Sarum, the new frontier. A lone samurai walked into the expedition camp while most adventuring parties were having lunch. Strands of her hair were lifted up towards the sky by a strong wind but she did not bother to fix it up. Instead, her blue eyes rested upon the quest board which had many tasks for various adventurers. Combat, scouting, and crafting requests were all over the board; in particular, she looked at the combat and scouting ones. Most of them were concentrated to the east and south of the Sarum Expedition Camp.
“ Journey to the west then, “ the wolf-hair muttered under her breath, not too worried that anyone will hear her since the adventurers and landers were resting in tents.
While the place was slow and its occupants were resting, the samurai headed towards the western border of that makeshift camp. She checked her armor, a charcoal-colored ooyoroi made of wood. It was built solidly like plate armor, but the material was of a light but strong wood, thus its classification as chainmail. It afforded sufficient defense without the speed penalty. Beneath the wooden armor she wore a pitch-black yukata of a soft material so as not to feel the texture of wood against her skin. The armor set was paired with black shorts to allow for ease of movement, and thigh-high boots protected her legs.
Curious as to the effect of vanity clothing over her armor though, Caerbannog called up her interface, opened her armory and inventory, and then she equipped her serafuku Zankapfel to mask her ooyoroi. The change was instant: the charcoal-colored wooden armor disappeared beneath the schoolgirl outfit. Instead of thigh-high boots, Caerbannog had thigh-high stockings and baby doll platform shoes. The crimson-accented black schoolgirl outfit fit her well. The vanity system really was a strange but convenient one, she thought.
Caerbannog took her bow Notthrafn out of her inventory and slung it across her body, the wooden part on her back. She also took out the quiver which was full of dark arrows. The yumi was much taller than her torso, and her nagamaki was fourth-fifths her height. The samurai appeared to be a small armory with that equipment and the only thing that could offset that was a less militaristic look- thus her preference to fight while wearing Zankapfel. A strange choice for a fantasy MMORPG perhaps but hey, to each his own. By her side, the samurai had her common Windsor Antiqua Nagamaki, something that ought to be replaced soon but she could not find a willing blacksmith. Not one to whine or complain, she instead asked her friend Kumori to craft a sword tassel for her. Supposedly it was a reforged accessory which would afford attack power but she was yet to test its effect.
The girl soon determined that she was ready, both physically and mentally, to challenge the road less taken. Her goal was not to clear new areas for the Sarum Expedition, but rather to defend the thinly-patrolled areas. Based on what she read earlier from the quest boards, there was a lack of defense and patrol on the west side thus that was where she headed off. Caerbannog glanced behind her one last time before she set off; the landers were still pretty lax and the other adventurers were still probably resting after their lunch.
Kyuu psyched herself up with a soft ‘ikimasu!’ and then she marched out of the Sarum Expedition Camp. The road was desolate, barren, and the searing heat of the sun did nothing to change that circumstance. Instead, that heat only served as a death sentence to each and every flora which tried to brave the new frontier. Between rocks and boulders, the samurai could see some half-shriveled shrubs which tried desperately to hide in the shade but to no avail. As the sun moved through the sky, shadows and shades moved as well and soon, sunlight will burn through those dying leaves and flowers too.
Unlike plants though, the creatures of Sarum were more resilient. Or rather, they were right at home. One would wonder if the land was desolate because of the golems which lived in it and stomped the ground every so often, or if golems made that place their home because it was already desolate. The new frontier had its mysteries but nothing too odd, so thought the samurai. She was not one to underestimate her enemies though- as soon as Caerbannog spotted movement to her right side, the samurai took up her yumi and armed it with a single arrow.
A pile of rocks rumbled and clashed against the ground until it was able to stand up to its full height: a golem sentry. Such creatures were pitifully weak compared to sentinels, compared to the Phalanx, and quite possibly very weak compared to the Level 60 samurai herself. But Caerbannog was never one to let that get to her head, no. Each and every enemy was worthy of her respect, and by respect that mean that she would beat it up with all her strength without holding back. The samurai raised her yumi overhead and her hands went through an arching movement for the set up. The tip of the arrow rested close to her left hand which gripped the bow tightly while her gentler right hand pulled on bowstring; its dexterity allowed her to keep the arrow straight.
As soon as the Level 5 Golem Sentry looked down at the dark samurai, she let the arrow fly towards its face. The creature’s head was a fairly large target thus it was not that much of a challenge to hit it. Their proximity also allowed for workable accuracy, and perhaps the training to use her yumi properly also aided Caerbannog’s aim. The arrow buried itself onto the golem’s head and did not cause much physical damage, but the creature exploded to bits of data crystal anyway. Despite the insufficient physics of the girl’s stature and method, the level gap between her and the target afforded her extra damage. Additionally, her bow was five levels above that golem’s own level, thus the instant death.
That one golem’s death was just a prelude, so it seemed, for more piles of rock soon began to rumble all around Caerbannog. She counted three, no there was a fourth; a fifth and then a sixth... the count ended at nine golems. They lined up beside the road, or what could be called a road, which led to the expedition camp. Four to the left side and five were cramped up to her right side; those to her left already began to move in. There were too many targets for her yumi, but it could be a fitting situation for practice.
Instead of putting away her bow and going for her nagamaki, the samurai held the weapon down to her front as her left foot stepped forward. As opposed to her sword stance, archery required her to step ahead with her non-dominant side. The yumi was held slightly downward in front of her at a slanted position with her left arm relaxed. With a different weapon, the samurai had to use a different taunt. One that isn’t too visual but rather reliant on her presence, Caerbannog started up her [Samurai’s Challenge] to draw in all nine golem sentries.
Her blue eyes changed to a golden color just as her wolf ears and tail appeared; soon her canines grew longer and almost cut her lip, but as always, it was just a close call. Caerbannog let her wolf hair tendency to take over at least for that one taunt. She was not especially intimidating, that much she knew, so she would have to improvised or draw an oppressive aura from something else. The samurai’s eyes were on the golems to her left which were moving in at snail’s pace; they did not seem too alarmed by her presence, but all of that would soon change.
Kyuu thought back to her most horrible memories both of real life and of the games which she used to play. Blood, limbs, entrails scattered everywhere from the demon-killing scenes of Devil May Cry to the abominations of Silent Hill. Deformed bodies strewn about which could only be killed by a bat to the head or a gunshot to the face, and then they must be promptly killed off by a kick or a crushing stomp otherwise the damn things would rise once again. The samurai closed her eyes and just listened to her surroundings; the rumbling, heavy steps of the golems were dead giveaways of their position.
Six Level 8 golem senties and three Level 4 ones- from what she could recall before she closed her eyes. Easy enough, but they had to be gathered up close. Caerbannog breathed in deeply and then she let it out via a soft whistle. Her arms moved in unison. While the left one position the bow properly in front of the wolf-hair, her right hand moved up to her quiver to draw an arrow. She then opened her eyes though her sight was still averted to the ground and only her hearing alerted her of the golems’ close proximity. Caerbannog then armed her yumi and drew the bowstring gently. The usual arching movement of her arms, shoulders and hands accompanied the readying of Notthrafn. As she moved to the proper stance with her two feet firmly planted on the ground, she inhaled deeply and exhaled once again.
A sudden wave of enmity then moved outwards from the diminutive wolf-hair. It rapidly expanded in that area as a sweeping circle and enveloped the incoming golem sentries. Elder Tale’s system assisted the samurai as she issued her [Samurai’s Challenge]. As for the visuals, she merely looked up at the golems which then began to run towards her in all their rage. With her one arrow at eye level, she waited for them to line up before her in all their stupidity due to having rarely been challenged.
“ C’mon, “ Caerbannog grinned, “ I’ll mess you up! “
The Challenge issued, she then let her arrow fly with all the strength of [Izunagiri]. Three golems which were stupid enough to try and bash her from upfront got the brunt of the attack while those which were approaching from the sides were swept back by the sudden rush of the sweeping vacuum wave. The girl’s piercing arrow crashed right through the torso of a Level 8 golem sentry and effectively destroyed that golem to bits and pieces. The arrow then flew right into the torso of a Level 4 golem behind the destroyed one, and so the creature crashed into the golem which was behind it.
Undaunted, the rest of the golems threw their own attacks at girl mostly in the form of stomps and punches. Caerbannog, however, simply jumped backwards to avoid the slow giants. Each one was more than twice her height but she was not afraid and she could see their openings clearly. They were much too slow for her and if she used her nagamaki, the creatures could easily be dispatched off. However, her objective was to train archery, to test her movements in Zankapfel and to prevent the quick respawning of golem sentries. The last one she considered a less personal reason. She knew that golem sentries respawned quickly and there was even one time when there was an anomaly which caused the golems to respawn at a much faster pace. The frontline was almost broken back then if not for the appearance of both the wolf-hair samurai and the assassin who kept to himself.
The sun soon stepped down slowly from its zenith which signaled the end of lunch break. Adventurers were likely to walk down that path again and Caerbannog did not want to get in their way. With six golem sentries after her and two more getting up to chase her as well, the samurai chained her third ace move [Tsurugibunshin]. It was a skill that was fairly different from most of her attacks and buffs since Tsurugibunshin required her to actually focus on using her mana to create the afterimages. Though not unlike spellcasting which the samurai had done before in other MMORPGs, the difference was that she had to shape the mana by herself with some assistance from the Elder Tale system. She was no longer in front of a computer screen where clicking one keybind would execute a skill. Caerbannog employed the third method of deploying skills which was to envision the move, the effects and to execute it with only basic interference from the game system.
A loud crash did not make Caerbannog look back; she continued to run away from the golem sentries to draw them away from the road which might soon be occupied by her fellow adventurers. One of the golems unfortunately uprooted an old, withered tree and swung it around like a bat, but the samurai did not know until a massive shadow almost fell upon her. Caerbannog quickly dove to her left side, this time mindful of her landing so that she would not be injured unlike that Sarum expedition with Kumori wherein she hurt her left arm. The tree missed her narrowly with the aid of her afterimages which made it difficult for the golem sentry to aim for her.
Her golden eyes scanned the surroundings and when Caerbannog ascertained that she was far enough from the main road to continue the fight, she turned to face her pursuers. As she stood up and turned, the samurai armed her bow and moved into her stance almost naturally. She left one arrow fly right at the left shoulder of the tree-armed golem. It was not like an adventurer which could be equipped with a weapon, thus the golem easily let go of the tree which went crashing down onto the golem behind it. The samurai armed her bow with a black arrow once again but not before she dashed to her left side just so that the golems would have to change their direction to be able to get to her again.
The clumsy oafs almost tripped over their own feet as Caerbannog moved quickly to her left. The afterimages really did serve their purpose to distract the enemies, but aside from that one hit to the golem’s shoulder, the girl still had to check its efficiency with a bow. She drew the bowstring back to its limit which set the firing power to its strongest, and then Caerbannog let the attack fly towards a Level 4 golem sentry. The stone creature did not even see what hit it for the arrow flew quickly with afterimages behind it. But the shadowy images were not merely for display, no. After the arrow hit its target which put the Level 4’s HP in the critical condition, the afterimage which was made solid by Caerbannog’s mana and manipulation crashed into the golem. That effectively shattered the creature and sent it back to Elder Tale heaven as an array of data crystals.
The girl then aimed for one of the injured Level 4s. She armed her bow yet again though a Level 8 golem sentry was incoming, and Caerbannog let the arrow lose as a punch was thrown her way. The piece of black wood zipped through the air and landed on the massive head of the golem. With the force of the attack and of the afterimage that followed, the creature’s head was shattered completely. Its knees gave away as the head which controlled the movement disappeared, and soon the golem which was knelt down became a mess of data crystals which then returned to what could possibly be referred to as the Lifestream.
As for Caerbannog who dodged a golem punch only at the last minute, her right side was narrowly missed by the Level 8 Golem Sentry’s fist. It was too close for comfort, thus the girl decided to shoot an arrow to that golem’s face. The samurai ran over to one of the incoming golems and when it ducked low to try and hit her, she jumped onto its outstretched arm. The creature was startled but its reaction was too slow. The wolf-hair ran up its arm and planted herself onto the golem’s right shoulder. As the rock fiend straightened up to try and shake her off, Caerbannog armed Notthrafn and aimed at the golem which almost punched her.
Either golems had feelings and worried for their comrades, or they were just wary of punching those of their kind on the face- Caerbannog noticed that the Level 8 golem hesitated to go after her once she was perched upon its fellow golem’s shoulder. That moment of reluctance was all she needed, and truth be told she could not stay in that spot for long anyway; the samurai let an arrow fly towards the punching golem’s chest. It staggered backwards due to the force of the attack and of the following after image, but before it could recover, another arrow planted itself onto the golem’s chest. Its hitpoints dropped to a critical rate with the second attack and dropped down to zero due to the afterimage of Tsurugibunshin.
She overstayed her welcome, that much the wolf-hair knew as the Level 8 golem upon which she was perched tried to grab her legs. No groping please. Caerbannog hopped off backwards and ducked as a golem swung at her from behind. It was the last Level 4 golem sentry, amongst those which she damaged earlier. The golem thought that it had the girl but all it caught was her afterimage. Confused, the creature looked at its own two hands but when it put those rocky limbs down, an arrow hit it right on the forehead. Arrow to the face at such close to proximity was hardly survivable, and so that final level 4 golem disappeared into an array of data crystals as well.
Caerbannog tried to count off the golems which were still around her; she swore that there should be a lot less at that point, so why was there a small army around her. Ah... golem sentries just spawned. A Level 10? Oh dear. The samurai slung her yumi across her body and made a run for it. She tried to count off the sentries as she ran but she lost count at ten. There were even more golems that before and they were all after her, but if anything, it made her feel elated and not worried. Their levels were not enough to kill her off one on one so she just needed to control that crowd somehow. The samurai clutched her saya tightly. At last it was time for the sword to shine; will the sword tassel Mitsuho be able to aid her somehow?
| .: OOC Notes :.
This will not count towards Sarum completion unless someone else joins in. Tags:
@dindeen |
