The Gamers: The Arcadia Games- Round 1

[Valeric]

Shouko's eyes widened when Tian-Gui asked to see the slaves on sale. Slaves. That was a term she didn't know still existed in the 21st century outside of small scale human trafficking rings. She felt quite disturbed by the notion, especially when Rei joked about how any of them could end up on the page.

However, those weren't the only she thoughts had. Even in this world of the supernatural and magic, money was still the ultimate power. Her goal didn't need to change, only the method in which she achieved it. At only 200,000 yen... maybe these slaves could be useful.

Shouko browsed through the rest of the items on the site. They were varied and numerous, everything she could ever need- if only she had the money to purchase them. There was the option of selling her imp claws, but Shouko thought she would hold onto them for now. Instead, she asked Rei to put in an order for the bomb kit. It was most likely to help within the short time frame they were given. Once these games were over, she could study the books at her own leisure.

Shouko also eyed the ring Rei had bought. Protection was quite important in this dangerous business. It was a little more than she could afford, so she had to trade in a couple of imp claws if she wanted it. Just in case, she asked the resident expert for advice. "Rei, is the barrier ring suitable for me?"

 

[Omnial]

Looking at the items that he wanted or had an interest in purchasing, and seeing their prices, Alex decided the best choice for the time being, would be to further his study of mana, by purchasing the book on mana theory, and a simple cloak. The cloak was more for aesthetics appeal than for anything else, but it would hopefully give people the deceptive idea that he would not be able to fight in close range.

50, 000 ¥ later, Alex had his book in hand, and in a similar manner had the option to use it as a skill book, and a lovely fur cloak, in a typically fantasy fashion. Equipping it, it was a surprisingly perfect fit, and with a twirl, Alex smiled as he observed his new 'armour'. "Not bad, not bad at all!"

With his new cloak on, and looking more of the part, Alex clicked accept to use the skill book to learn Mana Theory. "Well, I am going to train for a while, please don't bother me unless needed. I have a lot to think about."

Using his time wisely, Alex sat down, opened his windows and checked a few things. If I grind Mana thread, while meditating, with mana theory, I am also using mana which will also level the mana skill. Many skills being levelled at once.

At the end of the thirty minuites, Alex felt rather successful, Seeing that he maxed his Mana Thread again, but this time it no longer had the option to simple rank it up. "Oh? I guess it is time to move forward." He spoke softly to himself, a sly smile on his face.

28 - 13 = 15 Focus!!!

Focusing, Alex thought of how the skill should change, Well obviously, more threads would be the best.

It came as no surprise when the skill changed into Mana Threads. Success. One step closer to my goals.

 

[Renose]

"In my opinion, you would want actual Armor before a Barrier Ring. A Barrier Ring is useful, sure, but wouldn't give as much Defense as Armor. A Barrier Ring is still immensely useful though". Rei clicks on a few things, examining them. "This Armor that Xenon is also getting would work for you as well". It seems like pretty reliable Armor judging on the reviews that this particular seller of Leather Armor is getting. Strong, sturdy, and not too heavy.

"Of course, you may also want to raise your Strength as well. That Bow had a very nice enchantment upon it that boosts your Resilience, plus its just an overall stronger bow. Furthermore, raising your Strength would also increase your HP and Resilience a bit more, making your defenses better". After that the white haired teen would go about purchasing everything that the Gamers wanted to buy, including something for himself as well.

When the purchase is made, not but about a minute passes before... something appears.

A small UFO holding a package, a large one at that. Rei doesn't seem to appear phased at all though, as if he has seen this thing a hundred times already. Instead, a mechanical voice speaks to them from the UFO.

"Hello VIP Customer, Rei Amagi. Purchase Total comes to 380,000 Yen. After Membership Discounts are applied the total price of your purchase is 342,000 Yen. Do you accept the charges?"

Rei just gives a nod. Giving it the appropriate amount of money by dropping it in the top portion that opened up, then redistributing the leftover money from people's discounts back to them, meaning that the New Gamers had a little money left over from their purchases.

"Please remove Package and inspect its contents to ensure that your purchases are correct".

Rei does just this, untying the package and then removing the items one by one. All of the purchases are definitely as they said they would be, and everything bought is in good condition. It is quite the large box to hold a suit of Steel Scale Mail, two suits of Studded Leather Armor, three Books, two Crafting Kits in small boxes, a jewelry box that held Xenon's Vigor Band, and another black box that had a letter atop it.

That wasn't in any of their purchases.

"This is all I wanted, thank you".

Upon hearing this, the UFO beeps a few times, before playing another message.

"Purchase confirmation confirmed. You have received 3,420 Points for your Purchase and are only 89,910 points away from upgrading your Membership. The Abyss Auction thanks you for your continued business". With that, the UFO flies away, before vanishing into thin air not too long after.

"That thing never ceases being strange" is what Rei mumbles as he places the two books he purchased into his Inventory, before examining the box with the letter atop it. The letter, if anyone chooses to read over Rei's shoulder as he sits on the chair at the medium sized table he placed the large package on, reads as follows.

If you read over Rei's shoulder

Dear Gamers,
You appear to be in quite the interesting predicament. We here at the Abyss Auction, myself especially, are rooting for you and hoping for your success, as succeeding here will allow you to grow into even more interesting customers. As such, enclosed is are small trinkets for the each of you to help you succeed. These Barrier Rings should provide a small amount of protection for all of you against that Arcadia fellow and all of the other enemies you'll meet.

Hoping for your success,
Gin: Abyss Auction Dealer

Rei simply rolls his eyes and sets the letter aside, so that way anyone else could pick it up if they wanted to instead of reading over Rei's shoulder, which was hard since he read fast and folded it up in a quick, but careless manner. The letter is in a white, business like font on a black piece of stationary. Overall, it seems both stylized yet very professional.

Inside of the small black box that the letter was atop of are five rings, one for each Gamer. The rings are a simple bronze ring with small runes inscribed in it, a light blue gem embossed in the ring. Putting on said Ring reveals its Stats.
​

+2 Minor Barrier Ring with Protection Shard (Rank 9, Enchanted Ring)
This ring possesses a Minor Barrier Enchantment, providing the wearer with a small mystical barrier that protects from all attack.
Grants +7 Barrier Rating.

Also if the user were to suffer a fatal blow, the Protection Shard in the Ring will shatter instead, absorbing up to 100 Damage of this possibly fatal blow to lessen it. Once the Protection Shard shatters, however; the Ring will be weakened, losing 1 point of its Barrier Rating.​

"How generous of them... even more than usual". Rei just mumbles this as he gazes at the ring. For an apparently evil auction organization... or one can assume anyway, they seemed to be very generous with their gifts. Perhaps they really wanted the Gamers to succeed against Arcadia. Or they just wanted these customers to keep on living. Regardless, these Rings are quite the gift, if any of the New Gamers choose to wear them. Rei certainly is choosing to wear his.

"Anyway. Lets get to grinding... at 3 PM is when I want to begin hunting more Monsters. We also need to go ahead and start powering up the Camp more, but for now let us wait on that until we have more Coins".

With that, the New Gamers all began their own individual bouts of grinding, and overall good progress is made despite this grinding session being only 30 Minutes. Alexander was able to advance his Mana Threads, Shouko made five powerful little bombs, Rei did some various things that seemed interesting, Xenon just made basic, but good, progress in his own abilities and Tian made the same sort of basic progress.

Right before 3 PM, at least in the barrier's extended time when in reality its only 1:30 PM, Rei stands up now, heading towards the chest. "Lets go ahead and pur---" but before he can finish, a loud bell rings through the area, signifying the passing of the next area, and suddenly Arcadia's voice can be heard as specters of his image appear before everyone, Bladesong and Kamui included.

"Hello everybody!~ Arcadia here, and I hope that everyone is having a grand time so far in these action packed Arcadia Games!" A blast of illusory confetti appears from above the visage of Arcadia as he says the name of his games. "Its time for our first Events!"

For Blade and Kamui, they would know that these events happened at certain times in the games. Whether they were bounties for certain enemies or Classes of players, introductions of new Monster types, perhaps special little Quests to do, or other such things. Some were good, others brought very bad challenges.

"Our first event... is Hello New Monster!" A picture of what appears a light blue hitodama with large, angry eyes appears next to the illusory Arcadia. "This is the Angry Ghost Ball! A ball of the mischievous resentment of spirits! Of course, for our longer time players, you'll know that there is a small chance that these guys can drop Soul Shards! So if you have some good Luck, you can get some good Experience with these new Monsters! Be careful though, they pack a nasty mystical punch and Physical Attacks won't help you all that much!"

The picture then vanishes. "And for our next event... its BOUNTY TIME!"

These words appear above the Jester in neon lights, with a crosshair being their instead of an O in the word Bounty. The lights spin around for a moment, before vanishing into thin air. "This bounty hunt will be on an enemy player, and will last for five hours. And will be on quite the strong opponent. Naturally, as per all Bounty Events, you will receive 10 Gold for defeating this enemy and an additional amount equal to the enemy's Level. And the target this time is..."

Arcadia pauses now, a window appearing next to him. It shows various faces all flashing very fast like a roulette of some sort. Eventually it begins to slow down, the pictures coming by a bit more slowly with each passing moment. Soon enough it stops, and a familiar face to the New Gamers appears, not to Kamui and Blade.

The face is of Rei Amagi.

"Oh my! It seems like this current Bounty is the Spirit Fighter Ama-Rei of Team JUSTICE! Be careful to all of you hunters, as this player is Level 25, and thus will be quite the difficult opponent to beat, but doing so will net you a neat sum of 35 Gold Coins! So make sure you Level Up a bit before you try taking this one down folks! Naturally if you need a general location, feel free to ask, but it'll cost ya".

With that, the image of Rei vanishes with a snap of the illusory Arcadia's fingers.

"Well those are our events. Stay tuned for the next event in five more hours. Enjoy the game folks and remember, there are 21 hours remaining until the Finale of the first round. So make sure you get some sleep at some point. With that..." the illusory image bows, "I bid you all, adieu". With that farewell, the illusory image vanishes.

Rei... simply goes to the chest and then turns to look at the others. "Lets go ahead and power up the Chest, Guardian, and Flag Pole. And also purchase any new Defense Power Ups. People will be coming here after a couple of hours or so, so all of you will head to the other camp and grind Coins and EXP there to power up that Camp while I stay here. Arcadia will tell them my location, so its best if we remain separated for a while. After all, you guys are in no way ready to fight other contestants yet, especially in large groups of them".

Already Rei is formulating a plan and is opening the chest to possibly begin purchasing the upgrades, unless anyone were to try and say something to stop him of course.

---

The Illusory Arcadia vanished for almost everyone. For Kamui and Bladesong, instead the real Arcadia emerged from the image in his usual flashy entrance of confetti, minus the fanfare of trumpets.

"Hello surviving Wolves. Let me just say, I am sorry about the rest of your team. They are either all scattered, captured, or most likely defeated. Either way... you guys are really the only ones left. So let me lend you a hand". First Arcadia waves his hand over Bladesong, repairing his armor. Then he snaps his fingers, and suddenly both of them would feel a sharp jab in their sides. Right after they felt this jab, their HP and MP would fully restore, their wounds mending.

"Next, let me lend you a hand like so. First, some Gold". The man snaps his fingers, and the 13 and 14 Gold Coins that Kamui and Bladesong had respectively would both shoot up to an even 20 Gold apiece. "Next some info". He snaps his fingers, and a map appears in front of the two of them, showing some camp positions. The Event Field Camp where Team JUSTICE is situated is about a five minute walk northwest, while there is also another camp 10 minutes east of them. The Science Building is on the southern side of the large campus after all.

"And finally..." Arcadia snaps his fingers again, and a glowing Sigil shaped like a jester hat appears on both Kamui and Bladesong's chest, before vanishing. "These sigils will reflect two powerful attacks back at your attackers. They will only last for five hours before they're gone if you don't use them, so don't think you need to hang onto them. Anyway... " the Jester just smirks a little, "don't say I wasn't ever kind to the underdogs, because I love it when losers make a comeback. Anyway... now I bid you adieu!"

With that, the Jester vanishes whilst laughing, leaving the two Wolves with three options. The first, is to head to this Camp of another Team. They could be enemies though, and they have a Level 25 player on their team. There would be no way these two could fight that. The other option is to head to the apparently abandoned camp not too far from them and hope that they can take on the Guardian there to capture the camp.

Or the third is to walk about possibly looking for Monsters and just do whatever. Either way... they would need to do something soon lest they continue to be stuck out without any place to properly rest. Although their wounds are healed for now, Kamui and Blade still needed to make a decision and quickly.






​

 

[BlueFlameNikku]

As the illusion Arcadia appeared before Colt and Kamui Colt simply listened as per usually while occasionally cleaning his ear and looking about randomly listening to most of what was being explained. The main things that caught his attention was for one the player that was the center of the bounty event who was a level 25, the next event being in 5 hours and the finale for round 1 being at the end of the next 21 hours. Holy shit level 25 are you serious?!!! Colt would grip the handle of his sheathed sword tightly at the thought of how powerful that player must be a slightly worried smile. God damn it would be awesome to fight this Ama-Rei. But later...later when I've caught up.

Colt's train of thought would be interrupted as he was startled by the sudden appearance of the real Arcadia before them causing him to fall backwards onto his butt. Colt was annoyed to find out that he was right that the rest of their team was basically out of commission but before Colt could express is frustration Arcadia had already begun lending them a very generous hand. Colt looked down in surprise as he watched the damage that had been done to his armor repair in a flash and felt the jab to his side as he looked up to see his health and mana restored back to full. At this point he leaped back up to his feet with glee as he moved his limbs about no longer feeling the damage. Then they were given the gold that made it so they both had 20 each to their names.

Not stopping there Colt's eyes were drawn to the map that Arcadia summoned, taking notice of the camp sites that weren't far away in addition to that level 25 player was really close by which made Colt sweat just a bit. Then finally the icing on the cake as Arcadia gave them both a Sigil and explained what they did before giving a few final words and vanishing off. For a brief moment Colt was stunned in silence (for once in his life) at the amount of generosity they both just received before suddenly darting off with a grin in the direction of the camp that was 10 minutes away and supposedly abandoned. Turning his head only slightly so that Kamui could hear him.

"What the hell are you standing around for?!" "Get it in gear man!!!

Thoughts raced in Colt's head having the idea that any aggressive players are gonna be busy trying to team up and take on the bounty so if they go and take that camp while this is all going on they should be pretty uncontested when taking it so they can upgrade the living hell out of it and get farming.

 

[ERode]

Free rings were nice, even if they were from total assholes. Once the goods were delivered by a UFO that flew from practically nowhere, Tian-Gui was quick to examine the new goodies. The Barrier Ring was definitely helpful, especially for himself, and a part of him almost wanted to ask one of the others to give him their rings, so he could equip two of them and get even more protection stats…but perhaps that was just excessive.

After all, though his ability to draw the attention of monsters have been working so far, he couldn't exactly block an entire AOE attack by himself. There had to be a way, then, for his teammates to look after themselves.

And a way for him to focus AOEs solely on himself.

Repairing his armor took a whole bunch of time, but that was fine. He could multi-task simply by saying a few words, and all, and the new changes to Intensify Energy, while somewhat crazy, was still…usable. Being able to consume more HP was a good thing, and the regeneration bonuses from the camp helped out quite a lot when it came to these high cost abilities.

Of course, before Rei could actually teach them anything, Arcadia once again popped up, this time announcing some fun events to keep everyone entertained. Namely, the appearance of spooky ghosts and the bounty that now laid on Rei's head.

Tian-Gui sighed. "Yeah, see Rei? This is why you don't attack everyone right off the bat. And your decisiveness is admirable, but, being the most experienced one of us here, perhaps it'd be better for our development if, you know, you waited for us to give our thoughts before sharing your own?"

His brow furrowed. "Really though, what's the rush with spending Gold? Your minimap serves as an early detection system, and clearly, there's no one nearby at the moment. Since you're so intent on grinding, perhaps it's a good idea to let everyone else grind their decision-making skills as well?"

Tian-Gui really didn't have any complaints about the actual decision, but it was still just a bit irritating that the answer was presented constantly. Like a teacher who would give out the quiz and the answer sheet together.
~

"You forget Stealth for starters. Opponents moving Stealthily can also bypass the mini map. Plus even if I detect them early, it may not help much if they bring ten or twenty people".
~

"And you don't consider immediacy. You're level 25, and Durin, a top-tier, is level 16. They aren't going to attack immediately regardless, and it's been what, 20 seconds since the announcement ended?"

Tian-Gui then smiled at Rei's comment about the ten and the twenty. "If there was a Team that large, wouldn't it be better to save up gold and just run around the map then? Staying stationary against ten to twenty, even with an orc and a flag, is sorta suicidal, eh?"

Coming from a retard who could only charge into the fray, 'sorta suicidal' probably had a much stronger meaning.
~

Rei stops there, and thinks for a moment. As much as he didn't want to admit it... as much as he didn't want to trust the opinions of others, especially someone as reckless as the Grappler, Rei had to admit that Tian had a point. Arcadia's announcement was most likely broadcast to everyone. Every contestant. And from the wording of the announcement, Arcadia made it sound like his Level was much higher than everyone else's.

After all, if there were people higher level than Rei running around, then Level 16's like Durin wouldn't stand a chance.

So instead Rei just reaches into the chest and takes out 15 Gold Coins, leaving the New Gamers with 24. Enough to both power up the Chest once, purchase a bait, and still have 2 left over thanks to the Discount that powering up the chest would give, a discount that would be useful. He also takes out the three swords, hanging two of them on the belt he wore and putting the remaining one in his inventory, putting the Bow on his back beneath his Quiver and the other Bow into his Inventory as well.

"You're right..." Rei finally speaks up, just shaking his head, chuckling softly. "When one of my decisions is being called suicidal by you of all people..." Rei just stops there and closes his eyes for a moment as he closes the chest, heaving out a small sigh.

Perhaps he really is... being too cautious, even when being too cautious isn't a bad thing.
~
Uwah, was he actually...hm…

Tian-Gui wasn't really sure what to think about this particular turn of events. He had expected a counter to his own counter-argument, not an admission. After all, a team of ten to twenty meant that people would have been assimilated into a singular team, or that multiple teams would be working together. He couldn't really imagine Arcadia would set up teams with such irregular numbers, after all.

Waving his hands cheerfully, Tian-Gui tried to cheer up Rei. "Like, your decision isn't correct, you know? It's just that the scenario you thought up really works against your decision. If all the teams team up to hunt you down, there's no point in fortifying a singular camp."

Then, he narrowed his eyes, thinking once more.

"Wait, how does the bounty even get…"

Tian-Gui took in a deep breath.

"YO ARCADIA! GOTTA QUESTION FOR YOU!"
~

As if on cue, much to Rei's chagrin, Tian-Gui suddenly feels an arm around his shoulder as the floating figure of Arcadia seems to materialize out of nowhere with little fanfare this time, a questioning grin on the Jester's face.

"What's your question my dear Grappler? Depending upon the Question though, an Answer may Cost you~" He vanishes and then reappears floating above the group now.

~

Cool. He appeared after all. Just as planned.

"Yeah, costs are fine. I just have a couple of things to say."

A finger raised up.

"One, how is the bounty distributed? To the person who defeats him? To the team who defeats him? Or to everyone involved that defeats him?"

Another finger.

"Two, Durin from Team...Swallow, I think? Yeah, that dude implied that you could join teams and all that. Does that mean you can leave teams as well? And then rejoin afterwards?"

A third.

"How does 'defeat' work anyways? Do you get disqualified the moment you hit the dirt?"

And finally…

"And really, do you even understand how bounties work, Arcadia? Rei isn't just some low-leveled fugitive, after all. He's probably the strongest fighter in this game. Obviously, you should be increasing the bounty every time he manages to defeat or escape from a team that tries to take him down. Gives so much more complexity and all! Stuff like 'oh ho, should I sabotage this team's efforts to increase the bounty and get more rewards' and scummy thinking like that."

"So yeah, that's all. Just some clarifications and some other stuff about the bounty. You literally have no reward for Rei escaping capture or whatever though, and that's sorta boring."
~

Arcadia listens to everything Tian has to say, rubbing his chin as he sits in the air, cross-legged. "Well someone certainly put a lot of thought into this, but first..." Arcadia pauses and snaps his fingers, ten Gold Coins being removed from the Chest. Once the payment has been received, Arcadia begins his response, raising fingers just as Tian did.

"Its to whoever defeats him, and if he is defeated by a Team then that Team receives the reward in their Base Camp's Reward Chest when they return to their Camp or in their pockets if they have no Camp. So yes, if he is defeated by two or more Teams, then it is determined by who played the bigger part in defeating the target, or the bounty could also be split".

So people could team up if they wanted. Teams could ally to split the bounty, or two teams could arrive at the same time and have an all out battle. That didn't sound good, especially for Rei.

"And yes, you can leave a Team and join another, but after that you cannot rejoin a Team for another hour. Also its Team Sparrow, not team Swallow. Just to let you know".

Now he raises up a third finger as well.

"Defeat means death you know. In these Games. Of course, if you can resist dying, then all the power to you. Of course, throwing a fight doesn't work if you're thinking what I assume you're thinking my dear Grappler~"

And finally a fourth finger.

"True, cute little Rei here is indeed the strongest"

Something about being called cute by this Jester makes Rei shudder inwardly.

"But that is why the Bounty will last for five hours. Meaning all of those lovely fighters get time to level up, and with the Monsters starting to get stronger and the new Spirits, they'll definitely start closing the gap and can team up to defeat Rei, but hey, I'm not the one who decides the bounty, that was my little Roulette~".

That same roulette window appears from before with a snap of Arcadia's fingers, before vanishing.

Rei finds it hard to believe that was random chance. He knows that Arcadia is up to something, but he stays silent for now.

"And as for the rest... well... you sure have a knack for spoiling all of the surprises I plan. Yes, for every attempt Rei thwarts, the Bounty will rise, and if he manages to avoid defeat he will receive half of the Bounty with the other half going to the Team that came the closest to defeating him, without holding back of course, also providing that any members of said Team survived the attack".

So now Arcadia raises up a fifth finger.

"Of course, if you want to claim the bounty yourselves, your free to try and kill your friend here. But no cheating my dear Grappler. If you are the ones that come closest to defeating Rei in an all holds barred battle, then only half of the bounty will go to Rei and it will not increase". He then appears behind Rei, putting a hand on his head.

"I still have to punish him for his rude glare after all~"

Rei does not attack, keeping his composure this time as Arcadia vanishes and reappears in mid-air once again.

"Anymore questions?"

~

"Uh...just because you give other teams five hours to level up doesn't mean that Rei can't also level up during those five hours, so...eh...well, whatever!"

Tian-Gui forced a smile, offered a handshake, and said, "Well, thanks for the information, dude. And yeah, I think up these things pretty quickly. Gonna be a hero, after all."

~

Arcadia nods. "Of course, and thanks for the payment. Every gold coin helps in its own special way~" With that, Arcadia vanishes in a poof of confetti that gets all in Tian's hair.

Instead of getting Arcadia's actual hand to shake though... all Tian-Gui gets is a disembodied white gloved hand that shakes hands with him before exploding into confetti as well.

"So... you're planning on fighting me again huh?" Rei asks this now as he looks at Tian, wondering if that was indeed Tian's plan.
~

"Well," Tian-Gui laughed, "Can't say that it didn't cross my mind. But if it's death, then it's pointless. So is the idea of selling your bounty in exchange for another team joining our ranks. Human sacrifice is sorta detrimental and all."

"Anyways, five hours. There's probably going to be a whole bunch of teams grinding now. They'll probably attack in the last two hours, after powering up from those spooky ghosts. They'll probably spend some of that Gold to get Arcadia to locate you."

"So, Rei, another question. What do you think about actively hunting teams down? Beat them up, up your bounty, and slow their levelling?"

After all, they had a minimap, and if other teams were grinding, they weren't stealthing.

~

Listening to the entire conversation, Alex finally thought he should chime in at Tian's latest suggestion, "Do you think our friendly clown let everyone else know they would die?" Shaking his head, he walked closer to the two, "If you guys want to go murder a bunch of people who have no idea what is really going on, then by all means, leave." Alex pointed away from the camp, "I for one, will have no part. If they come at us, that is something entirely different."
~

"When does beating up translate into killing?"

~


"When you have to give it your all to stand a chance. What if we land a Crit?" Alex continued with his objection, "And I don't think we have enough control on our skills to land a less than lethal arrow to a vital, or to dampen our mana skills to not be fatal if they hit a low hp target."

~

"Alex is right you know. Beating Up means holding back. If I go attack a bunch of people holding back, it'll be suicidal if they try and kill me in return". Rei readjusts the swords on his hip and the bow on his back now, looking outward.

"That being said, if they come at me with the intent to kill... well..." his eyes narrow now as he grips the one of the slightly curved short sword sheathed at his hip, "I plan on responding in kind".

"But for now, I think it's best if I move on my own for a while, as Tian said. I'll go about, destroying any abandoned camps I may find or capturing them if I need something from you guys. While in the meantime you all wi..." Rei pauses here, shaking his head. "Should... move all of the upgrades from this camp to the other more defensible camp and just keep on grinding for now".

~

"Why isn't it possible to make it clear that death is a thing then? We face them in an optimal situation and disrupt their grinding attempts. They get their noses bloodied and decide that retreat is a better option. We let them do that, and Rei's bounty increases more."

Really, did Alex actually think he could kill someone with a crit? Strange stuff. Nevertheless, Rei now seemed set on the whole 'staying mobile' plan, and that worked as well, so Tian-Gui shrugged.

"As long as you don't do stupid stuff like grind until you're half-dead, that's fine~ Stay safe, stay moving, and don't update us too much. It's super annoying if it's just a record of how many things you killed."

"Ah, and ghosts. How we gonna kill things that are already dead?"

~

"Well you two are also operating under the assumption that this is a 'game' to these other contestants. For all we know, they probably all signed up knowing that they could kill and be killed. Regardless... I don't plan on making attacks unless I see weak leveled people that I can knock them out in one or two punches".

Of course, he just gives a nod to Tian's recommendations on staying safe. "I know. Ill probably capture a camp elsewhere to rest for a while. May head towards one of the stations and see what's there as I scout things out".

As for the spirit question...

"Well you're gonna be useless against those Tian. Which is why I recommend you learn Mana Bolt from Xenon. In games, usually Mana and other Mystical attacks are the only way to damage spirits. So you either will have to sit those fights out, or start taking Mana Bolt lessons from Xenon. Which you should do anyway since right now you have no Ranged Attacks to speak of, and Intensify Energy could make that stronger as well".

With that, unless Alexander or anyone else has a question for Rei, Rei prepares to depart.

~

Rubbing his chin and staring at Tian, Alex's thoughts began to roll, "Wouldn't Tian be able to fight them then if he had silver? Like usually aren't undead things usually hurt by silver or holy objects? Wouldn't Tian be able to grapple them if he had silver gloves?"

~

"Oh, would we be able to do critical damage to them if we started reciting passages from the Bible?" Tian-Gui paused, before stating, "But silver's for werewolves, isn't it?"

~

"I think you're thinking of Cold Iron Alexander... but that is operating under the assumption that the mechanics of Spirits and Undead operate the same in the real supernatural world as they do in games". Rei thinks for a few moments.

"The Zombies we were fighting before were actually just the collected resentment of the dead given shape. These Spirits are probably something similar according to Arcadia. And also" Rei looks to Tian. "I did some research, and I don't think a Bible would work either... considering that according to what I read Gaia in reality is the closest thing to 'God' this world has apparently and is by no means the holy figure that people think of".

"Whether or not an actual God exists is uncertain, but for now Gaia is the closest thing we have to a truly omnipotent 'God' figure. So for now, Tian, learn Mana Bolt since I am pretty sure these enemies will be flying, as spirits tend to do, and maybe Mana Burst so you can have a proximity attack".
~

"Yeah, sure, kay, bai bai."

He wasn't really going to learn Mana Bolt, but the Burst sounded nice at least. Lotsa usages for that melee mana attack that Shouko never actually used.

~

With that, Rei sets off now, moving quite fast on his feet, wearing swords on his hip and a Bow and Arrow upon his back. Whether or not he could actually use those weapons was another thing entirely, or perhaps he had some other use for them. Regardless, he moves off, heading southwest for now, most likely planning to go towards the Station to see what he could find there.

And with that, for now, the New Gamers are on their own for the next five hours.

~

Once Rei left, Tian-Gui turned to Shouko.

"So, Mana Burst, mind teaching me, Shouko-sensei~?"

 

[Valeric]

Under Rei's advice, Shouko purchased body armour for herself instead of the ring. She also picked up a bomb-making kit. The molotov cocktails and smoke bombs had been quite useful, even when she was capable of magic. Proper bombs would most likely pack more of a punch. For a moment Shouko realised the insanity of what she was actually doing and laughed. She was making explosives with materials sourced from a shady marketplace after all. If the police were to ever find out, she would be skulking in jail for quite some time.

Once the package arrived, she spent the free time producing said explosives. The assembly of these bombs was considerably different from the smoke bombs, so she had a difficult time, even having one partially detonate upon her (thankfully her gamer body was easy to heal). In the end, she produced five bombs. Their description in her inventory told her that they dealt far more damage than her molotovs, not to mention having additional effects.

...

Shouko once again felt conflicted after Arcadia's reappearance and Tian-Gui's subsequent questioning. This was something she really wanted to do, but these "games" have been getting more and more extreme. Pitting them against monsters was one thing, but now they might have to kill other people? As much as she didn't want to give up, she wasn't sure she could do such a deed.

She was snapped out her thoughts by Tian-Gui, who wanted to learn Mana Burst. Her aloof face was quickly replaced by a smile.

"Sure! Step right up, Tian-Gui-chan!"

Shouko went the spell the second time that day. Gathering power, magnifying it, then releasing the spell when it was boiling over. Considering Tian-Gui's penchant for violence, she had a feeling that it wouldn't be difficult for him. "Boom," Shouko said as she demonstrated the spell. Could she fire it at another person with the intention to kill? Sure, she had promised Rei she could. But can I really?

Tian-Gui had suggested going on the offence to make preemptive strikes against the other teams, but she had to agree with Alex. Someone might end up dying. Tian-Gui might have non-lethal fists, but the rest of the team used bladed weaponry. It was much worse for Shouko, having made a new batch of bombs. It would be so easy to ask Rei to lure everyone into a building and detonate them all...

"Absolute power absolutely corrupts, huh?" she muttered to herself.

Once the class in magic was over, Shouko took out her new bow to test it out. Its draw weight was significantly heavier than her previous bow, but with the increase in Strength it was manageable. One of the new monsters drew close, and she marked it as her practice target. Shouko nocked an arrow and said, "Shift Arrow," causing the wood-and-steel projectile to glow with a blueish hue. A second later she released the bowstring, and it shot forward, leaving a streak of light in its wake.

 

[Dragonslayer Ornstein]

Kiryu was standing there, dazed by the flood of information. He also jumped out of his skin when the real Arcadia popped up out of nowhere with his usual flair. This guy is about as ridiculous as us going after that bounty...and nuttier than a fruitcake. But if he wants to help...us....A momentary feeling of loss hit Kiryu as he heard that Blade and himself were the only surviving members of Team Wolf. he growled as he heard the news and clenched his fists, We'll make things right for the rest of you guys, helping us escape won't be in vain. He hears Blade call out to him and he waves and nonchalantly smiles to his teammate "Righty-ho, so you thinking the same thing I was, guess great (or psychotic) minds think alike cause I was feeling good about hitting that empty camp. And once we have it let's get ourselves some gear and do some farming, it's a long way to 25 if we want to take that bounty." The look on Kamui's face was that of being totally laid-back and he just followed along after Blade. "So ten minutes, thisaway, let's hope it's not a terribly powerful guardian cause I really wish I had some healing spells to go along with my offensive arsenal, or maybe some kind of mana shield to put on you or I." He says sighing a little dejectedly, afterall what kind of a mage doesn't learn a healing spell early on in a game.

 

[Sairoh]

By Arcadia's nth random interruption of the gamers' hourly scheduling, Xenon was really beginning to wonder what kind of mechanic he was using to seeming poof himself into existance. This time, jester had swung around to announce a tidbit about ghosts, and to nail a bull's eye to Rei's head. Needless to say, even with the newfound obstacle, the red haired teen covered the half smile on his face when Tian Gui pointed out Rei's tendency to "attack everyone right off the bat". It's funny 'cause it's true.

Though Xenon didn't interject into the strategy talk that ensued, he was surprised that it wasn't as one sided as usual. Leave it to Tian Gui prod our dear teacher into changing his mind. Another visit from Arcadia later, the plan was mostly fleshed out, before things took a turn to the deep end with Tian Gui's mention of hunting teams down. It felt like a bit of a throwback to Rei's original conditions to train them: could they really kill another human being? Xenon couldn't really think of a clear answer. Not when his main reason to fight was woefully absent.

Soon after, Rei departed, leaving everyone else to grind the stone once again. The red haired teen had expected Tian Gui to approach him about mana bolt, but the other gamer went to Shouko instead for an impromptu lesson about Mana Burst. Xenon debated whether this was a preference on the skill or the person. They're both about the same age, right? he questioned internally as he gave the two a wayward glance.

He then became acutely aware that he was becoming every nosy family member that ever was, and promptly looked away.

Right, training time. Xenon took a moment to assess his skills, then decided to continue his mana practices in down time and focus combat based skills when monster grinding started. He took a seat cross-legged, held a katar in one hand while hovering his other hand just over the metal. He'd get this flimsy film to do what he wanted it to. Eventually.

 

[Renose]

The first hour of grinding went pretty well. No more enemies showed up. Rei only gave the occasional status update. It seems like he is choosing to send update PM's sparingly rather than a set interval of every 15 minutes or so. Of course, the New Gamers could choose whether or not they respond, although responding would be the smarter choice so that they didn't have to make Rei worry with complete silence. Even a simple "We are fine" would probably suffice.

Of course, the New Gamers could also choose to send any questions they had to the Experienced Gamer as well, if they had any, about whatever Skills they had or other such things. The New Gamers also had a bit more wealth to their name. Not as much as last time, but still more wealth. 140,000 Yen and 32 Gold Coins. This meant that they could power up the chest and begin purchasing other Upgrades as well, like powering up the Guardian and Flag Pole or getting things like a Tent or other such things. After all, if they were going to be here for 24 hours or more, fortifying the Camp isn't a completely bad idea.

Who knows, maybe eventually they could get walls for their camp and turn their camp into more of a fort, especially because their new Camp was now on a hill, which made seeing things as they come alot easier. The hill, fortunately, was only about 30 yards at the top, most likely for the parking of the food trucks or other small things, before it began to slope. So two more Domain Range Upgrades could also make the top of this hill their Domain Range and thus make it even easier to fight oncoming enemies.

The Spirits, however; were a bit harder of an enemy. Mana seemed to be the only thing the New Gamers had that actually worked, and even then it didn't work all that great, as if it Mana hadn't been as effective as it should have been against this particular enemy. Luckily only two of them appeared, and only one at a time appeared whenever they did. These monsters were Level 15, and gave a very healthy 4 EXP whenever the New Gamers defeated them, meaning that all of them got 8 EXP from defeating these creatures, which really was only able to be done with a usage of Alexander's Mana Threads and the Mana Bursters for one of them, and then Xenon's Mana Bolts for the other.

Either way, it is quite fortuitous that these enemies didn't appear in groups. They did drop Items called Small Soul Energy Shards, which were a slight upgrade of the Tiny Soul Energy Shards that the Zombies dropped, and Tiny Spirit Shards, the Item that Arcadia mentioned these creatures dropped. Tiny Spirit Shards seemed to be a much more curious Item, since apparently something could happen or be done with them if alot of them were gathered. Perhaps the construction of a powerful Item? Perhaps Rei knows more about this. Regardless, two of each of those Items were dropped and they sit in the Storage Chest.

About halfway into the second hour of grinding both Monsters and Skills, right after the New Gamers had finished off a second wave of Gremlin Archers summoned via more Monster Bait, two flaming arrows sailed right to the camp. One flew right past Tian-Gui's head, nearly shooting him there, but the other flew and found purchase right in the flag pole, the pole taking 30 Damage from this attack as it also suddenly lit on fire.

About forty yards away, suddenly, two dots would appear right on the Mini-Map as ten yards down the hill two people seemed to just appear out of nowhere. Perhaps they were invisible? One was a man in what appeared to be a suit of Chain Mail wielding a nice looking bow. The other a man wielding a spear in one hand and a shield in the other wearing also a suit of Chain Mail, only his seemed to be somewhat reinforced with a few plates here and there.

Team Bloodhound Fighter
Arcaeus Level 14

Team Bloodhound Archer
Silver Eye Level 13

These two... while they didn't appear as strong as Durin, at the same time looked quite tough in their own right. That Archer definitely appeared to be quite troublesome since he was attacking the Flag Pole from a distance, his accuracy seeming to be quite good in how he seemingly barely missed Tian's Head and also hit the Flag Pole.

The Gamers wouldn't have long to prepare before the two were upon their Camp. They were a mere twenty yards from the Domain Range, so either they could go out to meet them, or do something different. They also still could purchase Upgrades if they wanted to since these enemies weren't in the Domain yet and the New Gamers had coins in the chest to do so.

The Guardian was on alert now, taking a few steps away from the flag pole and standing right in the path of it, teeth bared in a fierce expression as it readies its Axes.

---

Soon enough the two Non-Gamers made it to the Camp, luckily not fighting anything else along the way. There was the Orc Axman, looking incredibly fierce, and as the two are outside of the range of the Camp's Domain the Orc raises its axes, looking towards the two. Kamui and Blade would need to plan carefully as the Orc didn't seem like it was going to move first, so they would need to provoke the Orc.

Thankfully Mana Missile had a Range of 30 Yards, so it could hit the Orc that is 20 yards away if Kamui aimed it right. Mana Bolts had a Range of 20, so hitting with that would be much more difficult since the Orc is on the end of its range.

It is either that, or Blade could begin moving in. Either way... the two would need to plan somewhat carefully lest they suffer the Guardian's wrath of his rather painful looking axes.

​

 

[Dragonslayer Ornstein]

Kiryu glared back at the orc and stuck his tongue out, gods they are ugly creatures though. He then turned to Blade "I was thinking, I've got range on this guy...obviously being what I am, what if I hit him with a missile, then as he get's say within half the distance between us you bull rush him and take his attention off of me and I then move from the position I was at and just keep peppering him with missiles...I know your in the midst of all the fighting but I mean this."

He points to his robed self "Level of amazing can't contend over there, I mean two arrows dude, betcha anything that guy could hit me even harder or just take me out completely. And besides I've got all the faith in you...like a metric shit ton of faith, you got this."

He jokingly smiles and gives Colt the thumbs up and looks back at the monster... this wasn't going to be fun, they both were going to have to keep it inbetween them, and keep each other alive. kiryu puts out his hand, his last potion in it "Hey think you should take this...just in case. I mean he's going to be focusing on you moreso than me." kiryu gave Colt a genuine smile, afterall they were partners now, and they had to stick together through this.

 

[Omnial]

Noticing the damage being taking by the pole, Alex looked at the mini map, then towards the foes which just appeared. "I wonder if Arcadia had something to do with their stealth?" He grumbled, "Well, I say we warn them of their impending doom if they pursue these actions, then let loose the dogs of war." Starting to walk in the direction towards the two, "So, if they don't want to leave us, could someone expand our area so our guardian will charge too? Cool thanks." He waved his hand back as he continued a little closer to them.

By the archer's aim, he can target me at any time, lets see just how hostile they are. Holding his hands in the air, Alex came close enough that he would be certain that his voice could be known and heard. "I am Alexander of Team Justice. I come bringing you options. Either you leave now and look for an easier target, You join the team with the strongest personnel." Alex then gazed at their faces with a dark expression, "Or our elite come down and show you our secret techniques and you lose more than just your lives."

 

[Renose]

The Archer stops, still holding his bow, but he definitely seems a decent bit unnerved. The spear wielding Fighter also stops, looking a bit unnerved as well, but not nearly as much as the Archer who's forehead is sweating.

"M-Maybe we should... retreat for now". The Archer looks to his teammate.

"I mean... they're just a bunch of Level 12's, what's the worst that could happen?" The spearman speaks up now. Of course, they aren't talking at a loud tone, but a normal one to another, so in reality it is hard to hear them without getting closer since they are about ten yards away from Alexander and around 20 yards away from everyone else and on the slope of a hill.

The Archer shakes his head. "We still, don't know who this Team is. I mean... they just kinda... showed up! I haven't even seen them in the game before, so who knows what other power houses they have up there". This time he raises his voice a bit accidentally, this part being a little more audible at least.

The spearman just grits his teeth. "D-Dammit... I fucking hate this. Those fucking Peacocks already got two of us, and then their's that damn traitor Valrax... and now we can't even fight a bunch of freaking unknowns". The spearman looks like he really wants to fight and is speaking a bit louder now.

"Dude, one of them's an unknown 3rd Tier Class, we shouldn't even bother. We'll go get that Bull Encampment instead, cmon". The Archer now attempts to coax his friend. Of course, not before shouting up towards Alexander.

"A-Alright man. You win this one. Team Bloodhound will leave Team Justice alone if you guys don't attack us, deal?" He tries to speak with a bit of confidence, but he just seems a small bit shaken up by the lie and intimidation.

A few windows appear before Alexander now.

Through intimidating someone, the Intimidate Skill can now be unlocked.

Your skillful intimidation and lie has given you quite the tricky tongue. +5 Charisma SP.

Of course, now Alexander had the choice to make. Accept the truce, or attack anyway while their guards are lowered. What would he do?

Spare? Or Fight?







​

 

[Omnial]

Seriously? Are they just a bunch of cowards? Alex thought inwardly to himself, "A wise choice." He grinned, A sharp tongue and a quick mind can finish a battle faster than most weapons, and I still gain skills from it.

Simply crossing his arms, Alex stood watch looking down on the two, "A man is nothing if he cannot honour his word, leave now."

I'm not moving till I see them out of my mini map range, also need to keep a close eye to see if their marker disappears before they do from my sight.

 

[Renose]

"Besides, there's no sense in losing the game yet. We need to level up more anyway and we definitely don't want our Team to come in last. So lets just get out of here". The spearman, regaining his composure after the surprisingly menacing threat, the hill helping out with this as it prevented the entire battlefield from being seen and thus made it as if Alex was looming above them.

"You're right. Lets go find that other Camp, and also see if we can't find the last two members of Team Wolf. They're weak thanks to those Peacocks, and according to that tip should be somewhere in the Neo Tokyo U area". The Archer says to this teammate as the two began to walk away now.

A window appears before Alexander now.

You used skillful deceit and diplomacy to resolve a battle. 5 EXP Gained.

The Gamers still had 30 Minutes left on their bait. So they could either keep progressing in their grinding now, or perhaps figure more out about this game.​

 

[ERode]

It was…definitely a new experience. Even with Shouko's help, Tian-Gui still had to awkwardly fumble his way into learning Mana Burst. Something about it simply didn't match with his own mental imagery of his power. The flame that burned without his soul did not explode. It flared, yes, but it wasn't like a bomb that set off instantly.

Scratching the back of his head thirty minutes into his special lesson, Tian-Gui remarked, "Well shit, this is pretty hard, eh?"

It took him the better part of an hour before he could finally do it without the blue energy fizzling out or exploding in his face. Giving Shouko a high-five, Tian-Gui immediately checked out the skill and started to modify it to his own needs, overlaying the image of a constantly burning flame…but it didn't work. He had the mental imagery, and he knew exactly what he wanted, and he focused to the best of his ability, but regardless, there was a clear sense of a wall before him, something that he couldn't overcome with his current abilities.

Annoying.

Nevertheless, the ability to Burst with magical energy unlocked a new Talent and his efforts were not wholly in vain. With his ability to heroically overcharge his Mana Bursts, they were even able to take down the two Ghosts that showed up. It made him die a little on the inside when his attempts to grapple those spooky ghosts didn't work at all, but Alexander's usage of Mana Threads to pull one of the spectral monsters into range gave him some hope.

If he could truly turning the 'Burst' into an 'Aura', then perhaps he'd be able to physically influence the intangible after all.

The appearance of two members of Team Bloodhound, while unexpected, was quickly defused by a couple of Alexander's timely gambits. Though Tian-Gui was certain they could take that duo, especially considering how they had the homeground advantage, the numbers advantage, and a series of other advantages, it'd be pretty bad if more of those fire arrows hit the flag. As Alexander continued to use Rei's existence as a threat, Tian-Gui walked up behind the ponytailed deceiver, cutting an intimidating figure as he towered over the rest. His silver scale armor gleamed in the afternoon light, and there was not a shred of fear in his eyes as he gazed down upon the archer.

Come on, he seemed to goad, try that shot again.

Unfortunately, the two decided that it was a fool's errand to fight after all, and promptly scampered off, leaving Team Justice to their own devices once more. "That was anticlimactic, eh?" he laughed, turning to Xenon and Shouko, "Though I do have to wonder why there were only two of them. Durin was alone as well…any of you know why smaller groups are so prevalent?"

Were they just doing recon? No, if they were, they wouldn't be attacking.

"Anyways, anyone have anything else they want for upgrades? That EXP boost is looking pretty good to me, but it's also a bit expensive…ah, right, bait, is the effect still on? Dunno what these shards do, but it'd be great if we could get a couple more levels, right? That chest upgrade though…if we get that now, we can get EXP Boost for just 7 coins…"

Well, unlike a certain edgelord, Tian-Gui was fully onboard with an actual discussion as he continued to experiment with his latest toy: Mana Burst. Once again, though, that annoying, incomprehensible wall stopped him, and Tian-Gui sighed, disappointed.

Never enough AP to get what he wanted, huh? He needed to get faster. He needed to get stronger. And now, apparently, he needed to get smarter if he wanted to go up against newer opponents. Who would have thought that being a superhero would require so many skills?

"Ah," he muttered after the nth Intensify Energy to Charge to Mana Burst to Second Wind repetition, "here I was, thinking that only one specialization was needed."

 

[BlueFlameNikku]

As Colt stands idle next to Kamui, listening to him ramble on, he couldn't take his eyes off of the orc axeman guardian as he looked tough as nails. Waiting for Kamui to finish before looking to one side at him with a reassuring smile. "I think I've got an idea that hopefully doesn't involve me getting hurt as much. I'll walk out halfway and prepare a dodge just in case. Other than that I work my own magic as usual." Colt laughing at his own joke he made there. "Hey, bro it's alright. I'm doing what I love; getting into the thick of it. You just make sure that I'm not in the thick of it for too damn long." Colt makes a fist and lightly taps his teammates shoulder, before joking talking back. "I don't need you telling me you've got faith. I already know the almighty powers want me to kick some ass and that level of amazing is gonna get his at some point like everyone else. Remember bro...underdog comebacks are the most dramatic and what the people want to see."

As the enthusiastic fighter cracks a smirk as he accepts the last health potion, stows it away on his person and simply starts to walk forwards slowly until he is at about the halfway point between Kamui and the orc. He slowly draws his feather longsword before suddenly and quickly spinning in place with one foot out as he draws a circle in the dirt around him and abruptly comes to a stop in a readied battle stance with his one hand wielding his sword and the other out to one side with a slightly crouched posture. As he imagined a light blue transparent shield around himself in line with the circle he made he readies a dodge action in preparation for whatever attack that came his way as he knew from basic knowledge of the camps that ranged attacks were a thing and he couldn't parry those effectively so dodge was his next best idea as dashing into this mess would do a bit more harm than Colt was comfortable with. He could feel his soul quivering with excitement as he waited for the fight to kick off.

 

[Renose]

As Blade entered the circle, the Orc lets out a fierce bellow, before now performing a very fast bull rush to cover the ten yards from the Flag Pole to where Blade is readying himself by raising his Guard. The orc seemed very anxious to get his attack in as the beast rushed forward with full ferocity and force.

Unfortunately for it, Blade had taken about five seconds to get there, and thus by the time the Orc was about to be right atop of Blade, the Flag Pole fired its magical arrow. The Orc, with its too wide of a stance and too wide of a swing, was practically using its body as a shield, so before it could get its attack out the creature would let out a shout as the arrow blasts it in the back.

This makes the large creature growl out as it is blasted and, unfortunately, disrupts its own attack. This would allow for both Blade and Kamui to begin attacking before the creature can regain its composure to continue its attack.​

 

[Dragonslayer Ornstein]

Well at least his partner was direct, he smirked at his jabs, and jokes and nodded as Blade smartly took the potion, Here's hoping I don't need it though. Kamui smirked and stepped to the side and raised his staff, he shakes his head at the orc "Man, bad move buddy, looks like you got the short end of the shaft this time. Maybe next time don't stand in front of the thing that shoots ranged projectiles. Welp time to do my thing, start taking out this thing from a distance while Blade has it's attention. Distance is good, I could use either or of my attacks now, welp why change things up. Magic Missile." Kamui calmly says and sends the large blue blast of mana towards the orc.

 

[BlueFlameNikku]

Colt watches in anticipation as the orc comes barrelling towards him. He waits and waits as he feels the orcs heavy foot steps smack against the ground. Colt's eyes narrow as he watches the orc hover over him with it's axe raised high in the air for a swing with great power but the fighter sees the orcs attacks was interrupted by the flag poles mana projectile as it hit the back of the orc in a burst of arcane energy on impact with a sounding blast.

The fighter took immediate action to take advantage of the orcs staggering stance as Colt slid his right foot back against the dirt and grasped the handle of his sword with both hands as he calls out one of his favorite skills yet again. "Power Strike!" As he thrusts his blade up and forwards towards the large chest of the orc hopping to land a powerful stab. Colt always plans to put everything he has up front in a fight and that wasn't going to change now. The quicker they killed the orc; the quicker they could rest in their own camp and bulk up.

 

[Renose]

The Mana Missile hit pretty full on, a very substantial hit that made the creature growl out as the blast hit it square in the side. Not as full on as it could be, but it still got hit by most of the mystical blue projectile that materialized from the tip of Kamui's rod, the Mana having been pulled out from his body by the rod and shot out through the rod. Sort of like light being amplified through a magnifying glass.

Then came the Power Strike of Blade's Feather Longsword. This too hit dead on, a nice powerful strike across the creature's torso. Of course, like Kamui's Mana Missile, this also wasn't dead on. Still a very nice hit though that made the creature bellow out in anger as it quickly slashes. The axe seemed to hit dead on, a large, heavy slash right across Blade's chest, this feeling much worse than the Gremlin's arrows as his bar immediately plummeted down 71 points.

A large red stain could be seen in his clothes now from his blood. This attack had definitely been quite devastating, and the Orc brought up his second axe for another. Just when it seemed like it was the end, right as the Axe was about to make contact with his chest to presumable cleave him in two in a side swipe, the force of the attack is stopped by the appearance of a glowing sigil, a blast of arcane power blasting the Orc with a dark light, it gritting its teeth as it snarls loudly in pain.

It bares the attack though and keeps going with its fourth attack, as the first had been dodged, parrying such attacks being practically impossible, as you had been told before by one of your former Teammates, as the STR Stat of these Orcs is very high. Dodging really is the only option, which Blade managed to do for the first attack, and for this fourth attack as well, barely dodging out of the way of this slash, but unfortunately having to back off in the process and move a yard or so back in the process of dodging.

This meant that Blade would need to move forward again to get back in range, or maybe choose to drink a Potion this time to heal his massive wound, but regardless this Orc also appears to be heading towards defeat at this rate.

Blade also only had one use of that Sigil left, which didn't activate with the first hit for some reason. Perhaps it was to only guard against Fatal Hits? Who knows.​