Hirru

The hunter sighed in relief as his stats went back to the way they were supposed to for a time.  It wasn't a really hard battle, even with Hirru's stats lowered, the boss did nothing to him.  It was just the healing factor that really freaked the hunter out.  It that thing could actually break into him, or cause their hate to fall out of touch with each other, they may have had an issue then.  Though, the hunter was really glad to see that his newest hunting partner could go with the flow, especially with his choice in weaponry.  Baldur would definitely be keen to look into this one's arts.  Looking upon the item that they just got, the rumors seemed to be true.  A shield based buff that can protect entire parties worth of a fair chunk of damage.  Couple that with a competent tank or support that can see the signs of an AOE, and the entire raid becomes trivial.

"Hey, let's rest up a bit.  We gotta find another one before the end of the day.  Two of these things is great, but two for each of us will be a great tipping point on the front."

Hirru says while pulling out a little glass spectacle.  He was told that if he looked through this item, any creatures spawn limit would be reset.  Though, while the hunter looked through it, it seemed that the desired effect would not come to pass.  They would probably have to wait a bit.

EN regen 1/3

Spyglass used - Field boss encounter 15 posts -> 10 posts

Hirru was slightly surprised by the sudden inclusion of weird phenomenon appearing on all the floors.  First of all was the appearance of the golden leaves that seemed to duplicate specific looted items.  The hunter had found four demonic shards, from his venture with Freyd.  It wasn't something that normally happens as the whisper had said.  Frankly, the hunter would be glad to go around and hunt a bit more, but he was tired from working around each floor and talking to people about the current state of things in Aincrad.  He was going to go to Baldur's and sleep in his room, but the intrigue of discovery was still in his mind.  He wanted to know where these golden leaves were coming from, and he had only one lead.  A skeleton that liked to joke around.

The hunter had only known of skeletons and other ghouls to appear on the tenth floor; a dark and depressing place that housed a large assortment of undead.  Though, the only city of Yomi was slightly better than the rest.  It was slightly lit up around the area with small lanterns, but they were all cold and gave no warmth.  The light was the only thing that was positive about them.  The residents being nothing more than the shadows of the past, as they did not exist anymore.  At least, that's what the hunter remembered.

The Yomi that he saw as he teleported in, was slightly more vibrant.  Candlelight, which shone much more brightly and warmly, scattered throughout the floor.  The silent nature of the floor seemed to be filled by a slight humming and sounds of whispered tones, all of which seemed to get louder as one would reach the inner city.  In the center of town, near a great blossom tree, whose leaves seemed to brown and redden with some change, one could see the square seem to liven up.  On closer inspection, it seemed that the leaves were slowly falling off of the tree periodically, piling up in some areas..  It was then that the hunter understood what was going on.  Players and NPCs alike have talked about this and he had experienced it before too.  The season known as Autumn.

"Hey, mister!"

The voice of a child cut through the visage, as the hunter looked down to see an incredibly disturbing sight.  The face seemed to be a rather distorted smile, one of malice and bloodlust, with crimson eyes that peered deep into ones soul.  Knife at the ready to take another life.  Hirru shook his head, while rubbing his eyes. 

"Saw you over there, and wondered if you could help us out."

With a second look, that image was no longer there.  Instead, the smile of a jubilant child appeared before him, rosy cheeks and all.  The child seemed to be wearing a green shirt with a yellow stripe through the middle.  A locket in the shape of a heart draped around their neck, and a knife in their other hand.  Hirru couldn't tell if the knife was real, but kept it close in his mind to be wary of it.  The child seemed to understand when the hunter's eyes were upon the object.

"Oh, this?  I was carving pumpkins with my partner over there."

They pointed over to a smaller child, whom seemed to dress the same as the older one, except their colors were of blue and violet.  The little one seemed to be sleeping, or they were, until Hirru's attention was brought to them.  Suddenly, the child jumped down from their little perch and walked over to the Jade Hunter.  Reaching out, the little one motioned out in a grabbing fashion.

"Sorry, he thinks you have a few pumpkin seeds on you.  They're quite good, if you cook them up."

The older one stops themselves, as the little one stops gesturing and goes around picking up little seeds here and there.

"My name is Oni, and that one is Kuni.  We're setting up a little festival here, but it didn't go so well.  No one wants to listen to kids, so we're just carving pumpkins and asking travelers for help.  Which is what I wanted to talk to you about.  Though, before that.."

His smile came back up while he was talking before Hirru noticed, it seemed to leak that same bloodlust from before.

"YoU hAvE a TAG On YoU..!"

"Huh"

Finally speaking for once in this entire conversation, the hunter would watch as the smile grew more as the boy pointed to Hirru's armored left hand, using the very knife in his hand.

"There's a tag there, on your hand.  It denotes those that have were able to touch a certain 'friend' of ours."

Hirru couldn't see anything, and wondered how the hell some kid could see anything on his armored hand.  Hiding the gauntlet from view, the hunter was quite worried at the sight of his hand.  Upon the back of his hand was an odd symbol, a blue heart with a single red slash through it.  When did this come up?  The hunter was trying to remember, but Oni seemed to answer him.  A certain friend?  That was when the hunter remembered the lead that brought him there.  On the way back from that island, Freyd and Hirru met up with * that guy again.  Jokes aside, they were on a monster slaying venture, and that guy did tempt them.  They both tried to grab him, but the hunter was the only one to lay a finger on the guy.  Was this the reason why he had this heart on him?

"To think that you would beat up a guy that you don't know.  You're pretty awful, you know."

"Listen, Oni was it?  I don't think making fun of someone that you're asking for help would be good for you."

Oni seemed to shrug at this as the cheeky smile never left his face.

"Sorry, don't usually see people like you around.  Though, you're certainly helping me out.  I was gonna ask you to tag that guy some more, if you ever see them.  Though, I do have something else you can help with.  Hey Kuni, can you bring over the little guy!"

Calling over to his little friend, Kuni, whom was just getting back to their little bowl shaped like a pumpkin.  They deposited some small seeds into it before turning to pick up a little flower pot.  In the pot, a singular flower could be seen.  The blue petals seemed to be wilting, although the stalk and leaves around the plant were vibrant and green.  An oddity on this floor, but so was everything in this square.  The little Kuni ran over to Hirru and gave the pot to Oni, before going back over to his bowl and sitting back down to possibly nap, once more.  Oni held the plant up, his expression this time of worry.

"Our dad wanted to grow this little guy, but it didn't seem to take on quite well.  It seems to be blue, well in more ways than just color.  Could you help cheer it up?"

An odd request came from the boy, and the hunter was not too sure how to handle that.

"You.. want me to talk to the flower?"

"Uh.. yeah.  Dad would do it all the time to flowers and plants, and they would grow up fairly nicely on that alone, sometimes."

"I think he's doing more than just talking to them."

"Hey, I'm not a stupid kid!  I know that they need food and water too."

The hunter was going to add sunlight to the list too, but remembered where he was.  Sunlight never appeared on the fully enclosed tenth floor, which is why everything was so gloomy.  Nothing on this floor was alive enough, except for some flora that could survive underground, and some creatures that were more spooky than dangerous.  Which brought the question around for Hirru; where did these kids come from?

Hirru took the potted plant from Oni and sighed.  He guessed he would have to talk to it.

"Just walk around town and talk to it.  You can talk about the town itself, the scenery and the people here.  You could talk about things you've seen, or people you got to know on your travels.  You're a traveler!  You must have thousands of stories from your life before."

Oni was right.  Hirru had stories from plenty of adventures, especially from his time in the Knights and before..

"Okay, I guess I'll give this a try."

The hunter would say before looking upon the two kids as Oni went back to Kuni, whom had produced a rather large leather wrapping from which a few interesting things could be seen.  He would have to return shortly to discuss what that was all about.

Prompt 1.)  Setting the Scene

Walking along the streets of Yomi, the hunter would begin to speak in his normal tone of voice.  He really didn't understand the nature of it all, or if this was really the right way.  He only kept the flower pot under arm, as he held it tight, being sure not to drop the tiny blue thing.

"Let's see if I got this right..  So, the home in which you grow, otherwise known as Yomi.  A desolate little town with little to no life to be found anywhere, except the lovely tree behind us and yourself, of course.  Though, I do want to think that the kids could be counted towards lives that count towards any living community here, but.."

The hunter remembered the face that the child, Oni made when he first saw him.  It made him cringe over the thought of whatever that child could really be.

"..I don't think they're part of the living anymore.  The children that protect you and give you life are still at the tree at this time, probably peddling wares using the seeds as currency.  I would rather not deal with the other one.  Too much to deal with there."

As Hirru crept along, the streets began to die down in excitement, and return to their dreary selves.

"So it seems the boys haven't had their influence spread very far in this town.  The merriment and festivities are all being held in the center of town, but these outlying homes are all back to their deserted homes and ghostly moans.  No, wonder you don't want to grow here.  There isn't anything that can easily live down here." 

Prompt 2.) A Symbolic Waypoint

"Although, this reminds me of another place that had barely any life in it too.  Except, this place was briming with light, but not so much any water.  You'd be lucky to find the occasional tree there, but where there was a few there would be water.  They were oasis and everywhere else was a vast and giant desert, or as we know it, the fifth floor."

Hirru could not figure how much time he had truly spent on that floor, as it was the easiest to traverse after the survival skill was obtained.  Not only that, but the hunter had the time of his life finding and besting the ruins and dungeons that spawned there.  It was how he got so good at finding things, as you needed to have a quick eye to see through the shifting sands.

"Personally, though.  I can't say that it had anything in particular that was interesting within it.  The ruins always changed and shifted with the sands.  The only things were these pillars that showed where safe areas were place.  Though, if I could choose another floor, I would say the sea turtle on the twenty fourth floor was quite the sight."

Prompt 3.) A Villain Most Foul

The thought of that day made him feel that it must be really weird now to not only be talking to a flower, but one that is part of the game itself.  It was only a few hours before seeing that sea turtle, and finding that it was part of a dungeon, that Hirru had to tell Baldur, Shield, and Beat about the lack of knowledge that he had on the outside world.  About his amnesia, that was the reason he had wanted to keep the boy, Durares alive.

"Did I really want them to live though?  I thought that I wanted to get the fight done earlier, but.."

He couldn't help to bring back all of the weird and odd things that he started to talk about while addressing different people's concerns.  He felt absolute disgust with himself.

"How could I have done something so stupid, for something that was probably wasn't going to work out anyway."

Hirru looked down at the flower and growled out.

"So, little flower, let me tell you something.  There was once a big dumb idiot of a Vice Commander, that thought that everything could be worked around, with a little forethought.  Trying to do things that he didn't really have too much knowledge on.  Well, this guy also believed that these people, monsters, and hell even you were real.  Dumbass, really.  That guy tried to stop an entire fucking front line raid team from killing a boss that looked like a child.  Can you believe that?!"

Hirru started laughing to himself aloud.  The laughing seemed to echo out into the dead streets, as he continued to walk among them.

"I do truly hate that guy sometimes.  He really fucked everything up for quite a few of us.  However, you know what the big problem is?  I can't do anything about him.  Why?  He's me!  I've been changing myself so god damn much.  Learning so much, but why does it feel like everything I do is meaningless?  The past that I created, the present that we are in.  I made that happen, so why am I still talking to a piece of data?"

He felt ready to just drop the pot and let it be smashed, but the lul of the little blue petals seemed to stop him.  Even if it was just data, made to look like a wilting flower, it still seemed to have some presence.  Especially from the petals that seemed to actually perk up a bit.

"Do you like that way of speaking, huh?  Okay, we'll go with that then."

Prompt 4.) An Attraction that Hurts

The hunter kept walking among the rundown streets.  It seemed eerily quiet, but the lights from a couple buildings over gave a life to the dead town.  Every so often, he would think that he could see a face in a window every so often, but the minute he looked, the figure would be gone.

"You know.  I miss all of my friends.  Everyone that I used to mess around with.  From the first one that I truly had a good time with, Xion, to Mack, and his charismatic ways.  Opal, Teayre, and Lowenthal, the ones that showed that me that not all orange players were bad people, and that there were some dangerous jade players.  Baldur for being there when I needed the support.  Mac, for being a brother when our guild was falling apart because of a leaderless duo couldn't do anything else.  Teion and Hestia for believing in me, even after the disaster of the 23rd.  Freyd, although a new friend, has shown me that being easy going can be more fun that being uptight and burdened.  Takao for giving me the inspiration to become a hunter, and to carry on."

Tears started to fill his eyes, some of which fell upon the flower's blue petals.

"There are so many more out there, like Lindow.  So many that I can't go and talk to anymore.  They're not here with us, anymore.  I want to talk with some of them.  Let them know how I messed things up.  How I miss them."

He fell to his knees as he cried aloud.  The cries seemed to resonate with the dark and dreary street, and even more so the denizens.  There were shadows in the windows once more, and a few that seemed to peer around open doors.

Prompt 5.) A Wish 

A bit of time would pass as Hirru wept his eyes out.  There was no one else around, as least nothing that was pinging his search skill, so he had no real reason to keep anything on himself.  He was talking to a flower.  The flower probably liked the water, even if it was salty, and just data.  The hunter proceeded to wipe his tears away.

"Now isn't the time.  I've lost so many and so much, but I can't let that get me down.  I've already tried to look into the past.  I've tried looking into my memories, especially the ones that I can't even remember.  I just wanted something, anything to come back.  Trying to find that one quest that tells you about something going on within your 'hearts deepest desires'.  It must have some way to show my my past, but.."

He got up from his crouched position.  The streets were as lifeless as ever, not a shadow in sight.

"..I don't want another episode to happen.  I don't wish for that to ever happen again.  I do hope to get back together with everyone in the front, but I doubt that will happen easily.."

Hirru yawned a little while he was speaking.  How long had he been walking around?

"I think it's about time to bring you back to your children."

Prompt 6.) Thank you!

He walked sluggishly back to the center of the town.  It seemed that the festivities were closing down now.  Oni was picking up a few of the pumpkins and putting them in a little cart, while Kuni was continuing to peddle weird little things on his little carpet.  Hirru would look at his wares, and thought about if he wanted any of it.  He yawned even harder, nearly letting go of the plant by accident, which seemed to worry both Kuni and Oni.  The older one was quick to check on him.

"Are you alright?  We haven't seen you in a while."

"Thank you, I'm fine.  Although, I am quite thankful for the time that you gave me with that little guy.  I was able to get quite a bit off my chest back there."

"I'm sure you talked it's ear off.  Was there anything else you wanted to add?  We're about to head home soon."

"Oh sure."

Hirru sat down on the ground with his back against the stone ledge that surrounded the Great Tree.  He gave one last look at the flower.  It's blue petals were quite a bit more vibrant, he thought.  Though, his eyes were starting to blur more from exhaustion too.  It could be the trick of the light, but were there always so many shades around the area?  He couldn't tell anymore.

"Hey, little guy.  Be good to your family and grow nice and strong now.  Be thankful that their father takes.. so much care in you.  As I am thankful for all of the friends.. that I do still have, and all the ones that I will make in.. the future.  The loved ones that I hope to see and remember..."

His eyes start to feel heavy, and they start to droop, even through his fighting over it.  It doesn't take very long.

"..I'm thankful.. for those that I can't remember too..  Cause I know that.. I have someone out there..  that I... care.. for.. but don't... remem.."

With that, he was fast asleep.  Kuni walked to Hirru and picked up the flower from the sleeping man, before giving him a little hug.  Oni would call him back to help with final preparations.

Conclusion

Oni walked back around the cart after loading everything back into the cart, and waited for their sibling to finish what he was doing.  Kuni was hovering over the sleeping body of the hunter, holding a sheet in place before gently placing it upon him.  The little one didn't want the man to get cold, as the candles had been put out.  Oni only shook their head.

"Come on, Kuni.  Mother and Father are waiting."

The young one nodded before helping himself up on the cart.  Oni grabbed the handles of the cart and started to pull.  There wasn't much to pull, but damn was it still heavy.  Why couldn't his father buy a mule.  They would struggle along, when the young Kuni looked back after setting on his little seat.  He would see the green haired hunter, surrounded by shadows.  Nine in total.  They all seem to be sitting with him, and just looked towards him, as if in longing.

Kuni looked on in a pondering look before Oni spoke one more.

"Shades have a longing for those that they knew in the afterlife, Kuni.  I'm sure those guys that were following him the entire time, were people that he knew quite well."

As they kept going, the cart with Oni and Kuni on it seemed to slowly disappear, as if it was never there to begin with.

Stats:

 

It seemed that Hirru wasn't the only one that seemed to have an issue with someone crashing a party, though this came from the one that Hirru didn't know much about.  He was reminded that there was much more activity around the other players than he would ever know.  He kept breathing slowly and deeply to alleviate any more of his anger that he wanted to subside.

Suddenly, Zandra's bird squaked and it threw his concentration off.  She was right, but they still didn't have everything together.  He was getting calmer, but there was still much in his mind.  All of it getting worse as Freyd and Baldur took the stand.  Freyd didn't much care for all of this gossip and seemed to already have what he needed.  Hirru would have followed suit, if he had not suggested that the hunter take his considerations of issues within the dojo itself. 

It dawned on Hirru then.  Something he long forgotten, but he was sure one other person in this room would remember.  A certain boisterous fellow with burning red hair and beard that loved to get into fights, but was always there to pick you back up after beating the shit out of you.  Hirru remembered that was the way he would settle disputes.  Let ones fists talk, and afterwards talks things out like proper people should, as aggressions are mostly taken care of.

Hirru didn't think that would work too well for him, as one of them would just murder him.

He sighed as Baldur went on a speech about the current situations they were having, as the situation between having very little information to go on except will the cannons be friend or foe, seemed to be the only thing people could talk about.  Both of them were right, and Hirru was wasting his time too.  There was much to do and grind out for everyone to get the proper buffs.

Hirru was instantly reminded of something.  He had prepared before hand, as the one that asked for the scouting party to assemble, so he had a few feasts prepared.  One such feast was combined into something that he had noticed Freyd using quite a bit.  A Gungnir shard, an item that could replicate any consumable placed into it near infinitely.  He had recently got his own and found that it has a recharge time, but does still replicate the consumable placed within after the timeframe.  A remarkable thing.

"I can field the damage potions and accuracy, mitigation and luck for my team, through feasts I acquisitioned before I called the scouting party.  Mind you, they're not the greatest tasting.  I'm not resourceful enough to get everyone a feast, as I am not that kind of crafter.  However, there is something that can help us."

Hirru pulled out his gungnir shard, which he immediately tapped.  It would unfurl, like a flower's petals opening for the first time, to reveal a platter of cooked fish.  It would look quite salty.

"There is this item called a Gungnir shard, that can replicate any consumable fused within itself near infinitely.  It seems to have a limit though.  It can't be used in combat, and can't be used consecutively, meaning it takes time to recharge itself.  My mitigation feast is currently housed within, so I can call upon its usage as a feast for a whole team, before it must recharge itself.  It would be prevalent to use feasts, but anyone can put whatever they prefer."

After a bit of talking, the platter would begin to deteriorate, as if its durability was heavily burning out, before the shard folded itself back together, and a little timer would appear on it. 

"I speak of this, so that everyone knows about them, can be on the look out for them, and have the possibility to have entire teams already buffed, without having to wait too long for crafters to keep up with us."

He nodded the last part to Zandra, whom he remembered had to work around the clock some times, to get potions out for entire raid teams.  Thankfully, the hunter had seen some promising players that out there that could help with consumable creations in both potions and food/feasts.  They would need quite a few to get this ball rolling, but if every person in a team could field one gungnir of every cook buff, they would be able to rush bosses in no time.

A message would come to him shortly after.  It was from NIGHT.  It was something about talking to Hidden.  Hirru sighed.  He was going to do that anyway, if she had an issue with him, that was.  What Hidden did was all due to Hirru being the dumbest person alive.  He didn't know that the child was not real, nor did he care at the time.  Though now, the hunter could tell after talking about the situation with Baldur, Shield, Beat, Hestia, and Freyd was that:  Hidden's actions were justifiable.  Hirru was essentially a small fence that needed to be pushed out of the way; Hidden just decided to cut the fence instead.  Hirru was fine with that.  What he wasn't fine with was sudden interruptions that were always cause by orange players.  Dear god, why did Opal do that so much!?

He would try to get Ariel's attention a bit.  Although, they seemed to be having issues of her own.  He had watched NIGHT with the attendant that refilled their cup a couple times, and figured that he would try the tea.  By this time, it was already cold, so the taste wasn't too great to the hunter, especially since he didn't have tea too often.  Preferred the darker stuff.  However, he would drink it all, and as he sat it back down, the attendant would be by his side.  Without motioning much, he would hold his hand over his cup.

"Please let our host know that I wish to use this dojo for a bit after the meeting, for the 'talk' I expressed earlier."

"What do we have here?  A bunch of thieves, ay?  Eh?  Well you can shove off!  This is our treasure!"

"Yeah, and we'll protect it from you lot.  We won't let you have our treasure!"

The two of them would call out to Ariel when they failed their first attempt at seizing a proper attack through, due to the terrain around herself and the prospectors.  This would also be slightly difficult for the hunter too, as Shelob was still the size of a bastard sword, and wasn't great to use in confined spaces.  Though that wouldn't stop the hunter from using a simple alternative.  Hirru was still well versed in one handed variants of sword arts from the straight sword vein, but those arts would make his swings that much wider.  He would have to grab the middle of his sword to do anything productive.  For some reason, the hunter thought that this would be something he could do.

Pushing forward into the view of the two, the hunter would rush towards them until he was close enough.  The usual three hit would be too wide, but the shorter range with the grip being in the middle may keep some control.  However, the loose terrain and cramped quarters seemed to get to the hunter as well.  He would slip too and fall beside Ariel upon his back.  The looked up in slight embarrassment and surprise.  Hirru had not had this much of a blunder in a long while, that it seemed funny that it happened to both him and Ariel.  It just about got him to chuckle aloud.

"Freyd!  It's a little trippy around here."

 

Hirru was starting to learn the patterns that this giant tree being would take.  First it would slam, then it would slam while healing itself.  This was the only pattern he could really see, as this next attack would bring the roots out of the ground to stop the healing process.  A foolish endeavor, as the hunter was faster to respond to its advances, and act accordingly.  The last hit would go to Koga, but the hunter didn't mind.  They were not fighting on the front yet, and there wasn't much need nor a care for the last hit loot from the floor bosses, as players could create their own boss weapons.  Hirru would sigh while slowing his thought processes, allowing the world to blend in.  To Koga, it looked like the hunter was using a katana based technique with a bastard sword, a completely odd and silly thing.

Soon, though, the art would be registered in the network, and the sword would glow.  Hirru would run to the left side of the treant, where it would be much harder to hit him from, and let loose with a two hit wide arcing strikes that would form a cross.  As the hunter did so, he would notice the armored bark around the treant starting to heal.  The shatter effect was losing it strength as the field boss tried to grab for him, but failed as Hirru jumped around a bit.  He wasn't fast, but it was enough to not be crushed.

"Take it out, Koga!"

 

"That is very true.  There is quite a bit that I still need to wrap my head around, I guess."

The hunter groaned as he felt the fatigue of overusing ones energy reserves as well as the constant strain to ones brain.  What was it that Shield talked about?  Everyone feeling fatigue from the exertion on their minds through the NerveGear?  Hirru was still having trouble coping with that knowledge.  A helmet that could control ones body in another world was still like a fairy tale to him, but it made far too much sense why all the players were the way they were, and none of the NPCs every felt the need to join them on the front.  Though, wasn't there a report of one on the twenty fifth floor boss?  The thought hurt the hunter..

"My contributions will grow once I work more on this build, as it were.  Higher chances to paralyze may not work on the boss, but I can work something else in that may tip the balance."

With that, the hunter felt the ping of the burst art being unlocked for him, and burst forward into the creatures awaiting grasp.  Rolling just under its attack, Hirru attacked the underside of the snakes neck area with a flurry of stabs and arcing slashes before ending in a wide slash.  The sea serpent writhed around frantically, but the beast was starting to slow down.  It looked lethargic, as there was only a small blip of a health bar left.

"It's almost done!  End the bloody thing!"

 

As stern as ever, which made the hunter that more eager to work through this.  He preferred the old Mac that he could joke around with and perform funny combination attacks with, but the hunter understood that those days were gone.  If that day were to ever come, it would be a long and rough journey that would test the hunter at every given point.  He was willing to do all of that, because it was all his fault that it happened to begin with.  It was his responsibility to take the burden now.

While waiting for Mac to reach him, the hunter would have observed the towns people and merchants around the area.  Not many really gave much information, but there were some people that he had not seen during their initial search.  These people were in heavily tattered rags, and seemed to be treated like trash.  He heard them being called Galtean.  It seemed that these guys were from another country entirely, from what people seemed to gossip over while one was beaten by a few guards.  Those thoughts with what NIGHT talked about during the meeting seemed to bring up how the Ladonians have unusual technology.  Hirru seemed to slightly understand that this meant that there were things that he wouldn't understand, and would require someone else to help interpret.  He wished he could bring Baldur, but he had to work with Mac on something, anything.

"I'll need your help with something near the slums, near where we found the labyrinth.  There is a corridor that leads out to another area.  I'm mostly going off of the information that NIGHT provided to us, and what to look out for.  Technology that surpasses our expectations.  The people around here are heavily tight lipped.  It seems this Inquisition that those children were afraid of, if you remember, is a very prevalent thing.  Those that speak about it will earn their eyes upon you.  So, we're going to work with these Galtean refuges, or slaves.  Whatever the word was, but we will probably have to work around some corrupt individuals and Galtean's that don't want to talk."

He mostly gave a small detail about it, but wanted that to serve a purpose.  These inquisitors were certainly going to find them, if the towns people were right on this.  However, that was his secondary goal, his first was to investigate these Galtean.  If they were refuges, then there may be information that they could provide.

"Frankly, we're going to stir up trouble, but it won't work with only myself.  Are you in?  If not this, then I'm sure we can call a few friends and handle the boss, for a little bit of information."

A little cheeky grin would pop up at the last part, but it faded just as quickly.  Now wasn't the time to be chummy.

Hirru could only smile while watching the insane antics of his partner, and could only wish that he too could perform with that resolve.  If at all a fleeting thing, Hirru could admire when Freyd let loose a bit.  There was much that the hunter still didn't know.  In fact, there were far too little things that the Hirru knew about Freyd, than vice versa.  The wanderer seemed to glide wherever he walked, without much care, but was sharp to details and ready to take action on the slightest impulse.  One could tell that his guard was never down, but when it was, it was only for that slight detail to come into his area of control.  There he was in control.

"You sure about that?"

He called back before rolling towards the giant serpent and under one of its coils.  It was stunned, but not paralyzed.  It could still thrash around, and the danger would allow the hunter to get some thrill out of it.  Using the first part of his art, Shelob would pull forward into a high arc.  While the blade dug in, the hunter stalled the art in a way for the fangs to hook in and launch him higher upon the creature.  This allowed the hunter to climb atop the serpent while dealing a second deeper strike while running along the length.  A finally burst of light shining through Shelob would direct the last hit towards the head of the effects of paralysis and venom were started to seep in from the other two hits, the serpent started to act rigged as the last hit shredded a large gash into the back of its head.

Using the hooks to glide down the snake without much harm, the hunter would sigh.

"It isn't much, but it's a decent attempt."

 

Hirru was quite astonished by the sudden turn of events.  With all of the information and gossip floating around, the hunter had still not entered into any of the conversation, and yet it seemed like everyone had heard him out while creating the teams in his head!  How?  He looked upon his hands as he sat, only now noticing the tea and the sweets upon the little table in front of him.  How long had they been there?, he wondered.  He was starting to get anxious when Calrex pointed out what he was thinking, and then Freyd fronting an entire team through his guild.  Hirru had completely forgotten about that.  How many guilds were out there now that could send out an entire army?  Most were only small groups of people, that he could remember.

The newest one had something right.  The cannons were not there for them.  This was something else, however, that would be a moot point.  They had no information about anything on this floor, except what NIGHT speculated.  Technology that is advanced enough to have flying ships, and highly irregular floor format.  Advanced..

There was too much information to not go on.  NIGHT had another idea that piqued the hunter's interests.  A scouting raid.  A group of players that could work out the kinks of the boss before the actual raid team would fight it.  It kind of made sense, but if the team could work out the kinks, wouldn't they just kill the boss instead of wasting all our time?  The hunter seemed to be muddling with that much while Baldur was pulling him into his team.  It snapped the hunter out of his thinking bubble as the intelligence was no longer an issue at this point.  Intelligence..

'I guess I don't have much of a choice, huh.', he thought

It was then that someone that he knew would pop up, but really hoped they wouldn't have showed up.  How many times has this happened to the hunter?  So many times has an orange player came up during a meeting or the actual raid meet up, and caused Hirru problems.  He could remember that one of them was the proctor and founder of this meeting, Ariel.  He could remember quite well how she talked Teayre into punishing Hirru for his insolence.  It only lead to Hirru leading his first raid, but that was only a fluke.  Everyone knew what to do, and they survived because he shut the fuck up and only worked within his team to squelch those acid pools.  However, that fluke had long gone, and he did have to answer for his actions on the twenty third floor.

He sighed heavily before continuing with the thought that Hidden had presented, and speaking properly for the first time throughout this meeting.

"Which is why we're all here now discussing the information given and formulating teams to combat it, instead of coming in late and worrying about problems of the past; we are working towards our future."

Hirru would continue.  His eyes were falling upon not just Hidden, but everyone in the room.

"Yes, I freely admit that the 23rd floor boss fight was a disaster, and I was the reason why.  I let my head get in the way, and it caused multiple issues throughout the front.  I would apologize, but that doesn't help peoples concerns anymore.  Results are the proper way now, and that is why I'm here.  To atone for my mistakes and work towards that future."

The hunter would talk with slight anger filling his voice as he continued.  He would remember Baldur's breathing technique that he taught him to calm himself.  It seemed to slightly work.

"My apologies for going off.  It's a touchy subject on all parties, including me.  Let's learn from it, and continue on.  Anyone that wishes to talk to me about the issue, can meet me once the meeting is done."

With that, the hunter was quiet once more.

"As much as a field boss would probably be good to work around, this floor's boss would probably diminish our stats.  Besides, I haven't faced this floor's field boss.  Any info, Freyd?"

The hunter would ask his fellow monster hunter about this <<The Watcher>>, or whatever it is called.  It must be fairly difficult, if its on the tail end of the 3rd tier bosses.  He had been on the tail end of the fifth floor field bosses status reduction.  It wasn't so kind to Hirru, as the strength and accuracy needed to bypass the Land Shark's hide was something that he had not missed.  He sighed while leading the three of them down.

As some rock formations merged together to form large rock golems, the hunter was starting to get annoyed by the amount of merging beings popping up lately.  It made him want to explode on there animated boulders.  With the force of a raging bear, the Jade Hunter burst forward.  Ripping into each and every one without fail, while really giving it to one of the golems.  His venom seeping into its cracks.  How did venom affect a construct?  Hirru obviously didn't know, nor care.  He would just give the signal to Freyd for the follow up.

 

Caching Yaki Hatahata Platter 197733 into Gungnir Shard

Name: Gungnir Shard (T4 MIT III Feast 6/6)

Tier: 4

Link:  https://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/20966-pt-the-eternal-hunt-v302/?do=findComment&comment=643040 - Gungnir Shard
https://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/20186-fr10-cookpk-shop-open/?do=findComment&comment=643187 - Yaki Hatahata Platter 197733

User: Hirru

 

Materials: Gungnir Shard + Yaki Hatahata Platter (T4 MIT III Feast) [197733]

 

 

 

"Is this going to be a common thing on this island?  I sure as hell don't want to be fighting that thing!"

He yelled out as he nodded his head in the direction of the dead gigantic metallic sea serpent.  If this thing was once part of it, or its children, he didn't want to know how many it would take to create that mega beast.  It was a better idea not to find anything as big, or anything similar, just so they could forgo having to deal with merging and combined mobs.  The hunter sighed as he readied himself as if he were Baldur, keeping his sword low and to his side.  Running alongside the large serpent now, Hirru put his all into the attack. 

He had learned while fighting with Baldur that Charge didn't have to be used to cover distance.  In fact, at point blank range, it makes the attack that much more deadly, as the charge skill activated rushing the hunter forward while he performed a series of slashes and stabs that would rip through the metallic hide.  The venom off of his sword would leave its mark, as pockets of green would be seen within the bright orange gashes that would cover a large portion of this side of the snake.

Thankfully, Perci was keeping the thing distracted long enough for Hirru to do his thing and leave before it could regain some cognitive processes.

"Good one, Perci!  Let 'em have it!"

 

After finding the dojo, and being asked to sit, the hunter awaited everyone else.  It seemed that the news would spread fast, as many people would come to hear the information that the scouting party would have to give.  Unfortunately for everyone that arrived, there was very little to give.  All they could see from the darkness of the room, was the rough terrain around the staging area, and the four obelisks that the others seem to identify as cannons.  It was not much information to pull any strategy off of, but the others seemed to already be going off on their own theories.

NIGHT seemed to be talk about mechanics that the last floor boss had.  Since Hirru wasn't apart of that, he kept quiet about anything from that lower floors.  In fact, he was just mostly silent throughout.  Since he missed two sets of meetings and their follow-up raids, he was effectively out of his element now.  He had done his part in scouting out the next floor boss, but now he had to redo everything that he worked on since the 18th floor boss.  That included strategies and such.

Baldur had the right concern though, with everyone that was here, they had barely enough for a decent sized two team fight.  Though, they were not evenly distributable.  Ariel, Baldur, Freyd, Mac, and  Crozeph had shown themselves to be heavy burst damage players, which could be good spread into the two teams as the high DPS.  Although, Mac's hate generation would be something to man-handle.  NIGHT was obviously a stealth character, although her choice in weapon was the same as Hirru and Mac.  She would probably operate just like Hidden and Hikoru would have, though her use of TECH arts in the last fight were quite good.  With Hirru, that made 

The issue comes with everyone else here.  If he were to go with his prior knowledge, he would have to lump Calrex and Zandra where they were before, as tanks.  However, the update gave them room to do whatever they wanted.  Cal was known for being versatile, but that can't be the case anymore.  His unique skill made him the best tank there could ever be, besides Shield and Hestia.  Speaking of, where were those two?  They should be here.  Outside of that, there was Zandra's healing skill that she was quite known for too.  Depending on how she still carried herself, they would be looking at those two as tanks.

The two that he could not put his finger on were Lessa and this new guy.  Lessa seemed to armored up quite well.  Enough to be considered a tank, but then again, so was Hirru.  He would have found out more, but she decided not to fight in the guardian battle, and let Ariel take her place.  Was she not willing to join the front in battle?  Was she scared?  The hunter couldn't tell.  Next was the new guy.  Hirru couldn't make heads or tails of him.  Was he a player that had just hit the 31st level cap, and found their way into the meeting?  If anything, the attire of the guy was nothing fancy, nor was it shabby.  It was more along the lines of lighter armor.  Possibly a fast striking evasion player.

With all of that, the hunter could think of the teams now:

Role	Team 1	Team 2
Leader / Tank	Calrex	Zandra
DPS	Baldur	Ariel
DPS	Crozeph	Freyd
Alt Tank / DPS	Mac	Lessa
Alt Support/ DoT DPS	NIGHT	Hirru
Support / DPS	New guy (Koga)	???

The issue was now: relaying all that, when he probably wasn't the most trusted mouth in the entire room.

A low wind seem to blow through the Aquilainean Bazaar, as the blue light of the teleporting in the Concordance Commons rang out the arrival of another player.  There were not that many that would visit this floor, as the news of its structure made some disinterested, while others that did would be seen mostly in the bazaar, or the Ladonian Skyport, where large flying ships would take people to other parts of the city.  Throughout all of those players, the hunter looked out for one thing in particular.  One person that he had once called a sword-brother, and still did.  One person that he thought he could trust in a dire time, but Hirru threw away that trust, it seemed. 

That one person was now standing outside of the teleportation portal.  Although some things have changed about his look, it did not change the stern look upon his face.  The looming threat was upon the hunter as he was now about to face his greatest opponent yet.  His mind was made up, but his feet seemed to steel themselves.  They didn't want to move.  Why?  Wasn't this person once a friend?  Didn't they want to reconcile, and try to regain the trust of the one that was now searching out into the slowly accumulating crowds?  There was much that was on the hunter's mind, ..

Suddenly, his mind was clear.  Static in his mind seemed to lapse over the crucial thoughts.  All that came over him was a single word.

'Apologize'

Not too long after, the hunter could be waving down that man, to which he wished to apologize to the most, out of everyone that lived on this god forsaken castle.  This man that Hirru threw all of their time together out the window, just to do something that was incredibly stupid to everyone else, but to the hunter, it was a moral obligation.

"Macradon!  Thank you for coming."

"Nice one!  We'll be able to take it down that much faster!  Let's keep up the pressure!"

The hunter called out as his newest hunting partner had taken the same strategy that he would, diminish the creature's mitigation and retaliate as fast as possible.  This strategy was much safer when Hirru could easily paralyze the creature, but that was a small chance to do so.  He had not upgraded his weaponry just yet, and it would probably take some time for him to do so.  Probably not until after the twenty sixth floor boss raid, but until then, he would focus on what he was supposed to do before hand.  The procurement and replenishing of buffs and safeguards for the front lines, as well as, scouting out the next floor.

Kicking off again, the hunter would fly into it's swing once more, but something different was going on at the treant's feet.  It's roots seemed to be ingraining themselves into the dirt.  It was not something he had seen before, so Hirru continued and delivered a three hit combo art, which he normally did to several targets instead.  After dealing the damage, though, Hirru noticed that the health that he took away was slowly filling back up.

"It's healing!?"

He said before being smashed with another heavy hit, but his armor was too much for the field boss.  He would shrug it off as Koga would be set up for his next run, as that tree seemed to be stuck now.

"Get another wack on him while it's stuck!  You'll have a better chance of it!"

 

While waiting for an answer to his question, he kept an eye on the entrance before them.  There didn't seem to be anything coming out for them, but that just meant that they still haven't entered it's territory.  Once inside, they wouldn't have too hard of a time.  Both Freyd and Hirru had done their fair share of dungeons, especially using the hunter's certain chance luck to find any dungeon, at any time.  If only he didn't have to constantly buy more buffs for it to be fruitful.  Were there other ways to work around that?, he thought.   He was starting to figure out the boosts that Baldur's guest room could do, but he was constantly on the move.  Not much time to sleep there.

"Well, as long as it's nothing crazy, we've both been through quite a few dungeons ourselves since the world was reset.  Not many changes of note, but.. If it's the three of us, we'll blaze through it.  No problem!"

Hirru would look over as he said that, the green hue now gone from his eyes.  A quick signal to Freyd and Ariel, that he was good whenever they were.  There wasn't much else that he needed to do, but as the highest mitigation between everyone here, he would probably head in first.

 

It was rather small, whatever this thing was.  He had been around the tenth floor only a few times for a quest or two, and had seen the skeletal mobs and NPC.  * this guy, was not like any of them.  His clothes were not tattered and he seemed to speak rather fluently, if not lazily.  It didn't seem like this thing was any harm to them, at least, not for now.  Hirru still didn't like that it was so close to him, so he backed away from it.  It seemed to grin more than it's skeletal form would allow, when Freyd complimented him.

"* thanks.  it's so hard to find some fun people to hang with."

"I can't imagine why."

Hirru didn't notice the reformation of the sea serpents until they were whole bodies once more.  Could be how detect sees enemies, he would have to work on the skill mod for better use.  However, as the snake attacked, the hunter immediately retaliated.  As the second recoiled back, the hunter flew forward ripping through the sand before laying a single large slash against the snake, severing it in half.  This time, the hunter would watch as the snake would liquify more, and started to flow along the grooves that Hirru made in the sand.

"Thanks."

He said back to Freyd.  Looking back towards where their skeletal acquaintance had stood, it was now gone.  Freyd asked if the hunter had any ideas, but the hunter shrugged.

"I've only ever seen skeletons on the tenth floor.   Maybe this event was stationed there?" 

Loot Merged Quicksilver Sea Serpent #2: ID #199303 | LD: 8+9=17 | CD: 7

T4 Rare Consumable [199303a]
T4 Rare Armor/Shield [199303b]
2 Mats (ODD CD)
3500 Col (700*5 - including Even LD)

"Huh?"

Sure enough, with a glint of green pouring over his eyes, the hunter could properly see what that thing truly was.  That was a weird thing to see here.  He didn't know that there were huge sea serpents out here too!  That made things slightly more interesting and worrisome.  Hopefully, their ride back would be okay, he thought as he looked upon the giant turtle that they left by the shore.  Hirru was sure it would be fine.

What was not fine was the four sea serpents that would crawl out of the cavern and attack them at very high speeds.

"Bloody hell!"

Freyd was able to weaken them all heavily, especially killing off one of them.  Hirru would follow suit and plow through the last three with his second weakest AOE sword art.  Slashing two in twain with a long curving arc, the second one would take a quick one-two before it would go down.  Another golden leaf found its way upon some of the rewards given by one of the serpents, before flying away.  What in the world was this event?  What time of the year was it?

"Gotta head into time some time to see if anyone knows about this event.  Maybe like the last one where we could gain something valuable out it."

"* i don't know about that, kid.  you're better of 'leafing' it alone."

That wasn't Freyd's voice..

Loot Quicksilver Sea Serpent #4: ID #199276 | LD: 4+9=13 | CD: 9 [Event Double]

T4 Rare Armor/Shield [199276a]
T4 Rare Armor/Shield [199276b]
4 Mats (Odd CD x2 event)
5400 (600*9 / Even LD x2 event + *2 additional)

Loot Quicksilver Sea Serpent #4: ID #199277 | LD: 9+9=18 | CD: 2

T4 Rare Consumable [199277a]
T4 Rare Weapon [199277b]
2 Mats (Odd CD)
3000 Col (600*5 / Even LD)

Loot Quicksilver Sea Serpent #4: ID #199278 | LD: 18+9=27 | CD: 8

T4 Perfect Weapon [199278a]
T4 Perfect Weapon [199278b]
T4 Perfect Weapon [199278c]
8400 Col (600*21 / Even CD&LD + *7 additional)

Hirru could only sigh as he could tell the signs of a search skill being performed.  Ones eyes gain a slight green hue when the skill or any mod there in is activated.  Is Ariel really trying to make it look like there are no other dungeons around?  The hunter could only smile and take it.  This was supposed to be their reward for helping out, so it would be rude not to take on this dungeon that she had for them.  Walking in a very odd pattern to the both of them, he would walk his way to where the rocks seemed to slide apart.  It was quite a deep stairwell downward, but other than that, there was no faint indicator of its strength and rarity.

"Ariel, where did you say you got this map from?"

He would ask before proceeding.  He was sure they would be fine with a full tier four dungeon, but he didn't want to chance it and find she found the only T5 map for another 10 floors.  He had a few Random Dungeon Maps himself, but he had yet to use any, so he didn't know how they worked yet.  He had enough luck just finding them himself.  Looking back, his eyes were hued green as he spied all of the possible dungeons that they could've used.  He would have to do them some other time, then.

EN replenished (2/2 Only needed the 2)

"Koga, was it?  Great to hear." 

The hunter said as he sent his new partner a party request.  It had been some time since he had partied up with anyone that wasn't someone he already knew from the front.  This would be an interesting pairing, as the hunter did not know this man's fighting style, but could work around it since he had fought side by side with Baldur far too many times to count.

"I see you're a katana user, like Ariel and Baldur.  It's a popular choice, I hear."

He started out towards the Reverent Forest, where the Wicked Wood liked to spawn in around, at least, that's what his sources say.  Hirru was really only just checking to see if the rumors of a shield consumable were true.  

"Heh heh!  I'm sure you'll do well then."

----

Some time searching passes before the ground begins to quack, and the leaves and branches creek and shatter in the distance.  Soon, the sight of a large treant carrying a fairly large sword would be seen coming closer too them.  Hirru could already feel his health and damage begin to weaken as it drew closer.

"Prepare to engage!"

The hunter called out as he ran forward to attack the large treant, but as he did so, the Wicked Wood seemed to be trained on him.  Hirru could only wait before the large blade came crashing down upon him, but he would be ready to shatter that blade as it connected.  Although the art was meant for the body, so it kept shattering through the blade before it struck a few fingers on the Wicked Wood's hand.  However, that didn't mean that Hirru got out unscathed as the amount of pressure from the attack seemed to hurt, but only slightly.  His mitigation was on point for a tank, at this point.

"Kick him down a bit, Koga!"

 

"To be fair, I can't say if it will or not.  My skill doesn't tell me how it will get there, only that it WILL get us there."

Hirru watched as Freyd wrangled a hold of the turtle and climbed atop its shell with relative ease.  He wished he was that athletic, but his armor choice weighed him down, even if he didn't have it on.  Though, with that, he did have a bit of evasion to speed himself up a bit.  Maybe, just maybe.  Hirru backed up a bit, before running forward and making his own attempt.  The issue was that he didn't have enough speed, as he missed his mark and fell into the water.  It felt cold as the water pulled him in.  He kicked and pushed until something clicked in him.  Floundering about, the hunter would regain composure slightly and found that he was starting to recognize something.  He could swim, slightly.  Surprising, compared to the other things that he didn't know about.  Though, it didn't take long for Hirru to remember the rope that he jumped with.  Taking ahold, he would pull himself back atop the turtle's shell.

"Never again.."

He motioned to Freyd as he tried to fling the water off of him, to no avail, he was drenched.  With that, the hunter found it time to change back to his proper armor.  His luck had done its course, and all they needed to do was ride it through.  His appropriate armor appeared upon his body, dry except for the exposed right arm and slacks, that were still wet.  Of course, his hair was a mop now.

"You Adventurer's are all crazy, you hear!  I'll await your return, or be sure to reclaim your remains."

"It won't take long!  We'll be back with a grander reward."

No sooner did he settle, did the turtle begin to move.  Slowly, it seemed to move forward.  Before they knew it, the barge had disappeared as the waves and mist filled their vision.  So far, the turtle wasn't showing signs of diving, until they passed close to the island.  It seemed to tower above them, but what made it seem more odd was a gigantic metal piece that seemed to be jutting out of the island's base and sinking into the depths.  As they got closer, the metal obelisk seemed to resemble a giant chain link.  Near the chain proper, was a small indentation where a cave entrance seemed to have been created from the giant chain's constant exertion upon the surrounding earth.  The turtle seemed to be swimming closer to it.

"There is our entrance!  We're going in!"

Favor -3 LD --> Bulwark +107 MIT

3/3 Regen 

 

Hirru turned to the man that had just asked him a question.  Rather odd to just come up to someone and ask if they were 'out farming', but what else was there to do.  This floor was more or less cleared over a year ago, and all of its noticeable quirks were washed away when the 25th boss raid caused the whole world to be reset, in a way.  Though, the place never had any quests or nothing that really meant a damn.  It was only good for the dungeons that one could find in the ant caves, burrowed deep below.  That was, until field bosses became a norm.

"Ah, yes!  Hunting something big."

Now, It was odd, but he had seen this guy before, not too long ago.  That was right, the hunter thought.  This was one of the members in the meeting.  Who was it again?  He couldn't quite remember from his stare down and awkward instances with Macradon.  There was too much going on between them for either of them to take each other seriously.

"Sorry, I forgot your name.  I'm Jade Hunter, Hirru."

The hunter gave his unarmored sword-hand in a common greeting.  

"Did you want to come along?  Going to farm up this floor's field boss.  It's going to revert our stats, but I'm sure the both of us can handle a huge tree."

"You'll get used to it.  Although, this was relatively slow for how often we try to blaze through these floors.  Could be how the whole world seemed to change over night from Shadow's influence."

Hirru shrugged while looking towards the ever growing dark clouds in the distance.  They were creeping ever closer towards the place they had been before, although it seemed to be slightly different now.  They had crossed over with bridges before, but this time they were on a boat, so it must have been that.  Though, the hunter didn't remember the storm clouds around the area.

"Captain!  What is this area called?"

A yell would come back to him.

"We're coming closer to one of the Storm Anchor Islands!  I dunno where you're going, but this is far from Sahagin Territory."

"I know!  I'm looking for another creature."

The hunter would call back before getting back up and looking over to Freyd.  Going back to the conversation about the front lines.

"I felt that it was time scout out the labyrinth of the twenty-sixth floor, cause I had not heard anyone declare that they were doing so, or had found anything.  I guess I can be impatient, but I think we all are."

Hirru walked over to the cutting table that the greenhorn was working around.  Looking around at the remains of sahagin that didn't get sucked into oblivion, or shattered to Lunala or whatever this game calls an afterlife.  He didn't much care for it, instead asking the greenhorn if he could take any of the extra bits that they weren't using.  After that, he would speak aloud to Freyd once more.

"We've beat the labyrinth guardian, which was extensively hard.  I couldn't even get a single hit in, but everyone else seemed to take it down.  So now we're waiting on Ariel or Baldur to announce the meeting.  I think Ariel was going to host it at her dojo?  Eh, I'm sure we'll get a message about it soon."

After getting a sack full of the unnecessary parts, the hunter returned to his spot.  At some point, the Captain had called for sails to be lifted, to slow down steadily while they coasted closer.

"I won't be able to get you boys closer.  Those waves would rip my barge into pieces!"

"That's fine!  That's why I was searching for another ride."

"It thought you were looking for a creature."

"Yeah, it's big enough for it."

The hunter called out while throwing the sack full of sahagin parts into the water.  Some time would pass, as the sack drifted away from them before something splashed out of the water, engulfing the sack, and disappearing back into the water.  The sight of the thing, though, would make for some awestruck passengers.  The head of a giant sea turtle snapping down upon the bait.  Slowly, the turtle would breach the surface once more, as Hirru's search abilities would identify the key to the dungeon.  It's head and upper shell were the only things visible at the moment, but the scale that they showed were still quite a bit bigger than the barge itself.

"While hunting down this floors labyrinth, we found this little guy, which seemed to be connected to a dungeon somehow.  Now, we're here to see where it leads.  Though, it looks like its much bigger than I remember.  Must have been preying on those sahagin that we killed during it all."

Hirru kept forgetting himself.  This world was fake, and everything in it didn't have any continuity to it all.  This could have been a completely new turtle that the game system could have created just now, just because his luck stats were that high.  Even though he still didn't get much of it, he knew how to work with it.  A fake world, is just a story.

"Now.. how to get on it.."

 

"No, I never got to finish it yet.  Got busy trying to search for the twenty sixth floor labyrinth."

The hunter sighed while walking over to the edge of the barge.  Taking a seat on the wet surface, he wouldn't mind too much as the wetness wasn't something that lasted in this world.  Out of all of the water in Aincrad, the ocean looked the liveliest on this floor.  It seemed to flow much better than even the twenty second floor's Lake of Reflection.  This was the first time that he had sailed its seas, and he could tell that this was something he could get used to.  Maybe, this was one of his memories?  Nothing seemed to come up, so he couldn't really tell.  However, he still liked the breeze and the spray of the sea water from the waves.

"Trying to get a party together was oddly simple, if not weird.  I somehow messaged people that I didn't even know.  I'm not sure how that happened."

Night and Crozeph, two people that he had never talked to once, somehow got his message to scout the twenty sixth floor.  He couldn't tell if it was the world's system? helping him out, or if his luck was just that good.  Either way, they wouldn't have gotten the labyrinth guardian's position, and killed it as fast without them.

"Even still, we were able to work together to get through the 26th floor with relative ease.  Fought a giant rat creature, that seemed to be faster than most floor bosses than I've faced before."

The hunter flipped through his menu and found his bracelets that gained him more luck.  He wouldn't know how well he would be in scouting without Favor of the Golden Dragon.  Soon, his armor disappeared from his body, while leaving the signature silver and gold bracelets that boosted his performance.

Bulwark (-107 mit [72 armor + 35 skill]) --> Favor of the Golden Dragon +3 LD (+14 LD dungeon search)

The paralysis ended not too long after Freyd's attack, but not before Ariel took the last hit, killing the Forgotten Time King.  There was no doubt they would survive that, especially with the damage output of the others.  It made the hunter realize more the power gap between those two and himself.  He really needed to upgrade some new equipment, or be left behind.

"I think I'll save those troll bloods for a better time.  I'm not used to them, and Shelob doesn't have the enhancements to benefit from it."

Hirru groaned while pushing through the small amounts of stiffness that would crop up.  Seeing the quest complete window pop up, they seemed to gain that hefty skill.  Something that can remove status ailments in seconds, the hunter would love to immediately equip it.  There were reasons why he hated being Paralyzed.  Most of those being bugs.  He hated bugs because of this world.

Shaking those thoughts away and walking over to the others, the hunter figured that Ariel's map was of a significant tier, so he decided not to change into his dungeon finding gear.

"Well, that was fun.  So, where to next?"

EN 1/2 (Hirru only needs 2 en till full)
HP +44 OoC Regen