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[PP-19] <<The Colossal Shadow>> w/ Oscar


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"Want to climb a giant rock?" Cordelia asked abruptly, a clear expression of excitement blooming on her face. 

Ah, the fourth quest in this darn questline. First, a bear, then a. . . lich, or something like that, then a giant fish, and now a living pile of rocks! What more could she possibly ask for? Nothing! . . . What even was a lich? Was it a ghost? A leech? A giant ghost leech?

She subtly gnawed on a small snack she had made for herself with Setsuna-- or rather, without her, and it took all of her to not spit it out. It was healthy, but hell, it was dry. Which made sense. Dried Bamboo Shoots. She wondered how people even came to making this. Wasn't bamboo poisonous? Who in their right mind decided that they should boil a poisonous plant and then let it out to dry?

Crazy people, that's who.

She looked over to Oscar and grinned sheepishly. "So about that rock. . ."

@Oscar

Spoiler

[STATS:]

LVL: 45 | HP: 920/920 | EN: 90/90 | 14 DMG | 12 MIT | 3 ACC | 3 EVA | 1 PARA VNM [DF] | 2 REC | 4 HLY

[INVENTORY:]

☆ T2 Katana | Haunted Verdict: [Cursed] 4 HLY, 4 DMG
 T1 Light Armor | Bastille’s Resistance: +2 EVA, +1 PARA VNM
☆ T2 Jewelry | Mauve Kanzashi: +1 EVA, +2 REC

[BATTLE READY:]

☆ [5] Standard Healing Potions [Heals 50 HP]

[CONSUMED:]

> Dried Bamboo Shoots: +3 LD

[SKILLS]

☆ R3 Accuracy Familiar Mastery: 3 ACC
☆ Disguise: [Gain +1 EVA until the start of your next turn]
☆ Survival: [Increases out of combat health regeneration to (15 * Tier) per post. Grants immunity to most damage dealing environmental
attacks/effects.]
☆ R1 Curved Sword Skill 
☆ R5 Katana Skill [+7 DMG/+1 BASE]
  > FEROCITY MOD: +1 DMG
☆ R3 Hiding Skill: +1 Stealth Rating
☆ R3 Light Armor Skill: 12 MIT
  > ATHLETICS MOD: +1 DMG, +20 HP
☆ R3 Battle Healing: Recovers 3% of Max HP

 

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Oscar - Lvl 50
1030 HP
100 Energy
1 Accuracy (+1 Precision)
3 Evasion
19 Base Damage - (1 Base +7 Skill +1 Ferocity +9 Familiar +1 Athletics)
106 Mitigation 
12 Fallen
2 Burn


Items
Tesseleth’s Fury ............ // Fallen, Fallen, Burn, Burn
Librarium Overcoat ................. // +3 EVA
Mythril Greaves ............... // +81 MIT

Leeroy & Jenkins - Familiar ............. // +3*Tier DMG


Battle Ready Inventory
Teleportation Crystal .............. // 
3 Healing Potions   ............ // +30 HP Recovery
3 Healing Potion of Healing Healingness ............ // T2 HP Recovery
Empty Inventory Slot ............. // 
Empty inventory slot ............ //
Empty inventory slot ............ //

Buffs
Rested ........................... // -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat.
Filling .......................... // Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot.
Relaxed .......................... // Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.

Skills
2HBA                      | Rank 5: +8 Damage
Light Armor                | Rank 5: +12 Damage Mitigation
Concentration                   | +1 to your BD (3 turn cooldown)
Survival                   | Heal 15*Tier HP when out of battle
Parry                        | 2-turn CD, 5 EN Half damage of next attack and remove Stun/Paralysis effects
Meditation               | 3-turn CD. Recover an additional (5 * Tier) energy. Getting hit by an attack before the beginning of your next turn reduces the energy recovered to (3 * Tier).

Skill Mods
Ferocity                   | Increases Base Damage by 1
Athletics                  | Increases Base Damage by 1, Max HP by 10*tier
Precision                 | Increases Accuracy by 1
Justified Riposte      | Successful Parries Stun Opponent, 3 Turn CD
 

Climbing a rock? Oh yeah! The <<Scents of the Wild>> chain. So far, he'd slain the lich and the fish. He still needed to make a point to go back and deal with Kumatetsu, but having a reason to get out and have some fun with Cordelia was always nice. It seemed, like with the others, she had decided the target. The Colossus of Floor 19. Word from his go-to info broker was that the thing was absolutely huge - making Absolute Zero look like a little wimp in comparison. And while that guy had been an absolute pain to fight, something told me that the Colossus' bark was worse than its bite. Oscar's eyes lit up at the idea of doing battle with a creature of such magnitude. It truly was like anything as of yet encountered in Aincrad. 

"Hell yeah! You know what they say. The bigger they are, the bigger they fall."

Oscar noticed that Cordelia was eating some bamboo shoots. He tilted his head to the side, looking positively bumfuzzled. "Where'd you get those Cordelia?"

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"I just hope I'm not going to be below it when it does fall," she muttered, her eyes widening. Being a human pancake was probably the last thing she wanted to be today. Any day, really. "Or on it for the matter. Falling to my death doesn't really sound that nice, either."

"I made them," she mumbled, finishing the last of the bamboo shoot before she gave him a grin. "Those things are absolutely gross when eaten alone," she said under her breath before giving Oscar a wide grin. "I became a cook!" She exclaimed, her expression softening. "I'm not trying to steal your customers I swear-- but I didn't want you overworking yourself for the next floor raid boss," she murmured, "I don't know how I'll do but I'm going to try my best to assist you with that!" The girl beamed. 

"Though. . . I've only made bamboo shoots so far," Cordelia mumbled sheepishly. "Not the most appetizing thing in the world but I can't really make anything else yet so that's that for now."

 

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"I'm so proud of you!"

Honestly, Oscar couldn't imagine being upset that Cordelia had taken up cooking as her profession. In fact, he was actually grateful that there was someone to share the market with. The raid prep had changed him. It was just too much for anyone person to handle. "Lemme try one," he said as he plucked one of the shoots out of her hand. He popped it into his mouth without a moment's hesitation.

And immediately regretted it.

It was a struggle not to make a face or spit it out. He chewed and swallowed, all the while keeping a deadpan look in his face. He would have to content himself with the fact that the aftertaste would only linger for a few moments. He had likely spoiled himself on his own cooking. At a certain point, normal food simply didn't cut it when one inundated themselves with food prepared by a high-ranked cook. But he would not ruin this for her. Sometimes, it was best to lie than to be brutally honest. Even Gordon Ramsay wouldn't call someone a [censored] donkey when they just picked up the trade.

"That was good! Keep going Cordelia, I think you've got the makings of an excellent cook!"

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Cordelia gave Oscar and earnest smile. "Thank you. I'm glad you aren't upset that I'm going to possibly steal your customers or something like that," she said as she exhaled in relief. Though, she was pretty sure Oscar was the type of person to not care about the money that he receives with the job, and she wasn't like that either. 

The girl stiffened. 

"Actually, I don't think that's a good idea--"

It didn't really take a genius to know what he was thinking. "Oscar, I'm the one who made it. I know it's bad. Heck, I didn't even like it," she exclaimed, laughing to herself under her breath. "Apparently, they're a healthy alternative to noodles or pasta and I just wanted to try them out, but I don't think anyone would rather have that."

She was all for being healthy but did that even matter in a video game? She was pretty sure whatever body you came into the game with was the body that you stayed with, unless you count cosmetics like hair and eye color or something, but seriously. No one needed to worry about being healthy here. They could eat whatever the hell they wanted! 

"I don't think anyone would even come to my shop if I were only selling bamboo shoots," Cordelia mused, tapping her heel against the floor. "Though fear not! Once I'm a high enough rank, I'll be as good as you! I swear it!"

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  • 2 weeks later...

"Ah, I wouldn't put too much stock into it. I was making garlic toast for my first few crafts myself. Just give it time."

The important thing to note here is that Oscar didn't say the words, 'you're right' or 'yeah, it's kinda bad.' Oscar learned a great many things over the years. One of the most important lessons he learned was to never insult a woman's cooking. Especially someone you're dating. All that does is build up resentment between the two of you. And while true, she was still a low-ranked Cook, Oscar'd be damned if he pointed that fact out. He'd already been on one quest with her where they fought. He wasn't about to do that again. "In any case, the two of us have to rock to slay. Shall we? We're so close to having this questline done. I can't wait to see what the final rewards are!"

No way would this much effort be put into a quest chain if the end rewards sucked. Right? RIGHT?! Oscar certainly hoped not.

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"You mean there was a time where you weren't only making hot dogs?" She asked, her eyes going wide in amusements before she giggled. "Never thought I would hear that, honestly. From you or me." She supposed it made sense, though. It was kind of hard to imagine Oscar before he was a cook, and she wondered if he had been a cook since day one. Now she wondered if he was ever a cook in real life? Of course, she knew he was a therapist in real life-- but he could be like one of those really, really, really good home cooks! Those people were superstars, seriously. 

Cordelia nodded, stretching her arms above her head with an excited grin. "Of course I am. When am I ever not ready?" She asked. "No one I know has gotten this whole line done yet, so I'm excited to know if we're the first ones to finish it!" She exclaimed, curling her fingers into fists as she looked up at Oscar with wide eyes. "I can finally call first on something!"

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"Of course there was. I didn't pick up cooking and immediately start making hot dogs. It was a slow burn. Sorta cemented myself with the hot dog thing after I literally fed the gods of Floor 17 hot dogs. That was a wild quest. You should try Challenge of Olympus if you haven't already." The tool earned from that quest was exceptionally powerful to Crafters of any Profession. It would definitely help Cordelia out on her quest to become the best noodler that ever noodled. "Well, we can't finish it first if we don't get going!"

TRANSITION TO FLOOR 19

The two of them made the short jaunt back to town and teleported up to Floor 19. As they left the main settlement, Oscar began to look around, searching for their target. It didn't seem to be on the horizon anywhere. "So how hard do you think it's going to be to find a moving mountain? I imagine that it's going to wind up being harder than it needs to be."

Spoiler

ID: 138640 LD5

 

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Cordelia's eyes darkened. 

"I made Mr. Goat Man carry me up a mountain, and then I forced him to eat my ramen," she whispered almost inaudibly.

She brightened up abruptly with a loud laugh before she clasped her hands together. "Ah, don't worry about it! I've finished that quest a little while ago. No need to worry about it!"

[FLOOR 19:]

Cordelia held her hand above her head as she searched around. "Well, by the looks of it. . ." She paused, looking to her left and right, "it'll be a lot harder than I thought it would be." She sighed, shaking her head. She wasn't really sure how that really worked out but she was never a person with a whole lot of luck, so it wouldn't be totally out of this world if she had somehow missed a giant effing mountain. Or maybe she was just going blind. Maybe that was the answer to this.

 


LD: 138641

LD: 2, Fail

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ID: 138643 LD9 Nah

"You made that Satyr asshole carry you up the mountain? Color me impressed." Oscar's legs remembered the strain of that quest. Climbing that mountain was harder than making the actual food had been. In the end, it was all worth it. For you see, he walked away with Hestia's Flame. That, coupled with the fact he was the newest Grandmaster crafted in Aincrad, allowed him results that he could only have dreamed of at the lower ranks. "I should've figured. Really, how is it so hard to find a moving mountain. I recall Avalanche just poking his head out from behind one of them when we went to go fight him." The memories of that day flooded back to him. It had been an important milestone in getting his own recovery from his depression under way. But, then again, he now had to worry about his probably-murderous protege coming to stab him in the throat. It was a give and take, honestly.

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"I felt bad for him," she sighed, laughing nervously as she rubbed the side of her cheek. "I had him carry me back down when I had gotten Hestia's Flame, too." To be fair. You probably didn't want to travel down a mountain when you had just spent two hours cooking a bowl of noodles, too. "That poor Mr. Goat Man. . ."

"I remember that. . ." She mumbled, her voice trailing as she too recalled what had happened that day. It was certainly. . . eventful. Too much information had filled her brain that day. . . probably ninety-percent of the information she knew about Oscar's life before SAOPinball, that girl-- Kirbs. She sighed. It was hard to keep track of all of it later. 

"I'm sure we'll find. . . it. . ." She said, turning around. "Oh, there it is," she said dumbfoundedly, pointing to an absolute giant rock-- mountain thing not too far away at all. "Well, hopes to not getting crushed by a living mountain?"


ID: 138644
LD: 18, Success!

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"Imma climb it," Oscar said excitedly. Quick as a flash, he dashed off and began clambering up the side of the beast. It was too big to attack traditionally. Clearly, this meant that he had to find himself a weak spot. Divide and conquer was the name of the game. If both he and Cordelia could find separate weak spots, then they would be able to eat this elephant one bite at a time. And so, hand over hand, foot over foot, Oscar scrambled up the leg of moving mountain. It was rough progress, but it was still progress. Eventually, he wound up on a relatively flat crag. There, he decided to plop down on his butt and rest. Slow and steady wins the race and all that. Although, upon looking up, he became convinced that this would be a lot more difficult than he thought it would be. Or maybe he'd just get lucky and happen upon a spot he could attack. Somehow, though, he doubted it. In any case. Oscar needed to catch his breath, he could worry about that when it came about.

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"Ah-- alright," she murmured, watching him run off towards the behemoth like a child to a playground. She wasn't sure if she had anyone ever so excited to climb a giant moving mountain. Cordelia bit her lip to hold in a laugh as she dashed after him. 

Taking the other leg, Cordelia started her journey up the massive rock. Climbing was never. . . really her forte, so to speak. What was she supposed to do with her twig arms? She shook her head. What a pain. Using a burst of energy, Cordelia lifted herself onto a small, flat section of the leg. A labored breath escaped her. 

She had come to a conclusion today;

Climbing kind of sucked. 

She looked up. Good lord, she still had a ways to go. She wondered if this thing was even aware that there were two people on it-- though she honestly doubted it. They were probably what a tick was to a human in terms of size to this thing.

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Hanging on! ID: 138649 LD18

The Colossus seemed to have become aware of their presence upon its body. It began to toss itself this way and that in an effort to throw off the two invaders. Oscar stabilized himself on the outcropping upon which he found himself as best he could. Though the giant was doing its best to extricate the two warriors, Oscar was able to flow with it somehow. His situation was precarious to say the least. Even though he was only about as high up as the creature's thigh, falling from this height would certainly hurt. He had to make a point to hold fast and hope that Cordelia - wherever she was on this mountainous creature - was able to do the same. But, she was capable. Every bit as capable as Oscar was. He knew that she would be able to hold fast to the creature no matter how hard it shook. Perhaps once it was done trying to remove them, they would be able to get some damage in.

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Cordelia shuddered as she felt the creature rumble.

Alright, scratch that-- it definitely knew that they were on here. She took a look down and gulped. She was never one to be afraid of heights but when you actually have a significant chance of falling from a high place, you'd be afraid too. Heck, how did she even climb this high up? She wasn't sure if she should feel impressed or scared at the moment. 

She exhaled, gripping the crevices in the rock with her gloved hands. "Ah frick, fall damage is a thing," she muttered, closing her eyes as she refused to look down again. She honestly wondered how much damage she would take from a fall like this-- but of course, was that something she wanted to experiment with right now? No, no it wasn't. 

She peeked over at the other leg-- or least, she tried to. She could barely make out the faint outline of it, unfortunately. . . she wondered if Oscar was doing alright on his half.


ID: 138672
LD: 6

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Shaking - ID: 138679 LD11
Oscar holds on, Cordelia is shaken off - take 250 DMG
Oscar 1030/1030 HP | 85/100 EN | 19 DMG | 1 ACC | 3 EVA | 106 MIT | 12 FLN | 36 BRN (8-10)
Cordelia HP: 670/920 | EN: 90/90 | 14 DMG | 12 MIT | 3 ACC | 3 EVA | 1 PARA VNM [DF] | 2 REC | 4 HLY

Explode Catapult vs Weak Point ID: 138680 BD3+3 Deal 216 DMG

Colossus: HP: 784/1000 | DMG: N/A | MIT: 50 | ACC: 0 | EVA: -2

Oscar managed to find a firm hold as the shaking continued. Eventually, it cease, which allowed Oscar to continue his ascent. Reaching another outcropping, he noticed that a particular spot of the Colossus' body was glowing with an ethereal light. Oscar readied Tesseleth's Fury and activated his Explode Catapult Sword Art. Being as the creature was struggling to throw them off of its body, Oscar needed to make sure that every second he spent on the Colossus' body counted. He had no idea where Cordelia was, but seeing her health bar tank in his party menu told him that she was probably, definitely, somewhere on the ground right now. This meant it was up to him to both stay on and not deal as much damage as quickly as possible. Hopefully, she had some sort of healing just in case she got too low. But he fully intended to deal with this thing before that even became a problem.

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Cordelia cursed. Seriously. What. The. Hell?

This quest was probably one of the-- if not the most annoying ones she had taken on so far. She lifted herself up from the ground and patted off her lap. She honestly thought there would've been more. . . y'know, pain. Especially when she fell out of-- what was it-- a giant massive mountain. 

Well, it didn't matter. If she kept complaining, it was only going to delay her from climbing. She didn't see Oscar anywhere on the ground, though-- so that must've meant he was still on top of the damn thing somewhere. She hoped he had already started attacking. . . or else they were going to be on this thing for a long time. 

Cordelia grumbled under her breath, starting her journey up the thing again. She swore-- if she was going to get shaken off again, she was going to personally plunge her katana into wherever this thing's eye is.

Cordelia HP: 697/920 | EN: 90/90 | 14 DMG | 12 MIT | 3 ACC | 3 EVA | 1 PARA VNM [DF] | 2 REC | 4 HLY +27 HP

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Holding on ID: 138681 LD14

Oscar 1030/1030 HP | 86/100 EN | 19 DMG | 1 ACC | 3 EVA | 106 MIT | 12 FLN | 36 BRN (8-10)
Cordelia HP: 670/920 | EN: 90/90 | 14 DMG | 12 MIT | 3 ACC | 3 EVA | 1 PARA VNM [DF] | 2 REC | 4 HLY

Colossus: HP: 784/1000 | DMG: N/A | MIT: 50 | ACC: 0 | EVA: -2

The beast began to shake again. Oscar drove Tesseleth's Fury into the ground and held on as the mountain convulsed in an attempt to throw them off. He hoped that Cordelia had found firm footing. He was struggling with that himself. At least he wasn't being pitched all over the place. Tesseleth's Fury grounded him somewhat. Honestly, who designed this thing? It was difficult to even get an opportunity to attack. He couldn't remember ever having this much of an issue fighting a boss before. Then again, he wasn't forced to spend most of his time trying not to fall off of the thing either. Hopefully the shaking would end soon and Oscar could try and get a little more damage in. How do we eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Most Oscar could hope for next round was a Fallen Burn proc to speed up the process just a hair.

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Cordelia sighed. She hated this with every fiber of her being. She wasn't sure if she could ever climb a damn thing again after this. She looked at her palms and groaned. 

It was hard enough finding a space to just stand at, so how the hell was she going to get all the way to a weak spot? She wasn't even sure what a weak spot even looked like. What was she supposed to do when she saw one? Poke it? Punch it? Do a sword art on it? How the hell was she going to do a sword art when she was hanging a on a literal living mountain? She could barely take out her katana without falling off as is!

Why would someone ever make this quest? It's-- it's not even that combat focused! Why-- why?! She wanted to know why someone would ever make something like this! 


ID: 138682
LD: 4 [screw u rng]

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Shaking - ID: 138683 LD13
Oscar holds on, Cordelia is shaken off - take 250 DMG

Oscar 1030/1030 HP | 72/100 EN | 19 DMG | 1 ACC | 3 EVA | 106 MIT | 12 FLN | 36 BRN (8-10)
Cordelia HP: 420/920 | EN: 90/90 | 14 DMG | 12 MIT | 3 ACC | 3 EVA | 1 PARA VNM [DF] | 2 REC | 4 HLY

Explode Catapult vs Weak Point ID: 138684 BD8+3 Fallen Proc Deal 384 DMG Burn applied Deal 36 DMG

[BURNING]Colossus: HP: 364/1000 | DMG: N/A | MIT: 50 | ACC: 0 | EVA: -2

Cordelia's health bar dipped down even further. Oscar winced as she was suddenly knocked into the yellow. Honestly, this wasn't her day. As the rumbling ceased, Oscar attacked his weak point one more time. This time, he hit the sweet spot, activating Fallen and Burn on a single attack. The Colossus' health bar plummeted hard under his attack. At least he was able to make up for the damage Cordelia wasn't doing right now. With any luck, he'd pull another, similar attack out next turn and this fight would be over with. Of course, there was also the danger of him falling off. He couldn't think about that stuff right now. He had to remain focused on the task at hand before this whole encounter really went sideways. As best he could tell, Cordelia only had one more attempt at reaching a weak spot before her health would be too low to try again. So he had to end it quickly.

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