Baldur

When Baldur saw the conditions for his powerful sword art being unlocked, a slight smile tugged at his lips. It had looked like it was going to be a slog, but this changed everything. He sheathed his blade, and took a step back in the required premotion to summon this sword art. Power swirled around him, but he held it in check. He had to time this right so that he didn't waste this shot. The rocks and debris of the ground began to swirl around him as the system seemed to thrum with the expectation of released mimicked by the cursed blade at his hip. Teayre had often spoken of how th

Baldur slowly made his way, careful with his footing, up to the edge of the land to where @Wulfrin and @KnightessCiela stood together. He and Wulfrin had spoken not to long ago, and if the man was nervous, he could only imagine how Ciela would feel in her first raid, as a tank no less. It was so long ago now that Baldur couldn't remember how he felt. He remembered the grief of Azide dying at the end of the raid, but it overshadowed how he felt leading into it. "Hey you two." He gave them both a strong, reassuring smile. "I think I preferred the autumn floor. It hope that the next one is m

As they got close to the Queen, Baldur paused for a moment, turning to face Wulfrin and putting a hand on the man's shoulder. "I'm not saying to change your plan, but please remember this. Those of us who have been on the Assault Team for a long time... we all take breaks. We all need it. There are always people we can pull out of the back benches to fill in a spot or two. I myself was one. You guys were short a spot, so Jomei called me up to help fill in. It's something we have to do time to time for our mental health and so that we can fight longer on the Front." With a reassuring

"Thanks again for offering to help me with this." Baldur nodded to Wulfrin as they headed out to the, at this point, very well documented spawn location of the <<The Wasp Queen>>. He had been farming this boss for years, but her stinger was a useful drop, and the floor boss raid would be coming up soon. He had learned first hand from the last fight just how useful all these field boss drops were if you farmed them. Being prepared was his modus operandi after all. "How are you feeling? I know the last fight was a little... emotionally charge, you ready to get back on the horse?

Baldur looked to Hirru. The wounds over Hestia still hurt him. She had been one of only four people he had told his real name to... well, one of three living players he had told his name to. He and Hestia had been thick as thieves, but her inability to see from someone else's point of view had caused tons of problems for the raid on floor 26. The raid that Baldur had sat out as well. It was then that he had seen the fractures in the Assault Team over old guard vs new. He was pleased to see that those cracks were all but gone now. "It's not that I want you to keep the number of people who

Baldur could see the gears turning in Jomei's mind as he struggled to process the situation that Hirru was in. "Were you at the Dark Elf Council fight Jomei? I can't remember. Regardless, we were all angry at Hirru for his actions, but given this information, I think you can agree that his actions make sense. Hell, I can only hope I have that kinda bravery were the situation real like Hirru thought at the time." Baldur paused his thought we he saw an opening. The beast was about to go for Jomei again. He sheathed his katana once more, and then took the stance for his most powerful s

[Spectral Knight Kill] [EV-PP-F29] <<Fatal Error>> If not to-knight, then when?

"Good work everyone, let's head back to the base camp at Hirru's wagon and see if any more of these things have been sighted. Hopefully someone there has an idea if the end is in sight. We need to figure out what's going to trigger the boss fight before one of these slips through to the lower floors and starts duping itself for real." With an almost ceremonial slash of his sword, Baldur sheathed the blade at his hip once more, the water flying form the tip of his blade in lieu of blood. There was no blood here, but the rain off the blade made it feel more real. The explosion of pixels was

As Baldur saw the heads of the Cerberus monster go for Jomei and set him on fire, Baldur ran up a ledge and then jumped down from on high, hitting another head and raking his blade across its muzzle, causing it to hit the other heads right as they were about to bite at him again. The beast swayed and all three attacks went wide of both the Ginger and the Jade. "Come on, you damned thing. Go down faster!" They needed to get its HP lower faster. He had hoped he could bring it down into range in a single hit, but he was afraid of hitting it a little too hard. "A second hit should b

Baldur was pleased that instead of arguing with him, Jomei took the compliment. They could all grow, and he was looking forward to having these two at his side to do just that. As they boss loomed up behind them, Hirru took the moment to share his revelation. When he paused, Baldur knew what he was about to share with Jomei. The gaijin samurai didn't know whom Hirru had told and who it hadn't. Still, he walked over and placed a reassuring hand on Hirru's shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze of support to his old friend, and a wordless nod. Once the words were out, he saw the emotional lab

"It's in the red, let's finish this off!" Business as always, Baldur was focused on the kill. Banter was all well and good, they needed it to promote teamwork and comradery, but Baldur was locked in on the boss now that it was almost dead. He rushed forward, sticking to the rocky areas where his footing felt more sound until he was close enough to activate his sword art and the system took over his movements, carrying him through the now routine movements of his shatter sword art. It didn't always feel like much, but once it was fully stacked up, it helped a lot to keep the damage incoming. An

"I got it!" Baldur called out, racing towards the mirror clad rain slicked creature as Jomei slipped, missing his attack. Mari's weapon had swirled with its status effects, but they seemed to pass through the creature. What was going on? His Fallen had proced, but Baldur remembered last time when he thought he was going to land a critical hit and nothing happened. "Mari, your sneak attack might have a better chance of landing your DoTs if that didn't work!" Baldur didn't have a reliable way to hit it, but his sword had a wide range of effects that could land. "Shattering it once

Baldur was very proud of his team. They were doing exactly what they needed to do. It was good to have Mari back around, but he could still see that she had something she needed to get off of her shoulders. He hoped that a little friendly banter like they used to do with Mac and Cord back in the day would help, but it seemed only to confuse her. So he focused his eyes back on the creature trying to end their lives in front of them. It, too, would be frustrated. Hirru buffed his energy regen, and then focused his attack damage buff. Baldur sheathed <<Zanshin>> while they others

Baldur gave Mari a smile that was a little bit... weary? But also still somehow reassuring. The steel in his blue-gray eyes had softened since the last time she had seen him all that time ago. He seemed worn down a bit, but also like that had taken some of the sharp edges off. "I know this is diving back into the fray, but if you're going to consider going into a boss fight, you need to fight something on the front first. No pressure. We can handle this thing, just try out your build and see if it does what you want it to do. We've got a good crew, trust in Jomei to tank, and Trust in Hir

Thread Closure Word Count: 32,265 Words 32,265/5 = 6,453 3 Complete pages, 9 posts for 100% exp [6,453*11=70,983*89%=63,174*1.05]=66,334 EXP Baldur Tier 10: 8 posts 89% +5% slime [*8=52,624*1.01]=51,624 EXP MorningStar tier 8: 9 posts 100% +1% guild [*5=32,265*89%=28,716*10%]=31,587 EXP Arabelle Tier 5: 8 posts+ Advanced Training 89% [*6=38,718*67%=25,941*1%=26,200*5%]=27,510 EXP Wulfrin Tier 6: 4 posts 67%+1% guild +5%slime [*7=45,171*56%]=25,296 EXP Acanthus tier 7: 5 posts 56% [*6=38,718*33%=12,777*3%=13,160*5%]=13,818 EXP Katoka Tier 6: 3 posts 33% +3% guild +5% s

Baldur and the rest of Jacob's Ladder were out on Floor 29, doing a patrol not far from the settlement. The floor had been a hub of activity, both good and bad, since it had been opened. The glass knights were everywhere trying to breach their defenses and get down into the lower floors where they could replicate and overwhelm the lower level of defense that others had been able to erect. Thankfully the stairs and the settlement were in the same place here, so they didn't have to try and defend two different locations. "Mari, here, if we find one, you'll need these" The gaijin samur

The sound of his katana striking one of the glass knights mirrored the sound of the message chime. Through the driving rain and the dim light, he had to keep his focused on the barely visible monster. How many of these things were there? Regardless, they couldn't let them escape the 29th floor, and they seemed hell bent on it... After the creature was destroyed, the soaking wet gaijin brushed some rain water off of his wet clavicles and shook some water from his long, flowing dark hair that was now plastered to his wet, blue haori, clinging to him shivering form. Then he saw the message n

Thread Closure 5,259 Word Count Baldur Receives EXP 11,570 [Word Count 5,259/5*11] 0 Col [0 Pages Completed] Acanthus Receives EXP 8,099 (7,363+736 Slime Farm) [Word Count 5,259/5*7] 0 Col [0 Pages Completed]

Baldur's eyebrows raised slightly when she connected with Pinball of all people. He never would have guessed that name, or that they had even met. Perhaps the more surprising part was her comment that he was quiet. The boy must have changed dramatically since Baldur last saw him. When she mentioned Morningstar, Baldur nodded along with her comments. "I just recently went monster hunting with him and I think you're right. He didn't play himself off as less serious with me, but he is a deeply capable fighter. I was very impressed, and I've seen a lot of impressive fighters over the years."

As Baldur stepped back, giving everyone else the space to attack the knight, he felt the reverberation of the harmonics between his strike on the crystal monster. It hadn't hit with the same effect he meant it to, but his strategy was still in place. He slid <<Ethereal Tether - Zanshin>> back into its saya at his hip, and then place his hand on <<Muramasa>>. The cursed blade hummed with a different kind of energy, begging to be freed from its slumber, but Baldur pushed that hunger back with the same iron clad control that he always did. It was the reason he had been tru

As Darkness descended over sections of the square, and more and more players escaped, the voids in the player's phalanx began be exploited, and the inky, wet forces of the deep slipped through, attacking the backs of players that were queuing for the teleport plaza. <<Kumamon>> heard the calls for retreat and pushed his way towards the teleport plaza. As a scout, he came prepared with teleport crystals, but he hadn't been expecting a brawl in what should have been another safe zone. He was expecting the normal party, exploring a fresh new city, interrogating new NPCs to try an

"Well that's new." Baldur remarked as one of the player familiars took a glass shard and suddenly turned into another of these boss monsters. "We definitely need to let others know about that... I guess it makes sense there's no NPCs on this floor." Freyd as his familiar dove into the attack without hesitation, though Freyd called out concerned over his familiar, they had a powerful 1-2 punch. Not to be outdone, Baldur threw himself at the Spectral Knight. "It has the ability to apply a bunch of DoT attacks to a huge area, so just be careful of that!" As Baldur drew his sword, t

Baldur couldn't help but smile when Jomei said that he was willing to join. He had figured that Hirru might be more of a hard sell on the matter. His friend had been holding himself back for a while, so Baldur knew that this might take a bit of encouragement. Hirru never saw himself the way everyone else saw him. That was part of the reason why he wanted to ask both of them together. Not only would they back each other up as leaders, but Baldur knew that Jomei would provide a point of view that was more unbiased in Hirru's mind than that of one of his oldest friends. "Thank you Jomei. I w

Baldur smiled at Acanthus' demonstration with the chopstick. He took his own and broke one of the two sticks in half, and then stabbed a sushi roll with it as he used it to take a bite. "None of us are unbroken chopsticks, Acanthus. In the assault team, we don't have a choice to go out and use only the pristine ones. We have veterans returned from battle, broken and crying in their sleep. I am one of them." He paused for a moment, having never said as much to anyone else. "No one earns their fate, none of deserve this situation we've been thrust into, we have only the choice of

A blue flash shot through the air and crashed into the ground near Freyd's group and Acanthus. It cratered the ground and throw a cloud of dirt and dust into the air around them. Then the sound of groaning and the silhouette of a man standing up could be seen, using a sword to prop himself up. "Oh... hey guys." The trail of smoke that came from Baldur and his dusty blue haori still hung in the air from where he had arced over the next hill. "Acanthus... there you are! I was told you might be out here." Baldur's steel blue eyes glanced at the top of the hill and then he shea