Arabelle

He didn't move though. Probably finally froze in fear. Arabelle let out her breath in a frustrated puff, her bangs flipping upward at the expelled air. "Just how long have you been running around like this?" She leaped back, keeping the last zombie at a distance, and finished it off with a swift slash of her scythe. "Looks like you've drawn quite the following."

There were three more, shambling after him with hunger in their eyes.

Yeah, no. I get you, but only figuratively. He's looking like a snacc.

She drew in a breath and launching herself forward once again, she reduced two to pixels and left another at a very near death state. Well, this was just as annoying as before. Arabelle remembered why she had been so reluctant to go back in the first place. "Party up with me?" she offered as the message prompt appeared in front of him. "Let's get this mess handled first and maybe I can take you to a safe place."

~~BINGO BOOK

There was a low-level running around screaming. Arabelle blinked, dumbfounded. He didn't seem to be fighting back - what the hell was he doing out here in the audience area? Oh well, she chalked it up to the usual noob antics. She watched curiously, still holding onto her scythe, as a group of zombies tailed after the poor guy. He was kind of cute, too. What a waste it would be if he died.

Well, there was her target. Almost nonchalantly, she ignited her scythe and took off, running straight for the guy. 

Was that a corndog in his mouth?

"Finish that up and get back!" The purple-haired girl hopped over him and unleashed a flurry of attacks on his pursuers. She landed on the ground gracefully and looked over her shoulder with a small smile. Arabelle nodded her head at the last zombie, remaining at 1 HP. "Mind finishing that one up for me?"

~~BINGO BOOK

2 AM. Four-something hours 'til morning - the time she figured it would all be over. God, what a grind this event was turning out to be. She never thought she would find combat to be so boring, not since the Star Festival event, but well, here she was. Most achievements completed and her new scythe safely stored in her inventory, but Arabelle had decided to head out again. Maybe it was some weird sense of obligation she couldn't get rid of. She hardly cared about these low-levels but seeing them struggle against the most basic of zombies while many more swarmed around them sparked some odd sensation that seemed to resemble guilt inside her. She could easily just wipe all of this stuff.

"I'm heading out again," she informed her teammates right after they reunited at the concessions stand. "Both of you should stay here. Shiro-chan, you look like a wreck. TP back to Delilah if you must. I don't want Claude yelling at me any more for my supposed incompetence." 

Arabelle tilted her head and smirked.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I carried you both, didn't I? If anything, worry for yourselves."

Still, it would be a bit lonely, fending off the rest of these zombies by herself.

~~BINGO BOOK

...Oh. It was dead. She almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. All that buffing, all that fuss about the walls of vines, and all that taunting for two rounds of an event boss? How quaint. "Suppose you were just like the rest of your troops then," she remarked, rather smugly, at the event boss that had now been reduced to a pile of ashes. 

What a disappointment. Arabelle had been looking forward to a thrilling boss fight and also flexing her big phat numbers on these noobs, but it seems the scarecrow couldn't even hold its own against two nearly T2 players. 

At least this one actually dropped stuff.

She quickly eyed the rewards and opted out of the SP for materials, gave a rather neutral nod to Jinx for her... decent performance (or the lack of opportunity to mess up because of how short this fight was), and walked past the now-collapsed wall of vines. 

Back to the concession stand.

Arabelle propped her elbows on the table and smiled. Lovely, at least he was starting to see some sense--

He kept talking though. Talking and talking and talking. That was all he could ever do, apparently, and it threw into question just how strong he was stats-wise. The cute murderous couple destroyed the rest of the bar's seating area in the background, but she kept her ashen eyes on him - unnervingly calm despite his words, the only expression she betrayed being a small light of interest.

"A bunch of f*ckboys with mental problems," she repeated, rolling her eyes like an adult tired of a child's antics. "That doesn't sound like much, coming from the leader of a "guild" that was busted even before it could begin operations. You're doing this all wrong, you're too impulsive... too tactless... and you try to convince everyone you're the most superior when you really are on the lowest rungs." Arabelle sighed softly and pulled away from the counter, folding her hands on her lap. "That isn't lovely at all. All you really are is a foolish Columbine fanboy with a bit too much hatred for the world and, unfortunately... the means to release it."

Not that he was smart enough to harness it. Arabelle didn't care either way, but this guy... was annoying.

"But well, if it really was a misreading on my part..." 

She lazily held out her hand.

A large black scythe appeared with a gust of wind that buffeted at her purple hair. No sooner than the moment it materialized, Arabelle was bringing it down forcefully against the wood of the counter. Glass shattered. Her orange juice spilled. The bar was effectively split in half, smoke rising from its seared edges. Well. That was one thing to add to a bill she wouldn't be paying for. Lightly stepping away, she placed some distance between her and the wreckage and ignited her scythe.

Arabelle's lips curled into a hollow smile.

"Don't be shy. Show me just how superior you are."

~~~

Arabelle, @Embers, @Prometheus, @Outlander

• 1 SP
• 100 Col

The way he stood there with his mouth sort of gaping open did not escape her notice. And neither did his Freudian slip. "Right? I never really understood why people don't wear green as much as the other colors. Maybe they don't like the color itself. Maybe they think it wouldn't look good enough," Arabelle hummed innocently. For a moment, it looked as if she would let that pass without comment, then she met his eyes with a knowing smile. "Well? All that and no comment about how it actually looked? That's no good, Dustin~. Girls don't like it when all their showing off goes without compliment. So? Do you..." --She teasingly played with the edge of her jacket - the only thing covering for the rest of her daringly revealing outfit - with a gloved hand. -- "like what you see...?"

She giggled and splashed Dustin in the face. Then her mirth faded when his bare fists started to glow with the accumulated energy of a Sword Art. 

Uh oh--

Was Arabelle's last thought before she was unceremoniously hit with the full force of a wave. She resurfaced, coughing out water and glaring at the culprit. Her ribbon had been tugged free, leaving her purple hair loose and sticking to the sides of her face. That was mildly annoying. How was she supposed to fix her hair? When she turned back to Dustin though, her eyes glinted mischievously. 

"Using a Sword Art in a water fight? That's unfair..." Her scythe appeared in one hand and ignited with the bright green aura of a Sword Art - aimed directly at the water between them. "But if you did it, that gives me the pass to do it too!"

She laughed as she spun in midair and landed, the full force of her Sword Art hitting the water's surface and sending a wave back to Dustin.

Ooooh, it actually talked back! It was loads better than what had been practically the equivalent of taunting a punching bag that occasionally hit back, but that didn't make this  talking bale of straw any less annoying. "So what? People die every day," Arabelle made a flippant gesture with her hand. "Besides, what is with these villains and their false empathy crap?

"You talk as if you weren't the sick bastards who reanimated them."

The edge of the scarecrow's large scythe clashed with the Other Girl's shield. Hardly any concern, the Other Girl's job was to take hits. As the scarecrow withdrew, she prepped her scythe with another burst of green flames, clearly asserting her dominance as the superior scythe-wielder. Arabelle launched herself into the air where the other newbies were surely too inexperienced to reach. Another DPS player, twirling gracefully in midair with her katana, had the same idea and Arabelle quickly readjusted.

She buried the blade of her scythe in its chest and let herself drop to the ground, straw splitting apart as she pulled her weapon down along with her. Once she was safely on the ground, she leaped back to regroup with her team.

It surely felt sturdier than it looked.

From their little circle of defenders, Arabelle could see another large mass past the torrents of rain coming down on them. Uh oh. She relaxed her stance and squinted, trying to find out what it is. A large tidal wave, surging towards the town. 

Wait, what? Can lakes even do that? Unless there's been a major topographical change she had been wholly unaware of, Floor 22's Lake of Reflection was still a lake last time she checked! Arabelle slid a step back. Whatever it was though, it was coming and it was coming for them fast.

She spun around, quickly searching for higher ground, but the wave was upon them faster than she could react. Shutting her mouth, holding her breath, she reached for the teleport crystal at her belt.

--But as quickly and suddenly as it came, the wave was gone.

Energy restored and sopping wet. "What an asspull," the small purple-haired girl mumbled absentmindedly. She didn't question it at this point though. She wasn't one to turn down free goodies! Arabelle ignited her scythe and rushed past Bahr, launching herself up and spinning in the air, bringing herself down on the last Rain Minion with a deafening explosion of energy.

...

...

That miiight have been overkill, but she just wanted to see this little pest dead.

A chihuahua. Trying to bark like a German Shepherd. 

"No, no, not too loud," the small purple-haired girl giggled softly. Felli floated around in random circles, she didn't know what that meant, but she sure did know the feeling of secondhand embarrassment flowing through her. Basically. It did not fit. And that wasn't even her point in the first place! "That's not what I meant. Did that other thing I said earlier get to your head? Ara, ara. How cute. But that's the sort of thing you think about when you're alone in your room, you know?"

She really wasn't letting that past this guy, was she? Stepping away, she tucked her hands behind her back as they walked back to the safe zone. "Did I phrase it differently earlier? I couldn't care less about how loud and confident you sound. It's about what you say. Hmhm, do you even listen to yourself when you speak?"

They had passed the town gates now, but she wasn't exactly done with him yet. "'Why would she be happy with someone like me?' Right?" She had a few more, aka, every single time she thought he was depressing, but that would only bring him down more. "I understand the constant struggle of having to evaluate your self worth, but putting yourself down - out loud - like that wouldn't do any good. It's called negative reinforcement. Keep thinking you're not going to achieve something, you're just pushing yourself more into a state of mind where you really can't achieve it. Do you understand?"

Well, this was a mess. She thought she would only be helping him talk to her best friend better, but now she was getting involved in his issues too. No. That was a Mishiro problem. Arabelle entered the quest NPC's house and skipped ahead of him to present their gathered materials. Before the NPC could enter into another long droning explanation though, she was already by the shelves and grabbing the tools she needed.

"Help yourself," she told Huginn. "It wouldn't mind."

The small purple-haired girl set all of her tools down on the table along with a brewing stand and her materials, and stood with arms akimbo. This should be pretty simple, she'd watched a few alchemists do their cra -- fail. She tossed the vial away and it fell to the ground in a shower of blue dust.

Arabelle eyed her quest partner. Same result. But, "Why are you stopping?"

She took another material and started to whip up another batch. No, she wasn't going to let herself be discouraged by what looked like a tedious crafting session ahead! Silently, she reminded herself of that... dragon quest incident, and she mixed and brewed her herbs with vigor. 

Success!

Proudly, Arabelle took the vial and presented it to the NPC.

He invited her?

"I see," hummed Arabelle, very calmly. So that's how it is. She ran around in what could practically have been a wild goose chase while all the Other Girl had to do was to receive a PM. Crossing her arms, she watched rather impassively as their little spy toddled up to them hesitantly. "Oh, I'm not really sure. How long do you think it has been, sugar?"

Another apology. There was much to question about his reasoning, but Dustin really did look sorry about all this. It was hard to just stay mad when she went through all that effort of finding him. 

Even though she didn't feel anything special when she did.

"You're just going to be repeating yourself over and over at this point. So, it's fine~," And right in front of the Other Girl. Arabelle pulled him down for a totally situation-appropriate kiss. She broke the kiss after a moment and pulled him down a bit further. "Just make it up to me some other way later."

Anyways. 

Stepping away from Dustin, she tucked her hands behind her back. She came here for one thing, but Dustin did for another. 

"Well, I didn't come here just to walk away. I'm still coming along. So, let's go?"

She asked, casually, almost as if she didn't know they were heading out to commit murder.

And walking right up to her was a person... Arabelle was decidedly neutral on seeing. The Other Girl, with her clumsy words and overflowing emotion and blinding ignorance to literally everything that just made all her friends flock to her and fawn over her. She could practically imagine their thoughts. I MUST PROTECC uwu!! But, she was a tank. And her guildmate. And weirdly convinced that they were somehow friends after taking only a few quests together and barely talking otherwise. "Alright, alright~," She supposed boys dug that fragile damsel trope. It wasn't her problem. Arabelle accepted the party request with a flick of her hand. "Stick to your job while I do mine."

As the dice would dictate later on, apparently not. 

A few more players grouped up with them. Newbie, newbie, deserter, newbie. God, this fighting force looked like a mess. The small purple-haired girl gave a sideline glance to the Other Girl and decided firmly to herself that the panicky shielder was still staying on her team. But what of the rest? She didn't get to decide though; apparently the boss was done with waiting and it was throwing cliche bad-guy taunts at them.

Arabelle scoffed. 

"Did someone ever tell you about 'quality over quantity?'" the smaller scythe wielder jeered. "Oh--" She gave a dismissive gesture to all the unmoving corpses around them. "I guess none of you were. They were really useless on their own, you know? All you have to do is flick them a little bit and they die. What horrid troops they were."

Who was in their party? As weird as that sounded, all that really mattered right now was The Other Girl. She <<Howled>> and Arabelle shot forward with a burst of green flame. Skirting around the boss, she twirled her scythe and-- 

Another player landed a strong blow and more came attacking. It was enough to disorient her and for a second, she didn't really know where to go without hitting anyone by accident. It was the first time Arabelle ever participated in a raid against a singular boss mob and she hadn't fully grasped the concept of timing and keeping track of everyone else in general yet.

Arabelle leaped a step back and the flame in her hands died.

"Need a moment," she shortly explained to the Other Girl.

The corners of her lips pulled up into a hollow smile.

"That's fine," she responded easily. "I know he's weaker than you. But tell me - can you kill him without destroying yourself in the process?"

Arabelle tucked her hands behind her back. She took a step back. Then another. The emerald green ribbon waved gently with the cold breeze that passed by as she leaned back against the wall. Not even a word about running away? She felt as if she'd just devolved even more into the 'desperate girlfriend' trope with that tirade of hers going unanswered. Her smile faded at her dissatisfaction, leaving her blinking up at him an empty ashen gaze. 

He must have misinterpreted something because, all of a sudden, he was kissing her softly. Well, it felt nice. Kisses always did, no matter who it was. She deepened the kiss just because-- and then pushed him back with her fingers curled around the tuft of brown hair that fell over his forehead.

Arabelle smiled coldly.

"Where's your apology?"

A pause.

"Lovely. Now tell me--" Her gaze strayed to the thieving little cat by the corner. She wasn't actually being very inconspicuous, and Arabelle doubted the Other Girl had the ability to track Dustin down on her own like she just did. Letting go of Dustin's hair, she easily maintained her calm smile. "Tell me what she is doing here." 

Arabelle transitioned into her armor and pinned her black phoenix brooch to her chest. She turned back to the two girls she had previously teamed up with and tilted her head at Jack the Demented Ringleader. "Both of you, stay near the stand. You've got everything you need and this big one is for the pros only!" Her scythe appeared at her side (she wasn't using the other one yet) and she gave them a winning smile before withdrawing herself from her team with An. 

The boss surely moved fast. She walked forward and suddenly found vines stretching out from the center, dividing the tent into sections. Maybe the concession stand was still a safe spot. Maybe An and Mishiro immediately teleported away. She didn't really care to know; she had something else to busy herself with.

Rising up in their section of their tent was a large scarecrow that was easily twice their size. 

"How armored are your souls?"

Oh, ew. Armor. Thought Arabelle as she discarded the wrapping of her obnoxious corn dog and buffed her MIT. Pulling out another item from her inventory, she snacked on a cake that should boost her damage as she approached the two players starting to form up in front of the scarecrow. Was this going to be another stall fight? 

"Oh, you're that girl from the other event," she greeted the blonde healer neutrally. The one that ran away when things dragged on for too long. She had her lantern with her again but considering her level, that was probably the only thing she was good for. Arabelle tilted her head and smiled innocently. "Where did you run off to when the Star-Crossed Event was only partway done? The buff would have been helpful, you know..."

She wasn't trying to pick a fight in the middle of a boss battle though.

"I'll work separately. I don't need the ACC buff at the moment."

Arabelle strayed from the other two. It was only when she got closer that she realized the weapon Scarecrow was touting behind its back was a scythe. Tilting her head, the small purple-haired girl flaunted her own: a large black scythe that was even larger than her person and responded to a small burst of energy with a green flare.

"I'll burn that dumb straw body of yours to ashes."

"Nice to see you again!" The small scythe-wielder stopped by the concession stand with a smile akin to a little kid waiting for a treat. She didn't remember how many hours she spent running around and killing mobs with her new teammate and the time they spent together was starting to get a little bit hazy, like none of it ever mattered. But she did know she was here for the event-limited goodies!

One voucher for a Fallen weapon and something called a Yui's Grace. Oh, and they were giving away freebies too. Arabelle took one look at the light armor and then the heavy armor, and went straight for another weapon.

Overall, it made for a good mood. She patted herself on the back for her first Demonic weapon and a job well done.

But, god, what was that noisy thing at the stage? It was bringing back her headache. Arabelle looked past An and gleaned the ringleader - now a lot bigger and scarier than he was earlier - covering the audience area with... some green goop or whatever. 

Clearly a boss fight.

Arabelle met Mishiro's gaze. They hadn't gotten to talk yet after all that fiasco earlier that was resolved in the most anticlimactic of ways, but for now... the tier one boss took bigger priority. Without a single word being exchanged between them, Arabelle caught a paper bag containing some consumables that the girl tossed her way. Turning back to the concession stand, she cashed in her vouchers.

Offbrand energy drink... we meet again.

"Oh, the sort of thing you only do because your friends are doing it?" Arabelle summed up pleasantly. "I suppose that's unavoidable. We all want to fit in at some point. I've had... a few things I did because of my friends. Can't remember exactly which though, but they were all trivial matters~."

Energy refilled. She lifted her scythe with a smile. Zombie that took much longer to kill than others because of factors that it didn't even directly influence... prepare to die either way. She had no pity for a pile of 0s and 1s, moreso a pile of 0s and 1s that looked like every other zombie that gave them a hard time so far. Charging up another Sword Art, she advanced and sent a sweeping slash the zombie's direction. A shockwave that now manifested in the form of a line of green flames followed shortly after from her scythe and she stood back, admiring her work.

Back where she started. That had been her weakest Sword Art and to see it look so cool...

Was not as awesome as it turned out to be as the zombie slowly got up from the ground after taking the brunt of her attack. Damn those things and their regeneration destroying her moment!

~~BINGO BOOK

"Killing moves... fighting games, you say?" Arabelle tucked her hands behind her back. Her scythe rested at her side and she only picked it back up to send the attacking zombie away - but not too good of a reaction time, it had managed to get a little scratch in. Then she resumed her more relaxed position. Amidst the other battles raging in the audience area. She was regenerating. "I can't say I've ever played one myself. I mean, maybe. I think I did try it out with some of the girls I hung out with at an arcade, but I never took a liking to it."

Right. Before SAO, she was mostly just acquainted with MMORPGs. Mostly for the multiplayer aspect for her lonely real life self, but she began to like the mechanics and features of every MMO she came across eventually. "Did you? You sound like you've had experience in it~. But... most of the more effeminate types in my class never liked it. So I suppose you're a bit of a tomboy, weren't you?"

Now she was facing off against just one, starting off with her energy at an all-time low. This was going to be tedious, but she might as well get it done without complaining; she had brought it onto herself when she told An she was going to help her after all. Arabelle's scythe ignited with a green flame. She aimed an uppercut at the unfortunate zombie's head and knocked it upwards. Then another. When it was midair, she twirled her scythe in her hands gracefully before taking off after it and finishing off her Sword Art with her signature slam!

"I used to have a scythe with two slots of Paralyze on it. Picked up the technique when I fought a dragon with my guild and I wasn't dealing enough damage, so I instead chose to focus on stunning it," Arabelle related with a smile. "It doesn't stun now, but it still looks like the one thing that will make your opponents go twirly-eyed, don't you think?"

~~BINGO BOOK

Five?! "Lovely. This is a bit inconvenient, but it's better than seven!" By the other girl's expression, Arabelle could already tell what she was thinking. Even if she wiped out this current horde, she wouldn't have the energy to oneshot another zombie right after that. And hey, there was no way in hell they were going to sit and wait around for her energy to regenerate just for one mob. So Arabelle went and did what she did best.

She activated another AoE and focused on the pest that was Zombie No. 109 this time. She wasn't letting this one get away with lasting one round too long and making An's and her lives harder and she definitely wasn't having the second coming of Zombie No. 43! Arabelle channeled her full wrath into the attack and eliminated the rest as almost an afterthought. Three down. An could handle that one for herself. Arabelle was somehow going to find a zombie to have a one-on-one with.

~~BINGO BOOK

Was cake not that strong of a motivation?! Arabelle visibly wilted as she found one zombie still standing even after being subjected to her attack. No, she didn't even hit it at all. She didn't get it, she thought she felt much stronger than before! With a grumble of annoyance, she prepped her scythe for another attack. How many more did An have left to go? She should have asked the girl to check earlier when she was waiting around with only the zombie at full HP alive...

No, here was another opportunity. 

The small purple-haired girl swung her scythe and absolutely eradicated the three new zombies that came in. Problem was... there was another zombie left standing at full HP and it was the same one from before.

Zombie No. 43, we meet again.

"An, mind checking on your progress for me?" Arabelle gripped her scythe. If looks could kill - that persistent pest would be dead now. "I just want to know how much we have left to do before we can take a nice, long break."

~~BINGO BOOK

"I'm all done with mine!" Arabelle responded. Aww, her event partner had thought to ask before she went and called the mobs to her. How polite! She was sure to give her kouhai some extra praises later. ...Not for having the most kills or anything. By another stroke of misfortune, An had landed her attack on the zombie... only for it to regenerate and get back up to bite her. Ouch.

"A shield...?" The small purple-haired girl tapped her lip thoughtfully. "Oh! Like I said earlier, there's one of each equipment type. If you reallyyyy wanna, you should go ahead and grab the shield. We're going to need to get you to one hundred kills, but that's easy compared to everything we've been through earlier!"

Yes. Compared to their now pointless rush earlier, this was a relatively more chill farming experience - with both probably still on edge with what happened earlier, but who cares. Shiro-chan better give them a large portion of the celebratory cake later.

With that thought motivating her, she swung her scythe at the group of zombies in front of her.

~~BINGO BOOK

Well, crap. Three zombies left alive. There was one at 1 HP, but An quite naturally missed it. Makes sense, she should still be a bit shaken after all that. For Arabelle's part though, she deflected one zombie attack and let the others come forward - quickly sending them flying with a relatively harmless swing of her scythe once they were done. They were finishing up and that was all she needed from her achievements.

"One more chance to kill that one, An!''

The small purple-haired girl took out her last spider cider and drank. She didn't bother making an attack yet - after this, she was going to have her armor back on so no busybody guild leader would be there to judge her -- Ding! Ding! Arabelle tossed the plastic bottle to the side and smiled. There was nothing sweeter than the sound of finally being able to buy that Fallen weapon she had been eyeing~.

Oh, she hadn't answered An's question earlier, had she?

"There's a weapon in the list. Fallen, two slots of accuracy, and cursed. I'm going to train my incompetent familiar after this so my DMG stat wouldn't have to suffer."

~~BINGO BOOK

The small purple-haired girl was positively fuming. What was that woman thinking, flaunting her hand in front of her? Her anger was slightly pacified though, when it became evident the guild leader was about to leave. And directed them to go outwards in the process... as if they hadn't already learned that earlier. 

Claude looked over his shoulder and gave her a soft smile. "Stay safe, you two." And without another word, he pulled up his hood and disappeared, leaving his guild leader to charge back into the fray relatively alone.

This was fine.

"Don't go running toward something dangerous like that again, okay?" Oh, god, she didn't want to sound like Leah. Arabelle quickly backpedaled. "I'm sorry. I told you to lead me there but I didn't mean you should walk right up to it. But it's fine now. I'll be much clearer with you next time! And oh, about our objective? It's all good now too. I saw her leave."

Yeah, their entire venture had totally been pointless! But whatever, they had racked up a lot of kills because of that and were now a few more dead zombies away from finishing their objectives for some sweet achievement points! Arabelle patted An on the shoulder and pointed at another group of zombies. "...the usual?"

The usual entailed she did not wait for the answer before she charged right in with her scythe blazing.

~~BINGO BOOK

While An was practically falling apart, Arabelle remained mostly unbothered. She had gotten so used to that woman's insufferable yelling at this point that everything just sort of glanced off of her. She'd heard and said worse. What got her curious though, was An's familiarity with Leah and vice versa. Were they friends? Any other person and this would have been instantly unacceptable, but since this was the girl who'd stuck with her for the most part of the event... 

It could pass.

Arabelle glared back at the female guild leader.

I don't think you're wrong but I hate you so I'm obviously not going to agree.

"First of all, don't go mouthing off without context," she sighed, expression turning almost completely bored. "An joined our team earlier and I've been keeping her protected. All she has to do is to kill off the zombies at one HP." And keep the mob's attention for a time, but we're not going to talk about that. "So if you guys are friends or something, maybe that deserves some thanks? She's actually getting something from this event because of that. Second of all, if you had been playing close attention to that boss fight earlier and not just [censored] [censored] Claude--"

A hooded player landed softly on the ground behind Leah. Speak of the devil. "Uh, I'm really sorry to bother you both, but let's save the argument for later!" He shook off his hood, revealing a mess of fluffy pink hair that one wouldn't really expect out of a guy and a tired but urgent expression. "We still have to kill that big guy over there, you know."

She was sure he had been hoping to wait this out until she started to talk.

He drew closer to Leah and his voice dropped lower - not to a degree she couldn't hear though. "I wasted my stealth and someone missed his stun. It's dealing almost as much damage as before and they want the tank back."

Arabelle tapped her foot impatiently.

It's dangerous, so we're not going to jump in ourselves. That's what Arabelle said. And Arabelle thought that if you told someone that, they would be more cautious in approaching something like that. But nope! An went straight for the hole (:smirk:) with only a slight pause at the boss that was still alive. God, Arabelle was sure the frontliners had killed it earlier during the Rain Minion event. Maybe they weren't here. Maybe they were outside, completely unawares. But whatever the case, An was going right for the stage and Arabelle couldn't stop her.

"Hey! Hey, An! Stay back a bit!"

An only leaned in closer. A flash of black off to the side. Arabelle's eyes widened at the player who pulled herself up from the edge of the opening. Shiro-chan? She looked like a complete mess, but her silky black hair coupled with the iron gloves and boots were unmistakeable. The previously missing girl barely noticed them as she hopped off the stage and disappeared into the audience area, presumably heading for the concession stall where it was now the safest.

They went and found their missing teammate who barely even noticed them and didn't need any saving. It had all been pointless!!

Arabelle lamented, as the situation took a turn for the worse. The event boss roared and fell and for just a second, it looked like it was dead. But nope! It was a phase. It split into four smaller-sized but still large gargantuans and each went for a different direction. One went straight for An.

"An! Get back!"

She couldn't get any closer without getting hit herself. So she watched. Movement from the rafters. A familiar black ice exploding from a single point and expanding to cover almost half the mob, freezing it in place. And another... unfortunately familiar person moving her weaker teammate out of harm's way.

The woman dressed in black and red safely lowered An to the ground and turned to them, flames of rage practically burning in her red eyes.

Oh, woop dee do.

When An's mob fell, she waited. And waited a bit more.

Nothing.

Right when her energy was almost completely depleted. Arabelle swore some part of this event was all working in her favor--

Ahem. The small purple-haired girl sheathed her rapier and turned back to An. "There's one Demonic for each type of equipment. Obviously, you can't choose the enhancements yourself, but one constant I saw almost immediately is that all of them have the 'Cursed' enhancement. They tier up with you. The combinations of uniques and some normal enhancements are nothing to sneeze at either. Quite a good piece of equipment for a low-level like you, don't you think?" A pause. "No offense. But that's how it works. If you manage to get a hold of one right now, it'll give you a big boost."

Now that they were unbothered, it was time to check out the place An had mentioned. "Lead the way, An~. It's dangerous so we won't actually jump in ourselves but I just might if she's actually stuck in there."