Calrex

With no luck of a tool for them to track their movements, Calrex gave a small sigh, "Yeah, we'll have to keep an eye out while we're searching then."

"Unfortunately since we can't access our menus, that means we also don't have any form of overmap, so even if this place were a procedurally discovered areas like some dungeon crawlers we don't have that. Hopefully our memory is enough."

There was a brief silence among the group, which allowed the bluenette to pick up on what appeared to be a door opening and closing from somewhere else in the hotel, but with the numerous hallway walls the sound bounced too much for him to get an idea of an originating point, "That sounded like another..."

Turning back to face the group his eye level met the torso of what appeared to be a much older and much taller man, a bead of sweat forming on the side of his head. Lessa took the opportunity to introduce the acquaintance to the group, the person going by the name of Tower, "That is a rather apt name to go by."

"It's nice to meet you, albeit under such...unique circumstances."

"Lessa...Lessa...where have I heard that name before? Someone mentioned it in the past..."

Calrex crossed his arms for a moment to think, "I think I might have heard about you from someone else before. Do you happen to know anyone going by Baldur or Celes?...In any case, we can save the chatting for later."

Looking over as Cordelia introduced herself the bluenette gave a nod, "I think we met one time at an event quest before, so she might not recognize me, heh."

"It's nice to meet you both. I'm Calrex. As for the plan, yeah starting floor by floor might be good. If this isn't some kind of area where things shift as we move through, we can get a good bearing on our location. Then we can move on to the next floor and do the same.

Looking at the closed door, he felt a bead of sweat form at Cordelia's suggestion, "Also...yeah we should leave a note..."

With a small sigh he centered himself, "Yeah, I can take point. If anything we should find something to take notes on, or to draw a rough map of the hotel layout on the fly if we can."

"Yeah, in a situation like this we're better off sticking together. If anything we'd also best keep track of our movements through the rooms. If this place is consistent in terms of layout, we can at least get our bearings. If not, then at least we're all still together and don't have a chance of getting separated easily."

Crossing his arms for a moment he gave a calming breath, "Think carefully. If the front door is locked, then in terms of general game design there could be a few options. One could be that there is another exit somewhere in the area that we can use to get out, the next is that we need to get something in order to open the front door. Without equipment, the chances of combat at low, but not zero, so it's possible we may need to defeat something to unlock the way out..."

Looking over at the blonde that was with them Calrex gave a nod, "Well, if anything we're not going to gain anything standing around. Which way do you think we should check first? I can take point in case of any potential danger."

@Lessa @Cordelia

Looking around Calrex turned to see two faces also present within the hotel. One he thought ht recognized, but he couldn't place the name. The second was more recent, as they were around for another event that taken place recently, "I should have known better than to step away, my bad."

"Still...this is rather odd. A location that you cannot willing escape from?"

He reached down to check his equipment, but as he did the bluenette realized that none of his gear was equipped. The gauntlets, his accessories, none of them. Anything in his inventory was unaccessible, even though he was out of combat, "Yeah, none of my gear is reachable either, and we're not being attacked at the moment. Something is not right..."

"Is this something glitched in the Cardinal system? I haven't seen something like this before, although I wouldn't be surprised if it's possible. It did nerf Achilles on me right before a boss battle."

"There wasn't a quest prompt, or anything like that, so I doubt that this is some kind of actual quest. In fact this doesn't match up with any form of task that I can recall."

@Lessa @Cordelia

"Roc...what in the world did you find?"

Calrex looked forward, seeing that his blue peregrine falcon familiar had landed in front of what appeared to be a rather ominous looking hotel, "A hotel outside of the safe zone? That seems odd, especially since I'm not aware of any shops that look like this...Of course I haven't exactly kept my ear to the ground as of late..."

He was already armed with his Grant Gauntlets III, but for such a low floor it didn't seem necessary to have his raid gear equipped, "Guess might as well take a look."

Cautiously approaching the front doors, the bluenette's eyes scanned the entrance for any traces of a trap or monster encounter trigger. Nothing stood out or went off in his perception. Grasping the doorknob, he turned and opened the doors to be greeted with a rather normal looking lobby, "Huh..."

Stepping through his head turned in response to the quick slam behind him, "Tch...I knew something was off!"

Grabbing the knob he felt no give as he tried to turn it. "Looks like I'm stuck in here...what kind of trick place is this?"

Three people were now in it's clutches.

Editing

As he heard Shion come out and address the people present, turning around to face towards her as the young woman explained what was around her area to do. Returning his hands back to his jacket pockets the bluenette gave a nod before starting to follow the group through the house into the backyard. As the two maids appeared and started taking requests for beverages the Ultramarine Knight thought for a brief moment, "I guess some water will be good for now. Thank you very much."

Passing by Calrex made his way over to the repurposed forge, seeing the spread that was already laid out for the arrivals, "Dang...in the real world this would require a lot of prep work, probably at least a few hours in advance. It is really one of the benefits of being in a virtual reality game, some logic doesn't apply."

Hearing a soft screech from above he looked skyward for a moment to see Roc descend further in a hunting swoop before breaking his dive, now perching on the lower roof of the house, eyes on the crowd below, although the peregrine falcon's gaze did drift over to the forge as the scent of the cooking meats filled his sense of smell.

"Well for sure someone's hungry..."

"Hm?"

It wasn't long after the bluenette arrived that heard the footsteps of people entering the gates behind him, "At least it wasn't too long between. That would have been awkward if I got here too early..."

Giving a small sigh he returned his hands back into his jacket pockets, turning so that the new arrivals would be in his vision. It was quick for him to recognize one of the three, being the other girl that accompanied their team during the invasion that assisted with closing portals, "I guess at least there's two familiar faces for this event then."

Raising his right hand to acknowledge and greet the three Calrex walked over at a casual pace, a calm smile on his face. With that he addressed the one he had previously met first "Good to see you again, Cordelia right? Hope things have been going well."

With that he turned to the other two, "I don't believe we've met before, but it's nice to meet you all. I'm Calrex...and I have no clue where the host is at the moment, heh."

"Geeze, the breadth of this place must be as wide as, if not wider than the entire Azure Brigade guild hall. I guess there's been some changes that really made players want to invest in homes again."

Getting off of the connecting bridge to the coordinates given in the message he had received the bluenette turned his gaze skyward for a moment, a faint streak of blue moving across the sky passing through his vision. Roc quickly descended back to hovering about fifty feet above the ground, the blue peregrine falcon wanting to get a better view of the place the two were traveling to. "I only met Shion once before, if you could even consider that a meeting. What it mostly involved was small exchanges while our team focused on closing portals."

Wearing his casual combat attire, Calrex continued forward towards the one spot marked as "Kikkenna", seeing the two guards mentioned, "Dangerous...interesting choice for a name, although I can't tell if this is supposed to be some form of juxtaposition." Taking a hand out of his jacket he raised it in greeting as they took a step to the side, allowing him entry. "So there should be a gathering..."

Taking a few more steps into the compound the Ultramarine Knight felt a bead of sweat form on the side of his head as he looked left and right for a moment, seeing no one else in sight, "Am I the first one here?"

"Okay if that's the case...Shion's supposed to be...where at the moment?"

"A doorbell might be really useful right now..."

"Dang it's been a while since I've last been here."

The Excellance Elexirum looked significantly different from when his eyes first took in it's interior, the bluenette giving a small smirk to himself, "Looks like Zandra's business has been doing well. Guess since there isn't too much competition...at least that I'm aware of. It's kind of similar to how Oikawa's shop was before Macradon and the other blacksmiths popped up and got up to level."

Giving a wave over to the black-haired storekeeper Calrex walked over to the counter, "Hey Zan, been a while since I've seen you side the frontline raids, heh. Any case, I'm in need of a rather larger supply of this stuff, but no rush on getting it all to me. At the last I'll need maybe five, to prepare for the next boss battle, especially if Leviathan is any indicator of what's to come."

Paid 30,000 col

15 of item below

"Okay...I think we're finally almost out..."

As the two continued to press onward the dense clusters of trees started to thin out, become more and more spread out. Now instead of having to carefully watch his steps to avoid potentially tripping on massive tree roots that had been lifted out of the ground by the network of other trees beneath, he could easily perform a casual walk. Tracking Roc's movement patterns became much easier to track with the less frequent trunks and branches interrupting the bird's form as he weaved through the upper area.

"Once we get back to the road, heading back to Florenthia should be fairly straightforward. The roads originate from the main settlement for the most part, so if we head in the correct direction we should reach the village in no time."

With the extra room Calrex stretched his arms upwards towards the sky, letting his virtual muscles lengthen as he gave a long breath. A brief feeling of relaxation came over him as a small smile came to his lips, closing his eyes for a moment before focusing forward once again.

Pushing past some more shrubbery the bluenette's eyes continued to occasionally glance upwards to make sure he kept track of Roc's position. The bird of prey was once again swiftly weaving through the trees as if it had lived there for years. The peregrine falcon had been Calrex's familiar for quiet some time, and as a result the two had an unspoken bond, one that even enhanced the boost in Accuracy the avian had been selected for. Initially, the Ultramarine Knight had been a little more distance with the familiar, as he didn't want to experience a similar phase as when Teayre had lost Beleram, but eventually at her request he had treated the falcon as a true companion, and from what had passed the two were better off for it.

"With all that has happened so far it's really surprising we've made it this far...sometimes it really makes me wonder how much longer we can keep this up."

"Hm...I don't think it took us this long to find Kumatetsu. Are we heading back out from a longer path than how we got in?"

"I guess there is a good amount of uphill we're covering as well. Maybe we had a better pace coming in because a good amount of the travel was downhill through the forest. Either way, I guess if it really does seem like it's going to take too long to get back to the settlement on foot I can always finally use the teleportation crystal I've got to get back."

Looking at the single basic teleportation crystal in his inventory brought back his memories from purchasing it. It was back when he was extremely cautious, most likely because of his close encounter with the golem that had spawned during the <<Breaking the Unbreakable>> quest. From what he had heard about from passing word since then, whatever had happened to him must have been some kind of rare occurrence, as other players merely had to deal with the arduous task of punching a rock. If it weren't for the potions from Baldur's general shop, where he had also purchased the teleportation crystal afterwards, it was most likely he might not have survived the battle. By the time the golem was destroyed, Calrex's health bar was in the red, and he was certainly scarred from the encounter as a result.

"Really ingrained in me to be prepared for anything after that..."

"I wonder what the others have been up to all this time. It's certainly been a good many days since the Leviathan battle, and I haven't received any word about a scouting team searching for the next boss lair. With the amount of time it took in the past, that can't be a good sign."

Pushing some brush out of the way with his gauntlet-clad arm the bluenette pressed onward, using Roc's location as a compass to direct him in the correct direction for reaching the tree line. On occasion the blue peregrine falcon swopped towards the ground and stopped, which gave Calrex concern for a brief moment. At least, this was before he recognized this was what his companion did when it spotted a nice morsel to snack on. Eventually, the two fell into the pattern of follow, then pause for Roc to eat, then continue. As seemingly disruptive as it was, the two were still moving through the densest part of the forest at a decent pace.

With a swipe on his menu the deep sea blue armor that surrounded his frame vanished, revealing the young man beneath. Calrex calmly opened his eyes after the bright light of the item change animation fizzled away, lightly moving some of his bangs out of his face before looking forward. Everywhere in his vision was different shades of green, the dense forest seemingly going onwards into eternity with each direction looking identical to another, "Guess it's a good thing we've got so many ways of finding our way and quickly returning back to the settlements. In real life without any survival skills navigating this place successfully would require some serious strokes of luck."

Putting his hands into his jacket pockets his right foot lifted off the ground, stepping forward in what he perceived was the right direction. However, right as it hit the ground he heard a chirp, turning his head to face Roc, who was facing opposite of where he was initially going. "Proved my own point, heh."

In the deepest parts of the forest, it seemed that Calrex had decided to get lost in his thoughts for a moment as his mind wandered to some of the previous adventures he had been through in order to get to where he was own, as well as processing some of what he had heard from the info broker about the current state of affairs.. From what he had heard, the term "highest level player in Aincrad" wasn't exactly the appropriate term for him now, as someone had caught up to him in rank. Of course, it didn't really help that apparently after hitting level 88, gaining skill points no longer resulted in a level increase, as if he had hit some kind of cap that only allowed him the chance to strengthen his abilities, but not increase his health or energy. 

"As long as Cardinal doesn't decide to start scaling raids towards my level. I'm not the average player, and it should be focusing towards building on that. Well...as if Cardinal has ever really listened to my opinions in here, heh. Or, for all I know they did, and that's why Achilles has been updated so much since I've been in possession of it."

After Kumatetu's defeat Calrex remained in place for a moment, his right arm suspended in the air after executing his decisive strike, giving a small sigh before lowering his hand back to his side. Looking down he saw the small window appear which displayed the quest rewards, as well as what appeared to be information for the second task in the quest line. It seemed that the next thing to draw his attention would be on the tenth floor. Seeing the floor number, his gaze lingered for a moment, "The tenth floor...been a while since I've been there..."

A lot had happened on the tenth floor, but if anything the bluenette recalled that when he first started stepping out of the Starting City, that was the highest floor accessible by the players. In fact, the tenth floor raid was the one right before he had reached frontline level and began participating, "I wonder how many people had been in the first to tenth floor raids. When I started up the only people I could really recall still participating were from the Azure Brigade...at least when they were still active.

The moment between the next exchange seemed to hang in the air for an extended period as if the passage of time had slowed to a crawl at this exact moment. Calrex's focus darted to all corners of his vision for a brief moment, his dynamic sense taking in to find the potential direction of the next incoming threat. His right hand burned bright blue, igniting with the light blue energy of his Sword Art power. His finger clenched harder and harder, almost as if he was crushing a rock in his palm, his fist tightening in preparation for the time to strike.

Kumatetsu's massive left paw came down from above at a high diagonal angle, aiming to rip into the bluenette's frame from his neck down to the opposite hip. The five long nails of its claw tore through the air towards their target with powerful intent behind it. If an unarmored person were standing in the path of such an attack, their death would be assured, as it would rend a massive fatal wound across their body.

However, such a powerful attack also lacked control, as it met with air, the field boss' massive furred arm blocking it vision for a moment, which allowed the Ultramarine Knight to vanish in the opportunity. As the swipe reached halfway through the motion, Kumatetsu could see over its striking limb, witnessing the bluenette's fist crossing over already trained on its face.

The <<All Might>> right hook slammed true, crashing into the bear's cheek and sending it rolling to the ground. The field boss' frame flashed blue before breaking apart, its health dropping below zero.

"Kumatetsu...bear...iron? I guess if they were going for Iron Bear it should be opposite, but I guess the game devs were trying to be a little more unique than that. Either, let's see how it does against an iron-blooded orphan of four guilds."

Shooting out from the grass at breakneck speed Calrex's eyes locked onto the massive bear, his right hand drawn back and already glowing with the energy of his <<Martial Arts>> technique. He could feel his body being taken over by the assisted system, his Sword Art being pulled towards the creature's face. Being caught by surprise, Kumatetsu couldn't even raise a paw to retaliate before the bluenette's powerful punch made contact with its face, sending it stumbling back from the impact as its health dropped into the red from the single strike.

However, it wasn't enough to drop the bear in a single shot, its form quickly growing to nearby double the size it once was. Releasing a powerful roar the bear reared up on its hind legs, the Ultramarine Knight barely coming up to its hip. Calrex remained calm with a single breath, his right hand still clenched and ready to execute a decisive blow when the time came.

The marks left on the trees appeared to be the necessary thing to follow, as they became more and more closely packed together. What was once a single mark per every five trees or so soon narrowed to one at almost every other tree. To add to this, as Calrex continued along following the marks his eyes could occasionally glimpse a series of footprints exactly matching the shape of a bear's paw. Taking a moment he placed a hand down next to it, in order to get a general gauge of his target's size. He felt a bead of sweat form on his head for a moment, "I'm really glad I'm way overleveled for this...if this were real life I would really regret taking a request like this."

The pawprint was almost five times the size of his hand. It didn't take much imagination to determine the potential size of the bear he was about to face, and it wasn't long before it wasn't even necessary. Feet away from where he was crouching the bluenette could hear the rustle of the bushes and grass, the obvious sound patterns of a creature moving through the brush. Looking above he could see that Roc had locked onto their target, now hovering overhead so that the Ultramarine Knight could use the peregrine falcon's gaze as a way to know where Kumatetsu was.

Closing his right hand into a fist the bluenette gave a calming breath to steady his nerves, closing his eyes for a brief moment before opening them, directing his gaze in the direction of his foe, "I've got this..."

Minutes turned into nearby an hour as Calrex pressed further into the forest, trying to catch a glimpse of his target, or even something to point him in the right direction. Unfortunately, there were no signs of bear activity in his immediate area, "Still nothing. I've never actually been to the edge of this floor, but I would hope the actual area is not anywhere near that distance from the main settlement. If they decided to go that way, the game should really give some kind of mount for players to get around faster..."

Before he could take another step in the direction he was heading suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning to face the noise his eyes locked onto Roc's avian form as his familiar hovered close to his own avatar. Te bird of prey quickly turned before stopping to hover nearby a tree trunk, one he had walked past only a few moments ago. However, from the perspective he was walking from it hid the side that his companion was now directing him towards. The bark had been partially scratched, leaving five slash marks across it, from what looked to come from a rather large creature, "Huh, nice catch. Guess we are on the right track after all."

The road vanished from view behind him as Calrex made his way deeper into the forest, now being surrounded by the massive trees of the southern section of the eighth floor. The bright light of the sun became blocked by the canopy formed by the overlapping branches above, dimming the overall brightness of his surroundings. As he continued to press onward, there was still no signs of the creatures nearby, at least from what the bluenette could gather, "It is supposedly deep in the forest. I've only just left the road maybe about ten minutes ago. There's no way it'd be spawning that far away from its supposed den if it was mentioned in the quest."

Glancing upwards he could catch glimpses of Roc as the peregrine falcon swerved left and right, deftly avoiding crashing into the tree trunks, branches, and other obstacles with ease. It was certainly an impressive sight, but one that took a lesser priority than being aware of his surroundings.

Another step forward resulted in a loud crunch as a dried branch broke beneath his armored sole, resulting in a flock of birds taking off nearby that resulted in a deafening silence afterwards that hung in the air for what felt like a minute before the ambient noise level came back in. With a small sigh the bluenette resumed his pace.

After heading to the main settlement of Angel's Point on the thirteenth floor, it wasn't long before the Ultramarine Knight found himself in the teleportation plaza of Florenthia, his deep blue eyes being meet with the sights and sounds of the village made home in the few forest clearings of the eighth floor. Being here so many time before in the past, Calrex already found himself going into auto-pilot, focusing only on what was needed for the quest. Swiftly navigating through the cobblestone streets of the village, he made his way out of the safe zone and out into the zones where monsters would begin spawning.

"So this monster is supposedly deep in the forest, but has been found recently attacking NPC livestock and other travelers on the road. Going from the info, this creature shouldn't be too tough for me to take down. However, since this is a quest line, that must mean there's much tougher enemies to come. Guess this is a good way to work off the rust."

His clothing became surrounded by the deep blue armor of the Grand Chariot III, the bluenette preparing himself for the upcoming battle. Since his Grand Gauntlets III were already equipped, they expanded to encapsulate the already pre-existing forearm guards of his heavy armor. After being on the road for a small distance, he turned left and entered into the forest, "If it's deep in the woods, then I'd better start looking."

Another morning came over the thirteenth floor as Calrex slowly opened his eyes, taking in a deep breath as his vision was greeted by the warm glow of the lights within the Amethyst Boutique. Beneath the simulated warmth of the blanket covers he felt the desire to go back to sleep, but after spending so many hours resting he deemed enough time had passed. "Guess it's about time to wake up..."

Taking care not to disturb the redhead next to him the bluenette sat upright, looking out the window of Teayre's shop before moving a hand over his face to lift some of his bangs out of his face. There was a lot on his mind, most of it being the lack of things to think about. "I've really only been mostly two places for the most part. If I'm not at a boss raid, it's back here to keep Teayre company. After losing Battojutsu...I guess she really has lost the desire to keep fighting through the floors. But...I guess I can't follow suit."

Turning to let his legs fall over the side he got to his feet, swiping on his menu. His bedroom attire vanished to be replaced with his casual combat attire, the edges of his hair lifting for a moment as if air rushed upwards around him. "If I want to see her again outside of this game, there's no way I can let myself lose pace in the boss raids. If Baldur is right and there's no one else aiming to rise up in ranks, then the only options we have are to get stronger to carry more of the burden."

He softly stepped around the side of the bed to Teayre's side, a small smile on his face as he parted some of hair out of the way to give her a small peck on the cheek, "I'll be back. Get some good rest okay?"

Exiting out of the shop he closed the door behind him before taking a deep breath, "Roc...we've been passive long enough. It's time to get back to work..."

His blue peregrine falcon familiar flashed into existence above before swooping down to hover a few feet above Calrex's head, giving a small chirp of approval. A small smirk crossed his face before pulling down his inbox, seeing that the info broker he usually communicated with had sent him a ton of different quests that had been discovered. One specific quest line appeared to yield a series of statues that would grant temporary buffs, and all were seemingly similar to field bosses.

"Floor 8 huh? About time we got moving."

The bluenette couldn't help but give a laugh at Baldur's comments playfully messing with the new player Cordelia, deciding to follow along, "Knowing the situation we're in, I would highly recommend washing your hands after. I was picking up a bunch of rocks and rubble before this, and who knows what Baldur here has gotten his hands on prior."

With the portal closed Calrex turned to find the next portal, but not before he heard the other player, Shion, whisper over to him, "Wait...she said what?!"

"Oh...uh...thanks?"

 At that point she was already out of earshot, leaving the Ultramarine Knight scratching the back of his head for a moment before eyeing the next portal, "Whelp here we go one more time."

It seemed they got to this portal before any monsters had started to spawn, which left Calrex hefting the Grand Legionbane onto his shoulder in order to move it to the final portal, at least for the group. Setting the weapon down he stood at the border of the portal, "Last one...I think?"