Chapter 4: Close Calls, and Relaxation
(West PoV)
“Hrah!” I punched the boulder in front of me and got the same result as last time…… nothing. I have been in this god forsaken cave two nights going on my third day, and to say the least, I am very agitated “Break already damn it!”
“You know Westy yelling won’t make it break any quicker.” A familiar voice called out from behind, Argo the Cat.
“I know that!” I whirl around, glaring at her. She giggled at my frustration “You’re not helping!”
“Well I can’t do anything to it either.” She replied with a shrug, “I can’t so much as move these boulders because I haven’t accepted the quest……..” I raised my eyebrow in anticipation “and nor do I plan too.” I hung my head in disappointment “Look at it this way Westy according the patch notes the ‘Martial Artist’ class was labeled under unique. So that means this is the only way to get it.”
“Really?” I raised an eyebrow at that, gaining my attention once more “I didn’t get to that part of the patch notes. All I remember is mostly the combining of skills with the secondary class that you can obtain at level 35.”
“This may be true, but there was a section that labeled off some unique Classes so that if players wanted to find them they have to do special quest lines for them. ‘Martial Artist’ is one of them.” She pointed out
“Ok hold on…” I raised my hand to stop her from continuing “Is this counting against my free info?”
She thought for a moment cocking her head to the side “No, but if want to know more about where the other class quests are then by all means you can use it up.”
I let out a relieved sigh “Well that’s all I was worried about.” I gazed around the cavern and turn my attention back to the boulder in front of me “Hrah!” I punched again once more.
According to the clock on my screen it was only half past noon. It would be time to stop for lunch here shortly. Yet Argo still hadn’t budged from her spot on top of my boulder. I really don’t know why she actually stuck around. I mean we can’t die from hunger in here, we’re just stuck with that feeling of hunger. I knew she only had limited supplies, and supplies aren’t necessarily cheap. Considering you can either farm it from mobs or buy it. Whichever fits your preference? Argo was a money girl, and that’s a fact. So this must be killing her budget having to feed two people from her reservoir. Then again I did bribe her to stay here with the information of the nickname I’m going to give her.
“Hey Argo if you wanna go ahead and start preparing lunch that would be great.” I let out a sigh in defeat of trying understand women.
“Sure thing Westy.” She jumped off the boulder walked over by the hut, while I refocused my attention on the boulder
“Now you’re going to break and you’re going to like it!” I swung my foot around and it moved slightly from its position……. It’s progress I suppose.
After a few more kicks and punches I stopped for lunch. As I walked over to the quest givers hut I checked the durability of my armor. It wasn’t in the greatest condition. I hadn’t been able to repair it since the boss fight with Illfang, and this seemingly pointless rock breaking was damaging in more. This was going to be one hell of a repair bill when I got back. I scrolled through my messages as well seeing if there were any new updates on our little group. I know that Diavel had switched to ‘Bowman’, Tycha had acquired some new shields, and Asuna had made friends with a local Blacksmith. That was good news at least, even though we are Beaters now officially having friends will be difficult, so the more the merrier. I also noted that they’ve leveled up some, about two levels each, and I really envied that but this situation was my own fault, though when this quest is completed it rewards a pretty good amount exp. Almost a whole level, speaking of which I still haven’t put in my ‘Skill Points’.
I opened up my skill menu, and found I have five ‘Skill Points’ to spend. I immediately put two in ‘Agility’, but the other three I debated. I gazed through the list of stats, and I put a point in for ‘Strength’, and a point in ‘Defense’. That still left me with one point, but before I put in the ‘Agility’ slot, I noticed another stat ‘Focus’. Odd I know that wasn’t in the Beta before.
“Hey Argo.” I spoke aloud, sitting on a nearby rock, which happened to be right next to Argo “Do you know anything about a ‘Focus’ stat?”
“Never heard of it.” Argo said absentmindedly
I rose an eyebrow at her and nudged her “Hey listen this is free info now c’mon. There’s a new stat here look.” I had officially grabbed her attention at the mentioning of ‘free info’, and she hovered my menu screen “See ‘Focus’, any clues?”
“That’s odd I don’t remember that in the Beta nor in the Patch notes but it has been awhile now.” Argo sat back down on her rock and brought her hand to her chin and tilting her head in thought. “I thought I would remember something like that. What does the info window say?”
“From what I can tell it’s similar to ‘Accuracy’” I responded gazing through the info box “But the thing is I don’t even remember seeing this when I achieved level 10, and onward.”
“Can you put a ‘Skill Point’ in it?” Argo questioned
I clicked on it, and sure enough it accepted it, and I didn’t feel any change “Well it took it, but now what?”
“Well first.” She grabbed a plate and handed it to me “Eat! It’s going to lose all its durability by the time we figure that thing out.”
“Alright, alright.” I grumbled, but took the plate gratefully. I have come to find out that Argo was actually willing to put time into the ‘Cooking’ craft who knew…… hehe that’s right me! I took a leisurely bite from my meal, and noticed that Argo was staring at me. I rose an eyebrow at her “You gonna eat? I would recommend so your ‘Cooking’ craft is getting better.”
She blushed slightly and quickly turned and grabbed her own plate “R-right!” and thus had begun to eat. It was a comfortable silence between us, just like it had been the past two days.
I finished my meal, and stretched my arms above my head working out kinks from sleeping on the ground. I let a content sigh, and stood back up and made my way back over the boulder I had previously been ‘fighting’ against. Deciding to give my hands a rest I decided to focus on kicking this time around. I closed my eyes, visualizing how the process would go. Taking my stance I opened my eyes, and rotated my upper body while sliding my foot. The rest of it was a blur. The next thing I knew my foot, which was coated in blue light, had smashed the boulder right in front of me. Finishing the spin I stood there in a daze, and questioned what had just happened. 1) I had ‘visualized’ the skill, and I’ve never done that before, 2) I had just activated a ‘Martial Artists’ sword skill, and 3) I had finally destroyed that Aincrad forsaken boulder.
“How did you do that?!” Argo yelled running over to me with wide eyes
“I…. don’t really know.” I responded still shocked, I turned to face another boulder, and repeated the process “Ok, visualize the motion.” I mumbled to myself and sure enough I saw the visual, but I didn’t close my eyes… I saw it in front of me. I moved my foot back following the motion, and my foot glowed once more, and following the image and letting the system guide me. Sure enough it broke “Well I dare say I completed this quest.”
“But how are you doing that?” Argo questioned me seriously “The standard amount of time to complete this quest is about five days give or take.”
I pondered this for a moment “It may be due to the ‘Focus’ stat that I put a skill point in. I’ve never been able to actually visualize a skill action before. Though it’s not the clearest image I’ve seen before. I mean it could be distracting have that their but if you can get used to it I definitely could see it being helpful.”
Argo was busy writing down notes, and I think I could see her drooling “This is great Westy! When people get to level 35 this info will public…. For a price that is.”
While she was still lost in her fantasy of all the money she would get, I grabbed a cloth from my inventory and got in her face “Geez I know you’re about the same age as me, so there’s no need to drool, good grief.” I wiped her face and it broke her out of her reverie, and I was left staring into her beautiful green eyes once more.
It felt like an eternity and neither of us moved until “Well done my student…”
“Gah!!!” we both yelled leaping back from each other
“You have completed your trial, and I have taught you all that I can, the rest is up to you to find out on your journey. May it be full of adventure, happiness, and compassion.” The NPC chuckled at the end, and went back to his hut.
We both watched the old man walk away, and I felt a pang of sadness inside me “I know he’s just an NPC but I’m sure he is lonely.”
Argo was still remaining silent and I gazed down at her. Her hood was pulled up so I couldn’t see her face “Yeah I agree.” She said finally before turning around “Well let’s get going I’m missing on all the new info, and I need to buy more supplies.” She walked off without another word towards the river bank.
I watched her walk away wondering what happened to her mood. I fell in step behind her until we reached the river. I kneeled down and cupped some water in my hands and washed my face. They faded away from my skin, and standing up I stretched and took one last look at my surroundings. I knew it would probably be the last time I would visit this place.
“Hey Westy c’mon!” Argo called over
“I’m comin’.” I turned around and jogged to where she was standing. It was the caves exit, but there was one problem: “Oh you can’t be serious Argo.”
“Indeed I am.” She replied with a smile “I’ll race you.”
“You’re on.” I grinned, stood next to her and took my position
I counted down to three, and off we jumped into the water. I let the water do the work by moving into its currents, while Argo relied on her ‘Agility’ stat. I started to use my own skills when I saw light in the distance. According to Argo it was supposed to be low drop outside of entrance meaning a small waterfall. Yet the sound coming from outside sounded like it a bigger drop. This is not good.
“Argo!” I yelled out over the water, and she turned to me “I think the drop may have changed!”
“What?” Argo called out, but she still couldn’t hear me, and now the sound was getting louder as we drew closer to the exit.
“Shit!” I swam over to Argo as quickly as I could, but she still thought we were racing and tried to speed up “No, stupid, what are you doing?!”
I had managed to catch up to her when reached the exit. We were launched from the edge, and it felt like had slowed down. We were really high, and I didn’t know how deep that pool of water at the bottom was. As we began to fall I didn’t scream, I didn’t panic, all I did was reach out to Argo and pulled her into my arms. I turned my back to the ground as we fell to the floor. We collided into the water’s surface being engulfed into the blue unknown. I don’t remember what happened after that. Even though we don’t feel pain, that pressure was enough for me to sink into black sea of unconsciousness.
Field Boss (Scouting)
Luna’s PoV
“So a giant bull huh?” I spoke aloud to our group.
“Yeap.” Tycha nodded in affirmative
Diavel was looking through the Beta guide “Says here it’s mostly a charging monster, with an occasional stomp stun for people who don’t move away in time.”
“So this is a rather straightforward fight right?” Asuna replied dryly
“That would have been the case but I don’t know if we can even get close with the current ‘front lines’ clearing team.” Tycha air quoted
We had been scouting for the field boss for the past couple of days now, while doing quests in between. Sure enough it was right where it was supposed to be in a place referred to as the ‘Cookpot’. Natural stone walling encircled a decently sized area where the field boss made its home. Unfortunately this time around Kayaba had decided to put mobs inside of the ‘Cookpot’ with the boss. This would make it difficult to handle, and to split up the groups with the current amount of tension everyone had…. To say the least it didn’t look like it would end well.
There was also something that was weighing on everyone’s minds, West still wasn’t back yet, and it was going on the third night. If the current rate of progression was going to continue then this floor was going to be cleared within the week so long as the field boss gets cleared by tomorrow. That’s the goal anyway, but we weren’t going to join that fight unless we had West there to guide us. Diavel may be a good spotter, but no one knows us like West does.
“So Tycha back to town?” I glanced at him still examining the field carefully taking in all the information he could
“Yeah.” He grunted and stood up and motioned us to follow “Let’s get back to town maybe West is there. I would like to give this info to Argo if I could.”
“Indeed she is quite the resourceful one, and even though she’s better known her prices aren’t the most expensive.” Diavel chimed in
Tycha grunted “Yeah that’s true enough unless you want to know about other players, but you know I think that’s a fair enough trade as is.”
With that we continued on in silence. No one wanted to address the elephant in the room, what could have happened to either of them. We didn’t want to check our friends list in the fear of the worst but there was definitely times we wanted to. West hasn’t responded to any of our messages, and Argo hasn’t been seen around at all. It just didn’t sit well, but we had faith even if we were stuck in this game. Not all numbers can be calculated.
Underwater Cavern
Argo PoV
This was not what I call a decent margin of safety. I also know that this dungeon was not here when the Beta test was in session. I knew it was I did one hundred percent completion on this floor. Yet here we are in this underwater dungeon, named ‘Underwater Cavern’. Compared to the monsters in here the cows were a welcome sight.
“Hrah!” West yelled out and slashed two arrows that had released at us.
The two humanoid fish like creatures wielded bows, and short swords. We had been stuck in here for a whole day from our little fall. We had fallen deep enough to fall through a dungeon portal and the entrance was located on the ceiling with no visible way back up it. So we had no choice but to walk through. I could only hope that this dungeon wasn’t the floor dungeon otherwise we were screwed majorly. We couldn’t send messages in here, and neither could receive any. So we were stuck here until we cleared this dungeon.
“Switch!” West called out after closing the distance with fishmen and stunned them
I ran forward and whipped out my dagger. It glowed red as I activated <
“Oh no you don’t!” West yelled his swords glowing yellow using <
His sword swung upward striking the sword from the monster’s hand, and brought down the other sword slicing clean through. It shimmered as a static image before shattering before us. West leaned against the wall trying to catch his breath, while I sat on the floor next to him. Our levels were decently above level of this dungeon, but it was sorely the fact that this was taxing on the mind, and if we even misjudged the amount of aggro we pulled it was game over.
“The mobs are getting stronger.” West said aloud his voice echoing throughout the halls “Must mean we are getting close to the boss room, and the portal out of here.”
“Hopefully that’s the case.” I grumbled. At times like these I really found it hard to be optimistic.
“Hey now.” West chided me “We are getting out of here.” He placed his hand on my hood and ruffled my hair.
I looked up at him, and surprisingly enough he was smiling at me confidently “How can you be so sure?”
He looked away at the other side of the tunnel “I’ve come too far now to stop.” He chuckled aloud “Yeah it may only be level two, but I have friends, and a guild to be to take care of.” He glanced down at me and smiled “Also I have to take care of you. You seem to get yourself in quite some trouble.”
My face heated up at his last comment, and pouted “Well sorry, for doing what I know how to do.”
West chuckled and stood back up beckoning me to continue our two man dungeon clearing mission. Hopefully we can just run through the portal and get out, I don’t know if we could fight off a dungeon boss by ourselves. Then there’s the current state of West’s gear, his swords still haven’t been repaired. He wouldn’t tell me his current durability, but I knew he checked it after every mob. We walked down the tunnel cautiously, waiting for mobs to come out. West had his swords at the ready, as I had my dagger at the ready. Until we arrived at approximately ten foot tall door. It would seem that we have arrived at the boss’ room.
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West stared at the door before nudging it open with his foot and took a step back as the doors swung open eerily quiet. We walked forward cautiously eyeing for any potential movement. As we entered further into the dungeon, the door swung quietly closed and the room activated it’s fight algorithm. On the far side of the room a portal shimmered to life as single monster dropped from the ceiling, landing with a loud crash. To our dismay the floor cracked under his feet. The water below illuminated, and revealed high level shark monsters, and other fishmen monsters. This was boss fight designed to quickly burn down the boss before he destroyed the floor. The boss was a giant fishman whose upper body represented an Angler fish, so more than likely it had hypnotism stuns.
“I’ll distract it, you run for the portal.” West said calmly, and I looked at him incredulously
“What do you mean you’ll distract him?!” I shouted at him “You couldn’t even handle the first boss alone you nearly died!”
“You don’t think I don’t know that!” He shouted at me, and it stunned me. “I know my limits Argo, but we can’t afford another crashing step by that portal if it happens it truly is game over.” He nudged me on the shoulder and smiled “I still plan on getting out of here, wait for me alright?”
“How can you stand there and smile?” I thought to myself, before I choked back tears “You better get out of here alive West, I want to know that nickname.”
He chuckled lightly and nodded with a smile. Turning to face the boss he positioned himself and ran towards the boss yelling gaining the boss’ attention and aggro. Leading him in the opposite direction I was running. I reached the portal with relative ease, before I turned to watch West facing off against the boss. The boss was wielding a trident and thrusting it at West who caught it with his swords between the points. His face showed struggle, but he looked over at me and gave me a determined smirk. I walked into the ripple trying to contain my tears, before turning around one last time to see his swords shatter underneath the weight of the trident.
In a flash of blue I was outside of a cave, the night sky glinting above, but the portal was not there. I fell to my knees, tears flowing down my face “West……… NOOOO!!!”
Main Floor Town
Tycha’s PoV
It was now the fourth day that West has been gone. It was also the day that the field boss was going to be cleared, and we somehow got ‘persuaded’ into helping out besides the fact we didn’t have our current party leader. I was troubled enough of the fact that West wasn’t here, but also troubled I wasn’t able to give the info to Argo like I had originally had intended. In fact no one had seen her for days. So at ten this morning we were milling around town waiting for the field boss clearing group to gather. We were all gathering at the center to clear the field boss in thirty minutes.
“Gear repaired?” I asked
“Yeap.” Luna responded
“Potions stocked?” I asked
“Safety Margin achieved.” Diavel acknowledged
“’Skill Points’ well used?” I asked
“In preferred areas.” Asuna replied quietly
I nodded in approval, and like that we fell back into silence. Like the day before we refused to acknowledge the elephant in the room. There was nothing we could do at this point, but hope for his return. We absolutely refused to look at the friends list. West’s party name icon was grayed out signaling he was in a different zone, and was not gaining experience….. or that he was dead. Of course we held our hope that he would come back.
“I’m surprised you guys showed up.” A familiar gruff voice called out, and it belonged to none other than Kibaou. “Figured you would go ahead and take care of it yourself.”
I glared at him “No sorry to disappoint you.”
“Hmph.” Kibaou huffed as his group gathered behind him, and he looked around “Where’s that punk West? Shouldn’t he be here?”
“He’s gone missing.” Diabel replied bluntly staring at Kibaou “We don’t know where he is.”
“Hmph. Figures, probably ditched you guys and went on his ow… HEY LET GO!!” Kibaou had begun to insult but instead was being held by his collar by Luna
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence.” Luna growled
“Hey let me go! Are you some kind of crazy man?!” Kibaou yelled out struggling in her grip
I saw Luna’s eyes widen in anger and she slammed him into the ground with a loud thud. A small window appeared saying Immortal Object on the ground “I’m not a crazy man.” And got into his face and answered darkly “I’m a crazy woman.”
The look on his face to say the least was priceless. It was pure fear, but before it could last to long I yanked Luna back getting her off of Kibaou as he got up and brushed himself off. Luna was seething, but she was trying to calm herself down.
“What’s going on here?” A newer voice called out to the two groups.
We looked in the direction of the voice and found it was Lind “Ahh Lind pleasure to see you.” Diabel said with a smile, but one could tell it was merely out of courtesy
“I’m sure.” Lind replied bluntly, and faced Kibaou “Quit stirring up trouble we need all the help we can get. They’ll be handling the mobs anyway, you know this.”
“Yeah yeah.” Kibaou grunted a little peeved that he was being in charge “So let’s get this show on the road.”
After a last minute run through of the plan the three groups went off to tackle the field boss. On their way there a few mobs came out and attacked but were dispatched quickly by our group. Since we were on Mob duty that also meant on the road. As we approached the ‘Cookpot’ a small figure walking in the distance. I would recognize that form anywhere.
“Hey.” I gathered the attention of everyone “That’s Argo!” and I to her, as I approached I saw her armor and it was in dire need of repair, but the most prominent thing was her eyes, they were sorrowful and dull. “Oi Argo!” I called out getting her attention
She looked up and fell to her knees “Tycha.” She spoke hoarsely
With our group behind me, and the raid group catching I spoke to Argo quietly “What’s wrong Argo?” but at that point I realized one person was missing…. West
She looked at me with tears forming in her eyes “He’s…. h-he’s… I don’t know.” She choked out and she recollected the events that transpired
They were in a secret questing hub that West ‘paid’ to find out where it was. After completing the questing hub, they had taken the only exit, but unlike in the Beta it was a longer drop from the waterfall, and just with enough force they crashed into the pool of water deep enough to enter through a new dungeon zone. There they had proceeded in trying to clear their way through the dungeon. Ending up at the boss room where he got the boss’ attention so that Argo could escape. Then lastly mentioning the last thing she saw was his blades shattering before she teleported. That was last night, and she waited for two hours for him to come out, but to no avail.
I couldn’t believe it, I just couldn’t believe it. The one person I thought that would make it to the end of the game still smiling would be West of all people. Sure we may look like bad guys now, but in time who knows we may very well had a good group of people. Yet now all that shattered before us. He had Fallen while saving Argo, probably the one he began to care about in this damn death game. The two other parties were in shock, and stood there awkwardly at the sudden news. They knew better than to doubt the info from Argo the Rat, and I’m sure Kibaou is probably kicking himself in the ass, but I just don’t care.
I looked over at Luna whose face had gone dull, and lifeless. Asuna’s face was in a state of disbelief, and Diabel’s showed sadness, and sorrow. I felt all these things, but yet there was something that we needed to do.
“We can call of the raid for another day.” Lind spoke to me “To let you….”
“No.” I bluntly stated while standing back up. The others looked at me in shock, I could feel their stares. Including the ones from Lind’s and Kibaou’s group
“Are you sure, I know this must be kind of nerve breaking.” Lind tried to reason again
“No.” I bluntly stated once more “We will fight, and in West’s place we fight to protect the players, and further progression in this game.” I gazed back at our party “If you guys are willing I say we fight.”
I looked at Asuna and Diabel, and they both looked unsure of what to do until Luna stepped forward “I agree.” She stated “West will want us to keep moving, so we will fight.” She looked back at the other two.
They looked at each other and nodded in solemn agreement. Lind looked at us and nodded “Very well.” He turned to the group “Alright for the remainder of the trip we are on Mob duty!”
“Roger!” His grouped called out
“It’s the least we can, at least let us do that.” Lind turned back around looking at us, I merely nodded and he walked away
“Argo come with us for the time being so we can take you home after this.” I spoke to her quietly beckoning her to come with us.
She meekly nodded and stood up “Fine.” Her voice was distant, and hollow.
Our grouped walked along in silence. The shields on my arms felt heavy and my shoulders felt one hundred times heavier, as if the world had just cascaded down upon me. This was the burden of trying to keep moving forward. This was the burden of a leader, and he wore it all the time, and still smiled. Yet even right now as I held that mantle, I just couldn’t bring myself to smile. Not one little bit.
Field Boss Zone ‘Cookpot’
Third Person PoV
The raid party approached the ‘Cookpot’ in caution expecting anything to come charging out at them from any direction. The boss’ form of attack was simple, charging dashes meant to be taken by the tanks, and stomp stuns. As the two of the three parties did a last once over of their inventory one group was off on the side in a gloomy silence. After receiving the grim news of their best friend and party leader was more than likely dead, they had still decided to fight in this raid. Yet if one were to look closer at them you could tell they were merely holding on by mere threads of determination. The ‘Samurai’s’ face was dull and devoid of emotion, while the ‘Bulwark’s’ face was fixed, and held within it was pain. The ‘Fencer’ and ‘Bowman’ didn’t know how to act, for they both didn’t know their leader all that well, but they knew that the others were very close to him.
“Alright listen up!” The raid leader called out gathering everyone’s attention “Parties A and B will be switching out their tanks after every charge. While each teams DPS will be fighting non-stop to wear him down. Team C your job is to dispatch the enemy mobs, and if possible lend any kind of assistance in bringing down the boss’ HP when the mobs have been taken care of.” Everyone nodded in agreement “Alright let's go!”
Following into line the group jogged into the ‘Cookpot’, and like that field boss fight had begun. The three teams split apart but yet Team B did not separate much and taunted the boss first. Even though it was agreed upon that Team A was to engage first due to prior agreements. Though now was not the time to argue, but to keep your head level as you fought for your life. While on the other side of the ‘Cookpot’ Team C was fighting off the mobs. There were a total of five mobs concentrating themselves upon Team C. The ‘Bulwark’ was using every skill at his disposal to stun or redirect attacks, while the rest of Team C did their best to wear down the enemies.
In the distance overlooking the ‘Cookpot’ one lone figure stood their gazing down at the raid. His armor was tattered, worn, and the scabbards on his back were empty. His eyes were weary, and he was mentally exhausted, but yet through all of that he managed to smile.
“So they are still fighting huh?” his voice was raspy, and dry. As he continued to watch he noticed that the far off team had finished off the mobs and were taking their Potions break. While also noticing that there were players taking unnecessary risks. He let out a sigh and shook his head and started running down to the ‘Cookpot’. “I can’t catch a break with these people.”
Inside of the ‘Cookpot’
Tycha’s PoV
I was catching my breath, drinking a potion getting back my health when I first noticed Team B’s antics “Are they stupid?!”
Luna knew what I was talking and agreed with me “I can’t believe they would do something so stupid, this is not the time to take risks.”
Team B, including Kibaou, were dealing dangerous hits to the boss before it would turn and use a stun charge at the tanks. It stupid, idiotic, and reckless to do that did they not learn anything from their times here. No of course not all they wanted was to get the ‘Last Attack’ Bonus. As my health was almost at full our worst fear had come to fruition. A player had misjudged his timing on the boss and the boss turned throwing back the player in its field of charge. No amount of taunt would be able to pull the boss off the player.
Damn it all! I yelled under my breath and charged in
“Tycha! No!” Luna yelled and tried to stop me, but I was already running as fast as I could
I ran, and ran, activating my ‘Shield Skill’ <
I felt fear course through my veins. I couldn’t move, I was paralyzed on the spot. All I could do was watch the boss charge at me. I closed my eyes until I heard the faint sound of ‘Skill Que’. As my eyes opened a blue flash of light came into my field of vision colliding with the boss’ snout and redirecting it far enough so it charged past the prone players. My eyes drifted slowly upwards, taking in every little detail. Tattered black cloak, two empty scabbards on the back, and shaggy black hair. It couldn’t be………..
“West….” My voice was quiet “Is that you?”
His body jerked a bit before turning his face to me revealing a smile “Well I have to say I have some ‘peccable timing don’t you think?”
I stood up quickly realizing my paralysis was gone “But how, how are you here? Argo said that…”
“Later Tycha.” West grinned at me determined, but lets finish of this boss before they do anything more stupid.”
“Even now he’s continuing to smile, and fight.” I thought to myself, before I looked at him with a determination “You got it.”
“Everyone!” West called out turning back to his party “Let’s show them what we're made of!” With that he started running to the boss with the rest of Team C behind him.
We couldn’t believe it, he was alive! I could see tears in Luna’s eyes and light had returned back to Asuna and Diabel. Yet we were all still battle mode, and we weren’t going to stop now. We’ll rejoice later, right now we had a job to do.
Both Teams A and B were rotating back and forth when we joined the fray. West was using skills I hadn’t seen him use before. His hands, and feet were lighting up, and his moves were fluid and calculated excellently. As the fight continued we were pushed further and further towards the ‘Cookpot’ entrance. We couldn’t leave the zone, if we did the boss would ‘Reset’ and we would start from square one. We had come too far now, and so all of Team C went into DPS. The boss’ last HP drained down quickly and when it hit red it didn’t have time to go berserk. At that moment every single player went in and attack at the same time ending the boss’ life. The person who had the last attack bonus was none other than Lind leader of the raid and Team A. Much to Kibaou’s anger and frustration, yet none of that didn’t matter anymore.
West was standing back towards the entrance of the ‘Cookpot’ his arms crossed with a determined smile on his face as we all walked toward him. It still hadn’t really sunk in yet that he was alive. We all stopped in front of him, with only one person missing was Argo. I hadn’t paid much attention to where she went I hoped she was safe.
“Hey everyone.” West sheepishly rubbed the back of his head “How you doOOOFFFF!”
He was suddenly tackled the ground by a smaller object…no person, who was crying “I thought you were dead!” It was Argo, she had her arms wrapped around him sobbing “I waited. I waited! I waited for you and you didn’t come out! I saw your swords shatter!” Argo wailed at him, while he looked down at her with a sad smile
“Hey I’m sorrACK!!” The rest had piled on him in a group hug “Guys, guys! I can’t breathe!” We ignored him, we didn’t want to let him go “Alright, I'm sorry, I’m sorry!” Slowly but surely we got off him except Argo was still slightly crying.
Luna rubbing the last few tears from her eyes finally spoke “Argo told us what happened West how did you make it out?”
West looked at us with serious expression “Well it definitely wasn’t easy.”
Flashback
West’s PoV
My swords shattered before me, and without a second hesitation I gripped the trident with my bare hands. I gazed at my health bar, and noticed it very slowly falling down. I threw the trident to the side, and with the image of the ‘Martial Artist’s’ skill queuing launched my fist at the boss sending him back a few steps. Sure enough the boss stomped down on the floor, and cracked it underneath him.
“I can’t let him break it not with those fishmen down there.” I thought to myself, and I gazed over to where the portal was, but it was no longer there. “Great.” The boss charged me again, and punched again knocking him back “He’s too easily pushed back, his defense is weak but that means he’s easily agitated.”
Much to my dismay he stomped again but the floor didn’t shatter. In fact it just cracked some more because it did not land where it had before. Which meant that so long as I kited him slowly and damaged him as much as I could then I could win. So that is what I did. Pulling him ever so slightly around the circular room carefully gauging his distance. No mobs were attacking so the dungeon algorithm was based around us not paying attention to the cracking floor.
Dodge. Punch. Kick. Move. Block. Rinse and repeat. I don’t know how long I did this before his health reached into his last HP bar, and into the red. I gazed at my health bar, it was dangerously close to red, and so grabbed a potion, and drank up keeping my eyes on the boss….. I realized that was my last potion. So this had to be it, and I had to milk it for all its worth. The Boss then enraged causing the mobs from below to be enraged, but they couldn’t do anything as long the floor remained intact. The boss’ speed increased so much that my ‘Focus’ stat couldn’t picture a counter correctly. It’s fish collided into my chest sending me back, and I tucked into a roll as to not damage the floor. The boss charged again but ignoring the image I acted on my own instinct. Using my leg I tripped the boss, and as it was free falling I activated the ‘Martial Artists’ skill <
Flashback End
West’s PoV
“So after that I don’t remember much.” I remember waking up outside on top of a hill with a cave behind me.” I pointed off in the horizon “Around over there, and deep in mob territory too.”
“But your cursor was blacked out.” Tycha pointed out
“Like I said I was deep in mob territory, so I had to use my stealth skill with the aid of the cloak it made it easy but I still had to be slow.” I explained “Though I did send you guys messages, I was curious as to why you didn’t respond.”
They all opened their windows except Argo who was still wrapped around my chest. Sure enough they sheepishly rubbed the back of their heads after seeing my messages. I shook my head in exasperation, what will I ever do with them?
“You could have just checked from your friends list to you know.” I pointed out, but their faces got sullen
“We just didn’t want to believe it.” Luna responded sadness evident in her voice
“I see.” I murmured “Well that’s all done and done.” I looked back down at Argo “Hey Argo I kept my promise didn’t I? I made it out.”
Argo seemingly having calming down “Idiot, you made me break rule number one.”
“What’s rule number one?” I asked curiously
“That one will cost ya.” She replied quietly with a slight blush
I chuckled and shrugged “Guess it will remain a secret.”
“You owe me nickname mister.” She shoved a finger in my chest pouting slightly
“Alright alright.” I chuckled and leaned in and whispered You’re not a rat, to me you are Argo the Cat, a woman with feline grace. With claws to prove her strength, and intellect to fool anyone around her. With that I leaned away and her face was burning red as she tried to hide her face in her hood
“T-t-that’s j-just b-between us. G-got it!” She pointed at me stuttering, which I found strangely cute
I chuckled, and ruffled her hair “Yeah, yeah you got it. Just between you and me.”
“Ahem” a collective outburst from my friends
“Sorry for interrupting this lovely banter.” Asuna spoke to me “But can we just go home? You look and smell like some lost hobo.” Asuna deadpanned, and I felt like was struck in the side
“Oi, oi Asuna that hurts you know.” I rubbed the back of head
Everyone laughed, and I was genuinely happy. I felt terrible for making them worry about me like that, it wasn’t what I wanted at all. I’m supposed to make sure they can smile, laugh, and be who they want to be. Not the sad mess they were today, and especially Argo. I think, and I really do think I like her. I don’t know why, and I don’t care. I may get annoyed, I may get angry, agitated, but she makes me laugh, smile, and feel the warmth inside my heart. In any case though I should really repair my cloak I really don’t want to lose it.
“Though I do agree, sadly though I need to repair my gear first, and see something getting two new swords.” I sighed and felt the two empty scabbards on my back
“Don’t worry West with the current rate of progression we’ll be on floor three in no time, and you’ll get some good blades.” Diabel chimed in with a smile
I looked over at him, and smiled “Yeah you’re right, but still I really liked those swords.”
After chatting a bit longer we all headed back to town, and I was finally able to repair my gear, and Argo was able to restock, repair, and catch up on all the info that she missed. Her usual demeanor had returned and departed with us at the gate going to print off some guides. As we walked home it was full of light chatting about what we would all do at the farmhouse. I was given the privilege of taking the first bath which I took gratefully. After sinking in the bathtub full of nice hot water. I was finally able to relax, and felt all sorts of muscles unclenching, and releasing.
“Sometimes I truly think I get myself in more trouble than I really should.” Was my last thought I sank further into the tub in sheer bliss.