Azide

Despite all of his efforts, his legs had still refused to budge even an inch; he sighed, and closed his eyes, thinking of daggers and the like with only the sound of his own breathing to lull him to sleep. The floor was not the most ideal place for this sort of thing, but he supposed that it would have to make due for the night. In the meantime, he figured that his training with the dagger had been going quite well- in fact, at this rate, it would only be a matter of time before he had grandmastered it. That was something to look forward to...

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+400 col

+1 SP

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+400 col

+1 SP

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+400 col

+1 SP

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+400 col

+1 SP

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+400 col

+1 SP

Seeing his chance, Azide sidestepped the incoming attack, feeling the dagger's edge drag across the surface of his coat. But as the man missed and fell forward, he did not eliminate the old fool in his moment of error- not at that very moment, at least. "It turns out, old man, that I have something I'd like to thank you for. Slaying all of those NPC's and mobs really builds up your weapon proficiency, or so I've learned." His lips curved into a closed-lip smile, as he moved his dagger into position. The dagger glowed red, signalling that this man's time had come. In the next instant, Azide rushed forward and executed the most powerful Sword Art on his list, shredding both the fallen man as well as the barrage of arrows which had been fired upon him. As the the maneuver came to an end, he turned just in time to see the last of the archers leap down onto the ground far below. From a height like this, there would be no survival for the sad bunch.

It began to rain, adding a spring to his step as he made his way over to the striped chest. He had to admit, he was curious as to what the man had desired so badly- what all of these men had been hired to protect. But as he reached out, the wooden trunk shattered, leaving nothing behind. Soon after, he heard a rumble and peered over the edge of the roof to see that even the base itself would soon cease to exist. Azide put his hands in his pockets and pulled out a small purple crystal. After rolling the item around a few times in his palm, he crushed it into a fine dust, and disappeared from the scene. As he'd spirited himself away to some far off place, the last words he'd muttered had caught in the wind.

"Grandmaster at last..."

Azide procured a thin glass vial from out of the folds of his coat. Inside, a clear liquid filled the fragile container to roughly two-thirds capacity, while a small section of cork at the end acted a stopper. He peeked his head over the top of the stairs for a brief moment, catching the guard's attention- but before the guard could even finish taking a step, both the vial and the concoction inside had been hurtled right over his shield. The man had never stood a chance as the glass shattered against his face, splashing the transparent concoction within all over his face. He watched a single drop passed the man's lips; not a second later, the man stood petrified mid-stride. No matter what he had initially believed, he had to admit: paralysis water certainly had its uses.

The man bellowed a deep laugh, before lowering the mask which had obscured its face. It had, of course, been none other than his client- the mustachioed old man that been rather shady from the very start. "Thank you for taking care of all the dirty work for me, young man. An old-timer like me? This old bag of bones just isn't as quick as he used to be. You've done very well, my boy," said the man. "As for this?" He gestured to the striped chest, before adding, "I'm afraid that I'll be taking it to go." A volley of arrows shot out from behind the two intruders, but not a single one could find its target. "After I take care of some unfinished business," the man said, pointing a dagger at the player in green. In an explosive burst of movement, the man catapulted himself forward and lunged at the player, missing his deadly jab by the only the slightest of margins.

Finally, as he turned the corner (in a manner of speaking, as the stairs had been arranged in a circular spiral), he could see the very last set of steps leading into a short hallway. At the end, he could spy a lone man, armed with a sword and shield. Behind this man, he could faintly make out the shape of a door. With no windows or any points of reference, it was hard to say for certain, but he thought it quite likely that the man must have been guarding the doorway to the windowed room. He'd prepared himself for this possibility, however, with the foresight to guess that the sniper would have his back protected.

Azide gave a shake of his head as Takao elaborated on the character and merits of this Tristan Delaney fellow. "The guy just stands there?" he nearly spat. Just the very idea of watching a duel where one of the participants simply sat around doing nothing sounded absolutely disgusting. Dueling was supposed to be an intimate thing, with both players contributing equally to the act until the explosive conclusion. But one person just standing there and taking it? There was no way that could be satisfying to either party. "He sounds like an absolute tool, if you ask me." 

Soon after his own Sword Art had been executed to completion, Takao had raced in and finished up with an Art of his own. He noticed the quickly fading blue which had surrounded the swordsman's blade; it was certainly a nice change of pace compared to the more standard red. Perhaps he would ask if the variation was of the young man's own doing- green seemed a fitting alternative, if he could manage it.

The sound of barking snapped him out of his daze, and he turned to see another pair of hounds charging straight at them from behind. Once again, he raised his dagger, letting the red glow surround the blade. Again, he unleashed another Round Accel, grinning as the two mad beasts were knocked over momentarily.

Then, of course, they mauled him like a sucker. As he clawed his way to safety, he found himself no longer wearing a grin.

» ID : [[ 33624 ]]
» BD : [[ 4 + (3 ACC) = 7 (Hit) ]]

» MD : [[ 9 (Crit +1) ]]

» CD : [[ 4 (-1 HP) ]]

« Azide »
[[ 50/110 HP (-59)]] [[ 27(DMG) + 1 (DMG) + 27 (DMG) + 1 (DMG) + 1 (Environmental DMG) = -59 ]] 
[[ 18/25 Energy ]] Round Accel. (-4 Energy)

« Hellhound 5 »
[[ 16/30 HP ]] [[ 7(DMG) * (2*1) = -14 ]]
« Hellhound 6 »
[[ 16/30 HP ]] [[ 7(DMG) * (2*1) = -14 ]]

But before he could draw up a plan of action, another figure emerged from the hatch behind him. Azide lifted his head, dumbfounded as a large shadow leapt past him overhead, before darting over to the red chest. "I'm going to have to ask you to put stop right there," called Azide, glaring at the shadowy figure. For one reason or another, the shadow had ceased its movements, and he could now see that it was a man dressed entirely in black. And not just any man- this man looked strong, as if his body were very finely sculpted. This observation only made him narrow his eyes further as he stepped forward. Raising a brow, he remarked, "Ever heard of finders keepers?"

When the latter guard had disappeared from his sights, Azide allowed the branches to return to their natural position. Now completely out of sight, Azide made his way through the undergrowth in silence, and emerged into the clearing undetected. Not long after that, he had appeared behind the sole remaining guard, and dispatched of the man with two quick slashes across the back. He was no murderer, but he did not have any qualms with downing a measly NPC. From there, he picked up the set of keys which had dropped from the shattered guard, and proceeded to enter with little complication. As he walked up the seemingly endless winding stairway, he conjectured wordlessly that the rest of the absent guards would have likely been stationed where he was currently traveling.

There he was, standing on the rooftop with nothing but a small dagger in one hand and nothing in the other. As he'd emerged, he had not been surprised to have received a very sharp and projectile-laden welcome. Thinking quick, Azide repelled the threatening volley with another round of Round Accel, knocking the arrows and bolts from out of the air. As the wispy tempests faded away, his eyes widened as he spotted a chest perched atop a stone pedestal roughly half-way between himself and the archers. A single band of red ran down its center.

The response had been roughly as he'd expected- he swore that he'd spotted a glimpse of a shadow poke over the edge of the open window, but it had been nothing definitive. As far as the ground game had went, the two guards had looked at each other and argued for a while before nodding quite vigorously, as if shaken by the whole ordeal. Shortly after, the pair had split up- with one remaining by the entryway while the other slowly made his way towards the source of the noise. It was the practical option, really, to hedge one's bets when faced with a shortage of manpower. But in reality, they had effectively halved the defending force.

After narrowly avoiding volley after volley of arrows, along with a very generous amount of sharp blades of all makes and models, he had finally made it. Azide placed his hand on the knob of the final door and gave it a turn. As the heavy door creaked open, he was somewhat surprised to see a staircase on the other side. With a shrug, he made his way up, wondering what this had all been about. By the time he reached the end and saw a hatch, he could make a guess about where this was going to take him. "God, not those damn archers again..."

"I'm willing to bet that there'll be at least one or two more stationed at the top," thought Azide, his eyes narrowing as they focused on the lone window carved into the highest point of the stone structure. Putting two and two together, he took it as a near fact that he would find a sniper of some sort waiting for him in that very room. He shook his head at the careless of these goons- surely it would only be too easy, with their manpower looking to be effectively halved from what had been described to him. Taking a hefty stone in hand, he searched the vicinity for an optimal target before tossing it across the small glade and into the forest behind the the tower.

As he'd discovered before, it appeared as if security and manpower had again been ramped up- although by now, it seemed to have been taken to cartoonish levels. All around, columns of armed guards marched back and forth in pre-arranged paths, while entire lines of archers stood openly atop the flat roof of the building. Taking a deep breath, Azide unsheathed his dagger, and raced out to greet his hosts a warm welcome. For all of the energy he was spending on this mission, he could only hope that the old man had not been full of you-know-what.

If anything, he supposed he could be thankful that the man had actually told him where to find this item; with all things considered, he'd been half expecting to be sent on some sort of aimless treasure hunt. So at least there was that. He sighed, but quickly covered his mouth after realizing that the first of several checkpoints was nearly upon him. Azide gently nudged the brambles apart and peered through the dense greenery. Lying on the other side of the underbrush, a camouflaged outpost of sorts stood ready and armed. The size of the base would have suggested a fortification manned by at least half a dozen people at the very least, but instead he could only spot a measly two positioned outside the base of the tower.

He'd thought that the previous two bases had been isolated and obscure, only to find that the third was hidden even more elaborately than the other two combined. By the time the outpost had come into view, night time had nearly been upon him. "Looks like I got here just in time," he thought, glancing above to catch a glimpse of the fading light. Surely any later and he would've been stuck in the middle of nowhere, unable to find very much of anything in the dense woodlands.

And so there he was- sneaking about in the jungles of the sixth floor, looking for an object described simply as 'a chest, recognizable by a single red stripe, running vertically across both the lid and the body'. Apparently, the man had not thought it important to mention what the chest actually held, nor did he seem to acknowledge the question when Azide had asked him just that shortly after. Thus, he was left to assume that the chest must have contained something exceedingly valuable, such as a large sum of col or even a rare item.

Once the goons had been taken care of, gaining access to the outpost's chest had been an almost trivial task. After clearing out a poor man's army worth of troops, taking care of a few more inside of the maze-like warehouse had seemed almost laughable. In fact, navigating the maze had likely taken longer than anything else. But by dragging his the tip of his dagger against the right wall as he walked, he'd eventually been able to find his way to what could only be the center of the labyrinth. Inside, there had been yet another set of coordinates, along with a crude illustration of the labyrinth's solution depicted on the back. After plotting his next, and hopefully final location, Azide exited the maze.

He recalled the offer this man had proposed to him; the man had proposed that if he, Azide, were to undertake a simple mission, then he would assist the player in achieving the rank of grandmaster in a most timely manner. When Azide had pressed the man for details, he had been slightly annoyed upon failing to receive clarification on just how the man planned to do this. The man had not revealed his secrets, but instead had simply told him that he would be awarded for his faith and patience. That all would be made known, in due time. He remembered the way the man's grey mustache had twitched when he had begrudgingly accepted, and remembered even more clearly the wrinkled creases which had formed at the corners of the man's lips as he'd smiled.

Mirroring Ariel's actions, Azide summoned a panel representing his current inventory and removed his characteristic green coat. After a few taps, another coat reappeared over his white undershirt, looking very much like the one that had come before it. In fact, the two were visually identical- the only difference was a slight modification in the armor's enhancements. "While I do happen to carry a worthwhile supply of health crystals, I don't know if you guys want to be testing my stinginess in the heat of battle," he said, sliding Chemikaze from its leather sheath. As his fingers clasped around the cold steel, he was especially appreciative of the knife's definite feeling of quality- he enjoyed the weightiness as he held it in his hands. The thought of switching back to an un-enhanced anything made him shudder.

"Anyway, let me at the Guardian. I'm just dying to test this thing out," he remarked, flashing the newly minted dagger. "Albeit, hopefully not in the more literal sense."

Again, he activated Round Accel and cleared the crowd around him, before deciding to pick off the stragglers. With a sidelong glance, he spotted one man making a desperate run in the direction of the jungle. Moments later, that man lay dead against the ground, his fingers unable to continue gripping the sword in between them. He shattered, just like the rest of them, cursing the player who had appeared here today. Green blurs streaked across the hidden meadow for several moments longer, stopping only when the clearing had become gravely silent and still.