//------------------------------// // Episode 64 — Star Spiders // Story: EQG: Sword Art Online - Ruby Palace // by Mindrop //------------------------------// Episode 64 — Star Spiders Fifteenth Day in the Month of Willow (March 15) in the Year of the Griffon Floor 42 - Front Line Floor 57 Natora was glad to have some direction. A day off was nice. Two days off got a bit weird, but they could handle it. Three days in a row, well she didn’t know what to do with that. Being in the Assault Team had conditioned her against taking that much time off, no matter how deserved it was.   She wasn’t alone with not wanting to pick flax, no matter how important it was. It would have to take more than armor for Bladescape to get her to do such a repetitive and boring task. They could pay others to do it. Others struggling would gladly pick flax for fair pay instead of hunting monsters. Certainly their team was not alone in the flax fields on Floor Sixteen. But Knightstar, Soryuto, and Doombunny wanted to help and wanted to pick the flax, so Natora wasn't going to argue. Malus probably would have joined them, but she was off fishing, gone before they had asked Bladescape if they could help in any way.  When Natora had notified Malus of the extension of their break, Malus’ message simply gave the time she would be back and “DND”. Malus would slip out to fish in the evenings at times, sometimes overnight, but those short excursions were just that. The times when Malus had dictated that she would be out of communication unless there was an emergency, those were odd. It was the third time she had done it, but she deserved it. She threw that heavy shield around without a single complaint, carrying many of their battles to victory on her broad shoulders. Even though she did little damage, she was the reason they succeeded. Plus, she had taught both Diemond and Reisenki to stand stronger than most tanks.  Still, one day picking flax was more than enough for her, and Natora had been twiddling away the rest of the extended break by hunting Echecara, a very agile and elusive species of feline which were unlike anything in the real world. They were small, too—easily hiding in the grass. They had a hiding skill, meaning they could bed down and their cursor would disappear unless the player’s Search skill was high enough. Their claws had come up as enhancement materials for Doombunny’s knives, Thunderborne’s backup rapier, and Soryuto’s sword when Soryuto had enhanced its quickness. The claws only dropped a quarter of the time. Still, a day and a half of doing that had given them a hefty number. Natora had been hunting them with Reisenki, Kiefer, and Thunderborne. They kept what they expected to need for Thunderborne, but sold the rest to Siel, a merchant who specialized in enhancement materials..  But now the Wondercolts were not directionless as a guild. They were trekking through the Gnarled Forest, trying to find the ruins of the Castle of the Two Kings. Inside the Star Spiders were nesting and they needed their silk for Bladescape’s armor. They were down two of their three tanks, but that was no cause to be concerned. This would likely be a hunt requiring agility, something both Malus and Diemond were poor at. It was also good to be together again, after three days. Not seeing Bladescape over that period had been very weird for Natora. She hadn't been able to debrief with her leader. The overnight training sessions usually allowed Natora and Bladescape to privately convene for at least a few minutes, if they needed to.  The info they had bought said they would have to kill the spiders, which would drop the silk gland. There was no other way to get the silk gland. Doombunny wasn’t happy about that, she never was a fan of hunting, although when she had to it seemed to drive her rage. She couldn’t do anything about their need to hunt except help them harvest. It was the system, not their fault or choice. Ashley would do whatever she needed to in order to spin the silk gland into thread. Their group finally broke through the forest’s branches and snares and found themselves facing a ruined castle with two spires; one in the east and one in the west. A sharp ravine split the ground between them and the front gate. The fall was enough that they wouldn’t want to test if they could survive it. Stretched across it was an old rope bridge with sketchy wooden boards to walk across. “I feel like I have been here before,” Bladescape said. “Duh,” Konpeito said. “You have. Or maybe you haven’t? We have though. This is almost exactly like our trip to find Nightmare Moon. Wow, that was a really long time ago.” “Nightmare Moon?” Thunderborne asked. “Uh, we never did that.” “Yes you have!” Konpeito asserted. “I was there with you.” Natora rolled her eyes. Konpeito was once again mixing up dreams with reality; any reality. She was surprisingly good at remembering mythology and folklore that she knew, as well as knowing that they were simply legends. The state of their group at any given moment was something Konpeito often mixed up. Yet she had a running count of something and always knew what number she was on. All they had to do was ask what the number was and she would tell them.  “Nightmare Moon?” Bladescape asked. “Konpeito, as in our Out-of-Town Friend’s Nightmare Moon? A legend from there?” Natora knew what they meant by “Out of Town Friends,” which made some more sense. It still didn’t answer how Konpeito could remember being somewhere she had never been. And that was ignoring the fact that she was mixing dimensions up. “Duh,” Konpeito argued. “Why can’t you keep up? Yes, there. All of us, except for you Bladescape, went on an epic adventure there. And we have visited more often too! I found out I can play the pipe organ in the Castle of the Two Sisters.” “Konpeito,” Thunder said, trying to sort her out. “If we didn’t do it, but that is from that town, then our friends did it, not us.” “No,” Konpeito chuckled. “We did it. If we go there, then you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. We are them and they are us. They did it, so we did it. Like two sides of the same coin! I really hope they weren't doing anything important when we all got trapped in here.” “Konpeito,” Bladescape groaned. “No, Pinkie Pie. I mean Pinkie Pie. Pinkie, they are from another dimension. Di-men-sion. Not virtual reality. The NerveGear exists in our dimension and it can’t cross into their dimension.” Konpeito rolled her eyes. “You just don’t get it because both sides of your coin are with us, not split between Equestria and CHS.”  “Let’s just drop this,” Knightstar said, trying to fix her non-existent glasses. That nervous habit still happened at times. Natora couldn't help but find it cute. “Arguing over this won’t get us anywhere. Right now, we need to cross the rickety bridge." “I’ll go first!” Thunderborne declared. “To make sure it's safe.” No one argued against that and Thunderborne made it across without any incident. The bridge was solid. It simply looked worse than it was. They took the steps up to the double doors. The doors were solid hardwood and still intact. They pulled them open and Bladescape led them into the long hall. The roof was mostly missing. The center had a wide, red carpet rolled out to the thrones. The left throne was blue and had a moon as its symbol. The right throne was gold and had a sun symbol on the back. Each of them had separate stairs up to the throne balcony. Above them were old tapestries that were worn and torn, each with their own symbol. Hallways branched off to the side, mirroring each other. This throne room might be the only room that the two kings shared. The throne room had no spiders in it. The side hallways showed not just the wear and tear of the ages, but old webs as well. They split into two parties and divided the castle. Bladescape took Konpeito, Doombunny, and Reisenki and explored the golden sun side. Natora took Knightstar, Kiefer, Soryuto, and Thunderborne down the blue moon side. Giving Natora both shields while Bladescape took the tank and Doombunny was a great combination. Bladescape and Konpeito were competent forwards who didn’t need a shield. Fighting was another thing that Konpeito was oddly, mostly always, in the right mind for. She might get distracted or not know where they actually were, but Konpeito never let her friends down, not once, and she consistently scored critical attacks. Natora was somewhat jealous of that because it was beyond luck at this point.  The halls they walked down were as regal as the throne room. Ignoring the decorations, they didn’t have anything more than abandoned webs to indicate that the spiders were present. The hallway opened up into a hall with a single throne. It was the Moon King’s private throne room. All along the walls were giant webs, with spiders to match their size.  The Star Spiders were simple black arachnids with a bright blue star on the top of their abdomen. Eight eyes of the same blue were on their faces. Their carapaces were smooth, with no hairs like many spiders had. They reminded Natora of the black widow spider species she had seen on a school trip to an insect “zoo”.  Natora and Thunderborne would be able to handle their high webs very well. They could jump and run them through with ease because of Armor Pierce. Some of the spiders began to rappel from their silk threads coming from their abdomens. The party readied their weapons. “Thunder and I have the ones high up,” Natora ordered. “Armor Pierce will work very well here. Kiefer, keep them from locking up Knightstar’s and Soryuto’s shields. I expect them to have fangs of sorts to use as their main attack, so up and over the shields for attacks. Remember, we are well above this floor. It should be easy to kill, but don’t get cocky. That goes for you too, Thunder, and myself.” “Got it,” Kiefer said. “Simple enough.” “You got it!” Thunderborne said before dashing off, away from the throne.  Natora ran across the room to where the throne was. She leaped up to the wall, using it as a springboard to get to the corner. Her spear glowed and she rammed it home in the spider’s head. She rolled upon her landing and came out ready to fight. The spider plopped down in front of her and she triggered a thrusting combination. It died in the typical glitter of polygons.  Everyone had an easy time. After the spiders were cleared out, Natora opened her menu. Out of it popped the main reward, the silk gland. It was about the size of an American football, milky white, and mostly solid in feel. They got one for each spider they killed. The exact number they needed was uncertain, so they had already chosen to hunt as many as possible. They gave decent XP and Col. They also occasionally dropped Star Spider Venom, which Doombunny could use to level up her Mixing skill. The single throne room was the start of the hunt. Then it was a systematic search and destroy mission, going room by room, making sure they cleared all of the side hallways and closets in the ruined castle. They had two floors plus a basement to clear in their wing. It wasn’t hard. Natora was having a lot of fun taking full advantage of her acrobatics and agility. She could tell Thunderborne was thinking the same thing. They rarely were able to get into the fancy acrobatics in combat on the front line. As they headed back, Natora received a message from Bladescape saying that her team had cleared their side. They were meeting up at the joint throne room. They arrived at the main throne room at the same time, however, leaving wasn’t a simple matter. The door was blocked off by a giant web, which meant only one thing, it was time for a boss or flag mob! Natora looked back at the thrones. There were no spiders there, yet. Their two parties met in the center, but it didn’t trigger anything. Bladescape had a plan. “Natora, take your party and make a press on the door, attempting to leave. I’ll take my party and move towards the thrones. Everyone, keep watch on the roof and the hallways. This Flag Mob isn’t going to get the drop on us.” They agreed and began to follow their orders. Natora challenged Thunder to a race to the front door. Kiefer, Soryuto, and Knightstar had a hard time keeping up, but that was what Natora was counting on. She expected to need to fall back to their shields and didn’t want them too close to either runner. Thunder got there first and jumped high, cutting at a support. It resisted the cut, something the other webs hadn't been able to do. “The thrones!” Bladescape called out. “Above!” Natora looked back and saw a black spider leg appear and then the whole thing as it crawled into the hall. It was massive, barely able to fit inside the building. But its size was also to their advantage. It would have a problem maneuvering. Two health bars came up beside the name: Subaru The Uniting Star Spider. It was a clever and aptly named boss, Natora had to give the creative team that credit.  Bladescape immediately formulated a plan. “ Soryuto Natora and Konpeito, go left; Reisenki, Kiefer and Doom, center; Knightstar Thunder and I will go right!” They followed the orders. The general idea was to apply pressure from all sides. It didn’t work as the spider was able to move up the wall and around them. “New plan?” Knightstar gulped. “Yeah,” Bladescape laughed. “Thunder, Natora, Kiefer, Konpeito and I will use speed and agility to maneuver and pound it. Be ready to move in with shields and block us if we fail. Doom, I know you can support us with ranged options if need be." “That's a big risk,” Knightstar protested. “But it will be fun!” Thunderborne shot back, dashing off. Natora rushed forward. Thunder was right. It would be fun. In life, sometimes you just had to have fun and not take anything too seriously. Everything so far indicated that, boss or not, this was well within their safety margin and they should be having a fun time with the task. Konpeito giggled as she bounced after them. Kiefer followed Bladescape in. They were going to put every piece of damage dealing they could into this attack. A straight forward effort that would either be extremely rewarding, or dangerous. Knightstar organized the three shields into a protective wave that would be right behind them to act fast, while staying out of their way.  Thunderborne unleashed a strong attack, but then let Natora with her spear slide past to deliver an even stronger combo while Thunderborne took a slight movement penalty. Thunderborne switched back in with perfect timing. Konpeito bounced in right after with a single hit that took off a sizable chunk of HP. Subaru the Uniting Star Spider moved locations to avoid any more attacks, but it wasn’t far enough to avoid the trailing attackers. Bladescape offered up the Sword Skill, Heaven Splitter, with Kiefer coming in right behind her. With their three groups, Natora and Thunderborne, Konpeito solo, and Bladescape and Kiefer, they took great risks with the pressure applied to the boss. They kept switching groups out. Another group was able to flank the spider to keep it cornered and from moving too much. It was a technique that rewarded them with a quick kill, but it was also something they would never apply to anything except a low-level Flag Mob they could bully. The danger was too great otherwise, but they were very skilled at timing their switches. Natora scored the LAB. Thunderborne’s rapier didn’t have enough weight to fully negate the carapace of the spider. What she got was an interesting piece. It was classified as a breastplate, except it wasn’t more than five inches around. It was like a giant coin, with one side having the Moon King’s symbol on it. The other side had the Sun King’s symbol.  Natora gave Bladescape the spider silk she had gotten so she could count it up. Then she gave the LAB, the Medallion of the Two Kings’, to Knightstar for appraisal.  “Interesting,” Knightstar said. “It has decent stats. How Diemond will incorporate it, I don’t know. If you display the moon, you get a boost to critical attack. If you display the sun, you get a reduction in your movement delay.” “Can I flip it?” Natora asked. “Like, choosing which side I need?” “I believe so,” Knightstar said. “But don’t quote me on that. I still don’t understand how it’s a breastplate” “That’s the last of the materials I need,” Bladescape announced. “I certainly have enough spider silk. This was a fun little escapade. The door is now open, but I’m going to teleport to Lindarth and get this stuff to Ashley. It’s getting late, so it’s up to you what you want to do. I know Konpeito is going home to cook. Diemond likely won’t be much longer and neither will Malus. Tomorrow we go back to the front."  Teleport crystals were valuable, but their stock was high enough that they could afford to use them. The boss had dropped one for Natora and probably a few more to the others. Bladescape teleported to Lindarth and Knightstar followed her. Konpeito and Reisenki went back to Mishe. Doombunny went with Soryuto to the Town of Beginnings to check on their friends, Alnair and Gauvaine. “Hunting, or rest up to hit the floor running tomorrow?” Kiefer asked Natora.  “Rest,” Natora said, letting out a sigh. “It’s not as fun, but we need to hit it hard tomorrow. Our absence will have been noticed. We have two days to make up for. Plus, it's dark outside now."    BLADESCAPE: Level 78 — Two-Handed Sword — Searching — Weapon Defense — Leather Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Sprint —  Blade Throwing — Extended Weight Carry — Acrobatics  NATORA: Level 74 —  Two-Handed Spear — Purchase Negotiations — Sales Negotiation — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Acrobatics — Armor Pierce — Sprint  KNIGHTSTAR: Level 70 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Equipment Appraisal — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Acrobatics — Extended Weight Carry — Armor Pierce — Search   MALUS: Level 73 — One-Handed War Hammer — Greatshield — Heavy Metal Armor — First Aid — Extended Weight Carry — Battle Regeneration — Fishing — Search — Martial Arts — Rend  THUNDERBORNE: Level 73 — Rapier — Sprint — Acrobatics — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Armor Pierce — Martial Arts — Blade Throwing  KONPEITO: Level 73 — Two-Handed Axe — Cooking — Weapon Defense —  Light Metal Armor — Martial Arts — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Music — Blade Throwing — Bard — Extended Weight Carry  DIEMOND: Level 74 — Mace — Greatshield — Sewing — Heavy Metal Armor  — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Light Metal Armor Forging — Heavy Metal Armor Forging — Extended Weight Carry — Jewelry Creation  DOOMBUNNY: Level 70 — One-Handed Dagger — Hide — Fighting Spirit — Blade Throwing — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Familiar Cooperation — Mixing — Search — Listen — Reveal  KIEFER: Level 71 — One-Handed Curved Sword — Slash Weapon Forging — Light Metal Armor  — Weapon Defense — First Aid  — Katana — Battle Regeneration — Slash Weapon Forging — Blade Throwing — Armor Pierce SORYUTO: Level 70 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Music — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Fighting Spirit — Armor Pierce — Acrobatics — Extended Weight Carry   REISENKI: Level 71 — One-Handed Axe — Greatshield — Heavy Metal Armor — Equipment Repair — Metal Equipment Repair — First Aid —  Battle Regeneration — Cooking — Metal Refining — One-Hand Weapon Creation