxy Destroyer> and cleav down into the big snake with a single heavy blow. His sword cleaved cleanly through the monster and crashed down into the rocky surface of the ground, creating a small crater from the excessive amount of force being put into the attack. He looked up towards Yuki as the giant beast exploded into crystalline polygons and disappeared “You ok?” he chortled and waited to see if she were in any imminent danger.

@Zajcica

ID: 139047
BD: 5+2-1=6 -> Hit!
CD: 5 -> No Proc.
LD: 4+5=9 Stealth Rating -Detected-
Sword art used: Galaxy Destroyer - 19x13-45 = 202 Damage to Amphis Serpens

[Zajcica 0]

The girl fell to the ground, coughing heavily and still afflicted with the poison. As she fell into the sand/dirt, she made some pained sound like 'Kah-!" and laid there. Did Mari or Life actually come to save her? Or maybe it was Hidden, swooping to steal the kill credit again. She looked up to her savior and winced. Shock took over that expression pretty quickly though. 

"K-Kajiya-san? H-How did you know I was here? I mean... " She said sitting up, look completely beat up at this point. Yuki welled up with tears and threw herself on to Mac crying. "A-Arigatou! Arigatou Gozaimasu! If not for you would have died! Thank you!" She cried for a second before she realized what she was doing and let go of him. An awkward silence passed.

"Um... Thanks. I'm still afflicted with poison, but it will wear off before I reach zero." She wiped the tears off her face. "I don't really do your armor justice...do I?" She said sheepishly taking a seat back on the ground to rest and wait for the poison to wear off.

@Macradon

[Macradon 0]

After slaying the beast with his strike Macradon sheathed his sword back into its scabbard once again. He looked over at Yuki, who seemed to have been in shock of what had just happened, the frightened squeels she had come with while trying to survive against the Amphis Serpens. “Oh, I was just here by coincidence really. I saw up there ..” he said and pointed to one of the mountain tops “.. and enjoyed the show.” he said with a chortle, but the joyful expression he expressed wasn’t the same that Yuki would show. She somewhat glomped onto him in a crying fit and thanked him “Hehe, you’re welcome, just be careful with this kind of stuff. “Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.” he said with the internet wisdom he had gathered “Don’t underestimate your opponent or overestimate yourself. Sometimes you just have bad fight that you have to take into account, so be careful with this kinds of stuff.” he scolded.

@Zajcica

[Zajcica 0]

As Macradon talked she realized that he sounded almost like Mari would say at this point if she jumped out of no where and saved her. That made sense, after all, they were good friends. She'd probably be more pissed than him though, so in a way she was glad that it was him and not her. She winced as she took the poison damage.

"Y-You saw my fight? I... think that was my worst fight on Aincrad yet..." The Paladin admitted. Tears still welled in her eyes, but she had stopped crying. She replied sheepishly. "The armor you made me kept me alive for that long. I guess that's two things to thank you for. I-I was trying to get stronger, so I wouldn't have to rely on someone stronger than me to baby sit my ass... I want to be someone strong... But I only keep ending up in situations like this. I'll only be a burden to the front lines like this..." Yuki's under-spirited at this point. It seemed like she was considering whether she should give up her want to join the front line.

@Macradon

[Macradon 0]

He nodded while crossing his arms “Yeah, I watched, not really sure what to expect. I haven’t really fought with you or seen you fight before, so I was just curious and waited for you to make a move against the serpent, but I had to wait a bit only to be a bit disappointed.” he said with a snicker “But since it was your worst fight ever, I can only give you some pointers to how you fight, as it seems like you aren’t very used to fighting?” he asked, trying to figure out why it went that bad as it did. He shrugged his shoulders “Eh, perhaps you should try and practice fighting against a lesser enemy, just to get the hang of the movements?” he proposed as a way of training herself to be a more capable fighter and be less of a roadblock as she stated. 

@Zajcica

[Zajcica 0]

Yuki sighed as Mac mentioned her unskilled combat experience. While most of that was surely just bad luck almost completely, she knew that she was still one of the worst offensive fighters on the face of Aincrad. Probably best she stick with a defensive style.

"So I should just practice fighting mobs until I get stronger? Well, I guess there's no get strong quick schemes even in a video game. I'll have to take someone with me to farm mobs then, not sure I can deal enough damage to things to practice by myself." Her thoughts came out loud. She winced heavily as her health fell into the 20s the poison hadn't worn off yet, but she knew by the tick times that she wouldn't have to waste a potion. 

"The game really does a good job emulating this near death experience, jeez." The paladin groaned as she tried to stand back up.

@Macradon

[Macradon 0]

He nodded “Aye, practice makes you stronger. If you just jump into a boss raid with no experience, that won’t go well. You need to get experience fighting somehow, even just fighting lower leveled monsters that you won’t get any loot from is a start. You need to learn your weapon and what it’s capable of. You can’t just whack it around like a glorified stick, you have to look at the movements Cardinal puts it through.” he said and began rambling and sighed “If only there was a place for people to learn this kind of stuff ..” he groaned, thinking of his possible school he wanted to build up but didn’t have the finances to at the moment. With the comment towards the near death experience, Macradon chuckled “You know, it really does. I’ve been in … 3 or 4 now, and it had never been at a boss raid.” he said with a louder laugh.

@Zajcica

[Zajcica 0]

As her health bar ticked down the last time to a solid 6/330 health points, the girl collapsed back in the sand breathing heavily. Her body felt insanely heavy.

"Oh my god..." Perhaps she was overselling it, but how else does someone react when they're this close to death. It didn't really help that the health bar visualized just how close she was to becoming nothing but data and a corpse in the real world. She would be much more careful from now on. "I...I won't do anything that stupid again. I promise. I'll take the time to practice and stop leaning on people to help me." Her words didn't really seem directed at Mac, but more to herself.

After a moment, she finally sat back up and got to her feet, leaning on the lance she carried. "Th-Thanks again, Kajiya-san. I've been in too many of these situations and I feel unrightfully bailed out of them way too many times. I'm going to train has hard as possible, so people stop having to help me so much. I-I'll head home and think about what you and Mari have told me.."

With that last comment, the girl start limping away towards the nearest safe zone. 

@Macradon

[Macradon 0]

He leaned his head to the side as Yuki collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily, acting strange “Uhm … are you ok?” he asked, a bit worried since you shouldn’t feel any ailments to your body in the game, damage was just an annoying nudge, and paralyzing effects only stunend one for a short while, so either she was overreacting to her injuries, or it was something psychological happening. “Just remember to search up your opponent before you go head to head with them, knowing is just as valuable as being able to fight.” he said and looked as she got up again “Don’t overdo your training, tho, try to keep it up, but not so much that you collapse exhausted, then you’ll be unable to defend yourself if anything were to happen.” he added as Yuki began to limp back to the nearest safe zone. “Well, at least I can escort you back to safety so you can get your health patched up again, don’t know how much you have left, need a healing potion?” he asked.

@Zajcica