"I guess Narg's are harder now than they were when I first started!" Teeth grinding against steel. That sound was familiar to any player that had fought against the Narg. They fought with their teeth and their claws back before this video game trap happened and they still do. It's good for GILGAMESH that their attack patterns never changed. That happened a few times over the few patches that happened in the games. It made the fights more difficult because players could not predict the attacks coming at them. GILGAMESH himself couldn't defeat some of the boss monsters that he'd defeated previously directly after a patch. It was a great way for him to give out new information, though. He had compiled a lot of his findings into a newbie guide that he posted publicly online in the game's forums. It was doing this that started his work in assisting newbie players personally, sacrificing his leveling in order to provide a learning experience to others. He had partied with many players that had made it much farther up the ladder than he, but he still felt much more fulfilled as a teacher than as a high level player.
The clashing sounds between GILGAMESH's blade and the fangs of the Narg clanged in the heat of battle. A claw came through and struck him on his side from a swiping attack that the beast used. It hurt. It really hurt. It was true that this world was reality to him now. He'd have to deal with the pain of taking damage. Out of the corner of his eye, though, he noticed his health bar decrease just slightly. It was good that he'd started training so that he could get used to the battles in this world. It was also good that he had so much experience in battling from his time before this incident. Using that experience, GILGAMESH came back at the Narg with an appropriate counter. Holding his blade in his left blade and pushing back the best. He shot his free fist forward to launch the monster back slightly, stunning it with the strike, and then setting it up to die to a final swipe of the blade. The narg burst into particles that re-entered the data stream of the world and vanished.
The battle with that Narg was over, but GILGAMESH had forgotten about the others. Every time a player encounters this monster, they have to fight others in its pack. It never travels alone, making it dangerous to newbie players who aren't properly prepared to fight them all. Luckily for this player, he had the skill to be able to handle such a challenge and had prepared himself for this battle exactly the way he knew he should. Two Nargs came in at once from the pack of four before him. Each used a biting attack that was easy to see coming. It was a matter of just simply swiping his blade forward into the direct trajectory of the two attacks, causing the bite to collide and deflect away from GILGAMESH. This strategy was used many times by him to avoid taking damage and also to reset the battle. After the swipe, he took two steps back and created distance between himself and his enemies. Now he could calculate how to move forward with an offense.
"This is still fun, at least. What good is it for there to be no fun in a grind!" GILGAMESH charged forward and then let out a loud call of "YAHOO!!!" and leaped into the air. Nargs were ground fighters with the ability to leap and then. He knew that if he put himself in the air, he would pull the enemy towards him. Just as he predicted, two Nargs came after him, going into the air in a direct charge motion. This limited their maneuverability and forced them to continue with a single attack pattern that they could not deviate from in this circumstance. If they were not flying, there was no way to change direction. GILGAMESH threw a kick into the head of one Narg, grazing it just barely and pushing it away. A powerful lunge of his blade allowed for GILGAMESH to kill the other beast as he plunged the blade through its skull. Just as the first had been destroyed, this one also burst into bits of data and was vanquished. GILGAMESH and the other airborne Narg now fell to the ground. If he was stronger, just as he was right before this incident, all of these beast (and more) would be gone by now. He was an artist at using wide ranges on his attacks to wipe out entire mobs simultaneously. His method of doing this was commonly referred to as AoE clearing or Area of Effect clearing. It was a tad harder to do in this game without the use of magical skills, though. As a berserker, he relied on single-target attacks mostly to win battles, but he had developed a unique style of combat using his own body and multiple weapon types. A few times, guide book writers analysed his style in order to create guides to assist newbies learn how to fight. Of course, his methods were only used by advanced players and the newbies had too much difficulty thinking outside of what the most basic techniques entail.
The battle continues...
Nargs were simple beasts to fight when you had experience, but GILGAMESH still had a bit of shock in his system from losing all of the progress he had worked towards. He was maybe a few days of grinding away from level fifty just before. On top of that, he was getting steps closer to one player that he admired for her strength and skill. Perhaps at this time, he was even closer to her than he'd ever been, but it wouldn't make him happy if this was the only way he could accomplish such a task. Continuing forward in the battle, GILGAMESH squared up his stance and prepared from another attack from his enemies. This time, all three of them came at him together. He hadn't predicted this movement from them, but he was definitely prepared for it. A swiper to the jaw of a single Narg deflected one attacked and was followed by GILGAMESH smashing a fist over the head of another Narg. This enemy that was hit with the fist was destroyed instantly from the player's raw strength. It felt like an adrenaline rush to GILGAMESH, but he was uncertain if that was even possible in the world. The final enemy came through and bit down on the shoulder of his sword-baring arm. In reaction to this, GILGAMESH sent three swift strike with his fist to the body of the beast. Just as before, he destroyed this Narg and was ready to continue battling.
Four down and one to go. This situation is where GILGAMESH's class type had the upper hand. High offensive stats allowed them to quickly remove enemies from a battle before they would receive damage. Multiple enemies could prove to make that difficult if they were not prepared for the situation. This time, GILGAMESH was on the offensive. He had lost ten points of his health bar so it would prove to be an issue if he received any additional damage at this point. Before he could take even one step, the Narg before him flapped its wings and lifted into the air. These things were also flying monsters. It made sense for it to change its attack patterns when its pack had just been eliminated. It wasn't going to be hard, but it wouldn't be as simple as it would be if it just stayed on the ground.
"Now why don't you just come down from there and make this fast, eh? I'd hate to have to go up there." GILGAMESH taunted the beast, but to no avail. It was to be expected. They weren't programmed to react to taunts or anything of the sort without the use of an aggro technique. Talking to them was pointless in combat efforts. Now, changing his plans, GILGAMESH ran away from the Narg and towards a tree, triggering a chase from the enemy. This was a programming trick that GILGAMESH learned before. Enemies would continue to attack when their target ran from them until it escaped their aggro range or until a higher aggro target was in their range. Since he was the only one around at the moment and he didn't have to go far, the Narg would continue to chase. Just as he reached the tree, the enemy swooped down with an attack. Foreseeing this, GILGAMESH ran up the side of the tree with the momentum he'd picked up and then kicked off of the trunk, flipping backwards over the Narg and sinking his blade into its back. The beast was destroyed instantly and the battle was won. "I guess low level fighting isn't as easy as it I remembered. Good thing it won't be this way for much longer." As he finished speaking, a status screen appeared in front of him that detailed the items he had obtained as spoils from his battle. He took a moment to analyze them before continuing.
That little girl really did run off on her own! How was he supposed to keep her safe for the special moment just so she could run off to die on her own? Well, he finally got to the spot he needed to now. As he and the other two ran after her, he finally gotten to the girl, as he looked around the wilderness to see the Nargs and Whisps. Well, there were definitely other players. As he arrived, he looked around, and found Litzie. There you are! What were you thinking running off like that! Do you want to be kille-- I mean, do you want to get lost? He interrupted. Blue can't just let out his secret plan out like that without warning them first. As he waited for the others, he had no idea that he stepped into the view of 3 Nargs. As they turned to him, Blue cursed under his breath. Dammit... Well, get that dagger out, Litzie. We may have to go at it while we wait for the other two. Blue commented, as he drew his sword.
There was something particular about the way Blue held his sword. It was the same different way in which when Sora would hold his bamboo sword during kendo. He held the sword reversed, which was pretty strange. Either way, he was ready to fight. He went after the Narg, seeing that they were looking the toughest... Sort of. They actually looked adorable, really. As he ran after, he leaped in the air, dodging over head of the first Narg and went after the other two. As one lunged out with a scratch towards him, Blue slid to the side as he swung his sword towards the second narg, as it landed. Blue carried on with two more hits, bringing down their HP. He stopped attacking, at the end of his basic combo. He turned to the second narg, and charged towards the second, but it dodged, and the third narg dashed in and scratched at Blue. Ahh! Damn! It didn't really hurt as much, but felt it. It was like getting scratched by an angry cat, but he didn't really whined about it. He charged in, again, and went to slash at the monsters. He bobbed and weaved, as the monsters each tried to get a slash out of him, but missed. Instead, Blue went and countered against their attacks, by slashing at their sides vertically and diagonally. He dodged at the last one, as he got into position, for one of his techniques. As he got into position, he tossed his sword out, as it flung out spinning in mid air, impacting and cutting through all three of them. After bringing their HP down from the normal attacks, he tossed his sword out as it came back to him like a boomerang, using his Strike Raid skill. It wounded the monster groups, as it worked.
Now turning to the next of Narg with it's eyes set on Blue, he looked and saw them. It's been a while since he faced these monsters. Honestly, he used to fight such greater monsters on the higher floors, that it's been a while since he's dealt with these guys. Usually, if Blue fought these creatures, he would one hit kill them. But not today. As he went in, he ran at full speed, and lunged his blade into one of the Nargs, as he dug the blade out. Another one came at him from behind, and slashed at his back, hitting him. Ahh! Jeez, you're annoying! Blue snorted, as he turned his back to face the one who got the hit. As he ran in, he dashed through the oncoming attacks, as he zipped left and right to grab onto the one Narg, and toss him to the others. That's when he turned, and ran in, slashing into them with normal attack combo's, as he followed up by finishing, with a second Strike Raid attack. They were still standing, and that really ticked him off. These guys were way too durable to be normal! Is it because he's too low leveled, or is it because maybe he's slacking off? It's true, back then, Blue didn't think of his enemies as tough back then. But not this time! After using his skill, he got up, and cracked his neck, as he ran at it again. Once the Nargs came lunging to bite towards Blue, he mistepped and tripped over as he fell on his face. The groups were soon to follow. These creatures sure are as annoying as he last remembered. As soon as they went in for a dog pile onto Blue, he moved out of the way, and leaped off, as he took his blade, and ran in to slash at them. Since they're in low hp now, he can slash through them with ease. Now die! He yelled, defeating the groups of monsters.
They were defeated, all seven of them. The monsters disappeared, and the drops and exp gain followed. But he looked over to Litzie, to see if she was alright. He did drag her into this. Now that he thinks about it, he's starting to feel some type of regret for what he's secretly planning. The look was on his face. But because of the fact that they're battling monsters, it seemed that maybe it won't be noticeable. Although, he did give it some thought. Was he really this bad in the past? True, at the time when he was new to the game, he did get hurt quite a lot, but he never expected it to be this difficult. Maybe it was because he was so used to high speed and strength stats, that now he forgot that his whole profile was in reset. Well, as long as he's alive, that's all that matters. Now to help out Litzie so the others can get here.
Word count: 992 = 45 xp x3 Narg = 60xp
xp gain total = 105xp ---------------------------------------------------------------
Item gain = x2 Basic Sword(s)
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◄ TECH LIST ►
⊲Strike Raid Duration: one post Cost: 10 stamina Description: The user hurls their weapon like a boomerang which returns back to the user.
⊲Sonic Blade Duration: one post Cost: 10 Stamina Description: The user executes seven lunge attacks to the direction of the enemy, but will leave the user staggering once countered. Incantation: "Give me strength!!!"
⊲Zantetsuken Duration: 2 post Cost: 20 stamina to attempt, 10 more if hit. Description: The user sheathes their blade, in which he closes his eyes and waits for the enemy's movement. (1post) as the opponent attacks, the user will have a 25% (4 side dice roll: 1 = hit) chance to counter with a single quick strike with his blade. Incantation: "Focus..... Now!!!"
That little girl really did run off on her own! How was he supposed to keep her safe for the special moment just so she could run off to die on her own? Well, he finally got to the spot he needed to now. As he and the other two ran after her, he finally gotten to the girl, as he looked around the wilderness to see the Nargs and Whisps. Well, there were definitely other players. As he arrived, he looked around, and found Litzie. There you are! What were you thinking running off like that! Do you want to be kille-- I mean, do you want to get lost? He interrupted. Blue can't just let out his secret plan out like that without warning them first. As he waited for the others, he had no idea that he stepped into the view of 3 Nargs, and 4 Ents. As they turned to him, Blue cursed under his breath. Dammit... Well, get that dagger out, Litzie. We may have to go at it while we wait for the other two. Blue commented, as he drew his sword.
There was something particular about the way Blue held his sword. It was the same different way in which when Sora would hold his bamboo sword during kendo. He held the sword reversed, which was pretty strange. Either way, he was ready to fight. He went after the Nargs, seeing that they were looking the toughest... Sort of. They actually looked adorable, really. As he ran after, he leaped in the air, dodging over head of the first Narg and went after the other two. As one lunged out with a scratch towards him, Blue slid to the side as he swung his sword towards the second narg, as it landed. Blue carried on with two more hits, bringing down their HP. He stopped attacking, at the end of his basic combo. He turned to the second narg, and charged towards the second, but it dodged, and the third narg dashed in and scratched at Blue. Ahh! Damn! It didn't really hurt as much, but felt it. It was like getting scratched by an angry cat, but he didn't really whined about it. He charged in, again, and went to slash at the monsters. He bobbed and weaved, as the monsters each tried to get a slash out of him, but missed. Instead, Blue went and countered against their attacks, by slashing at their sides vertically and diagonally. He dodged at the last one, as he got into position, for one of his techniques. As he got into position, he tossed his sword out, as it flung out spinning in mid air, impacting and cutting through all three of them. After bringing their HP down from the normal attacks, he tossed his sword out as it came back to him like a boomerang, using his Strike Raid skill. It killed the monster groups, as it worked.
Now turning to the groups of Ents, he looked and saw them. It's been a while since he faced these monsters. Honestly, he used to fight such greater monsters on the higher floors, that it's been a while since he's dealt with these guys. Usually, if Blue fought these creatures, he would one hit kill them. But not today. As he went in, he ran at full speed, and lunged his blade into one of the Ents, as he dug the blade out. Another one came at him from behind, and slashed at his back, hitting him. Ahh! Jeez, you're annoying! Blue snorted, as he turned his back to face the one who got the hit. As he ran in, he dashed through the oncoming attacks, as he zipped left and right to grab onto the one Ent, and toss him to the others. That's when he turned, and ran in, slashing into them with normal attack combo's, as he followed up by finishing, with a second Strike Raid attack. They were still standing, and that really ticked him off. These guys were way too durable to be normal! Is it because he's too low leveled, or is it because maybe he's slacking off? It's true, back then, Blue didn't think of his enemies as tough back then. But not this time! After using his skill, he got up, and cracked his neck, as he ran at it again. Once the Ents came shooting a root towards Blue, he mistepped and tripped over the root as he fell on his face. The groups were soon to follow. These creatures sure are as annoying as he last remembered. As soon as they went in for a dog pile onto Blue, he moved out of the way, and leaped off, as he took his blade, and ran in to slash at them. Since they're in low hp now, he can slash through them with ease. Now die! He yelled, defeating the groups of monsters.
They were defeated, all seven of them. The monsters disappeared, and the drops and exp gain followed. But he looked over to Litzie, to see if she was alright. He did drag her into this. Now that he thinks about it, he's starting to feel some type of regret for what he's secretly planning. The look was on his face. But because of the fact that they're battling monsters, it seemed that maybe it won't be noticeable. Although, he did give it some thought. Was he really this bad in the past? True, at the time when he was new to the game, he did get hurt quite a lot, but he never expected it to be this difficult. Maybe it was because he was so used to high speed and strength stats, that now he forgot that his whole profile was in reset. Well, as long as he's alive, that's all that matters. Now to help out Litzie so the others can get here.
Word count: 991 = 45 xp x3 Narg = 60xp x4 Ents = 80xp
xp gain total = 185xp
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◄ TECH LIST ►
⊲Strike Raid Duration: one post Cost: 10 stamina Description: The user hurls their weapon like a boomerang which returns back to the user.
⊲Sonic Blade Duration: one post Cost: 10 Stamina Description: The user executes seven lunge attacks to the direction of the enemy, but will leave the user staggering once countered. Incantation: "Give me strength!!!"
⊲Zantetsuken Duration: 2 post Cost: 20 stamina to attempt, 10 more if hit. Description: The user sheathes their blade, in which he closes his eyes and waits for the enemy's movement. (1post) as the opponent attacks, the user will have a 25% (4 side dice roll: 1 = hit) chance to counter with a single quick strike with his blade. Incantation: "Focus..... Now!!!"
..::Administrative Decision::.. The monster kills in this post are being revoked under the fact that you didn't meet the required word count to kill them. For a level 1 creature, it is 300 words per kill, and for a level 2 creature it is 600 words per kill. You killed 3 level 1's for a total of 900 words needed there, and then you killed 4 level 2's for a total of 2400 words needed there. Either meet the word requirements or the post will be invalid.
Ｌｉｔｚｙ ❝Where were you when everything was falling apart..
❥Shifter ◥ Level » 2x❥Doctor
►◄ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬（ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ）▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬
【 As Litzy continued to just sit and wait, she began to wonder what how long she'd be waiting for. Even though this world was virtual, it just felt so real. The air felt like it did in reality, and so did the grass and all of the fields. What made the two different? Probably the monsters and the fact you can re spawn here. Of course there were also monster people in the real world, they didn't have to look like these monsters to be one. They were all selfish rude a** faces, thinking it's okay to hurt other human beings, that just made her feel sick to her stomach! Even pissed her off a great deal, at least she wouldn't find anyone like that here. Though as Litzy was lost in thought comparing the real world to the virtual, she noticed Blue come up to her, shouting. He appeared to be angry, though she really didn't know why. Did something happen maybe? "What do you mean? I didn't run off, we were meeting here, weren't we? Kille? Wha? Oh lost! I won't get lost, I've played this game before, remember? Don't you worry!" Litzy replied cheerfully, looking around the field as if to scan what sort of monsters they were dealing with. The nargs looked to be like some kind of bat thingy, that was all she could think of for them to be. They had a long tail too. The whisps were just creepy floating ghosts, Out of all games she played, she absolutely hated fighting ghosts for the fact that normal attacks wouldn't work on them. Pulling out the dagger, Litzy prepared herself as Blue had told her to get it out and get into fighting. Sure not everyone was here yet, but two should be able to take care of the monsters for the time being until they all arrive.
As Blue left to take care of the right side of the field, Litzy decided to take the left as it would be better if they had split the monsters. There was one narg floating around, as if taunting Litzy to have a go at it. But instead of getting all serious and all up in it's grill, she instead just giggled and skipped around it, laughing playfully as if she were playing around with some sort of toy or game at home. She was most defiantly not taking the monster as any sort of threat, just messing around as she began to run up to it and prepare herself for a fight. Transforming into a tiny doggy that almost appeared to be a puppy, she wagged her tail and got into a battle position, as it was more of a pose about to pounce. [-20 MP] She enjoyed transforming to fight as an animal, it just felt like she got to live the same life as her animals at home, and it made her feel like she could understand them at a better level. With her dagger in her sharp teeth, she skipped circles around the Narg, dodging any kind of attack that they had thrown her way. Jumping up from behind the bat like monster, Litzy stabbed the monster with her weapon, dealing a bit of damage as well as watching the bat's HP drop a bit. However, the bat refused to let Litzy beat it up with such an attitude like that, making it seem as if the bat was nothing to her skills of fighting. It bit into her tail, Litzy yelping as the tail was like her most delicate spot on her body. [-5 HP] She turned to face the bat, growling to show that that was not nice and she did not approve of that. Litzy bounced back up next to the map, slashing at it with her dagger, as the last half of HP of it's diminished and fell to the ground, pix-elating into nothing but air as if it had never truly existed. [+20 exp]
Beside the fallen Narg was another of it's kind, appearing to be angry as it watched it's comrade fall to the ground and dissipate into nothing, it's eyes glowing angrily for revenge on the small puppy whom had destroyed one of its kind. It hissed and charged, it's mind as if completely lost in rage. Litzy snickered full of play, barrel rolling to the left of it's charge, just barely avoiding those claws. She barked at the beast, getting it's attention as she waited for it to charge. The bat hissed once again, angered by the super annoying puppy, charging once again in hopes of dishing out some damage on her. Litzy ran forward and jumped into the air at the same height of the Narg and as she continued on in the air, her claws began to enlarge in size and the closer the bat came, the more prepared Litzy was to attack as she aimed for a vital part on the bat or at least somewhere she could get a good hit. Soon the Narg was within close contact, her claws scratching at the bat's wings using her Claw Strike, but even as she did get some HP out, the Narg had also scratched at her foot, taking HP out from her own bar as well. [-25 Mana, -10 Stamina] [-5 HP] Landing on the field, Litzy faltered a bit as the attack had stung her for the moment as she took like two seconds to recover, but it certainly didn't stop her from continuing the battle on. The attack had hurt, which made her realize even more that this game was more like reality. Sure, monsters did not exist in the real world, but it was like the feeling of a person scratching at you with there nails. This feeling, it all felt so real. As soon as Litzy was ready to keep going, she ran quick circles around the bat, making it appear that she was a blur and the bat trying to keep up but became a bit dizzy, watching her run around. The moment she was ready, she jumped up and lunged at the Narg, stabbing her sword into it's large hip, it's HP falling to zero as she flipped back down to the ground, landing gracefully. [+20 exp]
Looking over to Blue's side, she noticed he seemed to be doing just fine in the fight against the pack of monsters, wagging her tail happily. She had only taken out two, and he had taken out a bit more. But like she was before, she was never that great at defeating monsters, especially now that her stats had all lowered back down to level one. It was much harder to get back up there, but she had no choice in the matter but to keep moving forward. Yes being this low level was difficult to build back on, but no goal was going to be easy as pie and she knew that for a fact. She skipped around Blue, not really wanting to transform back up until they were done fighting, as she had a skill where only her animal form could use it. Plus it was much easier for her to fight and dodge in this form. Running on four legs was a lot more enjoyable than running on two. She wondered how much longer it would take for the others to come, but she didn't want to rush them, it was okay to take your time after all.
OOC: Not sure if an animal form can use a weapon, so I'll edit that out if not. XD 】 ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ▬▬▬（ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ）▬▬▬ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ じ☆ I've become lost and insecure...❞
Techniques Technique Name: Claw Strike Origin: Shifter Duration: Can be used once every post. Cost: 25 Mana and 10 Stamina Description: When the user becomes an animal that has claws, they can enlarge there nails and than scratch at an enemy, doing damage. The move has a chance to push back and once the attack is done, the nails go back to there normal size. Incantation: "Rawr!"
Technique Name: Healing Light Origin: Class ll Doctor Duration: Once and cannot be used again for another 2 posts, Cost: The amount healed takes up the same amount of Mana. Description: The user creates a spell with the use of there hands, pointing it at the direction of whom they wish to use it on, a green light appearing on there hand and on the person they're aiming for. The light heals them in as much HP they need to fill the bar back to complete and must not be too far away for it to work. It can work on more than one person at a time, but must be in the same party. If more than one healing is going on, it will give the amount needed to heal the player with the most HP to completion. Incantation: "Heal!"
Technique Name: Iron Defense Duration: Lasts for 5 posts, and cannot be used again for another 3 posts. Cost: 30 mana per member. Description: A protective barrier is raised around every member of the party, there defense raising by 15 in effect to the barrier surrounding them. The barrier stays on them wherever they go, and keeps the defense up but after five posts, the barrier disappears and there defense returns to normal. Incantation: "Defense up!"
Morwen finally made it through the teleportation field and realised that Blue and Litzie were already fighting monsters. They looked like they had been fighting for forever before she got there, and she felt like she had missed out on a lot. She watched them for a few minutes, as they looked like professional monster slayers out in the field, and Litzie was obviously having fun with it. Morwen, on the other hand, didn't think that she could compare, being that she barely did any fighting the last time she had played. She stood there wondering if she should wait for them to notice her, or if she should just go ahead and fight. It took her a few minutes before she realised that they were too busy fighting to notice her standing next to the teleportation field, and she was missing out on lots of good loot and XP.
Morwen stepped away from the teleportation field and looked around at all of the monsters she could fight, constantly looking around her to make sure that no monsters were trying to sneak up on her. She figured that the Nargs would be better to start off with than the Whisps since they had such low HP. Sure they travelled in groups, but she thought about it for a little bit, and thought that she could handle more than one. Slowly but surely, she walked towards a few Nargs flying around over the ground. She pulled out her bow and knocked one of her arrows, readying herself to take down one of the Nargs. It brought back memories of the real world, when she would practice archery in the backyard. As far as Morwen could tell, the only things that were different was that your aim was determined by your stats rather than by your skill level and that you didn't have to work up your muscles to be able to pull back the string. Although, these few changes made for a completely different feel than Morwen was used to. She kneeled down next to one of the the trees and aimed towards a Narg a few yards away, hoping that it would hit successfully, and released the arrow. [-1 Basic Arrow] She watched carefully to see if the arrow would hit. Luckily, she was able to aim correctly and the Narg lacked a sufficient amount of dexterity to avoid her attack. It lost all of its HP and sunk to the ground.
Morwen grinned at the sight, knowing that she had successfully killed a monster without anyone giving her specific instructions beforehand. She felt like a professional monster slayer now, and that she could now compare herself to the others in her party. The thing that she didn't realise was that she had only defeated one Narg, and many more were to come. Two other Nargs had quickly caught onto her attack and turned towards her, ready to attack.
After a few moments of her own personal celebration, Morwen looked up at and saw the the Nargs as they started flying towards her. At this, she jumped back and hid behind the tree that she was kneeling by. She didn't have any techniques that would allow her to kill multiple targets at once, so she had to take them on one at a time. She pulled out her arrow and tried to knock it before the Nargs reached her, but she soon saw one of them coming around the tree out of the corner of her eye, and jumped up, accidentally dropping her arrow. [-1 Basic Arrow] She ran away from the Nargs, trying to knock an arrow in the process. Once she had the arrow on, she took to a quick stop, turned towards them, and immediately released the arrow, watching as it flew towards the closest Narg. [-1 Basic Arrow] She was surprised that the arrow had hit the Narg since she was moving so quickly. This was about the first time in her life that she had to think so quickly, and she did not expect it to be successful.
Again, she congratulated herself, but she had forgotten that another Narg had followed closely behind the last one. After a few happy moments, she realised this, but it was too late for her to respond to its attack. The Narg charged at her, hitting into her gut, and causing her to fall to the ground. [-5 HP] Morwen leaped to her feet as quickly as she could, trying to get away from the Narg, but it stayed as close behind her as possible. She tried to speed up, but it seemed as though she had already reached her limit. To get it off of her tail, she had to try something more than outrunning the thing, so she grabbed onto a tree and quickly spun around it. Luckily, the Narg wasn't quick enough to follow this and continued going forwards for a few yards. Now she knew how to get out of their line of fire, and could focus on killing it, rather than defending herself from it. She ran in the opposite direction that she was running in before, mimicking what she had done with the last Narg. As she ran, she knocked her arrow, preparing to release it at the Narg. She ran slowly, allowing for it to catch up to her. Then, she grabbed onto the tree, spun around it, and put her hand back on the bow string. Immediately, she pulled back the string and released it before the Narg could respond. [-1 Basic Arrow] It fell to the ground, just as the others had, and disintegrated into thin air.
Morwen looked a little freaked out as she looked around herself, making sure that there were no more monsters on her tail. She looked to her left, to her right, and spun around a few times just to be 100% sure. When she was positive that there were no more Nargs flying at her, she allowed herself to collapse to the ground and lay down for a little bit. It seemed more difficult to kill things after the reset, and it left her dumbfounded. All she wanted to do now was rest, but she knew that she couldn't lay down for too long or else something might sneak up on her. She slowly got back up on her feet and looked around, wondering what to do next.
████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ Sombra came through the teleporter. She had done this many times, but this time, the stakes felt higher. She was actually in the game. She would not be able to take off her helmet, even if she wanted to. If she wanted to survive, though, she would have to fight. She pulled up her map, it would show her teammates. They seemed to all be in one area. By the look of their HP bars, they were already fighting. They didn't need to wait for her. She also saw a quest marker on the map. This would help her get even more experience.
She walked to the man, and started the Dialog for the quest. According to what she heard from the NPC, it seemed like there was a growing number of monsters, and the quest was to get rid of some of them. Fair enough, it looked as though she could kill anywhere from five to fifteen of them to complete the quest. She would see what she could do. She was no longer a high level, she may run out of health before she even reached ten. She accepted the quest and moved towards the party that she had joined. She also hoped that in doing so, she was able to get the entire party their quest.
As she got closer, she saw a group of three nargs. "I can do this. I have to do this, so I don't fall behind" she thought to herself. It was time to show what she could do. She activated her cloak ability for just herself. As far as the cost of it, it was low compared to some of the other abilities in the game. It only required twenty mana She knew that she wasn't going to be able to move as fast to them, but if she could get the sneak up on them, then she could deal massive amounts of damage. That was the type of rouge that she had chosen, and to her, if she didn't do this right, then she would not be honoring her choice. As she got close, she decided to aim for one of their sides. Her backstab ability would drain her of stamina too fast at this level. As she got close, she aim her dagger into it's side. The moment that it sank into it's side, it turned into pixels. This must of come from a stealth bonus or something.
When she stabbed it's buddy, the other Nargs were not happy. Not only did she have a surprise round, but she just instantly killed one of their pack, because she was stealthing. Her speed was still higher than theirs, so it allowed her to go again. She ran towards the one to the left. She went left, because she hoped the moment that she killed him, then she could kill the one of the right, just moving herself forward.
She then went to make a sudden sweep at the Narg, just with her dagger. However, somehow she missed. s**t, now she was too close to him He would be able to attack, which he did with his claws. Her defense was high enough for it not to do massive amounts of damage to her, but Nargs had a built in damage. It caused her health bar to go down by five. That was a quarter of her health. if she wasn't careful, then she could die here.
Meanwhile the other Narg was coming after her as well. It ran towards her. she would need to make sure that she wasn't going to get killed by this. As he charged her, she swung her dagger at the Narg in front of her, hitting it. Her strength was much higher than his defense. When she saw how much damage she did, she was even surprised. She dealt him thirty five points of damage, as her dagger added an additional 5 points of damage. to the already high amount of damage.
As the Narg that injured her disappeared into pixels, she turned towards the third. He was still charging at her. A quarter of her health was gone. She needed to end this quickly as she could, otherwise, she may find out what it was like to die when stuck in a video game. She just hoped it wouldn’t mean that she would be found dead on her living room floor.
She then ran at the Narg that was coming at her. Hopefully, she would attack first. She wasn’t really feeling any pain right now as she had a lot of adrenalin in her system. How else would she also be so calm about that was happening. It was the only way that she could.
As they were coming at each other, she realized that his claws were going to hit her first. Crap! She thought as the claws raked down her arm, dealing her an additional five points of damage. Now she was at half health. She then stabbed the last Narg, dealing thirty five points of damage, making his disappear into little pixels. When she realized she had defeated this pack, she smiled. Sure she was in pain, but at level one, she defeated 3 Nargs on her own. Surely, she would hope that if she was truly in trouble that her party would have helped her defeat them. She opened her quest menu again. She had 3 down, and 2 to go to complete the easiest part of this quest.
She looked to her right and saw Blue and Litzy, still fighting. That was fine. She then looked over at Morwen. It looked like she defeated 3 of them on her own too. She looked down at the ground, seeing her from the fallen enemies.
Judgement looks around the wilderness that he still appears to be inside of. A few forest creatures come and go as he is getting a little bit bored of this dangerous place, he goes towards the edge of the wilderness towards another town. He gets a notification regarding some new "special" quests, he tilts his head to the side like a puppy would and reads over it. "The town of elurik.... Disciple's hammer...Justicar axe.....Executor's scythe?!?!" He gets really excited to finally get something that isn't a boring dagger and starts to run towards some random direction in the hopes of running into this "Town of Elurik" place that the quest seems to be placed at.
Again, Sakamoto found the first person point of view to be incredibly difficult to deal with. The forest had the same problems as the city but with less people. It was large and had many objects that Sakamoto could not look around. If she couldn't see what was on the other side of that tree, how was she supposed to know that she wasn't supposed to go that way? Her field was view was so limited and Sakamoto wasn't afraid to complain, "IT'S SO WEEIIIIIRRRRD. I'M LOOOOOOOOST," since no one was around in the middle of nowhere in this forest.
She on her way to Liar town or something like that at the moment, but had long since lost any sort of path. How? Sakamoto didn't know, but it was probably thanks to the combined nuisances of darkness and drowsiness. She had been scared about being lost at first but it had been long enough since that time for her to just not care anymore. Well, rather than not caring, not have the energy to show any sign of complaint. It wouldn't be long before she reached the point of total exhaustion.
She reached that point a few hours later. It was the middle of the night, hours after Sakamoto's usual bed time, when she could no longer walk forwards. Sakamoto was hungry. She was sleepy. She couldn't solve hunger at the moment, but she could very well sleep on the hard dirt. At this point, the grass felt just as soft as her bed, and the tree root she happened to flump on was a very nice pillow. Too tired to care, the poor girl drifted off into an uncomfortable sleep.
Through the night, all of the fears and uncertainties that had plagued Sakamoto during the day came back to her as nightmares. She tossed and turned relentlessly as shadowy figures threatened her all while the figures of her loved ones slowly disappeared into the distance. Then the scenery suddenly changed. She was in her house with her dad yelling at her for playing with his stuff. Once his lecture finished, though, he tightly hugged Sakamoto like he always did after a scolding, but as he touched Sakamoto with the slightest brush of skin, he faded away and disappeared, replaced by a haunting figure of some sort of danger. Sakamoto didn't know. It was a dream. It made no sense to begin with. She just sort of ran. It seemed like one of those endless dream runs at first, where both parties just run at the same pace until suddenly, the figure gained an immense burst of speed and not just latched onto Sakamoto but latched onto her front. It grappled with her, squishy arms grasping her neck with their slimy embrace. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't get the monster off. The shadowy figure lifted her and then threw her to the side.
The impact of the throw shocked Sakamoto awake. She felt pain in her shoulders and neck, especially her neck. As Sakamoto went through a coughing fit to recover her breath, she felt a squishy but painful attack slam her head into the ground, forcing a strangled yelp of pain out of Sakamoto. She tasted dirt and felt nothing but confusion.
Another smack sent Sakamoto rolling onto her side with another painful yelp, "Eyagh!". This time, instead of staring dumbly, she looked for the attacker and found a horrible sight. There, standing in a moonlight that would have otherwise lent a fantastic, ethereal air to the scenery, was a garish sight lit by the pale light of the moon. Some kind of human half-covered in fungus was lumbering over to where Sakamoto lay. Sakamoto didn't need to look at her health bar to know that she probably wouldn't be able to take another shot from the monster. She could feel the pain in her body, but she still looked at her health, it was just a normal thing to do. She had only 10 out of her original 30 hp left after taking just two strikes from this adversary.
"Weapon. Weapon," Sakamoto fumbled with her menu as she stumbled up, "Wah? I don't have one?!". She was moving back as the fungus humanoid moved forwards, maintaining the distance between the two of them. She couldn't believe that she didn't have a weapon, "B-but no! I have a weapon! I was given one at the beginning!". As the words left her mouth, Sakamoto remembered, Her next thought, "Oh yeah! I had to buy it! I remembered to buy it! Where is it?!". Again, realization struck her just as the words left her mouth, All that was left to say was, "Oh no…" Sakamoto remembered now, she had run all over town looking for quests, but it had taken so long and nowhere was open so she had just left without buying anything.
Still backing away from the aggroed foe, Sakamoto looked up, "What do I do, now?". Indeed, what was she to do? That question became twice as important with the next step back. She felt a squish on her back with that next step. "Huh?" she looked down in confusion to see yet another moonlit body of fungus.
Sakamoto's gamer reflexes triggered at the sudden appearance of a new challenger. Despite the difference between moving a body and simply pressing buttons on a controller, everything worked out as the game registered the intent to dodge and calculated Sakamoto's stats against the fungus monsters to determine that she could indeed avoid the incoming surprise attack.
Having dodged the attack, Sakamoto could see that even a downward strike by the monsters was extremely slow. She realized "Wow, they're slow." Now that she knew how sluggish their movements were, Sakamoto felt like not all was lost. The small glimmer of hope led way to more positive thinking, some of it rather incorrect but it helped boost her confidence by any means. She started thinking as she kept her distance between the two fungi, "That means I can… Uh-huh. Right." Now she wasn't just backing away in fear. She was darting in and out of their attacks, getting accustomed to their fighting patterns and just the action of dodging in the game. They looked real, but in the end, these things were just computer programs. They had a set speed that Sakamoto knew she could beat and she kind of figured out the attacking patterns they had. "I can do it," she believed in herself, "Right, I'm a mage. That class. I think mage was the class that's supposed to fight bare-handed, right? The one with hoo! Hah! And Hiyah!". She was making the mistake of confusing mage and monk, but it was all right. She didn't know she was making the mistake and it was giving her some much needed confidence. The fright and following excitement had long since erased any sleepiness she felt upon awakening.
Sakamoto ran a circle around one of the Corrupted, she had just gotten around to figuring out their name after some rather distracted reading, and landed a punch. It felt squishy and like it didn't do any damage, but Sakamoto could see. She saw their health bar. She read the numbers change. That must mean she did something. She did something! "YES! If I just do this over and over again, I'll beat it eventually." she cheered, just narrowly dodging a strike from the other Corrupted in her euphoria.
The high defense of the Corrupted and Sakamoto's low strength led to a very long, very tiring, and very boring fight. With only five speed, the Corrupted were practically guaranteed to never be able to hit Sakamoto and Sakamoto was practically guaranteed to hit. However, each strike of the lvl 1 newbie did only 2 damage. Sakamoto couldn't land a barrage of strikes, either, or else she might get caught in an attack from one of the two Corrupted, and she couldn't risk taking another hit. Dodge. Strike. Dodge. Strike. Sometimes she had to dodge twice because there were two. Every time she dodged, she also had to run back to give herself enough room so that she wasn't overwhelmed by attacks from all sides. Over and over again. Finally, after what seemed like a hundred hits, really only 25, one of the two Corrupted was down. That left four more.
Wait.
Four?!
Sakamoto shook her head in disbelief after dodging a strike from a Corrupted on her left and dashing far away to gain some distance. She had to be seeing things. It was completely possible that her vision had just blurred to make one seem like four. The initial excitement of the fight had worn off sometime around the 16th hit, and since then, she had just gradually gotten sleepier and sleepier.
No matter how many times Sakamoto shook her head, though, the number did not change. Instead of causing her to miscount, her drowsiness had caused her to miss the appearance of three additional Corrupted. Raising both fists up in a generic fighting stance, Sakamoto grit her teeth. she puzzled. A Corrupted swiped at her, forcing Sakamoto's inch-long attention span to change focus. She dodged and landed a hit on the Corrupted. Whatever the reason, she was done thinking about that. Another attack at Sakamoto and another counter from Sakamoto. She moved in a circle instead of a haphazard line now. Moving back with each strike and waiting for one of the four remaining Corrupted to step just far enough out of the group for her to smack it and then retreat safely.
The moon was now on the horizon, just about to set. Although, there wasn't a hint of the sun on the other side of the sky. Stars gave just enough light to see the shadowy figures of the Corrupted, their moving bodies differentiating the monsters from the peaceful trees. Other night sounds filled the air. The cooing of owls and the squeaks of nocturnal rodents. The level of detail and realism in the game's setting was amazing to have even the smallest of animals represented in the game. Sure, they couldn't be fought, but they flitted to and from places. Sometimes, Sakamoto could swear that she heard other noises. Noises like hushed whispers and the light pitter patter of stealthy feet. Nothing ever showed up from those sounds, though.
Four more. Somehow, knowing that there were four instead of just one made everything a thousand times tougher. Sakamoto didn't know how she was able to dodge five Corrupted for so long before, not when she was struggling with four. More and more frequently, her vision blurred with exhaustion. Luckily for her, 2 damage was the bare minimum amount of damage that could be inflicted, so no matter how weak her attacks were, so long as they landed, they were always the most she could do anyways. Although, calling her ability to do only 2 damage lucky is a bit of a stretch. At the beginning of the fight, Sakamoto had been trying out new things. Kicks and the like that she would never have been able to do in real life but somehow knew how to do in this world. Now, she didn't think she could even risk those. The earth felt so wobbly without fancy footwork.
Eight pairs of arms. There were eight for her to dodge. Again, how was she able to evade all of those before? It was silly and Sakamoto was shallow for being affected like this, but the knowledge that she had more enemies to deal with had affected her outlook on the situation. Her outlook, in turn, affected her performance. Mixed in with exhaustion, she was dangerously close to slipping up on the tried and true pattern and dying. It was commendable how steadily Sakamoto fought. She didn't try to rush things or run any risks despite how slow her current safe tactics were. She never tried to land more than one punch during any opening. She acted patiently, a rare trait in such a young child.
Sakamoto had stopped keeping track of her punches, but after her 64th punch after learning that she had four more Corrupted to fight, she finally dropped a second Corrupted. The same exhaustion that blurred her vision and kept her waving to and fro had also inhibited her abilities to focus her attacks on just one target. She had given up on that method and had just resorted to hitting whatever she could safely hit between dodges.
The moon had set shortly before the second Corrupted was knocked out. The sun still showed no signs of rising. With only the stars to guide her, Sakamoto found it even more difficult to safely fight. The Corrupted, however, seemed to have no difficulty. The forest's night, even with all its sounds, were disturbingly quiet to Sakamoto. She was used to falling asleep to the sounds of people, either in the same house as her or in a neighboring house. Her bedtime was always early, as she was only seven, and most people were still wide awake when she fell asleep. This would be her first time up so long and so late. The sounds of the night critters did not fall on deaf ears, but they were still far too quiet for Sakamoto. It disturbed her. Would more Corrupted pop into the fight from nowhere even though she had been careful to go in a circle? She saw only three more standing, but how did she know that she wasn't seeing less than there actually was?
The next swipe from the Corrupted just barely missed Sakamoto. So close that she could feel the meager wind that the blow generated pass by her cheek. She lost her balance during the sidestep she executed to evade the attack. She stumbled and tumbled onto the ground. For a brief, almost heavenly moment, Sakamoto lay peacefully on the ground. simple thoughts like those passed through the girl's mind. She was exhausted to the point where she couldn't care about anything more now that she was lying down. Before she could mumble some nonsense words and turn to her side in preparation for falling asleep, though, a slimy grasp slithered onto her shoulder.
the touch reawakened Sakamoto to her senses, Her reactions were slow from a combination of surprise and exhaustion. By the time she attempted to twist up, another Corrupted had grabbed her. She couldn't shake the things loose. They were too strong for Sakamoto. The third and last moved to grab onto her. Any longer, and Sakamoto was going to take damage, and as she had already determined before, any more damage and she was going to die. Her health hadn't regenerated at all despite all the time.
As the third grabbed onto Sakamoto, she managed to move her legs just enough to generate what the game considered a kick against one of the Corrupted. The monster, which had just been about to bite down on Sakamoto, disappeared. It was defeated. Turned out it needed just one more attack before it was finished. Accepting the silver lining in the clouds, Sakamoto took her newly free hand and landed a weak punch on the other Corrupted. She kicked it, too, while she was at it. Two blows. 4 HP lost. Not enough, and now her arm was pinned again by the third Corrupted. She only had two more now. This wasn't fair. She was too tired to even scream. If this was just during the day, she would have gotten them. If she just had some sleep and wasn't stuck in this mean game world, she would have been able to beat them.
A Corrupted leaned forwards to bite Sakamoto's head. Sakamoto gave it a good headbutt, driving back the bite for now. tears streamed down Sakamoto's face, . The game received the distressed thought and took it as a legitimate cue to activate a racial ability. Sakamoto's desire for a way to get the Corrupted off of her was taken as a desire to change. As a Shifter, she had the ability to change into any of a variety of animals to augment her natural abilities.
"-2 HP," the game flashed the notice into Sakamoto's view as one of the Corrupted finally landed a bite on her. The message didn't receive much notice, though, because at the same time, both of the Corrupted her flung off of Sakamoto. No longer was she a cat-eared man. Now, she was an elephant, the biggest animal that she knew of. She wanted power and size to win the fight, and she got it.
Newfound strength surged through Sakamoto. She still felt exhausted and her hp was still low, but she just tossed off two of the Corrupted and was looking down at them from a great height. Sakamoto charged, hitting the two remaining Corrupted at once. She still didn't do much damage, but it was a little bit more than what she did before: 5 hp instead of 2 hp. One of the Corrupted grabbed her front left leg, and Sakamoto reacted by slamming her left side into a tree. Following the side slam was a sweep of her head to catch the other Corrupted with her tusks. It was amazing how easy all of what she did felt, almost like she was doing this all her life. The game had great immersion, even if Sakamoto was too tired and too busy throwing one of the Corrupted with her trunk to notice.
What followed Sakamoto's transformation was a whomp-fest. Her large size didn't very much encourage any fine dodging. However, she didn't need to dodge when she was tossing the Corrupted whenever she had the chance. Just by turning, she interrupted the melee attack animations of her foes. As they had no range, that meant Sakamoto was pretty much safe in the fight. She did take one more attack before she could down one more Corrupted, though.
The last Corrupted fell shortly after and disintegrated into dust. Finally having downed all five Corrupted, Sakamoto collapsed. Her elephant form dropped onto four knees before the transformation dispelled into a Sakamoto kneeling on all fours. Right at that very spot, Sakamoto collapsed, keeling to the side, and was out in a flash. She wouldn't awaken until mid-afternoon the next day, after which she would continue her travels to that one village. For now, though, she only hoped for sweet dreams.
Exit to Town of Elurik
Killed 5 Corrupted (lvl 2) Completed "What is with these numbers?!" (easy) 3125 words / 7731 words
───────────────── 「 020MP/000SPType A TransfigurationPOST000/000 」 「 000MP/000SPTechnique NamePOST000/000 」
HP: 20/20 Mood: Hoping I don't die Status: On a Mission!
Finally outside of the cramped starting city, Shizato searched high and low for the closest NPC that had an active quest marker over his head. Before long, she came upon what looked like a guard of sorts who had an active marker over his head. Before she even reached him, the NPC spun around to face her. "You there," it called out to her. "We need your help. A large number of monsters has appeared in the forest and if any more appear, they may threaten the city. Can you help us kill a few of them?" Suddenly, a pop up appeared in front of Shizato with a check and an x, asking if she wanted to accept the quest or not. Without a moment's hesitation, she pressed the check mark and waved to the NPC as she ran down a small trail into the woods. On all sides, the trees began to close in and before long, only a few rays of sunlight punched through the thick canopy above her.
She pulled a rusty sword from its scabbard. It was listed as a Basic Sword in her inventory but she had seen butter knifes with more cutting power then this thing. It looked like someone had dropped it in the mud a hundred years ago and just let it sit there like that before finally picking it up to sell it. She was gonna have to get a better sword before long. Slipping between a small growth of trees, Shizato looked out into the forest, searching for any sign of movement on the forest floor. Small creatures scurried across the forest floor, but most of them were ambient wild life and would reward no experience for a kill. Continuing between the trees, being cautious as to not cause any noise, Shizato finally came across a small clearing. Ahead of her was a lone Narg, sleeping up against the roots of a tree. It didn't seem to notice her yet. In a rush of excitement, Shizato charged across the clearing, sword help high above her head. As she neared the Narg, she jumped into the air, driving her blade into the midsection of the reptile, bird, hybrid thing. It awoke, letting out a short roar before turning to dust and disappearing in a haze. Overcome by excitement, she began to jump up and down cheering for herself. That was until she turned around and saw a swarm of Nargs circling overhead. They had apparently been drawn to the sound of their comrade dying and the cheering of an over excited player.
The Nargs were content for a moment to simply circle overhead. Three of them hung in the air, squawking at each other, most likely deciding which one would attack first. Finally, the largest of the three entered a dive and went straight down towards Shizato who barely had time to roll to the side before the Narg crashed up against the tree beside her. It struggled to stand up again, shaking its head and moving away from the tree. It snarled loudly at Shizato and began to walk side to side, staring her down like some kind of bull getting ready to charge at a rodeo. It finally let out a loud squeal and charged forward, swinging its claws down. Once more, Shizato tried to roll to the side, but was struck by the claw and knocked to the side. The HP gauge at the side of her screen twitched a little and a -2 appeared on her screen as he health adjusted itself down to 18. She stood up, slowly recovering from the hit. It didn't do much damage, but she needed to watch out. She needed to watch out if she was going to get out without losing any more HP.
Lowering her body to the ground, Shizato charged right at the Narg, dropping to the group to slid under the Narg at the last second, appearing behind it. She jumped up and drove her blade down into its back before it could spin around and slash at her. Before the next two could dive down and begin to attack her, Shizato sprinted as fast as she could to a nearby tree, placing her palm on the surface. The surface of the tree instantly began to change its shape, molding a portion of its surface into a crude, but effective, wooden shield. A quick notice flashed across the screen, +10 DEF, and her stat sheet updated accordingly, bringing her to a total of 60 DEF. Looking up, she noticed the next two diving towards her just in time to raise the shield. The claws of the first one slammed into the shield but missed her body completely, and with a mighty shove, she pushed it back off the shield.
With the final two now on the ground, the three of them, two birds and a player, began an intricate dance of attacking, dodging, and counter attacking as the moved through the small clearing in a circle. One Narg would attack her and she would role out of the way to dodge it and either swing her sword or raise he shield to block the second ones attack. This well rehearsed dance went on for several minutes, each doing the same repetitive moves over and over again until Shizato decided it was time to mix things up a little bit. When the first Narg went for his customary charge, Shizato instead raised he shield and slammed it into the Nargs head, knocking it to the ground in a daze. When the second Narg tried to run forward to aid its stunned comrade, Shizato swung her sword in a wide arc, keeping it at bay and away from the other. Spinning the blade in her hand, Shizato sliced through the first Narg's head, severing it and causing it to turn into dust just like the other two before it. That left only one Narg to go.
Instead of going into a blind rage, it seemed to be fearful now of the rusty blade and wooden shield that Shizato held in her hands. It never strayed close enough to allow her a moment to attack it. It would step forward as if to gauge her response and would then take two steps back to get out of reach again. It did this on and off for several minutes, never actually committing itself to an attack. Finally, something happened that it had been waiting for. She had been so caught up with trying to strike the Narg, Shizato didn't notice the ground under her feet and tripped over a root that had grown out of the ground, causing her to fall to the ground. In an instant, the Narg was on top of her, trying to slash its way past her shield and sword. A claw made it through her defense, slicing her across the chest. In the same moment, her own blade came up, driving itself into the eye socket of the Narg, causing it to break apart on top of her, relieving her of its vicious assault. She laid there for a moment, waiting for more to appear, but none did and she breathed a sigh of relief.
Well, when none came, that was obviously referring to Nargs. Something did come, or in more correct terms, had been there all along. The root that Shizato had tripped over did belong to a tree of sorts. But this tree happened to be an Ent. All around her as she laid on the ground, roots began to move and a loud grumbling sound filled the air as a nearby tree came to life before her very eyes. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. An Ent. A level 2 Ent. This was not good at all. Very bad, very, very, bad. It must have been awakened when she tripped over its root, and assumed that it was under attack. It stepped forward, swinging its arms down in order to crush Shizato, who quickly ran forward between the legs of the Ent. As the ran forward, she slashed at each leg. The sword banged against the surface of each and a moment later registered a measly -4 against the Ent. She looked up at its health bar, even more distraught at the sight of a practically full bar of health. What was odd though, was how long it was taking the Ent to spin around to attack her again. That things speed stat must have been close to nothing if it took this long to move and attack her again. And it was in that moment that she realized its stats must have been dumped into nothing but STR and DEF. Its speed had to be next to nothing.
When the Ent did finally spin around, Shizato was nowhere in sight, having already ran between its legs and started to unleash a vicious flurry of strikes against it, hoping to chop it down to size before it realized that she was literally under its feet and decided to just step on her. -2 after -2 flashed across the screen as the Ent's health bar began to steadily decline point after point. It took the Ent only a few moments to realize where she was standing. No sooner had she dropped it down to 60HP then it had decided to simply sit down on top of her and try to crush her. An attack of that size would have instantly killed her, but once again, it took the Ent what seemed like an eternity to sit down, by which time Shizato had already simply side stepped the Ent's oversized rear end. With the Ent now stuck on its but, Shizato ran around to its back and began to stab her blade into its back as she climbed her way up to the head, each stab registering with a -2 on the screen. by the time she reached the head, it was down to 20HP, and she began her final series of attacks, stabbing it in the eyes and face over and over again until at last, the final sliver of health on the Ent's bar vanished and it crumbled away, leaving Shizato to gently fall to the ground. A notice popped up on her screen, notifying her that she had now successfully completed the quest that she had been assigned upon entering the area, as well as the reward she had earned for completing the quest. It felt good to finally be out in the game again, she thought to herself as she made her way back to the main road and hopefully to the next town. She slung the shield on her back and the sword onto her waist and set out.
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