Meeting someone new in the forest [Private]

[Steel]

"Kofuna Shizen Ryu: Samidare!" Steel shouted before slashing up the remaining health points of a slime he had been fighting with a sword technique drilled into him during his kendo training from childhood with a dual wielding twist to it. After the slime had broken apart into the many bubble looking anima fragments, Steel sheathed his two swords which he had gotten as starter weapons into their sheathes on his back. "Man, I need to get some better weapons. I'd probably prefer some with a little more weight." He said to himself as he looked back on his current weapons. While they have been serving him well, they were merely the starter weapons that didn't have too much power to them, he would need to get better weapons as he levels up and fights more powerful monsters. "Ah well, might as well keep going." He then started running off into the depths of the forest, wanting to find more monsters to fight so he could level up. After a few minutes, he found himself in a denser part of the forest, which made it hard to see what was farther ahead. Hopefully, I won't get lost. Steel thought to himself before turning the corner. Right when he did so, he crashed into a girl who was running as well, making the two of them land on their butts. Of course, right after I think that, I crash into a girl. Steel thought to himself as he got back up. "Sorry about that, you okay? I wasn't meaning to crash into you like that." He said with a slight tone of worry as he stretched out his hand to the girl to help her up.

Words 284

sorano

[sorano]

Of all the enemies she just had to run into, it had to be something Elite, an Iron-Tusked Gerald. There was no way in hell she was going near that thing, she’d wake up in the Cathedral if she did that! A slight mishap with her kunai, while trying to attack some slimes from a distance, resulted in her accidentally knocking a few bits of HP off its HP Gauge, which in turn made it start to attempt to attack the female. She was thankfully able to evade its Charge attack, which gave her a moment to run for her life, making sure she took the path that was difficult for large creatures to navigate, yet not as much of a problem for Sorano.

Just as she made it to the part of the pathway that wasn’t as difficult to navigate, she moved her head behind her as she ran, sighing in relief upon realizing that nothing was there. Sighing in relief, she turned back around, instantly head-butting someone moments later. Pain stung through her back as it connected with the ground, causing her to groan a little.

“Uh, it’s fine, I wasn’t watching where I was going either.” She quickly explained. Taking the stranger’s hand, she pushed herself up. Standing back up, she opened the menu, quickly activating ‘Battle Perception’ before glancing around the area quickly. Seeing that the creature wasn’t in range, she sighed in relief, she most likely out-sped the thing.

“Um… Thanks.” Sorano felt a little uncomfortable, or rather, a little annoyed with herself for stupidly running into someone, she should have been a little more aware of her surroundings, especially with how this area was difficult to navigate, due to the amount of trees and other objects that could block one’s path.



[Word count: 297 words.]

[Steel]

"You sure you're okay? You look like you just got away from something from how you're looking around the area." Steel said, taking notice of the girl's actions. She also seemed to be breathing somewhat harder than normal so it was safe to assume that she was running away from something earlier. He then looked around the area himself to check to see if there was any enemies around and to analyze their surroundings. "Man there's a lot of trees and plants in general around here. In a crowded area like this, I guess it was inevitable that we were going to crash into something. Let's just be glad we crashed into each other rather than some powerful monster." He then went into his inventory and took out a map he made a while ago. He also took out his ink pen and touched its tip to the map. the contact caused ink to spread and take the shape of the area around them, adding to the map. "For starters, how about we try to find a way to get back to the main road at least so we won't be wandering around here in circles?" He suggested as he put away his pen and began looking at the map. As he did so, he felt a sensation that he always felt in his kendo matches where he knew that an attack was coming. With movements almost too fast to see, Steel put away his map, grabbed the girl in his arms and jumped into the trees before landing on one of the branches. Two seconds after that, a large boar with two long tusks rammed into the tree next to them. Thank goodness my jumping ability is better as my avatar! Steel thought to himself as he balanced himself before turning to the girl he was carrying. "We haven't introduced ourselves yet I believe. The name's Steel, nice to meet you." He then looked down at where they were prior and looked at the monster which was labeled Iron-Tusked Gerald. He looked at the health bar and saw that it was slightly decreased. "I'm assuming this is what you were running from earlier right?" He asked.

OOC: Muwahaha! I brought back this monster! In some ways these two do have an advantage with all of the tree everywhere.

Words: 367

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[sorano]

Of course, with the skill she still had active, she was able to see that the creature had indeed followed her, entering her vision just as she had thought she was safe. Quickly noting anything that could be used to her benefit to fight the beast, she reached for her Katana, prepared to unsheathe it and fight the beast that was making its way here. Although, it was proceeding quite quickly, as if it was… Charging.

Just as she concluded that it was charging towards the duo, much like it had done before. She felt something, or someone, grab her from behind, pulling her into the trees, much to her surprise. She was perfectly capable of evading the attack, she was about to do that anyway!

“D-D-Don’t get so grabby! I was perfectly capable of dodging myself!” Sorano exclaimed, squirming out of the male’s grasp, landing lightly on the branch of the tree, surveying the area once again, before looking over at the creature, trying to decide the best plan of action for this. Since they were both on the same level, they were going to need to keep their distance while fighting this thing, perhaps it would be possible to get it stuck in between some trees, or even get it poisoned, she did have a skill that could do that. Withdrawing her kunai, she coiled the rope around her hand a few times, holding it into place with a couple of fingers before jumping to a tree branch a little closer to the creature, preparing to throw the kunai.

“Death Stinger.” She chanted. Running her fingers along the blade- careful to not cut herself with it, the kunai became coated with poison, before she threw the weapon downwards, piercing the Iron-Tusked Gerald, yet failing to poison it just yet. She was going to have to try again once the skill cooled down. Looking past where the creature was, she could see two fairly large trees, perfect for trapping it, allowing the duo to defeat it with ease. At least, she hoped so.

[Word count: 344 words.]

[Steel]

"Hahaha, looks like you have a problem with being held. Sorry about that." Steel apologized with a somewhat carefree yet apologetic expression on his face. He then proceeded to address how she said she was perfectly capable on her own. "Even if you are, as you say, perfectly capable, I didn't want to take any chances since I didn't want you to get hurt." He said this with practically no regard towards his own safety. "Now then, let's take down this boar together." Right after he said that, the girl immediately got to work and got closer to the boar as she activated a skill that made a weapon poisonous. I just realized that she didn't introduce herself after I did. Steel thought to himself as he saw her get ready to throw her weapon. She threw it and it hit the boar but the poison didn't work. "I got an idea." He said before jumping diagonally down to the tree nearby and repeated this process so he wouldn't take any damage coming back to the ground. He had noticed that the girl had looked at some trees that were quite close together. He had guessed that she wanted to trap the boar that would be too big to fit through. But first, he had to get its attention. "Viper Raise!" He exclaimed before slashing at the boar with fast slashes, dealing it a bleeding debuff in the process. He then activated the skill Dart Tack Target to attract more aggro towards himself. His idea worked and the boar looked towards him and got ready to charge at Steel who already began putting his agility to use and was running towards the two trees. Right as he was about to be run over, Steel ran past the trees and the boar crashed into them, getting itself stuck. "I guess this is what you were aiming for right?" Steel said to the girl with a smile before turning to face the boar again.

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[sorano]

With a slight nod, the female jumped down from the tree just as the creature was stuck between the trees. While their attacks didn’t exactly do a whole lot to its HP, with another debuff, as well as constantly attacking it with various attacks, with it stuck, defeating it might actually be fairly easy, that is, if it stayed.

“Yeah, that’s it. I’ll try and poison it again, with two debuffs depleting its HP, along with a heap of attacks, we might be able to defeat it,” Sorano explained. Just after she spoke, she activated Death Stinger once again, as the cool down for the skill had ended, tossing the kunai back at the Gerald, actually poisoning it this time. Grinning a little, she collected her kunai, tucking it away before unsheathing her katana. Holding the weapon with both hands, she pointed the tip towards the creature.


“Accel Dance!” She took off towards it, piercing the weapon through the Gerald, followed by a selection of slashes and stabs, her speed ultimately increasing with each attack, allowing her to get even more attacks in before the skill came to an end. Of course, since she wasn’t at a very high level, being five levels lower than the Iron-Tusked Gerald, it was going to take much more than that skill to actually defeat it, it was going to require teamwork. Of course, she knew almost nothing about the other, aside from the fact that he was the same level as her and that he was a Swashbuckler.


“I’m not sure how long the trees are going to keep the thing stuck there. The second it breaks out, it would be best to avoid any attacks it would use. It uses a charge attack, I assume it would deal a lot of damage if it hits.” Sorano explained, preparing to use another skill. What other skills did it use while she was attacking the slimes, she didn’t exactly see anything. Then again, there was quite a number of boars nearby, did they have some form of stat boost being near the Iron-Tusked Gerald? Even if they did, she had no way of proving it to be true, she couldn’t see any significant stat boosts below their names, all she saw was what it was, as well as its level.


[Word count: 386 words.
HP: 100%
SP: 70%]

[Steel]

Steel watched as the girl he had just met strike at the boar with a poison attack, a classic Assassin technique. She then began speeding up and slashed at the giant boar with a flurry of attacks. It reminds me of the old days back when I used to be an Assassin on the Japanese server. Steel thought to himself. Well, that makes things easier for me in terms of planning I guess. As the girl began talking about the skill the boar could use, Steel then dug into his memory about this kind of boar. Back in the real world, he had studied the skills of the many monsters in the game, just as much if not more than his school work. “We have to look out for one other skill as well where it can summon boars to its side. 1 young boar and 1 normal boar. The boars summoned will target the player that has the most aggro on the Gerald. The Gerald also has an ability that can reduce the amount of damage that the boars 5 meters away from it take by 25%, making it a bit harder to get rid of its support. Aggro is heightened greatly towards a player if the Gerald sees a player hurt another boar. This is going to be a pain. Well, I guess we just got to make use of what we’ve got and beat the crap out of this thing!” He said this with enthusiasm as he really wanted to take down such a strong enemy.

He then got into another fighting stance of kendo origin but it seemed that it has been altered and resembled the samurai of Elder Tale. He put his left sword on his left shoulder and he positioned the sword in his right hand at his left hip. That's right, I may be a Swashbuckler but I'm also an Assassin and especially a Samurai at heart. He thought to himself remembering his past experiences from the real world. With a shout and a stamp of the foot, he charged forward. "Kabuto-wari!" He exclaimed as he swung his left handed sword vertically down, hitting the Gerald in the head. "Iaido!" He exclaimed afterwards as he swung the sword in his right hand in an omnidirectional slash to hit the monster once again. From the sudden damage it took, the Gerald became dazed for a short period of time which was enough for Steel to jump up into the trees. He kept going circles around the Gerald, further confusing the creature before he jumped and spun in the air swinging his swords at the boar one more time from above. "Deadly Dance, Swashbuckler Version." He said once he landed. In response, the Gerald began to roar, signalling the start of the skill Steel mentioned where it would call other boars to come to its aid. To make sure that the attention would be directed to himself, before the skill was complete, Steel activated Dart Tack Target once again to increase aggro towards himself. When a level 2 young pittered boar and a level 6 pittered boar came around, Steel was their target. "Attack them while I've got their attention." He said to the Assassin girl. "I'll protect you as best as I can." He said this with a somewhat carefree grin.

Words: 557

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[sorano]

Surprisingly, the second he mentioned the creature’s other skill, she seemed to remember encountering this thing, or at least something that was Elite-class, back on the Japanese Server. She wasn’t sure if it was the same enemy, but she did remember trying to fight it by herself, not exactly the best idea with a healing class…


“Uh, right…” Sorano mumbled. She jumped into the air, activating Deadly Dance as she did so, swinging her Katana downwards, hitting its back in the process. Jumping backwards, she prepared for the next attack, just as the two reinforcements appeared. Of course, she was wondering how the other seemed to know about the Gerald’s skills, as well as the effects of them, did he play the game on another server? With how he fought, it seemed like he had some prior experience with sword fighting, while she had to learn it herself when the Apocalypse occurred.


“Attack the reinforcements, right? Got it.” Activating Death Stinger once again, as well as Accel Dance afterwards, she begun to attack the two boars, dashing from each one after each hit, poisoning the Pitted Boar, which would slowly chip away at its HP in time. While Accel Dance was active, she could see one of the boars try and attack her, yet was able to avoid it just in time. Although, she didn’t make it out completely unscathed, as one of its tucks scraped across her leg slightly, taking off about 5% of her HP, yet it wasn’t much of a problem to her, she believed that she would be fine with only a small amount of HP gone.


“If this was a fairly open area, it might have been a little easier to get the two reinforcements out of the zone for the skill, hopefully, whatever it may be. Even if it’s a 25% defence boost, it’s still fairly annoying.” The fighting space wasn’t fairly large, with the Gerald taking up most of the space, although it wasn’t as tight with the creature stuck in between two trees. The two trees was one of the only exits out of this space, with a similar entry behind the female, where the Gerald had charged through- and herself beforehand. Aside from that, they were boxed in by a series of trees, which stood quite close together, it would have been frustrating to navigate through that, not like she would want to try.


[Word count: 403 words.
HP: 95%
SP: 45%]

[Steel]

"I'll keep their attention on me!" Steel exclaimed as he pulled out his gun. He aimed it a bit more higher than he usual would and activated a skill. "Crash Shot!" He exclaimed before pulling the trigger and firing a bullet. Once the bullet reached the peak of its path, it shattered into several shards of shrapnel and began to rain down on the boars that the Assassin girl was trying to get away from. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the Gerald was still pretty close, the boars didn't take as much damage but that wasn't what Steel was going for. He was trying to redirect the aggro towards himself so his ally wouldn't get hurt as much, essentially taking on the role of a tank. However, he definitely was no tank and these abilities to draw battle aggro were usually to give a tank some breathing room but since there was no proper tank person, he'd take on the enemies himself. This reckless style of his was his way of protecting others as much as he could. He paid no heed to the very obvious dangers of having all three enemies targeting him at once as the boar started coming towards him. "Don't worry about me, just defeat the boars so we can focus on the big one here!" He exclaimed as he put his gun back in its holster and he started swinging his swords at the Gerald and occasionally the other boars if they started to get a bit close.

words: 254

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[sorano]

“Fine, fine. Y’mind telling me how much HP that thing has left? A rough estimate will do. I’m going to save my skills for it, I might be able to take care of the boars without them, well, I’ll try at least.” Sorano explained. Withdrawing her kunai, holding it in her left hand, coiling the rope around her fingers, she rapidly threw it at the Young Pitted Boar, in attempts to get the tip of the kunai to stab it. Yet since she didn’t throw it very well, it only ended up scraping the front of it, it probably only took off a little bit of its HP. With a ‘tsk’, the female proceeded to put the kunai away once again. Gripping her katana with both hands, she swung the weapon several times at the boar. While she jumped back a few times to avoid the creature’s attempt at attacking the female, she wasn’t finished, she just wanted to get rid of these enemies so they would have an easier time defeating the Gerald. There was no way she was going back to the Cathedral, once was enough.


Once she stopped her attack, she stepped back, sighing a little. That 25% defence boost was a massive pain, she could probably already handle the Young Pitted Boar without a problem without that boost, it was painful with it. It made her wonder how long she would have to whack the Pitted Boar with her katana for her to make a decent dent in its HP. Even with poison slowly chipping away the Pitted Boar’s HP, it was still taking forever, she began to wonder if she could stack the poison effect, yet she wasn’t going to waste her precious stamina points doing so.


“This is probably going to take forever, but let’s keep trying anyway.” After she spoke again, Sorano bolted towards the Young Pitted Boar again, attacking with a collection of stabs and slashes again, continuing until it had no health yet. With a slight victory cheer, she began to attack the next one. She would help the other with defeating the Gerald once she was finished with this thing.


[Word count: 460 words.
HP: 96%
SP: 46%]

[Steel]

“The Gerald has a little under 50% HP left. I’d probably say about 45%.” Steel said in response to the Assassin girl’s question as he slashed at the Gerald some more with his two swords. He could tell that the giant boar would soon break through the trees it was caught in since unlike when this was a game, the environment in general couldn’t be destroyed. Well then again, the Gerald getting caught between the tree in the first place wouldn’t have happened back when this was a game as well. He then saw that the girl was able to defeat one of the boars which meant one less enemy to worry about. As the Assassin girl began attacking that boar, it seemed apparent that she was having some trouble dealing it damage due to the 25% defense buff. Steel then had an idea since the Gerald was almost about to break free. Steel took out his gun and aimed it at the boar. He began to activate the skill Magnum Shot on the gun before shouting to the girl. “Assassin girl, dodge it!” He exclaimed before firing the gun. The bullet that was shot out looked like a small meteor as flew through the air before it hit the boar square in the stomach, knocking it back quite a lot due to the effect of the skill Steel just used. It was then the Gerald was able to break free of its natural restraints, forcing Steel to dodge an incoming tree that was close to falling on him. It was time for part two of Steel’s plan. Just like the Assassin was doing, Steel wanted to save his MP as well but this was necessary. He switched his gun for his sword and activated the skill Dart Tack Target to draw aggro to himself, causing the Gerald to focus on Steel. “Over here pork chops!” He exclaimed as he began running the opposite direction of the Assassin girl and the boar she was facing. Pretty soon, the defense buff was no longer in effect as the younger boar was out of range due to Steel moving them away.

Words: 359
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OCC: Sorry for the wait

[sorano]

“Got it!” The female exclaimed. With her Katana, she continued to attack the boar, her attacks still barely chipping away at her health. Perhaps she could stack Accel Dance and Deadly Dance, yet she preferred to not do that, as that would easily deplete half of her remaining MP. Just as she was about to use Deadly Stinger to attempt to poison her enemy, hearing the male shout made her stop, jumping into a nearby tree to avoid the attack launched from the male’s gun. A slight grin formed when she not only realised how much HP that attack took from the creature, but the fact that it was pushed out of the zone for the Gerald’s skill.


“Thanks for that, I’ll help you once this thing’s defeated!” Jumping down from the tree, she quickly dashed towards the boar, the tip of her katana piercing through it. Of course, even if the 25% boost to its defence was gone, the attack still wasn’t enough to kill it, although it did do a little bit more damage. Moments later, she moved her head a little, seeing that the Gerald had escaped, causing her to sigh a little, she was going to have to wrap things up a little quicker. Withdrawing her Kunai, she jumped into the air, aiming the tips of the two weapons towards the creature as she fell, shoving them through its back, depleting its health to nothing.


“Alright, stupid monster, prepare to die.” Sorano mumbled to herself. Turning around, she quickly sprinted to where the other was, putting her Kunai away, to prepare herself to strike the monster with her Katana.


[Word count: 273
HP: 97%
MP: 47% ]

[Steel]

"Okay then, now that the other nuisances are gone, I can focus on only this one." Steel said as he slashed at it some more. "Hey Pork Chops, over here!" He said leading it away from the Assassin girl who was coming to help out. He wanted to make sure she wouldn't be seen by the enemy monster. "Dart Tack Target!" He exclaimed, increasing the aggro towards himself with a few well placed strikes. He then got into a counter stance for dual wielding in kendo. Back in the real world, he was renown for his style filled with counterattacks which usually frustrated and/or struck fear in his opponents. Even if this was a virtual body, the feeling one would get looking at him could not be described as anything but killer intent. Steel's face wasn't angry at all but he instead looked extremely calm so it wasn't his facial expression that created this intensity. Instead, it was his several years of experience fighting several opponents in the real world being represented in one unwavering stance, one that looked as if it were designed to cut down one's life in an instant that created the aura of killer intent around him. At first, the Gerald, a monster that was much bigger than Steel wavered for a moment but charged in anyway. Steel just lightly smiled as he rolled around to its side and held his swords forward. "Fold Step!" The skill he activated propelled him forward at a great speed, causing his swords to stab into the Gerald as he began pushing it into a tree. While the skill wouldn't increase any damage due to the amount of force, Steel was able to use the skill to again corner the monster. "All yours!" Steel exclaimed before jumping back once the skill ended, allowing the Assassin girl some room to attack it. From her skill list, it would be best if she stacked her poisoning effect with the bleeding debuff he placed on the Gerald earlier.

Words: 335
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[sorano]

Sorano ran as fast as her legs could carry her, quickly thinking of a strategy for doing massive damage to the Gerald. Of course, the idea she had came with a drawback, particularly if the creature moved out of the way, but she was going to take her chances. Slowing down, she cast Death Stinger on her katana, continuing to run as soon as it was cast. When she was within striking distance, she activated Accel Dance, striking the Gerald with a mixture of slashes and stabs. Mere seconds before the skill was to end, she moved the katana away from the monster, launching into the air.


“This is the end- hopefully!” Sorano shouted, as she struck the creature downwards. The second the skill came to an end, she jumped upwards, stepping backwards a little, preparing to strike again.

Unfortunately, her mass of attacks just wasn’t enough to defeat the Gerald, yet it did take a good 20% off of its HP bar. There was about… twenty or thirty percent left, she couldn’t really tell. As well as that, somewhere within the mass of attacks, she managed to poison the Gerald, all that was left was to defeat it.


“Heh, twenty percent off its HP bar, twenty percent off my stamina bar, yet I still have enough to last.” She scowled a little after she spoke, perhaps the stamina costs for skills would be less costly as she levelled up? She was going to have to find out later.


[Word count: 249 words.
HP: 98%
MP: 22%]

[Steel]

"Okay, this thing's only got 15% health left!" Steel exclaimed towards his partner of this battle before being forced to block a sudden attack from the beast. Luckily, it wasn't a full blown charge but it still did damage nonetheless. He then reminded himself that he has to play the tankish role here so he could give his battle partner a good opening. For a brief moment, he told himself that he should buy some better equipment later. He noticed that both the bleeding and poison debuffs were slowly chipping away at the beast's health, making their job easier. "Now it's close to 10% health, let's finish it off here!" As he said this, his swords began to glow blue, signalling the use of another skill. "Blind Bet!" He exclaimed before striking at the Gerald with the skill using thrusts from his swords. This gave the large foe a blindness debuff that would last for 10 seconds. That would be enough time for them to defeat it. Steel charged at the Gerald which was now just plain confused since it was blind, again and used the skill Mirage Dealer, making his body slash at the beast with an X shape before teleporting behind it. He then raised his sword before swinging it down, launching the attack Splitting Fang to launch what would appear to be a thin white wall/blade to strike at the Gerald. "Okay now, finish it off!" He exclaimed having gotten the Gerald into a good position for the Assassin girl to deal the last few blows.

Words: 259
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