Not the Bees... or Wasps, in this case! <Long Live the Queen> (Calrex)

[Greg Baxen 0]

In his bid to get stronger, to get Shizuka's attention, Greg came to floor 2 and accepted the quest <Long Live the Queen>! With that being said, Greg felt he needed help. As such, he once again searched for the Ultramarine Knight, Calrex, to enlist his aid. He had done this once before, to do <Blood in the Sand>, and hey, if it worked once, why won't it work again? Thinking about what he'll do once this is done, he promptly begins his search for Calrex.

[Calrex 0]

It wasn't long since the two departed from the fifth floor after defeating the <<Sand Shark>> that Calrex had appeared on the second floor. Like he had told Greg before he teleported, he would be over at the gates leading out of Urbus, all geared up and set to go, "I guess it's a really rare occasion that I actually change out my equipment, and when I do it's usually my weapon."

Activating his <<Reveal>> skill he quickly scanned, seeing that his teammate was making his way over as he gave a nod, waving over the young blonde as he gave a friendly face, "Alright then, all set to go. This one should be much faster than the shark. I can actually eliminate this particular field boss in one shot, but be careful, as there's always the chance she can possibly summon other wasps to her aid. When I first did this with Teayre we ended up fighting a couple more lesser monsters before making it out of the cave."

With that he shrugged his head in the direction of the gate before starting to head out of the settlement.

[Greg Baxen 0]

Greg had found Calrex by the gate... or more specifically, Calrex had found him. "Hey." he says, as Calrex approaches. Taking heed of Calrex's warning, Greg nods an affirmative. "This is floor two, though, and I am now level 10, so i should be okay, not to mention my evasion-enhanced coat, and, with those levels I got, I unlocked some new sword skills!" he says, cheerily. "Even better, one of them is an AoE skill, so i should be able to mow down most of the low-level foes."

[Calrex 0]

"Heh, so you've gotten a stronger area of effect skill? Good to hear. I figure this floor wouldn't be much of a challenge for the two of us, but it's still better to play it on the safe side and be careful."

Fully exiting the gates of Urbus Calrex led Greg in the direction of the field boss' location. Persisting his <<Reveal>> skill he was able to easily discern the hiding spots where many of the monsters on this floor were waiting for an ambush, easily leading the two out of the way of any distractions that might come their way. Eventually they arrived at the mouth of the cavern leading into a slight slope down into the ground, "This is where the queen spawns. If we can get the jump on her it's likely we can finish this off without drawing attention to any of her sentinels. All set?"

[Greg Baxen 0]

Greg followed Calrex's lead. He once again unsheathed his <Anneal Blade>, preparing for combat. Calrex asked if Greg is ready. "Ready when you are." Greg responded nodding an affirmative, as he was once again ready to start combat against a field boss. This time, the Queen Wasp. "With that being said, the Sentinels shouldn't be too much of a problem if we DO get their attention since we both have relatively powerful AoE skills (Yours vastly outstripping mine, of course)." he quips.

Edited November 13, 2015 by Greg Baxen

[Calrex 0]

ID: 38470
Battle Dice: 4 (Accuracy +3) = 7
Mob Dice: 3 Evasion +4) = -1
Loot Dice: 12 (Search and Detect +2 / Item +1) = 15 (Materials Found)
Sword Art <<Vorpal Strike>> (5 Energy Used / 43 Remaining)

Calrex gave a nod as Greg gave his ready signal, rushing forward. With his <<Reveal>> skill it was easy to pick out the field boss as the Grand Blade lit up with a pulsing yellow aura as he flew forward, unleashing <<Vorpal Strike>> as he pierced the queen in the abdomen. As the pulses of his aura moved forward it appeared as if it slammed into the creature, adding more damage to it before it dissipated into crystals.

Giving a calming breath he gave a nod to his teammate as he began to walk back, "Alright, well that's done and over with."

Loot List:
1 Material

HP List
Calrex: 197/197
   Energy: 43/48 (-5)
Greg: 40/40
   Energy: 10/10

Enemies:
Wasp Queen: 0/50 (10 DMG * 5 Art = 50 DMG)

Edited November 13, 2015 by Calrex

[Greg Baxen 0]

Greg wasn't as surprised this time, having already seen Calrex do ridiculous amounts of damage, but Greg still couldn't help but quip "Well, that was Anticlimactic.". He then begun to follow Calrex back. He never unsheathed his blade, though, just in case some monsters appeared. He found it quite amusing that these field bosses, who should have been quite hard, both the Sand Shark and Wasp Queen, were just one-shot by Calrex effortlessly.

[Calrex 0]

"Yeah, sorry about that. We'll finish this one up, but the quest is always available for the item the queen drops. Speaking of which..."

Swiping on his list Calrex made sure to send the quest item over to Greg as he gave a nod, "The item you get from this is the Matriarch's Stinger, which temporarily boosts your damage for one battle. It's useful in the earlier levels, but once you completely max out your damage you might want to start looking into higher rank damage potions and crystals that the alchemists create."

Reactivating his <<Reveal>> skill Calrex began to lead the two back out of the cavern. It wasn't long before they were back in the outside area surrounding the cave entrance as the Ultramarine Knight gave a sigh of relief, "Alright, we should be done here. Let's get starting making our way back to Urbus."

[Greg Baxen 0]

"Don't worry, i found it kinda funny how it appears, and tries to be threatening, but just gets tossed aside. Kinda reminds me of a character from an anime. What was his name? Mark or something like that?" Greg said, referring to Hercule of Dragon Ball Z. He chuckles at this. Calrex then gives him the Matriarch's Stinger,  and tells him that he should look into higher rank damage potions and crystals later,  but it would work for now. Greg nods. "Good advice." he says, giving Calrex a thumbs-up.

[Calrex 0]

"Heh, yeah I know what you mean/ Back when I was first starting out battles like this took more than twice as long as now. These creatures don't even pose a challenge any more. Hopefully some more new quests will pop up soon. I'm in need of some more skill points."

Calrex gave a friendly smirk as the two continued to walk across the field zone back towards Urbus, "In any case, it looks like we should be back soon, but I've got some spare time if you want to do some material gathering or something. Sometimes I go out and grab a quick drink and just relax for a little bit. Even though we're trapped in this death game, it's also important that we try to at least make the best of it, rather than being wrapped up in trying to get out."

[Greg Baxen 0]

"Yeah, you're right." Greg says in response to Calrex saying that people shouldn't get wrapped up in trying to get out of SAO and instead make the most out of it. "For example, pursuing feelings you have for someone." Greg says, once again reminding himself and Calrex why he was doing this. "Or living in a way you can't live in real life." he continues. "With all that being said, though, it should be a person's choice whether or not to live in a virtual world." Greg finishes.

[Calrex 0]

"Yeah, this type of thing should be left up to choice, not forced on us. But in any case you're right. To be honest, when I first got started in this game finding someone wasn't even on my radar, but after spending so much time with Teayre at times I'm surprised how blindsided I was by it, heh."

Putting his hands into his jacket pockets he looked up at the two passed through the gates of Urbus, heading back into the settlement, "I don't think there would ever be a way to simulate how we live in here out in the real world. There's too many factors that we are not able to take into account, which was not replicated at all in this game. But for now, this is our reality, at least until we get out of here."

[Greg Baxen 0]

"Yeah, that's true." Greg says... before he has a thought. "I wonder how long we'll take before we get outta here? Will our bodies age? Will humans hit the next big technological breakthrough before we get out of SAO?" he ponders. He deliberately did not mention family and friends for fear that would strike an emotional nerve in him or Calrex and cause them to break down. He didn't want THAT to happen.

[Calrex 0]

"Well, to be honest, my thought is that we are going to get out here, but the question is, as you said it really depends on when. I only started a little over a year ago with adventuring, but I've seen other players who have been going at it for another year on top of the that, and as you know we're only about to unlock the thirteenth floor. I'm partially hoping that there's some effort being done outside of SAO to get us out, rather than them simply hooking everyone up to life support and hoping we make it out."

Looking around he continued to admire the architecture of the buildings. If it was one thing that designers nailed, it was the beauty and hyper-reality of the game. Save the sixth and a couple other floors, many of the settlements had a certainly almost unrealistic charm to them.

[Greg Baxen 0]

"I'm hoping that too, but until then the best we can do is stay strong and try to make it out on our own." Greg says. "Though our biggest concern shouldn't be getting out of the game- it should actually be minimizing the casualties from this whole incident- in short, making sure that as few people as possible die." he summarizes. That was what he believed anyway- would there really be any point in escaping from the game if only one or two people survived?

[Calrex 0]

"Yeah, that's my main goal as well. It's probably why I decided to build as a bruiser rather than a full-on striker/glass cannon like Zelrius or some of the other frontliners. While clearing the floors is important, if we lose more lives in the process in a way the bad would outweigh the good. I would rather we got at a steady pace that ensures no one dies than attempt to rush and put others at risk."

With a nod Calrex gave a friendly smirk. It was true, originally he had intended to go down the path of a striker, focusing on attack and evasion, but after finding someone he wanted to protect with all of his might his progressed seemed to have incorporated mitigation, hate building, and damage halving techniques. It was only recently that he had actually finalized his build to some level, taking the <<Charge>> skill and solidifying his route as a lightning bruiser: A build which specialized in high stats all around.

[Greg Baxen 0]

"Glad we agree on that." Greg quipped. He was planning to go full-on damage, but he wondered if he should build kinda tanky like Calrex did, so he could protect Shizuka from danger. He decided he would do that later, and right now he needed the damage and evasion. He could build tankiness later, he figured, and once he did, he and Shizuka would be a very tough pair to defeat- with Shizuka providing the support and Greg taking the hate onto himself and inflicting the damage.

[Calrex 0]

Calrex gave a nod as Greg expressed his agreement on the bluenette's stance, "Once Greg start leveling up and reaching frontline levels he would probably do well. If he goes for a tankier build like I'm suspecting he's going to do, pairing up with a support would be a smart choice. Teayre and I together both have healing capabilities, but most of the area we excel at would be dealing damage, evading, and taking hits. It's too bad there's no such thing as combination techniques at the moment in SAO, but maybe that's something to be discovered."

Taking his hands out of his pockets he gave a small sigh, "So, in any case what is it you're going to do next? With these two quests done you should have almost enough skill points for another skill or leveling up another one."

[Greg Baxen 0]

"I'm gonna keep training. After all, if I don't, Shizuka's gonna totally eclipse me in strength and if that happens I can't protect her." Greg tells Calrex. "I mean, I do have a crush on her if I'm not flat-out in love with her already (Since honestly it's becoming kinda hard to tell), so it's only natural I'd want to protect her- as you do with Teayre." Greg continues. "Most importantly though I'm gonna tell her how I feel ASAP." He finishes.

[Calrex 0]

Calrex gave a smirk and a nod as he heard Greg speak, "Well, no matter what happens I hope things go well between you two. If you're going to keep training then I'll take off from here. Feel free to message me if you're in need of help again. Best of luck Greg."

With a parting wave the Ultramarine knight set off for the teleportation circle, giving a calming breath as he approached it, "Alright...I guess I'll stop by and see if she's in the shop before I get heading out for some more practicing. Next thing I'm going to work on is maxing my heavy armor skill..."