Aereth

Finally. The last mob was slain and hopefully, they would get some time to breathe now. They needed to get Domarus back up to full energy before they could dig deeper into the dungeon.

After Birdie's question, the brunette glanced towards his energy bar and replied. "I'm also still quite OK for now, but I'd also like to refill everything of my lost energy before we continue to go deeper into the dungeon. I just hope that we find that field boss really quickly." he said with a sigh. Even though Material Arts was by far not such an energy hole than the area of effect sword arts of Domarus, they still had a considerable cost to use. Shrugging he turned towards Ariel. "How's it going for the dangerous beauty so far?" he asked with a grin on his face, eager to see what reaction he would get out of the front liner.

@Birdie @Ariel - The Crowned Lion

"Really?" Aereth asked with a smile on his face. "That would be really awesome. I'll, of course, pay you for every book you manage to get me. If you find anything interesting just pick it up and shoot me a message." He said still smiling. "Thank you."

Ren chuckled at Birdie's introduction. "Oh really? Somehow I can't believe that. I'm knowing him too good. He most probably said something like 'he looks like a criminal, but makes the best food on the whole second floor'." Now Ren started to laugh, while he finished cleaning the glass in his hand.

"Yeah, of course, I said that cause it's freaking true, my friend" Aereth replied with a smile on his own. 

"You're the one talking, Mr. IWontLeaveTheHouseWithoutMyHood." Ren countered before turning back towards Birdie. "So what do you two beauties want to eat? It's on the house today."

@Birdie

That girl didn't seem to be troubled at all by the fact that Aereth just killed another player. "Yeah, I can see that, but answer me a question. What the f*cking hell is a skilled and experienced assassin doing inside a fantasy game like Sword Art Online? You hardly look as old as I and I should believe that you're a real world assassin?" Aereth replied and also sank down to take a seat while fetching a bottle of something that looked like whiskey from his inventory.

He took a sip and offered the bottle to the female. It wouldn't get either of them drunk, but at least the burning sensation was still there after swallowing it. "Pfffft. If you think so. Those sh*theads were so confused and scared as I started to attack them, I don't think that they would have posed much more problems if I wouldn't have had to save your nice little butt."

At the question about the Laughing Coffin, Aereth simply shrugged. "Most dangerous PKing Guild in the game, consists of some crazy a** bastards that unfortunately also are ridiculously strong, and they will mess you and everything with connections to you up so bad that you wish you never met them..."

@Blood

Aereth nodded in agreement. "Yes. Back in the days we were forced to read them. Forced to understand the meaning behind every word. It was a horror." He said, in a voice filled with some discomfort as he thought back to that times. His expression lightened up again however, as he heard Birdie say how he didn't look like somebody who read much. With a small chuckle he replied. "None taken. What makes you think that way?" he casually asked.

Just then they reached the inn/restaurant they were searching for, and Aereth caught a glimpse of his appearance. He still wore his complete battle gear. Some clicks in his menu later and Aereth's armor vanished back into his inventory, now he only wore some casual black pants and boots in combination with a grey sleeveless hoodie. "Take it. I've read it like 100 times already. And yes, I managed to find Hamlet and Romeo & Juliet as well some time back when I didn't have that orange cursor. Nowadays I can't buy them anymore since I can't enter the safe zones. And it seems like we're here." 

With that he opened the door for Birdie and they entered the restaurant. From the outside it really looked a little bit like a ruin, but as they entered it didn't look half bad. Behind the counter stood a blonde man with an orange cursor smoking a cigarette. "Hey Ren. You finally got that money you still owe me?" Aereth called out as the two of them walked over to the counter. "As soon as you get me that unique war hammer you promised me some time back." Ren said in a somehow annoyed tone as they reached the counter. "Come on, back then I was drunk as hell, you know that." Ren's stare hardened. "We can't get drunk in here..." What then followed were some tense moments of silence, before both of them started to chuckle. "It's good to see you again, Max. It's been too long." Ren said with a smile and turned to face Birdie. "And it seems like you aren't alone today?" 

Aereth also smiled at the blonde as he replied. "Yes this a friend of mine. Birdie, Ren. Ren, Birdie."

@Birdie

Pending.
See PM for details.

Aereth gave back the smile and replied. "Thanks, maybe I'll come back to that offer at some day..." He wasn't sure though. As much as he liked the thought of having someone to tell about all the stuff that was bothering him, Birdie seemed to have enough problems on her own and he wouldn't want to make her worry too much about him.

Thankfully they managed to change to a more lighthearted subject. Lately, Aereth found out that he was quite proficient in messing around with the females around him. He also noticed that it was a kinda amusing thing to do, which resulted in him trying to fluster his female companions if the opportunity would arise. "No, you are right. But that is because I'm not into guys. And I see you don't read many books which involve romance, huh?" Aereth said in a warm and honest tone, before fetching a small book out of his inventory.  "I would not wish any companion in the world but you..."  Aereth quoted while handing the book over to her. On the cover stood "The Tempest from William Shakespeare". "Maybe, if you're interested, you can read that. It's one of my favorite works."

@Birdie

Aereth chuckled at his friend as he explained how he wanted to build something like a fancy mansion on this floor. "Seems like you'll have to dig deep into your pockets then. I can't imagine something like this being on the cheap end of price spectrum." Already normal houses were expensive as hell, and if Jonathan didn't want to live in a small hat, he would need to spend a good amount of Col for that.

As the two walked side by side, looking for the chapel the topic shifted towards the annoyance that was changing the floors. "I really haven't heard about anything like an out-of-the-safe-zone-teleport-gate. I usually just use some cheap crystals to change floors." Just as he finished his sentence, Aereth noticed a building that was oddly looking like something of a church. "Maybe that church over there is the one we're looking for?" Aereth asked and as if the system heard his question two <Corrupted Mage Knights> spawned. "Ready?"

ID# 88048 results:
Loot: 15+5 Found Chapel, Mage Knights spawn:

2 x <Corrupted Mage-Knight>: HP: 115 | Mitigation: 15 | Energy: 20 | DMG: 80

• Sword Arts: Flaming Strike (1x4) 4 Energy (Will use with one target)
• Flaming Cleave (1x2 AOE) 4 Energy (If more than one target)

Special Effects: Wield Flaming swords that inflict Burn on an unmodified 8-10 upon an enemy (Regardless of missing). 20 Damage for 2 turns.

Objectives List

• Find Chapel on LD:20+
• Defeat (2) Mage Knights
• Defeat or Save Tagas

OOC: I wanna let him go fully corrupt so that I can snag that extra SP as well as the Banner of Command.

@Morgenstern

All attacks went well and the group quickly dispatched one of the two elite mobs in their first attack rotation. Unfortunately, the second one survived and now closed in towards Domarus. It was an easy decision to attack the redhead. No energy, which usually resulted in not much resistance when attacking player that were out of energy. And this time it was no different. The elite wraith closed in at amazing speeds and thrust it's spear through Domarus' armor. 

Immediately Aereth tried to retaliate with his strongest sword art the <All Might>. The mob quicky moved to the side and avoided the attack without trouble before creating some distance between it and the group of players. "We need to take it down, and rest a little bit from there on..." Aereth thought while recovering from his missed attack. Only some more hits and the mob would be dead for good.

 ID# 88030 results:
Battle: 2+3-1, MISS

MOB: 9 Crit
Damage: 150-54 = 96 DMG to Domarus

[H:0] Aereth: 806/880 | 68 /88 | 48 Mit |  3 Evasion
[H:0] Ariel: 1,315 /1,315 | 95 /130 | 93 Mit | 1 Evasion
[H:1] Domarus:  604/700 | 2/70 | 54 MIT | 0 Evasion
[H:1] Birdie: 680/680 | 52/68 | 39 MIT | 3 Evasion

@Aereth @Ariel - The Crowned Lion @Domarus @Birdie

Elite Wraith #1: 000/500 | 150 DMG | 20 MIT | 1 ACC | 1 EVA
Elite Wraith #2: 128/500 | 150 DMG | 20 MIT | 1 ACC | 1 EVA

Bonus Mat Roll:
ID# 87971 results:
Loot: 18

@Wardege receives 18 Bonus Materials

"Sounds shady, looks shady, is shady." Aereth replied with a smirk. "Just kidding. I trust that man. We did some 'business' together in the past. He's a pretty decent war-hammer user, and one of my main sources of information." He then added, thinking back to the big clusterf*ck mission that caused the two of them to meet. "Another story for another day." Aereth thought as they marched side by side.

"It's ok. You're one of my oldest friends in here and I trust you. You know... I've tried so hard to cope with that matter through different means, but as soon as I think I can move on all this hatred, darkness and rage come back to me and I feel like sometimes talking helps... Keeps me from doing stupid things from time to time..." Aereth added with a bitter chuckle, but didn't press the matter of her talking about her missing lover. If she wanted to talk she always could. Even though he played like he was just another more or less normal person, deep inside he was broken beyond repair and was just trying to fool everybody around him (himself included) into thinking that everything was alright. That he just wanted to make this place better, safer more comfortable... 

The last comment made him chuckle a little bit. "While it is true that we at least have each other again, you can't deny that this sounded oddly romantic for two rivals, right?"

@Birdie

It seemed like Aereth was about to keep the item for himself, as Birdie also had no use for it. "Don't worry. I've got enough money to keep both of us from starving," he said with a chuckle and returned the smile as she told him how she was nervous about their meeting. 

"No need to thank me for anything. I'm just glad to know that you are alright and back with the living again. After the whole trouble of the last couple of weeks, it's good to have back an old rival, partner and friend. I finally got to tell you my real story. Something that I wanted to do for quite some time now. And don't worry. I actually know somebody. He has a restaurant near that mountain where one can get the material arts skill. From the outside, it looks kinda like a ruin, but the guy is one of the best cooks in this game, I swear." Aereth said, thinking back to that old 'friend' of him as he led the way.

@Birdie

Reads message. Finds Dom. Gives 8 Materials to the man.

-8 T1-Mats

First chuckling that quickly turned into mild laughing was the reaction Aereth gave the blue haired scout as she told him how this had been one of the worst fights she ever fought in her time here. "For me, it was not the worst, but also most definitely one of the more unpleasant ones. Hehe." 

At the sound of an angry wasp queen approaching them, Aereth quickly turned around and switched from his phase weapon to his accuracy ring. "I got this." was all he said as he started to rush towards the wasp once more. 

A couple of moments and another <<All Might>> later, the queen was finished and Aereth made his way back to Birdie. "You are right. I'm going to pay." he said and examined the last hit reward for the queen, before sending a request to give the item to her. "You want that? It says that it is a unique item that raises the power of bleed effects and I don't use these enhancements."

@Birdie

ID# 87943 results:
Battle: 5+3
Damage: <All f*cking Might> so more than enough

[H:3] Birdie - HP: 585/720 - EN: 46/72 - Stunned/Bleeding - 1 turn left, Bleeding for the next 2 turns
[H:2] Aereth - HP: 624/880 - EN: 25/88

The Queen - HP: 0/500 - MIT: 75 - DMG: 200

Tier three. It was so close. He could almost smell it. Only a few more intense training sessions and he would be able to deal even more damage and endure more hits. But something he could do now was, that he could already craft his tier three armor. He would keep his current armor with the Flame Aura and slap that sticker from the valentine boss on it, but he needed new  arm guards. So he once again sat behind his crafting table and worked on his own equipment...

Some hours later and it was done. They looked exactly like his old ones, but with the new materials they would be able to endure much more...

Quote

LINK to craft
Name: Crow v3
Profession: Tailor
Rank: 7
ID: 87931
Roll: 12+1
Item Type: Light Armor
Tier: 3
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: 2 EVA, 1 MIT
Description: Improved black leather arm guards that help the wearer to endure hits better.
Payment Method: Col

Critical Fail: 0
Fail: 0
Salvage: 0
Uncommon: 4
Rare: 1
Perfect: 1

Losses: 6 Materials

Gains: 26 Exp.

Thankfully inside of sword art online there was nothing like physical exhaustion from staying up too long. Sure, if you were to fight all day, your energy would sink and at some point, you are forced to rest but just from staying up a player wouldn't get too tired. Or at least that's what he was telling himself. 

He shook his head and continued to look for some more materials. A slight sigh escaped him while he picked up some more materials from the ground. How many did he find since he started to look for them? Probably more than enough for quite some time, but you never knew when some redhead decides to drop by for some more materials. He chuckled at the thought of Domarus. The man for sure would scold him again if he found out how hard he was pushing himself again. "That control freak..."

ID# 87925 results:
Loot: 14+5

Materials: 28+4 = 32

"That little..." Aereth rumbled more to himself than to his party members as one of the mobs got a lucky hit on him. Immediately the brunette turned around to retaliate with a mediocre level sword art. It didn't even take two hits to destroy the almost dead mob. Aereth used the momentum from turning around to trigger his sword art and in one swift motion, the mob was done. Thankfully Domarus was here with his monster area of effect attacks. 

It really seemed like the mobs in this sub-dungeon were coming in waves, without giving the four players room to breathe. Immediately after Aereth finished the last one, two new, much stronger looking mobs spawned in front of them. Still stuck in post motion delay after using his sword art, Aereth could only hope that his comrades would, at least until he could move again, take care of the two elite mobs...

ID# 87921 results:
Battle: 4+3 Hit
Damage: 12*3 = enough

[H:0] Birdie: 680/680 | 64/68 | 39 MIT | 3 Evasion
[H:0] Aereth: 806/880 | 69 /88 | 48 Mit |  3 Evasion
[H:0] Ariel: 1,315 /1,315 | 111 /130 | 93 Mit | 1 Evasion
[H:0] Domarus:  700/700 | 30/70 | 54 MIT | 0 Evasion

Wraith#6 0/350 | 120 Dmg

Elite Wraith #1: 500/500 | 150 DMG | 20 MIT | 1 ACC | 1 EVA
Elite Wraith #2: 500/500 | 150 DMG | 20 MIT | 1 ACC | 1 EVA

Attack Order: @Ariel - The Crowned Lion -> Domarus -> Birdie -> Aereth -> Elite Wraith

Hearing the sounds of battle slowly drawing closer, Aereth ran as fast as his virtual feet could carry him. Thankfully he was able to dispatch all of the remaining minions and now finally he would be able to aid Birdie in her quest of taking down the field boss. 

When Aereth entered the scene, he saw how his blue haired companion was down on the floor with red damage markers all over her. Her health was slowly falling and she didn't move as the queen started to close in for yet another attack. There was no time to think much about the situation. Instinctively drawing his blade, the brunette activated his <<Charge>> skill and sped towards the wasp queen in order to intercept the mob before it could reach the blue haired scout. For the first time now the brunette was using his full speed and full strength. Just in time Aereth dashed past the bluenette and began to charge up his strongest single target sword art. The Phase enhancement coated the brunette in a dark aura as he jumped up to bury his fist into the body of the mob. It seemed the mob did either not notice or completely ignore him. It was only focused on Birdie. Big mistake. Aereth unleashed the punch and immediately two forces fought for dominance. The wasp put all her power into resisting of being pushed back, and Aereth put all his power into breaking through the defence of her.

And he did break through. The body armor of the queen slowly began to make cracking noises and the Aereth started to overpower her. His hood got pulled back by the winds that picked up and the queen got thrown back a couple of meters before he also jumped back to see if Birdie was ok. "Hey there. You ok?" he asked as he helped her up again to her feet.

ID# 87916 results:
Battle: 9 Critical Hit
Damage: (14+3+1)*15-37 = 233 DMG (Charge + 9er Crit. with Phase)

[H: 3] Birdie - HP: 609/720 - EN: 46/72 - Stunned/Bleeding (24 damage), 1 turn left
[H: 2] Aereth - HP: 624/880 - EN: 42/88

The Queen - HP: 67/500 - MIT: 75 - DMG: 200

@Birdie

"Enough." he mentally screamed, as he jumped back to avoid another hit from his foes. Fortunately, there was a tree nearby which he used as some kind of springboard to finally start retaliating. 

At this point, he was done with playing around. He just wanted to get this quest over with, get all the rewards and grab something to eat and drink afterwards. He twisted his body mid-air and started to charge up his material arts area of effect sword art. Fortunately, the <<Tornado Kick>> connected and he was able to execute the manoeuvre without problems this time around. The remaining mobs burst into tiny little polygons and immediately after he landed on the ground again, he started to head towards the direction where Birdie left with the field boss. 

While running Aereth sheathed his blade and prepared to take on the last remaining opponent of today...

ID# 87907 results:

 Battle: 7+3 Hit
Damage: More than enough. <<Tornado Kick>>

[H:3] Birdie - HP: 720/720 - EN: 58/72
[H:0] Aereth - HP: 624/880 - EN: 42/88

The Queen - HP: 407/500 - MIT: 75 - DMG: 200
Bee Minion #6 - HP: 0/250 - MIT: 25 - DMG: 125
Bee Minion #7 - HP: 0/250 - MIT: 25 - DMG: 125
Bee Minion #8 - HP: 0/250 - MIT: 25 - DMG: 125

@Birdie

Birdie lured the filed boss away, which only left Aereth and the three almost dead Bee Minions. He was sure that one more hit would definitely end them and thus he would soon be able to catch up to the bluenette and help her take down the wasp queen. 

Somehow this whole quest was quite an uphill battle for both of them. They missed far too often and there was still no end in sight. And as if the wasps were able to read his mind, they easily dodged his next attempt to end their pathetic virtual lives. "Damn, if I can't start the combo the whole area of effect sword art will fail." Aereth cursed as he now had to dodge the fury of attacks from the half dead mobs. At this point, he was just hoping that Birdie would have an easier time hitting the queen...

ID: 87905

Battle: 1+3 Miss

Mob: 6-3 Miss

[The Queen : 1] Birdie - HP: 720/720 - EN: 58/72
[Bee Minions: 1] Aereth - HP: 624/880 - EN: 53/88

The Queen - HP: 407/500 - MIT: 75 - DMG: 200
Bee Minion #6 - HP: 57/250 - MIT: 25 - DMG: 125
Bee Minion #7 - HP: 57/250 - MIT: 25 - DMG: 125
Bee Minion #8 - HP: 57/250 - MIT: 25 - DMG: 125

@Birdie

Aereth closed his eyes and waited for the impact, as he saw how the blonde started to raise her hand against him. But nothing happened. Opening his eyes again, he saw the faint blush and the raised arm. What followed then were some moments of silence until Kooh lowered her arm again and told him to be careful. With a chuckle, the brunette replied. "Ok ok. I would much rather prefer if you just visit me or write a message. I'm in no need of another adventure like that in the next time." And after her next comment, he just walked past her again and activated his searching skill, to see if Leyna was anywhere around them, but not before cracking a smile and replying. "So that means you would be jealous if I did that to any other girl?" He quite enjoyed messing around with the blonde lately. Hell, this was the only form of entertainment he had on this whole trip....

@Kooh

Aereth nodded in agreement. "That sounds good Dom. That would raise our chances of actually catching on off guard." And he was pleased to hear that Dazia had no problems with following the plan the two came up with. "The piglets usually don't fight, they just flee. But they let lower levelled players get closer to them before they run. The only things you need to look out for are these piglets. I will follow you in quite some distance and strike as soon as you find one. In case they flee we will force them towards Dom where he can catch them if need be. And don't worry about any other mobs around you..." the brunette said and vanished for a moment just to appear right in front of Dazia with a chuckle. "Like Dom said... I'm pretty damn fast." 

After that he quickly opened the map and together with Domarus marked the spaces where Domarus would be hiding and from where Dazia and Aereth would approach.

 @Dazia @Domarus

But before he would go up and kill mobs in order to get some steam and stress out of his system, he would need to finish his business down here. Gathering some more materials until he had enough for the next couple of weeks. Looking at the clock in on his HUD, Aereth noticed that it was well past five o' clock in the afternoon. About two more hours and then he would start grinding through the mobs of floor 21. 

Slowly but surely the brunette was f*cking up his sleep schedule again. He hated to sleep. Most of the times he would just lie in bed waiting for the next morning, or if the sandman came to him he would only have nightmares. So either way, it was better for him to just reduce sleeping to a minimum again and use the extra time to grind for some EXP.

ID# 87894 results:
Loot: 4

Materials: 28

Quote

LINK to craft
Name: Loose Cloth
Profession: Tailor
Rank: 7
ID: 87893
Roll: 12+1
Item Type: Light Armor
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: 3x Evasion
Description: A loose, thin black piece of clothing that reveals the shoulder of the wearer but not any other part of the body. It is a perfect fit for a slim-bodied female and will not cause inconvience for the wearer during combat. Actually, due to its lightness, it enables the wearer to move around faster than usual and dodge attacks easier than he or she would wearing any other sort of armor.
Payment Method: Mats

The door to his shop opened and a female entered. Aereth remembered the girl. She was the one who f*cked up his assassination attempt on that Klaus. He shrugged. Aereth already finished what he had started this day. On the very same evening, he was able to get another shot at the man with the help of some distractions. "You got it. This will take me some minutes, so you can wait until I'm done with that." Aereth said and walked upstairs to his crafting table. 

About fifteen minutes later, the brunette came back with the piece the woman had ordered. "Hope it turned out the way you like it. It's much lighter than your clucky starter armor. Will definitely help your speed quite a bit." Aereth said as he handed the piece of armor over to her. He remembered that she was quite out of breath the last time he encountered her. 

Quote

LINK to craft
Name: Loose Cloth
Profession: Tailor
Rank: 7
ID: 87893
Roll: 12+1
Item Type: Light Armor
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: 3x Evasion
Description: A loose, thin black piece of clothing that reveals the shoulder of the wearer but not any other part of the body. It is a perfect fit for a slim-bodied female and will not cause inconvience for the wearer during combat. Actually, due to its lightness, it enables the wearer to move around faster than usual and dodge attacks easier than he or she would wearing any other sort of armor.
Payment Method: Mats

 

-1 T1-Material; +9 Exp.

As @Arc approached the hooded brunette, Aereth rose an eyebrow and looked at the armored player for some moments. Something in his voice seemed familiar, but due to the heavy armor he was wearing Aereth had no chance to pinpoint who that player was. Dismissing the thoughts for now, Aereth chuckled as he player asked him for some information about current state of the front lines. "It seems like you have stopped the wrong player. I'm no info broker, but that guy-" he said turning around to point at his information broker, but unfortunately had to see that the player was already gone. "Nevermind." He sighed. "Frontlines are currently pretty much stuck at finding the labyrinth entrance and with that the boss room. Quest wise some more quests popped up on the lower floors, but nothing too special." Aereth said in a monotonous tone. "So all that currently can be done here is grinding for some levels..."