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PH ***

Squealing, the four boars charged and attacked her all at once. She side-stepped the first two, and brought her shield up to bounce the third before slicing the last one with botan. Their health bars and damage were much improved over the first-floor counterparts, but Acanthus had also come a long way since then. She recalled struggling to fight them one-by-one all those months ago; now, she was dancing with four without breaking a sweat. Her armor made her near invincible. But it was more than that. Her confidence in the game had grown as well. She learned more and more, studied the rule

She was no longer on floor twenty. Or, if she was, it was somewhere she had never been before. She recognized the slate black walls and glowing blue lines as the default dungeon aesthetic. But the space was far bigger than the info brokers led her to believe. Without thinking, she drew her sword and shield. A shower of pixels fell from the air, forming solid shapes. Acanthus held her breath, anxious at what sort of creature would spawn in such a mysterious place. She scoffed out loud to see it was nothing more than a boar. The same kind of monster she had killed on her first day out in th

A streak of red dust vanished in the distance, ending at a stony wall. Finally. The next question was obvious: how do I get inside? Had it not been for reveal, the cliffside appeared perfectly normal: its jagged face climbed up and out of sight, crowded by trees and other greenery that hid the sky. No blemishes or smoothness marked an entrance. Perhaps a pass phrase was required. As she opened her mouth to speak, she felt static on her tongue. Her lips rolled backwards at the unpleasant feeling, and her hand reached up to feel what was the matter. Nothing felt out of place; a quick l

Acanthus blinked a few times, wondering how to summon her new skill. It supposedly made dungeons much easier to find. But how was she supposed to use it? She blinked again. Maybe there was some kind of pattern? Surely it didn’t involve going into and out of the menu to activate it. What if the solution was painfully obvious? “Reveal.” Her normal vision washed away, replacing objects with faint outlines of themselves. Some objects flashed green or white; those appeared to contain trace materials or col that she could gather. But she’d already established gathering was a waste of time. Mons

That did the trick. And in about sixty percent of the time she had allocated for the task. What to do next? If Pinball were here, then they could go pick up some lootable mobs and wipe them out for easy col. You idiot. You don’t need him for the loot minimum mobs anymore. Just go out and do it yourself. She almost opened her map to look for some high-level areas she’d previously marked. Instead, her finger brushed up onto her inventory, pulling up a list of disorganized junk that made her spine shiver. She’d get around to organizing it someday. Right before she closed it, the pile of unus

She could hear the boss’s labored breathing through the dense green leaves. One last attack would finish it off. Charging into the brush, she prepared to end the fight. The cat, unused to its prey charging into its domain, waited a brief moment before turning into a ball of teeth and claws. It scratched and bit at her gear, but no amount of rage would penetrate her armor. She let the thing tire itself out before delivering the coup de grace. She was careful to avoid looking at its eyes. She hadn’t shaken how pitiful Kumatestu appeared in its final moments. She had no doubt the game would

Acanthus leveled her sword and issued a challenge to the cat. “Pspspspspspspsps.” With a touch of lethargy, the cat leapt from the foliage to attack once more. Reflexively, Acanthus moved to dodge the attack. I should be letting myself get hit. It hurts the boss more than it hurts me. But she found it difficult to suppress her instincts. Scared or not, when something giant leaps out of the bushes, its only natural to try and move out of the way. Batting away the thing’s swiping paws, she brought her sword up, and drove it between the cat’s shoulders. It yowled and leaped back into th

The cat’s health moved down steadily, while Acanthus’s could barely go down before her battle healing brought it back up. And with her high energy reserves (which she appreciated having after the meager EN granted in the player-killing tournament), Suturesu would be dead before she even realized it. The only frustrating thing about the fight was how quick the puma was to dodge her attacks. Of course when Cardinal has evasion, it always works. But when players use it, Cardinal just chews through their defenses anyways with lucky hits. Her songs unleashed their baleful cries, but the boss h

How many days… How many weeks…months… Years…. – – – – Mari had tried, she had tried so hard. Irrevocably, really, truly, wanted nothing more than to help each and every player still trapped within the confines of Aincrad to wake up. She pushed through the pain, the glares, the spiteful comments - because they were all justified. The fear and hatred from others that had been relentlessly aimed at her... It was all warranted. Mari could explain, and justify her actions till she was blue in the face - but it didn’t make up for it. Nothing she did had. Rather, those

But as the cat leapt from the shadows again, its paws barely grazed her half-plate armor. And Acanthus was reminded that in a worst-case scenario, mitigation was always important. Evasion was useful until the boss cornered you, and you had nowhere to go. Then, what was protecting you? Some people made it work. Jomei had survived Callisto’s wrath using speed and wits. But Acanthus didn’t have much of either. She was best suited for simplistic probabilities and pessimistic outcomes. And her pessimism strongly led her to a single point; she was always going to get hit at the worst times. Why

Standing here, unassailable against one of the later bosses, Acanthus almost felt bored. She still appreciated the sense of control these predetermined fights had, but they didn’t excite her. It was the equivalent of being the low-level employee forced to go out and get coffee, or the unfortunate clerk stuck with refiling a disorganized cabinet. It was necessary work, but it was the kind of work that didn’t leave you feeling like you’d done anything useful. Suturesu melted back into the jungle, and Acanthus’s mind wandered. The thing would be back on its own time, out of the darkness to h

A presence approached from behind her. She felt a tingle in her spine as the game warned her of the impending boss. The reaction was purely physical; mentally, she was no more alarmed than if she’d seen a cat in an alley. She angled her body slighty, trying to spot the puma without spooking it. “One-hundred and twenty five damage,” she said. “You can try to break through my defenses, but I think you will be hard pressed. The only question for today is how long the fight will last. And that’s entirely up to you, Suturesu.” The shadows became solid as the lithe boss prepared to attack. Acan

Acanthus navigated the deep jungle terrain with the help of her quest map. Normally, she would enjoy the process of exploring. It was a good way to stumble into new farming locations, or even a quest previously missed by the other players. Today, her goal was singular, and that was to kill the guardian that resided in the temple on floor twenty. The jungle temple jutted up from the decaying undergrowth as a reminder of a long-lost civilization. A civilization that has been around since the start of this game, Acanthus joked dryly. But the creators had done a stellar job with the details.

It had been long enough since the colossus that she had gained quite a few levels. Enough that the puma wouldn’t pose any kind of threat to her anymore. Her mind wandered back to that first leg of the quest, Kumatetsu. She’d done nothing except survive that quest, while Pinball did all the killing for her. Although she couldn’t pinpoint the feeling back then, she could now—helplessness. And she hated that feeling of helplessness. Thank Cardinal, she wasn’t helpless anymore. Acanthus had survived a floor boss. She had run quests and field bosses with the strongest players the game had to o

Dear Pinball, | Her fingers hovered over the virtual keyboard, directionless. It had been months since she last laid eyes on her friend. (At least, it felt like months. Time always seemed to move oddly in Aincrad.) Acanthus wasn’t terribly worried about the absence: he still showed up as online—in other words, alive—whenever she began a message to him. And his company had been sporadic even on the first half of their journey together. Pinball had a way of disappearing at the drop of a hat, and turning up whenever he felt like it. And as someone that preferred her own solitude, she knew be

ph

Recovers +4 EN CD:12 (Rec Proc) +8 EN Battle Healing +59 Hearing Freyd call out for the new spawns, "Got them," as she rushes toward them. Carving her sword against her shield with a sudden burst of blue flames that ignite both with a sliding stop in front of the creatures. "AWWWW" yelling out as the super heated metal slices through each slime. They wildly splash around in agony as pieces of charred slime hit the walls and turn to an almost tar like mineral as it drops to the ground. Out of seemingly no where they burst into flames, staying lit. Eruda's nose was slightly twitchi

Received.

Ren gives the following to Foyle. Ashigaru's Bond | T4 Demonic Light Armor | MIT II, REC II Lightweight leather armor reinforced with carefully positioned hexagonal plates. Perfect for maintaining mobility. Bears the mark of Ren. Crafting ID: 243906 Source: https://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/39172-rencesvals-evaluations/?do=findComment&comment=696160

Ah... so that's it. Still trying to sort herself out, even after all this time. Freyd had been struggling with a sense of identity since the dawn of his tenure in Aincrad; paranoid, cold and machine-like, shattered in uncertainty. He'd already lived through whatever the seven stages of grief equivalent for self-awareness. A soothing pang over his heart soon turned to warmth and the easing of tension from his frame. He'd been fortunate enough to find purpose beyond the calculating universe of clandestine whispers, even if he'd never fully managed to detach himself from that world. It

Standard Recovery +4 EN, Recovery | 244129, CD: 5 (No Proc) PH Post Action | [x18] AOE-II (28 - 2 [Stamina] + 2 [Shift] + (2 * 1 Targets = 2) = 30 EN) - 1 [Rested 2/2] = 29 EN Free Action | ID: 244128 | 5 + 8 = 13, Hit vs. Sand’s Claw Dealing 558 x 1.5 = 837 - 125 = 712 Damage ID: 244130 | LD: 13 (3, +10) | CD: 10 (8, +2) | 33600col, Materials (2), Tier 4 Rare Armor/Shield (1) Players: Nisahime | HP: 920/920 | EN: 98/98 | DMG: 1{+4} | MIT:60 | ACC:1 | EVA:3 | LD:1 Setsuna | HP: 920/920 | EN: 73/118 | DMG: 29{+4} | MIT:20 | ACC:7 | EVA:6 | BH:37 | RISK: 8

Standard Recovery +4 EN PH Post Action | [x11] AOE-I (22 - 2 [Stamina] + (2 * 1 Targets = 2) = 22 EN) - 1 [Rested 2/2] = 21 EN Free Action | ID: 244127 | 5 + 8 = 13, Hit vs. Sand’s Claw Dealing 363 x 1.5 = 545 - 125 = 420 Damage Players: Nisahime | HP: 920/920 | EN: 98/98 | DMG: 1{+4} | MIT:60 | ACC:1 | EVA:3 | LD:1 Setsuna | HP: 920/920 | EN: 72/118 | DMG: 29{+4} | MIT:20 | ACC:7 | EVA:6 | BH:37 | RISK: 8 | FLN: 16 | FRB: 40 | FRZ: 64 | LD:2 Simmoné | HP: 920/920 | EN: 95/118 | DMG: 27{+4} | MIT:20 | ACC:7 | AA | EVA:3 | REC: 8 | LD:10 | PROSP:1 | QTY: 2

*Turn Order Shift for Optimal PH Players: Nisahime | HP: 920/920 | EN: 98/98 | DMG: 1{+4} | MIT:60 | ACC:1 | EVA:3 | LD:1 Setsuna | HP: 920/920 | EN: 89/118 | DMG: 29{+4} | MIT:20 | ACC:7 | EVA:6 | BH:37 | RISK: 8 | FLN: 16 | FRB: 40 | FRZ: 64 | LD:2 Simmoné | HP: 920/920 | EN: 95/118 | DMG: 27{+4} | MIT:20 | ACC:7 | AA | EVA:3 | REC: 8 | LD:10 | PROSP:1 | QTY: 2 Celeste | HP: 966/966 | EN: 94/118 | DMG: 29{+4} | MIT:78 | ACC:8 | PHASE | EVA:3{-1} | BH:39 | REC: 8 | HLY: 16 | BRN: 56 | LD:2 Raidou | HP: 920/920 | EN: 92/118 | DMG: 28{+4} | MIT:137 | ACC:5 | AA | F-SPIRIT