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ph243### - BD: Battle Maid | HP: 60/60 | EN: 24/24 | DMG: 4 | MIT:4 | ACC:3 Boulder | HP: 62/75 | EVA: -2

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

THREAD SUMMARY Experience | [Word Count: 7960/10 = 796] * [True Tier: 8] * [Group Factor: 1] = 6368 * 1.1 (slime farm) = 7004 EXP Col | 955 (Laurel Wreath) + 400 (Bonus) + NUM (Loot) = NUM Col Mon | 1 Mon earned.

Argent stood at the bar, wiping it down one last time. It had been a good evening: plenty of people and plenty of good conversations. Around 2:30, he had sent the last three patrons, a friendly group of older men, on their way. They paid their tab cheerfully and tucked their chairs in as they left. Now that Argent stood alone in the bar, he could begin to clean. He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to only clean when no one was around. Part of the feeling stemmed from a desire to be present with the patrons while they were here. Many of them came here to talk and socialize, and when they d

Her return to the teleportation plaza was a blur of pain. Acanthus had the distinct sensation of her mind and body as separate entities, firmly detached and refusing to communicate. Her body processed physical sensations—the swampy roads back to Illridge, the violent vibrations of her left leg and both of her arms. Other parts of her body she could not name twisted in pain as well. The litany of debuffs remained even outside of battle. She did not recognize half of them, but she did see her health bar slowly draining, battle healing be damned. Her mind took these sensations and archived

A clarion call erupted from the knight, overwhelming and terrifying. The volume and intensity increased until a small *pop* signaled the end of her hearing. Acanthus could feel the vibration of the horn shifting the organs in her body, and the paws of each individual rat as they scattered. They were no longer biting; they seemed more terrified of the knight that they were hungry for Acanthus. All at once, the infinite rats vanished like a cloud of soot, leaving her alone on the belltower with either her savior and executioner. The knight regarded Acanthus with a sense of intelligence she

The reality of the situation settled in. The rats, an end of her own making, was so close that it pressed against the hatch. The tower was tall enough that even if she could survive the fall, she would almost certainly be paralyzed long enough for the rats to reach her. The hope she had chosen to chase dangled over a ledge of her own, eager for escape at any cost. Her final thoughts were a steady stream of practical concerns. Who’s going to keep my shop open? I’m not married, so none of my items will pass on either. What a waste. I spent a long time getting all of my gear together. This i

Acanthus lay there, stunned. She had always wondered what it would be like to finally convince part of the game that it was crafted. Seeing the results left Acanthus terrified. “There’s something wrong here. On Mire—M–ire… Floor Twenty-Nine.” Her voice stuttered like a lagging internet connection. “I’m supposed to die every day. But I’m not supposed to remember it.” She held up her fingers and began to count. “Drowned. Cut down. Suffocated. Crushed by debris. Eaten. Eaten alive. Drowned again.” Her laugh echoed, causing the bell to ring faintly. “The list goes on. I didn’t always remember

A middle-aged woman stood precariously at the edge of the belltower. The cloak had fallen from her head, revealing thin, strawberry-blonde hair that greyed at the temples. At the sound of Acanthus climbing, her head turned to regard the intruder. One foot was already dangling from the tower. “Please. Wait. Talk.” Acanthus pushed through the pain to form words. She had crawled through the hatch; rather than standing up, she had rolled onto her back, directing her voice at the inside of the massive bell above her. “Please.” The woman stopped, and then she placed her foot back onto the

Acanthus scrambled halfway up the tower before the rats broke through. From this distance, the rats looked and sounded like a tide of water. It filled up the bottom floor with ease, eating away at the stairs as it grew towards her. She had slowed down without the rats in sight. The warnings she had ignored were now impossible to disregard. <<In case of damaged limbs, excessive use will lengthen the debuff timer and increase the severity of the debuff.>> If she pushed herself much, walking would no longer be an option. But as the rats climbed faster than she limped, s

She tried to roll with the falling momentum. An audible *snap* told her she had failed. <<Status Ailment: Left Leg - fracture 02h:44m>> <<Status Ailment: Right Arm - broken 03h:44m>> Heaving with exertion, she cleared the open space and arrived at the tower. The rats were no longer a ball; it was an entire sea of them, crashing through the narrow and winding streets of Miremore. Another legion spewed forth from the docks, forming another wall to block her path. If she wasn’t committed to finding the figure before, she certainly was now. It took all her energ

<<Status Ailment: Left Leg - fracture 01h:46m>> <<Status Ailment: Right Arm - sprain 02h:59m>> But the roof held together. Acanthus bolted upright and began running along the shingles, intent on catching the lumbering figure. The figure, shocked at the loud explosion of roof tiles, began running for the belltower. “No, wait.” Acanthus cried out weakly as she continued running, jumping lamely from rooftop to rooftop. If the buildings hadn’t been crammed so close together, she would have never stood a chance. Her body resisted every movement, even the pitiful

This house was just like the last. No other way to the ground than a window. With increasing desperation, she scanned the town for any trace of hope. She couldn’t jump to the ground again. She would likely lose full functionality, or maybe fracture her other leg. From the dim skyline, she caught a hint of movement. A cloaked figure dragged itself towards Miremore’s belltower. From this distance, she could not make out a player icon. But still, she would have to take her chances with the unknown over the infinite swarm of rats she had summoned. Rather than leaping to the ground, Acant

Acanthus stood unsteadily, knowing that she was simply adding more time to her penalty. For a fraction of a second, she debated holding her ground to fight the ball of rats. One-by-one, they were easy enough to slay. And as four more crawled through the crevices of the house to be slain, her courage redoubled for a moment. The entire building shook as though it had been struck by a flung boulder. Timber from the roof crashed down around her, and a decade of dust floated to the ground. Then, another colossal strike. Boards guarding the windows cracked and flew into the house. Acanthus saw

Collapsing against a cold fireplace, Acanthus checked her general inventory. Even though the monsters were looking for her, the game did not consider her to be in combat. Which meant… The teleport crystal materialized in her hand. She had bought a collection of them from the general merchant. They were all the same, and had none of the flair player-crafted crystals possessed: these crystals were simple rectangular prisms, twinkling blue. It was the same design Edict had pressed into her hands before he left her. Her head grew light; she was breathing too quickly. Don’t do this t

The rats continued their search for meat. Acanthus managed to spear four that had wormed their way through the cracks. But she doubted it would stop them for good. Her heart skipped a beat when she looked up at her status ailment. <<Status Ailment: Left Leg - fracture 01h:14m>> It was going the wrong direction! Acanthus felt her head swimming with anger and frustration. What kind of game mechanic added time to a status debuff instead of subtracting it?? A realistic one, perhaps. Silently, she dragged herself to her feet. Her left leg remained numb and tingly all at o

Biting her tongue, she returned to one knee, and checked her status bar. <<Status Ailment: Left Leg - fracture 00h:59m>> “Fuck.” She whistled out slowly to contain the “pain,” and then gingerly returned to her feet. The buzzing persisted, but it was manageable now that she expected it. Killing four rats that had not yet joined the ball, she limped as fast as she could to the nearest sturdy house. She had to hold on for an hour before her leg would return to proper shape. She’d kill to have the First Aid skill right now. She made a mental note to purchase it as soon a

Halfway to the ground, Acanthus desperately hoped the developers of SAO had felt the need to skimp on monster pathing. She felt her body connect to the ground, and her entire being rocked with the familiar buzz of pain indicators. She muffled her scream of shock, hoping that less sounds would attract fewer monsters. The rats—now a ball—swirled and bubbled at the window she had leapt from. It pressed against the frame, shifting left and right as if debating whether to follow her outside. Four of the rats fell from the window, and died with flat, sickening crunches. Somehow, the game had co

An avalanche of rats interrupted her realization. They must have cleared out all the surrounding houses. With a quick, flowing strike, she positioned herself on the other side of the swarm, at the edge of a busted out window. She turned around to see the rats bearing down on her. In a second, they would be on the staircase. And they could probably manage them faster than her. It was time to think outside of the box. She eyed the second-story window. “What are you doing?” “This?” Koji giggles at the TV screen. “I’m torturing the NPC. He’s supposed to deliver me a letter, but he’s

They did not. After killing four more, Acanthus hunkered down in a rotting second-story home as the wave of rats flowed just outside, in the busted cobblestone streets. Although the rats did not seems to lose aggro, Acanthus was thankful that they did not always know her location. She might be able to explore the town, but she would have to be careful now. Her fist tightened and relaxed in an attempt to calm herself. She killed a few rats for col and experience, and now her whole expedition was being unrailed by some stupid endless river of them. What a great return to the world of a

She decided to try something a little different. Stopping in place just long enough to charge up a sword art, she crashed through the mob, targeting the shrieking rats first. Not one managed to finish their cry, and Acanthus sheathed her sword in the silence with satisfaction. But the silence did not remain. A chittering sound grew beneath her feet, and the earth began to rumble as another dozen rats clawed their way above the earth. Wait, how?! Maybe the shrieks from before the pack maxxed out still counted? Or there was some trick at play, and the mob was infinite. Whatever it was, she

Acanthus cut through three of the new rats with ease. The fourth stayed back long enough to release another ear-piercing shriek, and a new mob of rats emerged from the ground to join the fray. Her frown spread as she wondered how many times this mob could summon more of its kind. She slew the last of the pack just in time to see more spawn. The rats themselves didn’t seem too dangerous, but if they were endless then she had to consider running out of energy. Not to mention that her ultimate goal here was to investigate the increased aberrations. She swatted away more rats, and decided that may

The swamps of Floor 29 were the same as she recalled from her visit to Graycott Point: damp, sucking ground that gave little warning when it would give out. She had already traveled the area once, and recalled some of the signs. Dangerous ground had a faint, electric shimmer when the player approached. It was barely noticeable to the naked eye; it took Acanthus almost three knee-deep mistakes to catch the pattern. Now, her time was improving, and she could make out the silhouette of Miremore in the perpetual sickly yellow twilight of the floor. Just before entering the town, Acanthus spie

Floor 29’s teleportation plaza looked like a kicked anthill. Dozens of players patrolled the streets, while others built barricades or searched the ruins of the town for clues or answers. Internally, she derided them. Did they really think they would find something in the wreckage that the frontliners had missed the first time around? They would just meet the same fate as all the unprepared players. They were wasting time here, when they needed to be searching the far away towns and centers. Or even the black sea on the outskirts of the floor. Without greeting any of the players, Acanthus