Chapter 2 - How they survived

4 months have passed since the death game started, 12 days in real life. Refa was now hunting Giant Ice Bears in Northen Pine Forest not too far from Pruina city. Once she'll finish the quests she should level up to level 23 thus being strong enough to take on first boss. The only problem was that nobody knew where first boss was. At first Refa though they would be in same place as before so Refa went to check the previous location first. However the dungeon wasn't there meaning they were relocated.

After first day when Refa met Marius and Kahlan, she hasn't partied up with any other player. However for about two weeks now, she has joined some group that was searching for the first boss, however they never managed to find it. Leader of this group was very experienced player, even more experienced then Refa and Kahlan combined. Why? He was a beta tester, so he had gotten quite far in the game before reset. Under his command players went to search different locations in Terra which they had access to. Refa feared that the boss might be hidden somewhere in Tornado Desert or Frozen Plains where no player could survive for longer then a day due to extreme climate, lack of food and powerful monsters.

Suddenly Kyuu-chan appeared and let out a squeal, warning that a group of 10 Giant Ice Bears had surrounded her. From aside it would look as if she would become lunch for these monsters, but it wasn't like that at all. Refa had expected the bears to surround her to make an easy and fast kill.

"Let's do this, Kyuu-chan! Fire burn down the enemies to melting ashes!" Refa chanted the intermediate spell and a rain of fire burned up all the bears in an instant. With this her level rose up and now she could calmly return to Pruina to claim her reward for the completed quests - Locator. It is a very rare item that players could get only from quests. With Locator one could find any monster or player in the game, however it would break after one use.

The northernmost foothills of the Ice Mountains, just south of Alias, were a place where few of the current players of ACO actually went. With most of the resources in the area hoarded by powerful monsters, and the average mob level on par with the most powerful players, it simply wasn't worth braving the hoards of roving alpine minotaurs in the hopes of actually making it into one of the many den areas and possibly getting rich off of the semi-rare materials hoarded by a field boss, which, although not as powerful as the dungeon bosses that hadn't yet been located, were still named creatures with several powerful sword skills.

Naturally, the two figures currently carving a swath of destruction through the enemies guarding a low-lying cave were exceptions to this general rule. This particular cave, set in a large hill overlooking Alias, was a quest instance, which was both good and bad. On the one hand, monsters from the outside and players not in the party currently doing the quest couldn't enter, making it safe from ninja looters and player killers, either those who would attack the party directly, or those who would lure large groups of monsters to kill their targets, then use stealth to escape the aggro range and steal the party's valuables after they were dead. Plus, the loot inside a quest instance was generally much better than the random drops outside, and the quest in question - Warrior King's Revenge, where an undead tyrant who had been sealed away in the mountain had awakened and was wrecking havoc with an army of undead minotaurs - gave several excellent rewards in the form of rare gear from the dead king's treasury. But, on the downside, the quest monsters - the level 25 <<Corrupted Minotaur>> and the field boss, the level 26 <<Fallen King Acheron>> were much more dangerous than the mobs outside, even to a full group of players. The event, once it had begun, had been attempted by a party of five decently equipped level 23 players from the up and coming guild <<Kings of the Iron Mountain,>> who had essentially claimed ownership of the town of Ancra through sheer numbers. However, after two of their members had been killed by the boss after an unexpected style change, they had retreated and, giving up on attempting the quest, had sold the information - which, due to having changed since the original game, was known only by their group - on how to begin it to the first party who offered. They'd scoffed at the two lightly armored individuals who had purchased it from them in exchange for some heavy armor, saying that they'd never make it, but it hadn't really seemed to deter them.

......

Ever since the beginning of the game, Canon and her partner had been working together to survive. At first, Asher had done almost all of the fighting, and his frightened charge had been relegated to the role of support. Taking up cooking, appraisal, and crafting skills and other such abilities as opposed to tracking or scanning and the more active skills she might have used, she had been in charge of the two's budget, dealing with equipment purchases, keeping track of loot, and, eventually, with cooking food and creating high-end healing potions and crystals from raw materials looted in the field to save money in that department. Although her attempts at blacksmithing, the newest trade she'd tried her hand at, had yet to produce any rare-grade results, she was steadily improving, and had managed to actually make a profit on a few of her more recent creations. Still, she was much more successful in the field of alchemy, running a small, traveling business wherever the two went and selling potions to raiding parties to keep the buyers alive, and the two partners well-stocked with coin.

Over the time they'd worked together, Canon had remained rather distant and uncertain when it came to interaction. Admittedly, she wasn't quite sure how to speak to her partner, and because of that, had generally just followed his lead without question, never really asking him about himself for fear of being rude, and never opening up to him unless pressed on the matter for the same reason. She wasn't good at social interaction, and it showed all too plainly. Still, he remained patient with her, and, as time went on, she found herself becoming more and more used to her new way of living. Awakening in a tent or a small inn room with a boy sleeping near to her had been rather embarrassing and tense for her, for a while, and the mere thought of fighting had been a constant, nagging fear. But, as time went on, defending herself from monsters and completing quests, even dangerous ones, began to become second nature to her. She trusted in her companion, even if she wasn't quite sure how to deal with him, and when he was there to watch the front, she guarded his back courageously.

Unusually enough, considering her usual frightened demeanor and dislike for fighting - although she'd improved considerably since she had first fought alongside The Voice of Treason, her partner, better known to her as her first and only friend, Asher - Canon had actually been the one to suggest taking this quest, for reasons she didn't speak of. It was, however, evidently quite important to her. In truth, it was because of one of the rewards for the quest. Or rather, a pair of rewards: a matching set of unique, evolving blades which she had wielded once in the game before it had reset. These two swords were known as Tempest and Gale, and their acquisition had been one of the prerequisites of obtaining her old Unique Skill.

Having recovered some of her old abilities - almost all of her favorite Intermediate and Basic spells were once more in her arsenal, and her smithing, digging, alchemy, herblore, and cooking skills had all been decently leveled during the four months she'd been trapped ingame - and some decent gear - the Sword of Elinsore, now bearing several speed and piercing enchantments from a few wind elemental gems, made for a tremendously effective weapon despite its low level, and she had obtained an enchanted scarlet mantle known as the Wind Raiment that, although it only gave decent protection for its level, was very light, and gave vast speed increases for its grade. With these, as well as pair of boomerang-like dao that would always return when thrown, making them more efficient than throwing picks, and a stockpile of high-quality healing potions and crystals, Canon had felt confident enough to attempt the quest despite the vast numbers of enemies she - no, they - would be facing. True, she was only a level 21, four levels below even the monsters in this cavern, but still, she remained resolute. Perhaps it was naive, stupid, or selfish, but a part of her somehow wanted to be as strong as she had been, once, but for real this time.

And so, she, who had been scared of everything, fought without fear.

.....

Stabbing upward with the rippling blade of the Sword of Elinsore, Canon plunged her weapon clean through the enemy's side, then darted sharply to the left, dragging the blade out of her enemy and pivoting as Sylphae Step's buff effect timed out, having lasted just long enough for her to get in close. The <<Corrupted Minotaur>> gave a cry of pain and staggered backward as its HP lowered to near half. Its eyes gleamed crimson within its skeletal head as it went into a berserker rage, increasing its power and speed once its health lowered into its second bar. Its wicked, clawed hand gleamed scarlet as it slashed upward with a single hit bleeding-type skill, only to stumble forward, cutting only empty air as its nimble adversary avoided it, twisting her blade horizontally into the second hit of her own Sword Skill, <<Whirlwind Piercer>>, a five hit combo beginning with a lunge, then following up with a slash from behind, and ending with an overhead flip that dealt three lightning fast stabs to the enemy's eye, throat, and heart, striking a triple critical hit for massive damage if all three attacks connected. The first stab caused bleeding condition and a two-second stun effect, and the slash from behind dealt crippling, so if the first blow struck, the combo was almost sure to be successful. And, with Canon's massively high agility and dexterity stats, she moved fast enough and had a high enough critical hit modifier to deal quite considerable damage with a single usage of this skill. The minotaur screamed again as the second hit connected, a flashing red scar appearing across its back and its HP dropping down into the red as the vermillion-clad warrior leaped into the air, the three lunges that followed almost simultaneous as they struck with pinpoint accuracy. The minotaur screamed, then exploded into countless blue pixels.

Landing beside her comrade as he eliminated his own enemy, Canon entered a ready stance without missing a beat. Several dark shapes were emerging from the caves below, but they were of no consequence. The tunnel they stood in was narrow, with no side passages to speak of. The enemies would have to come in small numbers, making them easy to deal with.

"I'll draw aggro from the first wave," Canon said quickly, immediately drawing up a plan for the situation as her instincts as a veteran player took hold, driving fear back to the corners of her mind. "I can hit them with a spell and get their attention while you chant yours and finish them off." She didn't wait for an answer, instead beginning to chant rapidly, activating her most powerful - and only - offensive spell, one which had the necessary spread to actually do the job.

"Pierce through without fail! Sylphae Arrow!" Leaping forward, Canon raised her free hand as a faint madder red light surrounded her outstretched arm. In the next instant, with a quiet hiss, this light condensed itself into twenty small lances of power, then fired itself forward, spreading across the entire column of advancing enemies. The minotaurs roared as they each sustained damage, and began crowding forward. At the same time, Canon stepped slightly away from Asher, raising her blade as the enemies began their attack.

"Shield me, Sylphae Ward!" She called, casting another spell as a vermillion ring took shape in front of her. The first minotaurs to attack found their skills redirected, sending them stumbling back into their comrades. They were all clustered together, now. As the shield fell apart, Canon gave the signal.

"Switch!" She cried.

Deep in the tornado desert, there was a slightly hidden tomb half buried by a sand dune. The tomb could only be found as part of a rare quest. At the moment, the entrance was dark and deathly silent. If one were to continue in however, they would hear the clash of metal on metal. That was because inside the tomb was a battle taking place between Marius, and the monster inside, by the name of <<Dark Pharoh's War Master>>.

Appropriately, said enemy took the form of a mummy. Marius wasn't that interested in it, or the tomb, as the npc who gave him the quest was. What he was interested in was the wall at the back of the tomb, and the weapon in the War Master's hands. It was a double blade. Not as powerful or fast as the <<Gemini Blade>>, but it would do for a few levels. The wall in the back could be decoded by the npc to give him the double blade skill, the second step to reclaiming the Gemini Blade, as he already aquired dual wielding.

Marius charged the mummy again, his <<Wind Flourisher>> in one hand, and <<Speedster's Whirler>> in the other. They clashed blades yet again, and the mummy screamed right Marius's face. "Ugh, two words:" Marius commented. "Breath mint." He disengaged the enemy, ducked to avoid its strike, and swung at the things legs, reducing it to one fifth of its hp. The mummy clearly was not happy, as it swung the blade down in an attempt to kill him. It would have worked, as Marius also had only one fifth of his hp left. Fortunatly, Marius dodged the hit just in time. In one swift movement, Marius ran up the tomb wall, jumped off behind the mummy, and landed a critical hit as he fell, using the abiltiy <<Grand Eviceration>>. Wanting to end this little game, Marius decided to end it with his favorite spell. "Speed, Wind, Blade Tornado!" he called out, as his body spun faster than the eye could track, and his swords slashed out just as fast almost at random, when his vision cleared, the elite monster had been knocked back, and was dead. As he aquired the skill, Marius noticed something odd. The weapon the mummy held was not the <<War Master's Blade>> he expected. He selected the info window on the weapon, and gasped in awe, surprise, and ectasy.

The info screen said it was <<Gemini Blade>>.

Marius couldn't believe it. He had found the old Gemini Blade in Caellum, in the hands of the <<Gemini Angel>>. What in the world was it doing here? Marius wasn't complaining, just surprised. To test it, Marius picked it up, and pulled on both ends of the handle. Low and behold, the weapon split in two, becoming two different swords. Elated, Marius completed his quest, and accepted his offer to teleport to Siccitatis. As he returned to the inn, he contemplated where to head next. As a level 25, Marius had been asked by an old beta tester to help him and his group look for the boss. Happy to oblige, Marius offered to check the Tornado Desert and Dry Mountains, as he was headed there anyway. Deciding to change his pace from searching the endless desert, populated by strong monsters and sand whirlwinds, he decided to head off to the Dry Mountains. He replenshed his food and water supply, and went north through the desert, watching the <<Sand Burrowers>> and <<Mumified Warriors>> give way to <<Dry Goblins>> and <<Desert Griffins>>. Marius attacked each one relentlessly. He was going to have fun with his old friend.

Leaping back on her own signal, Canon watched as the <<Corrupted Minotaurs>> were stopped in their tracks by a storm of magic that ripped through the tunnel, incinerating the first group and mowing down the second. Although very fast and strong, they only had a limited arsenal of skills, and their HP and armor ratings were both low for their level. Their strength was in their numbers, but, using choke points in the cave, the two could cut right through them. With the enemies at the entrance eliminated, of course, the answer to Asher's next question was obvious.

"We go in. There should be two more waves before the field boss, and the second wave is in a wide antechamber before the boss' throne room, so we'll need to either take them back to back, or lure them back to the entrance way. At least, that's what the last party said," Canon replied somewhat stiffly, consulting a small status window on which was displayed the notes she'd written before they began the raid. "Also, there might be sidepassages with some treasure in them. I did this quest before the reset, and there were then, anyway, but a lot of things have changed since when. I expect there are traps, so we should run an appraisal and detect check of the area before we enter." Pointing forward, she dismissed the window and, keeping her sword ready to defend herself, began to move forward.

"Take the left side of the tunnel. I'll take the right. Those passages I mentioned before might contain enemies lying in wait, as well, so keep your eyes on your wall. The Minotaurs get an automatic critical hit, which doubles their bleeding DoT if they strike with both hands, and if they jump you, you might not have time to dodge before they inflict enough damage to kill you before you can use a healing item."

Asher smiled. "Yes ma'am... I wonder what happened to that little shy girl I found back in the square, before I took her in and let her join in that Hamlet quest? It's been a long time since I saw her." He complimented on how far Kanna had gone in her confidence, and draw his sword. "We really can't trust that group of players. They can betray us at any moment. I don't believe what they said..." Asher added, his face turning serious. He followed Kanna's commands and went into the tunnel, in the left side.

Asher thought about a strategy for a moment, then said "I have an idea... If the passages do contain enemies, shout. If that'll get the attention of more enemies, especially minotaurs, we retreat a little, then injure the monsters in front to slow them down. If I can, I can cast a spell in the rear of the group to immobilize the rear enemies, then decimate the group from the inside by casting spells aimed toward the center. Without any room to step aside and with their own allies blocking the 'charge' and 'retreat' options, they'll be stuck there. Not unless the AI is that ruthless to force the enemies to trample on their own allies." Asher explained. "Do you think that'll work? They need to be able to be injured in the legs and slow down from the injuries for this plan to work." Asher walked slowly and cautiously, not making a sound at all so the enemies in any hidden passages wouldn't aggro him.

[c]A name unheard of continues his lone search for the First Boss. Can he survive alone?[/c]

The black haired swordsman awoke from his slumber, dark blue eyes blinking as they stared at the tent canopy. He got up sleepily and proceeded to pack up his things. After several good minutes, the tent was taken down and Shineda was greeted by the biting cold of the <<Frozen Plains>>.

It's been almost 4 months into the game and Shineda continued his lone crusade to defeat this Death Game. During this entire 4 months, he had seen the terrified faces of other players and their deaths, causing his anger to lessen. His anger now was towards those who didn't seem to care about the fact that this was a Death Game, and even began to do despicable things to survive. A lone traveler, Shineda had roamed far and wide, with no one to hold him back, a privilege that only solo players had. And at the same time, he assisted those that required his help. A rarity in times like this, Shineda was like an angel assisting the weak. He saw now that the other players were suffering just as he had been. They wanted to return to reality. This was their wake-up call. They were fighting hard for it. For their survival. And he was dedicated to finishing this game, not just so he could return, but so that others could to. This became his new drive and he fought harder than before, risking his life over and over again in his quest to become stronger.

Now, Shineda was on a dungeon quest, solo. He had traveled almost any part of the most dangerous areas that had monsters that were at least 5-10 levels higher than he was, but places like that were starting to get less. He was on the search for the First Major Boss. He was even the first to travel to <<Frozen Plains>> and <<Tornado Desert>> in his search, a place considered to be quite fatal to the unprepared and consisting of powerful monsters. It had to be around somewhere.

"I'll find you." he muttered, then swung the weapon he forged at the group of <<Icicle Armadillos>>.

"I pierce through all armor with mighty strength! Piercing UP!" he read out the magic spell, causing runes to run along 「Air Blade」, circling it all the way to the tip. He drove the weapon through the first line of enemies, causing the one in front to completely shatter and receive the maximum force of the attack. Shineda continued to drive his sword to the mob, destroying a majority of them. The stronger their armor, the weaker they were inside. As long as the armor was removed, they stood no chance against him. Their numbers threatened to overwhelm him, but Shineda held his ground and kept his sword horizontally to the side. His HP bar slowly dropped as he was attacked, but his sword began to glow. A <<Sword Skill>>.

As the glow slowly grew brighter and brighter until it seemed that the light was dancing, he released, swinging his sword all the way to the other side. Like baseballs, each of the <<Icicle Armadillos>> curled up after being launched into the air and shattered into data.

"Home run." he mused, swinging his sword around then twirling it in front of him before putting it back into it's sheathe on his back, imitating a famous game character from a long time ago.

Further onwards, he finally found his target. The <<Frozen Emperor>>. A large humanoid, about 2 times the size of the average <<Player>>, frozen yet mobile. The ice was translucent and incredibly hard, meaning that one could not see what was underneath all the ice. But it seemed that the <<Frozen Emperor>> also wore armor, reinforcing it's already high defense. It wielded a two-handed Greatsword that seemed to be producing frost. Shineda quickly moved into a fighting stance but the frozen mound didn't seem to be moving. Humanoids were the hardest type of monsters to fight, since they resemble humans and can move around like humans. And the <<Frozen Emperor>> seemed to be stronger than most <<Field Bosses>>, possibly on par with a <<Major Boss>> but Shineda doubted it. No matter how strong a <<Field Boss>> was, a <<Major Boss>> would always be stronger than it.

A solid 5 minutes passed by and the mound showed no signs of moving, so Shineda lowered his weapon and walked towards it cautiously. Still, there was no movement.

"Odd..." he thought, holding his weapon at the ready. Still, a few more minutes went by and there was no response from the <<Boss>>. Just as Shineda lowered his guard with a sigh...

The <<Frozen Emperor>> swung it's greatsword at Shineda, sending him flying into the air and reducing his HP significantly.

"Uaaaaaaaagh!!" Shineda collapsed onto the frozen floor and got up, feeling heavy. What... then he looked at his HP bar, only to see a <<Frostbite>> symbol above it. That greatsword caused <<Frostbite>> status? Shineda had to make sure he dodged the weapon, or else he would be moving at an incredibly slow pace!

The <<Frozen Emperor's>> eyes finally flashed green, showing that it was now awakened and ready to do battle with it's adversary. What a surprise attack! The AI seemed to be getting smarter and smarter. The <<Boss>> held it's greatsword aloft and swung it down, Shineda blocked the attack with his weapon, causing sparks to fly from the clash. Another large swing brought Shineda flying into a wall painfully. His HP bar dropped again.

"Damn...The first hit decides everything when it comes to <<Frostbite>>...I'm so damn slow!" he cursed and stood up with his sword ready, narrowing getting himself stabbed by the weapon by part parrying and part dodging. This <<Boss>> wasn't going to be easy.

'Could be my last fight, if anything.' he thought darkly to himself.

After returning to Pruina, Refa, followed by her loyal pet Kyuu-chan, went straight to Quest Giver (NPC) to receive <<The Locator>>. That was the only prize for this quests although she had to fight like 50 <<Giant Ice Bears>>. However the prize was worth it because with it Refa would be able to find anything in this game. It's a shame this item has one time use. Excited Refa took out <<The Locator>> out of her inventory. It looked odd, bit like a mobile phone with tiny screen and giant keyboard below with all possible letters. Only then she understood the "catch" of this item. One needed to know the name of what they were searching for however Refa had no idea what was 1st bosses name.

"Argg!!! All that fighting for nothing!" Refa angrily growled and was about to smash <<The Locator>> against the ground, but Kyuu-chan stopped her in time. Suddenly a new message screen appeared in front of Refa. Of course it was from no one else then Game Master who constantly sent news about game upgrades, survivors and special events. Half-heartily she opened the mail and with no interest she read it until one phrase caught her sight. "Information about 1st Major Boss". The message didn't say where it was hidden however it showed that it looked like a giant werewolf with sword, had specific fighting pattern and that its name was <<The Moolit Deathwolf>>.

A smirk appeared on Refa's face. Quickly she wrote in "The Moonlit Deathwolf" in <<The Locator>>. For a while nothing happened but then map of Terra appeared in front of Refa and she saw a red dot flashed in The Frozen Plains. As Refa remembered spot on map, <<The Locator>> turned into tiny pixels and disappeared.

"Kyuu-chan, get ready, we're going on a cold trip!" Refa exclaimed and without any ado rushed out of Pruina. Although it was quite a distance from Pruina to the location of first boss, red-head knew how to get there fast. Outside Pruina City, in Northen Pine Forest was a hidden reindeer farm. Player could go and rent one of these reindeer, but it wasn't cheap. Refa however didn't care how expensive it was. She wanted to kill that werewolf with her own sword.

Way to the farm seemed annoyingly long, but once she got there she instantly paid to get the fastest reindeer and hopped on its back. It let out a low growl and then rushed towards the direction Refa commanded. In meantime, Kyuu-chan had safely stuck under Refa's clothes, squealing every time reindeer made a crazy turn. It was amazing how well made pets in ACO were. They were just like real cats and dogs, asking for food, playing around and caring for their owner. The second amazing thing about pets was that they grew more powerful alongside their owners. If at first Kyuu-chan had only one tail and gave Refa ability to do weak fire magic, then now it he has two-tails and Refa can perform more powerful fire magic. During higher levels Kyuu-chan will be able to join battle.

As Refa rode out of Pine Forest and into Northen Plains, Kyuu-chan signalized that there was something going on not to far from where they were. Curious Refa turned the reindeer in direction where it should be. As she got closer she could see some giant white figure with flashing green eyes and something smaller not too far from it. By looks of it, it was some Field Boss and a player who got into trouble while fighting it. As Refa got even closer she could see that name of monster was <<Frozen Emperor>> and it was level 30. That guy must be crazy to take on such powerful Field Boss. Normally Refa wouldn't involve herself in fight like this, however she had element advantage. Fire attacks did double the damage against ice monsters, so this shouldn't be a problem.

"Fire burn down the enemies to melting ashes!" Refa chanted as she got closer to the monster. A rain of fire fell upon the giant making him roar. But because of her fire, snow around monster evaporated creating a thick mist so Refa couldn't tell was the monster dead or not.

"Tch!" Asher jumped back as a group of minotaurs had arrived to fill in for the first group. There were seven minotaurs, Asher thought. And they managed to seperate me from Kanna. The AI got smarter... He smirked, then jumped as a minotaur tried to horizonally slash him. As soon as Asher jumped, he did one of his newer skills, Heavenly Tempest. He slashed at the attacking minotaur's face a few times, then did the Tempest part of the skill, only in a back flip to knock it back.

Before Asher landed, Asher had already chanted, saying words in rapid succession. "Rain down frigid wrath upon thy enemy!" Asher pointed his sword above the injured minotaur. "Icicle Rain!" The small orb appeared once again and multiple icicles flew out of it and into the minotaur, killing it instantly.

Asher alreay chanted another spell. "The silent breeze will cut you down! Wind Blade!" Suddenly, a strong breeze went by, and it moved like a sword, targetting another minotaur. Asher ran to that minotaur and sliced it, further decreasing the health bar. "Tempest!" Asher shouted out, and spun vertically and sliced open the minotaur's chest many times. The health bar went to zero, and the minotaur broke down into pixels.

Suddenly, Kanna landed behind Asher, and they stood back to back facing the last three minotaurs surrounding them. They both thought the same thing. I'll protect you. Please protect me. It was like the two was in sync, and they were practically one mind in two bodies. "Hey... Remember that Icicle Rain I fired into the tunnel before we entered? They got this group... I see one or two injured from the attack..." Asher whispered, smiling.

"Ah... That must be why..." Asher was interupted by a minotaur, who had charged at the martial artist, its sword brandishing high above its head. Asher ducked down and intercepted the attack, stabbing the minotaur straight into the stomach. The minotaur froze in place because of the shock, and Asher took the chance and used Dropkick on his sword, sending it and the minotaur to the wall. The minotaur shattered when it landed on Asher's sword again. "this group didn't get here along with the first wave." Asher finished.

Asher saw Kanna kill a minotaur and send and injured one near Asher. Asher smiled and did the skill Devil Lance, kicking his sword in the center of the X, which registered as a critical hit. The minotuar's health is now at one-fourth the maximum. Asher grabbed the sword that was stuck in the minotaur's back, and did Tempest, brutally pulling the sword out of the wound and slicing the area where a third line cut through the X-shaped wound. The minotaur roared its last and shattered as it fell forward. Asher landed and sheathed his sword. "Nice moves, Kanna." Asher smiled. "Remind me to spar with you when we are done with this quest."

Canon smiled, flushing slightly at the compliment as the last enemy disappeared. Really, her Sword Skills weren't all that impressive. Although she had quite a few multi-hit abilities she'd already learned, she was far outstripped in magic by her partner. They were a fairly balanced set, and on about the same level. Actually, when it came to levels, he was higher than her, and thus had better stats. Her own build was entirely focused on agility and critical hitting, which meant her strength was necessarily lower than his own.

Trying in vain to hide the blush on her face - it wasn't like he didn't see her blushing all the time, but it still seemed a little awkward to show that she was embarrassed - she gave a quiet "Thank you, but..." then trailed off, quickly looking down into her inventory screen in a search for a health potion, an action that kept her occupied until the system stopped registering her shame, and her blush faded. Withdrawing the small vial, she opened its top and drank it quickly, causing her health bar to quickly crawl back up from just above the yellow zone back to full. She, being the carrier of most non-instant acting healing items, swiftly produced a second potion from her items list, causing it to appear in a small flash of pixels in her hand. Shyly offering it to her partner, who had fared somewhat better than her, but still might have a use for it, she gave a slight smile.

"Here. Even if it's overkill, I have plenty more, and we should keep at 100% in case we get ambushed. Besides, potions are much less expensive than healing crystals later, so we should use them first, and they're not much use in a fight."

Asher smiled as Kanna offered the health potion. "Thanks..." He said, and drank it. His health bar, which he kept on red so his passive skill Endangered Threat would raise his attack and magic attack stats, filled back up to full. However, this came at the price of his strengths lowerering. The vial that used to contain the health potion disintegrated into pixels once Asher was done drinking it.

He looked into the darkness of the tunnel, then looked back to Kanna. "So, we go in with our strategy?" Asher asked. "We draw hidden enemies out then immobilize the ones in the front and rear?" Before Kanna responded, however, Asher saw what appeared to be a very unique weapon. He walked to it out of curiousity and saw it was a sheathe. Asher smiled as he picked up the Blade Sheathe and weighted it. "This would be useful..." Asher muttered. Before the reset, Asher fought with a sword and sheathe in hand, and was a master at it. This sheathe was practically the same exact one that Asher had with him. After all, Asher didn't get THAT far into the game, and his skills in fighting came from martial arts classes and kendo classes.

The sheathe digitalized and disappeared as it was put into Asher's inventory. Now that Asher has a sheathe to support his sword fighting skill, Asher can fight even better, at the cost of being able to actually punch, however. "Alright, I'm done. Sorry for the wait; I got a new weapon that needed a skill I had before the reset. I just need to relearn that skill and I'm good." Asher explained.

Canon nodded, smiling as Asher explained what had just happened. So, it looked like he had a personal skill of his own back when this was a game, as well. Come to think of it, she'd never told him why she was so dead set on coming here. Maybe since he'd shared that information, she should have replied by doing the same... She decided to take this course of action, but there wasn't much time, so she thankfully had an excuse to keep it quick.

"A-actually, the reason why I wanted to come here was because of some swords that drop at the end of the quest. They're a prerequisite for a Unique Skill I used to use, so..." She trailed off, then quickly picked back up again, deciding to change the subject. "Anyway, we should get going. Same strategy." With this, she once more assumed a ready stance, and began to advance into the cave.

There didn't seem to be any side passages yet, as she had expected. Loot chambers would probably only be deeper in, making them harder to reach - or perhaps to escape from, if they contained traps like she expected - to keep wandering players from just exhausting the cavern easily. It was never easy to simply snatch a rare object in a game like this, and even when it had been made into a mock-reality, that rule still applied. In any case, that also meant there weren't any ambushes - yet - which made their task of entering much easier.

She could see light shining from around a bend in the tunnel, and the shadows of several dark shapes were painted by this torch glow, moving about in the passage beyond. The second wave must have been just up ahead. She grimaced. This was where things would start getting hard. Stopping, she held up a hand to signal Asher to do the same, then opened her notes and began to explain what she knew, and the plan she had come up with. She was usually the strategist of the two of them, being the more experienced gamer, so this sort of abrupt switch from her usual demeanor was probably something Asher was used to by now. Admittedly, she really got into her role, and it was one of the few things she felt completely confident in doing.

"If the previous group was right, then in the tunnel beyond, the passage will split in two between us and them. There are two choke points to hold, so we need to rush up and claim them. We'll probably be overrun, so we'll need to take down as many as we can when they're only coming in ones and twos, then fall back to this tunnel here to use healing items before they catch us. While we're retreating, we can chant spells, so we'll have the advantage when we turn and fight. There will be more then twenty enemies, though, most of them coming at once. Be careful, and don't be afraid to run if you're getting overwhelmed. But if you do retreat, warn me so we can fall back without exposing each other. If things do go badly and I'm surrounded, I'll understand if you continue to retreat without me, so don't feel obligated to risk yourself needlessly. I have high agility and lots of multi-hit skills with jump and dodge attributes, so I can probably escape, or, if you're surrounded, draw the enemies' attention so you can get away."

Asher nodded at the plan. "Alright then... Let's get into position." He can already hear sounds coming from the other side of the room. Asher started to chant his fire spell, Eruption, and pointed his sword at what looked like a minotaur's hoof. "May hell rise up and take you..." Asher chanted quietly. "Eruption!" Asher yelled, alerting the monsters in the other side of the room. The ground broke away once again as hot magma exploded from the ground, and straight up. It splashed onto the ceiling, then rained down on the group of monsters that weren't in Asher's view. The monsters charged at Asher, who was already chanting another dose of Eruption. The ground rose up again and blocked the monsters' path, and Asher chanted his Wind Blade skill yet again.

"Wind Blade!" Asher yelled out again, and the wind sliced into the first minotaur's body. Because the passage was so small in width, the minotaur had no way to escape. Like Asher had planned for the supposed second wave, the minotaur was trapped between rising lava and its allies behind it. "Rain frigid wrath upon thy enemies!" Asher chanted again. He couldn't use his sword skills because of the lava in front of him. "Icicle Rain!" A small orb appeared far from Asher and above the middle of the group. Icicles rained down on the monsters that couldn't escape. However, it only injured them, not kill them. "I wonder how Kanna is doing?" Asher thought out loud. Suddenly, the Eruption spell timed out, and allowed the beserk minotaur to charge at Asher.

A smokescreen appeared suddenly, blinding both Shineda and <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>>. Shineda heard the creature swinging it's sword around in confusion, a few narrowly missing Shineda. Out of nowhere, the red haired girl galloped over in her reindeer and tossed him wordlessly onto the reindeer before charging out quickly. From behind, Shineda saw the sword narrowly miss the reindeer's rear. <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> growled angrily in it's blind position.

"Listen, we won't be able to beat this thing with power alone. It is higher level then us, it has very powerful weapon with frost ability and it's super fast! On top of that for some reason it is outside the dungeon which makes him even more dangerous. I've got an idea to beat him, but I'm not sure if it'll work. Before smoke clears I'm going to create a illusion ...." the girl didn't even manage to do anything before the giant came charging straight at them.

"Uh... the smoke didn't even clear yet." Shineda noted, pointing at the beast.

The girl jumped down from the reindeer just as the <<Boss>> swung it's sword at her. "Shield protect my life!" the girl yelled, forming an unbreakable barrier between them, stopping the sword. Shineda could see the frost forming around the barrier.

"Attack it, NOW!" she yelled and Shineda reacted instantly. He positioned himself for a stab and he leaped from the reindeer into the air, striking for <<The Moonlit Deathwolf's>> wrist. He connected, causing the beast to howl painfully and back off. Shineda landed in front of the girl, keeping his eyes firmly on the growling monster.

"...Two of us can't take it down." he muttered quietly, then opened his inventory, searching around it. A teleportation crystal formed in his free hand. Turning around, he placed the crystal into the girl's hand.

"Thanks for helping me...but for now you need to go." he said to her. "Go and form a party, bring them here and fight the <<Boss>>."

He pointed far off into the distance. "This entire field is its Dungeon. You won't be able to get out in time even with a reindeer. Use the crystal."

<<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> roared and charged at them.

"Go!" he yelled at the girl, just in case she didn't want to move. Then his eyes softened and he murmured very silently, "...the less that die in this game... the better."

Shineda moved his sword behind his back and blocked the <<Boss's>> attack, then smiled at the red haired girl.

"Go. Come back quickly, yea?" he said cheerfully, "I'll be waiting for your party to arrive."

With that, he turned around and pushed the sword back before diving into combat against <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> and it's dreaded Frost ability greatsword. The beast blocked his <<Sword Skill>> along with a <<Sword Skill>> of it's own, causing Shineda's eyes to widen in shock. In the recovery delay, the beast struck him with a fist, sending Shineda flying.

'Tch...' Shineda rolled to break his fall and then prepared himself for the next attack.

"You two are causing such a ruckus up here. Whats going on?" A female voice piped up behind Chase.

"Jensen! Hey! Just in time! I believe Kahlan is about ready to finally head out." Chase, beamed a cheesy smile at Kahlan who had picked up the pillow from the ground.

"Is that so?" The girl called Jensen Cypher raised an eyebrow at the blonde girl.

"Yes, I think it is time. I've been cooped up in this house for long enough." Kahlan's gaze wandered to the open window. Snow was gently falling against the sunlit glass, melting instantly as it touched the warm surface. It had been months since she had been able to walk again.

About a week or so after she had met up and partied with Marius and Reefa, Kahlan found herself exploring a dungeon, deep within the Dry Mountains that was just on the edge of Tornado Desert. To make a long story short, Kahlan ran into a mid level mini boss as she searched the tunnels for anything valuable. It was a giant fire red scorpion that was probably the size of a freight car. Since she had no one else with her at the time, she decided to play it safe and move on. The scorpion had other ideas. Lashing out at her just as she barely crawled out of it's lair, the giant thing, nicked her ankle giving her a nasty gash. Fortunately she had healing potions with her and the wound was gone before she knew it. But things were about to get worse. She had used a healing potion but no antidote potions were found in her inventory. The poison icon blipped just below her health bar and Kahaln knew she was in trouble. It was quite a ways till the next town, but she had no choice she needed that antidote. Getting out of the dungeon was easy. It was the desert that was her biggest worry. It was still miles from Siccitatis and it was getting hard to breathe. She didn't know it at the time but the poison had more symptoms than loss of health. Around thirty minutes later, Kahlan's vision blurred and she could barely stand upright. By the time she was half way there, she couldn't stand anymore and found herself lying there face down in the sand, struggling to breathe. Her health was in the yellow zone and was still gradually decreasing by the second. Was this it for her? Was she really going to die here alone in this desert? How could she had been so stupid? Kahlan's body shook with fear. She was going to die. The thought had never occurred to her until now. She could ACTULLY die in this game. Of course she knew that but never once did she think it would happen to her. She was sure of it. But now here she was, face down, unable to move, with her health slipping away. Terror replaced the fear that rocked her body and Kahlan began to claw at the sand, trying to find someway to move. Ten minutes later, she couldn't find the strength to even speak. Her health was now dangerously low and she wasn't even half way to the city. She knew she wouldn't be able to make it and if it hadn't been for two weary players that came along her path she wouldn't have.

If it wasn't for Chase and Jensen, Kahlan would have perished there in the middle of the desert. The two took her to Siccitatis and there, they brought her to an inn and took care of her. An antidote was given but the poison had spread way too much and Kahlan's body was rendered immobile. A fierce fever rocked her body and she could not talk for the longest time. Deciding to take her to their house in Ancra, the two bought a horse and put Kahlan on it. It was a rough journey, but soon they arrived. Nursing her back to health, Chase, Jensen and Kahlan lived together for the next few months. And now it was time to move on.

"First we need to get you some warmer clothes. There's no way your gonna survive this cold." Jensen shook her head. "Oh and we should get you some weapons too. That sword of yours isn't going to do you any good in these mountains. Leveling up is also something we need you to do."

Marius began his walk to Siccitatis back feeling very annoyed. He had scoured every inch of both the desert and Dry Mountain. Though he found locations where bosses might be later, he still hadn't found the first one yet. Marius decided that if it wasn't here, it was likely up north, perhaps in the Frozen Plains. Marius decided it would be good to check there, so he readied a teleport crystal and said "Teleport. Alsiosus." With that, a blue light glowed around him, bluring vision. When it cleared, he was in the snowy city of Alsiosus. He bought a few more essentials, including a warmer coat, and set off into the Frozen Plains.

Marius killed off a few <<Ice Armidillos>> and the occasional <<Frost Wurm>> as he mapped out the area. Eventually, something big in the distance caught his eye, so he advanced to have a look. What he saw caught him completly off guard. It was a monster, and the name above it came up as <<Major Boss: The Moonlit Deathwolf>>. Whats more was that it was already engaged in combat. There looked to be about thirty people, which struck Marius as odd. If a party had been formed to kill the first boss, he would have been told. He used his newly reaquired <<Tracking>> skill, only to find that they were all illusions. Only two were real players. As he got a better look at them, one of them had the name Refa pop up over her head. He couldn't help but notice that the two were hanging by a thread, even as Refa managed to knock the thing down on its back. "Yeah, thats Refa alright."

Not wanting either them to get killed, or himself for that matter. Marius crouched behind a frozen rock, and fired off a message to the beta tester. "Found the boss. It's in the Frozen Plains. Two Players are already fighting it, so I'm going to help out. Get a party here ASAP." After he fired off the message, Marius muttered to himself "Can't believe I'm actually going to do this. This is stupid." Not able to talk himself out of it, Marius charged the boss at max speed, and called out, "Need a hand Refa?" As the boss was about to get back up, Marius lept onto its chest, and stabbed the downward end of his blade into its head. He ran across its body, spinning his blade on its chest as he went, registering more hits. He lept up at the end, and landed by Refa. "Are you crazy!" he yelled. "You should have called for help the first chance you got! Fortunately, I just did that. Backup is on the way." Marius decided that for one enemy, it was better to use his sword seperated, so he split the <<Gemini Blade>> in two, using his dual wielding skills instead.

By the time the black-clad Voice of Treason had begun his stand against the oncoming horde, his partner, too, had sprung into action. Raising a hand and chanting out the seven words of her mainstay ranged attack, Canon fired a spread of vermillion lances at the second gap in the partially-collapsed tunnel. Almost all of them buried themselves in a single target, ripping it apart in a shower of scarlet pixels. In the next instant, she had already switched to her ranged weapons, the twin dao swords she wielded as throwing blades appearing in her hands in an instant, and, in the next, being hurled at the second minotaur to attempt to pass the breach, dealing two trails of scarlet across its chest and dropping what HP it had left from the Sylphae Arrows that had hit it right down to zero, causing it to break apart just as its comrade had done. As the daos cycled back, each cutting another minotaur for decent damage as they flew, they disappeared instantly into the scarlet-clad warrior's inventory, as, at the same time, she reached down to her waist and once more drew her sword. Taking the blade with both hands, she cut upward, pivoting as she did so to bring up the slash with all her might. The blade of her sword gleamed with a brilliant red light as the two hit Sword Skill <<Sword of Cycles,>> activated, cutting upward once to bisect the first wounded minotaur before it could even finish its berserker animation, the force of this blow bringing Canon about almost instantly for a second upward stroke that, like the first, tore apart the remaining enemy. That was four.

Before Canon even had time to grow complacent, however, the next two minotaurs were already upon her. With her sword still raised as she completed her slash, and her body still being dragged forward by the force of the attack, she realized only too late that it was impossible for her to parry the incoming claw strikes of both minotaurs, and she couldn't even dodge due to the <<System Assist>> dragging her body forward. Thinking quickly, she mimicked the action of one of the enemies she'd attacked earlier in the last group, raising her off hand in front of the oncoming blow. A dull throb registered in her arm as the enemy's claw dug deeply into it, grazing along her flesh but missing her vitals, minimizing the damage. Still, these were very high-powered enemies, and several levels higher than her, at that. Canon's eyes widened in fright as her health bar dropped almost to the yellow, turning a sickly pink color as an icon appeared beneath it: bleeding condition. Slowly, her HP continued to deteriorate, even as she used the force of the impact of the enemy's attack to twist herself sideways, dodging the charge of its comrade while at the same time lunging upward with the single-hit skill <<Horizonal>> to deal a single cut across both enemies' midsections, sending the first stumbling into the collapsed rubble at the center of the room, and the latter staggering forward, its attack animation interrupted.

Canon was not in a very good position right now. With one enemy past her, she'd have to deal with it immediately before it could reach Asher and attack him from behind. But, on the other hand, she'd only have a moment in which to do this before the first minotaur got back up and attacked her along with at least two more. She'd be surrounded unless she could take down the second attacker quickly, and then deal with the first.

"Sever and Transcend, Sylphae Blade," Canon chanted, using the last of her mana up to cast a final spell. A bright, whirling light, like that of a Sword Skill, encased her weapon, but this was somewhat different. It oscillated rapidly, seeming to blur and shift, rather than maintaining a single, sparking light, and gave her weapon a dangerous, piercing look to it. Canon wasted no time in employing this new enchantment, for she immediately activated another Sword Skill, <<Mirage Dance,>> bringing back her sword from the <<Horizontal>> and leaping forward, cutting upward from the enemy's waist clear to the back of his neck, then curving her blade back around to cut upward from the opposite side to the same location, completing a crimson arc across the enemy's back. Whirling out of this movement, she brought her blade into a stabbing stance as she spun around yet again, using her velocity to further increase her power as she came about, stabbing five times in quick succession, piercing through a vital spot with each expertly-aimed lunge. Her blade seemed to blur into five different identical weapons as she moved with lightning speed, a deadly mirage that shattered her target into a storm of pixels.

Hearing a roar from behind her that signified the start of a minotaur's attack animation, she brought up her blade using the momentum from her final stab to spin about, crossing the weapon over her chest just in time to intercept a lunge from the recovering minotaur's claws. Twisting the blade aside and dragging out the stumbling enemy's arm with it, she slashed a final time, using the creature's overextended arm to guide her blade as she twisted the weapon backhanded, carving straight up and decapitating the target with the skill <<Reverse Guillotine>> for massive criticals that were made only more potent by her sword's buff effect. The beast screamed, and its health dropped instantly, destroying it along with its previous five comrades. As the last shards of blue light faded from existence, Canon dropped back, her blade crossed backhanded across her body in a defensive stance as she braced for the next group, this time containing four enemies instead of just two, as they came on, the rest of the wave close behind them.

That's six. The entire wave should have targeted us by now. We can't hold this point much longer. Better retreat after I attack just a few times more.

"Asher, get ready!" Canon called over the roaring of the beasts. "They're all starting to charge at once!"

Asher jumped back as another minotaur clawed at him. By this time, Asher was already getting the buff from the Endangered Threat skill. However, his health bar was in red, which was bad. One wrong move would be fatal. Luckily, Asher's Regenerate skill healed him, but gradually. It was better than nothing... Asher thought. "Wind Blade!" Asher finished another chant for his wind spell. A gust of wind blew and sliced through some of the minotaurs that Asher had injured earlier, killing them.

"God... How many of them are there again?" Asher thought out loud, dodging another attack from a minotaur in front of him. In his mind, Asher is pulling up visions for his next combo. Eruption/Icicle Rain, Devil Lance, run to the enemy and grab the sword and use Tempest to get behind the enemy, then use Ghost Wolf to get back to the front, causing enemies to hit this one as well as slashing the stab wound.

Asher planned it out carefully. The said combo would be done as soon as he finished off the minotaur in front of him. Asher chanted. "May hell rise up and take you... Eruption! Rain frigid wrath upon thy enemies! Icicle Rain!" Asher shouted out, and the two spells appeared behind the minotaur that Asher had been fighting, aimed at the one behind it. Asher threw the sword up and did Dropkick on the minotaur, before using Dropkick again on the sword to further strengthen Devil Lance. The first minotaur shattered into pixels at the contact of the first Dropkick, and the Devil Lance registered as a critical on the second minotaur.

Asher ran up to the minotaur, which was still winding up for a slash, and grabbed his sword. He placed two feet on the minotaur's abdomen and pushed himself off, front flipping and doing Tempest. By the time Asher landed, the minotaur was finished. I guess I underestimated the power of that combo... Asher thought.

Before he could relax, another wave charged at him. Asher's mana is almost drained, and his health bar is below half. Asher sighed. "God..."

"Asher, get ready!" Canon called over the roaring of the beasts. "They're all starting to charge at once!"

"Got it!" Asher yelled back. A minotuar charged at Asher, who blocked with his sword, minimizing the damage done. His attack was further raised. Asher jumped up and did Tempest, chanting "Face the burning rage of the dragon!" The Tempest skill was chained into a Blaze Dragon, which further damaged Asher's opponent. Heh... Haven't done a mana blade skill in a while... Asher thought.

Asher ducked under a swing, and Asher stabbed his opponent. Using the combo from before, Asher jumped up and used Dropkick on the minotaur, the sword flying out through the minotaur's back and stuck into the wall. The force also sent the minotaur itself into the wall, and it landed into the sword. The health depleted, and Asher ran to get his sword back. He turned around to face more minotaurs. "Oh God damnit!" Asher whined, and got into another fighting stance.

Roaring, several minotaurs stampeded forward at once. Canon grimaced. If she'd had any mana left or any time to use a crystal, she'd have just used a Sylphae Ward to stop the rush. But, having neither of these things, and not wanting to risk the massive shock damage attempting to block a charge attack would deal to her, she had no choice but to take a somewhat different approach. Backpedaling for several feet before the oncoming hoard, she brought up her backhanded blade just in time to strike the lead enemy as he emerged from his rush animation, using another <<Reverse Guillotine>> to deal a slash across the creature's throat before finishing it off with a backhanded stab to the heart, using a <<Reverse Straight>> to finish the enemy. But by the time this enemy had shattered, the other three had gathered, already beginning to flank her. From the other side of the passage, she noticed Asher being pushed back as well, and grimaced. They wouldn't be able to hold out after this group. Still, if she tried to turn and run now, she'd just get cut down by the remaining three minotaurs. No choice. She'd have to eliminate them as well, then flee before the rest charged in at once.

Flicking her blade front-hand once more, Canon didn't so much as stop as her second skill finished, instead using the momentum of the <<System Assist>> to carry her right into her next attack. Stabbing forward at the center minotaur, she cut directly into its chest, turning this into a slash that tore clean through the beast's side. Coming about behind the enemies, she cut once, then leaped overhead, finishing the creature off with another perfectly executed <<Whirlwind Piercer.>> But as she landed, she knew she hadn't been fast enough. Two roars resounded at once the moment she touched down in a crouch, her back to her remaining adversaries, and she dived forward in fright, trying to avoid the sweeping claws she knew were coming. Even this was not fast enough, however, for in the next instant, two faint registers of pain allowed her to realize that she'd just taken two hits across her back. Her hitpoints dropped straight past yellow and then slowly crawled down into the red as the <<Bleeding>> effect she'd already been inflicted with renewed itself. One more hit like that, and she'd be dead. The fear she'd fought so hard to suppress grew stronger, and she found herself fighting the urge to simply flee from the fight. But if she did that, Asher would be surrounded. He'd die. She couldn't allow that.

And so, she rose from where she lay on the ground, spinning about as the enemies roared once again. The first charged, only to be sidestepped and met with a three-hit slashing-type sword skill, <<Turning Swallow,>> which dealt a trio of intersecting cuts across the enemy's entire upper body with remarkable speed. If the user had practiced it enough to know not to resist the <<System Assist,>> then the attacks would end up almost instantaneous, giving any target within striking distance absolutely no time to evade. This minotaur was no exception, having half of its health chipped away in an instant as Canon's blade tore clear through its abdomen, carving out through its back just in time to transition into a <<Vertical,>> severing the arm of the second minotaur as it attempted to cut her down. The first roared, entering berserk mode and striking at her, but she leaped back, taking the blow on the flat of her sword. The impact caused her health bar to creep down yet further, but she avoided being inflicted with a fresh condition, which meant she wasn't in danger of dying unless she took one more hit. But, as things were, even blocking would probably be enough to kill her at this rate...

No time to think. The enemies were continuing their assault. With both in berserk mode, their speed was phenomenally increased. They moved like twin blurs, catching up to her almost the moment she landed, forcing her to roll aside as their claws swept through where she'd just been, coming up in a crouch and immediately cutting at the legs of the first minotaur with a <<Horizontal,>> then using an <<Upper>> - a diagonal lunging slash from the hip to the shoulder - to finish the creature off. The second beast, lacking one of its arms, had to turn to face her, and by that time, she'd already stood up, braced herself, and, kicking off the floor, leaped to the side to evade its next strike. Using a <<Straight,>> she impaled it from behind, and this last enemy, like those before it, shattered into a radiant blue field of pixels.

"I can't keep this up any longer!" She called to Asher, hoping he heard her. Already, more enemies were flooding through her own choke point, as she'd been driven back by the last assault, allowing them access. "Run, before we're surrounded!" With this, she turned, and began to dash for the door they'd come in by, giving a quick glance over her shoulder to make sure Asher followed before she swiftly opened up her inventory and, removing a rare-grade healing crystal she'd been so lucky as to successfully create through alchemy, she swiftly used it. Instantly, the pink haze that had covered her health bar vanished as <<Bleeding>> was cured, and her health shot instantly back up to a point very close to the maximum. Next was a similarly high level mana crystal, which she swiftly used as well, restoring her energy. As she reached the door, she began to chant, and then turned about, preparing to fight the minotaurs who were already close on her heels. There was only one group of them left, which meant they'd be able to take them on together with ease. Just according to their plan.

"Like hell I'm leaving! Don't go acting like a hero and sacrificing yourself!" the red-head angrily yelled and threw crystal away into frozen field, much to Shineda's dismay. Then she charged right at werewolf and sliced through his left leg, making giant fall with loud "thud". Just as she was angry, he was too. This was why people ended up dying! They NEVER listen!

"Like it or not, we're in this together now! I'm not going to let anyone die because some stupid overgrown puppy decided to come out and play! Create the wall to deceive my enemies!" the girl formed an army of illusions with her magic spell, causing the giant to rampage around, striking anything in it's way.

"Attack it after I slice its leg," she gave the order and attacked, the moment it fell, Shineda charged, a sword dance of pure light as he pulled out every <<Sword Skill>> in his arsenal into a full-fledged combo. A final crushing stab to end the combo dealt out an extra critical damage to the beast, causing it to fall flat on it's back. Shineda swung his sword around for a while before settling into his fighting stance. Just as <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> stood, another player joined the battled and attacked it with a flurry of strikes. This player was faster than Shineda!

"Are you crazy!" the player yelled. "You should have called for help the first chance you got! Fortunately, I just did that. Backup is on the way."

"Blame the girl, she didn't listen when I said to go looking for back up!" he seethed angrily, looking at the teleportation crystal as it cracked and shattered. That was his last one too. Stupid girl was going to either get herself killed one day, or someone else. Hadn't she learned ANYTHING from this Death Game?

The new warrior separated his sword into two, meaning... The <<Gemini Blade>>? To have received it so early in the game...

'Tch... 3 of us... ' he thought, charging at the beast as it tried to stand up after the attack. Delivering a <<Sweeping Dash>>, Shineda took out the giant's weak footing from underneath, then stabbed forward into it's chest with a flash of light, throwing the beast backwards yet again. Being Shineda's defense crushing <<Sword Skill>>, the beast's armor was already cracking.

"One more hit! I pierce through all armor with mighty strength! Piercing UP!" he chanted, once again forming runes that circled his sword. He accompanied this with <<Piercing Stab>>, hoping to fully break through the beast's armor. He charged, flying straight into the beast with reckless abandon. He collided the tip of his sword against the beast's armor. After what seemed to be a brief delay... cracks were heard. Several of them before a loud shatter. He succeeded! The shattering of the armor threw both <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> and him off balance, in a way that he wasn't able to recover in time to take advantage of the situation.

"SWITCH!" he called out, hoping the two other players would take lead when he was not able to.

As Refa and the boy whose name she did not know continued to fight the monster,when an expected player appeared. It was Marius who apparently had noticed them from afar and now has joined in the fight.

"Are you crazy!" he yelled. "You should have called for help the first chance you got! Fortunately, I just did that. Backup is on the way."

"Blame the girl, she didn't listen when I said to go looking for back up!" the boy seethed angrily however he continued to attack <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>>. At first it seemed kind of odd because all spots he hit didn't do any damage. And only then Refa understood his tactic. The armor. He was trying to break it in order for them to be able to induce more damage on the monster.

"One more hit! I pierce through all armor with mighty strength! Piercing UP!" he chanted, once again forming runes that circled his sword. As he slashed at monster's armor it started to crack until it finally came off. Oh, <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> didn't seem to like that on bit, in fact he became even more aggressive.

"SWITCH!" Boy yelled unable to do anything to wolf anymore. Refa quickly chanted her shield spell and went straight the werewolf not letting him to attack anyone else. Although with its armor off <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> became more vulnerable, it also became more agile. It was a good thing Refa had trained her speed to be as high as possible. Quickly Refa chanted another illusion only this time it made wolf see as if she was with no armor or sword (the previous illusion had already disappeared). Obviously it tried to slash Refa in two, but she successfully blocked its attack with her magic shield and pierced her sword right into the spot where boy got the armor off.

Howling wolf fell on its back from the impact making itself an easy target for a split second. It was plenty enough for Refa. Angrily she slashed at wolf's chest again and yelled: "If I would have gone looking for back-up, you would be dead right now! Switch!"

As wolf was struck by another blow, Refa backed away to recover her mana a bit. Illusions required quite a lot of it and she'll need it, because <<The Moonlit Deathwolf's>> HP still was pretty high. In this fight Refa decided to be a shield. She will switch in each time wolf will try to attack either Marius or the other player. That was something Refa didn't do before in the game, however now when one could actually die, she was ready to sacrifice herself to protect the others.

The red-head took advantage of the situation and attacked, casting a magic shield and illusion combo that successfully tricked the creature into hitting her only to receive a large recoil from the shield. She struck, piercing the wolf's chest, taking a nice amount of health away. It seemed that the armor had been protecting it's weakest spot. The beast fell on it's back, allowing the girl to strike again. By this time, Shineda had flipped from his fall to land on his feet and he charged.

"If I would have gone looking for back-up, you would be dead right now! Switch!" the girl yelled. To this Shineda snorted.

"You don't know what you're talking about. I don't intend to die in this death game caused by lifeless gamers." he yelled back angrily. "I just don't want any more deaths!"

It had been such a huge difference. He started off in the game cursing every gamer, hoping they would die for their stupidity. But after seeing the deaths, he lost that anger, although he still resented his bad luck. In fact, whether he knew it or not, Shineda had become a protector, saving those that he met in his travels.

Yes... this was his strength now. No longer was anger his power, his power was the will to protect, the will to save lives and the will to end this game.

He charged, moving at the same speed as the newcomer, courtesy of his stats and weapon bonuses. For a brief moment, the player's name and level appeared faintly before disappearing...

...He hugely out-leveled the other two and possibly even every other player in ACO, a fact that Shineda didn't like to reveal. Playing solo had allowed him to take all the EXP for himself, while others had been pairing up in order to increase their chances of survival, causing him to level up faster than any other player around. Another contributing factor... he did not want anyone to die, so Shineda avoided partying with people, afraid that they would die under his care if he couldn't protect them in time...

But now that these two were here to his displeasure...however, no matter what, there was no way he was letting them die.

<<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> received a powerful thrust straight into it's chest, sending it backwards with a painful howl. Shineda flourished his sword, causing light to shine from it. The beast growled and cast it's red eyes upon him before charging. Shineda stood his ground and swung his sword with all the strength he could muster.

The speed at which the beast was moving at and the force Shineda put into the blow, as well as a lucky Critical, sent the beast flying to the side and a rather large hunk of health deducted from its HP. Shineda stood there, his sword still outstretched from the attack before he slowly lowered his sword and glared at the beast.

It actually whimpered at his gaze, but stood up nonetheless and attacked. A skillful parry unbalanced the beast before Shineda slashed at the giant's chest, making it back away. A nice amount of HP was taken away from that hit.

'Just about a third more to go...' he thought, sparing a small glance at the beast's HP. Trying to take advantage of this, <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> charged and swung it's sword down at Shineda. This attack was blocked with ease by Shineda, who held his ground against the attack.

"SWITCH! GO ALL THE WAY!" he yelled, pushing the beast's sword back and making it stumble.

The boy successfully switched in, started to restlessly strike the beast and yelled back at Refa: "You don't know what you're talking about. I don't intend to die in this death game caused by lifeless gamers. I just don't want any more deaths!"

He just continued to strike the wolf and decreased its health by quite considerable amount. As he fought Kyuu emerged from his safe hiding spot in Refa's clothes and let out a warning "nyuu" pointed towards the boy. Pets could give players some very important information if they listened to their pets and understood their signs. Usually pets showed players hidden tricks or traps, but it was weird for Kyuu-chan to be pointed towards this boy. Carefully Refa observed him fight the monster and she saw that he was very agile, he could easily keep up with monster's speed and even out speed it although it didn't have it's armor now. Normal players wouldn't be able to keep up with it. Just how powerful was this player anyway.

"SWITCH! GO ALL THE WAY!" he yelled, pushing the beast's sword back and making it stumble. Refa didn't hesitate and went on full frontal attack.

"Just because we play a lot of video games doesn't mean we're lifeless," Refa slashed <<The Moonlit Deathwolf's>> chest making him lose balance and fall.

"Maybe we just have problems in real life and we wanted to have another chance to prove that we are worth something," she jumped and pierced sword right into wolf's chest making him howl in pain and also pinning him to the ground. As she remember all those times classmates made fun of her, Refa became angrier and angrier and yet sadder as well.

"Maybe, people didn't accept who we were and just laughed at us, making fun of our weaknesses and kicking us even harder when we fell down," red-head could fell tears forming in her eyes, blurring her vision, but she just pulled the sword out of beast and slashed it so fast that it barely got chance to stand up and protect itself.

"Maybe they never gave us a CHANCE to fight!" Refa yelled out, however with her vision blurred by tears she failed to see <<The Moonlit Deathwolf>> and obviously it didn't let that chance slip away. With its claw beast slashed right into Refa's chest sending her flying across the field, inducing <<Frozen>> status on her. When Refa understood what had happened, wolf was already lunging at her ready to delete her from this game and also real life. She needed to move but she couldn't since she was frozen.

.....or was she? As wolf was about to pierce through her with its claws, she quickly rolled out of the way and jumped onto her feet. Without any hesitation she chanted spell and created a shield to protect herself. But wasn't she frozen solid, she could have sworn she saw the <<Frozen>> status next to her now almost empty HP bar.

"Nyuuuu!" A worried squeal resounded in Refa's ear and she felt soft fur brush against her cheek. That's right, it was Kyuu-chan's unique ability. He could cure <<Frozen>> status. In other words, he simply melted the ice away. That kind of made sense Kyuu-chan was a fire fox and fire could melt the ice.

"Run! Before we're surrounded!" Kanna shouted out. At this time, Asher got hit by a claw, the blow cushioned by Asher's sword. "Alright!" Asher called out, and gave up his offense and retreated alongside Kanna. He saw Kanna take a few potions, and Asher did the same. One of them wasn't as efficient as Kanna's health potion, but it did get Asher's health back to 2/3. Not too high to take a lot of hits for the Endangered Threat status, but not too low to get killed in one blow. You could say that Asher was a bit reckless for his health bar, but only for the Endangered Threat skill to be used.

Asher also drank a mana potion, filling the bar up instantly. Asher turned around while he was running and chanted his first spell. "Burn by my hand! Fireball!" A sphere of flames appeared in Asher's hand. The Voice of Treason threw it as if it was a grenade, hitting a minotaur on the head and knocking it down. The poor generic enemy was soon to be trampled over by his fellow kin, droping it's health to zero.

Once Kanna stopped, the two turned around to see the group of enemies almost upon them. Asher had already chanted his two spells. "May hell rise up and take you... Eruption! Rain frigid wrath upon thy enemy! Icicle Rain!" The two spells activated simultaneously, and a wall of rising magma and icicles damaged the group. It took a large chunk out oftheir health bars, but the group still charged, with full intent to kill. "Kanna! Go!" Asher shouted. He brought his sword up in defense in case there were a few minotaurs left.

Marius hung back a bit as the other male player ripped off the boss's armor. That took certainly more strength then most players had. Maybe they could pull this off before backup arrived. That would be interesting to explain. Refa certainly looked up to snuff as well, apparently having gained illusion magic, and was certainly able to hold her own as well. Marius was ready to take the next switch, when the other player said something that froze him on the spot.

"You don't know what you're talking about. I don't intend to die in this death game caused by lifeless gamers. I just don't want any more deaths!"

Lifeless gamers? Lifeless gamers?! Marius shivered with rage, and had to force himself from attacking the unnamed player. He missed his chance to switch in his anger, and Refa took over again. He listened to Refa's speech on why people seemed to give up the real world for ACO. It certainly hit some things that the player didn't consider. However, he didn't notice untill to late that she was about to be impaled by the werewolf's claws. In that instant, Marius's mind flashed back to that fateful moment when he pushed his sister away from the car, only to be hit himself. Now utterly enraged, he decided to use that rage for something usefull. As the boss recovered from its miss and prepared another charge, Marius charged the boss without warning, moving faster than he thought he could.

As the boss was about to charge, Marius slammed into it with both of his blades, and turned into the sword skill <<Double Blade Vortex>>, landing his combo right on the boss's weakpoint. "Maybe we feel we have lost everything we had in that world!" he said, continuing Refa's speech. He parried the werewolf's strike with both blades, knocked it out of the way, and dashed under it, hitting both of its legs. "Maybe some of us feel we have more here than we do outside!" As the boss fell over, Marius lept up onto its chest, and screamed "Maybe someone can't look his sister in the eye, because she thinks that she is the reason he is confined to a GOD DAMNED WHEELCHAIR!!" as he plunged both of his blades into the thing's chest. He lept off of the boss in a back flip, watching its hp drop to zero, and the <<Moonlit Deathwolf>> burst into an explosion of polygons. Losing all of his self control, Marius charged the insensitive, good for nothing player, stopping the tip of his blade inches from his throat.

"Let me ask you a question." Marius said coldly. "Let's say you were in the real world, and you woke up one morning to find you couldn't feel or move your legs. How far would you go to get them back?" He withdrew his swords, reattached them, and sheathed it on his back. He walked a small distance away from the two, completely ignoring the <<Spoils>> screen in front of him. He couldn't stop the tears from coming down his eyes as he thought of his sister, and the pain she was going through, likely feeling like she had lost her brother a second time.