Last extra one for a while. Skeleton Fight - Aincrad Extra! · 3:23am Jun 12th, 2020
Excerpt From Episode Episode 53 - Coming Tuesday!
All current Wondercolts were at the meeting. Argo was insisting they all were there, although she didn't know about Knightstar. However, after working on the quest with them and receiving their markings, it made sense.
They were the first to arrive and they were looking spectacular in their uniformed equipment. Argo was in the darkest corner of the room, staying silent. Bladescape wasn't sure if she noticed the lack of Knightstar. The KOB arrived soon after, but Argo stayed in her corner. Bladescape nodded to acknowledge Second in Command Lightning Flash Asuna and Commander Heathcliff.
Bladescape smiled as Fuurinkazan came in, but it dropped as the DDA came in right behind them. Agil and other clans arrived. About 700 players were on the front line, but not many did the boss fights. There were always 20-30 players from non boss guilds trying to get in the raid. Some came alone, others in pairs or small groups.
"Argo," Asuna said, getting things started. "You were vague in your guide. And you are here in person. The Wondercolts scouted the boss, but were driven immediately back out by three massive skeletons. The Knights of the Bloodoath made our own scouting attempt this morning and met the same fate. What else do you have for us."
Argo nodded as she walked out of the corner to the center of the room where everyone could see her. "There was some particular trouble on this Floor. I had help from the Wondercolts dealing with a difficult quest. Then there was a particular... issue acquiring the rest of the data. We won't have that problem, from here on out."
"What exactly happened?" Asuna asked. "We only heard that the Info Broker Iliad was blacklisted and taught a lesson after selling bad info."
"I can't tell you much," Argo shrugged. "I dealt with Iliad for his crimes. As to the boss, the Wondercolts know pretty much all I do. And they can add anything they have deduced. Now, what I know is this. Those catacombs are key. The key info quests which were connected to the Floor were all about a Necromancer. I see a battle full of Skeletons, Shadows, Wraiths, all led by that necromancer. That is who we have to deal with. I wasn't able to track, kill, or affirm his death. In the one quest with him I got to do, the Wondercolts and I did get to him, but he teleported out before we could kill him."
"So that's it?" Asuna huffed.
"That's it," Argo admitted. "Bladescape?"
Bladescape looked at Astro. Astro shrugged but approached the table. "First off, I was there for our scouting run. Those Skeletons were not the boss. I believe it is the Necromancer and when we go in, that is the real fight."
Asuna nodded. "So go in heavy with tanks and lancers, force the giant skeletons back to get teams around to strike them from the back."
"No," Astro said, shocking them all. "I don't think we have to worry about them. He was too smart. The big ones are a farce. We won't see them when a real team attacks. They are guards designed to keep scouting parties out. We had 9, how many did you bring in? 12?"
"12," Asuna nodded. "But, we have never seen anything like that before. I doubt it is a farce."
Astro shrugged. "At least let me tell you what we saw with the Necromancer and know. What we saw was him raising an army of normal skeletons. They were about the same level as the ones in the Catacombs, not the bigger mid level bosses, the normal ones. The Necromancer is weak to poison and has a low HP bar, but that might have changed for the boss battle. He can open portals and move between points. He opened a portal and ordered a group of skeletons through them to our other party. He escaped through his own portal after we dropped his HP.
"I want this to be very clear. It wasn't an easy fight. However, we had an advantage or two we won't ever have in the boss room. And from the layout, it will be opposite. We had a height advantage to see him clearly, he will be slightly elevated on that platform on the far side of the room. Along with our height advantage we had a range advantage via throwing picks. He was raising those skeletons in groups of 20. About one group every 4 seconds. We will have a huge fight on our hands as he keeps the waves coming.
"He won't have time to raise big skeletons. At least not regularly. We need to keep the pressure up. 5 skeletons a second is the rate we have to counter. I bet 30 seconds to raise a big one. if we even face one. Using my knowledge of similar quests from a variety of other games, he is going to be easy to kill. Getting to him will be the hard thing. I expect a long fight and believe we need to be ready to deal with multiple waves of enemies. We need to be focused on endurance, with a team specially designed to kill him."
"The Wondercolts need to all come," Argo added. "The quest we completed, the old man used some of his magic knowledge to give us an advantage boost against the Necromancer's forces."
"You got a stats boost from a quest?" Kirito asked from where he was in the crowd. He was weary of the information's truth.
"We did," Argo confirmed. "It made fighting the shadows specifically much easier. Way easier to see at the very least. See, track, and therefore kill. What took you guys days, we had in minutes."
"Fine," Asuna conceded. "Two squads for the Wondercolts. But their skills better be worth it. And you will need to fill that sixth slot with another player."
"Three slots," Bladescape said. "Doombunny did her part on Floor 39, taking down Serigatal The Wolf Master. She doesn't want in here, and I respect that. We will need three players. Unless Argo wants to join us."
Argo just quietly shook her head no. But her eyes were piercing as she tried to figure out what was happening. Asuna and Kirito were trying to figure it out too. Bladescape saw Klein quietly counting the Wondercolts he could see from his angle in the room.
Bladescape felt her legs get squeezed and then that rope slide up her body. As she looked down she saw the ripple of color and then felt a lot of weight transfer to her shoulders. Colorra's head was floating in front of her. It nodded three times. Colorra was in, which meant Doombunny was in.
"I amend that," Bladescape said, stroking Colorras' oddly smooth head. "We have only two slots open. We have 10 available Wondercolts for this raid and we will gladly lead the fight and bring in two contingent Wondercolts."
I found an error when asuna is first talking with Argo. You missed a letter
5283063
The final edit is not done yet, but I will fix it. This was pulled from the back up on Fimfiction that will be replaced once the final cut is done. I actually cut a portion out because it wasn't right anymore. So no surprise there is an error.
I'm excited for the upcoming boss battle. It's my favorite. Hehehe.
5283063
I have no idea what the error is. I can't find it.
5283084
The Wondercolts scouted the boss, but were driven immediately back out by three massive skeletons. The Knights of the Bloodoath made or own scouting
5283091
Thanks! Fixed it. I hate those types of easy errors.
5283106
Yeah very easy to miss and very annoying when you find them after the fact