[PP|F10] <<Dragon Hunter Anthology - Judgment Day>> The Grand Finale

[ChaseR 0]

After Grimm's missed attack, Chase groaned. They were probably getting fatigued from climbing up the tower at this speed, let alone demolishing anything without managing to even have a proper fight with the 'bosses' lined up for them one after the other. The monster began to charge right at Grimm, but before it could get too close, the same wisps that dispersed all over the room suddenly emerged once more and formed the rest of his blade.

"... My sword's going kinda haywire.", he commented lowly and landed a single strike on their opponent, looking at it before the light faded once more. He sheathed it and plopped onto the ground instead of going up the stairs, sighing and patting next to him for Ozwald to sit down too. "Right now, I think we need to rest. Maybe that's why my sword's acting like this. Let's get our energy back to full and then get back to it, I'm pretty sure we could both use the break. Mine's dropped to two thirds. First time in a while I've seen it like this if I'm being honest."

Spoiler

ChaseR uses Galaxy Destroyer! (BD: 10)
(25 + 2 + 12) * 13 - 50 = 39 * 13 - 50 = 507 - 50 = 457 + PARALYZE

[4] ChaseR: HP: 1610/1610 | EN: 91/158 (+1, -9) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 58 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 5 | HOLY: 12 | PARA: 9-10 | BH: 80 | V.(DEF): 80 | HBS: 16 | LD: 5
[2] Grimm Reaper: HP: 580/580 | EN: 15/58 | DMG: 14 | MIT: 5 | EVA: 2 | ACC: 3 | BLD: 24 | REC: 4

Dagahra the Dragon Knight: 0/300 HP | 50 MIT | 2 ACC | 2 EVA | DMG: 125 | Bleed: 24 | Bleed 2/2 [24] | Stun CD: 2/3 | PARALYZED

 

Edited February 18, 2021 by ChaseR

[Grimm Reaper 0]

Chase had managed to take down Dagahra after Ozwald's miss with his incredible glowing blade, which of course caused the dragon knight to explode into the blue sparks that meant death for anything in the world that they were in. With this Ozwald was completely prepared to move up to the next floor, the one that he believed would be the last one, so far they had taken out a dragon knight for every single one of the hatchlings that they had fought which would leave only one more after this one.

Looking back Ozwald saw Chase gesturing to sit, and so he did taking his place on the ground beside his blue haired friend. Looking at his own energy Ozwald realized that he was almost out and could barely make any of his powerful attacks. "Yeah I think a break would probably be nice." He admitted leaning back on his palms.

[ChaseR 0]

With a deep sigh, silence took over. Chase eventually turned to the side to look at Ozwald, before back towards the stairs they were meant to go up. Repetitive as it was, everything was eventually going to come to an end- quite soon too, maybe even sooner than they originally thought. "This has been somewhat uneventful. I'm sure the next floors have something more interesting in line for us though.", he tried to shake that feeling of boredom off, closing his eyes and leaning his head back on the wall for a moment.

"There should be... One left, and then whatever's at the very top. Right?", he turned to the side and checked in with Ozwald, sure that he must have been paying more attention. Because if anything, Chase just charged in, annihilated whatever he saw with the help of the brawler and then charged right into the next floor to do the exact same. "I'm starting to think I overprepared and that's bogging down the whole thing.", he mumbled lowly to himself and responded with a shrug, scratching the back of his head. "What's your plans after we're done with this either way? I'm not sure what I'll be doing."

[ChaseR 0]

While waiting for an answer, Chase laid back against the wall and sighed, closing his eyes. He heard a few steps but attributed it to Grimm just pacing around, probably trying to think. He knew he would do the same every now and then, so all was good. Upon opening his eyes though, he didn't see Grimm nor anyone else. He was, for the third time or so since departing on a quest with a friend, all alone.

"... Something must have come up. I'm not sure about Koga, but I know the same was for Alkor. He got way too upset and left. It can't be different for Grimm- maybe not upset, but something important needed his attention. We can always come back here and finish the quest later together either way. But I'm close to the top. Just a final push and I'm going to get it.". And so, he got back up, dusted his knees and began to make his way up the tower. He wasn't sure where Ozwald had gone off to, but now was as prime a time as any to start going all out and cutting through everything. No hype to keep him going, no partner to guide through this. Just back to the old curbstomp of everything that got in his way.

Edited March 23, 2021 by ChaseR
With Grimm's permission, the thread was turned SP.

[ChaseR 0]

Trudging up the stairs of the tower, he was on the second to last floor, letting out a sigh and unsheathing his blade from his hip, holding it before him and preparing to strike the knight that came out of the egg. An uncomfortable sight as ever, but as the egg cracked, Chase prepared himself to charge right at the knight and take him down with a single strike. Granted it landed, but he was so buffed it'd be damn near impossible to miss like this.

"... Here it comes.", he mumbled as he watched the cracks form around the egg, letting out a deep sigh and seeing the knight rise from down under. Sporting the same colors and stripes as the final dragon they killed to get here, Smaug, his dragon knight with the same name appeared. This was the final 'hurdle', or would be if Chase were any weaker, before he could put an end to this quest line. It'd fetch him a hefty reward, a good weapon and an even better feeling when he'd finally finished every single quest on his quest log. "This close to completing as much of the game as possible, huh? It's not bad.", he nodded to himself and grinned slightly, his sword glowing as he began to channel his attack.

Spoiler

ChaseR: HP: 1610/1610 | EN: 158/158 | DMG: 25 | MIT: 58 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 5 | HOLY: 12 | PARA: 9-10 | BH: 80 | V.(DEF): 80 | HBS: 16 | LD: 5

Smaug the Dragon Knight: 300/300 HP | 50 MIT | 2 ACC | 2 EVA | DMG: 125 | Bleed: 24

 

[ChaseR 0]

He went through the small rest with Ozwald just a few minutes ago, wherever he had gone off to now, so that he could be sure his sword wasn't acting up out of being overused way too much. Not that it had in the past, but it wasn't too far-fetched a theory. At least considering how immersed Chase had gotten into this whole mess of a game. Calling it for what it is, always.

The dragon knight charged at the bluehead, ready to slash down at its head with its sword, shield raised high to block any incoming strike. But before Chase could even go for a swinging motion, the blade stretched out on its own, reforming its bright figure and piercing the knight once more, letting him shatter to nothingness almost immediately. "This really has to be my unluckily luckiest day, huh? If only this could happen every time I was fighting something that could hit me.", he said with a tiny smirk, starting to walk towards the stairs that revealed themselves, leading to the very top of the tower. 

Spoiler

ChaseR charges with Galaxy Destroyer! (BD: 10)
(25 + 2 + 12 + 5 ) * 13 - 50 = 44 * 13 - 50 = 572 - 50 = 522 + PARALYZE

ChaseR: HP: 1610/1610 | EN: 149/158 (-9) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 58 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 5 | HOLY: 12 | PARA: 9-10 | BH: 80 | V.(DEF): 80 | HBS: 16 | LD: 5

Smaug the Dragon Knight: 0/300 HP (-522) | 50 MIT | 2 ACC | 2 EVA | DMG: 125 | Bleed: 24

 

[ChaseR 0]

Reaching atop the tallest floor of the tower, all that waited was a door. Waiting to be pushed, to be opened and reveal the final room. Somewhat skeptical, Chase let out a groan and began to push it, opening it surprisingly quickly as a dark room awaited. And quickly, the torches all lit up in sequence until the very end of it was lit, and at the back stood a throne. A golden throne, adorned in all colors of jewels- the same ones the dragons so far had dropped.

"So you're here at last.", a heavy voice sounded from the Dragon Knight sitting on it, with his sword plunged into the ground and his legs crossed. "Seems so.", the blueberry nodded relatively unfazed and rested a hand on his sword, ready to counterattack whatever the knight had in plan. He didn't seem to try and get the first strike sneakily, instead choosing to slowly stand up and take his sword out of the ground. A two handed one, just like the archetype Chase was using. "Interesting...", he mused, but Varalys wasn't just going to watch. He seemed to have different plans, as was expected.

[ChaseR 0]

"I believe you know what's to happen. A fight, duel, as you call it, to the death. You've been slaying dragons to get here, but those were mere hatchlings. I'll show you what a true dragon can do.", he warned Chase in a threatening manner, but the boy didn't waver. As much as his hairs were raised and he was excited to get to brawling with the boss, he knew that he was way overleveled. Perhaps this was going to be much harder than the rest on the way to here though.

"We use the same weapon.", the bluehead pointed out as he took his own sword back out of its sheathe, holding it in front of him, ready to give the dragon knight what he wanted. A fight, one where neither backed down or held back. It wouldn't end very nicely for Varalys, but maybe he could revive himself. There was no way this 'big bad' would just go down like that, right? "Whenever you're ready. Varalys.", he called him by his name and waited quietly, watching the knight closely to see whether he would attack or not.

Spoiler

ChaseR: HP: 1610/1610 | EN: 158/158 (OOC MAX REGEN) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 58 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 5 | HOLY: 12 | PARA: 9-10 | BH: 80 | V.(DEF): 80 | HBS: 16 | LD: 5

Varalys, the World's End: HP: 650/650 | DMG: 250 | MIT: 80 | ACC: 5 | EVA: 3

* <<Varalys, the World's End>>: Immune to Paralysis, Bleed and Thorns.
** <<Dragon's Judgement>>: On a roll of 9-10, a dragon symbol will appear on the character’s chest, applying Freeze against the character. Note that this removes their evasion properties for one turn.
*** <<Dragon's Ascent>>: On a LD roll of 15+, this boss will heal 25 HP and raise its attack by 10.
**** <<Dragon’s Last Roar>> At the moment his HP reaches zero, he will shout in dragons tongue for the castle itself to crumble down with brimstone raining from the sky. The player has to roleplay them escaping the castle which will take 4 posts to do so, on each of those posts they must roll… on CD’s of 1 - 8 they will take 100 unmitigatable damage from the stones that crumble from the sky.

 

[ChaseR 0]

 And now's when the tension really started to get to him, even regardless of the stakes, or lack thereof. The two dashed at one another, and once more, Chase's sword came right to his 'rescue'. The blade began to glow and swiftly as ever, he delivered a blow right to Varalys' chest. Although it managed to dig quite deep, the knight repelled the strike with a swing of his own sword to prevent it from dealing further damage and stroke back.

Dealing quite a bit of damage, he managed to even chip out a whole eighth of Chase's health in a single blow. He really wasn't something that Grimm would have been able to safely handle on his own, especially if he were the one taking the hits. The tank was certain he'd prepared to dodge anything and everything, but this wasn't it. And before he could say much, Varalys let out a roar and a faint red aura surrounded him momentarily, fading towards his sword before it dissipated in full. "I underestimated how hard you can hit. I see the dragons you killed, hatchlings or not, were no fluke. I see it clearer than ever now."

Spoiler

ChaseR uses Galaxy Destroyer! (BD: 10)
(25 + 2 + 12) * 13 - 80 = 39 * 13 - 80 = 507 - 80 = 427 + PARALYZE

Varalys, the World's End attacks! (MD: 7+5-5=7, LD: 15)
260 - 58 = 202 + <<Dragon's Ascent>>

ChaseR: HP: 1408/1610 (-202) | EN: 149/158 (-9) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 58 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 5 | HOLY: 12 | PARA: 9-10 | BH: 80 | V.(DEF): 80 | HBS: 16 | LD: 5

Varalys, the World's End: HP: 248/650 (-427, +25) | DMG: 260 | MIT: 80 | ACC: 5 | EVA: 3

* <<Varalys, the World's End>>: Immune to Paralysis, Bleed and Thorns.
** <<Dragon's Judgement>>: On a roll of 9-10, a dragon symbol will appear on the character’s chest, applying Freeze against the character. Note that this removes their evasion properties for one turn.
*** <<Dragon's Ascent>>: On a LD roll of 15+, this boss will heal 25 HP and raise its attack by 10.
**** <<Dragon’s Last Roar>> At the moment his HP reaches zero, he will shout in dragons tongue for the castle itself to crumble down with brimstone raining from the sky. The player has to roleplay them escaping the castle which will take 4 posts to do so, on each of those posts they must roll… on CD’s of 1 - 8 they will take 100 unmitigatable damage from the stones that crumble from the sky.

 

[ChaseR 0]

"You're right. I should have come here sooner though. Now I'm too strong to have an honest fight with you.", he grumbled in response and prepared a counterattack to his previous strike, dashing in and slamming his shoulder into the knight's chest, before following up with a slash from his broken sword. Finally, a hit when his holy effect didn't trigger. It shouldn't have triggered to begin with, maybe let him enjoy this more, but it was fun although short lived.

And watching the knight's health drop to zero, Chase preemptively sealed his sword back in its sheathe, seeing his figure almost limp. It was then that he noticed, the knight moved towards him and tried to sneak in an attack, slashing upwards towards his head with his heavy sword, barely missing the strike. For how heavy his claymore was, he was much too agile. "No fight is honest. The only thing that matters is dying or not. And this is the first one I've had to worry about such a thing. Your strength... it's entertaining. Show me more."

Spoiler

ChaseR uses Galaxy Destroyer! (BD: 3+6-3=6)
25 * 13 - 80 = 325 - 80 = 245

Varalys, the World's End attacks! (MD: 2+5-5=2, LD: 9)
ATTACK MISSED

ChaseR: HP: 1504/1610 (+80+16) | EN: 141/158 (+1, -9) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 58 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 5 | HOLY: 12 | PARA: 9-10 | BH: 80 | V.(DEF): 80 | HBS: 16 | LD: 5

Varalys, the World's End: HP: 3/650 (-245) | DMG: 260 | MIT: 80 | ACC: 5 | EVA: 3

* <<Varalys, the World's End>>: Immune to Paralysis, Bleed and Thorns.
** <<Dragon's Judgement>>: On a roll of 9-10, a dragon symbol will appear on the character’s chest, applying Freeze against the character. Note that this removes their evasion properties for one turn.
*** <<Dragon's Ascent>>: On a LD roll of 15+, this boss will heal 25 HP and raise its attack by 10.
**** <<Dragon’s Last Roar>> At the moment his HP reaches zero, he will shout in dragons tongue for the castle itself to crumble down with brimstone raining from the sky. The player has to roleplay them escaping the castle which will take 4 posts to do so, on each of those posts they must roll… on CD’s of 1 - 8 they will take 100 unmitigatable damage from the stones that crumble from the sky.

 

[ChaseR 0]

Entertaining or not, there was no doubt the next attack would down the dragon knight. And that's exactly what happened. A slice right to his chest as soon as Chase could and down he went, falling to his knees with his health depleting to zero. But he didn't break. Varalys stayed there, kneeling, as if waiting for something. And wait he did, before he let out a roar in some foreign language, causing the tower to start shaking violently and collapsing.

"No honest fight, huh? That's why even after dying, you want revenge. You know I can't die but you want me to.", he groaned with a sigh and looked towards the exit, feeling bad that he had to leave the dragon knight behind like this. It wasn't his choice for things to go down this way though. That was on the defender of the throne, the tower, more than anyone else. "Fights aren't for the honest, but for the strong. To take down one's enemies is a dragon knight's duties. To protect what's home to us.", were his final words before Chase exited the room and sheathed his blade, knowing he'd have to make a sprint for it.

Spoiler

ChaseR uses Galaxy Destroyer! (BD: 6+6-3=9, CD: 12)
25 * 13 - 80 = 325 - 80 = 245

Varalys, the World's End activates Dragon's Last Roar!

ChaseR: HP: 1610/1610 (+80+80) | EN: 132/158 (+1, -10) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 58 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 5 | HOLY: 12 | PARA: 9-10 | BH: 80 | V.(DEF): 80 | HBS: 16 | LD: 5

Varalys, the World's End: HP: 0/650 (-245) | DMG: 260 | MIT: 80 | ACC: 5 | EVA: 3

* <<Varalys, the World's End>>: Immune to Paralysis, Bleed and Thorns.
** <<Dragon's Judgement>>: On a roll of 9-10, a dragon symbol will appear on the character’s chest, applying Freeze against the character. Note that this removes their evasion properties for one turn.
*** <<Dragon's Ascent>>: On a LD roll of 15+, this boss will heal 25 HP and raise its attack by 10.
**** <<Dragon’s Last Roar>> At the moment his HP reaches zero, he will shout in dragons tongue for the castle itself to crumble down with brimstone raining from the sky. The player has to roleplay them escaping the castle which will take 4 posts to do so, on each of those posts they must roll… on CD’s of 1 - 8 they will take 100 unmitigatable damage from the stones that crumble from the sky.

 

[ChaseR 0]

Getting down from the first floor, the dragon's shout already began to show its devastating effects. One of the rocks falling from the ceiling down to the ground managed to shake the floor so violently, that not only did Chase lose his footing, he fell to the side too. Even if he managed to regain his balance and soften his landing mid-fall, another rock began to fall right on top of him.

He managed to avoid it, although at the last second, being grazed and taking a hefty amount of damage. He had to get out of here much faster than he thought he would need to, especially if a mere graze was enough to cause this much damage to him. Agile as he was, all these fights, the surprise attack in the form of the roar at the end, the rocks falling all over the place, were too much to handle. And so, he continued his descent as quickly as he could, rushing through the floors one by one where he fought the knights on his way to the very top.

Spoiler

ChaseR runs through the collapsing tower. (CD: 4)

ChaseR: HP: 1510/1610 (-100) | EN: 133/158 (+1) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 58 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 5 | HOLY: 12 | PARA: 9-10 | BH: 80 | V.(DEF): 80 | HBS: 16 | LD: 5

* <<Dragon’s Last Roar>> At the moment his HP reaches zero, he will shout in dragons tongue for the castle itself to crumble down with brimstone raining from the sky. The player has to roleplay them escaping the castle which will take 4 posts to do so, on each of those posts they must roll… on CD’s of 1 - 8 they will take 100 unmitigatable damage from the stones that crumble from the sky.
[1/4]

 

[ChaseR 0]

Rocks kept on falling, but now he was no longer at the towers up above, somewhere around the middle of the structure. He thought he would have been safe, considering how the tower was an 'immortal object' like all other structures, but this wasn't just any form of damage. It was a scheduled event, and as such, the tower would keep going down floor by floor. With the ones above giving in, the rocks continued falling like a rockslide next to the player.

Despite Varalys' best attempt to put him in any danger, he was able to dodge any rocks and prevent them from falling right on top of him or even touching him before hitting the ground, avoiding any damage. "I'm glad Grim managed to get out of the way before we reached this part. It could have been way too bad if he didn't get out of the way in time. And if I'm having trouble, I can imagine him too.", he reassured himself during his escape, knowing he was almost at the very bottom of the castle.

Spoiler

ChaseR runs through the collapsing tower. (CD: 12)

ChaseR: HP: 1610/1610 (+80+80+16) | EN: 134/158 (+1) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 58 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 5 | HOLY: 12 | PARA: 9-10 | BH: 80 | V.(DEF): 80 | HBS: 16 | LD: 5

* <<Dragon’s Last Roar>> At the moment his HP reaches zero, he will shout in dragons tongue for the castle itself to crumble down with brimstone raining from the sky. The player has to roleplay them escaping the castle which will take 4 posts to do so, on each of those posts they must roll… on CD’s of 1 - 8 they will take 100 unmitigatable damage from the stones that crumble from the sky.
[2/4]

 

[ChaseR 0]

One more floor with the bluehead left untouched, and he was right at the tower's base. Heading straight for the exit, things began to get tricky when rubble from all the above floors piled up and almost the entirety of the second one collapsed on top of the man. He dodged and dodged, but he got caught by some debris here and there. Nothing he couldn't handle. The biggest issue was a massive boulder blocking his only way out.

He quickly took his sword out, holding it to the side and waiting, keeping himself in range for any falling boulders or what have you to hit him. It didn't take more than a few seconds of thankfully, no accidents, before his sword lit up. And so, he used a sword art on the boulder, letting it take all the damage it needed- breaking it in the process and finally unsealing his path back into safety. 

Spoiler

ChaseR runs through the collapsing tower. (CD: 7)

ChaseR: HP: 1510/1610 (-100) | EN: 135/158 (+1) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 58 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 5 | HOLY: 12 | PARA: 9-10 | BH: 80 | V.(DEF): 80 | HBS: 16 | LD: 5

* <<Dragon’s Last Roar>> At the moment his HP reaches zero, he will shout in dragons tongue for the castle itself to crumble down with brimstone raining from the sky. The player has to roleplay them escaping the castle which will take 4 posts to do so, on each of those posts they must roll… on CD’s of 1 - 8 they will take 100 unmitigatable damage from the stones that crumble from the sky.
[3/4]

 

[ChaseR 0]

He was quick to make the dash for the door, exiting and watching the rest of the tower crumble into nothing but dust and broken bricks. "... The only part that really 'spoke' to me was the end. Literally and not. Shame.", he huffed and sheathed his blade once more, having got hit slightly by some rubble right as he exited. His health depleted, but his battle healing, holy blessing and even vampiric defense weren't letting his health drop to anywhere, for any reason.

"So there wasn't a grand reward after all. Just a dungeon, with SP to give out and little else.", he murmured to himself and turned around, beginning to take his leave from the area. Maybe this was enough destruction and devastation for the day, right? After all, this was a huge part of the floor, but he had no doubts others would have to complete the quest too- something they couldn't do with a destroyed tower like that. It would come back to normal, eventually.

Spoiler

ChaseR runs through the collapsing tower. (CD: 5)

ChaseR: HP: 1496/1610 (+80+16, -100) | EN: 136/158 (+1) | DMG: 25 | MIT: 58 | ACC: 6 | EVA: 5 | HOLY: 12 | PARA: 9-10 | BH: 80 | V.(DEF): 80 | HBS: 16 | LD: 5

* <<Dragon’s Last Roar>> At the moment his HP reaches zero, he will shout in dragons tongue for the castle itself to crumble down with brimstone raining from the sky. The player has to roleplay them escaping the castle which will take 4 posts to do so, on each of those posts they must roll… on CD’s of 1 - 8 they will take 100 unmitigatable damage from the stones that crumble from the sky.
[4/4]

 

[ChaseR 0]

Before he could really get any farther away though, he heard Varalys' voice once more. Dead as he was, he could hear his echo fading away into the distance. "You've defeated us... however, this isn't the end. We will come back to challenge you once more. For now though, you've proven yourself worthy of my bounty.". His 'dying words', if you will, as nothing else sounded afterwards. And then, the quest window popped up before the blueberry.

A lot of SP, some pocket money, although it was a fair amount higher than usual, and then a sword. The sword was the interesting part. "The Blade of the Fallen Dragon...", he said and read through its enhancements, noticing how it had the fallen one, even if it wasn't an item of his exact tier. "Seems like I found the treasure I was promised after all. If Varalys is to be back next time, I'll know to 'not expect an honest fight'. I'll make sure to stomp him as soon as I can so nobody else with me gets hurt."

[ChaseR 0]

A tiring day as this was, the echo and quest rewards only made him turn back and look over at the castle, curious as ever what could have led up to this. What form of inspiration led Kayaba to create a quest where after killing the nine hatchlings, players would fight their human knight equivalents and then a single 'leader', the 'captain' of these knights who stood stronger than the rest? And by quite a margin too.

There was little thought process as much as the premise could have been elaborated on, and it mostly was a game of hide and seek with the hatchlings, before turning into a game of tag for the knights. Kill this, hunt that, kill that, hunt this. Rinse and repeat until you finally got to Varalys. The reward for this test of patience more than anything else? A sword that you'll have outleveled by the time you put in the effort to get it, and a good fight. Chase had his doubts about Aincrad. Or at least these dragon knights 'returning to challenge him again' in Aincrad. Kayaba wasn't going to be 'updating' a death game.

[ChaseR 0]

Kayaba wasn't going to be doing anything from the outside. He would have, all this time if he were to do so. But there was still a part of him that hoped, as stupid as it may seem, that he would in fact get his rematch. The dragon knights would come back stronger, different, with a sense of greater purpose, and he would be able to challenge them again. After fighting the trees and goblins in the twenty second floor on his own, why would some dragon knights be less dangerous?

"Feels wrong to be acknowledging I'm stuck in a game and at the same time, to want the game to be updated. That would mean we're being watched all this time for someone's entertainment.", he quickly shook off the whole train of thought and turned around, ending his question with a shrug. Why? Just because. People didn't need a reason to do things as long as they felt good doing so. That's why so many asshats existed even in Aincrad, with their lives at stake much more than in the real world.

[ChaseR 0]

And so, he was silent on the rest of the way back to the settlement. He walked and walked, with his hands stuffed in his pockets even while the settlement came into view. He entered the walls and looked around, seeing the buildings, the NPCs hustling and bustling as per usual. Nothing out of the ordinary. No matter what the world was like outside, the world here was the same. Breathing, living and nonchalant, as it should be.

The residents of the tenth, players or not, it was hard to tell at times, conversed among themselves, seeming lively as ever and rejuvenating Chase just at the sight. "No more promising to myself I'll 'take a page out of their book' and shit. Let's just go to the hot springs and relax.", he joked in the back of his mind, running back on how many times he'd finished a quest, returned to a town and watched everything go back to normal (as normal as Aincrad could be), thinking about the people he'd met and how they were so much more chill and lax in comparison.

[ChaseR 0]

And having made his way to the teleporter, he spoke the twenty first's name and teleported right away. No thoughts to be had, no second guessing his own plans, just walking straight to the hot springs to catch a break and relax his digitally sore muscles. "I wonder what Blizz would think about joining me. He's frozen and all all the time, but he doesn't seem to mind heat that much when it's not overbearing, like in the desert."

Maybe it was about time to find out, too. He'd have fun playing with the steam, maybe he could use his breath to freeze it into tiny crystals and watch them swim back into the hot springs before melting. A pet was a pet and thankfully, the ones in Aincrad didn't die unless their master did. Checking Chase's to do list, death wasn't on there, so that meant he and Blizz had a long, long road ahead of them. For now, a short one to the springs. Afterwards? A long one until they got out of this flying tower.

Spoiler

Thread Rewards:

• 7 SP (2 page, 1 event, 4 quest)
• 20,800 Col (800 page, 20,000 quest)
• Blade of the Fallen Dragon (T2/Perfect/2HSS) [Accuracy II, Fallen I]