Sword and Shield [Group/CLOSED]

[Saeko]

Saeko hummed a light tune, as she walked into the woodlands. The trees were tall, and the air was light around her, a few rays of sun coming through the leaves up above. She looked up for a moment, and relaxed in the light, giving off a slight smile. She stopped for a moment to let the sun bless her face as she was heading to her destination. She was due to meet a Guardian by the screen name of Sooty, whom she was forced into partnership with. Yet another easy quest of killing poor, defenseless slimes. Saeko's insane insticts would have a chance to take over for a moment, once the rush of battle began. However, she would need to hold herself off until then. No use getting excited over something that has yet to happen. She opened her eyes to see that she was breathing a bit heavier, and her face was slightly blushing. A grin forming on her face, she turned back to the road for a moment, and continued along the path.

Even though this would be her second quest, her first having been on her own, killing a small number of slimes herself. However, working in a party would prove to be a bit more of a challenge. However, this man she was to be working with, the guardian, would be useful in the fact that he could absorb a large amount of damage for her, so she could focus on fighting. While it was true that Saeko had a good set of armor on, herself, it would help to have a moving wall in the way to take all the hits for her. Being an expert with MMO's and the like, Saeko knew just how to build up her avatar to deal the most damage. Yes, she was going more for damage than defensive capabilities. Was that so strange, for a Samurai-class? Not for her. No no, Saeko would want to kill everything in her way, all on her own. This would prove to be the best way to do so, and if players even got in her way, too, she would cut them down. Bit by bit.

Saeko soon arrived at the location she was to meet the guardian, frowning a bit for a moment. She thought it rude to make a woman wait, seeing as the man himself wasn't here yet. It's common courtesy for a man to wait for a woman, not the other way around. Then again, this world's rules were much different from the real world, and she didn't really know this to be true herself. Since her father died when she was young, she never got to see her parents be like an actual couple. This thought brought her back to the real world, and the resentment she felt for her mother, and how Saeko's mother cast Saeko aside, as if she were the reason for all the bad things in her life. But, the moment passed, and Saeko put back on the guise of a happy girl. She dawned the slight smile once again, and took a seat on a nearby tree stump. She leaned back, and let the sun soak into her face once again. She waited patiently for her soon-to-be wall of a teammate arrive, hoping that she wouldn't be left waiting for too long. She might just get bored, and chop down half the forest, if she waited too long. Giggling, she closed her eyes.

[581 Words]

[Sooty]

Sooty sighed as he made his way through the valley region known as the Windsor Greatwood bemoaning his bad luck. First I get out of college to find the job market is worthless and the very game I pick up to help me keep my mind off of it drops me here~ he grumbled mentally. It was almost laughable, going from what many consider a bad situation to one where it managed to get even worse. Then again, it was easy to find a job here and even easier to make money. Perhaps it hadn’t turned out too bad.



Then again, he noted as his wolf ears perked up at every sudden noise around him, perhaps he had managed to find himself in something beyond his wildest dreams. The man had picked up Elder Tales without knowing too much of the lore and having only played classics like Skyrim, something like this wasn’t really up his alley. Especially the ears. The ears were definitely bothering him, far more than the platemail he had found himself garbed in.



Oddly enough, the armor had seemed like a natural piece of clothing along with the shield and spear feeling as though they were just an extension of his body. Looking at his great shield, Sooty gave his arm a good shake. It was heavy, and a little delayed, but it moved with relative ease for something of its apparent size and mass. Back in the real world there would have been no way he’d have been able to move something like that with the same ease, and he was by no means a weak person. Interesting…~



Pinning it to the game he was now stuck in, Sooty thought back to the quest board he had found in town. It seemed like the game had changed, no longer were quests something as easy as they were in other games. If anything, Sooty had reserves against even comparing this to any game. Yet that may have been the exact reason why he couldn’t keep a grin off his face. Was this not a dream of humanity? Immortal yet still able to die, at least momentarily, if one truly wished they could plow forwards endlessly for the sake of strength. Sooty himself couldn’t help but think back to his times playing as a knight in his childhood.



Perhaps that was why he had grabbed the quest rather than wait around doing nothing. Building the strength to be someone’s knight, someone’s shield, sounded interesting. Even more so when one considers that the world now revolved entirely around this sort of thing. Strength allowed one to sustain them here.



Sooty’s ears perked up for a moment, catching the distinct sound of a human no more than a dozen feet away. Looks like she’s my partner,~ he noted, slightly surprised to see her seemingly asleep. Walking to the tree across from her, the guardian pulled his arm free of the braces on his shield before sitting at the foot of the tree and closing his eyes for a moment. It was a long walk after all, and who’d want to risk angering a sleeping girl on their first meeting?

Word Count: 530

[Saeko]

The sun's rays were warm and inviting, but Saeko's eyes slowly opened at the sound of footsteps approaching her. Her eyes glinted for a moment, looking over at the strengthy-looking man. Her gleaming eyes squinted a bit, as she smirked a bit. She hopped off the stump, landing with a soft thud. Her long, violet hair streamed behind her, and she turned up to look at the man. She noticed the weapon and shield on the guardian, and confirmed that this was the man she was to be waiting for. Instead of mentioning that he was rude for making a woman wait, she decided that she'd let it slide. Besides, she'd be using this guy as her meat shield, in the end. Being able to exploit anything and anyone around her would be useful for her. The less damage she took, the more she could deal out. Saeko is certain that this mission would be fun. She started to walk towards the man, and placed her hand on her sheath, observing the man with a soft glare.

"A pleasure to meet you." Saeko began. "I suppose that you will be accompanying me for this quest. I am Saeko, and I look forward to working with you." She gave her greeting, before a slow nod to the man, and turned to the side a bit. Saeko brushed her hair to the side, letting it float gently down to her back once again. The clothing she was wearing was horrid, and she needed to get something more suited to her. She decided that she would need a uniform soon enough, but for now, she'd need to work on what was before her. So the slimes had to be her priority. She saw a few in a small group, and her battle instincts clicked immediately. A sinister smile formed immediately onto her face, and her eyes widened in preparation for battle. She would turn around to let her ally know sooner, but instead, she only began to slowly unsheathe her blade. "Now, perhaps we could get this started. There's a few slimes over this way."

Without even so much as a warning, Saeko charged over towards the slimes. Her blade was out, and ready to fight immediately. She held her blade to her right side, and lowered her body to run faster. After getting close enough to strike, Saeko leaped up into the air, grasped the blade in both hands, and struck down onto the gelatinous monster. She landed, and swiftly turned around, and cut back upwards. Her blade contacted with the body of the monster, and she sheathed it once again. Saeko's demonic teal eyes turned sharply towards another slime, which was cowering a small distance away from her. "Oh, how cute." She began, flicking the blade out again, and walking slowly towards. She held it to her side, and pointed it upwards, letting it glow red for a moment. "Too bad you won't survive, little defenseless slime." In almost an instant, Zantetsuken was activated, and it slashed to the side. Saeko turned back around, sheathing her blade. A moment later, the tree she had struck began to fall to the ground, crushing the slime into oblivion. Her insane look turned towards the slimes once again. "So... Who's next?" Saeko put her hand on the sheath once again, glaring intently at the monsters. She began to laugh maniacally under her breath, tilting her head upwards, as if she were looking down on the slimes. "Perish."

[583 Words]

[Sooty]

The young woman threw the Wolf Hair for a bit of a loop. Polite enough, yet off, as though something was damaged inside of her. Though to be entirely honest, he couldn’t tell if it had come from the becoming trapped in this world or if it was a prior issue. Or there’s always the chance she’s just plain sadistic~ he noted, with a bit of an inward sigh. Blinking, Sooty’s eyes followed the girl on her short path of destruction. It didn’t take much effort to see the apparent glee in her eyes as her blade dispatched a couple of the weak creatures. Yeah, sadistic seems right.~



Scanning for a target that had escaped his partner’s eyes, Sooty caught sight of a slime heading for some heavier cover. Picking up his pace the guardian covered the distance in no time, pinning the slime to trunk of a tree with his great shield. “Nothing personal mate, I would have run from her too,” he consoled the panicking goo before plunging his spear into its center, scattering it into tiny fragments of light.



Hearing a loud crash, Sooty’s hears dropped back to his skull in preparation for some unknown danger as he did a quick scan of his surroundings again. Apparently Saeko had seen fit to chop down a tree. To kill a single, solitary slime. “I almost feel bad for the little buggers,” he mumbled under his breath, realizing how truly pathetic the creature’s existence was. Not to mention they had the new horror of being crushed by falling trees to worry about along with being stabbed, burned, sliced, and whatever else normally happened to slimes. Harsh world…



Before he could even ask if the tree cutting was truly necessary, Saeko moved to her next target. Sighing, he looked around for another few slimes to mop up. Sooty was finding it a bit odd that the samurai had even moved for a quest that allowed someone to take one of her kills. She seemed like the type who’d rather horde them to herself. The guardian’s lapse of concentration on the task at hand resulted in a sudden blunt force crashing into his side. Staggering back in surprise, it took Sooty a moment to realize what had happened before he lunged out with his spear piercing the slime’s entire body for a moment. A few moments later he was rewarded with the shattering of its figure.



Looking at his status bar, Sooty was shocked to see how little damage it did, even as low level creatures. Perhaps tanking out have its benefits after all. Looking around, he shouted, “Hey Saeko, why are we even here killing these things again? I don’t remember what the quest was!”

Word Count: 455
Thread Count: 985

[Saeko]

Saeko didn't even consider the guardian as even being there anymore, as she just went about her own business. And by that, she meant, of course, the slaughtering of slimes. Speaking of which, her blade flourished left and right, causing a maelstrom of slashes and cuts all around her. A sadistic smile could be easily seen upon her face, but she was twirling far too quickly to have it be seen. Her motion was a fluid movement of blade and body, acting as if the weapon was an extension of her own body. She cut through slime after slime, but never could really kill any of them. Truth be told, she was losing her balance in all the twirling and swerving, and really couldn't keep track of what she was and wasn't hitting. After a few more swings, she could finally see the two slimes that she had weakened, and stopped herself. She felt dizzy, of course, but managed to stabilize herself before striking. She performed a swift cut along the first slime, killing it, and turned abruptly to the second one.

This one flew at her, and collided with her torso. Being knocked off balance, Saeko fell to the ground, landing on her face. This severely angered her, as she watched her health bar drop down 5%. Although this was the first time she was hit in this quest, it still bugged her. She stabbed the ground with her weapon, and used it to get herself back up onto her feet. She turned quickly, just in time to see the slime try the same move again. Smirking, Saeko dodged to the side, brought the blade up, and swung down onto the defenseless torso of the last slime, cutting it in half. This, of course, sent it into oblivion, as the particles circled around her. She stood tall, a stern look on her face, and slowly replaced the weapon back into its sheath. The swordswoman turned over to face the guardian, but couldn't help the expression on her face. She was panting, but not from exhaustion. Her face was flushed red, and her mouth was in a smile. She was excited.

Saeko attempted to recover herself, but her knees felt weak, and she stumbled a bit, before regaining her posture. She took a moment to recollect herself, letting her body calm itself. If she was going to get this way every time that she had to fight something, then her effectiveness in battle would surely decrease. Saeko leaned against a nearby tree, before turning back to the guardian. The woman had regained her composure, and no longer looked like she was enjoying the situation. Sooty seemed to be a bit sympathetic towards the slimes, which she found to be a weakness. Why feel sad for the thing you're killing? It was just like that out in the real world: Show emotion toward something, and you grow attached to it. Getting attached means you cannot kill it, should it attack you. Not being able to kill something that is attacking you, means death. Having already forgotten that Sooty asked Saeko about their quest, she only turned the direction opposite of the guardian, and started walking. There was a quest marker over that way, probably. Besides, there wasn't much else to kill here. At least, nothing worth killing.

[556 Words]