Calrex

As the Frostbite still persisted Calrex's eyes scanned across the area, seeing that more players had pulled out teleport crystals to escape the fight. Struggling to move the bluenette could hear the small sounds of the ice beginning to lose its structure, pieces starting to break off of his form, "More people gone...this is not good. I guess this is really showing the separation between the player levels now. The only reason I can tell so far that our team can remain is due to the balance of healing, tanking, and damage that now is a part of out team. It would still help if Hikoru wasn't forcibly removed, but we have to make do. If we can't pull this off, this will be the first fight that the frontlines failed to complete on their first attempt. Can't tell if that's a serious wakeup call for most, or if people are still going to be stubborn about their mentality regarding these fights."

Looking at the others remaining on his team he could only hope that they could still remain active during the fight. With his current bad luck in regards to avoiding getting frozen he might have well have been treated as inactive. "It really must have been some kind of sick joke to introduce this change to Achilles before a boss fight though, especially with the fact that the Never Freeze enhancement is extremely rare to obtain. I will admit that this potentially is a lot worse of a result than expected, but it really feels like I'm caught in a loop now, and unless somehow I get affected by Scald instead it's only going to keep going."

OOC: Will be traveling to Japan, won't be back till Friday. Will hopefully be able to post while there

IC:

With a final push Calrex broke free from his frozen restraints as the ice that had formed a layer around his avatar, giving a few full breaths while he regained his posture, "Well free for now..."

Glancing over at the boss the bluenette immediately recognized the frost that had descended onto the battlefield once again, Leviathan having cast Frostbite on the teams once again. At this point the Ultramarine Knight had gone far past any form of resentment or surprise at the attack, "This is basically a room effect at this point."

"Glad everyone's hanging in there so far, but at this point it seems rather ridiculous to have this effect be such a constant thing. it could be just bad luck, but it feels like parameters to stay free might only benefit people that per chance have a build that will maximize their chances, and going from the rumors we heard of this fight it would literally be left up to chance, as even any protective measures we have will only work for the first few rounds. Even Safeguard is rendered useless because of the rain triggering the defense before anything else happens."

Feeling his body start to lock up once again Calrex shook his head in disappointment, "Mack would be rolling over laughing at this point, because this is basically stunlock in perfect execution."

Looking over at his teammates as he looked at their health bars, "We need to wrap this up soon or we're going to lose at least three people on our team alone. Leviathan should be off stun immunity now, so heal if you can, and if possibly stun it once it tries to use Frostbite again so we can get another round. Be careful of your he..."

Before he could say the last word in his sentence his entire body locked up, now fully frozen again.

The faint sound of thin ice sheets beginning to loosen could be heard in brief moments between the clashes of steel on scale as the Ultramarine Knight's frozen prison began to release him. Cracks began to form on the thin exterior that had formed over his armor and gradually began chipping off. his limbs erratically moved across their planes of motion as a condensed breath escaped from beneath his expressionless helm. "Great...looks like I'm almost free again...but that means that I'll have to hope I can avoid the next attempt from its freeze attack again. Seems my luck has been pretty bad on that for the past few times. At least the others don't seem to be having as much issue as I am and can continue pressing the attack."

His eyes scanned over as he saw Jomei narrowly dodge a hydro blast as a frozen sweatdrop formed on the side of his helmet, "Crud, that means the hate levels for the tanks have been surpassed. Once I get out I might need to use Focused Howl in order to get to the top again. Although without taking out the segment again this halving of health and energy regen might be problematic."

More flecks of ice began to fall off of the gaps in the plates surrounding his fingers. Soon he would be free again, but the main question would be what he'd need to immediately do if he was able to escape Frostbite's grasp come the next turn.

Even though the bluenette was able to make some form of an impact on the tide of the battle, it seemed it was going to be a brief period. Right as he finished his attack with the great axe his eyes caught the shimmer of the icy water as it descended over the battlefield once again. Trying to move he immediately felt his body lock up, the Frostbite status effect taking over his avatar once again. Cursing under his breath for a moment the exhale condensed as the Grand Chariot III frosted over, taking on a brighter reflective surface.

Before he was fully paralyzed Calrex was able to glance across to see the second team suddenly become targeted by sahagin once again, but there were a few that were of a different color, "That's not good...it must be a final thing that the boss spawns. Either that or maybe after a certain amount of times they spawn it changes. Good thing the battle is hopefully almost over..."

With Leviathan stunned from his previous attack Calrex was already primed, ready to strike again. However, as the boss raised its head out of view he cursed under his breath, his eyes quickly scanning across the area as his fist began to burn once again with the power of his Sword Art energy. It only took a few moments before he heard the sounds of the four sahagins engaging his team, seemingly all targeting a different member of his team, "Oh no you don't..."

Hurling his body in the direction of the creatures as his right arm extended to the side, the animation for his <<Quick Change>> skill triggering as the Grand Gauntlets III switched out for the Grand Legionbane, the massive axe already alight with his <<Explode Catapult>> attack. In a flash, powered by his <<Charge>> skill, the bluenette came from behind Jomei as he came down from a high diagonal angle, slamming the axe into the creature and knocking it to the side. The more vertical angle unfortunately did mean that he missed also catching the second fishman. 

His second slash collided with both the third and fourth minions, grouping the three he struck close enough together that his final leaping slam crushed the trio before the attack completed.

A audible shattering sound echoed across the battlefield for a moment as the bluenette finally broke free from the extended period of being frozen, giving a frustrated grunt as he leaned over for a brief moment. For the most part he had been keeping an even keel through the fight, maintaining a observant demeanor, since he had to serve as the tank for the first team for an extended time. However, the continuous period of being frozen had caused him to drop that. Even though his armor was not giving any indication of the shift in his mood, his actions had certainly taken a shift in presentation.

He turned, eyes locking onto the massive face of the floor boss like a predator spotting its prey. Where his head faced his body followed, his entire being seemingly directed and being funneled towards a single target. Passing by @Hestia he spoke in passing, his attention still fully on the main body of Leviathan, "Sorry for the wait. I'm leaving the tanking for the rest of this fight to you."

Raising his right hand, already tightly clenched into a first, Calrex brought his left hand to cover it, a small crach being heard as he pushed his right hand fingers towards the palm, the virtual simulation replicating the sound of his joints popping. Continuing to walk forward his posture began to lower, his right arm seemingly starting to burn aflame with the light blue Sword Art energy while his upper body came closer and closer to ground, his usually more composed <<Martial Arts>> form becoming more wild and feral in composition.

"Alright Cardinal, let me show you what I think about this little balance patch you decided to put."

In an instant he rocketed forward towards the massive serpent's face, arm drawn back to the farthest extent that would be considered anatomically possible, as if he was priming as much of his muscles to be behind his strike. A second later his <<All Might>> hook shot forward, smashing into the right side of the creature's face. Still hanging in the air for a brief moment the Ultramarine Knight tried to push further, as if he was trying to drive his strike further through, but after enough resistance was applied he let up, kicking off and sliding across the ground, left hand extended like a claw into the sand to slow his retreat. Keeping low to the ground as if primed to shoot forward again his right hand remained closed into a fist, ready to strike again if the opportunity presented itself.

Still under the effects of the Frostbite infliction for its extended period the only indicator that Calrex was still alive beneath the reflective powdery white exterior was the intermittent condensed breaths that escaped from beneath his expressionless helm. However it was starting to wear off as thin pieces of ice began to fall off of his armor, the deep blue beneath starting to come back into full view.

"At this point I would prefer the volcanic water over this, because then at least I can still act."

As more seconds ticked by his virtual muscles began to loosen once again, his body slowly starting to move like it was skipping frames in a video. Once he was free he was planning to take action, but at this point it was also going to be determined whether or not Leviathan was going to attempt another freezing attack. From what the bluenette could tell, the boss had a cooldown window for the attack, but was the exact period of time he would be frozen if he was unable to escape it.

It seemed that luck wasn't going to cut out for the Ultramarine Knight as Calrex felt his virtual muscles starting to become free, only to slowly lock up once again as Leviathan unleashed another wave of its Frostbite attack. A mere condensed breath escaped his lips with part of a word, "Sunv....."

With that he was unable to move once again, and from what he could gather from his brief seconds free, it means that once he was able to move again the boss would be able to release the attack once more, "So...this literally could mean that this boss was designed to exploit Achilles' new weakness. If it is, then I can easily call that a targeted debuff. If Cardinal really is a self-evolving and developing AI, then seems to have a serious bone to pick with me in particular. Tch, well even if I was contemplating going into retirement at some point there would be no way I could entrust this skill to someone else with confidence. The only way someone can survive with this is to have a massive level advantage, because if they were of average level they could be easily still be taken down with stunlock and DoT tactics, especially with the prominence of damage dealing advantages, and it certainly seems that there is a trend among the bosses that revolves around one or both of those mechanics. Stun may be the only one that can't be used in this, since everyone does have a stun immunity after breaking out, but the other action-wasting inflictions don't that. I'm really going to need to take a look at my equipment now and if it comes to it I might have to develop a set that is specialized against those."

Calrex's eyes watched as the other players that had broken free from the Frostbite effect had begun to take their retaliatory actions. However, due to the lengthened effect on him, even if he tried to move a simulated muscle it wasn't going to do him any good. The icon indicating his frozen status was flickering, but it was't fully gone yet. Small crackling noises could be heard coming from the plates of his armor as it continued to become looser and looser, "Geeze, this is really one punishing effect. I think if anything I'll really need to be careful about going up against known enemies that have paralyzing effects, and make sure I don't waste my store of Safeguards, especially now that they can't be crafted anymore."

As a few more seconds passed finally he felt the restrictions release, breaking free as multiple pieces of ice flaked off of his exterior. Giving a small sigh the bluenette stretched his limbs before turning to face Leviathan once again, "Let's just hope this thing doesn't decide to do another one of those things again. It's one thing to do it a few times, but consecutively could mean whatever game developer made this might have had a propensity for cheese tactics."

"Geeze...another one of these?"

Right after his punch connected and the segment was damaged he watched as Leviathan unleashed yet another freezing attack, seeing the Frostbite effect appear in his status window, "Come on...this is really starting to get old."

Trying to straighten his form and use willpower to break free the bluenette watched as his breath became more and more visible until he felt his avatar lock up, frozen once again. The frost covered the exterior of his armor, confirming that he was frozen, "...and that means I'm out of commission once again for an extended period of time compared to everyone. It's a good thing Achilles is pulling its weight of helping me keep the damage down, but I really need to start being aware of it. This is basically the equivalent of an Achilles heel, as if this power hasn't gotten enough changes while I've had it already."

He tried to move even the smallest segments of his body, attempting to close his hands or wiggle a toe, but with the status now in full effect there was no way he could budge until it started to wear off.

With his strength now back to full Calrex watched as the teammates around him already began to take action as he swiftly dodged yet another Hydro Jet that was aimed at him. Surprisingly, it seemed easier this time around to avoid the incoming blasts of water than bracing for them behind the Grand Guard III. "It's a good thing I've got two arrays I can technically serve as a tank for. Nonetheless, if I keep worrying about that I can't help out with offense, especially now that we're down one team."

As if on cue he heard Hestia's suggestion that they switch roles, with her taking the forefront for tanking while he focused on helping the other's get rid of the last bit of health Leviathan was clinging to. It was then that he noticed the water crystal float up and seemingly heal the boss for a bit of health, which was immediately followed with Mars charging up to strike it, "We need to make it vulnerable, or else that crystal is going to be a nuisance."

"Alright, I'm leaving it to you Hestia!"

With Jomei already charing forward to strike the first segment the Ultramarine Knight quickly lowered his stance, drawing his right arm back as it quickly lit ablaze with the light blue energy of his Martial Arts skills, the excess energy being emitting out of the upper forearm opening of the Grand Gauntlets III like a jet engine before he shot forward, slamming into the section of the massive water serpent with his <<All Might>> Sword Art.

The sahagins were successfully taken care of, which was a huge step in the right direction. Without minions specifically targeting their team, that means only the seemingly constant rain damage and Leviathan's attacks were the only things to worry about at the moment. Calrex gave a small sigh of relief before he suddenly saw his health shoot up to full, turning to see that Hestia and Neo from the second team had seemingly joined up with the others. Glancing at the corner of his vision the bluenette saw that their two usernames had now appeared in their group, "Guess that's a new feature as well."

"Much appreciated, that means I can go a little more on the offensive now, albeit a little bit late now. First things first we'd better take care of the water crystals..."

As he finished his suggestion the Ultramarine Knight recognized the motions that Leviathan used to trigger both Frostbite and Scald. Luckily enough, one did cancel out the other, so they didn't have to worry about the second should they not succeed shaking off the first.

However, as he recognized from the previous effects, his unique skill was causing the effects to last twice as long, and he could not let that happen again. Clenching his right hand into a fist he focused his senses as he saw the frost starting to form on his armor, "Not...this time...[/i]"

With a swift swing the forming ice shattered into small pieces, flecking off of him before being followed by the volcanic water that fell over them. The spots where ice still rested on his armor it combined and steamed off, while the rest ran down the Grand Chariot III. Letting his mind focus Calrex gave a calming breath as he focused his eyes on the crystal, "Sorry, you've hit me with both, and I'm not going to let myself be subjugated to them again."

Rushing forward his arm drew back as he prepared <<All Might>> to strike, but as he got into striking range suddenly he saw the floating object shift, missing his strike, "Guess this thing is more agile than I had planned."

With Jomei attacking the sahagin with the highest health Calrex shifted his focus to finishing off the remaining two that had only slivers left of their health bars, "Tch, what a time to have switched off of axe. At least Martial Arts still has an area of effect attack, let's just hope it's enough to finish them off..."

Crouching low his right leg began to glow with Sword Art energy are he prepared <<Tornado Kick>>, locking onto the second and fourth creatures of the group, a calm breath escaping beneath his expressionless helm. Right as he felt his body get locked into the assisted system the Ultramarine Knight shot forward, darting towards the two from a horizontal angle while he rotated quickly around his central rotational axis.

As the creatures came back around into his field of view his powered leg whipped around, crashing across both of the monsters' faces while he slid to a stop at the end of his travel path, kicking up sand as the bluenette came to a stop.

As the battle continued Calrex took note as most of his team switched to attacking the head, his eyes returning back to the sahagins that remained. One luckily fell to his reactive damage, but with that Vengeful Riposte was used up and on cooldown. However, their eyes were still darting between everyone, meaning that his Hate wasn't high enough to get their full attention, "Guess that means only one thing for now. I can focus on Leviathan later, right now I've got to keep these guys off of the others."

His gauntlets quickly swirled with light blue energy as he unleashed <<Howl>>, the explosive roar that emanated from his fists hitting each other shooting outwards and seemingly encapsulating the three creatures, as well as Leviathan. Lowering into a fighting stance he gave a small sigh, letting his mind focus, "All that's left is to take then out before they can do more damage. I can keep up with the damage, but not for an extended period of time."

The sound of ice cracking and breaking could be heard from behind the first team as Calrex finally broke free from the extended effect from the previous Frostbite attack, stumbling forward a couple of steps as the Grand Legionbane fell off of his shoulder and crashed axehead first into the ground. Giving a few breath the bluenette felt his strength slowly return as he looked forward, "About time..."

Beginning to heft the massive two-handed battle axe into a fighting position he felt the cold chill blow past once again, feeling a bead of sweat form on the side of his head, "Two in a row? That's unfortunate..."

However this time he was spared the effect as the chill seemed to go away as quickly as it came. With the torrential rain pouring down he could feel his armor starting to get heavier, weighed down from the buildup of the effect as he grit his teeth beneath the expressionless helm of the Grand Chariot III. Letting his senses refocus he looked forward, seeing another four sahagin in front of the section of the boss that they needed to take down. However, as he looked at his team he saw one person was gone, "Stryder must have gotten out. Shoot so we're down a man."

His weapon began to glow with pulsating energy before the Ultramarine Knight rushed forward, targeting all four of the sahagins in front of them as he unleashed <<Explode Catapult>> for a second time this fight. However, because he was still recovering from the effects of the Frostbite, combined with the rain he wasn't as nimble as before, only managing to strike the first and last creature. He did get some comfort as he saw red letters flash by, signifying a critical hit.

"I've got to let the other's focus on the main body, since single target is their specialty."

Swinging the axe after completing the attack to the side it vanished into lights before reforming into the Grand Gauntlets III as Calrex smashed his fists together, eyes locked on the creatures in front, "This battle is nearly half over, let's not lose momentum now."

Metal could still be heard faintly creaking as Calrex remained frozen in place due to the effect of the Frostbite attack. He could still look around beneath the expressionless helm of his armor, taking note of the people around him that were also bound being freed, but as he tried to move his limbs nothing seemed to budge, "Tch, this must be part of the effect of having Achilles now. Guess I'll still be stuck for a bit longer before this stuff wears off."

Glancing skywards he saw the volcanic rain come down once again, dripping against his armor. Unfortunately this didn't seem to do anything for the Freeze effect, but because of his state it seemed to stave off a secondary effect that came with the attack. His health still took a hit, but his Battle Healing did more than enough to heal back majority of the damage. His teammates seemed to be doing well enough due to the level of Hate he had gained earlier, but with the Sahagins now respawned in front of him he knew they'd need to get rid of them quickly, or else the others might get hit.

"Looks like I might have to stick to axe for a little while longer before switching to Martial Arts. Now if I can finally get free. I think I've had my fair share of this stunlocking stunts."

As the incoming high-pressure blast of water came into striking range Calrex quickly stepped to the side as the attack slammed into the sand where he was previously standing a moment ago. The impact kicked up sand left and right until it concluded, the bluenette looking forward as he gave a calming breath, "Now would be as good a time as any..."

Preparing to activate his <<Quick Change>> ability the Grand Legionbane began to glow, but almost immediately afterwards the Ultramarine Knight had to stop to raise his arm as Leviathan's main body unleashed a second blast of frost. Raising an arm upwards to block his helmet he gave a sigh, "Well that was a quick follow up."

Getting ready to move suddenly he felt his entire frame slow, glancing at his status bar as he saw the familiar icon for the Freeze effect, but it seemed to look a bit different from before. In fact, this time felt different from when he fought the revamped Avalanche field monster. He was definitely frozen in place, but the ice seemed to appear sharper than before, not forming large rock-like chunks and instead shaping into fierce icicles over his armor. Metal could be heard creaking as he attempted to move, but nothing seemed to budge at the moment.

"Well, at least my health's fully recovered for now, but I'm a sitting duck for another attack. This would have been a good time to be in my protective gear. Will need to quickly act once I get out of this."

With Leviathan stunned, it seemed that his preparation for an attack wasn't needed as the radiating glow of <<Parry>> expired, or at least that was what the blunette was original expecting. As he moved out of his stance to activate the defensive skill he noticed that the aura didn't fade, "Huh, I guess that's new. I might need to take a day and figure out if anything has changed behaviorally in my kit. Still that's pretty useful." 

Calrex gave a small sigh and lowered his arms, seeing as his <<Quick Change>> cooldown was just about done. He'd be able to switch out his armament once again the next moment they get a chance to act, "Best just focus on recovering my energy for now. Looks like the others are going to focus on our segment to bring Levathan into striking range once again, plus my Hate is already high enough to keep in a good lead."

Letting his breathing slow the bluenette's eyes slowly closed, the light blue indicators on his helmet slowly fading out to reflect this as he activated <<Meditation>>, his avatar form becoming more relaxed as a rejuvenating aura surrounded him for a moment. His energy pool took a significant jump upwards, becoming a more faded out section of his bar, now starting to become more and more opaque as time continued on. "Remain calm and focused, this battle is supposedly almost halfway done. Best not let anything slip now."

His grip tightening around the Grand Legionbane the Ultramarine Knight readied himself for the next action the boss was going to take, but also prepared to respond accordingly.

"First frost and now burning. This boss really is pulling out all the tricks."

Calrex grit his teeth as he felt the extremely hot water begin to splash against his armor, seeing a special effect symbol appear next to his status bar, "One status down and another get inflicted. Let's hope this thing doesn't have more abilities it can throw at us."

As the bluenette took a step forward suddenly for a moment he felt the weight of the Grand Legionbane seemingly become heavier. Quickly glancing around the area he noticed that other were apparently incurring a different effect that was actual burning status effect, while others were also experiencing similar to what just happened to him, "An attack with two potential effects...although it seems like other's that were frozen before are saved from it. Since I'm pulling partial double duty I need to make sure my attacks are hitting as hard as they can. With Quick Change almost cooled down I'll be able to change out, so for now I'd best go on the defensive."

Holding the massive two-handed axe in both hands he placed it in front of him and gave a calming breath, "Focus...it's been a while since I used this skill..."

His weapon began to radiate light blue energy as <<Parry>> activated, his eyes locked onto the creature's head, the aura now taking on a sharper appearance around the edges as the <<Vengeful Riposte>> mod was readied for the next incoming attack.

Right as the last sahagin in front of him vanished Calrex looked as he saw the segment associated with his team began vulnerable once again, "Guess that means that in order to be able to strike we'll need to do that each time."

Feeling a cold chill rush past him the bluenette turned to face towards the main body of Leviathan, seeing a frost breath emanating from its maw and down onto the field. His eyes darted left and right as he saw various players become frozen in place, cursing under his breath. Luckily it seemed some of his teammates were prepared, as Jomei, Mars, and Stryder all had protective layers peel off of their avatars from the effect. However, as the cold blast hit him the Ultramarine Knight felt his arms and legs start to cease up, "Tch...guess I missed this..."

"Come on...I've dealt with things like this before with field bosses like Avalanche. I've got to be able to break free..."

The dark blue surface of his armor began to freeze over as the Frostbite began to take effect, but at the same time it seemed like Calrex was slowly using force of will to keep his limbs moving. With each small movement cracks and scratches could be heard as his metallic armor began to grind on itself from the ice forming in the joints, "Come.....on..."

Taking in air with his simulated lungs he brought energy into his avatar while his eyes locked onto the main form of the floor boss, trying to recruit as much of his strength as he could, putting it towards the main task at hand, "Focus...I can break out of this!"

His entire body began to pulsate with radiating blue energy as he took in <<Focus Howl>>, slowly gaining more and more movement back as the effect started to break down. With one final push he released the energy he had stored up, unleashing a powerful roar as he heaved his whole body forward, the frost forming around him bursting into shards as he broke free while also increasing his aggro.

Free from the effect the Ultramarine Knight dropped to one knee for a moment as he caught his breath before hefting the Grand Legionbane back onto his shoulder, ready to fight once again.

The first cycle seemed to end for their team as the segment went down, Calrex's eyes glancing over to see that the Leviathan's main body had come into striking range, "An opening to strike? Nice that's good..."

Hearing Jomei say he was attacking the main body the armored blue knight gave a nod as his eyes focused on the segment as it seemed to reform with a sparkling armored plating, as well as seeing four sahagins emerge and land in front of them, ready attack. Seeing their other teammate, Mars, also dash to strike the main part of the boss the bluenette's mind already focused on what he had to do, addressing @Hikoru and @Stryder. "Focus on attacking the main body! I'll keep the sahagins back!"

Rushing forward he extended both arms to the side as the Grand Skypiercer and Grand Guard III vanished in a flash of light before the particles reformed into the shape of the Grand Legionbane as he executed Quick Switch to change his armament. His avatar body already felt extremely light from the change as he went into the stance to execute <<Explode Catapult>>, an intense bright blue aura immediately forming around the axe head a few moments after readying. A brief smirk came across Calrex's face beneath the expressionless helm as he used <<Charge> and shot forward like a bullet.

Two wide swings managed to hit all four of the creatures, clustering them into a tight group as the Ultramarine Knight leapt upwards and came down with the final strike of his Sword Art, hitting them with as much as he could for an opening attack while also inflicting Stun due to his Bull Rush mod.

Lifting the weapon onto his shoulder Calrex gave a small sigh, "It's a good thing I took that extended mod skill. Pretty much all of my current ones are active."

"Got it..."

"Well they certainly spent a good amount of time building up the atmosphere of this battle. One thing that's changed this time around is that we're all targeting different parts of the boss, I guess because this one is particularly large."

As Jomei shot forward to attack the segment set aside for the first strike team Calrex's eyes locked onto the head of Leviathan, the Grand Skypiercer's spiraling blade swirling with distorted light blue energy. Choking up to halfway up the pole of the weapon he slammed it against the Grand Guard III, unleashing <<Focused Howl>> to target the creature and gain its attention before lowering into a defensive stance, ready for the creature's incoming attack that should follow.

"The one thing that's concerning is if the segments also have skills or attack capabilities. If so we'll need to be ready to react. Hopefully the others will be table to take out segment down before that happens so that we can switch to going on the offensive."

It was time for the next battle, and as per usual Calrex was already making his way over to the meeting area for players to prepare before the encounter started. Getting closer and closer to the area he could feel the simulated sensation of strong winds blowing against the front of his avatar, his hair being blown backwards, "Geeze if I had thin hair I'd be concerned with it getting pulled out from the front, at least if this was the real world."

Tilting his head downwards he looked forward to see a handful of people already there getting themselves ready. After giving a nod to each of them he went over to a open spot and began swiping on his menu to get his raid gear equipped.

His casual attire was quickly swapped out by the full body heavy armor, the Grand Chariot III. As his face disappeared behind the expressionless deep sea blue helm he gave a small sigh before a one-handed spear and massive tower shield appeared in his arms, the Grand Guard III and his new Grand Skypiercer, "Guess I'll start with the defensive array to begin so I can gain a quick lead in aggro for the team before I switch out to assault."

Reviewing his skills the bluenette's eyes widened for a moment beneath his visor as he looked at his unique skill once more, "It got updated again...man what a terrible time to find out about it. Alright with these new changes I guess I've got to make use of that skill mod again, at least in order to offset some of this new weak point."

Turning on all of his skill mods with his new expanded capabilities the Stonewall mod switched on for what felt like a long time ago, but at the same time he felt his body become slightly more heavy as his Evasion was reduced. Producing one of the quest items he received some time ago he made use of the Monkey Agility item as he felt his speed return back to what it was a few moments ago, "About the best I can do. Let's just hope this boss is not possessing any abilities that make exploit it specifically."

Glanced around he saw that majority of his team was already present, albeit still getting ready. Giving a calming breath Calrex centered his senses as he awaited for the time to start heading down to the beach.

A lot had passed as Calrex kept silent, seemingly being attentive to the conversation rather than zoning out like he did previously. That being said, the conversation did pass by like a blur. There was an initial bit of tension as a supposed veteran player stepped in, one that was around for the battles before the Ultramarine Knight himself had even stepped out of the Starting City for the first time. That being said, the bluenette himself had not seen the man named RyujinSeaLord for any of the battles he had been a part of. It almost made him chuckle when he departed with a quip, saying that any other veterans were dead, when Calrex was literally sitting right there.

Nonetheless, He felt Jomei had handled the situation well, which meant he didn't have to step in. The young ginger-headed man had come a long way, and he seemed to be coming well into his own as a leader of a guild, as well as this raid. Now the point had come where teams were being discussed, and as the bluenette had guessed he would be the tank for one of the teams, although after some more deliberation his teammates had taken a slight switch, with Zandra being moved to a new team with...

"Wait a second..."

The familiar voice drew his full attention as his eyes shifted over to @Ariel - The Crowned Lion, who had come out of the shadows. It had been a fairly long time since he had seen or even heard mention of the Crowned Lion, but he gave a smile and a nod. Even with the previous things that had happened, it was still good to see that the blonde was still around.

With @Jomei addressing him he gave a nod, "No problems with that. It should be noted that I've got both unarmed and battle axe grandmastered, so should our team still require AoE attacks I can switch between at the drop of a hat. In addition I've got a third setup I can change to specialized for building aggro just as quickly, so our team should be clear to go all out without fear of outpacing me and getting the enemies' attention."

Upon receiving the message from Jomei, Calrex gave a rather stoic gaze at the message on his transparent HUD for a moment before closing his eyes, giving a small sigh and closing it with a swipe of his head, "Guess it's about that time. Of course it's a given that we want no nonsense, but we can't really take into account what might happen during the discussion. It certainly wouldn't be the first time  that we've requested this before people decided to escalate."

"It certain seems like nowadays the idea of being louder equals being right is more prevalent than ever."

Getting to his feet the bluenette gazed out at the seemingly endless landscape in front of him, dotted with various suspended islands over a vast ocean, interconnected by pathways. It had been his first brief visit to the newly unlocked floor, mainly to just sit down and take in the scenery. He put his hands into his jacket pockets and gave a few more seconds to absorb what he was seeming before turning around, heading for the teleportation plaza. Stepping up to the circle his avatar vanished and manifested on the first floor, already knowing where to go. The meeting was being held at the same place as before, so it a rather short walk due to his familiarity with the route.

"Looks like I'm fairly early this time around, either that or the turnout is going to be less than before."

The people that entered into hi vision upon entering the meeting area were all familiar as he gave a silent nod to each as they vision crossed with his passing form before he took a seat a bit to the side, but at the very bottom row. This time around he intended to give his full attention, rather than zoning out for the past number of boss raid gatherings. "I understand that my role in any of these at this point is going to be a given, since I am carrying on Tristan's legacy by continuing to bear Achilles, but nonetheless there may be things that no one is really taking into account for. I'm certainly not the leader type, however that doesn't mean that I'm better off staying silent. Even leaders mess up, and it's the job of those working alongside to call them out when it happens."

With a few swipes he sent a brief message to the ginger-haired man before settling into a comfortable sitting position.

Quote

@Jomei

Hopefully things are more cordial this time around, but be prepared for someone to eventually stir the pot. If you need a hand with reigning the conversation in feel free to let me know.

Best wishes for this meeting

With his message sent Calrex looked up for a moment, seeing that Roc had materialized and perched on top of one of the pillars, casually rustling the feathers on his wings, as if to start cleaning.