A Stampede of Boars [Mentor / Klide]

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

The branch bent dangerously as Icyferno put his weight on it, then snapped back as he leaped off it. He stretched out his arms and just barely managed to grab onto the next branch. Grunting, he pulled himself up and sat down on the upper branches of a tall, old tree which overlooked a small clearing. While he wasn't exactly a nature lover, the Windsor Greatwood was one of the more tranquil places available to him. Sure, there were plenty of quiet places in the outskirts of Londinium, but those places were becoming fewer and fewer as more people moved outwards to set up their own research facilities and even sleeping quarters in places which clearly didn't belong to them. Then again, he had no claim to those areas too, in fact he would probably be considered one of those people claiming public zones, thinking back to the small two story building near St. Pancras Station he often used.

In any case, there were few around these parts at this time of the day, with only a few hours before the sun disappeared into the horizon and night fell. While he was tempted to stick around for the night, he didn't know if there were any flying mobs like bats which appeared at night, and he had no desire to be their first victim and become the unfortunate one to report their existence after a death. He had managed to keep his death counter at zero so far, and he intended for it to remain that way for a long time to come. Naturally, death would come for him one day, but he was going to make it as hard as possible for it to get to him.

However, his true reason for coming here was not to enjoy the scenery. Recently, he had heard rumors of a boss monster, the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣, stalking these parts of the woods. He had never fought a boss level monster before, so he was hoping to start with this one, assuming he could find it. He was quite a few levels ahead of the reported boss level, so he was not too particularly worried over whether or not he could beat it. At the very least, he could always run, although he hoped it would not come to that. How strong would it have to be to beat an Adventurer with a higher level than itself?

A small movement caught his eye as the bushes parted to reveal a small ｢Young Pittered Boar｣ trotting across the clearing, its young eyes trained on something only it could see. It was said that the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ may appear if a boar is attacked in its line of sight. Well, if its around, it will probably attack me if I kill the boar, he thought. I'll just wait for the boar to reach the middle of the clearing before I attack to give myself more time to react.

~

Word count: 492
Total word count (Swashbuckler): 492
Notes: This is a short thread that ends when we kill the boss mob, its level 10 btw. I'll tank.
Tags: @blazeedge

[Deleted]

On that peaceful morning, Klide slept in until about 12 p.m. He was planning on exploring town, trying to find a secluded place where he could nap without being disturbed. He put his swords on his back, and jumped down from the tree he'd been napping in. After doing a few stretches, he walked into town. Klide was expecting a bit more relaxing places that he found. he walked for hours and hours, finding only the occasional tree growing on a house, or a cave that, upon further investigation, was already being used as a mine shaft by some other players. After all the time he spent, his search remained fruitless. He decided that he should just wander for a bit, when his stomach growled.

 Klide had wandered around town for quite a long time by now, he was tired and bored and hot. He needed a break from the crowds, and to quell his appetite. As he made his way toward the nearest restaurant stand, Klide noticed that a figure was following him. "what a drag" he thought to himself as he walked into the stall and ordered a burger to go. He sat patiently waiting for his food. The specter that had followed him was approaching at a surprising speed. He received his food and took it into his hand. Just as the Specter's hand was about to land on Klide's shoulder, he grabbed a salt shaker, that had been left without a cap on it, and tossed the contents into the specter's eyes. Then he hopped off his stool and ran out of the stall. He jumped onto the stalls roof and from there, was able to climb onto the nearest building. he ran across various roof tops for a bit and then jumped onto the nearest tree. He climbed from tree to tree until he felt safe and dug into his food. After he finished eating, he decided it was time to take a nap.

While Klide was relaxing in a tree, as he often does, he noticed a faint sound. He was about to nap what he saw a figure not to far away. The figure appeared to be human, and his name was Icyferno. He was a level nineteen Swashbuckler, and Klide began to wonder if all Swashbucklers like to sleep in trees, or if this was just some crazy coincidence. He kept an eye on Icy for a moment and was not sure how to respond to a fellow warrior, not twenty feet away. He decided that he should just relax for the time being, and see if he can't catch some shut eye. Suddenly, from below, he heard what sounded like an squeal. He looked down to see a young boar wandering below the other Swashbucklers tree. He was about to get the mans attention, when he saw that Icy was already prepared to attack. Klide decided that if worst came to worst, he could help out, so he got into a position where he could easily jump and slay the beast if need be.

Word Count: 514

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

There. That was the spot. Despite taking great effort to climb up the tree, he had to jump down to hit the boar, so he did just that. As he jumped, he timed his fall carefully and spun as he fell, a silent process to activate ｢Shuffle Windmill｣. As expected, the boar looked up and squealed in surprise, but it was too late to run. He spun the fourth and final round, all his momentum driven into his swords as they buried themselves in the boar. In just one hit, the boar squealed and died, the momentum clearly doing its work.

He landed heavily, a sharp pain coursing through his legs. Obviously, tree leaping wasn't for everyone. Standing up, he quickly scanned his surroundings for the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣, but it wasn't around. It is probably too far away, he thought.

However, he did notice another player nearby. Funny, how did he miss someone else? He tensed up immediately, worried over the possibility of another person trying to hunt the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣, but relaxed when he saw the newcomer's level. There was no way a low leveled Adventurer like the one before him could stand up to the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ in a straight up fight, so he guessed it was an Adventurer who happened to be training at this time of the day.

"You there, isn't it a bit too late to be training?" he called out. "It's tough for most people to fight in low visibility, you should head back while there's still light." If it came down to it, he had a stock of nighteye potions he had made for himself, so he was ready to camp out all night in a tree if necessary. In any case, none of the other mobs were a threat to him, so it was certainly more dangerous for the newcomer than it was for him.

On the other hand, perhaps he might have been too hasty in deciding whether or not the newcomer should stay, he was pretty sure the boss mob could beat the newcomer in one hit, but the boss mob was also known to summon weaker boars to aid itself. He could use the extra support in keeping the pressure of a million boars off of him. However, there weren't any healers nearby, so he was uncertain on whether or not he should drag this guy into the fight. Well, it was the newcomer's call, so he had no say, although he could technically force him to go back. It wasn't his choice to decide whether this Adventurer lives or dies a stupid death fighting a boss mob at level one.

~

Word count: 442
Total word count (Swashbuckler): 492 + 442 = 934
Notes: Guess why the title is what it is... :D
Tags: @blazeedge

[Deleted]

Klide sat in his tree, prepared to strike the boar if need be. The other adventurer suddenly tensed and shot down towards the boar. He twirled around in several large circles, and brought his blades down, driving them deep into the boar, and killing it almost instantly. The adventurer landed hard, and looked as though he had experienced some pain. He stood up and seemed to look for something that Klide couldn't see. The adventurer did however notice Klide. He teased up for a moment, almost as if expecting a fight, but then he relaxed a little. He shouted to Klide, saying "You there, isn't it a bit too late to be training? It's tough for most people to fight in low visibility, you should head back while there's still light." Klide was aware that most people did indeed struggle with low light fighting, but he preferred it. He liked the heightened reliance he had on all his senses working in union, and he had always preferred night time over day time, especially when the moon was bright. Klide knew that he was not well equipped, and was prepared to deal with the consequences there-of. he had yet to slay a single beast, as all he had done so far was night time training. He wanted to level up his combat skills. Klide stretched his shoulders a little and jumped down from the tree, right as he was nearing the grown, he tucked his head in and rolled on the ground. He stood up from a a fetal position, and looked at the adventurer. Klide said to the man "I am Klide." Aside from that, he didn't say anything. Klide wanted to kill something, but given his none existent combat experience, he needed to train on something weak, if only to get the basics of combat down. He looked over at the higher level man. "Can you help me get the basics of combat down?"

Word Count: 325
Total Words: 514+325=839
Notes: I'm guessing we're gonna get swarmed pretty soon.

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

The newcomer introduced himself as Klide, followed by a question on the basics of combat. He was not exactly the best teacher, but then again, maybe this guy could just learn from watching him. Just to be safe, he added, "I'm trying to hunt the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ which is supposed to be around these parts, just don't engage it recklessly. It would probably take you out in one hit."

Hmm. He was not exactly being a great teacher if he just told the guy to avoid a boss mob. "Umm, what skills do you already have?"

As he returned his swords to their sheaths, another status bar flashed into existence just behind Klide. Another boar. Well, at the very least, it would be good practice for Klide. Pointing past Klide, he continued, "There's a boar coming up from that area, how about your first combat trail? Don't worry, most of them can't kill you as long as you time your dodge to avoid their charge. But first, we need to lure it here, because dodging into bushes is not exactly my idea of fun. Neither do I recommend riding one unless you have the ｢Animal Trainer｣ subclass, in case you were thinking of doing that. Too many crazy people are about doing crazy stuff, it's better to be safe than sorry."

Taking a step back, he motioned for Klide to move towards the clearing. "You should know this by now, but boars are docile creatures, so you need to hit them once to lure them." He took in a deep breath, and focused mana into his sword. He clapped his hands once and a faint mana trail shot from him to the sword, pulling it from its sheath. The sword darted forward and disappeared into the bushes. Seconds later, a loud squeal was heard, much closer than he had expected, and a chunk of the boar's HP disappeared. His sword shot out of the bushes and he caught it as the spell keeping it afloat dissipated. No point wasting too much mana helping Klide, he had to save most of it for the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ or he'll be the one that would need help.

Speaking of the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣, a second status bar appeared, this time in the opposite direction. Here it is! He couldn't see it yet, but judging by the range of his vision, it should be emerging from the bushes in a few seconds. "Klide, you might want to hurry," he commented. "There's a really friendly ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ coming in from the opposite side who just might not be blocked by bushes so it can charge at you with all its got."

~

Word count: 445
Total word count (Swashbuckler): 492 + 442 + 445 = 1379
Notes: Pretty close, but it has more to do with the abilities of the boss mob. Also, rushing this a little before Zantetsuken and Scoria get back and ruins my life with two threads.
Tags: @blazeedge

[Deleted]

Klide responded to Icyferno's first question. " I have only one skill as of yet. It is Mirage Dealer: A Dual wield skill. The one who uses it performs a forward X-slash with their two weapons to slash at an opponent, then immediately teleports a meter forward. This usually places them behind the enemy. The skill has an animation time of 0.5 seconds and a cool down of 8 seconds. I also have my tracking skill Silent Move, which deadens my movements but slows my movement speed by 50%." the tracker skill wouldn't be much good for them because of the 50% speed reduction, but Klide could attempt to pull of the Mirage Dealer skill, perhaps to distract it when Icy attacked. Klide had heard what Icyferno had said about dying in one hit. That was not a happy thought, and Klide wanted to keep his death toll at a minimum. 

 Klide needed more experience with combat if he was to face a foe of that caliber. As luck would have it, a boar had just presented itself as a viable target. Icyferno used a mana thread to attack it with his sword quick, and then sheathed the sword. Klide expected it was to aggro the boar so Klide wouldn't have to hunt in the bushes. Klide watched as it began to charge. Fortunately there was some room between him and the boar, so Klide ran, swords drawn, toward  tree in the same direction as the boar. He jumped just before reaching the tree and kicked off from it's side, propelled at the boars side. He thrust his swords out as he reached the boar and pierced it with both blades, unfortunately not hitting anything vital. He planted his feet, pulled the blades from it's side, and slashed down. He heard Icyferno telling him to hurry up, and something about the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣. Klide jumped to the side to avoid a tusk, and chopped of its leg. After the loss of it's leg, the boar was an easy target and Klide finished it by thrusting both blades down into it's body. One in the heart, the other in the throat. He sheathed his blades just as the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ came into view. When he saw how large it was, Klide realized just how much work it would be to kill this beast. He had gotten lucky with avoiding the attacks from the small boar, but avoiding attacks from this monster was a completely different story. He ran to the edge of the clearing and kicked off of a tree to boost him to one of it's lower branches. He grabbed hold of the branch and climbed a bit higher. one of the branches overhung the clearing well and so he stood on that one, both as a good vantage point and a place he could jump and attack from if need be, and drew his swords. He was not a coward. Klide just knew the difference between strategy and suicide. Icyferno could probably hold his own against the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ and Klide would offer assistance in any way he could. He had role played before, and if this was like any other RPG, than the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ was likely to have minions that appeared every so often. Klide was prepared to fight, And he watched as the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ Charged.

Word Count: 559
Total Words: 514+325+559=1398
Tags: Icyferno

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

His first impression of Klide’s answer was: This guy is too honest. Shouldn’t he have the slightest sense of worry about telling a total stranger about what he can or cannot do? Then again, considering the situation, he doubted it would make a difference to Klide. If he was a PKer, he would probably be able to take Klide out. In that light, there was no need for Klide to hide any of his skills since it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

Fortunately, Klide seemed to have a good battling senses and was very obviously much better than him when he fought his first boar. The guy was probably underestimating himself, or maybe he was just worried about fighting without backup. In any case, Klide didn’t have any major problems that he had to worry about, not any that he could see, at least.

The ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ came into sight just then. It was larger than he had anticipated it would be, but it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. On the other hand, he knew that it had the ability to call nearby boars to rally to its cause, and THAT was the problem. Trying to hit it while avoiding a stampede of boars was not exactly how he would like to fight it. Hopefully, with Klide here, he would be able to better focus on the boss if Klide could hold off one or two of them. Or better still, hold off all of them so he could move around without worrying about stabbing himself on some boar’s horns. As it stood, it was probably going to be a very close fight as the boars were probably going to be a massive pain when it came to dodging the devastating charge of the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣.

That said, the first thing it did was lock its eyes on Klide as he quickly scaled a tree. Oh yeah, this boss tends to aggro the one who harms its kind. In this case, since Klide dealt the most damage to the boar, he had probably gained more hate than himself. Perhaps this particular boss doesn’t take threat levels into account, considering I am of a higher level than Klide.

It stomped the ground and squealed a high-pitched whine. Immediately, two boars literally appeared out of nowhere. Strangely, the boars had a different color to their name instead of the usual white one. Unfortunately, both of them spawned right next to the tree Klide was scaling.

The two boars immediately rammed into the tree as they struggled to climb up since they had not hands like Klide did and were way too short to grasp even the lowest of the branches. Like all skills, he believed that the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ would have to wait for a short interval before summoning more boars, so he wasted no time in charging in. The tree could probably stand the beating for a while, so he wasn’t that worried for Klide. He daresay Klide seemed to know how to avoid danger better than himself.

He began by drawing aggro to himself with ｢Dart-Tack Target｣, piercing its hind legs with light jabs in an attempt to weaken its charge later on in the fight. A light attack, it didn’t deal much damage to the boss, but it certainly caught its attention. It roared and spun around with surprising speed, its tusks swinging in from the side. At the same time, he stepped into another skill, ｢Shuffle Windmill｣, and moved in the same direction as the boss. As he spun four times, he circled the boss, twirling around and basically annoying the boss to no end. As he came to a stop, he raised his swords just in time to catch its horns before it charged him. It glared at him, hate filling it eyes and it tried pushing pass his swords. Well, that seemed to do the trick.

~

Word count: 653
Total word count (Swashbuckler): 492 + 442 + 445 + 653 = 2032
Notes: Have fun with the boars. Feel free to let the boss mob summon more if you want to.
Tags: @blazeedge

[Deleted]

With the sudden appearance of the two new boars, Klide was caught in a rather tough situation. These boars were probably more powerful than average boars like the one he'd just dealt with, but he needed to help Icyferno if he wanted to gain experience, and if he wanted to keep his new ally alive. He looked over at Icyferno, only to see that he was already charging the boss. He stabbed it's hind legs over and over with light jabs that seemed to anger the brute more than anything else. The beast roared before it spun around to attack him. The ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ was much faster than Klide had expected. Given the size of the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣, he thought it would be sluggish and slow, but it moved with immense speed and it even kept up with Icyferno's spinning. Klide had no right to slack off while Icyferno stood his ground against such a beast. He looked down at the two powerful looking boars, and then he climbed a bit higher up the tree to give him more force for the dive he planned to attack with. There were some gnarled branches that blocked his path and instead of dealing with them, Klide let go of the branch he was using to hoist himself up with, and kicked of the tree. He did an back flip, during which he drew his swords. The ground was nearing him fast and he quickly extended his arms in front of him as he swan dove towards the boars.

The squeal that followed Klide's downward strike was far louder and intimidating than Klide could ever have imagined. He instantly let go of the swords, both of which had stabbed through the boar's bodies and into the ground. Then he rolled to up his feet. The boars were stuck with the sword's blades in their snouts. The blades had also lodged themselves in a thick root, leaving the boars locked in place. They struggled and squealed and lost lots of health from the blades cutting their insides as they flailed from side to side. Klide jumped over them and grabbed a low hanging branch directly above them. He wrapped his legs around it like an acrobat, and pulled his swords out of the boars, furthering the amount of damage he'd inflicted. The boars were enraged, bloody, and in pain, and they jumped in an effort to rid the world of Klide, but he was ready for that. Klide pointed his swords down as they jumped and they were poked in the faces with the tips. He saw the boars faces contort from the pain. One had it's eye ripped from it's socket, and the other had it's snout torn open. They learned to fear the weapons tips, having now experienced two severe injuries from them. Klide slashed at them as he hung from the branch, but the boars had wised up, they backed out of his reach and glared at him with hateful eyes, eyes Klide was far too familiar with.

Klide swung his body forward and landed with his rear end on top of the branch he had been hanging from. He stood up walked farther down the branch. The boars looked up at him as he drew nearer. He sheathed his swords and jumped with his arms out stretched, grabbing hold of a branch from a different tree. Then he swung and landed on a tall stone close to the branch. He unsheathed his swords again and taunted the boars by faking a jump towards them. One charged and slammed its face into the stone, a mistake for which it paid with its life. Klide jumped down and slit both sides of its neck. He cut it's back open and then stabbed it in between the eyes. As it's ally evaporated into sparkles, the other boar charged at Klide, and he slashed at it in a wide arc, sending blood flying through the air. His emotions having had gotten the better of him. He made a dangerous move. One which left him open, when he could have just defended. If not for the blood, the slash would have left him open, and likely very injured, but the blood flew into the boars eyes and blinded it. He charged at the blind boar and cut its front leg off, then spun and sliced the back one of. He looked down at the boar as it struggled to move and drooled blood. He hacked away at its tough hide and then slit it's throat.

The two boars were gone and the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ was preoccupied with a very nimble and powerful Icyferno. Klide wiped the blood from his arms, legs, and face and was about to charge over to Icyferno to see if he could help, when three wild boars appeared. They seemed to have been attracted to the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣. Klide lifted his arms and looked at the three new assailants. they were focused on Icyferno, and if Klide didn't distract them, they might have become an even bigger problem than the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣. He charged at the ugly swine and jumped over them with his swords held below his body. The blades definitely got the boars attention as they raked across their backs, because as soon as Klide landed, the boars charged. He spun around with his blades out. cutting into both of their tusks, and a little of their snouts. There was something off. "why are there only two boars?" Klide jumped back in alarm. Unfortunately, he jumped directly in line with the third boars attack. It rammed it's tusks full force into Klide's leg and he fell back against a tree. He held his swords extended out from his body, guarding himself from the attacks that were sure to come. He was having a stand off with three pigs and he wasn't proud of it. The boars smelled the blood of two superior boars on his swords, and Klide felt his own blood ooze from the newly found gash in his leg. He tried to stand, but the blood poured out faster when he attempted it. He'd have to dress the wound before being able to stand, and he'd have to kill the boars if he wanted to have time to dress his wound.

Klide was lucky enough to have his back to a large tree that left him with only his front side to guard. He had the advantage of also being able to easily fend of the boars charges as long as they didn't all try to attack at once. One of the boars charged with its head held low, seemingly to catch Klide's blade with its small tusks. He held one of his swords out to block the on coming boar, and with the other sword, he brought down an slashing attack that would have hit the back of the boars neck, if the attack had not been blocked by a second pair of tusks. The three boars Klide was faced with were unusually wise. They were nothing more than wild pigs, like the one he had fought before the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ had appeared, so how were they able to come up with strategic moves so well? They had already performed a flanking technique, and now the boars were guarding each other against swords. He hacked at them repeatedly as they attacked. Each attack getting blocked by another block on both sides. Klide decided that in order to win, he would have to attack the guards instead of the chargers. As the next boar, Klide blocked and swung as if he was about to attack the boar, then he thrust the blade forward right as the guardian boars face appeared. He stabbed it directly in the throat and it fell to the ground bleeding.

The other two boars backed away slowly, giving Klide a chance to finish off the one on the ground. The other two boars were far more hesitant to attack now that one of their comrades had died. Klide took advantage of their hesitation to throw a large rock at one of them. His attempt was to taunt it, but he hit it square in the shoulder and it collapsed. It struggled to get up from the ground, probably suffering from a shattered shoulder. The other boar charged and jumped right before it reached Klide. He held his sword up and slashed at it as it fell towards him, cutting open its belly and having blood trickle all over him like rain. The boars were both injured and suffering, and Klide attempted to finish them off. He activated his skill [Mirage Dealer] by slashing at the boar that had charged with an x. The skill propelled him forward by a meter, and left him right in the middle of the boars. He stabbed one sword into the boar he had activated the skill on, and stabbed the other into the boar he had thrown the rock at. After the one that charged was dead, Klide drew both swords and once again stabbed the only remaining boar. It tried to fight back, but couldn't stand with it's injured shoulder, and it's tusks couldn't reach, despite it's desperate struggling. The boars let out a final squeal of pain and anger, then it too evaporated.

Klide slid his swords into their respective sheaths and slowly crawled over to the tree he had been laying against. A small pool of blood had formed where he had been sitting, and it was still warm. He attempted to stand, but couldn't get his up all the way. The tree had a branch that was just outside of his reach when he was bent the way he was, so he lifted himself up on one leg. He grabbed hold of it with one hand and then pulled himself up enough to grab hold of the branch comfortably with his other hand. He hoisted himself onto the branch and then proceeded to climb onto a branch that was slightly higher up. He sat on the branch for a moment, then tore the shirt from his back. He ripped the shirts sleeves off of the torso section and carefully wrapped the torso section around his leg. He then grabbed the sleeves and tore them into thin strips, which he used to tie the torso section firmly over his leg. He wouldn't be able to run until he got properly healed by one of the healers in town, but at least now he could walk, even if it was painful. He climbed higher into the tree and moved closer to the area where Icyferno was fighting the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣. He swung from this tree over to a tree at the edge of the clearing where Icyferno was fighting the mighty boss, and saw it's various wound spew forth little squirts of blood with every one of it's steps.

Icyferno seemed to have the upper hand in his fight with the boss. But if more of the great boars underlings attacked, there would be some serious trouble. Klide doubted that he could hold off more than one boar in his current condition, even if he was laying against another tree, and Icyferno was busy dealing with the boss. "I'm not a wise man am I... I was offered a role in a task that would be difficult even for a level ten, and yet here I am, taking part in this insane mission as if I'm strong enough to do much good. Icyferno either has too much confidence in me, or he's a bigger fool than me. He will probably survive either way. He definitely seems powerful enough. But I'm a dead man at this rate. A level one dealing with any boss mob is pure insanity." Klide though as he sat, watching the battle play out. He should have been helping, he should be down there, even if it was insane. "But what good will it do? You're injured and weak. How are you even supposed to damage a behemoth like that?" Klide looked again for more boars that could get in Icyferno's way, but he didn't see any. He climbed down to a lower branch and sat with a hand on one of his swords, ready to strike any boars that appeared, though it was possible that the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣only summoned one wave of minions. If that was the case, Klide would have too try and serve as a distraction while Icyferno finished off the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣. He hoped it wouldn't come to that. If Klide was this slow, he would only get in the way.

Word Count: 2114
Total Word Count: 1398+2114=3512
Tags: Icyferno

[Icyferno]

Status: Healthy / Rested

~

He guessed the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ was probably physically stronger than him; it was not exactly called a rare mob for nothing. He had to jerk to the side as it dug its feet into the ground and lurched forward, completely unfazed by the small jabs to its hind legs earlier. What does this thing eat? Man, its sturdy as hell. Compared to the beast, he was certain he was outmatched in both strength and agility. Only by reading its fairly simple attack pattern did he manage to just stay out of harm's way.

As it spun with its usually fast agility to face him, possibly to gore him in the face for daring to attack it, it was met with a flashing sword as he thrust his sword into its face with ｢Blind Bet｣. That was the first reaction it had. It squealed painfully as it bounded backwards, its eye unfocused as it tried to overcome the accuracy debuff. Hmm, was its face its weakness? Or was it the eyes? He couldn't be certain which part of its face he had hit, but he was fairly certain that now was the time to spam skills at it, before the debuff timer ran out.

He closed the gap created by the boar in a burst of speed as he used ｢Fold Step｣, glancing back towards Klide as he did so. As expected, the guy was doing pretty well, at least for a level one Adventurer against multiple boars trying to gore him. From the way he had fought the first boar they'd encountered, he guessed that the guy had probably received some formal training in real life fighting before. Back when he was first experimenting with combat, he hadn't move so fluidly. But whether it was proper training or sheer talent, it didn't matter now. What mattered now was taking out the boss before Klide took too much damage and died. It would not be nice to be blamed for someone else's death, after all.

He took extra care as the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ recovered from the accuracy debuff after a few initial slashes, renewed anger in its eyes. He had whittled the Gerald's health bar down by quite a bit, and it was sitting there with a fair chunk of health gone. This battle would have been momentously easier had he stronger weapons, but alas, there was too high a demand for weapons in town, what with everyone rushing to grind levels. He would probably have to fork over a stupidly huge sum of money just to get a good sword made, which sometimes made him wonder why on earth he didn't choose Blacksmith as his subclass. Perhaps he just didn't like the idea of hammering metals all day, although carefully measuring ingredients as a Pharmacist was hardly any better.

That said, with his weaker weapons, it was still going to be a while before he could take down the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣. Once again, he briefly wondered whether not getting a small party was the right idea. Without Klide hanging around he would most certainly have been swarmed by smaller boars by now. Even as he thought this, the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ slammed its fore legs on the ground to summon another two boars. Great, he thought wearily. This herd of boars will only keep growing larger if I don't take out the main boss soon. He doubted he would have an easy time. He almost let out an unenthusiastic sigh. 60% more to go, better get started.

~

Word count: 586
Total word count (Swashbuckler): 492 + 442 + 445 + 653 + 586 = 2618
Notes: Might want to hide up the tree for a bit if you think the boars are overflowing from the forest.
Tags: @blazeedge

[Deleted]

Klide watched from his branch as Icyferno fought the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣ and dropped it's health more and more. As he faced off with the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣, it slammed it's front legs and two more boars charged out of the dense vegetation that surrounded them. Klide let out a small groan. His job was to keep the small things off of Icyferno. However, given his low level, he was too weak to be very effective at it. He had done alright keeping the earlier boars away, but they had injured him in a crippling manor, and his lack of healing items was a large problem as well. He tried to bend the damaged leg, and with a spike of pain, it bent. He started moving it to see how well it responded, and it moved decently, though he would not be able to run for quite some time, and given the abysmally slow health regeneration rate, he wouldn't be at full health until long after this battle was over.

Klide looked again at the two new boars, both of which were ready to charge at Icyferno. If he didn't kill them, they would impair Inferno's fighting ability, even if just as a distraction. However, if he did jump down to fight them, Klide might get in the way while Icyferno fought the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣. He hopped over to a branch a bit closer to the combat, and then to one almost directly above the boars. He drew one of his swords, feeling that his other arm would be more useful if it helped him climb quickly, than if it helped him kill the boars a bit faster. He held the sword with the tip facing down, and dived towards the fatter of the two boars. With the sudden appearance of a blade, and the chunk of ear that flew past it's eyes, the boar Klide had attacked spun towards him. Klide jumped back to avoid it's tusks as they swung through the air, and then hobbled over to the edge of the clearing, with only the boar he'd attacked following. He felt bad for leaving Icyferno with two enemies to deal with, but given his current state, he didn't think he would be able to hold off both. He fought the boar, repeatedly cutting at it's face and neck, hoping it would drop dead in time for him to help Icyferno more.

Word Count: 401
Total Word Count: 3512+401=3913
Notes: Sorry I took so long to reply.
Tags: Icyferno

[Icyferno]

Status: Fine / Tired

~

More boars appeared to defend their leader. It seemed that Klide couldn't hold back the tirade of boars afterall. Then again, it was already amazing that Klide could do so much at that level, so there was not really much to complain about. Klide had certainly made the first half of the battle a lot easier.

But those slightly easier times were a thing of the past, as another two boars joined the ranks of the initial boars to aid the boss in its assault. Unlike the Iron-Tusked Gerald, which would engage him at every opportunity, the smaller boars were more cautious, darting in to restrict his movements and staying on the defensive at other times. He had to admit, it was a good strategy they had going, but unfortunately for them, they were up against a Swashbuckler, and a Swashbuckler had ways of dealing with multiple enemies. Instead of dodging the next blow from the boss mob and goring himself on the tusks of the nearest boar, he took the blow as best he could, losing a fair chunk of health in the process.

At the same, the boars rushed in to support their leader in dealing as much damage as possible. This was the moment he was waiting for. With a twirl of blades, he spun through the boars, easily shredding their health with his level difference.

There were probably a multitude of other ways he could've dealt with the problem, but honestly, he couldn't be bothered to drag out fighting the smaller boars. Besides, it gave him a brief element of surprise as all of the boss' supporters vanished in a flash, which was something he intended to make use of as there wasn't going to be another opportunity like this since other boars would likely be even more cautious. That was, of course, if the boss boar could somehow communicate with its fellow boars, which he believed it could, else it couldn't have summoned them and give them commands otherwise.

Debate on whether boars communicate in this world aside, he went on the offensive, hacking as fast and as hard as he could in order to end this as quickly as possible. Clearly, he had underestimated the boss' stupidly broken ability to summon boars, for the boars it summoned had far superior tactics as compared to normal boars. He grumbled to himself, wish someone had told me that before I decided to make do without a healer...

~

Word count: 411
Total word count (Swashbuckler): 492 + 442 + 445 + 653 + 586 + 411 = 3029
Notes: Wait till you see how long it takes me to reply, exams from now till god knows when, maybe October at worst. How my school sets dates is beyond me. I totally did not type 90% of this on my phone in the bus because I was practically living on 3-6 hr of sleep everyday.
Tags: @blazeedge

[Deleted]

Klide, exhausted as he was, continued to stab and slash at the boar he faught. He finally got it to drop dead. Just in time to see Icyferno use an amazing tactic. He spun in an arc, shredding all the smaller boars to shreds in a flurry of blades. After that, he seemed ready to fight the boss again. Klide wished he could be more useful, though he supposed that with his current level, he couldn't expect himself to be that useful against such foes. Klide dragged himself up onto the lowest branch of the tree closest to him. He was about two meters off the ground, and he began to breath slowly, his exhaustion getting to him more than ever. He sat in the tree for a few more minutes, and suddenly he noticed something he had missed earlier on in the fight. Klide looked deep into the forest, and he saw a large pool of mud that resembled a small bog. He wasn't sure why Icyferno hadn't seen it, perhaps he was to busy being excited about fighting the boss, but it was probably their best bet to lead the boss there and immobilize it in the mud, or at the very least slow it down. Klide shouted to Icyferno as loudly as he could, to make sure that he could hear him over the noise of the boss. He asked Icyferno if he could lead the boss to the bog, and then he waited for a response.

Word Count:250
Total Word Count: 514+325+559+2114+401+250=4163
Tag: Icyferno

[Icyferno]

Status: Hurt / Tired

~

His concentration on avoiding and countering the boss boar was broken as he heard Klide yelling something. Leaping back to create some distance between himself and the boar, he focused on Klide, who was hanging from a tree. Something about a bog, and trapping the boar in it. Yelling that he got the message, he took on a wider stance to accomodate the boar reinforcement which pawed the ground some distance in a half circle around him, waiting for him to make a mistake. While keeping his distance from the now more wary boar, he cast about for the bog Klide mentioned and spotted it quite some distance away. Curses, he would not be able to make it over there before the boar charges him down!

But still, it was worth a shot. At the rate things were going, Klide was going to out for the count pretty soon, and then he would be left to face all of the supporting boars by himself. On the other hand, if the boar got trapped, it would be a simple matter finishing it off from a safe distance.

His mind made up, he sprinted in the general direction of the bog, the boss mob and its fellow boars immediately charging in after him, tusks lowered in an attempt to run through him. Just as the boars were about to catch up to him, he burst over the bog with a neatly executed Fold Step and almost cleared the bog, his left leg getting caught in the brown mud. That went so much better in his head.

At the very least, the boars, unable to stop their charge, pretty much ran straight into the mud, their much shorter legs causing almost their entire legs to seep into the soft ground as they struggled to free themselves. If it was from this distance, he could still take them out.

Returning his drawn swords to his inventory, he clapped his hands together, causing them to reappear, this time hovering in the air. The swords darted forward, running their lengths through the body of the ensnared ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣. He kept the swords in that position, watching the boar's increasingly desperate struggles as its HP slowly drained away. Given the choice, he would have preferred a quick end, but given the circumstances, he had no choice but to prolong the boar's suffering. If monsters revived with the memories of their previous death, this one would probably hold a grudge against him.

A full minute passed before the constant drain of HP was too much for the boar to take, and as its life bar hit zero, its eyes went blank and it simply disappeared in a myraid of multi-colored polygons, the swords hovering in the same position with ｢Ante Up｣ still in effect. A few more quick slashes and thrusts from the invisible hand holding the swords and the other boars were down for the count as well.

Finally pulling himself out of the mud, he called out his thanks to Klide for his assistance. "We should head back while we still can see the path, be careful on the way back. I heard those Brair Weasels are hard to spot at night." With little else to say, he decided to return to Londinium, making a mental note to NOT challenge a boss again without a proper party set-up. All the trouble I had to go through today due to my lack of preparation...

~

Word count: 577
Total word count (Swashbuckler): 492 + 442 + 445 + 653 + 586 + 411 + 577 = 3606
Notes: Cutting the thread short because I ran out of ideas I have to clear some other stuff because I'm preparing for exams. Feel free to make one last post or something.
Tags: @blazeedge

[Deleted]

Klide heard Icyferno shout back something about having gotten the message. Klide wished he could have been more helpful, but at this point all he could do was lay on the branch and watch. Icyferno led the boars towards the bog, and just as he reached the edge of it, he activated Fold Step. He was gives a boost that almost got him over the bog, but he was left with hes left leg stuck in the mud. The boars, however, had run in face first and the smaller ones seemed to be struggling to stay at the surface. Icyferno dispatched of the boars slowly, having to stab his swords into the ｢Iron-Tusked Gerald｣. He waited for it to die, before killing its underlings as well. Afterwards, Icyferno climbed out of the mud and thanked Klide for helping him. He told Klide to head back before the sun set. He seemed to be concerned with some sort of weasel. Klide shouted a thank you to Icyferno for giving him this opportunity, then he began his departure. Klide tried to jump from branch to branch, and saw slowly gaining some distance, but once he reached about ten meters above the ground, his injured leg faltered for a second, and he fell onto another branch directly below him. With the wind knocked out of him, Klide struggled back to his feet. He walked on the ground this time, and the first thing he did when he town was ordering a large bowl of stew from his favorite restaurant. The wound would heal in time.

Word Count:262
Total Word Count:514+325+559+2114+401+250+262=4425
Notes:See you around Icy, Thank you for ding this thread with me. Good Luck with your Exams.
Tags: Icyferno