Looking For A Challenge? (SAO) [Hiatus]

[CloudxHimura]

Player: Itsuki
Level: 5
Health: ████████████████████ 1050 / 1050


Itsuki sat back for a moment, compiling everyones strengths and weaknesses as they talked strategy. When Cai volunteered to activate the mini-boss battle it piqued his interests. "How about this: Cai will activate the mini-boss and we'll try the poison tactic, I'll protect him for however long that may take. Geki, Keiyo, and PoH, you three will have to distract the creature for...lets say a minute. This will give me enough time to get Cai away from the thing and to a safe distance. After I get him to safety PoH, you seem to have the highest movement speed out of all of us, so you would be the best choice to defend Cai while he supplies us with a steady stream of potions." He said as he went through his inventory looking for certain items, while he waited for input on his plan.

[I_See_You_Monster]

PoH ██████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
_________________1050 / 1050 | LV: 5

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PoH cut Geki off- "What Geki is trying to say is your plan sounds like suicide." She said flatly gently tossing the poison bottle a bit in the air and casually catching it. As much as she didn't want Cai to get himself killed this plan put PoH in an incredibly awkward position of attacking with the rest of the group. She fully intended to participate however she couldn't just charge an enemy with 3 swordsman and expect to fair well. She intended to stay back tossing a poisoned dagger and seeing how the creatures AI operated. Plus, if she gave Cai a poison could he identify how it was made? Surely it would become common knowledge at some point but as it stood poison was PoH's main edge and compensated for her on average low damage.

On the other hand. Cai didn't seem malicious or like he had a hidden agenda. Still PoH definitely couldn't give up her poison. Could her cold demeanor really pass her through this situation without drawing attention to herself too much? Parties really were troublesome.

"Plans aside. As far as the poison goes..." PoH took a deep breath her cold demeanor shattering, was she really this nervous? "I'm not comfortable giving out poison... you're a potion making character and you can likely discern how it was made easily. Poisons are a staple of my playstyle. They were the very first things I learned to make for this purpose....until I know i can trust you I have to keep them clo-" PoH stopped talking and quickly walked towards Cai as if she was either going to kill him or had an abrupt realization. As soon as she was face to face with him she slipped behind him grabbed his staff in one hand and smashed the bottle of poison over it.

"This is my compromise." PoH said softly still behind Cai. "This will definitely last until it makes contact with the boss. I'm sorry I couldn't give you the bottle. I hope this will suffice." PoH muttered apologetically so no one but Cai would hear unless they had a decent listening skill.

PoH spoke up responding to Itsuki's plan, she liked it much better. "Distract and dodge? I can do that!" she responded eagerly. Dodging was above all else her specialty and a plan that made use of such a skill was a perfect fit for her. Front lines for PoH were definitely suicide.

[Takarashi]

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Keiyo ██████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
_________________850 / 850 | LV: 4

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Keiyo gave the group an inquisitive look. There was strategy to the plan, certainly, but it relied on himself and the others being able to draw its attention fairly quickly, along with Itsuki being able to keep the Bronze Arachnid at bay long enough to allow Cai time to escape. He supposed that someone would have to take the risk, though.

The swordsman was further perplexed when PoH talked about her poisons and smeared it on Cai's weapon. What was so precious about them? Shouldn't they all be working together to reach the top floor? Carsys had made it apparent that there was a great deal more to Aincrad than the surface when they told everyone else about the dead players, but did it go even further than that? Distributing Sword Art Online through an e-mail with no information, leaving everything shrouded in mystery, was suspicious enough on its own, but what if someone, somewhere, had some sort of hidden agenda? What if someone else was trying to prevent them from clearing the game? This new prospect suddenly made Keiyo a lot less comfortable. He kept his mouth shut, though. Better to keep those thoughts to himself. "Carsys... you had better start telling us what's really going on soon."

"That plan's fine with me." Keiyo eventually said evenly. "I'll go get into position." The swordsman proceeded to turn on his heel and headed toward the next room, while keeping a tight grip on his sword. He was a little less trusting of his party members now.

[Gamebrain25]

Player: Geki
Level: 5
HP: 1000/1000
Floor: 1
OOC:

Geki was glad PoH decided to cut in. There was no polite way of telling Cai so. That being said, Itsuki had a solid plan and whether that poison would even work on anything with the word "bronze" in its name was questionable. All the same... "Yeah. I'm cool with it." For now, Geki kept his sword sheathed and followed Keiyo. He would be ready to attack once Cai did his thing. That said, he noticed Keiyo was being a bit distant. "Everything all right, man?"

[Takarashi]

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Keiyo ██████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
_________________850 / 850 | LV: 4

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"I just want to get even with this spider." He lied. Keiyo had be getting along just fine with Geki so far, but slowly he was starting to piece together that things weren't as simple as they seemed. Keiyo didn't really consider himself to be the self-sacrificing type, but he did feel that he kept priorities and goals in sight. If people were suffering then there was no reason not to be working together. But if there were people that had ulterior motives, he was less keen to help them along until he understood the situation better. Carsys of all people knew a lot more than they were telling, he was sure of it. "If I keep moving forward then I'm sure that Carsys will tell us more. They would have to, or people would think that they're lying and just give up." The swordsman quietly took his spot in the room. He kept his eyes focused on the chest while he continued trying to piece together what he could from what he had learned so far.

[I_See_You_Monster]

PoH ██████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
_________________1050 / 1050 | LV: 5

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PoH silently walked to join Keiyo and Geki. This plan would prove interesting indeed. Keiyo had the most knowledge on the miniboss, PoH couldn't help but glance in his directon as she stood on the other side of Geki. If all they had to do was distract the boss that would be fine, a few dagger throws and lots of running and jumping. However, would poison work on a blunt object? PoH had no information on staffs.

In position and ready for the battle to start PoH waited, A single dagger was in her hand, her knees bent ready to react if the monster charged them. "When it spawns I'll throw a dagger to draw it's attention to us from a safe distance." PoH said raising the dagger in preparation for what was to come. This would be her first boss and her first true party battle. "How nerve wracking." she thought to herself.

[Shisei Tenshi]

I Am: Lv. 3 Medic Exp. 1250 EXP Needed For Next Level: 250 EXP
Health: ████████████████████ 570/600 Status: Movement speed 50% for 3 turns
I'm With: PoH, Geki, Keiyo, and Itsuki
I'm Doing: Venturing deeper in the the dungeon
My Inventory: Equipped: Two Handed Staff, Cloth Armor. Misc: HP Potion 30% X 12 AntiVenom X 10 Money: 00
OOC: --

Canias ... Just call me Cai.

"It will be fine... I did it before and--" Cai started to say to Geki then Itsuki suggested his own method of attacking the monster. If Cai could get close enough to poison it things would probably work in their favor and having Itsuki protecting him would be a big help. After that the next part of the plan would be to take the offensive for the majority of them while Cai would take the supportive role and heal everyone when needed. As Long as he kept moving he could avoid getting attacked by the spider while still being in range to aid his teammates with potions whenever they needed. Ideally he hoped thats how things went, but the more they talked about fighting the monster the worse the thing sounded. Listening to PoH after weakened his resolve just a little. They were teammates weren't they? Normally people would help each other in situations like this and the strong people would fight while weaker people would heal or revive and detox the attacking members. Cai thought it would be better if he was the decoy so the others could assess the enemy and learn its attack patterns while he detracted it. If he managed to do that without dying it would probably be a miracle, but at least he would get the chance to help somehow. Watching the other pick off the kobolts so easily made him feel even weaker and it was driving him crazy though his face didn't show any signs of stress or agitation.

When he used this tactic before he picked up stones from the ground and threw them at the monster to keep it's focus on him while his partner moved in behind unnoticed. Cai was thinking to throw the potion at the spider hopefully disorientating it a bit before the poison set in, but that would not be how things would go. Instead PoH used the poison on his staff. Now what would he do? Throw his staff at the monster and hope enough of the poison seeped in to take effect? No that was crazy. If he missed he would be completely unarmed... so that left him only one choice. He would have to engage the monster close range and make a clean hit on it with his staff to spread the poison. Cai didn't like the thought of fighting up close and personal, but once his part of things was complete he could draw back and heal while everyone took over. "I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be..." Cai then began walking over towards the treasure chest then he knelt down and lifted open the lid triggering the monster summon on the ceiling above him. Cai quickly jumped back as the spider dropped down on top of the chest. Cai used the bottom end of his staff like a spear and thrust it upwards into the spiders right eyes. He smiled as the monsters health bar dropped only a sliver before the word "immune" flashed in purple. "Not good..." Cai tried to jump back away from the spider but he wasn't fast enough and was barraged by sticky webs that slowed his movements as well as drained a little of his life away.

[CloudxHimura]

Player: Itsuki
Level: 6
Health: ████████████████████ 1300 / 1300


As his fellow party members began to get into position, Itsuki crafted another item and quickly moved it to his inventory, assigning the crafted weapon a name before closing the window. "Hopefully I'll get to use you soon." He thought as he waited for Cai to make his way into the room. As he waited for Cai, he spotted another skeleton approaching the medic from behind. Without hesitation, Itsuki rushed past Cai and brought his blade down on the skeleton's head, dazing the creature and critically damaging it. The skeleton's health bar was in the red at this point, but not for long, as Itsuki slashed clean across the base of the creature's skull, severing its head and sending the head flying across the room they were in. The skeleton then burst to pieces, dropping Col and a few small ores. Itsuki picked up the items and received a notification stating that he had reached level six. He smirked a bit before sheathing his blade and walked into the mini-boss' room awaiting the battle to start, when he had noticed that Cai was already in the room. Itsuki managed to make it in before the barrier appeared, but just barely. He quickly dashed to rescue his fellow party member, slashing the webs off of Cai without harming him and stood firmly in front of him. He held his blade in a defensive stance and looked over his shoulder. "Make a break for the barrier, then signal PoH. Got it?" He stated, backing up slowly, still taking a defensive stance.

[Gamebrain25]

Player: Geki
Level: 5
HP: 1000/1000
Floor: 1
OOC:

Geki kept his hand on his sword handle as Cai went in and opened the chest. And just as Keiyo said, the giant spider dropped down from the ceiling. Geki briefly swallowed a lump in his throat before Cai thrust his poisoned staff right into the spider's eyes...only for an "Immune" window to pop up. "Uh oh." With the plan failed, Geki rushed in and did a Horizontal attack on one of the Bronze Arachnid's legs. He, Keiyo, and Itsuki had to buy PoH some time.

[Shisei Tenshi]

I Am: Lv. 3 Medic Exp. 1250 EXP Needed For Next Level: 250 EXP
Health: ████████████████████ 570/600 Status: Movement speed 50% for 2 turns
I'm With: PoH, Geki, Keiyo, and Itsuki
I'm Doing: Venturing deeper in the the dungeon
My Inventory: Equipped: Two Handed Staff, Cloth Armor. Misc: HP Potion 30% X 12 AntiVenom X 10 Money: 00
OOC: --

Canias ... Just call me Cai.

"Yes, but somethings strange. I can't move right..." Cai said to Itsuki as he slowly backed up away from the spider. At first he thought his terminal was freezing up since it was an older model that came into existence before Sword Art Online, but then he noticed a small icon near his name with what looked like a boot, a downward pointing arrow, and the number two beside it. "The webs... Don't let the webs touch you." Cai warned Geki and Itsuki. It didn't seem to be a field effect since neither the monster or his teammates were feeling the sluggish response time, so Cai concluded it must of resulted from the spiderwebs hitting him. "PoH...Keiyo can you hear me? I woke up the sleeping demon..." Cai said after he was closer to the edge of the barrier for the boss room. As time went on he slowly started to feel his response time getting better. "That not fair... the monster can cause lag spikes." Cai was halfway joking as he watched Geki attack one of the spider's legs. "Itsuki you can go fight if you want to. I think I'll be safe over here until whatever this is wears off." Cai was referring to the icon by his name which he had never seen before. He really wished he studied the user manual before jumping into the game now. At this point his mentality was whatever didn't wipe the floor with him would make him stronger in the long run somehow.

[I_See_You_Monster]

PoH ██████████▀
_________________600 / 1050 | LV: 5

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PoH watched intently as the chest was open. Cai looked nervous and while she was certainly not the best choice to protect him given she relied on evasion if she could hold the boss's agro then maybe she could be of use. As the disgusting spider dropped down PoH watched as Cai was stuck in webs and then cut free.

"Disgusting." PoH said to herself leaning forward and licking her lips before releasing her dagger. The blade flew hitting the spider for minimal damage. The spider turned to Keiyo, Geki, and PoH. She seemed to have it's attention and this was just what she wanted. The adrenaline was intense and although PoH had no idea what the creatures AI was like she had a job to do. If Cai died it was entirely her fault, every fraction of his HP lost a personal failure on her part.

PoH lunged forward running incredibly fast directly towards the spider her mind empty She had already thought of all the different ways the beast could attack her that were forseeable. Sure enough it stabbed at her with two of it's big ugly legs. PoH dodged to the right and then immediately to the left both of the spiders legs missing her. PoH did a cross cut as she moved past one of the legs making contact with it. The damage was once again small but ever little bit counted, plus she had to keep agro.

Running around the spider would take too long, she had to get to closer to Cai so the others could go on an all out offensive. Picking up speed PoH lunged forward her head low as she ran just barely under the spider. This would have been a good time to cut the boss's under side but it risked slowing her down and it would have been too awkward throwing off her balance. Once PoH came out just from under the spider it turned swinging it's right legs towards her and hitting her with two of them.

PoH flew and landed right in front of Cai, the spider had crit and done huge damage to her. PoH stood looking a bit shaken her hair messy and her eyes somewhat wide astonished at the amount of damage taken off. She did not want to die in front of everyone, she did not want to fail. Quickly she turned her back to Cai and stood in front of him, if it reached far enough to hit him she would jump back pushing him out of the way. Luckily it still had to turn the rest of the way around, there was still time for the others to act before it attacked PoH again. With daggers drawn in front of her PoH bent her knees and assumed a defensive stance in front of Cai her teeth grit and eyes looking furious. She was not willing to lose.

"Now!" PoH yelled signalling that she was in place and that the offensive group could attack.

[Takarashi]

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Keiyo ██████████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
_________________850 / 850 | LV: 4

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With his thoughts stowed away for the time being, Keiyo prepped himself for the oncoming battle. He was standing on the balls of his feet with his muscles tensed in anticipation. There was some truth to what he had told Geki earlier - Keiyo did want to get his revenge on the hulking beast. The swordsman firmly believed that he had corrected his mistakes, and was ready to slay the arachnid.

Just like last time, when the chest was opened, the miniboss came crashing down in front of the party. Cai managed to give it a decent whack, but it was going to take a lot more than that to stop the monstrosity. It seemed that it resisted the poison, so that part of the plan was done away with quickly. With the fight now underway, Keiyo skirted along the edge of the room as fast as his legs would carry him. He kept his gaze locked on the creature, and watched as Cai and PoH kept the spider under control. The swordsman came to skidding halt as he joined the others. "Just give me the signal, come on!" He thought with gritted teeth.

Before PoH even finished the breath from her command, Keiyo had sprinted forward, his sword ablaze with a skill aura. When he came in range, he slashed at the arachnid with all the force he could muster. A satisfying damage line streaked across the surface of the monster. It retaliated by trying to impale him with one of its legs like last time, but Keiyo dived, rolled, and sprung back up onto his feet in a fluid motion as he evaded. He charged another attack, then another, and kept a continuous stream of blows going while weaving around the miniboss' counterattacks. The swordsman's heart hammered in his chest and his legs violently shook as he anticipated the Bronze Arachnid's movements. "We will win this. I'm going to slaughter this b*****d!"

[CloudxHimura]

Player: Itsuki
Level: 6
Health: ████████████████████ 1250 / 1300


With Cai now at a safe distance, Itsuki was ready to go on the offensive. He attempted to rush under the bronze arachnid, but was swatted back by one of its legs. He tried to defend against it but the spider's attack strength was too much for his current weapon. His Washizaki cracked and shattered into light fragments as he was sent flying. Itsuki caught himself in mid-air and opened up his inventory screen selecting the item he had recently crafted, A new two-handed blade. The blade was a bit longer and heavier then his Washizaki and didn't have a guard on the hilt. The blade itself was black except for the sharpened edge. He landed on one knee, holding his new blade forward in a defensive position before standing up. He began to charge up a sword skill as he ran at the spider, the skill aura seeping off of his blade looked like steam as he lowered his blade, sliding under the spider and delivering a devastating vertical slash to the beast's underbelly. the considerable chunk of damage done to the mini-boss would then bring the beast's aggro focus onto Itsuki, exactly as he had planned. "Go for the underbelly!" He yelled as he parried the beast's legs as they slashed at him

[Gamebrain25]

Player: Geki
Level: 5
HP: 850/1000
Floor: 1
OOC:

With PoH's signal, the real battle began. Keiyo was clearly determined to win this round against the miniboss. Since Geki tried to cut its legs earlier, the spider fired webs at him, but Geki managed to just barely dodge all three of them. Itsuki, lucky him, had managed to find a weakness with the miniboss in its underbelly. Just as well. Whatever was "bronze" about this miniboss was probably armored. Geki tried to go in for a vertical strike, but got knocked down by one of its legs, losing a fair bit of health. The spider tried to skewer him with the same leg, but Geki managed to roll out of the way before running in and doing a Vertical attack on the spider's underbelly.

[Takarashi]

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Keiyo ██████████▀▀▀
_________________587 / 850 | LV: 4

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((I figured Cai would make a post, but I suppose we can just keep going.))

Keiyo continued to parry and hack away at spider as it tried with equal determination to land strikes on him. His sporadic movements, coupled with the continued onslaught from the other fighters, was proving to be a taxing effort for its AI. Despite being a miniboss, it still faced the limitations of being a creature on the first floor. Group effort and speed were proving to be overwhelming for it.

He swung as fast as him arm, and the charge time for the sword skills, would allow. The monster's body was quickly becoming covered with red streaks, and its HP bar was dropping at a steady pace. Already it had dipped below half, changing from the healthy green to the withering yellow. Having spared a moment to glance at their progress, though, Keiyo didn't see one of the beast's counterattacks. He felt as though someone had smashed him in the ribs with an iron pipe, which sent him flying a few feet and left him crumpled on the ground. His own life bar had taken a sizable hit. "Don't get distracted! I have to win this time!" He thought with gritted teeth. As soon as the pain subsided, Keiyo hopped back onto his feet and got back into the fray.

The swordsman heard Itsuki call out about a weak point on the spider. The underside, apparently. It was sensible - it was lightly armored and harder to hit. Keiyo didn't want to run the risk of being trapped underneath the behemoth, though, not with all those legs moving about. "The same could be said for the others. Itsuki seems to have its attention, but I know it's going to start acting differently when its loses some more health. How can I help keep it distracted so no one is caught off guard?" He thought as he dodged a swipe. Keiyo dared a quick glance to observe the monster, taking note of the top of it. He hatched an absurd plan in a matter of seconds. He positioned himself so that he was facing the monster dead on, then ran, planted his foot on the head of the spider, then rammed his sword into the middle of the creature. It flailed about furiously, tossing Keiyo around like a rag doll, but he clung to the hilt of his weapon with an iron grip. "Hack this ******** apart!!" He roared.