Calrex

It was a quiet dusk at Baldur's estate, with no seeming movement about the quarters. The sun barely peeked over the horizon, bathing the sky with faint colors of yellow, orange, and purple. In the real world, most people would likely still be asleep, or just barely getting their day started. Only those who worked night shifts and burned the midnight oil would be expected to be awake.

This was the time that the faint sound of a sliding door could be heard at one corner of the estate, with a young man stepping through the passage and closing it behind him, a calm and focused look on his face. With a small breath which became tangible as it turned into mist, the blue-haired player turned, making his way through the wood-floored halls over to the long stretch of stone steps leading up to the estate's main entrance. Lost deep in thought

briefly glanced down at his right palm, as if visualizing something within it before returning his hand to his jacket pocket.

"It's been quite some time since the last floor boss battle, so long that I doubt many from the guild have had the time to get familiarized with what happened. In fact I wonder how many of the frontliners have even picked up their weapons since then, tested their changed stats and gotten a feel for their characters again...I for sure am not one of them. In fact...I wonder if I even know what the heck I even am as a player of this game anymore..."

"...well...if I don't find out, I'll never know. No time like the present to put it to the test..."

As he stepped onto the boat leading away and back to the main plaza of the floor, the Ultramarine Knight had one destination in mind.

The newly unlocked floor, Floor 26...

Calrex's Stats:

"Tch, this thing is really holding on..."

More blows rained down on Fenrir as its health continued to drop further and further, almost in the last quarter of its entire health bar. However, it wasn't falling quite fast enough for the party to be comfortable with. The bluenette gave a calm sigh, "Don't lose focus, just keep up the pace and it'll eventually drop to zero. If we try and rush it now we might lose our rhythm and start making mistakes..."

Closing his eyes to center his mind for a brief moment the Ultramarine Knight clenched his right first, readying <<All Might>> once again, the armored player glanced down for a second as the Sword Art energy almost instantly appeared around his fist, some energy shooting out of the top of his gauntlet like a jet engine once again. A small smirk crossed his face for a moment before rushing forward, feeling his body be pulled through the assisted system.

Moments later his fist made solid contact with Fenrir's face with yet another powerful hook, a red critical number zooming across his screen, "Alright that's a good sign."

"Whelp, this is going...about as much as I'd expect I guess. We are a team full of frontliner players, so we're basically tearing through the boss with ease. If anything the only thing keeping the boss alive is its health pool."

With the other members of the group smashing and slashing through more and more of Fenrir's HP, Calrex prepared to strike once again. His right arm drew back, but as the energy began to build he saw the mythlogical wolf's massive tail swing towards him. Preparing to step to the side, the armored player felt his foot catch, preventing him from moving for a brief moment, "Tch...shoot..."

However, as the tail got closer and closer, eventually only the fluff on the end gently brushed the front of his helm. A bead of sweat formed on the side of his head at the harmless movement of the appendage as he watched his energy slightly decrease, "Whelp...time to find another opening..."

"Whelp, the dog went and ate the sun...great..."

The move didn't seem phase Calrex's teammates much. As neat a "cutscene" as the move was, reminiscent of the coming of the Norse apocalypse, in the game the game was still a game. The Ultramarine Knight gave a calming breath before clenching his right hand into a fist once again. Bright blue energy burned around his right gauntlet as <<All Might>> readied for the nth time this quest, "Doesn't matter what the boss does, what matters is taking it down before things become dangerous."

Rushing forward the armored player closed the distance, his body carried by the assisted system towards Fenrir. Planting his left foot his right arm swung forward, connecting with the creature's face in a powerful hook. While it wasn't a critical hit, the damage did still register, a small chunk more of the wolf's health vanishing.

"Great, one after another. Guess at least our health and energy are still at workable levels."

With Odin's and Fenrir's appearance, the blue armored player gave a calming exhale, lowering his stance while locking his gaze onto the demon dog's form. His right gauntlet surged with energy as <<All Might>> began to form. As the other's took their opportunities to strike, Calrex weaved his way through before seeing a straightaway to his intended target. With a single <<Charge>> empowered leap his body shot forward, closing the rest of the distance in an instant to appear in front of the quest boss, arm pulled back.

His fist connected square against the side of the creature's face, a solid hit registering. Taking a few steps back he surveyed their new foe from the new angle, "Well, there's no ghost soldiers around, so no carryover mechanics from the previous boss. Still, I'm sure this one's gonna have its fair share of tricks. We'll need to be ready for what comes next."

"Best not waste time. Let's see about clearing this boss out as fast as possible before it gets the change to pull something."

The boss' health was dwindling at a particularly rapid rate as blow after blow after blow rained down, striking true and continuing to eat away at her health bar. The Ultramarine Knight gave a small sigh of relief at the sight, "Good, this isn't going to be a grueling battle. Hopefully freeing the soldiers did a good enough job of preventing whatever other tricks this boss might have from triggering."

Clenching his fist once again he did a double take for a quick moment as <<All Might>>'s Sword Art energy almost instantly formed around his fist once again, the energy even beginning to leak out from the upper opening of his gauntlet, as if it were some kind of turbine. Giving a small smirk Calrex faced forward, locking onto Hel as he rushed forward, arm drawn back. With a single blow his strike slammed into the boss' face, a single red critical number flying through his vision.

Sliding back the blue armored player gave a calming breath of release, readying for the next opportunity for him to strike again.

"Alright, all free, that just leave you..."

After freeing the third soldier, the armored blue player turned to face the quest boss in front of them, giving a calming breath as he lowered his stance, right arm puling back. The Sword Art energy of <<All Might>> swirling and focused around his striking arm as the Ultramarine Knight felt his body get locked into the assisted system, his eyes trained on his target, "Let's wrap this up and move on to the next part of this quest..."

Launching himself forward Calrex felt his entire body rocket forward as <<Charge>> kicked in, pulling him into striking range of Hel in moments. His right arm shot forward, the punch landing square against the side of the boss' face before the attack's duration expired. With a swift retreating kick he backpedaled into formation once again, "It's still got a lot of health left, but at least it isn't recovering..."

The bluenette gave a defeated smirk at Baldur's and Shield's words, giving a small shrug, "Good to see you both are still well, heh. Probably the same as you Shield. I ended up having to drop my more tanky abilities and have switched fully to just off-tank and DPS now. Interestingly, it does look like Achilles has undergone a change yet again, but it comes with an new Sword Art that might help offset that massive weakness it had to status effects. I haven't had a chance to look at the old quests, but from what I remember I think there might be one I might need to go and get post-haste to help round things out further."

"As for the post-battle itself, I'm fairly sure all the frontliners are gonna be spending some time trying to make heads or tails of this '3.0' update, and how it's going to affect them. I wouldn't be surprised if players from all tiers have decided to shift directions in terms of their builds. It probably would be a far-fetched assumption that come the next floor raid we'll need to re-establish everyone's roles again."

Looking around for a brief moment Calrex turned back to address the two, "Speaking of other players though...have you seen any of the other guild members since the battle? I've had my head to the skills menu this whole time so I haven't peeked to see where everyone else was at."

"How long have I been asleep for?"

Tired eyes opened, his vision being greeted by bright light before his virtual eyes refocused. Warm green colors filled his sight before finally taking the form of tables, tatami panels, and the like. He was in the room set aside for himself and Teayre in Baldur's estate. Calrex gave a small sigh before raising a hand, rubbing his eyes while slowly getting to his feet, "It really has been a while since the battle hasn't it?"

After the floor boss was defeated, a lot changed all at once for everyone. It seemed everyone had been hit with the "3.0" update that had occurred. Many people were still trying to wrap their heads around the sudden changes. For himself, and what he could guess for the other members of Jacob's Ladder, no time could be wasted. Calrex immediately took to his room to start devising how he was to proceed next. As much as he wished to maintain the mutli-functional array of equipment from the past, it seemed that there was no way he would be capable of doing so, especially at this point.

Many nights were spent allocating his skill points, until he finally settled on what he felt would work best, "It's still nowhere near the same as it was before, but at the least I can still fulfill my purpose in the floor battles to some level. No longer a dedicated tank, but at the least I can still keep the heat off of others."

The sliding door to his room opened as the bluenette emerged, clothed in his casual combat attire. Putting his hands into his jacket pockets the Ultramarine Knight moved through the halls, hearing nothing but silence, "Guess everyone's out or still asleep..."

Making his way down to the docks, his eyes looked out to see that Bladur and Shield were both down there welcoming a new arrival, "...might as well see what's up."

Calrex Stats:

"Whew, another stun. Nice, this should give enough time to get you free."

With the current boss mob stunned yet again, the bluenette saw the opportunity to finish off what remained of the restraints on the third soldier. At this point it didn't require more than a bit of effort for the chains to finally release.

Grasping just above the weakened chain, the Ultramarine Knight planted his feet into the ground, hoisting it over his shoulder and turning away so that the restraint became taut, "On three I'm going to need you to pull away from me alright? One...two...three!"

Throwing his body forward Calrex gave a forceful breath, seeing the soldier also heave in the opposite direction. The chain rattled for a moment before he felt the link in the chain start to come undone in bursts until finally bursting into pieces. Taking a few stumbles forward he turned around, seeing that the soldier's spirit was freed, giving a sigh of relief, "Only one to go..."

With one soldier freed, it looked like the others had moved to working on the next NPC that remained captive. Calrex's eyes quickly darted between the boss and to the soldiers, taking note of the status of the chains as it went on, "Definitely seems like freeing the soldiers is our top priority. Especially with the fact Hel's health has climbed back up."

He saw that the second soldier's chains were barely clinging on to each other. As a reult, the Ultramarine Knight figured that even another person breathing on it would free the person, and deemed it a better idea to move onto the final captive, "I'll get started on this one!"

Sliding to a stop the deep blue armored player quickly glanced over the bindings, finding a single spot he figured might be best to start from, "Here, pull this taut..."

As the soldier added tension to the chain he gave a calming breath, pulling his arm back as his eyes focused on where to strike. Hurling his fist forward it slammed solidly into the link he was aiming for, a massive chunk of it breaking off, "Not much more and you should be free."

"Whew, thank goodness we had another method for holding the boss up..."

Hearing Baldur's words the blue armored player gave a nod, turning his eyes back to refocusing on the first soldier he had assisted with freeing. It looked like his other teammates were doing the same, and by the time he got there the chains looked so frail that they could break at the lightest touch. "Alright this should do it..."

Puling his right arm back Calrex closed his hand into a fist, targeting where the chain looked to be the weakest. A single link had a rather large crack all the way around, and one part had a fragile gap that could give way easily. With a calm breath he steadied his arm before launching his punch forward. The strike slammed into the link, almost exactly where he wanted, giving more than enough for the chains to burst, vanishing in a series of floating lights, "One down for now, two to go."

Current Level: 88
Current SP: 609
Link to SP Tracking: [link]
Item Upgrades:

Notes:
Pumpking's Crown - When searching for crafting materials, the player finds 2 instead of one / +3 Keen
Converting to Perfect Item - Antifreeze / Evasion / Evasion

• Character Name: Calrex
• Character Description: 
  • Age: 26
  • Gender: Male
  • Height: 5'10"
  • Eyes: Dark Blue
  • Hair: Dark Blue
• Character Journal: Calrex - The Ultramarine Knight

Reward Choice: EXP

As his shackles were freed by his team's veiled member, the armored blue knight gave a nod in response. It was still going to be some time before he could regain enough feeling in his limbs to act again, but at the least he was released, and it seemed the boss was finally defeated. However, as the inkly substance continued to ooze out from the edges of the battlefield, his battle-hardened senses remained in alert. The others were finishing off the rest of the minions that remained, but he couldn't shake the feeling that this felt a little too much like "cleanup work."

"The Cardinal system has thrown way too many curveballs at us in the past to confidently say this is over. If this is true, then great, but I can't help suspecting something else is coming. Tch, I still can't fully move yet, but at least everyone's HP is topped off. However, my energy reserves are running low...guess for now all I can really do is hope for the best..."

"Geeze that was a very short period to try and work on getting these chains off."

"Yeah, looks like just the two of us isn't gonna cut it...."

Listening to his teammates words the Ultramarine Knight gave a small sigh before turning and facing the boss, clenching his right hand into a fist. Energy built up surrounding his hand before Calrex rushed forward, arm pulled back. While prepared to unleash <<All Might>> on Hel, it seemed that his attack just barely missed as his punch connected against air. Sliding to a stop behind he cursed under his breath, "We're definitely whittling down this boss' health rather quickly, but what the those soldiers said is not sitting right with me. Especially with the fact we apparently can't make and headway on those bindings unless Hel is stunned..."

"Tch, well can't do much right now if we're just focusing on damage, can only help this isn't gonna result in some kind of unwanted surprise..."

"Light at the end of the tunnel it looks like..."

With a calm breath, Calrex focused on the two things remaining for his team, the Shadow Horror and the boss itself, prioritizing the mob first. The Grand Legionbane blazed alight with blue energy once again as <<Explode Catapult>> built to maximum strength. With the assisted system taking over, his body was pulled into the set direction, allowing him to cleave through the minion before focusing his remaining strikes on the floor boss itself. The remaining two strikes left red trailing numbers as his massive axe-sword swung through, finishing with a leaping slam. Taking a few steps back the Ultramarine Knight hefted his weapon back onto his shoulder.

"Only got the Shadow left...still I wonder if we're completely out of the woods now. It does appear to be panicking, but at this point it's tough to tell if this is the final phase, or another brief lull in the storm..."

"Course it would do it twice..."

As he managed to regain his bearings Calrex's eyes quickly surveyed the battlefield. The already unfortunate situation with his team's aggro was getting worse, especially with the fact a second set of shackles had come along and bound Ariel. Giving a quick breath the bluenette's eyes beneath the expressionless helm of his armor locked onto his targets and quickly decided what needed to be done, "Good thing I kept Quick Change in the background. Unfortunately I can't utilize Charge now with having already used it with All Might earlier for this..."

Rushing forward the Ultramarine Knight swung his right arm to the side, heavy gauntlets vanishing into bright lights that hovered and began to shift into a different form, "Roc! Need those eyes now!"

His peregrine falcon familiar soared ahead in a flash, the avian's vision enhancing Calrex's own as the light reformed into the Grand Legionbane, burning bright blue as his targets were locked in. The assisted system guided the massive axe head as <<Explode Catapult>> carved its way through his targets, alternating red and white numbers flashing by as he struck the Shadow, kicking off to refocus on the three targets oriented towards his party. His following strikes split the first horror in half, cut into the second, and finally blasted away the shackles that had formed around the Crowned Lion.

"That should have fixed things up!"

Reverently opening and closing the sliding doors of the dojo Calrex entered inside as he gave a small sigh. Looking towards the head of the massive room he gave a small bow before moving to the side. "Baldur certainly has kept the place in order. Not too surprising I guess, heh."

Removing and placing the footwear that were part of his attire to the side. In addition, he slipped the upper jacket that normally covered his upper torso, folding it and setting it next to his shoes before stepping into the center of the area. Swiping in his menu for a brief moment the bluenette selected his starting weapon to practice Quick Change drills with. The deep sea blue armored arm pieces of the Grand Gauntlets III materialized over his forearms. Giving a small sigh Calrex lowered himself into a fighting stance, similar to what he would assume in order to tap into his <<Martial Arts>> Sword Arts. Throwing a varied series of punches and kicks his mind focused less on the blows he was throwing, and more on the timing of when to change. "The assisted system will take care of completing the attacks. What I need to keep in mind would be the opportunity to switch tactics...such as...now!"

As he pivoted his body in a full 360 degree motion he triggered <<Quick Change>>, his gauntlets bursting into sparkling blue lights. Extending his right arm to the side the lights began to gather into a familiar shape, that of a polearm. At the same time he slowly thrust his left arm forward towards where his spin would stop, more lights gathering and spreading outwards from his forearm. In an instant, both the Grand Skypiercer II and Grand Guard III solidified, the bluenette already in a guarded position. Giving a small sigh as he watched the cooldown begin, Calrex prepared himself to switch again.

Almost as swiftly as he had taken the lead in aggro for his party, it was as swiftly reset as the Ultramarine Knight saw the HUD at the corner of his vision glitch for a brief moment, "What in the..."

Just as quick he felt his body lock up, frozen in place in a familiar fashion. The deep blue armored player had been through more than enough battles to be acquainted with Aincrad's interpretation of the paralyze mechanic, and this one was no different. However, as he glanced downwards he could see the dark tar-like liquid latch onto his form, holding him in place, "Great, first I lose Hate, and now I can't reactivate Howl."

A flurry of blows suddenly rained down on him, the binds dispersing as two of his teammates immediately sliced through to release him. "Thanks guys! I'll get our aggro fixed up in just sec!"

However as he tried to move his limbs, he still felt them locked up, taking notice of the effect's status still fading from beneath his health bar, "Tch...well it's gonna be a bit longer before I can do that..."

"Still, that's gonna be a problem even if I manage to get my Hate back up again, especially if this battle drags on. I'll probably need to start considering using Switch instead if it comes down to that."

As their combination of blows rained down, visibly wearing down on the Shadow's poise, the bluenette gave a small breath of relief, but it was soon interrupted as the floor boss conjured yet another set of mobs with a wave of its hand. These creatures appeared already much more terrifying and fierce than the smaller minions they fought within the darkness, "Isn't that great..."

Hearing Ariel's cry Calrex gave a smirk. As a fellow veteran and former guildmate for so much time, the Ultramarine Knight figured that the two of them had somewhat a unspoken dynamic in combat. Giving an acknowledging nod to The Crowned Lion's movement, he quickly squared his stance, arms to his sides. Instantaneously his gauntlets began to swirl with bright blue energy, the familiar visual effect of his <<Howl>> skill now active, "I'll need to focus on keeping both of them off the rest of the team for now. Good thing my Parry barrier is still active, so no matter if the boss or that freakshow hit me, they'll be getting a nice surprise in return."

Slamming his fists together a massive roaring explosion of sound erupted from the impact point, spreading across the battlefield until the wave swept past both the second Shadow Horror and the Shadow itself.

With the full shadowy form of the boss now visible and tangible, it seemed a moment of opportunity came for everyone rush and take their actions as a single unit. The bluenette felt a smirk come across his face for a moment, "I made the right call, it was a single target. Good, that means if things change I've got Quick Change at the ready."

Slamming his fists together the Ultramarine Knight looked forward at the malevolence now storming on front of them, "About time, no more puppeteering or minions. Time to take your licks directly."

His right fist burned bright blue with his Sword Art energy, <<All Might>> forming and solidifying like a bright torch flame as Calrex streaked through the darkness, his body being taken over by the assisted system as <<Charge>> kicked into gear. His form shot forward before like a streak of light before stopping in front of the boss' form, arm drawn back. With a fierce rotation his fist slammed into the right side of whatever part of the form was considered the face.

Backpedaling a few steps he gave a calming exhale, "The real question is gonna be how to respond once this thing makes its next move..."

The distorting darkness was gone, and with his teammate's last attack it seemed the remaining shadowling was dispersed. There was nothing left of the mobs on the battlefield, with the only two non-player monsters remaining being Orgoth and the Shadow. However, the deep blue armored knight could hear the words of the people around him, warning them of the final phase that was to come. With no actions to be taken, and his <<Parry>> effect still active, Calrex gave a small sigh, letting his mind contemplate on what he should do next, "With the mobs gone, that only leaves the Shadow, which could mean a single target. If that is the case I'll need to swap back to Martial Arts in order to maximize my potential damage. However, there is the chance I may need to swap out with Ariel for tanking, so I'd need to be sure I can reach my full defensive array if necessary..."

Raising his right arm the Ultramarine Knight pulled down his menu, manually selecting his equipment to change. The massive axe-sword resting on his shoulder vanished before another burst of light surrounded his forearms, solidifying into the Grand Gauntlets III. It did use up enough time that any opening he had to make an action were used up, but at this point he deemed it better to have <<Quick Change>> prepared for any last minute shifts in the flow of battle.

"With Parry active, it would be a waste if I popped another Safeguard potion, especially with my Vengeful Riposte. If a big attack does come, it would be best to return some of that damage back."

"Progress...well that's a good sign. However whatever everyone is readying for...yeah that's gonna be the real final push..."

Time slipped by as Calrex's eyes scanned across the darkness, sections of light slowly growing more and more, until his vision was filled enough that he could easily make out the forms of the shadowlings against the darkness, "Geeze if only it could have been like this from the get go. Alright only one more left in this cluster, I've got it."

With the skitter dark creatures clear enough, his eyes locked dead onto the target as the Grand Legionbane burned with bright blue light like a beacon, <<Screw Dimension>> charging to full strength before the Ultramarine Knight leapt skyward, bringing the weapon over his head as he somersaulted through the air. Guided by he assisted system, his travel arc brought him straight down on top of the final shadowling, cleaving a deep gash into it that glowed with his Sword Art's power. The slash hung in the air for a brief moment before imploding, the cut moving even deeper before rending the monster to pieces.

A small exhale escaped beneath his helm as the blue armored knight glanced up at the health and energy bars to the top left corner of his HUD, "We're all mostly alright, definitely banged up though. Looks like my ability to switch off out equipment is finally off cooldown too, good to know in case Ariel needs a break from tanking. If not, then I can switch back to Martial Arts if the boss turns out to be a single target."