Hirru

"It's more what I did before, both when tried to protect the Floor Boss, and what I proclaimed before."

Hirru sighed as the boy dealt a decisive blow against the Wicked Wood, but that would mean that his entire attention was on the boy again.  At least, it had not engrained itself in the ground, causing them to fight this thing for much longer, but that didn't seem to happen this time.  With all the damage that was being thrown out at this thing, the hunter was surprised at what Koga could bring to the party.  A burn, blight, and one other that seemed to come from the man's familiar.  Quite a powerful set.  It would do much better with a focus build, but the hunter couldn't really tell what this guy had on him, as no one had that kind of knowledge without asking.

"I got it!"

He called back as Koga sustained the fair amount of damage.  With a quick spin, the hunter sent out his two hit AOE art, which struck hard against the treant's sword and against the last leg that the flaming creature had left.  It creaked heavily, as if it was a proper tree being cut down, before shattering into pieces once more.

"Well, that's another one for the both of us."

Hirru said as the prompt for the boss' rewards came in.  They had two full party shields each, now.  That meant that they could easily defend their entire party against AOE based damage skills.  These things were highly invaluable.  Too bad they were locked behind a T2 boss.

Looking back to Koga, he had to clarify something.

"So before I protected the boy, I proclaimed to the bosses, and everyone really, that I would help herald the future, and bring everyone out into the next world.  I had just become the Vice Commander of my guild, and those words meant something.  They were my oath.. my Blood Oath.  What gets everyone is that I broke that oath by protecting a field boss.  Regardless of me using the crystal or not, the boy was going to be taken out soon anyway.  It was the fact that I opposed the frontlines for something that didn't really need to happen.  Frankly, yes.  I could boast that I defeated a full health boss with single item, but that's stupid and petty.  I'm not going to make the mistake into a joke.  That would piss off more than just myself, at that point."

He sighed before going on.

"So, when we're fighting the good fight on the twenty sixth floor, just keep your head about you.  Don't listen to the bosses too much.  They're just artificially beings.  Hack and slash, until they are no more."

Hirru groaned from overworking himself past what he thought he would stop.  Dealing with NIGHT really put some stress on him.  He packed up his things while sheathing Shelob's Fang.

"Let's head back into town.  I know a great place in Taft that serves some great food."

Summary

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Oy8xX99bxSqs-LQ_tRfvoy8EqgGj_9as1WpG7pyBr48/edit?usp=sharing

Word Count
(6133)
Multplier
(204)
400 Col

Looted

T4 Rare Trinket UnID [202805]
4200 Col
4 Mats

2 Field Bosses Cleared

No Bonus Exp
(Players are T4 against T2 boss)

“Blessing of the Wood" (T2/Consumable/Single Use) x2 ea.
The user roots themselves into the ground, providing a party wide shield that will absorb up to 250 DMG before breaking at the cost of the user’s EVA being reset to 0 while the shield is up.

Hirru
8160 EXP
(204x5x8)
 3524 Col
(200+2100+1224[15%])
2 Mats

“Blessing of the Wood" (T2/Consumable/Single Use) x2
T4 Rare Trinket UnID [202805]

Koga
6120 EXP
(204x5x6)
3218 Col
(200+2100+918[15%])
2 Mats

“Blessing of the Wood" (T2/Consumable/Single Use) x2 ea.

She took it without a second thought.  It seems that this was something within their programming, to accept gifts.  The woman would take a drink from the bottle, absolutely downing the thing.  Hirru had seen plenty of people down the single bottles, but none that did so in such a thirst driven way.  She was definitely thirsty, it seemed.  The hunter grinned a little before the lady returned the empty bottle to the hunter.

"My thanks, Challenger."

"It is my pleasure."

He put the bottle away, while they strayed ever closer to their destination.  The ocean could be seen from this elevation, and it was magnificent.  Not as large as the twenty fourth floor's ocean, but it was nearing there.  With all of the architecture, the hunter thought that the two floors seemed slightly similar, but the differences would start to add up slowly.  From the denizen's attire, to the topography of the floors, it was nearly impossible for them to be the same area.  Hirru wondered what this god's challenge would be once he got there.

If he got there.

They had to pass by another large settlement that was centralized upon the floor.  How much farther was the water from here?  They should be able to take a boat upon a river out to sea, if the letter was speaking the truth.  A sea god would obviously want to meet upon the open sea, but they have been walking for a couple hours now.  The woman didn't speak a word as they walked, but it seemed that her skin was starting to dry out as they went along.  Hirru could only guess that she truly was a water being, and that this long walk was rough for the lady.  Hirru would start to look into one of his backpack's pockets for the vials of water he kept for a rainy day.  It was then that the hunter remembered that this woman was just another part of the game.  He looked up to see the yellow crystal marker that indicated an NPC, and sighed.  He was letting his emotions get to him again.  This wasn't his world anymore, he didn't have to be kind to those that don't need it.

..However..

Hirru stepped forward in a slightly fast walk before the guide, and handed her the water flask.

"You're looking a little dry."

..He couldn't help being nice..

She seemed to smile towards Hirru before bowing graciously.  For a second, he swore he could see..  He shook his head.  There was no way that that could be a thing.  He thought he saw gills on the upper part of the woman's neck, right behind the ears.  This was a weird world with many different things about it.  This floor may have fish people that weren't sahagin.  The hunter bowed back before learning that the quest updated.

"Please follow me.  There is a boat awaiting us."

"Okay, I'll stay close behind."

Hirru replied as the woman, whom still had not given the hunter a name yet, lead the way through the streets of Athenaia.  It seemed that this would probably take a while, as the hunter could not see any water close by, but along the horizon from their mountainous perch, they could see the glistening waves.  They would be walking for some time, it would seem.

As the blue light of the teleporter disappeared from his visage, the hunter had found himself on yet another unfamiliar floor, the seventeenth.  He was starting to find this to be a reoccurring instance, as the hunter was trying to gain further knowledge of the new floor schemes, but the floors from the eleventh to the 19th were unexplored territory for the hunter.  He had truly never stepped foot on any of them during any of his questing missions, at least, until now.  He looked back at the letter that he still carried in his hand.  It was addressed to him from someone by the name of Poseidon?  He claims the status of God of the Seas?  Hirru didn't know what the game was trying to do, but he was having some influential sway in several places now.

As soon as he looked away from the letter, his quest window would pop up.  Challenge of Olympus, was it?  Looking upon the description, it described being escorted by someone.  It didn't take quite long to find who that was, as a woman with fair skin and an awkwardly worn dress would approach him.

"Are you here to challenge the gods?"

Her voice seemed to soothe his worries and make him lower his guard slightly.

"Yes, I am."

Reel In!  Castaway!
<<Challenge of Olympus: Fisher>>

It wasn't very long since the hunter had been fishing, and working around trying to better the craft to sooner or later start catching more of those Rainbow Fish.  Gleaming Scales were quite a large part of his main professions requirements for doing well, and for all that it was worth, he wasn't doing to well in his merchant job.  It could be from the frequent changes that made it more about the appraisal than it did about selling things, or it could be from the constant moving around that he did.  His caravan was never in the same place twice, so it was hard to keep customer service up, when there are no customers.  He figured it would be good to look into something that could help him.

As he was fishing in Baldur's Ornate Pond, the hunter noticed something was odd as he pulled on his line.  There was another piece of trash on today, but this one was different from the pair of pants that washed up on his line.  No, this was a pristine looking letter, which was much more odd than it should be.  The letter was wet, but it did not tear into pieces upon being touched.  Instead, it felt as crisp as any regular paper would, while water still seemed to slip off its edges.  The symbol of a trident over a scallop shell sealing the letter, would denote that this was someone of fair importance.  Interestingly enough, the addressee was none other than Hirru himself.

"What the hell?"

He looked around to find who did this, but there was no one.  How did this letter get in Baldur's pond?  Who wrote this?  He shrugged.  There was only one way of knowing, as he broke the trident seal to read the letter.

Quest Info

Hirru Stats

A slight smirk would grace the now straight face of the hunter before disappearing once more.  NIGHT had answered his question, and he couldn't quite tell, but there was quite a bit going there.  This entire conversation, after her own question seemed quite odd.  She sought the hunter for a reason, and it all seemed to come to this.  There is something in this world that she deems worthy of her protection.  He took a step forward, but he staggered.  Shifting his feet to catch himself, it would look like he was slowly loosing himself to exhaustion, and maybe he was.  He had talked far too much on the matter, and it was far past time for him to retire for the night.  His mind was wandering too much, and he was starting to see faces that.. whose face was that even?  The hunter was not sure anymore.  This was the first time that he had seen anything like that, and it was.. eerily familiar, as if it was someone from his past.

"Huh.. I guess there is quite a bit more to it than I thought, then."

He shook his head as he thought aloud.  Although, it may have sounded like a response to NIGHT's answer, it was more towards his own realizations.  Turning to look towards the woman that had walked with him, he would be met with the black haired NIGHT.  His eyes squint a bit before relaxing once more.  It won't happen again, it seemed.  He sighed.  There wasn't much else to do but to continue, though..

"Well, now that we have some kind of understanding, or what not.  What will you do with that information now?  I'm guessing there is something more for you in this than just that."

He then shook his head.  It wasn't right to do that when they have already said so much with such little words.

"Never mind that question.  I'm not going to pry.  We all have our secrets."

He turned towards the path that he was going to follow and stopped.  Putting his chin in between his fingers once more to think, he decided that it wasn't really worth it anymore.  Hirru was sure that NIGHT had found her answers, or what not.  There was no reason to go through with the rest.  He turned on his heel, with the precision and sharpness of a soldier, and started to walk back the way they came.

"I figured that I'd show you where we fought the labyrinth guardian to end where my memories stopped for that whole event, but I don't think we need to do that anymore.  The main issue was what happened on the 23rd floor.  Everything that happened after until I fell into the dark isn't necessary.  All that I can say, is that I talked it out with my brothers-in-arms.  They understand why I did what I did, and still choose to have me by their side.  That's all I cared about then."

Stepping closer to the dark colored individual, he nodded to her.

"Now, I need everyone else to understand that too, and to let them choose if they want to allow me to fight by them too."

"Thanks for understanding."

With that, the hunter took advantage of being hit to enact a counter attack.  Bursting forward to meet the blade head on so he could absorb all of that damage, and deal back quite a bit of thorns damage against it, he was glad to be in his element.  Where he could rip into his enemy without much fear for his partner.  Although, that may not be partially true, as their health pools were not the most accurate tells of their strengths.  He just didn't want Koga's health to fall any farther than half.  Hirru wasn't a healer support, he was a scouting support.  That meant that he could hold his own in the wild, but required help when things got heavy.

"Well, I'll tell you this much!"

He shouted back was the start of his three hit AOE art would ring out.  Crashing against the sword hand of the Wicked Wood before ending in one of the shins.  With the double Shatter effect still racking its body, Hirru was sure that the effect was quite painful for the thing.  However, there was no envenoming this one.

"We were all surprised when the familiar shine of blue light that teleports us all away surrounded that boy and he was gone.  Although that didn't help my cause.  Being stabbed and yelled at didn't either, but that's.."

He sighed.  None of it was really their fault on it though.  He was the one that did it, and they were just reacting.  It was his fault that the front lines started to shatter just as roughly as the armor of the wicked wood had.

"Damn.."

He watched as the other side of the raid team was dealt a heavily decisive hit.  Nearly every single one of them were caught in the erupting blue flames, and by the way team 3 was looking, they probably wouldn't make it with another.  He had to calm himself a bit before he rushed off someplace he shouldn't.  Zandra and Simmone were there.  They could handle the healing for their teams, he was sure.  Zandra more so would be able to keep their people safe.  However, the attack seemed like it wasn't done, and that they were all next.  Raidou seemed to have stunned the boss, but how well would that work for his team.  He cursed once more, as this would've been the perfect moment to use Barrier, but the skill was not off of cooldown.

"If I can't keep my team from further harm from him.."

He rushed over to the currently sputtering scather in the east, while signaling the armored girl from Firm Anima to move.  Bracing the top of his shield with his other arm, the healer took it upon himself to start ramming and bashing whatever he could off of the scather, with his shield.  What little thorns were on the shield would scrape and tear away at console and the outer carapace.

"I can at least keep this thing from doing anything further.  Come on, I think you were Eruda?  Let's break it!"

Post Action: Disable E. Makeshift Scather -> ID: 202760 LD: 18+4 (Paragon + LD feast) =22 | E. Makeshift Scather 39/30 {Disabled}
Free Action: What the Heck is a Scather?

Recovery?: ID: 202761 CD: 2 | Nope

(0)Hirru | HP: 974/974 | EN: 93/96 (+4)| DMG: 1 | MIT: 182 | ACC: 0 (-2, 2/2 | -1 next atk) | LD: 3 (+1 Loot) | BH: 48 | HLY BLS: 38 | MENDING: 2 | THRNS: 76
   (Rested (2/2), No Shift, REC 8)
   (CD: Barrier 2/2 | Rally 1/3)

"Well, I don't take this too bad, but try not to run in front of the boss when the hate is being set?  Shield should be able to deal with the hate side, but don't go getting a fifth of your health reduced again."

Hirru had to remind the boy about the little thing that happened not to long ago, back when they were taking out the Wicked Wood for his consumable item.  Speaking of, where did he leave that thing?  He looked around in his inventory, however, the bloody things weren't there.  He must have forgotten them in his new room at Baldur's.  He sighed just as Baldur was setting him up for another scouting raid.  With what the healer had now, he was not going to be any good in a scout

"To be fair, as I am now, I won't be too good on the scouting path until I change back, or work on ways to integrate scouting into this build."

The healer nodded to Freyd when he mentioned the little meeting after the meeting.  He groaned at the lack of axes in his back only meant that he would have to go through more story time some time later.  NIGHT and Koga were the most recent ones that got to know it, but they both seemed to somewhat understand.  NIGHT more so than he thought.  How odd..  The healer rubbed the back of his green hair.

"Barely anyone came.  I had to find the only person that wanted to talk about it, and it wasn't even for the thing they stated they wanted to talk about.  I swear, I feel like I'm never going to live down that day."

He sighed while taking one of the sticks and a fluff ball.  What in the ever living world was the Whisper now giving him?  Marshmallows?  He would have to give it a try.  While placing the white fluff on the stick, he held it near the fire.  Was this how one was supposed to do it?  He couldn't say, as he had not done something like this.. at least.. not that he could remember.

"What was that about advice?  Well, I've already told you something not to do.  A more appropriate way of saying that would be:  Do not go off the beaten path.  If you try to work outside of orders given, especially how I did, it's just gonna be rougher on you and for all of us.  Keep together, and we'll be pushing through this boss in no time."

"The difference?  Mostly what you can do with them."

The hunter responded to Yona's question.  There wasn't much to say, as the differences were clear.

"The main branch of professions are all the crafters, those that can take materials and make equipment or consumables out of them.  Blacksmiths and Cooks are basic examples of those.  Merchants, or as it's known now, Appraiser, is kind of an oddball.  Instead of using materials and form something out of those, we use those unidentified items as essential material and a little col.  Secondary branch is for the gatherers.  There are only two secondary professions: foragers and fisherman.  These are more to find materials and other things.  They're basically over glorified gathering methods.  Heh heh."

He would cast the line back in while chuckling to himself.  Although the gathering professions were not that different than their normal gathering methods, they made up for it with a little something that can only be gained through fighting with extreme luck.

"The big thing between the two subs are these.."

Hirru pulls out two different materials.  One looks like a shard of something rather dark looking.  It seemed to emanate a dark demonic aura.  The second one seemed to shimmer and shine.  This one seemed to be a fish scale that glowed a silverish white, until looked at up close, where one can see the prism of different colors speckling the scale.

"These are the Demonic Shard and the Gleaming Scale.  These are high end materials that are needed to produce end game equipment.  The Forager can find shards, while Fishermen can find scales, but only after reaching top rank.  I'm still working on that myself."

He then pocketed his unique materials.  Didn't want a target placed on his back while being on the first floor.  Who knows if any ill could be brought about out here.  When he was finished, he pulled on the line to find that there was nothing there again.  He sighed.

"It's not always rewarding..  I prefer hunting properly than doing all this.  However, you can get some basic treasure out of fishing too, whenever the hook snags it.  Which is why I took it."

Hirru then reeled the line in all the way, and put the rod away.  He wouldn't be needing it any further than here.

"So, you've got all three unidentified items, huh?  What next?"

"Aaah!"

Hirru awoke with a start.  Where was he?  Looking around, it looked like the final festivities were over, but there were some last minute sales coming out from the both of them.  He shook his head.  What was all of that?  He thought that there was someone else here for a few minutes.  How long was he out?  Hirru checked the time, and it seemed he had conked out for a few hours.  There wasn't much that he could do about it now.  At least he could get in on the last minute sales.  Looking upon the selection for the first time, the hunter was reminded of the last event with all of its dubious items.  This was a game, he would think.  Some of these items were quite familiar, but it seemed that he couldn't get another gungnir.  Pity, really.  He decided to work on some things with his work.

141 Seeds

4 Tags

Links:
 

Purchasing:

• Halloween Favour x2 = 100 Seeds
• Candy Corn x2 = 40 Seeds

Tags = 4

• Halloween Candy (x3)
  Tiered Consumables of choice between the following:
  { DMG/MIT/OH/ACC/EVA/LD }
• Reroll Tickets (x3)
  Allows a re-identification attempt on a single enhancement slot from a single piece of gear at a Merchant.

Total used: 140
Total Remaining: 1 (A single seed left behind, to grow anew within the light.)

Hello!  Welcome to our site!

Hirru could hear the sounds of steel against wood, and wondered what the heck was going on upon the hill side.  A quick look back was akin to looking upon ones looming death, as the canopy of the tree that Yona had cut through was falling his way.  There wasn't much time, and he didn't have that much speed for evasion versus some other players.  He tried to get up from the river embankment, but he slipped.  Foot splashed into the water as he fell to the ground.  All he could do was watch as the trees limbs fell...  5 meters in front on him, shattering upon impact of the ground.   What did he think was going to happen?

The girl had found her second item, and Hirru had found nothing else.  He sighed a bit before looking back to Yona.

"Unconventional, but that'll do.  I can't really see anything else in the area.  Why don't you come over here?"

He repositioned himself while casting his line out once more.  There wasn't much time for fish to hit his line this time, and didn't hesitate to pull upon the line.  However, there wasn't anything on the line when he did.  Another one got away.

"Maybe there is something in the water that I could fish up, or you could too.  Well, you can do so if you get the fishing secondary profession, but that's on you."

Hirru looks back to the water while he hooks another piece of bait.

"Right when I'm getting to the good part.."

The hunter sighed roughly as he got up while the crashing and rumbling seemed to cause a few of the rocks to skip away and ruin his diorama.  He would have to redo it some other time, he thought. 

"Well, at least we can look into getting more stuff for the floor raid with this."

Now, he drew Shelob's Fang from it's sheath and attacked the devilish treant, but not before Koga could speed along and get hit.  That was bad, as the hunter saw a fifth of the boys health disappear in an instant.  This guy wanted to go into the front lines?  He would have to look into buffing that HP quite a bit, although he remembered that their stats were reverted.  Was health something that was affected by it?, he thought.  Looking at his own, it looked like it, as his skills health may have been reduced too.

"Hold on, Koga!  I'd rather take the damage here for ya, you don't have the mitigation like I do."

"It's either that, or kill mobs for it."

Hirru shrugged it off.  At least this quest seemed to be going in the right direction for the young woman, although she did seem to talk quite a bit about the oddest of things.  Overpopulation of mobs?  Players being name dropped like crazy, but the hunter couldn't make heads or tails of any of the names.  Must be trying to get up to the front lines.  He knew quite a few people were, but some liked more solitary lives.  He tried both, and could reasonably say that the depression from falling out from the front hit harder.  Although, that was all his fault anyway.  He preferred to stay with the gang, and venture forward.

When the girl seemed to be able to find something the hunter clapped.

"Good.  That's one down.  I think I see another one in the tree, over there."

He said while pointing towards an obscure tree upon a hill, which seemed to hug a small river that flowed through the area.  The hunter would then think of a wonderful idea, while the girl was doing her thing. 

He would go and fish.  Taking his rod and tackle out from the back of the wagon, the hunter walked over to the river and sat down.  The hook was baited, and he whipped the rod a bit to cause the line to go farther out into the water.  With this, he would wait, but not for long.  A sudden snag would pull upon the line, and the hunter would pull hard against it.  With a pull and a tug, something splashed out of the water, wriggling upon the hooked line.

"That's nice and quick."

"Unidentified items?  I mean, I have a few myself, but if you're around here.."

The hunter tried to remember what was around here that would require that kind of quest.  If it needed unidentified items, it must be something to do with appraising.  Was the new appraiser quest on this floor now?  He remembered that he found the Merchant on the fifth floor, but it may just be a coincidence.  In the end, Hirru figured that they had their own agenda, and didn't want to pry any further.

"..Well, normally you can find them off of killing mobs, or finding chests.  Not much you'll find out in the wild, but quests are something different.  If it's telling you to find some out here, I would recommend looking out in the brush.  You never know if someone left something odd behind."

Hirru pointed out behind the wagon to the bushes and trees that Liz was trying to replicate through her skin tone.

"Nice to meet you, Yona.  Personally, I'm trying to find an acquaintance that owns a smithy on the other side of the first floor.  Although, I've found myself stranded until the NPC that controls the Travelling Flame gets back.  I don't properly own the shop itself, nor do I know how to make Elizabeth move.  I just appraise the unidentified items that I farm."

His interest in the situation seemed to peak a bit when some rumors were talked about.

"I'm not too sure on all that.  Been working around some other floors, and killing as many as I could.  Haven't really noticed that there were more of them, though."

"Lizard.. folk?"

The hunter looked from the girl to what she was looking at.  His confusion became understanding as he saw that Elizabeth, a giant chameleon that had been the caravan's mount for as long as the hunter had known the Merchant, was now slightly visible, which only meant one thing.

"Liz!  You ate another ration, didn't you!?  You know you can't be eating the Merchant's stock when he's gone."

Hirru yelled out at the reptile, which scared Elizabeth and caused her to nearly disappear into the background.  A quick eye could easily catch her outline moving, and she was still attached to the wagon.  One could still go over and pat the reptile, if they so choose.

"Great, now I gotta restock AND comfort you too?"

The hunter walked over to the camouflaged reptile, and began patting it's backside.  It didn't take much to get more product, but that was still having to purchase stock from other places, and he forgot how the prices on this floor were.  They should've been fairly low, but that meant they were still low quality items for beginners.  He would then be reminded that he had a guest.    He turned back to the girl while groaning about the situation.

"Huh.. Oh sorry.  I don't know about lizard folk, but she is a big lizard.  At least, as far as I can figure."

He finished patting and comforting the giant chameleon before addressing the girl once more.

"I'm Hirru, appraiser of the Traveling Flame.  Did you need something, or did I distract you from your duties?"

In the absense of anything to do, Hirru had taken the rest of his time from the prepping for the front lines, to getting some long needed rest.  He was still on the move for more preparations, but he didn't have much else to do while traveling.  He could be appraising some weaponry and armor that he, Freyd, and Ariel had procured, but he didn't feel like it.  Everyone was already heavily equipped and had their own builds going.  It was only the hunter that didn't have what he wanted, and even then he had already made up his mind for the current raid.  He would be the support that they all called for.

Hirru had already talked to some people in the Firm Anima guild, about a new piece of armor.  They had sent him four individual pieces to be worked into a new holy / life armor piece, but the issue came to get them fused.  He only knew one specific blacksmith, the apparently legendary Macradon, but Hirru was still in bad place with him.  It would not be feasible to go to Mac.  It was then that he found a very particular individual with a very particular smithy.  He was on his way to said smithy when.

"Rune Scribe, I got something that might interest ya."

Hirru awoke from within the wagon of the Travelling Flame, the merchant shop that was conveniently placed within a moving vehicle.  It had come to an immediate stop, and when the hunter looked out from behind the canopy, he could see that they were on the outskirts of the first floor, just outside one of the towns.

"Merchant?  Why are we out here?  Koga's shop is on the.."

He checked his map to see his location.

"It's on the other side of this floor!?  Why are we here?"

"Some rare people to see, Scribe."

With that, the Mysterious Merchant, garbed in purple robes and belts galore, stepped off the stage coach and walked the rest of the way into town.  Hirru just sat there on the edge of the wagon while Elizabeth, the unknown variable of a reptile that pulled the wagon, was now stealing one of his rations.. again.

"So... now what?"

The hunter would notice someone coming out of the town.  A woman wearing some odd clothing, it seemed.  Well, the hunter had seen many different people in many different attire.  It wasn't much to say that it wouldn't be so strange to see, even on the first floor.  Were they someone that could handle themselves on this floor?  The hunter then realized that he was on the first floor himself, which meant any mobs would likely turn into a T4 variant.  Those were much more powerful than the regular mobs on this floor.

Throwing caution against the wind, Hirru waved over the young lady, hoping that they wouldn't seem to off put by a man with green hair, riding a wagon pulled by a semi-camouflaged chameleon.

@Yona

Hirru's stats
 

It was a good thing that the healer used barrier when he did.  The second scather.. cannon.. thing had exploded all over them, leaving them in a haze of white, while a slight screeching could be heard.  The wave of heat would He could barely tell what was going on, as the battle seemed to get more intense.  What was that about his loved ones? 

As the healer's vision started to gain a bit of headway, his eyes seemed to find that everything was blue for a second.  What was now the boss looked quite different from his other counterpart.  Much more menacing and less forgiving.  What the hell happened to the other one?

"I guess we have a proper fight on our hands now, huh."

He could barely see that Firm Anima had really put the smack down on the newly activated scather.  They didn't have to worry about explosions this round, he hoped.  Hirru pulled out a small red crystal from out of his pockets and raised it on high.  With a secondary calling, he would shout out a rallying cry.

"Do not let your eyes deceive you!  This King does not know the thousands we protect!  Let your blades strike true!"

A low hum would sound out before a violet aura seemed to resonate upon all of the members of Team 1, before the crystal shattered and another red aura covered the lot of them.

Hirru watched as the raven colored girl that had listened quietly to his tale nearly seem to vanish behind a palm tree, but it was only a trick of the light.  Moving closer with his torch, the silhouette of her tracksuit would come into focus.  Walking close by, he dug a little hole in the dirt to hold the torch in place.  He didn't feel like holding the thing, and there weren't any low hanging branches on the palm trees.  Too high up to reach and he wasn't going to climb for it.  With the arrangement, if he brought a few more sticks and dry leaves, he could probably make a campfire.  Though, the last time he tried that..

 ..he couldn't quite remember.

There wasn't much else to do, except lay down and watch the torch light illuminate the spray of the waves.  He couldn't handle all the running around he had to do these past couple of days.  Maybe he was getting on in years?  Nah, that couldn't be the case.  Baldur was much older than him and it was evident that the samurai was much faster and more powerful than the hunter.  Was it all the mental exhaustion that was taking place?  He slept last night, so it shouldn't be that.  There wasn't any proper reasoning that he could think of.

Or.. was there?

His thought process was interrupted when the feint voice of NIGHT would come back to apologize for being so quiet.  A little chuckle came out from the hunter's lips.

"It's alright.  I didn't figure myself having such a captivating story.  Though, you listened throughout, so I guess that amounts to something."

The story that he had told had gone through some work to get right, as it was all of the events that happened in truth, with a slight redaction.  He tried his hardest to keep his memory loss out of it.  Baldur had said that it was probably best to never relay that to anyone that Hirru couldn't trust.  Although he had told the tale to a few players already, only those that were there on that day, were to hear about his mental issue.  Although, it could be said that he kept some information out, he wasn't lying. The next words that would come from behind him would put a solitary and complicated aspect to his tale, though.

"If it wasn't the boy, but someone I cared for, huh?  That seems.. rather specific.  Although, I can't say for certain why."

The hunter questioned, but didn't give it time to ruminate.  As NIGHT had stepped away from the tree to look into the eyes of the hunter, to gauge how he would responded, the hunter supposed.  He held his chin in between his thumb and forefinger, in a thinking pose.

"Knowing what I do now, would I do it again?"

There was a sense of anxiety that crept up within him, as if the thought that he had talked about this disaster, but all he could think about was one of his trusted allies turning around and saying that they were part of this world..  It suddenly hit the hunter as he thought that.  That was exactly what he told Baldur, Shield, and Beat.  As he didn't have any memories of the outside world, he mostly thought that Aincrad was his world.  He lived on this side, while everyone else wanted to leave; to escape to their real bodies in their own world.  It was why the hunter wanted to find his memories, as he wanted to believe that he too was one of these people.  It drove him mad.  He resented the actions that led up to and that happened after the 23rd boss raid, but..

"Although the circumstances are just slightly different, I don't think a slight difference will change much.  If that situation was to come again, but someone I knew quite well enough that I would regard them under my most cared for or trusted was there, then yes.  I would.  Now, that may be a bit difficult to do now.  As I come to understand some things about the game, some more than others."

He pointed to the green crystals that were above NIGHT's and his own heads.  His smile disappeared as he talked in a much more stern manner.  He tried to push himself against the tree, but the immovable object would not budge past a certain point without hacking it with an axe or blade.

"These signify more than just a player to me now.  They signify those that I can place my trust in more than anything else.  As I can see the green or orange colors and think, 'there is someone that is attached to the other side there.  They value their life as much as I do.  I can trust them to lead all of us to a better future.'  Although, that may be difficult to say after saying that I would protect a construct of the game, or an NPC as they are more fervently called.  They may act like people, and at times become the people that we wish to help.  However, they are designated by this game with a yellow marker.  It immediately designates them as part of this world alone, and that they have nothing that connects them to the other side.  Except for a select few, like Durares, whom was destined to die as a boss, and never appear again; all the rest of them come back at some point.  I can't quite see myself befriending one anytime soon, if they would be able to be reborn and forget all that was."

The hunter realized he was bashing himself more and more, as he talked.  He had forgotten so much, that he couldn't say if he too was reborn in this world, to forget those that came before. 

He would then get up, while still pointing to his own crystal.  Soon he would make a crossing motion in the air, nearly around where his crystal should be.

"Now, my question to you.  It's the exact same, but a much more significant change.  Take out the crystals above us.  Take out the crystals above us.  Take out the designator, and think; we are all these ones and zeros. ..think; we are all ones and zeros. These bodies that are standing in front of each other, are nothing but shells of data that are being filled by a mind someplace else, as so I am told.  ..nothing but shells of data..  Without the designators to show who is what, would you then think that everyone is connected to the other side?  ..would you think that everyone is connected..   Would you think that everyone should be saved, not just players, but NPC's.  Would you think everyone should be saved..  Not because they are life like, but because you can't tell the difference.  Would you save the loved one?  Would you save the boy?"

His voice seemed to get rougher and less tangible as he continued, as though he was going through a tough experience.  To the hunter, it seemed that NIGHT's hair was slightly weird.  The light must have been playing tricks, as the dark raven hair seemed to be blue.

Would you save another life?  "Would you save another life?"

Hirru picked up his torch from the dug out hole.  His stern look subsided back into his old smile, but the corners had a weird angle.  As if, he was smiling through pain, but didn't know what to do with it.  Looking back at NIGHT, their hair had returned to it's dark luster.  The pained smile diminished.

"Sorry, I let a little too much come out on that one.  I must be more tired than I thought."

"That's a conflicting question still."

The smile that graced his face still as he relived the entire story yet again would weaken a bit.  The corners coming to a weak neutrality.  'How many times was he going to have to do this?,' the hunter thought.  Though the answer was as plain as the final light of the day, as it turned to dusk upon them.  He was damned to retell the tale of his own disaster until the end of Aincrad.  He had to, if he wanted to keep the memories of those that died safe.  Their stories were tied to his now, and he would have to speak of himself, if he wanted to talk about them.

"In the moment, I wasn't quite thinking straight.  After I betrayed my friends, or as they said, 'betrayed my oath'; I got tackled by a player, and stabbed by another."

He motioned back to NIGHT, whom at this time, he really hadn't been paying too much mind to.  He was in story telling mode, and wasn't too keen on his surroundings.  She seemed to be listening to him, as she responded with a question or two here and there, but it didn't seem like she was 'here' with him.

"The one that stabbed me was Hidden.  Although, I do not blame her now.  I still don't like that she wants to lord that history over me.  Was partly why I thought we were going to talk to, or about her tonight, but that can be another time.."

The hunter's smile would come back as he shrugged.  He didn't like to take grudges, as there were too many orange players out there that were like her.  Most were dead, but they were not all bad.  Just seeking someplace to be. That's what he thought, at least.  That's what sis taught him.

A few seconds passed in silence once more, as the hunter reminisced about walking down this very bridge going towards the 24th labyrinth.  It was where his issue was first talked about, as he let his closest friends know about his past, or lack there of.  He could only trust them with that information, so far.  Them and one other. 

"Anyway, I couldn't understand everyone at a certain point.  I thought I could save those that needed to be saved.  Which kind of worked, as Durares did teleport away."

A look of disappointment would crop up on the hunter's face.  He knew better to now, but the boy was still on his mind.  He wanted to find the boy and set things straight, although he didn't know how or why.  He just wanted to see that face and figure it out from there.

"Still, I betrayed my word and kept us from continuing, if only for a few seconds.  I wasn't trusted by anyone, and my words were not heeded.  I couldn't understand why.. and just shut down, as my thoughts turned to them betraying me.  That the players that I knew as friends were willing to kill a child to return to their world, so they wouldn't be afraid to do the same to me."

The darkness was encroaching upon them now, and the bridge had ended.   Stepping upon the fresh sand of a new island, the hunter would go to take a single torch from the archway of the bridge.  He would point towards a path through the island that they used when they were first scouting the floor.

"So, long story short, I didn't regret anything then."

The path was rather small, as this island wasn't that wide, but rather long.  Cutting through the island was much faster than walking the beach.  The light from the torch was only a small area around them, so mobs could easily appear to attack.

"As time passed and I talked to everyone, I've learned quite a bit about that situation.  After my incident, I heard that there was quite a bit of issues that erupted due to my actions.  Many people didn't like that fact that a front-liner had effectively drawn their sword against them, while a few others thought that they understood me.  Morally, killing a child would just bring them all to a killing mindset, or some psychological mumbo that I couldn't understand when they were talking to me about it.  I took that factor out of the picture, apparently.  Though, the other side of the front said that the boss was just a series of ones and zeros.  Data to be deleted and didn't need to be heeded for its behavior."

Walking over to the end, the hunter would stop before stretching a bit.  They had walked a fair amount already.  It was time to take a little bit of a break.

"I kind of regret that day, but not so much for my actions.  More so the reaction that followed, which fractured the front.  I guess the 24th floor boss, Leviathan, was much worse to deal with due to poor planning and some people not wanting to cooperate.  It was because of my words that there was such a schism, and I resent that.  I regret that the most, that I caused others to be weighed down, when it should be me who is weighed down the most.

He would gesture to stop.  Another bridge was a few meters away, but that would lead towards where they fought the labyrinth guardian.  He really didn't want to relive that fight again, nor bring back those memories.  Big damn heroes that couldn't do a thing.  The hunter would shake his head at the thought.

"Mind if we rest for a bit.  It's been a long day, and I haven't had a proper rest.  The meeting wasn't much of one."

There was a bit of a silence before he got a response, but it wasn't what the hunter expected.  Was something wrong?  Even Hestia had a kind of solemn understanding, but her response was loud and clear.  Though, they were fighting a large plant lion creature that healed way too much.  That wasn't the point here though, as NIGHT asked a simple question.

"Simple.  I tried using their relationships against them.  Isaxi and Rori, for one, seemed to really get along well.  When the swordsman died, Isaxi was having a really hard time getting Evahira and Durares to do anything.  Though that was also due to those two's relationship.  It seemed more like a.. brother-sister, or a close friendship.  I can't really tell too well the differences, but when Durares was starting to become distressed or whenever he was attacked, Evahira was always there to help him out."

He would point over bridge that connected to the next island, motioning that they were going in that direction so NIGHT wouldn't wander off without him.  Though, he was sure if that happened, she would be stealthily somewhere close by.

"It really came to how they were there.  Isaxi, Rori, and Ratar seemed to be the ones that had kept everyone in the dark upon the 23rd floor.  They corrupted officials and other elves to keep the 'queen' alive."

He gestured a bit to the side in a circular motion.

"The queen's bones were hanging off of their wall!"

The hunter sighed before reaching

"I don't think they were anything but evil.  However, that didn't mean that the other two were.  Evahira was a sworn royalguard, I think the captain of said guard.  She didn't seem to be there on ill intentions.  The boy, Durares, had the power of premonition, but his visions of the future were not what he was seeing now.  He was crying, and wasn't really doing anything except his passive healing.  Due to that, the front liners saw him as the obvious threat, as Rori and Ratar were already dead, Isaxi had barely any power, and Evahira wasn't that good of a tank."

Hirru could only shrug as he continued on.

"So, I guess it was to the boys surprise when he found a teleportation crystal in his hand, and me in his sights.  Not facing him to kill him, but showing my back as I faced my fellow front liners, to dissuade them from attacking the boy and to attack Isaxi instead.  Her death would lead to a more peaceful end between these two, I thought."

He smiled as he shook his head back and forth.  Thinking back upon it all now, the hunter really should have talked to someone about it before acting.

"You know, I didn't really tell anyone what I was doing.  I just did it."

Then a little gesture to all of him which then got tossed outwards, symbolizing everything about him was out there now.

"And everybody disliked that."

"In more ways than one, but we'll get to that."

The hunter pointed back to the rock that was to represent him, which was positioned near the shield and the card.

"Now, here is where I messed everything up by doing something stupidly selfish.  You see these two, Evahira and Durares?"

As he made a circular motion to gesture around the shield and card portrayals, he would then mime a shield in his hand while throwing another hand back to mime keeping someone or something back.

"Evahira, no matter what, was always keeping their support, Durares, safe.  At least, as far as she could until everyone saw the boy as a bigger threat than the leader or the tank.  However, I was starting to see something while talkative players were doing their thing.  Isaxi, had a lot of sway towards the rest.  If she was out of the way, I thought that we could easily end this on a lot more peaceful note.  Evahira was sworn to her queen, but the queen was dead.  Actually, her bones were hanging up on the wall the entire fight!  I forgot about that!"

The hunter would put a skull somewhere around the outer area of the diorama, but then scribbled it out.

"It's not important anyway, until the end."

He would then motion towards the group of rocks about to 'slay' the card.

"Anyway, I said some words too, which seemed to get to them a little.  That's when I saw both Evahira and Durares worth saving, as the tank wasn't there for corrupted reasons, and the boy was just a prophet that was shown the wrong path in life.  The kid was scared and crying.  At some point, I don't think he was even buffing anyone, though that heal was passively going off.  Well.. anyway.."

The hunter then moved the rock representing him up next to the card, then drew a line in the dirt between the rock playing him, and the rocks playing the other players.

"I wanted everyone else to target Isaxi, but I didn't really explain the plan before hand.  I guess my head really got messed with in the end, cause instead of telling everyone to go after the leader as those two were merely being controlled, I decided to ..I took it upon myself to shield the boy.  Give him time to escape by giving Durares a teleportation crystal."

With that, the hunter crossed the card out while pushing two rocks over to be piled on top of his rock.

"Yeah, everyone disliked that."

((Boss will respawn on your post, if you wish to summon it.  If not, we can end thread after story time.))

After thanking both Baldur and Simmoné for their help, there was a little bit of wait as the rest of the front liners were on their way.  It was taking quite a while for all of team three to get here, so it wasn't so strange to see something like this come out.  Especially with a certain someone already seated on one of the few stumps.  The healer was greatly appreciative that Freyd had joined them on this raid.  His capabilities were a great asset for the front, but more so, the healer kept the Whisper in high regard.  A good friend to have around to keep one on their toes, as well as, keeping a smile on ones face.  Hirru has never met a player that could still have such a sense of humor, after so long in this place.

The next to sit down was the azure samurai himself, Baldur.  His friend and mentor that could settle ones mind and talk about the ways one would best work around it.  There was so much that the two of them had went through, from first meeting on the tenth floor to kill a banshee, to revealing the healer's most unsettling secret.  He is one of the few that knew of his mental issue, and more so accepted him for it.  Even after his disaster brought ruin to the front, here they all were to breach into the twenty sixth floor boss room.  Hirru was sure to repay the favor of believing in him, today.

Lastly, a surprising twist, was one of the newest members to the front lines.  The boy must have been nervous, because he was pacing this way and that for some time.  Even after telling him that Hirru would be their healer, the unease must be kicking in.  The healer felt that too when he first joined the front, though his unease was coupled with a few other things.  With so many veterans, and a few newcomers, it was probably best that he sat down and calmed his nerves.

The healer would do the same.  As he approached the group, he heard something interesting.

"What's this I hear about riding rowboats over a waterfall?  Didn't take you for the daredevil type, Koga."

Hirru would question as he motioned to place his helm beside one of the unoccupied stumps.  His new armor was a little cumbersome, so sitting down was hard, but not impossible.  It just took a bit.

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