Indeed, most games just threw wave after wave of monsters at you in their dungeons or field areas, but this game was a bit different. One thing people liked was that the battles were much tougher, but they didn't try to drown you in them. There were plenty of other hazards or things to fill dungeons and quests, such as travel, exploration, puzzling, and other such things to give the world a much more real feel rather than just trying to pass the game off alone on its combat. While combat was a big part of it, it wasn't the only basket the game put its eggs in.
As soon as she got to the bottom of the ladder, the trap door above her closed and torches lit up another room. It seemed she chose the right choice, possibly, as there was a chest in the middle of the room and a door further behind that, both of these revealed as torches now lit up this area. It seemed that she probably wouldn't have been able to backtrack here as whatever door she chose would have closed on her. A window though appeared in the side of her vision, reading as follows.
For solving the puzzle and finding the best path has become a somewhat growing experience. You earned 3 XP.
It seemed like monsters and quests weren't the only way to get XP either. Solving puzzles was another way in the game to get XP depending upon how quickly or well they were solved most likely, and judging by the treasure chest before her, she either found a really good path or a potential trap. Either way, she could choose to ignore the chest and proceed to the door behind it or open the chest to see what was inside. It didn't look trapped from where she was standing, but again it was also hard to tell.
Zan didn't discover any trap dealing with the chest. Then he noticed that the chest was barely open. Zan decided open the chest, revealing a suit of chainmail, a bag containing 10,000 Sens, and a pouch that could be place on one's belt. Inside of the pouch was a pale red liquid fill small glass vial. The suit of chainmail was a nice surprise. Zan decided to appraise the armor, the small glass vial, the short-swords and shields he had gotten from the Teglings, which he forgot to appraise earlier. Then after that Zan would decide on what he keep and get rid of. After he appraise the chainmail, Zan would equipped it if able.
Unfortunately Zan was unable to approximately appraise the short swords and shields, but general knowledge would estimate that they were just junk. The blades were chipped and rusty and the shields were cracked and beat up. In fact, it was hard to see how a blade did so much damage to Zan other than by a creature with a powerful amount of strength at its disposal. So while he wasn't able to get a value on them or even identify them, he was able to tell that they probably weren't worth much and were just taking up his bag as probably not very valuable vendor trash.
The Chainmail was a different story. He was able to appraise it successfully, a similar window from the one earlier telling him of a successful appraisal and that his Adventure Journal had been updated with info on the item appeared, followed by one giving a description and identification of the item he discovered.
Bronze Chainmail: A basic suit of chainmail forged with bronze. It provides a bit of protection while not impeding one's movement too much. +3 Armor Rating, -3 Armor Penalty. Requires 7 STR.
Possible Value: Around 10,000 Sens
It was a bit on the light side for Zan, but he would be able to equip it. Unlike most games though, where one just pressed a button and it would magically attach to their character, this was not the case here. In order to equip it, Zan had to physically put it onto himself, which he somehow knew how to do, not that it wasn't hard to figure out in the first place since it was just a suit of chainmail and not a suit of plate armor. The moment he had it on he felt his movement slowed a bit, probably due to the 3 Armor Penalty that the item had.
The liquid was also a successful appraisal as well, and the two windows signifying this did indeed appear one after another.
Weak Minor Healing Potion: This very weak, but still prized, elixir is capable of restoring wounds the moment its consumed. Heals 25 HP per dose. Contains 2 Doses.
Possible Value: Around 25,000 Sens
It seemed like a pretty valuable item the potion, which was probably due to the fact that healing items were a bit more expensive and valued in the game, especially with how imminent death can be in every scenario and due to the fact that one doesn't get many opportunities to sit around for ten minutes sucking one's thumb until their HP regenerates. Still, Zan had a new suit of armor now and a belt pouch that could hold 4 small Items according to its description that appeared upon opening it up.
His HP was also full and ahead was the next challenge, a door that looked a bit more impressive than the other metal doors, so it may have been a boss room of sorts. It seemed like all that there was left to do was decide what to get rid of from his inventory or keep and then move on.
Zan's appraisal of the short-swords and shields fail, but he could tell just by looking at them they were just wasting space. Zan decided to get rid of the short-swords and shields placing them in the chest so they weren't in his way. The appraisal of the suit of Chainmail succeed, and a window appeared.
Appraisal Successful. Info added to Adventure Journal.
Zan closed the window and a window about the Chainmail appeared.
Bronze Chainmail: A basic suit of chainmail forged with bronze. It provides a bit of protection while not impeding one's movement too much. +3 Armor Rating, -3 Armor Penalty. Requires 7 STR.
Possible Value: Around 10,000 Sens
"This will come in handy," said Zan as he closed the window. [Chainmail] wasn't Zan first choice when it came to armor, but it would serve well for the moment. Different than most games Zan had to physically put it on to equip it. Even though Zan never learned how to put on Chainmail he somehow knew how to do it. Which it took him a little bit of time to put it on. After putting the [Bronze Chainmail] on Zan could feel that his movement had slowed, but it was worth the additional defense. His appraisal of the small glass vial filled with a pale red liquid was also successful. Another [Appraisal Successful] window appeared in Zan's field of vision. Which Zan closed with out reading it, then a window with the information he wanted to know appeared.
Weak Minor Healing Potion: This very weak, but still prized, elixir is capable of restoring wounds the moment its consumed. Heals 25 HP per dose. Contains 2 Doses.
Possible Value: Around 25,000 Sens
"A healing potion," said Zan, "Awesome." Then Zan looked at its possible value. "What 25,000 Sens this is worth 1000 Sens more then what I have in total." Zan put two of the [Weak Tegling Healing Potions] into his sack, and he placed the belt pouch, that has the [Weak Healing Potion] in it, on his belt. With his HP now full, Zan decided it was time to move on. He walked up to the door, which looked more impressive than the other doors. Zan readied his Great Axe and opened the door. Then he walked through the now open door.
Raijin smiled his blade at the ready. This smile only grew when he saw the window pop up, pronouncing that Caelis' speech(which had been rather good considering how little time they've spet together) gave them +5 boost to all abilities. Now that was a very nice surprise indeed. "Nice job Caelis, now lets show these Fugly mobs whose the boss. Now if you'll excuse me, Pass-by Strike!!"
Raijin suddenly rushed forward at high speeds, holding his sword with both hands as he moved to slash at one of the smaller mobs, aiming for its throat.
As Zan entered the door a strange, ominous presence would wash over him as the door behind him slammed shut with a burst of wind, then vanished. Torches one after another lit up the walls of this circular room, but it was still pretty dim. Then, out of nowhere, a bright, red light near the back wall broke through the rest of the darkness, revealing a five foot tall bright red crystal. It was floating above a large stone pedestal with a strange energy moving about it.
Before Zan could investigate the Crystal though, from the ceiling out of nowhere dropped a creature in similar looks to the Teglins he fought earlier. The difference was, this one was much fatter and had a distinct lack of armor or even a shirt for that matter. It didn't matter though, as he was even taller than Zan, who was tall in his own right, and wielded a gigantic axe that was bigger than its own body propped up onto his shoulder. The creature stood in front of the crystal in a slightly protective manner, smirking as it readied its gigantic axe, wielding the thing as if it was pretty light to it. Of course, despite its size it didn't look too well made, but that didn't mean that a hit from that wouldn't be deadly.
Zan would be in for the fight of his life, but luckily had some new skills and a bit of combat experience in this game already to help back him up, as well as some healing potions if he needed it. With this though, the final confrontation of this dungeon had begun.
---
Raijin decided to act first after Caelis used his [Inspiring Speech] Skill to give them a pretty substantial buff for Level 1 Characters. When he used the Skill he ran forward with decent agility, as it wasn't a skill that boosted his momentum. Right when he got close enough to the creature, but right out of striking distance, he would dash to the side of the creature to not only move right past it, but perform a strike as well.
While the strike did hit, not getting the creature in the throat but in the side, and Raijin managing to move right past the creature out of the reach of its blade, and thus it out of the reach of his own, during the [Run-By-Strike], it didn't seem to do a whole lot of damage. They weren't wearing armor, as the two smaller enemies didn't even have shirts on, but they still had a small bit of toughness going for them. All in all, the creature was indeed hurt as it left a glowing red gash, again due to laws banning VR games from showing blood and gore, in its side, but the gash wasn't too incredibly deep.
Still, a successful attack that dealt some damage and prompted a window to appear in the side of Raijin's vision, as if it appeared in front of his vision it would have been obstructing.
A Skill has been created through a Special Action. Through successfully executing an attack skill with a Saber, the ability to better wield Sabers, Saber Adept, has been created.
Saber Adept (Lv 1: 0%) (Passive): You are pretty adept with a saber, lighter blades meant for multiple quick slashes. Deal 5% more damage with Sabers and get +1 Attack Speed when using a Saber. To Level: Fight with Sabers, Use Skills, Parry, Defeat Foes, Perform Critical Strikes
While Raijin started to engage the enemy, Caelis kept looking at the enemy. He was trying to rely on his inspection/observation skills to see if there was anything that could be used against them such as a weak point on there body. Hell, maybe he could use his knowledge to pull up some sort of information about these creatures? Perhaps they had lower resistance to fire or something like that? It was a bit hopeful, but Caelis still tried to see if there was anything that could be used, especially against the large monster. Either way, Caelis steadily observed the enemy with his sword ready in his right hand and the torch on his left. Even if he failed to learn anything, Caelis was determined to back up Raijin in the next few seconds.
"Jackpot!" Haruko exclaimed when she saw the chest. She leaped off the ladder before reaching the ground, too excited to climb slowly. It was a large wooden chest with metal lining. Haruko touched its surface, feeling the rough wood and cold metal under her fingers. She gripped the lid with one hand and flipped it up. In her haste she had forgot to be cautious about traps.
Luckily there was a lack of traps to be cautious about, or otherwise Haruko would be dead from either traps that could have been at the bottom of the ladder where she jumped down or traps in or around the wooden chest that she hastily opened. Thankfully, there were no traps whatsoever, meaning Haruko had free reign to the treasure within. Inside the chest was a small number of things, none of which looked like stupid vendor trash.
A belt pouch with a vial of pale red liquid inside of it was one of the contents of the box. The next was a pouch holding 10,000 Sens, which was also the exact amount of money that Haruko had at the moment. The last item in the box was a pair of Cestus, much like the ones she was wearing, only these looked a small bit better made and looked like they were made out of Iron instead of Bronze, so all in all they were most likely better than the current ones she had on.
Ahead of the chest was a more impressive looking metal door than the last one she entered. It was also a bit bigger and just seemed like it gave off an ominous presence. It was most likely a boss room of sorts, or perhaps just a room with regular mobs. Regardless, it was good to assume that combat could be ahead in the next room.
Haruko's eyes lit up when she saw the contents of the chest. She grabbed the cestus first, checking it out. There was no way to tell how good they were, but if appearance was any indicator, this pair was better. She took off her old pair and put them on.
Next was the belt pouch containing a vial of red liquid. Haruko held it up to eye level, trying to discern its usage. Common sense said that it was a healing potion. Wasn't there a method to analyse items? At that moment, she remembered that the game used voice commands.
"Analyse. Appraise?" She said a few words out loud, stabbing at the correct word.
Whether she succeeded or not, Haruko would pocket the money and then head for the only exit. The large double doors gave off an intimidating aura. Haruko pushed them open.
Zan walked through the open doorway, and he felt an ominous presence in the room. Then the door slammed shut and vanished. One after another torches lit up along the walls of the room; which was circular instead of rectangular like the previous rooms. The room was still dim with the amount of torches it had. All of a sudden, a bright red light near the back wall removed the rest of the darkness, revealing a five foot tall bright red crystal. The crystal was floating above a large stone pedestal with a strange energy moving about it.
Zan started walking slowly toward the crystal, when a mob looking slightly similar to the Teglins he fought earlier dropped from the ceiling. The creature was taller than Zan, which most people weren't, but then again this was probably a Boss. The creature wielded a giant axe bigger than it. It was not wearing armor or even a shirt, which was frightening its own manner. The mob stood in front of the crystal, looking protective over it. The creature readied it axe as if it was a stick. The axe didn't look well made, but a hit from it would probably do quite a bit of damage. This fight wasn't going to be an easy one, but he had some new skills and a little combat experience. Plus he had some healing potions if he need them.
'Looks like this is the final battle of this dungeon,' thought Zan as he gripped his Great Axe. Zan activated the Talent [Focus], hoping it would help him in the battle. "I thought the last enemies I fought were ugly, but you proved me wrong," said Zan trying to anger the enemy into attacking first. "Have you ever heard of a shirt before, cause you definitely need one," insulted Zan, "Nobody wants to see your fat rolls or moobs." Zan hoped the enemy would come charging at him. If the enemy did and swung its axe downwards towards Zan, he would try to use a [Fierce Strike] to try to break the wooden part of its axe and/or to make it so it attack didn't hit him. If the Boss tried to swing at him from either side, he would try to get close enough that the mob wouldn't be able to use his gigantic axe because of its size, but not so close that Zan could use his Great Axe. Then he would try to take out one or both of its legs with a [Fierce Strike].
Unfortunately neither of those commands worked and thus Haruko wasn't able to identify the potion. Still, it seemed like a good find, especially the belt pouch, so it would be something nice to wear on the belt and keep the potion around just in case it was a healing potion. When she put the cestus on she could tell they felt just a small bit heavier, but not as heavy as to slow down her punches (which she can do two per attack due to having 15 Attack Speed, GM FYI), which was a good thing as it meant she could deliver still more powerful punches at the same time.
Going through the door, she would be met with a dark room, the door quickly slamming shut behind her with a burst of chilling wind before the door was covered up by more wall. After a few seconds in darkness, or barely lit darkness if she still had her torch, torches along the circular wall would spark to life one after another starting from the two near her, going all along the wall until they completed the circle. The room was still dim, but all of the sudden a bright, green light from the back of the room shone brightly, tearing through the darkness.
A giant, green crystal around five feet tall was floating above a stone pedestal. Suddenly though, before Haruko could approach the crystal, a trap door opened in front of it and a very, very large rat at least the size of a horse crawled out from it. It had teeth as sharp as knives and its fur looked mangy. It glared at Haruko with a hungry intent, as if Haruko was going to be its next meal. Before it could charge and pounce though, something strange happened.
Shadows from around the room moved along the floor, moving under the creature and suddenly stabbing straight through its body like multiple, tendril like spears. The creature let out a loud, rat-like sound of pain that was a bit deeper than usual rats, probably due to its size. The beast was felled and dropped to the ground, the shadows that had stabbed through it congregating and gathering in front of the giant rat creature before slowly forming a human shape.
The shape looked towards Haruko, before turning around and pushing the rat back into the trap door with a good, strong kick, the trap door closing over its corpse. After that, the shadow turned and finally began to take a much more human shape, a shape she would recognize as the thing took an unarmed fighting stance, standing protectively in front of the crystal. It was like a 3D silhouette of herself and was most likely the boss of this dungeon.
Regardless, Haruko had a fight on her hands, a fight with herself nonetheless. An interesting turn of events that differed a bit from the giant rat creature that she would have had to fight if not for this shadowy doppelganger.
---
Zan didn't really need to say Focus to activate it, all he really needed to do was just Focus. It seemed like Talents worked a bit differently than skills as one just needed to do the Talent in order to make it work, like how one would Focus or Appraise things in real life. Still, he focused himself, and found that other than being more focused, he would feel no real changes. Perhaps asking others more about how that Talent worked specifically when they got to the main game would probably be a good idea.
Zan spouted his taunts towards the creature while readying himself into a stance to counterattack either the creature's axe or its legs. The taunts didn't really work as the creature just snorted, but seeing as Zan wasn't doing anything, the creature was going to go in anyway. As Zan predicted, since an axe that big really only had two attack patterns, the creature swung from the side. Parrying something that big and heavy would probably not be the best idea, not that was Zan's plan anyway as he attempted to dodge by moving forward out of the way of the blade and closer to the boss.
Unfortunately, Zan's AGI wasn't the greatest, he had no points in Acrobatics, and he had the Armor Penalty from his chainmail slowing him down. Regardless, due to a small bit of clumsiness from the boss, he managed to, by just a hair literally, dodge a bit under the sideways swing to get a bit closer to the tall creature. Zan then slashed with his axe towards one of its legs, attempting to try and cut the leg out from beneath the boss with the mighty axe using a [Fierce Strike], now swinging the axe towards it.
The leg was a bit harder to hit, but Zan managed to slash the axe deep into the creature's leg. Not as deep as it could have gone, but still quite deep, the creature letting out a loud roar as the hard to place blow connected. The beast was still standing even after that very powerful hit, which made a window appear in the side of Zan's vision.
Fierce Strike has gone up in Level by 1.
The creature was clearly favoring one leg now, but was somehow still able to stand. Able to move, another story, but standing up yes. It gritted its teeth and, with a sudden display of incredible strength, pulled the axe back and thrusted it forward, using it like a gigantic spear to try and throw Zan backwards. Unfortunately its leg was still hurting, as Zan didn't even need to Parry or Dodge as the creature just sort of missed with Zan needing minimal effort to avoid the hit, which was a good thing as that attack looked way too powerful to parry, as did the first one, even with Zan's strength.
Regardless of this creature's supieror physical strength, Zan definitely had this thing on the ropes. Judging by the deep, glowing crimson gash in the thing's leg he had scored a very nasty hit while Zan still remained untouched, and the beast wasn't even able to move that well anymore. With just a few more hits like that this intense fight, as it was easy to see that just a hit from that axe would either send Zan flying or crush his entire body so getting once was probably not a good idea, would be over.
Again, the room that greeted her was unlit until she closed the door. The torches along the wall came to life, illuminating a slightly larger circular room. She could now see a floating, giant crystal on the far end. It was without a doubt the final goal.
Right after all the torches lit up, a trapdoor slammed open in front of the crystal. Out crawled a colossal rat, with a very impressive set of teeth. Haruko angled her body and assumed a combat stance. Learning karate in school finally came in handy.
However, this wasn't meant to be her opponent. Shadows swirled from every direction towards the giant rat. When they gathered underneath the rodent, black spears shot upwards and impaled it. The rat screamed, expiring instantly. Haruko stared wide-eyed, wondering just what was going on. This game was very unusual.
The blackness changed form again, gathering in front of her until it became human shaped. A woman made of shadows now stood in front of her. She was unarmed, but struck a stance that told Haruko that it didn't need any.
"Huh. Wait a moment. That's... me, isn't it?" Haruko said, realizing it was a carbon copy of her. She hadn't committed the appearance to memory yet. Now this was an interesting turn of events. Haruko chuckled. She turned her fist upwards, and motioned for the shadow clone to come over.
"Let's get this started!" Haruko taunted. When the clone charged, she would instead throw her torch right at it. "Or not!"
Hopefully the surprise attack worked. Regardless of the outcome, Haruko could only do one thing next: beat the copy to a pulp with her fists. She didn't really have a whole lot of options as a new player.
Zan became more focused, but he didn't feel no real changes. Zan's insults didn't affect the Boss, all the creature did was snort. Still Zan was happy with the outcome as the creature charged towards him. The creature swung its giant axe from the side. If Zan had tried to parrying something that big and heavy would have probably wouldn't have work, but Zan's plan was to attempt to dodge by moving inside of its range. Even with Zan's lower AGI and the Chainmail's Armor Penalty, he succeeded in dodging the mob's weapon. "Hah," said Zan as he dodged the giant axe. The he swung at the Boss's leg, while saying "[Fierce Strike]," to activate the skill. The leg was a hard to hit, be he succeeded it slashing the mob's leg.
The Boss roared in response, but it was still standing. Then a window appeared in the side of Zan's vision, which he ignored not wanting to get distracted. The Boss was definitely using one leg more than the other. Who knows if it was able to move though. It gritted its teeth and, with what appeared to be all its strength, pulled the axe back and thrusted it forward. Trying to use it like a gigantic spear to try and know Zan backwards. However because of its leg being injured, it missed Zan with him barely trying to dodge its attack. Which was good thing, because the attack looked incredibly powerful. Zan decided to try to move behind the Boss and kick the back of its uninjured leg to make it fall to its knees or onto its stomach. If his plan succeeded, he would try to "remove" one of its arms with a [Fierce Strike] if it was on its knees or he would try to attack its head or neck with a [Fierce Strike], if it was laying on its front.
Zan would manage to somehow get behind the enemy, which was a bit easier thanks to its lame leg and the fact that its weapon wasn't exactly very maneuverable, which was its downside with its incredible power being its upside. It would be hard to say if Zan would be able to wield such a mighty axe. Perhaps his strength would have to be two times higher than it is now. Regardless, he would manage to get behind the enemy and try to kick out its leg with all of his strength.
Somehow or another, Zan managed to hit the knee despite his slow speed, but not full on. It was thanks to the boss' leg being badly wounded that he was even able to hit the creature in the first place, dealing a small bit of damage, but not much. In that situation, as the boss tried to resist getting pushed over by Zan, it still fell over with ease despite its superior physical strength and larger build. It was thanks to it tripping as it tried to step back to resist falling on its lame leg.
It tripped in such a fashion that even made it drop its giant axe. For a boss that was a major threat if Zan would even be hit once, he was certainly making quick work of it in this thuggish, brutal fashion as it fell forward onto its stomach. After that, Zan attempted another [Fierce Strike] towards the beast's neck and head, as it was momentarily stunned by the fall and had to try and get up, right before it would be able to get up.
Unfortunately, as his axe was big and clunky. Despite that, he felt those Skills of his kicking in, especially that Critical Strike Skill. As he raised his axe to strike, the creature trying its best to dodge from the ground by rolling, he spotted that one sweet spot he was aiming for in one moment, then managed to angle his swing so that in the next 'frame' of its rolling he brought his axe just down onto the right area.
The creature stopped right there as the axe bore down deep into its neck with added ferocity and power. A loud sound could be heard as the axe clearly went through its neck and made contact with the ground below. The creature's eyes went wide, before rolling back in its head as its body went limp.
A few windows popped up in celebration of Zan's victory.
Critical Strike went up in Level by 1.
Which meant that Zan performed a Critical Strike, allowing him to finish the beast's HP with that extra 100% damage the Skill, and all Critical Strikes, gave.
Great Axe Adept has gone up in Level by 1.
Fierce Strike has gone up in Level by 1.
And finally, the best one. One that came with a feeling of refreshment as his MP and HP were fully restored and he felt a bit tougher than before.
You have gone up in Level by 1.
His level indicator, just above his Health and Mana bars in the upper left corner of his vision, had gone up from Level 1 to Level 2 with the finishing of that fight. He had 8 XP before, if he had bothered to check, and this boss had given him 12 more XP beyond that. A nice, decent chunk for what would have been a very hard boss if Zan had given it a chance to fight, which he didn't. Regardless, now Zan could take the time to search the corpse, issue his points, or perhaps go over to the giant floating crystal.
Before he could do any of that though, a voice spoke. The same one from before he entered the dungeon.
"You have proven your worth by clearing my trial with such flawless speed and precision. I deem thee worthy to enter my world. To clear this trial, dispel the labyrinth thou art in by smashing its heart, the crystal thou sees before thee."
If Zan did this, then he would finish the quest. Or he could take a bit to look around. It didn't seem like the voice was rushing him to do this, so the choice was his.
---
Haruko, in the meantime, would be fighting her own boss battle. As she rushed forward, she tried to surprise her shadow doppelganger by chucking the burning torch right at it. The burning torch hit, flames licking at the creature and burning it a bit. This did a small bit of damage as a bit of shadowy essence seemed to break from the creature. It still kept its shape, but that was probably a telltale sign of Haruko dealing damage. Unfortunately for Haruko, the shadowy being had the same sort of toughness she did and managed to bare it and move forward.
It first dealt a shadowy fist right towards Haruko's face. This one, since it was accompanied with a short distance lunge, an easily predictable one, to close the gap was easily blocked. A second, followup punch was made though using the same sort of speed Vero had in the exact next moment. This one, aimed towards Haruko's stomach, unfortunately hit, full on to. 15 Damage was dealt, as her HP dropped from 55 to 40, but that would rise by two as the following windows appeared.
A Skill has been unlocked through a Special Action. Through enduring the damage of a physical blow, the ability to better endure physical damage, Physical Endurance, has been created.
Physical Endurance (Lv 1: 0%) (Passive): You are able to tough out physical damage and in doing so have a stronger body. You get +1 Resistance, +5% HP, and +1 HP Regen. To Level: Take Damage, Take Massive Damage, Endure a Fatal Blow, Endure a Critical Strike.
A new Skill was unlocked. Granted it was from getting punched, but still, a new Skill had been created. Now that the shadow had its turn punching though, Haruko would be able to get off her own one-two now. Unlike the shadowy creature, Haruko was already in close proximity to the shadow, so she was able to throw both of her high powered punches right into it from straight up. This had turned from intense boss battle, to intense all bars withheld close-handed brawl.
Haruko managed to score two very nasty, full hits on the shadowy creature, more shadowy essence flying out from its being as Haruko dealt a good bit of damage. The shadow threw its fists at Haruko once again after Haruko had punched it twice. It also managed to slip past Haruko's guard, as if reading her moves, and slammed Haruko with its fists twice, knocking her HP from 42 to 30 with the first hit, then from 30 to 18 with the second.
This thing was chipping down Haruko's HP and while she was chipping down its HP, it was unclear of whether or not it had more HP than Haruko. Those hits had hurt both of them hard, and two more hits like that and Haruko was down for the count. She would have to think carefully of whether or not to continue the brawl or think of something else lest her choice prove to be her downfall.
For Caelis, Caim, and Raijin, it seemed like the much larger of the pig-like creatures was only going to sit back for now, standing in front of the crystal very protectively as its body blocked the front of it. The first of them turned around and moved towards Raijin to slash at him, this fortunately being a slightly easier to block hit since it was attacking from a shorter distance. Fortunately, Raijin was able to block the hit of the sword with relative ease using his own saber.
The second of the creatures rushed right towards Raijin as well, aiming to flank him and thus make it harder for him to both dodge and fight. It seemed though that rushing in and striking from a distance had its disadvantages, as Raijin was easily able to prepare himself for the rush despite fighting a first enemy already and block its strike. Raijin was able to block this second attack as well.
Caelis would spend his time trying to observe the creatures as they fought while Caim... sort of spaced out and did nothing for the moment. Unfortunately while Caim's eye seemed to be keen in detecting hidden clues, they weren't so keen in picking up enemy patterns or information in this hectic combative environment. Still, it seemed like the larger of the creatures wasn't moving for now for whatever reason, which was always a good sign as it gave them a chance to fight the regular mooks first.
Raijin smiled as he parrying both creatures swings, living the feel of combat this game gave him. He also appreciated the lack of blood and guts, as he had played this one game that had decided to go for full realism and had to quit before he could advance very far. That had been a rather disgusting and slightly traumatizing experience.
"Is that the best you got, if so, I have to say that I'm far from impressed." he taunted, possibly letting the acheivment get to his a little, but he didn't lower his guard or take his eyes off of the two enemies. Seeing as how both enemies were close by, and the boss seemed to be content with setting on his ass, he decided to try something. Gripping his blade tightly, attempted to do a spinning strike on both enemies, hoping to at least create some space between him and the mobs. He also hoped Caim would join the fight soon, as he didn't want to push his luck much farther than he already had.
Caelis couldn't find anything that could be of use. He muttered a curse. Still, there wasn't much time to waste. Caim was... preoccupied while Raijin was dealing with a handful, two goblin looking things at the same time. It was obvious that Raijin would appreciate some help. So, Caelis began running at one of the goblins with his torch and sword. Except, instead of attacking with his sword, Caelis planned to use his torch. Caelis hoped that the goblin would be too preoccupied with Raijin to be able to notice Caelis approach him. Using that opportunity, Caelis wanted the opportunity to shove the flaming torch into the goblin's face. Specifically, he was hoping that the fire would burn or at least irritate the goblin's eyes to render him blind for some time. The reason why Caelis wanted to use the torch instead of his sword? He didn't have to be as accurate to damage the goblin's eyes.
This wasn't going the way Haruko would have liked. Without proper practice, she could only return the clones attacks blow-for-blow. It was hard to tell who would expire first, or even if her opponent had her exact same stats. A quick mental calculation told her that she might die in the next exchange. She had to place her bets on the potion.
Haruko opened the belt pouch and took a large gulp from the potion. At the same time, she did a low legsweep, hoping to knock the shadow down. If successful, Haruko would leap backwards to gain some distance.
Vero attempted to try and drink from a potion while at the same time doing a leg sweep at the enemy in more of an attempt to drive her back rather than to trip. It was a very tricky maneuver to pull off, doing these two tasks at once, but somehow Haruko managed to barely succeed as she would have nearly tripped and fell if not for a last moment adjustment of her leg-sweeping posture. The leg sweep hit, but didn't really have any power behind it to do damage or trip. Instead it did accomplish the goal of getting the shadow to move backwards to allow Haruko to finish her quick chug.
Just half of the small vial of liquid, which was about the size of her fist, was enough for its affects to take place, plus it was all she had time to drink at the moment. She would feel some of her wounds and pain go away as that HP bar in the corner of her vision filled back up 25 points. It was a pretty amazing, almost intoxicating feeling of getting one's wounds healed through drinking the strawberry flavored potion. While not all of her pain was taken away, a good chunk of the bruises and fatigue were, putting her in a bit more fighting shape than she was before with 43 HP now instead of a mere 18.
It wasn't her full HP, but would let her survive more hits. Which was a good thing as the shadow quickly charged forward right after Haruko had chugged that bit of potion. Again that first strike thankfully had been parried with ease, but Haruko was slammed in the stomach the next moment, her HP dropping from 43 to 31 as it was another full on hit. Still, Haruko had one more dose of potion left and could stand about two more hits safely, this fight once again turned into a close proximity brawl unless Haruko decided to try something different.
Something did come good from her parry though. A window in the side of her vision, as to not get in her way, would appear, reading the following.
Improved Unarmed Strike's Level has gone up by 1.
Perhaps it would give her just the small edge she needed to win this battle.
