Familiar Voice in an Unknown Land [Combat - Complete]

[Hanelli]

This time Han was feeling the itch of battle; and apparently Sarum was having a problem with these ‘inanimate objects’ that were always threatening to overtake the main base camp that the main exploration team had set up. She decided to help clear out some of the numbers; since they were pretty persistent (not to mention very determined) in attempting to drive away the assorted folks that had taken up camp; now the problem was, who could she go with? Her red-headed companion was out elsewhere on another assignment for today; and she did not want to take on this one alone. Hoping for the best, she then borrowed some ink and paper from one of the Scribes that was thankfully Japanese, and could understand her (even said Scribe was surprised to find someone who could actually speak the ‘mother language’ in a foreign place) as well.

Quickly scrawling something on the paper, she then made her way over to what looked like a ‘Bulletin Board’ that had the special Sarum-related quests posted up on it—and saw that there was a special area for adventurers to post their notes. Hoping that her script would not be covered, she then took a look over it, before posting it up in the most visible place she could manage. I hate being short… sometimes this is more of a curse in itself than a blessing… she thought to herself as she hissed; but finally managed to post up the note that had this written on it:

必要な支援：5ゴーレムの歩哨を取り除くために探して。¹

She then crossed her fingers and hoped for the best, even staying near said ‘board’ if in case someone looked for her—but didn’t know Japanese at all. Please let there be more from the homeland, please let there be more from the homeland… she thought as she looked at the crowd of people milling around the campsite.

[339]

1 - Assistance needed: looking to get rid of 5 Golem sentries.

[Kumori]

Kumori HP: 100% MP: 100%

"In order to live, I will continue to fight. In order to retain my humanity, I will continue to destroy those who mean to harm my friends."

The Sarum camp was full now with many beginners who were willing to brave the treacherous world of Sarum. Well, it was like him to look around to see if anyone wanted to pair up with him and take on the golems, especially beginners. He liked helping them grow, but that was when something in peculiar struck him as odd. His eyes darted over to the letters in red that was written in a language he knew all too well of. So it seems more people from Japan are here than I expected, he thought to himself. He approached the girl, short, but she was taller than the other Japanese girl he was close to. Her brown hair chestnut-brown hair reminded him of his own hair. She was petite and cute if you had to give her a description. But it wasn’t her appearance that made him look at her, it was the sign she was holding up. He read the sign and smiled at her. “こんにちは、あなたはまだ人を探してるんですか？” he said to her as he approached the Japanese player, which meant: “Hello, are you still looking for someone?” He bowed towards her as if a formal greeting and introduced himself. “Hello, My name is Kumori, it’s nice to meet you,” he said in Japanese. “You’re directly from the Japan server, aren’t you? I guess it’s good I came by… who knows how long you’d be stuck here,” he said to her politely.

Ryuu looked around the camp and saw that everyone else was already busy with their own work, and so Ryuu decided it was best to just head out. “Why don’t we start now? And I can teach you English if you want me to,” he said to her, trying to make some friendly conversation. While it was rare to find someone from his native land, it wasn’t always a bad thing. He enjoyed the company of other Japanese people, but he only went back to Japan once in a while. If Ryuu had a choice, he’d rather not go. He extended his hand to the other Assassin. If she grabbed it, he would lead her to where they were to go. It was nearby part of Sarum that was filling up with Golem Sentries. Their respawn rate was high, however even for a level 1 Assassin like Hanelli, they’d be able to dispose of the Sentries easily. While it would take some time for Ryuu to start speaking in Japanese consistently, which he as of late, he had no reason to, it reminded him of the need to continue to practice and speak his maiden tongue, regardless of the situation they were in. While culture and tradition were different from what he was used to in London, he still knew some etiquettes to the Japanese culture that would not make him look like a shame to his people.

OOC NOTES: 502 words

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Hanelli]

She was getting pretty worried at this point—because most of, if not all, of the players that were passing by her were giving her such weird looks—was it uncommon for an Elf to be found in these parts; or was it because of the signage she’d put up on the board…?! She was about to take down the sign when a voice reached her ears—and she was very thankful for the sound of someone who also knew the native language! She then averted her gaze from the point in the distance she was staring at; and then saw that there was another player in front of her—addressing her in Japanese—and she breathed a sigh of relief. She had to chuckle for a few as well since he’d bowed before introducing himself. Manners are manners, she thought, shifting into formal mode and returning the bow as well.

Finally, no more awkward language barriers! She thought as she went into her own introduction; “Yes, I’m looking for someone who can help,” she began, after straightening out from the bow, and then going on full-introduction mode, “…you can call me Han; everyone else I know does. It’s short for Hanelli,” she began, before addressing the rest of his inquiries. “Well, you can say that I’ve tried out the Japanese server; but that was before my family moved to England on official business. It’s so refreshing having to speak in the native tongue without having to get weird looks from everyone else,” she added with a chuckle; and then they went straight into business; for apparently the problem was getting dire.

“Lead the way, if you please,” she said, nodding in affirmation and then taking the proffered hand, and letting the other Assassin lead the way. “Guess we should stick together. Thick as thieves, they say,” she said a few moments later, pertaining to their main job classes—it was a caste thing that she’d picked up on; regardless if they were of different races, as long as they had the same job class, then everything would go fine. As for his other interesting offer… “Oh yes, please do if you don’t mind. I lost contact with my English tutor when the Catastrophe happened. I couldn’t find her ever since; it’s s hard going through the world with people looking at you because they can’t understand what the hell you’re saying,” she admitted in a very embarrassed tone—this was mostly true for her red-headed companion; since there was still this language barrier between them that prevented them from communicating properly.

[432]

[Kumori]

Kumori HP: 100% MP: 100%

"In order to live, I will continue to fight. In order to retain my humanity, I will continue to destroy those who mean to harm my friends."

Hanelli grabbed his hand and Ryuu turned towards the explored parts of Sarum. The outer parts was where the most of the lower level golems were present. As he led the female Assassin along the path towards their destination, he looked at her and decided that their walking time could be used productively as their English learning time. He began trying to translate his Japanese into English so that she could eventually understand it, and do so likewise for her words that she said to him. He would repeat key words to her in Japanese and English so that she’d be able to pick up on it eventually. “So.. these low level monsters are different than what you would normally encounter. Usually, you’d encounter a rabbit or a boar outside of London… well in Sarum, they may be low level, but they’re a bit more difficult. Why? Because they do a significant amount of damage compared to the level one creatures you find in the forests. This will be a bit different from the forest since there’s not as much cover, so you will have to play the role of tank and striker at the same time. I’ll lower my level to your level with the teacher system, so we should be able to do this together rather than I getting all of the Hate,” he said to her.

As they continued walking the somewhat long trek, he had to ask the begging question: “Why are you in the UK server?” he asked. He wasn’t sure how personal it’d be, but it did intrigue him quite a bit. He didn’t meant many people who willingly left the JP server to go to different servers, especially when they retained their old characters there. Ryuu, however, came to the London servers because the lag was starting to become a major issue for him when joining the JP servers. He figured it was most likely just to see how good or how different the UK server was compared to the JP server. The differences he had seen so far did not note much changes other than the fact that this was London rather than Japan, which made it somewhat different in terms of questing. The questing was different because of the different environment and therefore different needs from the Landers. Sarum was one of these requirements. It wasn’t often that people were able to participate in something like this to better the community around them. After a few more minutes of walking, they had finally arrived at the main attraction, Golem Sentries. Ryuu looked over to his companion and then towards the golems ahead. “Shall I go first, or do you want to?” he asked trying to be courteous. He was knowledgeable and efficient in his method of training and killing things, so Ryuu wondered if she wanted to learn from him or if she wanted to try her hand at it without his help. He waited for a response and would follow her decision.

OOC NOTES: 502 words

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Hanelli]

She was very thankful that there was someone else who was willing to help her out with her ‘Lost in Translation’ problem; the good thing about this was the fact that if ever she encountered other players of other nationalities in the near future, there would be less awkward moments involved—and more questing done. While they were headed over to where some of the more persistent Golems were ‘making camp’, Kumori, got busy with going through the problem that was her ‘language barrier’; and she was pleased with how he was taking it—slow and steady, because honestly, nobody could learn an entire language in one day. After a while of walking, he finally asked her one of the few questions she was trying to avoid answering; but since he’d been very helpful, she decided to answer it all the same. “Well,” she tried in English, though her ‘L’ was coming off still sounding as ‘R’ (some weird quirk the Japanese people always had with them no matter what) “…I was adopted by this family, and they lived here. They didn’t want to move to Japan, so I moved with them all the way here to London—and from what I understand, they’re quite the rich folk, but with no children to call their own.”

There were no underlying reasons, that was just the bare necessity of it all—moving because of certain circumstance—and she was secretly thankful to start a new life, even if it was in another part of the world. After continuing the trek down to where the ‘camp’ of Golem Sentries was located, it was actually time to get the show on the road. She then began unwinding the rope she’d coiled around her shoulder, and began spinning her ‘projectile’ weapon. “Let’s get this done together, two people working on this group should be much faster than just going alone,” she said for a moment in Japanese, before grinning. Her other hand was already spinning the kunai around, and she was just waiting for his first attack so that she could go in as cover support and stat firing off her ranged attack… drats I really need to research the feasibility of using daggers as ‘arrows’ instead of actual wooden arrows with a bow. I don’t know if it would work, or if it would flop, but all the same I need to find out if it’s even possible! She thought in her mind as the rope was already spinning at a good pace; and she was preparing to initiate her Spark Shot attack if ever.

[432]

[Kumori]

Kumori HP: 100% MP: 100%

"In order to live, I will continue to fight. In order to retain my humanity, I will continue to destroy those who mean to harm my friends."

Hanelli explained why she was in the UK server. It made sense. Orphans from many Asian countries found their way to affluent families that lived in many of the developed countries. Ryuu knew a few people who had Korean children that they had adopted, which at first seemed odd, but then it came to a point where Ryuu realized that the world was not the ideal place he thought it to be initially, and that in order to make it closer to the ideal, Ryuu would have to do something about it. Here, in Elder Tales, he had that ability, he had that power to make a difference, and he would not allow any one person go hungry. He silently thanked the new parents of Hanelli who watched over her and did not press further into her past. While her English was terrible, he did not expect it to go that well, since she had just recently moved from Japan. It was far easier for non-native speakers of English to read words mentally than to say them without any visual cues.

As for the task at hand: Golem sentries. They were simple in concept, but they were much more than just constructs made of stone. They were intelligent, and while they were weak, they were still ones to be feared, especially since both adventurers were now level 1. He stepped forth, acting as if he was only level one once again. This kept his mind sharp and his strategic mind in gear. Deadly Dance was the only skill he had when he was level 1, and so he would only use that. He was to be striker and tank this time around, which made sense since Hanelli preferred to use ranged weapons. “Don’t hit me,” he said to her before he dashed off. No Quick Draw, no other skills, just pure level 1 speed and strength. As he ran forth, he caught two golem sentries’ attention. He ran straight for one, with the other right behind it. He ducked down, sliding past the first golem and to the second to give Hanelli a clear shot at the first golem. Using the momentum of the slide, he powered his strike up with his skill, Deadly Dance, and did about a quarter of its health before trying to evade the several strikes that it was attempting in order to deal damage to the teacher level 1 assassin. He maneuvered well, and because this was not his first experience in facing the Golem Sentries, he had a slight advantage of understanding their attack pattern.

OOC NOTES: 431 words

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Hanelli]

“Don’t worry, just duck so I know that there’s an opening!” she said, watching as Kumori moved forward in a bid to draw the attention of the two Golem Sentries that had spotted them both—and it was just in time too; she watched his movements as he quickly did a ducking move—was he going for the second Sentry—and then that gave her the opening. “Incoming!” she shouted, quickly letting the spinning obstacle fly—it was now crackling with electrical energy as it whizzed through the air; making contact with the stone. What she was not expecting, however, was that the moment her kunai hit said Sentry, the electrical discharge went off and everything—but it looked like it wasn’t affected! “Ah, hell, you have to be kidding me…” she said to herself, suddenly remembering the basic ‘principles’ that she’d picked up from another handheld game that had taken the world by storm—catching them all was apparently part of its premise—and then quickly yanked back the projectile just as her companion came up for his attack.

I don’t know which attack you’re using, but hey, I will definitely get that once I’ve gotten much better at this… she thought, quickly hoisting the rope again around her right arm, and quickly pulling out the dagger that was in her possession. Knowing that the Golem was a bit on the slow side and lumbering around, she took this chance to veer in close and deliver a standard slashing attack; no fancy tricks or whatsoever; and then jumped out of the way as one of its fists went flying in her direction! “Whoa, too close for comfort there,” she said to herself as she crouched down on the ground and took a roll to avoid the incoming stomping and flailing fists. As she rolled off to one side, she got an idea—and quickly let the dagger fly from her grip; hoping that the metal would at least strike some weak point that the Golem that was in front of her had at this point.

“Incoming!” she called out again, making sure to give her companion enough warning to avoid the projectiles that would be coming from her direction.

[370]

Attempted Spark Shot. It's not very effective...

[Kumori]

Kumori HP: 100% MP: 100%

"In order to live, I will continue to fight. In order to retain my humanity, I will continue to destroy those who mean to harm my friends."

Ryuu heard a fizz of lighting that had dissipated quickly from the body of the first golem he had passed. He looked back to see that she realized electricity does not work well against these constructs. Ryuu could almost see a face palm waiting to happen in her direction, which made Ryuu smile. At least she’s learning, he thought to himself as he began his onslaught against the two golems. Onslaught, however, was subjective since he was using his lowered stats.

Ryuu continued to hit the golem. While his attacks were mostly ineffective, it chipped away at the HP of the golem steadily. It wasn’t as fast as he’d like it to go, but he was limited to what he could do with what he had. Moving around as much as possible, to keep the golems on their toes, he slashed at the both of them, waiting for the cool down of his skill to finish. He jumped in between the golems, using their bodies as walls for his acrobatics, using something Gunz players would call a wall slash, which allowed him to attack, and then push off them with his feet and then landing on the other sentry to deliver the same blow. “Incoming” he heard from below, the girl telling him that she had thrown a dagger. Ryuu quickly ran on top of the broad shoulders of the Golem Sentry and jumped down from the top, to evade any projectiles that may have been thrown in that direction, but this was good for him, as he turned back around and slashed again at the golem, using his Deadly Dance to deal a more significant blow against it.

Thankfully, knowing the behavior of these golems had made it much more simple than things he usually practiced or trained against. It seemed that Hanelli was a pretty brave girl, though, braving the melee attacks of the golems even though she was mostly a ranged fighter. She quickly realized her mistake, though, rolling away from the golems and trying to keep the Hate onto Ryuu. “Keep hitting them with normal attacks… you should do normal damage, even if they’re sharp weapons,” he yelled out to her in Japanese.

OOC NOTES: 367 words

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Hanelli]

I really wish I should’ve picked up that Poison Bottle before setting out here… she thought in dismay; because if Lightning didn’t work on inanimate objects such as these, maybe Poison would do some wonders against them…? Eh, whatever, she thought to herself as she heard Kumori’s shout—she needed to keep hitting them; even if it wouldn’t work all too well—because the Golems were made of rock. “If I had some magic on me then this would be an easier task!” she shouted back in Japanese; wondering if it was possible to change out her Hunter class for something else she could use—but then realized that she needed the Hunter subclass after all, and that would be a very bad idea in the long run. Gritting her teeth, she retained hold of her dagger, and then quickly let it fly towards the Golem that Kumori was whittling down; even seeing that same skill he’d performed earlier being used once again.

“I’m going to let my kunai fly, steer clear!” she said n Japanese a few moments later, twirling the rope around once again, and doing so until it reached a very fast momentum. At that same moment, she quickly let it fly, and watched as it zoomed towards the Golem’s head; hopefully it would wedge itself into one of the orifices she’d seen on its face—but not get stuck. To her surprise though, the kunai found its mark in one of the holes on the side of its head, which she guessed was its ear—or something similar—and then she tried to pull the rope back, only to be met with resistance, again. “Ah shoot it’s stuck…” she said to herself as she gave another quick yank, and the rope went taut—it was definitely stuck in the Golem! Time to try tugging with all my power… she thought as she quickly steeled her legs and dug them into the ground, trying her hardest to yank the Golem’s ‘head’ off of its body—who knew if it was going to work?

[346]

- normal attacks used, since Spark Shot is not very effective against them Golems.

[Kumori]

Kumori HP: 100% MP: 100%

"In order to live, I will continue to fight. In order to retain my humanity, I will continue to destroy those who mean to harm my friends."

He saw that Hanelli was doing what she could to do as much damage as she could to the Golem. Well it was to be expected. Ryuu had been out here before and so he knew the tricks of attacking the golems. “You can damage it normally, no need to look for the crevices or secret spots. Those are too small for you to hit accurately at the moment,” he said to her, trying to explain to her that at this level, it was not about accuracy, but about damage output. As he finally finished off the first of the golems, he noticed that Hanelli had gotten her dagger stuck in the crevice near the head. She was pulling on the rope that held her dagger and connected it to her hand. It’d be impossible for her to get it out without some help, so Ryuu jumped up and climbed up the golem stabbing his own dagger into the hole to wedge Hanelli’s dagger out of it. He then removed his own dagger, and told Hanelli: “Keep attacking> I want you to kill this one, this time,” he said to her, trying to give her the opportunity of having a kill.

OOC NOTES: 201 words

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Hanelli]

Hoping that he would not encounter any express difficulties for getting her own weapon stuck in the Golem’s head, she was still trying to pull on the rope in order to see if the weapon would come free—but it was only causing her to get dragged along the Golem’s walking path; although it was trying to hit her from a distance, she was thankful her kunai was attached to approximately ten feet of rope. “At least it’s long enough… I think,” she said to herself as she was still trying to wedge out the weapon—when it suddenly came loose, and she promptly lost her balance! “W-whoa!” she shouted for a few, narrowly missing hitting the stump behind her—thankfully she was able to maintain some semblance of balance.

“Guess I was being too ambitious there,” she said in Japanese, before hefting the weapon back towards her and now solely relying on the dagger that she had with her. If I had a bow and arrow, this would be loads easier. Ah, the bane of being a very low-level… she thought as she decided to come in close and start attacking said Golem with a series of slashes and kicks. Well, the slashing part was going on well—except for the fact that the Health bar wasn’t going down as fast as she wanted it to—and that whenever she tried to kick any part of the Golem, it ended up hurting her instead. “Ah, stupid me,” she hissed, ducking and narrowly missing the flailing fists of the Golem. My only skill is rendered useless at this point. Whatever, who cares, I need the experience! She thought as she steeled herself and then took a quick leap—right at the moment the Golem suddenly swung one of its fists downwards in an attempt to flatten her.

“Hey, ugly, up here!” she shouted in English, she was standing on the Golem’s buried arm; and she then came in for another series of slashing attacks—and after what felt like another eternity, her footing shifted—it had taken the better part of three minutes trying to avoid the other flailing fist of the Golem that was swinging aimlessly—as it exploded into nothingness. “Whoops there,” she said, catching her footing and coming to a two-point landing in a crouching position. “Are they really this tenacious?” she asked in Japanese once more, before shifting to English. “I mean, are they that hard to take out…because lightning doesn’t work too well against them…” she said with a sigh, looking around—and then spotting even more trouble. Since they’d taken out two Sentries, there were bound to be reinforcements—and this time, three more came tumbling in to the spot.

“Man, they’re drawn like moths to a flame…” she said in Japanese again as she readied her dagger and brought it close to her face, before preparing to dash forward. “Let’s go clean this group up!” she said in English, and promptly broke out into a dash and ducked to avoid the lead Golem Sentry’s flailing fists, and then attempted slashing away at its legs, as she was now rolling across the dirt, trying to find a way to bring down the Sentry without getting too close within range of the flailing fists.

[549]

- normal attacks used
- JP dialogue is italicized, ENG is normal (no effects applied or anything whatsoever)

[Kumori]

Kumori HP: 100% MP: 100%

"In order to live, I will continue to fight. In order to retain my humanity, I will continue to destroy those who mean to harm my friends."

Her reactions were quick and precise. It might be that she was able to do so because of her class as an assassin, but he didn’t doubt that she was also a gamer in real life as well as athletic. With the body of an athlete and the reflexes of a gamer, Assassins were truly a deadly class in this world. She dodged deftly as the golem was beginning to flurry down on the young assassin. After she completed a series of slashes in 3 minutes, Ryuu noticed the golem had exploded into the normal crystals of data. He looked at Hanelli who had avoided most of the damage that she could have taken. “Well, they are earth golems,” he noted to her as earth was normally resistant to electricity. “Though, suggestion, you might want to use your rope as a bola so you can force it to trip. Wrap it at the bottom of the legs, and I’m pretty sure you can down it, taking away it’s only weapon… it’s fists,” he said to her.

There were more coming, now, after their comrades had been downed by the pair of assassins. Ryuu looked up towards the oncoming group of Golem Sentries that were ready to take them and smash them to bits and pieces. Ryuu watched as Hanelli rushed forward, which meant that he would have to do likewise as well. Ryuu ran forward, trying to keep up with the other Assassin. While he could not outrun her, he could definitely match her pace as she did what he had done last time, going through the legs, slashing at the golems. His daggers already drawn as he held them out as he ran through the legs of the first Golem Sentry, slashing at both of its legs. The golem let out a howl, one that was expected to be made from such constructs of earth. It sounded more like creaking and rubbing of stones together rather than a howl made from normal creatures. “Do what I suggested to you earlier, Hanelli… force them to trip. They’re like dominos after that,” he said to her in Japanese. He would continue slashing and using Deadly Dance when it was off cooldown so that he’d do constant damage to the golems that were here. He got to the top of one of the golems and noticed that more were coming, but they weren’t just sentries anymore. Sentinels were approaching, while they were still a few minutes out, it was unmistakable that their target was the two assassins. This would be tricky, as this meant he would have to remove the teacher system to ensure the safety of the two. He didn’t say anything to Hanelli as to not cause her to panic. The information was indeed concerning, but not until they made their way here. “Let’s finish these quick!” he’d shout to her position, wherever she was at that current moment.

OOC NOTES: 489 words

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Hanelli]

Now that the three were bearing down upon the two, she knew that it was time to get ‘down and dirty’; and she heard his advice—and realized that if she used the rope like a ‘trip wire’, then it would be much more easier to take them all down. “I get it… thanks!” she said, quickly veering off to the opposite side—as he was already engaged in combat with one of the three Golems. Quickly unwinding the rope that she’d coiled around her shoulder, she began spinning the length around—but instead of letting the weapon fly towards the target, she decided to bring it down low in an attempt to trip the Golems! She knew that it would come out as a very clumsy attempt, but at least she was going to try… “Get down, get down, get down!” she said to herself as she ducked low in order to avoid the flailing fists of one of the Golems that was lumbering her way—and let the rope sail through its legs instead. It did go through the opening just fine; and as the Golem reared back in order to smash its two fists down where she was located—she made the split-second decision of rolling off to one side and quickly grabbing the other end of the rope!

“Hah, fell for it, didn’t you?” she said, a grin on her face, and she quickly tugged on the opposite end of the rope, throwing as much power as she could into the force of yanking said rope. The Golem Sentry never knew what hit it—for its center of gravity suddenly shifted; and was now flailing as it tipped over to one side—and came down with a resounding crashing noise. She was hoping that the other two would get caught in the impact—she then chanced a look and saw that the Golem’s flailing fists (the one she’d tripped down) had snagged on another Golem (the one that Kumori was not attacking presently) and that one had slipped and tumbled down as well. “Hah, it worked!” she said, a look of glee crossing her face as she quickly yanked harder, making sure that the Golems wouldn’t gain traction and somehow manage to stand themselves upright once again.

Now that the tide was turning in their favor, she then took out her dagger and then came in, still tugging at the rope; and began another series of chipping and slashing attacks—for the Golem she was attacking had its fists buried into the ground, therefore leaving it exposed—and it took another while before she realized that she was falling through the air and came to a three-point landing, sitting down on the dirt! “Oops, that was fast,” she said more to herself as she quickly closed the distance and went for the second Golem that was now flailing on the ground, trying to regain its footing—to no avail. She then got the idea of using the rope once again—and quickly held on to the end that was secured to her weapon and tried to make a loop of rope, which she spun around a few times before letting it fly—and it missed the flailing fist! Ah crap, threw it too early… she thought as she pulled back on the rope and then tried once again—and missed!

She knew that this was going to take a bit of concentration; so she took a deep breath and yanked the looped piece of rope back—and then let it fly once more—and this time, the rope finally caught itself around the flailing fist—and she quickly gave a pull! Hell, I don’t know if I’d be able to remove its hand, but whatever, let’s try this! She thought as she pulled the rope taut; and the flailing fist came to a halt. “Success!” she crowed, before quickly maintaining a grip on the rope, and closing the distance once again and unloading another battering ram of slashing attacks—they took much longer before taking effect—but in the end, the second Golem Sentry she’d brought down exploded into bits of data. “How’re you holding up over there?” she asked her companion, giving herself a once-over and realizing that half of her body was now extremely dirty—not to mention muddy.

[725]

- normal attacks used

[Kumori]

Kumori HP: 95% MP: 75%

"In order to live, I will continue to fight. In order to retain my humanity, I will continue to destroy those who mean to harm my friends."

She was learning, which was good. She was beginning to use herself as a person rather than viewing herself as a character or an avatar. She had taken his suggestions into consideration and successfully brought down two of the golems who were flailing to get back up from their downed positions. While Ryuu concentrated on the single one that he was focused on, trying to strike that the areas he knew the golem was more susceptible to damage, the Sentinels were beginning to close in. With a final Deadly Dance used, Ryuu landed on the ground with his two feet. With the three sentries dealt with Ryuu looked over back to Hanelli and gave her a thumbs up. “You did a good job,” he said as he quickly went through the menus to remove the Teacher System limiter, “but I think you should stay out of this next one. I think we’re moving too far inland… so we should move closer to camp to hit more of these sentries, but let me take care of these guys first,” he said to her, but it was as he estimated, about the time the sentinels arrived. Three of them appeared from the distance and Ryuu was now at his full strength. “Let me show you what your potential is,” he said to the half-elf. “Follow me and watch, but don’t engage,” he said to her.

He dashed forward, looking to take on the three sentinels by himself. While they were only level 20, they would easily kill Hanelli. Thankfully, because of the huge level difference, most of the Hate would be attached to him. As they were about 20 meters away, Ryuu nodded towards Hanelli, “This is no longer a game, the options are limitless,” he said to her, and before she could reply, he was already gone, to demonstrate the prowess of an Assassin against one or even several enemies. He had used Quick Draw to approach the first golem. As soon as it attempted to strike him, Ryuu spun around, striking the fist that attempted to smash him down, running it up towards its elbows and then ducked beneath. The second sentinel punched at him, which he dodged, but was clipped by it, therefore losing a bit of health. He recovered easily, as he used his new level of Deadly Dance at the first sentinel he faced earlier, dealing plenty of damage that brought it down to critical levels. He jumped on top of the nearly dead golem, waiting for another sentinel to punch at him. As soon as it did, he would jump, allowing the other golem to kill its own friend. He ran across the top of the arm and sliced clean through the arm of the golem, dropping to the ground. He used his legs as springs to stop the impact from causing fall damage. He side stepped towards the middle of the sentinel’s body, thrusting his dagger into the supposed abdomen and then thrusting it up and climbing the golem’s body to the top, forcing the golem to topple down to the ground, exploding into millions of data crystals. Now it was time for the finale. The last of the three sentinels who had come as reinforcements. The golem stared down at the tiny assassin in comparison. It was time to try a combo that he had thought would be a kill in only a mere few seconds. With all of his cooldowns already over with, Ryuu smiled at his enemy. Was he enjoying this? Was he enjoying the killing of these creatures, or was he simply satisfied with his ability and the ability to fight with no inhibitions.

Ryuu used the Quick Draw skill in order to close the distance, and attacking the golem with a single strike that was not meant to do much damage. Upon reaching its location, Ryuu would activate Hide Walk and Stealth Strike in order so the golem could no longer see him or feel him. As soon as he activated it, Ryuu used his Silent Walk to move to the other side of the Golem so that he was now facing the back of it. Ryuu then readied his last stance in order to finish the golem in one fell swoop. “Assassinate,” he said under his breath. As soon as the strike hit, the animation of blood splatter and the words of Assassinate appeared behind him. The golem sentinel fell from its position and Ryuu flicked his dagger in order to remove the ‘blood’ that was not there and then sheathed it into its saya. He ran back to Hanelli and smiled, “Let’s go back towards the town edge and face the sentries there,” he suggested to her.

OOC NOTES: 789 words

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Hanelli]

Now that her share of taking out the Golem Sentries was done—she looked over at her companion, and he gave her an appeasing look; a job well done—but then warned her to stay back, because there was definitely more trouble brewing—as there were more incoming Golems; but these did not look anything like the ones they had taken care of just now. Wondering if it was even possible that more and more Golem-class creatures would come out, she then finished coiling up the now-muddy rope, and then backed away; and then watched as a series of changes and transformations overcame Kumori—was he releasing something, she couldn’t tell—and then watched the next scenes of battle unfold right before her very eyes.

She then realized that earlier, he was fighting on the same level that she was—since she could only remember seeing him use one attack—but now seeing the full repertoire of attacks that he had at his (and eventually her, as she remembered that they were of the same class) disposal, she was now just watching in amazement at what he was doing—the fluidity of the movement, the precise timing of each attack—and just like that, he had taken out the three other Golem-class creatures that had trundled into the vicinity—and it was all over. “At least there’re less Golems to worry about for now,” she said, following his footsteps and heading back to the main encampment, in order to turn in their report of having taken out a part of the endless parade of Golems that were continuously besieging the camp.

[271]